I, the Villain, Want to Save Myself, But the Yandere Heroines Disagree - Chapter 109

Sometimes heaven just doesn’t follow human wishes. Despite Antica’s hope that the Imperial Army wouldn’t come to reinforce them at this time, after receiving Arthas’s orders, Scaloni immediately took up his post as the commander of the Southern Army and brought 100,000 well-trained soldiers to the front line.

It could only be said that Arthas had a conscience this time, but not much.

At the very least, he knew he couldn’t just come over and do nothing to claim military credit.

Bringing 100,000 troops, all well-trained elites, at least proved that he genuinely wanted to contribute.

Thus, on the first day of contact between the two armies, Scaloni went alone to visit Lucius.

The two chatted in the military tent, reminiscing about their past as comrades-in-arms before moving on to recent events. Only then did Scaloni smile and return from Lucius’s camp.

The very next day, Lucius obediently handed over command of the army to Scaloni.

The moment he heard this news, Litte immediately went to Lucius to ask why.

Lucius just smiled at Litte and explained his reasoning.

“Their military strength is no weaker than ours, and they have the Imperial Family behind them. Doing this is just proper.”

Helpless, Litte could only nod.

Fortunately, Scaloni was also a fair man. He didn’t abuse his authority after taking command, nor did he deliberately suppress the Antica army. On the contrary, he reduced the areas originally assigned to the Antica army and handed them over to the Imperial Army to manage.

This was certainly done to claim military credit, but it also reduced the pressure on the Antica army, indirectly minimizing their losses.

On the other hand, the situation inside Romulus City was anything but peaceful.

These days, Donny had received military authority from Giovanni for the first time, but his task was not to guard the city walls.

Giovanni gave Donny 5,000 soldiers to form a temporary inspection team in the city, responsible for the nighttime curfew and daily security work. If suspicious individuals were found, they could be arrested immediately without even needing to report to Giovanni.

This job seemed simple, but in practice, it was extremely troublesome.

Many people had to be arrested every day, but there was too little time to spare.

Donny initially wanted to enforce the law impartially, interrogating the arrested one by one and reducing their sentences or releasing them based on their motives.

However, due to the shortage of supplies in the city, many people chose to go out during the lockdown to ask relatives and friends for food, and they were mistakenly detained as well. Donny had no choice but to order them all to be locked up.

Out of Romulus’s population of over 100,000, nearly 10,000 people were arrested in just a few short days.

The prison cells were packed to the brim, as the original designers had never imagined the facility could hold so many people.

Soon, the shortage of supplies spread to the prisons.

Food was allocated to the soldiers, leaving only a portion for the citizens, while the prisons received even less.

At first, they could still manage two meals a day, but after a week, as more and more people were arrested, the prison’s food reserves ran out. Eventually, they could only provide one meal a day, just a simple bowl of oatmeal soaked in water that was barely enough to fill their stomachs.

The citizens had never suffered such mistreatment before and immediately rebelled in the prisons, which eventually escalated into a riot. The result, of course, was suppression.

The prison population instantly dropped by a third, and while things inside calmed down, the food was still insufficient.

Helpless, Donny could only conscript some young and able-bodied prisoners to man the city walls, while the rest remained in prison surviving on one bowl of oatmeal a day.

But as visitors couldn’t see their relatives, rumors began to spread throughout the city. Public security didn’t improve because of the arrests. On the contrary, it became increasingly difficult to suppress the citizens. During the limited open hours, some citizens began secretly gathering to discuss plans for street protests.

In the end, it escalated into the current situation.

Outside the ducal mansion, tens of thousands of Romulus citizens crowded the streets, demanding the Duke provide a reasonable explanation for the violent suppression in the prisons, as well as stop abusing the prisoners and release them.

Inside the mansion, Giovanni sat in his office, looking at Donny, who stood before him with his head bowed in silence, and let out a cold laugh.

Donny thought Giovanni was dissatisfied with him, and bad memories resurfaced. His body trembled, and he quickly lowered his head to apologize.

But to his surprise, Giovanni’s next words were not reprimands.

“Those lowlifes think they can resist me by banding together?”

“Donny, let me ask you: as a Duke, how should we handle this situation?”

“Father… we should communicate with the leaders of the protest, understand their demands, listen to their wishes, and then negotiate a solution acceptable to both sides.”

Saying this, Giovanni began instructing Donny in his own way.

“Donny, I’ll only say this once, and I’ll only demonstrate it once.”

“To deal with these lowlifes, you don’t need to listen to them. Our bloodline is inherently nobler than theirs. The world operates on rules, and the lower obeying the higher is one of them. For them to resist us is to violate the rules.”

“And those who violate the rules must be punished.”

With that, Giovanni stood up.

“Come, Donny, follow me to the rooftop balcony. Let me show you what should be done.”

Donny quickly nodded and followed Giovanni.

On the balcony, Donny could see a sea of people crowded at the gates of the estate. A young man was angrily arguing with the guards at the entrance, but the guards paid him no heed.

Elsewhere in the protest crowd, the leader was solemnly stating their demands.

“We just need the Duke to come out and talk to us, to give an explanation for the deceased and for the citizens!”

At that moment, a figure clad in full plate armor emerged from inside the ducal mansion.

His footsteps echoed as the armor clanked with each step.

Arriving before the protest leader, he spoke only six words.

“Leave or die.”

The other party clearly wouldn’t take such a threat seriously and still refused to back down.

Then, a sword pierced his heart.

Subsequently, the Duke’s guards charged out and began dispersing the crowd by force.

The protesters instantly scattered in all directions, their terrified screams filling the air.

Meanwhile, on other streets, the soldiers originally guarding the city gates dispatched some troops to suppress the crowd.

For a moment, despair set in.

Donny stood on the balcony, staring in disbelief at the hellish scene outside the Duke’s mansion, then turned to Giovanni.

“Father… do you really… not care about your reputation anymore?”

“Donny, you must understand: reputation is far less important than actual rule.” Giovanni spoke earnestly.

The corners of his lips even curled slightly upward, as if he was enjoying it.

Donny could only think that his father had gone mad.