A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 45】

 

And he was quite angry at Older Brother too.

 

The role of provoking Father’s anger had been my exclusive responsibility, but now that I was gone, it seemed Noaren was fulfilling his filial duties of disobedience.

 

‘If they’re going to fight, why not go upstairs instead of doing it here.’

 

The secret door leading to the underground vault was at the western end of the main manor corridor, where paintings hung like in an art gallery.

 

And to the west were the stables, so judging from the context, it seemed Noaren had been caught red-handed by Father while trying to take either a horse or carriage.

 

While inwardly irritated, I suppressed my presence as much as possible and strained my ears.

 

This time I heard Noaren’s voice.

 

“Lishie is… still in the Imperial Capital. I need to bring her back. I have to.”

 

“Hah. You’re not in your right mind. How much did you drink?”

 

Just like those patrol soldiers had testified, Noaren was definitely quite intoxicated right now.

 

His pronunciation was clear, but that was all. Between his words, I could feel there was absolutely no logic whatsoever.

 

The considerably more foolish Noaren gave an irrelevant answer.

 

“Lishie said she would marry me.”

 

“Noaren Baltres!”

 

Father’s mana, which had been temporarily stable, surged violently. His blood pressure probably rose along with it.

 

That guy’s completely insane. I shook my head back and forth as if I were watching a drama.

 

Father spoke in a tone mixed with sighs and warning.

 

“Lishie is your sister, and she’s a child who will soon become Empress.”

 

“Father.”

 

“I don’t want to exchange any more words. Go back.”

 

A moment of silence fell.

 

Instead of obediently following Father’s will, Noaren retorted in a deeply subdued voice.

 

“Irene is my only sister.”

 

…What is he saying.

 

At the sudden mention of my name, I reflexively flinched, and Davuer squeezed the hand he was holding.

 

It felt like he was reassuring me, which made my feelings strange. I was just surprised by the unexpected nonsense, not really that shaken.

 

“…Both Irene and Lishie are daughters of Baltres.”

 

Father corrected Noaren’s statement. With the heaviest resonance I’d heard among everything.

 

I couldn’t easily guess what it meant.

 

I had already abandoned the family myself. Yet Father still called me Baltres, and even called me his daughter?

 

It’s not like he wouldn’t know what I had done.

 

Father would have certainly cast me out the moment he grasped the truth. That’s what happened in the original story too.

 

The villainess had no surname when she died. Because she had been excommunicated for committing great sins. Baltres could avoid collective punishment by cutting me off.

 

Now that I’d lost my usefulness as a duke’s daughter, why…

 

“…”

 

My thoughts grew long.

 

In the meantime, the father and son must have left, as I could no longer sense any mana or presence from outside.

 

Davuer was looking at me silently.

 

“…Shall we go now?”

 

I smiled awkwardly and opened the door.

 

The cold winter air clung to my skin as if awakening me to reality. Whatever Father was thinking, there was no problem with our plan.

 

‘Irene Baltres’ would die soon.

 

Because I would definitely make it so.

 

* * *

 

“Did anything happen at the manor while I was away?”

 

Kalian asked while loosening the cravat that was choking his neck.

 

Only a small light like a candle flame quietly illuminated his bedroom, which had sunk into darkness.

 

The old butler who was attending to his bedtime answered respectfully.

 

“There was nothing except that the young duke sought alcohol after a long time, being greatly distressed by his quarrel with the Countess.”

 

“…I see.”

 

He clicked his tongue softly and changed into his nightclothes.

 

He felt like the manor had somehow changed strangely, but it might be his imagination. He was extremely tired right now, and therefore his senses were unnecessarily on edge.

 

It was even more so because he had just had an audience with the Emperor.

 

The Emperor, who suffered from chronic insomnia, was always burning herbs to help with sleep, but though they were called herbs, they were practically no different from drugs.

 

That scent gave him a headache. Kalian pressed his temples and dismissed the butler.

 

As the surroundings became quiet, the voice was heard again.

 

That soft voice that had been repeating in his ears like it was stuck there all the way back to the manor after finishing the audience.

 

“You’ve never considered me your daughter.”

 

Irene’s last moment that Kalian remembered.

 

At that time, he had scolded Irene for conspicuously ruining Lishie’s Inauguration Ceremony, and her completely unrepentant attitude made him angry enough to momentarily lose his reason.

 

Only after throwing the inkwell that had been lying on the desk, only after the bottle broke with a loud noise, did his reason suddenly return.

 

Black ink and blood were flowing mixed together from Irene’s forehead. Yet that child didn’t even blink and said this.

 

“If I cause trouble again in the future, just send me a disposal notice from now on. I’m getting tired of always receiving Father’s anger too.”

 

“Irene!”

 

“Do you think I’ll behave obediently just because you shout at me? I can’t live like that.”

 

Her eyes blazed as she declared she would continue causing trouble.

 

Kalian knew well Irene’s nature that would break rather than bend, that stubbornness of hers. But even so, he couldn’t not scold her.

 

It was an incident that had brought such disgrace to the Temple. The family’s prestige was dragged through the mud until even nobodies were mentioning Baltres.

 

“You are a daughter of Baltres. There should be limits even to bringing shame to the family. What on earth…!”

 

“That’s a bit funny, Father.”

 

Irene looked directly into his eyes.

 

And struck him with certainty, not speculation.

 

“You’ve never considered me your daughter.”

 

For a moment, Kalian froze like someone who had been caught off guard.

 

But it was only for an instant. Immediately he issued a house arrest order and sent Irene to the Western Duchy.

 

That was all, yet why those words from that time were now repeating in his mind, he couldn’t know.

 

Just… his head hurt.

 

It was noisy as if someone was doing leatherwork inside his head. Noisy. So noisy.

 

Irene’s words were right. He had never considered that child as his daughter. Since that was the truth, assumptions like ‘but’ or ‘perhaps’ were unnecessary.

 

But, perhaps he had that daughter…

 

Even knowing this, unnecessary assumptions kept following one after another. Kalian forcibly closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Two days had passed.

 

“Aaaaah! Al—ly!”

 

While having breakfast half-asleep, I casually turned my gaze to the window and screamed at the sight of a woman’s arm grotesquely draped over the window frame.

 

Ally, who had been lying diagonally across the double bed sleeping like the dead, bolted upright at that scream.

 

“What’s wrong? An attack? Did some bugs appear?”

 

Bug attack my ass. It’s a ghost attack.

 

I immediately pointed at the window frame with the fork I was holding.

 

“Ally, I told you to clean up properly after you work! I nearly had a heart attack!”

 

“Ah.”

 

Ally let out a low exclamation and quickly approached to pick up the arm. Her excuse was:

 

“I wonder why this was here. How strange.”

 

“You probably fumbled around with it and carelessly dropped it somewhere?”

 

“Hmm… I guess the arm grew legs. I’ll be careful.”

 

Ally spouted nonsense that made no sense at all as she carried the mannequin-like arm toward the corner of the inn room.

 

“Idiot.”

 

Jepi suddenly appeared and scolded Ally.

 

Luckily, an empty room right next door had become available, so we had separated the men’s and women’s rooms. Though it seemed rather pointless since we all gathered together like this anyway.

 

“My ability is very complex and delicate, unlike yours, you know?”

 

Ally glared at Jepi irritably and grumbled.

 

It wasn’t just bragging—what she said was true. After all, she was creating ‘me.’

 

What I mean is this:

 

Ally’s ability, who was in charge of God’s ‘arm,’ was creation. More precisely, it was closer to imitation—she could create perfect replicas of anything, whether animal or plant.

 

Even if the target was a person.

 

Moreover, it wasn’t just a doll—she said it could talk, move, and even follow commands, albeit only for a short time.

 

This was the core of our plan.

 

Thinking about it made me feel grateful and proud of Ally, so I smiled warmly and offered her some encouragement.

 

“Well, there’s no other ability user as complex and delicate as Ally. How about getting more sleep if you’re tired?”

 

“It’s okay, Irene. I need to cut back on sleep to finish in time.”

 

Ally’s ability felt so amazing it was closer to divine power, but the energy consumption and limitations were also extremely severe.

 

That’s why she rarely used it. I heard this was the first time in decades she was using it.

 

Ally plopped down in the corner and began kneading ‘my’ arm. It looked exactly like playing with clay.

 

‘The effects are rather underwhelming compared to the scale of the ability…’

 

I turned my gaze away from her and moved my fork again. I was about to do that.

 

“Irene, an intruder is coming.”

 

If only Jepi hadn’t said that while pointing at the window, if only a woman’s hand hadn’t grabbed the outer window frame, I could have done so.

 

This time it wasn’t Ally’s creation—it really seemed like someone was climbing up from below, gripping the window frame.

 

“Aaah! What now…!”

 

“Should I catch them?”

 

The moment I saw the familiar green hair, I stopped Jepi who looked ready to strike down the intruder and flung open the window.

 

“Mel. This is the 5th floor, and there’s something called a door, you know?”

 

It was the thief, the ex-convict maid who had appeared within the promised time.

 

Mel quickly entered the room and, without any greetings whatsoever, shouted in a bright voice:

 

“Miss! You’re alive!”

 

“What?”

 

“His Majesty the Emperor caught you and was going to chop off your head!”

 

Mel made a chopping motion across her neck with her hand and continued:

 

“…but he’s not going to! Isn’t that amazing!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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