A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 1

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

Chapter 1
Prologue
Riloni Academy, nestled at the western edge of the Empire.
Men in the uniforms of the Tailize Empire arrived at that place, known as the “Backwater Ivory Tower.”
“Execute the traitor!”
“Seize whoever holds Prelai’s Castle!”
In an instant, they burst into my research lab at the very top of the Academy. The nameplate hanging on the door fell pathetically to the floor.
Professor of Magical Engineering
– Kiana Eli Prelai
My research lab, which had been filled with all manner of experimental equipment, was instantly reduced to chaos.
I was seized without warning while in the middle of solving equations. I was utterly bewildered. I immediately protested.
“What is this nonsense, you fools! Do you have two lives each? Before I carefully beat your heads with various types of magical artifacts one by one, you better let go right now! What in the world is this?”
The Imperial soldier restraining my wrists spoke bluntly.
“Scari Prelai has committed treason.”
…What?
I froze in shock at those words. My grandfather’s name had just been uttered so casually from the mouth of a mere Imperial soldier.
My grandfather, Duke Scari Prelai, was a man of tremendous power. Though my father had gone missing several months ago, my two reckless older brothers were each making their mark in their respective fields. Even my cousin Melissa Prelai, whom we raised together, had recently manifested incredible divine power and made the newspapers.
In that family, I was the only one who could be a problem, which is why I had already gone far away.
But the Prelai Family committing treason?
“We are transporting the criminal to the Empire! We cannot be late for the execution date, so hurry!”
“E-e-e-execution?”
I opened my eyes wide in shock.
“L-look, just supposing my grandfather went senile and actually committed treason.”
And I poured out my words.
“But I haven’t set foot in the Empire for seven years! I’ve been stuck in this rural backwater doing nothing but magical engineering research!”
I felt truly wronged. I had come to Riloni Academy when I was sixteen. And from that time until now, I had never even visited the ducal residence.
The Imperial soldier’s response to my logical rebuttal was simple.
“But regardless, you are still Prelai.”
He pointed to the nameplate lying on the floor that read [Professor of Magical Engineering – Kiana Eli Prelai].
….
In the end, I was helplessly dragged away by the Imperial soldiers.
The Dean was standing in the corridor.
I looked at him as if I had met a savior. My contributions to the Academy thus far had been immense. Surely he would save me somehow.
“Dean! I….”
“Ahem.”
The Dean cut off my words with a cough. And without even giving me a glance, he turned respectfully to the Imperial soldiers and asked.
“Let me confirm once more. If Professor Kiana Prelai dies, all patents registered under her name will be transferred to the Academy according to Riloni law, correct?”
For a moment, the world seemed to stop. The Dean who had always cherished me, calling me a machine for churning out papers… What was he saying now?
The Dean smiled obsequiously and demanded an answer from the Imperial soldiers once more.
“Regarding patents, you must follow Riloni law, not Imperial law. That was the condition under which I provided my cooperation.”
It felt like I’d been struck on the head.
If the House of Prelai had committed treason, it would have been an event significant enough to shake the entire continent. Yet I remained ignorant of this fact until the Imperial Army was practically at my doorstep. Now that I thought about it, the roads had been in terrible condition lately, and newspapers hadn’t been delivered—it all seemed like the Dean’s doing.
I was a genius magical engineer. Magical engineering was a discipline that implemented magical artifacts based on mathematics and physics. Naturally, I held an enormous number of patents under my name. The Dean must have coveted them and decided to hand me over to the Imperial Army.
Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes.
Just as I’d said with my own mouth, I had fled the great House of Prelai on my own two feet and spent seven years at the Academy. It had been a long time since I’d come to think of the Dean as true family. He’d praised me as a once-in-a-generation genius, promoted me through grades repeatedly, and even made me a professor.
I conveyed my true feelings with a heart that felt like it was coughing up blood.
“You wretched bastard, you squeezed me dry and sold me for money, didn’t you? Even if I descend into hell, I’ll claw my way back out and haunt your dreams for the rest of your life! I’ll make a pact with the most vile demon if I must, and ensure that you and your descendants are cursed to ruin for generations to come!”
At twenty-three, one day while serving as a professor at a small academy in a remote principality on the continent, I was suddenly sentenced to execution and extradited to the Empire.
* * *
The moment I returned to the Empire, I was thrown into the underground dungeons of the Imperial Palace in a pitiful state.
That was when it happened.
“Kiana!”
A woman in an even more wretched condition than myself seized my hand from within the cell.
“You’ve finally been caught too!”
My cousin, Melissa Prelai, whom I hadn’t seen in seven years and who was the same age as me.
“I’m so glad! I’ve been waiting for you!”
Was she calling that a welcome greeting? It sounded more like she’d been cursing properly. Since I disliked Melissa, I immediately pulled my hand away and asked.
“What is all this? Grandfather committed treason?”
Melissa answered with a sniffle.
“Grandfather isn’t that kind of person, you know that… We were wronged.”
Then she muttered while tears streamed down her face.
“I… I know the truth. Only I know it. Sob….”
Looking at her up close, Melissa was still beautiful even in these circumstances. Her blonde hair, though dirty, still gleamed brilliantly, and her crimson eyes were as vivid as rubies.
I sighed once and calmly tried to calm her down.
“Melissa, stop blubbering and spouting nonsense. Try to explain this logically.”
“You… haven’t changed with your eerie crude language. You’ve really grown consistently.”
At my request, Melissa continued with a trembling voice.
“Prince Hitten came to visit yesterday and told me. Apparently, he himself is the one who framed the House of Prelai for treason.”
“What? Why would that bastard bother telling you that in the middle of all this?”
Melissa answered while sniffling.
“According to Piyak, it’s because I dumped Prince Hitten before. Since he’s such a petty person, he wanted to add insult to injury at the end.”
Piyak was Melissa’s yellow songbird summon. Right now, it lay unconscious at her feet due to the restraint collar.
Well, Melissa had been popular with all sorts of men since childhood. It seemed Prince Hitten was probably one of them. Though I wasn’t particularly interested in that given our current situation.
I sighed and pressed my forehead.
“Grandfather has aged considerably… to fall for such a scheme… But anyway, why did Prince Hitten frame the House of Prelai for treason in the first place?”
The grandfather I knew was an extremely capable man. How could he be caught so helplessly like this?
Melissa answered incoherently.
“Grandfather has been very ill lately. Anyway, it seems Prince Hitten is also in a difficult position these days… I guess he thought we might side with the Crown Prince.”
What? Why is the Crown Prince suddenly mentioned here? Since I’d been away from the Empire, I didn’t know the exact situation, but it seemed we’d been caught up in a succession dispute regardless.
I collapsed to the ground. I was truly overwhelmed with injustice. To be dragged here suddenly after knowing nothing while abroad, only to die so futilely.
For a long while, only the sound of Melissa’s sobbing echoed through the prison cell.
Then, after some time had passed, a loud shout came from outside.
“It is time for the execution! Bring out the criminals!”
In that instant, fear flashed across Melissa’s eyes. I felt the same way. No one can remain calm before death.
From outside, I heard heavy footsteps approaching to take us away.
“Kiana, am I really going to die?”
Suddenly Melissa muttered.
“I… I don’t want to die.”
What was she saying something so obvious for…? It was when I looked at Melissa with an incredulous expression.
‘What? Her… Why does she look like that?’
Her face was clearly not in her right mind. Until now she had only been sad, but now that death was imminent, she seemed to be panicking.
“I’m going to escape.”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that? How are you supposed to escape on the way to the gallows?”
I was startled, thinking she had truly lost her mind.
“I have divine power.”
Melissa muttered, seized by madness.
“I should have entered the Convent long ago. If I had just abandoned Prelai’s Castle, I could have survived alone even if this situation came to pass.”
Those with divine power were given the qualification to enter the Convent and become a priestess. If one became a priestess through religious conviction, she had to abandon her family name, could never marry, and had to spend her entire life wandering remote mountain regions in service.
Honestly, it was grueling. So only a tiny minority became priestesses. Usually, even if divine power manifested, people simply lived their own lives. However, if one abandoned the family name, she would no longer be “Prelai,” so she would never be dragged in for treason.
I grabbed her shoulders and shook her as I spoke.
“Hey, get a grip. How are you suddenly going to enter the Convent unless we go back to the past?”
“Yes! That’s right! Exactly that! The past!”
Melissa nodded, her eyes gleaming.
“I have incredible divine power. I have to try. Don’t I?”
“…What?”
A sudden sense of wrongness made me stare intently at Melissa. That kind, beautiful girl who was like sunshine and loved by everyone… now wore an expression more unhinged than anyone else’s.
“I’m going to turn back time. With all these memories intact, I’ll return to one year ago. Then I’ll immediately enter the Convent and live a life unrelated to House of Prellay. I absolutely will not die so meaninglessly like this!”
In that moment, the prison cell was engulfed in brilliant light.

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