A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 117

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

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Chapter 117
Sezare had likely gone to the Marquis’ Mansion after parting ways with me.
Sezare probably didn’t know that I had figured out his true identity. If I hadn’t cared for him, I never would have noticed either.
But now I couldn’t decide whether I should tell him that I knew who he was. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand why Sezare had hidden his identity from me until the end.
He probably did it to protect me from any potential danger. Still, I couldn’t stop worrying about it, so I quickly wrote a short letter inside the carriage.
Sezare had said he had urgent business before leaving, so sending a letter of this caliber seemed fine.
【Hmm, if it’s a love letter, I’ll deliver it for you. But the Marquis’ Mansion? I’ll just have to fly there! Teleportation uses the other dimension and takes way too much energy.】
I’d come to realize that Piyak’s item-transfer ability was quite inefficient.
For one, he couldn’t reach places that were too far away. This was also why I couldn’t send letters to my father in Arun. As I would later learn, when Melissa first sent Piyak to me, the distance between the Convent and the Academy was so great that he had to fly there himself.
【If I use the other dimension, spacetime gets twisted and it makes me dizzy.】
With that, Piyak wiggled his rear and flew out the window.
Not long after, he flew back through the carriage window with a reply in hand.
“Sezare was at the Marquis’ Mansion?”
【Yes!】
I quickly unfolded the letter to read it.
Me? Come to think of it, I had nothing to do starting tomorrow.
‘Until now, I’d been constantly researching and using magical artifacts, visiting the Marquis’ Mansion every day….’
My next plan was to go to Arun and rescue my father. But according to my schedule, that wasn’t something I could do whenever I wanted.
‘Though I think I could depart within a week.’
I hesitated for a moment before writing a reply.
The last sentence was something I added out of anxiety that Sezare might suddenly leave for Arun one day. Since my father had gone to Arun and hadn’t returned, I felt oddly uneasy about it.
Again, Piyak flew off to deliver my letter and returned quickly. Sezare’s handwriting was neat and tidy, almost like printed text.
Other entertainment? Now that I thought about it, I had no hobbies.
Normally, I would have ignored such a trivial letter, but being stuck in a carriage that wasn’t moving due to traffic congestion was boring. So I decided to continue exchanging these silly letters with Sezare.
Tomorrow…. I stared at the letter and let out a shallow sigh.
I remembered clearly what day tomorrow was. It was exactly six years ago that the Crown Prince went on a picnic and never returned.
His neat handwriting, which could have passed for an official document, carried a playful tone. Yet the sentences that followed were fresh and gentlemanly.
A tour of the Imperial Palace?
Going sightseeing at the Imperial Palace, which was restricting outside access, was nonsensical. So this was ultimately a suggestion to use our Imperial Family audience rights. It was also the reason we’d been maintaining our fake lover status until now.
‘If His Majesty the Emperor is still in no condition to receive guests…. Then he must be talking about the Empress?’
“If I’m unable to receive guests, the Empress will receive you in my stead.”
The Crown Prince fundamentally didn’t trust the Empress or even the Emperor. The Emperor, who was little more than a walking corpse, was one thing, but he hadn’t even told his own mother, the Empress, whether he was alive or dead.
So why did Sezare suddenly want to meet the Empress? I narrowed my eyes and recalled our earlier conversation.
“I’ve always just avoided my family. The truth is, I was afraid to be alone because I was worried my suspicions might be correct. So this time, I want to meet my father directly and hear his side of the story first.”
“I’ll support you, Princess. That’s a story that resonates with me.”
“Resonates?”
“I’m also in a position where I’m avoiding my own family.”
Had hearing my situation caused Sezare’s heart to change slightly?
I hesitated for a moment before slowly writing a reply.
* * *
Hiten instructed his staff to wrap up the event, then said he would depart for the Imperial Palace immediately, trembling with anxiety.
I couldn’t fathom why such thick fog had suddenly engulfed the Forest of Spirits. Could it be that the Crown Prince had actually manipulated the weather itself to attack me?
‘Never again… I will never leave the Imperial Palace again.’
The Imperial Palace was a place that even a Sword Master couldn’t enter recklessly. Moreover, with layers of guards surrounding me within those walls, no one could attack me.
“Let’s go immediately, immediately to the Imperial Palace… wait.”
Hiten’s brow furrowed as he urged his guards to hurry. Though much thinner than before, there was definitely denser fog near the Nepel Monument than in other areas.
‘The Nepel Monument…’
The Nepel Monument was a stone erected by the First Emperor and the First Head of the Prelai Family to soothe the Spirit’s long slumber. So that when the Spirit awakened, it wouldn’t grieve too deeply upon finding them dead.
The Spirit, called the Messenger of God, had not awakened after falling asleep, and God had already left the continent. Yet Hiten’s footsteps came to a halt.
Could such thick fog gathering at the Nepel Monument truly be coincidence? If this fog, different from any other year, wasn’t created by the Crown Prince, then could it be the Spirit’s power?
He slowly approached the Nepel Monument and quietly murmured.
“…Did you create this fog?”
Of course, there was no answer. He stepped closer and asked with suspicion.
“Have you awakened from your slumber?”
Of course, there was no answer. Hiten took a deep breath and added.
“Then what exactly are you doing right now?”
That was when a breeze blew gently, and a small note that had been resting on the Nepel Monument among fallen leaves fluttered down.
Hiten’s breath caught slightly at the ominous premonition. Until now, every supernatural note he’d received had contained the same message. But… if he didn’t check this one, he’d be even more anxious.
Hiten picked up the small note with trembling hands.
“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh! No! No! Why! Why does everyone! Why does everyone! What do the opinions of some god, some ancestor, some spirit matter! Get out! All of you, get out of human lands! I said get out!”
Hiten tore the note to shreds as he fell into hysterics, while the guards watching the scene exchanged only glances, thinking to themselves, ‘The prince is losing his mind.’

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

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