A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 124

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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 124
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Winter arrived far earlier in the North than in the Capital. It made sense—half the year in the North was winter. Cold winds swept across the northern lands as the brief summer ended. Moreover, this year’s abnormal climate had caused temperatures to plummet far earlier than usual.
“Prepare for winter, gahahaha!”
Julius wielded his axe with dignity, personally chopping firewood. Behind him, the northern soldiers followed suit with sorrowful expressions. They couldn’t afford to idle when the North’s leader was swinging an axe himself.
“The North is only truly the North when it’s cold! Don’t you agree? Gahahaha!”
While no one agreed with Julius, he gazed into the distance with narrowed eyes.
The Arun region. A familiar, massive light was visible. It was a survival signal sent by Hyde’s Dog Summoner.
“Well, he’s still alive. He’s probably become a complete savage by now.”
Julius chuckled to himself. Though he called him a “savage,” it was hard to imagine. Hyde was a remarkably handsome and aristocratic young man.
To be honest, Hyde Prelai had been the only normal and excellent man in the Prelai family. Everything about him was ordinary and perfect, always a source of pride for Scari. Joshua had inherited only his appearance, but…
Scari had always sighed while raising his three children, wondering, “Why couldn’t I have at least one normal child?”
In any case, it had been seventeen years since I last saw Hyde, who had entered the subjugation zone claiming he would exterminate monsters. At that time, Hyde looked like a wreck due to his wife’s death. Yet despite everything, he possessed brilliant blonde hair that hadn’t lost its luster and chiseled features. Even as a wreck, he was a handsome wreck.
“He must be a middle-aged man by now.”
Since his marriage to Enes had been early, seventeen years ago he was barely in his thirties. And for seventeen years, Hyde had been sending survival signals, proving he was alive and well.
Fortunately, Hyde wasn’t alone. The savages there maintained their own culture and lived communally. Monster meat wasn’t tasty, but it was edible, and there was a clear lake nearby for fresh water. That didn’t mean it was easy, though.
“So why did he even go into the Arun region in the first place…”
Getting there in the first place had been a miracle. I couldn’t fathom how he’d crawled in alone. The problem was he hadn’t been able to come back out since.
Watching this, Julius clicked his tongue.
“If one day the survival signal stops coming… then he’s dead.”
【What a worry.】
A squirrel divine beast sighed from within Julius’s white hair.
【It seems like this winter will be especially harsh… I wonder if he can endure this one too.】
“You’re right. Blizzards are already raging.”
A shadow fell across Julius’s usually cheerful face. It seemed this year’s winter would be particularly severe—blizzards were already sweeping across the far north.
“I wish we could send him new hand warmers.”
The North no longer used hot stones. Instead, they used Pebble powder hand warmers. Following Kiana’s development, adding a bit more mana made them much lighter, warmer, and longer-lasting than hot stones.
“Thanks to that, the soldiers are saying they can actually survive this winter comfortably. Our Kiana is a blessing, a true blessing.”
Julius, who had been grinning, suddenly became melancholy again.
“I miss Kiana… Honestly, this meeting ended far too quickly.”
【Well, that’s true.】
The squirrel divine beast nodded.
【Too much happened, and you can’t leave the North unattended for long. Invite her again later. There’s no reason you can’t now, is there?】
“That’s right!”
Julius’s mood brightened instantly.
“I should start preparing Kiana’s room in our castle right away!”
【…Already?】
“Of course!”
Julius said, swinging his axe.
“There’s nothing to decide! I’ll just give her the room Enes used!”
“How was I supposed to know when you’d arrive? Coming to the North requires serious resolve!”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! I want it now, so I’m having it made immediately! Hahahaha! Oh right, checkered patterns! Pick everything in checkered patterns! Hahahaha!”
From that day onward, a charming room for a noble lady began to take shape in Prelai Castle in the North.
Throughout it all, Hyde’s distress signal continued to shimmer and soar high into the sky.
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The next night, under a full moon.
Footsteps echoed in the prison where Lord Rodrigo was confined.
A day in prison was simple. So Rodrigo immediately sensed that someone had come to visit.
‘Father? That can’t be right at this hour. Weren’t they all driven away?’
Even locked away, he wasn’t completely ignorant of the outside world.
“How dare you treat me this way! Do you know who I am? I am the son of House of Purbis! I’m only temporarily confined—soon I’ll be the heir!”
A few days ago, when he had shouted at the guards, they had sneered and replied.
“House of Purbis? There’s no such house anymore.”
“Don’t you know? He violated the law he himself proposed, so he became a baron.”
Either way, it wasn’t good news for Rodrigo. Still, he held onto hope.
‘Prince Hitten will save me. He has to.’
“Rodrigo, the Crown Prince doesn’t have your back, does he? You call him your closest friend, but he’s given you no help in the succession struggle of House of Purbis.”
Was it six years ago when I heard Prince Hitten’s proposal?
“If you take my hand, I promise I’ll be a different kind of friend to you than the Crown Prince. I swear it.”
Crown Prince Edmund was a good man. I couldn’t deny that. But he was so scrupulously fair that he wouldn’t take sides just because someone was close to him. Hitten had sensed that disappointment like a ghost and exploited it, which was how that day’s hunting picnic came about.
“It’s a poison that works on the Tailizes bloodline. It’s bound to succeed. Evidence? Can’t you see the Emperor growing ill? I’m planning to give my dear brother even more.”
“No, wait… How exactly… Tailizes are immune to poison…”
“We’ve overcome a god. That’s all there is to it.”
Uncle Enoch guided me to the remote cliff. Ben, my attendant, poisoned the water I was to drink. And as I stumbled about, intoxicated by the poison, Nix and Orca confronted me.
But even as my entire body began to go numb, I didn’t die easily, stumbling about. Eventually, even with both of them pressing their attack, they couldn’t win easily, so Rodrigo stepped forward.
“What are you doing! Have you lost your minds? What is this to the Crown Prince!”
“…Rodrigo?”
“Move aside, now!”
And while pretending to shield the Crown Prince from danger, the moment he hesitated, I pushed him over.
“You… you!”
“Farewell, Your Highness.”
The hope and trust that had flickered in the Crown Prince’s eyes for a moment seemed laughable. I pushed the stumbling Crown Prince and whispered in his ear.
“Everyone here has gathered to harm you, so don’t expect to survive.”
The Crown Prince didn’t even answer, falling with a vacant expression. So he couldn’t possibly be alive. But when this situation arose, even Rodrigo couldn’t help but feel fear, so he could only cower as he heard the approaching footsteps.
The footsteps stopped before him. The moment Rodrigo looked up, trembling.
“…What.”
Relief and mockery flickered across his expression.
“If you came at this hour, you should’ve bribed the guards more heavily, shouldn’t you?”
The man standing before the prison was none other than Sezare. The provincial noble who had so brazenly rejected his proposal and then openly began meeting with Kiana. Just seeing that smooth face irritated him.
“What? Did Kiana get tired of you already?”
Lord Rodrigo wielded the iron bars like a weapon, grinning with delight.
“Or perhaps Kiana calls out my name in her sleep?”
Sezare said nothing. Lord Rodrigo continued with triumphant pride.
“You know, right? I’m Kiana’s first love. She absolutely adored my eyes. They’re red, after all.”
In the dark underground dungeon, torchlight flickered across Sezare’s face.
Sezare remained silent, gazing down at Lord Rodrigo with an unwavering stare.
“Kiana is nobility to her very bones. Even if you parade her around because she’s pretty, she’ll ultimately choose noble blood.”
Lord Rodrigo, energized by that silence, continued speaking.
“I understand why you came to see me, but you should abandon any notions of inherent nobility.”
At those words, one corner of Sezare’s mouth curled upward—dangerously beautiful—and he slowly opened his lips.
“I was actually deliberating the timing, but it seems I cannot let you go so easily.”
At that ambiguous statement, Lord Rodrigo faltered, and Sezare added coldly.
“I never knew I could be so petty with jealousy.”
Sezare let out a single sigh as if bewildered by himself, then slowly turned away.
Lord Rodrigo blinked involuntarily. For a moment, his mood became peculiar. A feeling as though he were missing something very, very important….
“See you soon, Rodrigo.”
And caught in that strange sense of déjà vu, he failed to notice that Sezare had called his name.

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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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