A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 137

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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 137
“Kiana, how did you know about this?”
Joshua asked again, and I answered bluntly.
“I read it in a book.”
“A book?”
“In the underground library here.”
While Joshua and Grandfather went up to the observation tower to wait for Father, I certainly hadn’t been idle doing nothing.
Mother’s memo mentioned that “Roki locks himself away alone in the underground library.” The fact that Uncle Roki possessed information unknown to the other Prelais likely meant he had been reading the ancient texts here. After all, Father and Grandfather would have already read all the old books in the manor.
Daram asked in surprise.
【Wait, there was a library underground?】
“Yes, there was.”
【How did Julius not know about that… Well, Julius doesn’t know a lot of things anyway.】
In any case, I found a book in the underground library that described ancient history in greater detail and finished reading it during that time.
“The three fragments of Ortson’s heart can each distort the blessings of Prelai and Tailizes. Once there’s a victim, a pattern is inscribed like this, and after that, no one except the victim can destroy it…”
Two of the stones already had patterns inscribed on them. It meant the dark magic had already been activated. It was clear which targets each inscribed stone had chosen. It would be me and the Crown Prince.
“So that’s why I couldn’t destroy it no matter how hard I tried.”
Father spoke awkwardly.
“No matter what I did, it simply wouldn’t break.”
In other words, if I destroyed the heart fragment with the Prelai pattern inscribed on it, the dark magic would be nullified and power would return. Originally, these three heart pieces should have each been wrapped in sealing scrolls. Dolores and Hitten would have all those scrolls.
‘They’ve already used two, so they must have the remaining one.’
Father was stuffing all the cookies from the newly arrived Teapud into his mouth and munching away loudly. A maid rushed off saying she’d prepare dinner right away, and Father drooled while muttering, “How long has it been since I’ve had a proper meal like this…”
【How gross. What is this, acting like a dog.】
Father’s dog summoner even wiped the drool away with its front paws.
“Anyway, having dinner together as a family.”
Father sighed and murmured.
“…For seventeen years, I’ve dreamed of this.”
Watching him, Grandfather slightly covered his mouth. His expression was both sorrowful and deeply moved.
“But Kiana.”
Joshua interjected then, sounding puzzled.
“Why do the other two look strange? Especially this one with the Tailizes pattern—it’s neither broken nor unbroken…”
So I answered confidently.
“I don’t know either.”
And Father, who was stuffing the newly arrived Teapud into his mouth by the plateful, spoke while crunching cookies.
“Oh, that.”
Cookie crumbs scattered across the carpet.
“It was originally fine.”
“Pardon?”
“Literally, one day I took it out and it was broken like that. Looking at it, it’s not completely shattered though… Anyway, it hasn’t been long. Was it last May?”
May? My brow furrowed slightly in an instant.
‘If it was May, that’s around the time I returned to the past, isn’t it?’
“Anyway, since it’s Tailizes, I’ve lost interest. What does that have to do with me? So Kiana, for now….”
Father swallowed the cookie in his mouth and spoke.
“Let’s try breaking your stone from the start.”
At those words, everyone turned to look at me with tense expressions. Even Piyak leaped down from my head and perched on my wrist. Piyak, who should have been chattering away normally, wore a deeply anxious face.
A distorted summoning. The countless hours we couldn’t spend together. And the power of abilities that hadn’t properly manifested during that time.
It meant all of that would be compensated for in a single moment.
While I remained silent, Joshua quietly held out a dagger.
“If you’re going to break it, use this.”
The handle of the dagger even had a luxury brand logo embedded in it.
‘No, when did this designer even get involved in weapon crafting?’
In truth, it looked more like merchandise than an actual weapon.
“If you strike down hard with this, it should work.”
Joshua spoke in a trembling voice.
“Of course, you can’t strike down too hard…. It was custom-ordered at an enormous cost….”
Not to strike a weapon down hard—what kind of devoted nonsense was this? Anyway, I could roughly understand why he carried it around. It was exactly the kind of weapon Joshua would have. I accepted the excessively ornate dagger for self-defense.
* * *
At that moment, in the noble assembly hall.
The hall fell silent as if cold water had been poured over it.
Sacred relics are sacred relics for a reason. One could be certain just by looking at it. No one in that place harbored any doubt. In the first place, if doubt could be cast upon an object, it wouldn’t be a sacred relic.
The gleaming sacred relic convinced everyone that Sezare was a member of the imperial family. Moreover… looking at that face carefully, I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before—the faint traces of Edmund’s past features remained. Even with significant weight loss, it should have been reasonable to suspect, but it felt as if I were possessed by a ghost.
“…E-Crown Prince Edmund?”
At the whisper from someone’s lips, Sezare smiled faintly.
“Correct. You have good instincts.”
And immediately, a rebuttal from one of the nobles still in shock followed.
“That’s impossible. Y-your appearance….”
Sezare casually rolled the sacred relic in his hand and spoke.
“I lost some weight. Six years is enough time for that. Ah, and my hair is permanently dyed. I’ve been using aura during this time, so it wouldn’t have been easy to recognize me.”
“B-but your eyes, your eyes….”
“That one I changed with some difficulty.”
Sezare spoke elegantly while seated.
“If you don’t believe me, I can demonstrate. Is there anyone who would like to change their eye color?”
It was the relaxed tone of a ruler already commanding the atmosphere of this assembly.
“Originally, I intended to return after changing my eyes back to blue as they were before, but there’s someone who likes my changed appearance.”
Hitten pressed force into the hand holding the pen. In truth, it wasn’t a situation he hadn’t anticipated at all. The imperial intelligence network wasn’t foolish enough to fail to detect the Levin forces moving secretly.
‘I really wish it weren’t so….’
While the people who had attended the picnic gradually fell apart one by one, the thought naturally occurred that ‘this mysterious person might really be Edmund.’
When Count Levin suddenly notified them that he would attend this regular assembly, Hitten and Dolores made their own preparations. They had prepared for that small possibility—that Sezare Levin might be Edmund.
“Count Levin.”
Hitten spoke quietly to Sezare.
“While it certainly seems the Count is family of the imperial household, sacred relics react to all those with imperial blood mixed in them.”
His refusal to bow was itself a declaration that he did not yet accept Sezare as Edmund. The restless nobles immediately fell silent.
Hitten continued slowly.
“If you are my beloved brother, if you are the Crown Prince Edmund we have longed for all these years, then it is indeed a blessing for the Empire.”
Sezare’s sharp eyes turned toward Hitten.
“But if you are merely an unknown illegitimate child of His Majesty the Emperor, or perhaps a distant branch of an unknown imperial family, then impersonating the Crown Prince would be a grave crime.”
At those words, Sezare laughed quietly. His expression was one of disbelief.
“But surely you’re not the one to make that judgment, are you?”
Indeed, that was only natural.
The one to judge whether Sezare was truly Edmund or not was not Hitten, but the Emperor who now lay ill. The Emperor was not dead, so he would regain consciousness soon enough, and when he did, Sezare would only need to prove himself to him. Since Edmund’s childhood, the Emperor had cherished the Crown Prince dearly. How many memories must they share that only the two of them possessed?
“For now, let us adjourn this session.”
Hitten sighed and picked up his pen as if signing an order.
“I need time to think as well.”
He blinked his eyes slowly, as though exhausted.
“Even if blessed by the ancients, these days it’s strange how fakes steal what belongs to the real and go around pretending to be genuine themselves…”
Someone suddenly stood up at those words. It was Alex. He seemed to understand who the “fake” Hitten was referring to. A fake who stole what belonged to the real. Anyone listening would recognize it as a jab at Kiana, who had stolen Melissa’s summoned creature.
The Imperial Guards quickly rushed forward upon seeing the madness flash in his eyes. Even though Alex had merely stood up, the atmosphere in the conference hall shifted to “trouble’s brewing!”
Weapons were prohibited in the conference room. There were no swords to wield, but that was not something Alex would concern himself with. Living up to expectations, Alex began cursing and beating down the Imperial Guards with his bare hands.
In the midst of that commotion, Hitten’s eyes gleamed with sinister intent. The spinning pen in his hand pointed toward Sezare.

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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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