A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 141
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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 141
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While Kiana wandered through the distorted space-time, Piyak was also lost within it. Since it was essentially a runaway of power, Piyak couldn’t be controlled either. He was moving frantically through the times when Kiana had desperately wanted something.
“I want… I want a summoned creature too….”
In Kiana’s room at Prelai Manor, a young Kiana was crying in her sleep. It seemed to be after Melissa and Piyak had arrived.
“Why… why won’t you come? Huh? I’m waiting like this….”
Tears soaked the checkered pillow.
Seeing this, Piyak couldn’t bear it. While Kiana cried herself to sleep every night like that, Piyak had been sleeping comfortably with Melissa, stretching out without knowing anything. The Prelai Manor was so nice, nothing compared to the poor commoner’s life of wandering around, spouting such things….
Piyak found it so heartbreaking that she cried out despite knowing it was futile.
【Piyak is Kiana’s summoned creature! Kiana had her summoned creature stolen by Melissa!】
Even when Kiana turned fourteen and fifteen, she couldn’t give up on having a summoned creature. She never told anyone, but every night she fell asleep praying.
“I won’t get angry at all… I won’t complain about why you’re late, okay? Please… please come to me….”
Since it was a sincere wish she couldn’t tell anyone, she only muttered it to herself, huddled alone.
“I… I’m so anxious… What if I’m not really a Prelai? I’m so anxious about that, I keep becoming a worse child. Okay? Please… please come to me….”
What made this sight so pitiful was that Piyak had been at Prelai Manor back then too.
I didn’t know that after throwing tantrums at Melissa during the day, claiming I was hers, she would cry herself to sleep like that every night. Each time, I would just say things like “I understand, Melissa. Endurance is victory” and paid little attention to Kiana.
As those moments she had carelessly brushed aside while at Melissa’s side overlapped, Piyak’s emotions began to surge.
I… I didn’t know anything and made my true master suffer. I failed to recognize my master and wasn’t there for her when she needed me most.
“I’ll really do my best for you. I’ll do anything. Even if I have no abilities at all, that’s fine… Please… please don’t leave me alone….”
Tears welled up in Piyak’s eyes. Piyak cried out toward the sobbing Kiana.
【Piyak is Kiana’s summoned creature! Melissa stole Kiana’s summoned creature!】
As she cried out like that, Piyak suddenly realized something. Then… could it be… that Kiana kept having dreams about her childhood….
‘I heard that Kiana dreamed about things that happened in the past. But I was told that what I cried out wasn’t the past, so the texture was a bit different….’
Had this voice she was crying out now connected with young Kiana? Normally, when time is distorted, it doesn’t affect the past, but since Piyak and Kiana are in a summoned creature and master relationship….
‘I see. Kiana saw my future self in her dream.’
Piyak wiped away the tears that had gathered in her eyes with her small wings.
‘Now… now I really want to see Kiana.’
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the garden. In any case, I could tell I was still wandering through distorted space-time.
‘So… is that how it happened?’
Father said that the heart fragment suddenly shattered at the moment I had regressed. It seemed that the heart fragment granted Sezare’s wish at that moment and time was reversed.
“Turning back time with divine power is not something an ordinary priestess can do.”
I had heard such talk before when drinking with Mayer. Now it made sense. It wasn’t Melissa’s divine power that turned back time. Melissa’s divine power merely left the Melissa who had returned to the past with the resolve to “enter the Convent immediately.”
‘Anyway, where is this place?’
As I looked around, I saw the figure of a young Dolores. Dolores was whispering with Hitten, having pushed others away.
“They say this poison works on the imperial family. What if we give it to Edmund?”
“Are you certain? Tailizes is immune to poison.”
“Well, then why don’t we test it?”
Dolores smiled wickedly as she spoke.
“Let’s split it in half and put it in the Emperor’s tea first. Then we’ll know if it works.”
The Tailizes royal family had long neglected to guard against poison. Thus, slipping poison into the Emperor’s tea was a remarkably simple matter.
“Hmm….”
Hitten pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Let’s do a 3:7 ratio. I want to be more certain about eliminating Edmund.”
Time passed swiftly after that. Despite the Emperor’s condition deteriorating rapidly, he never suspected poison.
“It seems that was only one dose. That’s probably why he didn’t die instantly.”
Dolores nervously bit her nails as she watched the Emperor, who refused to die.
“In any case, the poison is working. So then, after rendering his body useless like that… we can simply kill him using a method that isn’t poison, can’t we?”
Hitten laughed as if it were simple.
Pushing the Crown Prince—who stood on the brink of reaching Sword Master—off a cliff was nearly impossible. Even if he fell, there was a high probability he’d survive using aura. But in a situation where his body couldn’t function properly, he would surely fall to his death.
So a hunting picnic was planned for the Crown Prince.
‘Ah.’
Only then did I understand why that heart hadn’t been completely destroyed. I’d thought it showed roughly 70% damage, but that was because the victim wasn’t the only one.
‘His Majesty the Emperor was also affected. So even when Sezare tried to destroy it, it wasn’t completely damaged.’
Perhaps the reason Sezare had no memories of regression was also connected to this.
‘He simply used all the incomplete wishes only for me.’
My heart ached at that thought.
‘But my body is collapsed right now, isn’t it? My family must be so worried… And what about Sezare….’
As I watched that scene, worry began to creep in.
‘…I miss Piyak too. Where did Piyak go? Is he okay?’
That was when my vision spun again.
* * *
Kiana lay unconscious at Prelai Manor, as if dead.
Ever since she suddenly appeared at the noble assembly and collapsed in an instant, she hadn’t awakened. Her summoned creature Piyak, who had been squawking and crying beside her, had also lost consciousness. No one could understand what had happened.
Certainly, everything had proceeded according to plan. It matched the hypotheses and countermeasures that Kiana and he had formulated about the situation. Except for one thing—Kiana’s sudden intrusion into the assembly hall and her collapse.
Alex stopped the commotion and, carrying Kiana, headed to Prelai Manor. And Sezare was able to enter Prelai Manor to see Kiana on the condition that he would bring all the Imperial Physicians.
“I apologize…. This is not a matter that can be resolved through medical means. This is… a phenomenon related to summoned creatures, so ordinary medical knowledge cannot be applied.”
All the Imperial Physicians gathered around, but they could not awaken Kiana.
“Damn it, blast!”
Alex shot to his feet, his eyes flashing red.
“That old geezer Kailon hasn’t kicked the bucket yet, has he? Grandfather wouldn’t die that easily. I’ll beat him all day if I have to, just to get him to come to his senses.”
With that, Alex disappeared into the underground prison like the wind.
And Sezare—no, Edmund—who had dismissed the Imperial Physicians, stood dazed, gripping Kiana’s hand.
No one called him Sezare anymore. Despite confidently reclaiming his position and apprehending Dolores and Hitten as perpetrators, throwing them into prison, his face was haggard beyond measure.
The physicians said there were no major problems aside from her consciousness not returning. But such diagnoses felt distant, like a dream. Only the afterimage of Kiana collapsing in the assembly hall still filled his vision.
And Kiana now lay limp, asleep like a doll alongside Piyak.
“Young Man Edmund….”
Left alone with the unconscious Kiana, Edmund murmured vacantly.
“I’ve done something foolish again.”
Childhood was nothing but a succession of regrets.
No matter how much she chased after Lord Rodrigo, I should have approached her and confessed my feelings.
Even if everyone else cursed the Princess, I should have told her that she shines brighter than anyone else to me.
Instead of Lord Rodrigo, who makes you so anxious, I should have at least asked if you would come to me instead.
Rather than worrying about a confession in the distant future and searching for the most precious diamond, I should have conveyed my sincerity, however clumsy my words.
“Please don’t burden yourself—this isn’t a confession.”
“What?”
“You are the last childhood dream remaining to me. You are the light of my youth that I cannot abandon no matter how hard I try. That boy had a confession he always dreamed of. When I find my place again and face the Crown Prince and Princess once more, I will fulfill that boy’s pure love that stands alone.”
“Do you understand, Kiana?”
Edmund pressed his forehead quietly against his own hand that held hers as he spoke.
“I wanted to confess to you confidently, not as the false Sezare, but as the true Edmund.”
Naturally, Edmund had far more to give her than Sezare ever could.
“That’s why I couldn’t even tell you that I love you from a good place.”
Kiana’s body remained perfectly still. Edmund murmured as if in pain.
“You gave me such a magnificent confession when I was at my most wretched.”
【Life is shorter than you think, descendants of Eli and Ed. Live without any regrets. Don’t leave behind any sorrow from missing chances to love.】
Despite having received counsel from the Spirit, the heart I had not expressed weighed on me unbearably.
“So wake up, Kiana.”
Tears—Edmund’s hot tears—were flowing onto Kiana’s hand.
“I still have so much more to tell you.”
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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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