A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 143

—————

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

—————

Chapter 143
12. Kiana Returns
Baby Kiana’s days were filled with joy and warmth.
As evening fell, Joshua and Alex burst through the door, covered in dirt from playing all day. They looked exactly like Joshua, but Father, dressed in old-fashioned clothes, said, “Boys? You need to wash your hands first.”
I stood like a ghost in my room at the Duke’s residence, quietly observing the scene. The infancy I couldn’t remember, and the young mother caring for that baby.
“Should we sleep now, Kiana?”
As night fell, Father left to read books to Joshua and Alex, and Mother began to hold me and sing a lullaby. Baby Kiana stubbornly refused to sleep.
“Mm, Kiana? This is tough for Mom.”
Mother could have handed me over to the wet nurse, but instead she patiently picked me up and spoke.
“I didn’t expect her to be as well-behaved as Alex, but I never imagined a baby who wouldn’t eat or sleep like this.”
Remarkably, I had been the same since infancy—never eating well, never sleeping well. The difficult days of my mother that I couldn’t remember.
Eventually, as I drifted to sleep with my eyelids fluttering, Mother smiled softly while stroking my hair.
“Have sweet dreams, Kiana.”
Mother spoke gently, carefully touching my chubby cheeks and tiny hands and feet.
“Tomorrow, Mom and Dad will work hard to make you even happier.”
Her whisper was so sweet that tears kept flowing.
“I’m sorry I got annoyed this morning when you threw the cosmetic bottle and broke it. And I sighed when you spit candy into the jewelry box before lunch. And I’m sorry for getting angry about the crumbs all over the bed and not eating well… I’m sorry for losing my temper then. Tomorrow I’ll be a better mom.”
Young Mother began to sing the lullaby again in a low voice, and I curled myself up, feeling as though I could listen to that lullaby forever.
Until the night grew deep, young Mother stayed by baby Kiana’s side, and I stood in the corner of the room, crying quietly as I watched her. And as my vision began to turn white again, I cried out without thinking.
‘No! Mom! Mom! No! I want to see you more! Mom!’
Despite Piyak’s warning that time in reality would flow faster.
* * *
Kiana continued to not wake up. Days passed even after Piyak awoke.
“Of all things, the summoned creature’s ability is spatial-temporal displacement, and it’s also 14 years of power that even he can’t control…”
Kailon, the personal physician who knew the Prelai family best, shook his head as he made his diagnosis.
“She can only return if her own will to come back to reality is strong enough. I… I have nothing more to say.”
* * *
I didn’t return to reality.
When I opened my eyes, this time I was in a new place—the Spirit Forest. My young father was receiving a wish token for winning a hunting competition. It seemed I had come to a time even further in the past than the memories I had.
“I will use this wish token for Enerys Siteraas.”
At those words, everyone burst into laughter. The birth of a new couple was an exciting spectacle for anyone.
Father walked politely toward Enerys Siteraas—not yet “Enerys Prelai”—and handed her the championship token, asking gently.
“Enerys, will you go on a date with me tomorrow?”
Mother accepted the championship token with a shy smile. Everyone cheered and giggled. But Mother whispered quietly to Father. She was smiling, conscious of everyone’s gaze, but I could feel her gritting her teeth.
“Are you joking right now? If you don’t like the wish, ask for something else. A date? That’s such a petty request. That’s something anyone would agree to if you asked them on the street.”
Father looked slightly flustered, but quickly put on a gentlemanly expression and asked again.
“Or… would you be willing to become my lover instead?”
Now the people around them went wild. Even the young and healthy Emperor clapped and shouted hurrah. But Mother still seemed unsatisfied, and with a smiling face, she whispered again, eerily quiet.
“Ah, use more of it. It’s a wish token—why are you being so timid? Dating means becoming lovers anyway, so what!”
Father’s expression became flustered again. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
“No! Just marry me instead, Enerys!”
Only then did Mother break into a radiant smile and embrace Father.
“Yes, I’d love to! I really would!”
Grandfather laughed heartily from a distance. Father was now shouting even more without Mother prompting him.
“Marry me, and let’s have lots of children just like you wanted and live happily together in a bustling household! Then I’d be happy to die!”
At those words, Mother’s expression turned serious at once.
“Are you insane? You can’t die. Who would I become a widow for? You absolutely cannot die.”
Father laughed uncontrollably and spun Mother around in circles.
Behind the two happy figures, I could see Dolores. She wasn’t yet Empress, just Duchess Lucia sitting in the guest of honor’s seat. Her face looked distinctly displeased as she glared at Mother, but no one noticed her gaze.
And beside Grandfather, sitting as if present yet absent, was a man. Blonde hair, crimson eyes, a young man who looked slightly younger than Father. It was Roki. He was quietly ordering servants to clear away his hunting trophies.
‘This isn’t the time to be looking at these people…’
I looked back at Mother’s radiant smiling face. It felt as though I could continue seeing Mother’s healthy and happy appearance forever. Once more, my vision spun in circles. As if telling me it was time to leave this past.
‘No, no.’
I shook my head firmly. Tears welled up in my eyes again.
‘I want to see Mother more. I want to keep seeing Mother…’
* * *
Kiana did not wake.
“Kiana.”
Edmund murmured beside her.
“Wake up. I have something to give you.”
He gently placed a diamond in her hand, but she couldn’t grasp it. Once it had come into her hands through the Goddess statue, and he had spent a fortune to buy it back again—that enormous diamond.
“I’ve waited far too long…”
The owner of that diamond had always been Kiana. From the moment he first saw her until now, always.
“There are so many things I want to do with you that I could never possibly remain trapped in the past…”
Edmund murmured while holding her hand.
“What past are you wandering through?”
He tried to imagine things from Kiana’s perspective. But he had no past he wished to return to.
He only felt an overwhelming sense of loss. The childhood when he could only watch from behind as a boy, the time when they forced distance between them, claiming they would merely use each other plainly. Even the days of Sezare Levin as Crown Prince, waiting and enduring in anticipation, thinking he could do more once he returned to that position.
Now he had returned and possessed everything. Yet none of it seemed to have any meaning.
“You know. You are all I have.”
The man with the highest status in the Empire, despite having no one left who could stop him, wore the most anguished expression in the world.
“I will do my very best. No matter what past you’re lost in, I will make you happier than that. I will try. So please…”
Edmund sighed and murmured as if in prayer.
“Come back to me…”
* * *
When I regained consciousness, this time I was at Prelai Castle in the North. Perhaps she was thirteen? Young Mother and young Father were playing chess together.
“Let’s play one more game, okay?”
When the chess game ended with Mother’s victory, Father tugged at her sleeve. Mother’s cheeks flushed pink as she spoke.
“But Princess Dolores must be waiting for you.”
“Roki can go. Roki’s from Prelai too. There’s no reason I have to entertain her.”
Father shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. Mother tilted her head and said something in return.
“Princess Dolores is fond of Prince Hyde, isn’t she? I think she’ll be upset if Prince Roki leaves.”
The dog summoned beast beside Father yawned and spoke.
【Well, everyone likes Hyde more anyway, so Roki won’t matter.】
That was when young Julius burst through the door.
“There you are! That damned Duchess Lucia is making a fuss demanding I bring Hyde! Ahahaha!”
It was just as Hyde sighed and stood up. Julius looked at Mother and asked.
“Enerys, do you want to stay with Hyde? After all, you two were playing together first!”
Mother nodded eagerly, and Julius laughed as he ruffled her hair.
“Then play together some more! Ahahaha! I’ll tell that already arrogant Duchess Lucia that Hyde collapsed from a ruptured appendix! Ahahaha!”
I gazed at Mother and Father, who were smiling broadly.
Mother looked happy between Julius and Father. Just from her plump cheeks and warm clothing, I could tell that Mother was a beloved girl.
My vision blurred again. It seemed I was moving to the past once more. There was a pattern to these movements now—I was only going backward in time.
‘…Everyone must be worried, right?’
I was concerned about Grandfather, Father, and my brothers, of course, but also about Sezare and Piyak. It was obvious they were all worried about me. Besides, according to Piyak, I had no idea how much time was passing in reality…
Yet even as my vision blurred, I kept staring at Mother as a young girl. I simply wanted to keep seeing her, over and over again.

—————

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

—————