A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 146

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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 146
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“Kiana! Kiana!”
An urgent voice pierced the air.
“Fetch the Physician! Quickly! Kiana just moved her finger!”
Someone shouted before rushing out of the room. Simultaneously, chaos erupted around me. My body felt utterly weightless.
【Kiana’s consciousness is returning! Piyak can feel it!】
Piyak’s crystalline voice rang in my ears.
‘…I’m back, then.’
I forced my eyelids open with tremendous effort. The familiar ceiling pattern came into focus.
‘This is my room….’
My last memory was collapsing in the conference hall, yet somehow I’d returned home. Well, since I was with Alex, I must have made it back to the Ducal Residence.
“Good heavens! Oh, merciful heavens!”
A face filled with worry materialized through my blurred vision.
“Are you coming to? Hmm?”
I blinked. My vision sharpened further. Designer logos adorned his clothing, lustrous golden hair, and refined features….
“Do you have any idea how long you’ve been unconscious?”
“You should return soon. Time in the Otherworld always flows swiftly, after all.”
I examined the middle-aged face before me and exhaled painfully. He appeared to be in his mid-forties.
Only Joshua could be draped in luxury goods from head to toe like that. So Joshua had aged this much…. At least twenty years must have passed, then?
“What do I do….”
Tears spilled from my eyes unbidden. Good heavens, to have lain unconscious for twenty years was far too cruel. Did that mean my physical age was now in my forties? My body in the real world would have aged accordingly.
“Why are you crying! Hmm?”
The middle-aged man carefully lifted me while asking urgently.
“Does something hurt? Hmm? Are you in great pain?”
“Waahhh, waaahhhhhhh….”
Had Grandfather passed away? Surely not Julius too? Had Father become the head of the household? Had Sezare become Emperor and, renouncing love for the greater good, taken five wives?
“The Princess has regained consciousness! With the Belvez technique, you should be able to move your body!”
The door burst open and a young woman I’d never seen before rushed in. Judging by the medical supplies filling her bag, she appeared to be a new Physician.
“Waaahhhhhhh….”
I raised my hand to wipe my tears, but something felt wrong. My hand was remarkably smooth.
‘Wait. If I’ve been lying down for twenty years, even with the Belvez technique, I shouldn’t be able to move this well?’
My body certainly wasn’t responding properly, but it wasn’t completely immobilized either. The middle-aged man, draped excessively in luxury goods, explained urgently.
“She seems to have just regained consciousness. But she’s crying immediately upon waking—I’m concerned whether there’s been any damage to her memory or cognitive function….”
“Let me examine her.”
As the Physician sat beside me, the door burst open once more.
“Kiana!”
My tear-filled eyes widened instantly.
“…Sezare?”
Jet-black hair and golden eyes—there was no mistaking it was Sezare. I’d naturally expected him to have reverted to silver hair and blue eyes, yet somehow he remained unchanged.
“You… you really have regained consciousness, haven’t you?”
Sezare approached with a trembling voice and asked. Tears were even welling up in his eyes.
“Yes…”
I blinked and looked at Sezare.
“You haven’t aged as much as I expected?”
Of course, that didn’t mean he looked exactly the same as before. The area under his eyes looked quite hollow, and his complexion seemed quite poor. But he absolutely didn’t look like he was in his mid-forties.
“…What?”
Sezare looked at me with a choked expression, then his face became slightly bewildered.
‘Hmm, so less time has passed than I thought?’
I glanced at the middle-aged Joshua beside me and spoke.
“Or… did Joshua perhaps age particularly badly?”
Just then, the door burst open again.
“Kiana!”
“Kiana has regained consciousness? What?”
After confirming who had entered, I stood there with my mouth slightly open, dazed. It was Alex and Joshua—not much different from my memories.
I stared blankly at the middle-aged man I had believed to be Joshua.
‘Then… who is this person…?’
Seeing my bewildered expression, everyone in the room seemed to catch on to my mistake.
Ahahahahahaha!
And Piyak laughed loudly while wiping away tears.
You mistook Hyde for Joshua, didn’t you? Ahahahahaha! You thought twenty years had passed? Ahahahahaha!
“…”
Actually, only a month has passed! Ahahahahahaha!
…A month? Of course, that was still a long time. I hadn’t even spent a full day in the dream. But compared to preparing myself for twenty years, it seemed like I’d gotten off quite cheaply.
Ahahaha! But how could you look at Father and call him brother, ahahaha!
In the meantime, only Piyak laughed as if it were amusing. Well… I could at least tell that my mistake had prevented any particularly touching reunion scene.
I looked at Father’s clothes—covered in designer logos—with an aggrieved expression. I mean, from head to toe, he looked just like Joshua?
Now that I thought about it, Joshua and Father shared the most similar facial features. Besides, the last time I saw him, Father had just arrived from the wilderness with rough hair and a disheveled appearance. But during the few days he’d been in civilization, he seemed to have rejuvenated considerably.
“Well, I was so worried about you that I didn’t feel like buying new clothes… but all the spare clothes at home were like this anyway.”
Father said as if making excuses.
“Joshua said the style was outdated and he doesn’t wear them anymore.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I could picture it perfectly without even seeing it.
“Coming back after seventeen years with nothing to wear? Not even in the mood to go shopping? Well, I suppose I should throw out some of my unworn clothes for you then. Don’t worry about any unnecessary burden. They’re clothes I don’t wear anyway since the styles are all outdated.”
That was exactly how Joshua would have said it.
Ahahaha! And you thought Sezare had aged quite a bit, didn’t you? Ahahaha!
And Piyak pointed out a fact that didn’t even need to be mentioned.
Well, he hasn’t been sleeping well or eating properly all this time…
Sezare let out a faint sigh. Only then did other questions come flooding in. Wait, why was Sezare at the Ducal Residence so casually right now anyway?
“Just a moment, Princess. Just a moment.”
At that moment, the Physician who had been sitting beside me sighed and interjected.
“No matter what that mysterious Vagrant Vagabond said about the Princess being fine, I still need to examine her immediately as a physician.”
“…Huh?”
“The fact that she could lie motionless for a month, as if time itself had stopped… I still can’t believe it…,”
After a while, I was able to piece together what had happened.
While I lay unconscious, a Vagrant Vagabond had accosted the Physician who had stepped out into the city for a brief errand. The vagrant had told him that “the Princess will awaken within a month while lying here like this.” The Physician had initially dismissed it as nonsense and jumped back in protest, but when the vagrant said “it’s hardly an ordinary condition anyway,” he became half-convinced.
“But the amount of alcohol he had consumed! His nose was absolutely crimson! Every single breath reeked of spirits!”
The smell of alcohol… hmm….
I observed the indignant new Physician. He appeared quite young. So much so that I naturally had no recollection of the Grand Cleric’s face, who had retired long ago….
“Kiana!”
And then the door burst open once more. This time it was Grandfather.
“Our Kiana has come to? What?”
At the same moment, the three men around me who had been holding back their words all wore expressions as if they were about to speak.
As this situation repeated for the third time, the Physician let out a deep sigh. The way he couldn’t stand against authority despite having things to do reminded me of a graduate student, so I spoke up immediately.
“I’ll receive the examination first!”
The Physician then added quickly. His tone was desperate, as if unwilling to miss this opportunity.
“Then for the Princess’s absolute rest, everyone please leave!”

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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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