A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 153

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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 153
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We had moved to the past. In other words… the past before my regression.
【What is this? Where am I? But it feels so stuffy and gloomy. Can we even kiss in a place like this? Or maybe we should? Or is kissing in a place like this the right move?】
The Spirit clutched the heart fragment tightly, gazing around with curiosity. Edmund beside me furrowed his brow, his expression bewildered.
“Kiana… isn’t this the Academy?”
And at the Academy, the me from before my regression continued my experiments with a vacant expression.
“…What are all those stimulants?”
Edmund’s voice trembled.
“The coffee piled up over there… and the antacids…?”
The me from before regression had fallen asleep watching the morning sun, then dozed off for roughly two hours slumped over the desk. Then I stirred, brushed off some stale crackers from a corner of the laboratory, and gulped down coffee.
Edmund muttered with a shocked expression.
“…Ah… Kiana, you lived like this at the Academy?”
Now that I thought about it, I had never told him about what happened during my time at the Academy.
“Well, it was a bit excessive, I suppose. But the research was genuinely enjoyable.”
The laboratory had other graduate students in similar circumstances shambling about like zombies conducting experiments. Everyone’s complexion was poor under the avalanche of miscellaneous tasks and research performance pressure. Then, after seeing the date on the newspapers stacked in front of the door, Edmund stared at me with an incredulous expression and muttered.
“But the dates don’t match? Around this time, Kiana was definitely in the Capital, not the Academy.”
“Ah.”
I had never told Edmund about my regression since returning to reality. And I still hadn’t explained why Tailizes’s heart hadn’t been completely destroyed. It all seemed so absurd and unbelievable that I intended to teach him by showing him the time before my regression.
“Listen carefully, Edmund.”
I spoke quietly.
“This is ‘what really happened.'”
“…Pardon?”
Edmund watched the past me drinking my third cup of coffee and made an expression as if he’d had a terrible nightmare.
“I never returned to the Empire. I stayed at the Academy the whole time.”
“…Like that?”
“Yes.”
The time we were watching flowed rapidly forward.
Melissa never went to the Convent and lived happily surrounded by many men at Prelai Manor. Sezare Levin conducted various secretive activities in the Capital. All the while, he continued sending research sponsorship funds to the Academy. When the Dean pointed to those sponsorship records saying “This person will pay more if we push him harder. Let’s try pushing more,” Edmund’s mouth even fell open in disbelief.
“This is so painful, Kiana.”
Edmund even staggered as he watched the past me, whose stomach was upset, dry heave before swallowing antacids.
“To think you lived like that continuously… I really thought you were enjoying yourself at the Academy…”
“The research was good, I’m telling you.”
And so I lived on with that vacant expression, working hard, until one day I was suddenly dragged away on charges of treason. Edmund stared blankly as I was hauled away, cursing.
“That was the ‘real past,’ Edmund.”
I explained quietly.
“And what you were doing at that time was…”
Following my signal, Piyak transported us to Sezare at that moment. Sezare Levin, covered in demon blood, was destroying the heart fragment.
“…Ah.”
Only then did Edmund, realizing the secret of the heart fragment showing approximately 70% damage, let out a low exclamation.
“You rewound time.”
I explained with a slight smile.
“At that moment, you failed to summon the Spirit, but with Princess Seliet’s help after making contact in the Spirit Forest, you discovered that Arun held some secret. So you moved directly to Arun. However, it took an enormous amount of time to traverse there and back while fighting through the monsters.”
And Piyak transported us again to the prison where Melissa and I had been held. Melissa was screaming with wild eyes that she didn’t want to die, that she would rewind time.
“And so, thanks to you, I returned one year into the past just before my execution….”
“Ah.”
“And all of this came to pass.”
A brief silence fell between us. The Spirit broke that silence.
【Wow, that’s truly moving! Kiss her, kiss! Now’s the moment!】
“Just a moment.”
I gently soothed the Spirit.
“First, we must finish what needs to be done, whether we do it or not.”
【Huh?】
“Now, let’s leave this heart fragment here and depart.”
Suddenly, time in the prison froze. Even the footsteps of the soldiers coming to retrieve Melissa and me stopped dead in the air. And within the time-frozen prison, a brief silence fell.
The Spirit blinked blankly for a moment, trying to grasp the situation. Edmund was the one who understood my meaning faster.
“…Then time in this place ends here, does it not? Since you have regressed and caused a different timeline to progress….”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I answered with a confident smile.
“So if we leave this heart fragment here and depart to our own timeline, Roki’s soul will wander this timeline eternally.”
【After all, I can only travel to timelines I’m aware of. This is a common manifestation condition for spacetime travel.】
Piyak had certainly said that in all spacetime travel, one could only go to timelines one was aware of. In other words, Piyak was able to come here because he was aware of all the timelines he had regressed through.
But Roki’s heart fragment doesn’t know about my regression. So if we simply leave that heart fragment here, it won’t recognize the other timeline, and unable to move independently from our timeline, it will exist only here.
“Let him try all the time travel he wants here.”
I spoke coldly.
“He’ll only see the future where his daughter Melissa is betrayed by Dolores, day and night.”
In fact, Dolores had promised Roki that she would look after Melissa. But that was a lie. Rather, when Hitten showed interest in Melissa, she tormented her in various ways, and ultimately tried to frame her for treason and have her executed.
In this timeline, Melissa only suffers torment and ultimately meets a bad ending. So Roki continuing to wander in this timeline itself would be a punishment. So, opposite to how Eli and Ed once used the Spirit to pull Otson from the past into the present, I pulled the heart from the present into the past.
【Ah!】
The Spirit clapped as if enlightened.
【Then we don’t need to destroy it at all! It’s like imprisoning it in a spacetime that no longer exists! It might even be more agonizing than being trapped in eternal tragedy and fading away!】
And the Spirit looked at me with an expression of admiration.
【Wow, you’re truly ruthless. Exacting revenge without mercy?】
“Thank you for the compliment.”
I bowed gracefully. The Spirit tilted its head and added.
【But…. Moving this here and leaving means… that lark summoned beast must continue to be aware of this timeline. That would require an enormous amount of power, wouldn’t it?】
“Ah, that’s all been arranged as well.”
Piyak and I looked at each other and smiled slightly.
【To maintain this disappeared timeline, Piyak must pour most of his power into it before we leave.】
Piyak explained while fluttering his wings.
“So like before, when I return to reality, I’ll only be able to manage letter deliveries. But Kiana and I have agreed that’s fine.”
“Really? You’re going to use all that incredible power just for revenge and call it done? Not even for kissing?”
“Just revenge, you say.”
I answered with a stern expression.
“I’m intelligent enough to live well on my own. What matters most to me is exacting merciless vengeance on the one who caused all of this.”
【…She’s really ruthless. I hope she’s not refusing to kiss that man.】
Piyak and I simply shrugged our shoulders.
Using nearly all of Piyak’s power for revenge had been my suggestion from the start, and Piyak agreed. As I said, Piyak and I have lived well all this time with just letter deliveries. So it was fine to pour all our other strength into revenge.
And….
【If my summoned spirit possessed the same power as me… it would require tremendous restraint to live well. I… found that very difficult. That’s why I hoped my descendants wouldn’t fully understand my summoned spirit’s abilities.】
I could genuinely empathize deeply with what Elika Prelai said.
【It’s not purely a blessing, is it? That’s why I feel sorry for you.】
Truly, it wasn’t purely a blessing. Being able to go to the past whenever I wanted also meant I could constantly escape from reality. Even for me, knowing my family was waiting, I couldn’t tear myself away from Mother’s memories.
If the scene of Mother leaving her parents’ graves hadn’t appeared in the past, I might have been trapped in the past forever with thoughts of “just a little more, just a little more”—the way Roki never escaped from past memories.
Of course, I was fine now, but what if later in life, when I faced various hardships, I kept trying to escape reality and return to the past? That would be far too much like a narcotic refuge. I knew this better than anyone because I had experienced it.

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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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