A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 163

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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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Side Story 2
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Sezare Levin no longer existed in this world. Therefore, the young Count Levin had also vanished. The Count Levin who reclaimed his title was a man over sixty years old, and I heard he was far more frail than Julius, lacking robust health.
It is truly an honor that you would grace the Levin Domain with your precious presence.
And Count Levin, upon hearing of our visit schedule, had even written us a letter with his trembling hands.
I wish to leave you both with wonderful memories, but I worry that Fernando still lacks maturity.
Edmund exhaled softly upon reading the letter, offering a faint smile. I asked with evident curiosity at the mention of the name “Fernando.”
“From what I gather, it seems this immature brat named Fernando might prevent you from leaving good memories. What does that mean?”
“An immature brat… he’s nineteen years old. He’s a child who will soon reach adulthood.”
“Then why did you use the word ‘worry’?”
“Well…”
Edmund answered with evident difficulty.
“He’s been designated as the next heir to the Levin Domain.”
“My?”
“As you know, Count Levin has no legitimate heir. So I entered as an adopted son and temporarily inherited the title… but now I can no longer continue the Levin Domain.”
Indeed, Edmund was now a man destined to inherit the Empire, not the Levin Domain.
“He was openly discussed as a successor candidate before Your Majesty appeared. He was also the Count’s grand-nephew.”
Ranaq interjected subtly.
“He’s quite an excellent person. However… during his formative years, he was overshadowed by Your Majesty’s brilliance… and that became somewhat of an issue.”
The young man named Fernando had originally been implicitly designated as the heir to the Levin Domain. But then Edmund suddenly appeared and seized even the adopted son position with his exceptional abilities.
Fernando naturally believed his position had been stolen by Edmund, so he ground his teeth and watched Edmund carefully. However, since Edmund had somewhere to return to anyway, he instead kept Fernando close and taught him various things. Even when Fernando temporarily ran away due to self-loathing and returned, Edmund did not turn him away.
“Do you perhaps not remember? That fellow ran away to Riloni Academy for a time.”
“What? He attended Riloni Academy?”
“Well, since he was younger, he would have been Kiana’s junior… I believe he spent about a year in the undergraduate program before returning.”
Just because someone was a junior at Riloni Academy didn’t mean I knew them all. Especially since he only attended for one year of undergraduate studies—how could I possibly know everyone like that? Riloni Academy had countless students who dropped out midway, crying that “magical engineering is truly difficult and exhausting!”
I shrugged to indicate I didn’t know, and Edmund chuckled before continuing.
“Well, he’s quite a decent fellow.”
From what Ranaq said, it seemed Fernando had been somewhat territorial toward Edmund, but Edmund remained composed.
“Only if I’m not around.”
Fearing that if he completely crushed Fernando’s spirit, it might threaten his authority in the Levin Domain later, Edmund had tactfully ignored Fernando’s misbehavior. Since he was serving as heir to a domain he would soon leave, Edmund must have had his own struggles at that time.
“I felt some debt to him. Without me, he would have grown up receiving recognition from childhood and lived comfortably.”
Edmund smiled gently as he spoke.
“If he were truly incompetent and worthless, I wouldn’t have held back, but he was still a successor well-suited to the Levin Domain.”
That seemed to be the truth. Ranaq nodded without any particular objection.
“In that sense, Fernando is also a victim. If none of this had happened, he wouldn’t have needed to bristle about temporarily losing his heir position to Sezare Levin.”
“That’s true. If none of this had happened, you wouldn’t have grown to be this impressive either.”
Thinking about that made me curious. If Edmund had remained as he was—acting like warm sunshine to everyone and only repeating “Princess, try this”—what kind of adult would he have become?
As I struggled to imagine it, Edmund’s hands had already begun slowly wrapping around my waist.
‘Hmm.’
Seeing those impatient hands, it seemed that once I made some excuse to send Ranaq out, things would get quite heated.
‘At least if he had grown up with a less gloomy disposition, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.’
Edmund was the type of man who, no matter how many times I told him to ease up on the physical contact, would coax and cajole me until he got his way. But if Edmund had grown up with the same upright nature he possessed before, he wouldn’t have become this smooth-talking pervert with so little shame. He had been a young man who couldn’t bring himself to hold me back even if I said just one word: “No, that’s enough.”
“He’ll probably act leisurely once he returns now. He must have realized he’s no longer someone I need to keep in check.”
Edmund spoke slowly, blinking his eyes.
“I’m thinking of treating him better too. I did overlook some things, but I was quite sharp and cruel during my time in the Levin Domain.”
“That’s right, Your Highness.”
Ranaq chimed in with an uncanny sense of timing.
“Everyone’s going to be so surprised. Just seeing the expression on Your Highness’s face when you look at the Princess will make them all jump back in shock.”
Edmund laughed silently. And from that face, I could read a strange sense of peace.
‘The Levin Domain…’
Just as I had spent my time at the Academy, Edmund had spent his time building his foundation alone in the Levin Domain.
It was a place that could be called his own domain—different from the Imperial Palace, but where his people were. The thought of heading there together somehow made my heart swell with emotion in an unexpected way.
* * *
Levin Castle.
A young man with jet-black hair and crimson eyes—still bearing a slight youthfulness to be called a youth—was receiving a report from his subordinates.
“…You’re saying she’ll visit soon with her fiancé, Princess Kiana Prelai?”
It was Fernando Levin, who had recently become the adopted son of Count Levin.
His gaze fixed on the name ‘Kiana Prelai,’ and he breathed heavily. Frustration and anger rippled across his face.
* * *
Around the time Kiana and Edmund were arranging their schedule to head to the Levin Domain, Dolores and Hitten had also begun their journey northward in a prisoner transport carriage.
Their crimes were not merely attempting to harm the Emperor and Crown Prince through dark magic. Over five years, they had manipulated the Imperial Court and profited handsomely in various sectors. They had accepted bribes to turn a blind eye to criminal organizations, and were implicated in all manner of corruption.
So the looks directed at them were far from kind. Throughout their transport, the discomfort was considerable, but they had to endure an overwhelming barrage of contemptuous stares.
“No… no…”
Hitten found it difficult to accept that he was being treated this way, sitting in the same carriage as other prisoners. Dolores had been placed in a separate transport carriage, so there was no way for him to communicate with her.
“I’m not someone who should be in a place like this!”
So Hitten, who had been nervously biting his nails, suddenly stood up and burst into anger. And another prisoner in the same carriage, who had been praying with a scripture before him, became irritated.
“Damn, you’re loud! Stop shaking the carriage and shut up! You’re distracting me from my prayers!”
“What did you say?”
“It must all be God’s will! Right?”
Hitten was about to cry out that it was disrespectful, but upon seeing the build of that prisoner, he quickly changed his approach and sat back down.
That man had committed terrible crimes, but after reading scripture in prison and being reformed, he had recently sworn never to use violence again. If not for that vow, Hitten might have already taken a blow.
“Something must have gone wrong…”
Hitten eventually hunched his body and ground his teeth.
“Absolutely, absolutely—this can’t all end so meaninglessly…”
And soon, the large prisoner, impressed by his own faith, began praying in a loud voice.
“Oh, oh, oh, our God, please return to us!”
It was then that a small note wedged into the corner of the prisoner transport carriage entered Hitten’s field of vision.
“Please show us foolish ones your will!”
Letting the thunderous prayer go in one ear and out the other, Hitten began to hiccup.
A note? A note here? Prisoners were not allowed any such things as notes or writing implements. So why was there a note here…?
“If my prayers reach you, please visit this place, even if only for a moment, and show me your presence!”
Hitten stumbled backward without even thinking to pick up the note, shaking his head frantically. He had no desire to touch it because of the unpleasant memories associated with notes. Yet despite himself, the writing inside the note came into sharp focus before his eyes.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh! Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
In the end, Hitten shrieked and thrashed his feet against the ground.
“God and all that nonsense, disappear! Don’t come! Go away! I’m telling you to go away!”
“No, this bastard! I’m in the middle of praying so hard, why are you disturbing me like this!”
And the prisoner whose prayers had been interrupted grew furious and immediately resorted to violence.

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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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