A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 169

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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 8
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Fernando lost his parents in childhood and lived with his uncle, Count Levin. Everyone assumed he would naturally become the heir, but then Sezare Levin appeared.
He swept through the barbarians in an instant, saved Count Levin, and naturally became adopted into the family. His achievements were extraordinary, and everyone in the Levin Domain followed him. Fernando himself inwardly acknowledged Sezare’s capabilities.
Yet feeling as though something had been stolen from him, Fernando treated Sezare with rudeness. Each time, Sezare would brush it off lightly with a generous smile, as if dealing with a real younger brother.
“After all, I too rose through my own abilities.”
He even told Fernando not to give up.
“If you work hard enough, you could become the heir to Levin too. So do your best.”
Fernando later realized this was Sezare’s way of training him to develop his own capabilities.
“It might sound strange to say this, but…”
Sezare would always chuckle softly while looking at Fernando.
“In many ways, you feel like my younger brother.”
Everyone acknowledged that the two bore some resemblance in appearance. Moreover, their habits and preferences were subtly similar, so they often made the same choices. Each time this happened, Fernando would bristle while Sezare paid it no mind.
In any case, Fernando constantly challenged Sezare, always lost, and this cycle repeated until one day he impulsively ran away.
It simply seemed like he would never surpass Sezare. That pain was unbearable. It hurt even more that Sezare shared so many things in common with him. It felt as though he had become an inferior version of Sezare.
Driven by impulse, he headed toward Riloni Academy, which was quite close to the Levin Domain. He chose it partly because he had some interest in magical engineering and partly because dormitory living was available.
‘…Even that, Sezare did better… No, he said he came from a nomadic background, so when did he even learn magical engineering?’
And at the freshman orientation, he saw Kiana Prelai for the first time. She gave a simple lecture for the new students, and it was so captivating.
“That senior… is apparently nineteen years old. She’s only three years older than us, but she’s already pursuing a doctoral degree. I heard she’s a true genius.”
Someone beside him whispered. Fernando couldn’t take his eyes off the petite, adorable woman who appeared even younger than himself and asked.
“Kiana Prelai? As in the House of Prelai?”
Such a question was inevitable. Kiana had her unkempt hair tied back tightly, her complexion looked haggard, and her clothes were covered in lint. No matter how he looked at it, such a disheveled woman didn’t seem like she could be the daughter of a great noble house in the Capital.
“The Princess of Prelai… is here looking like that?”
That was when Kiana’s jade-green eyes, having just finished her lecture, turned toward Fernando sitting in the front row. Despite her small stature, her commanding presence was immediately felt. She stared at him expressionlessly and opened her mouth.
“Hey.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m doing what I’m good at and what I love. Do you have some complaint about my appearance?”
“N-n-n-no, that’s not it!”
“Or is it a complaint about my surname being Prelai?”
“T-t-t-that’s not it either!”
“If it’s neither, then shut up and get out.”
And Kiana descended from the podium. Coffee stains remained on the hem of her lab coat as it fluttered and swayed.
Fernando watched her retreating figure for a long time. His heart pounded and his cheeks flushed.
He realized that his first love had arrived. And right then and there, he filled out an admission application.
* * *
Kiana was truly a promising talent at the Academy. The collaborative research projects she was conducting were impossibly numerous, and even the Dean stammered in front of her. As a first-year student who had just enrolled, Fernando couldn’t even approach her to speak, but he marveled daily at the incomprehensible papers she produced.
Of course, he also marveled while observing her usual behavior.
“No hot water? So you can’t drink coffee? What kind of nonsensical drivel is that? Before you set fire to that decorative mess on your head, light the alcohol lamp immediately!”
Usually, Kiana was either losing her temper, getting angry, or raising her voice.
“Ugh… am I really going insane? A request to divide eighty-two knights into five battalions of twenty each, carefully considering their abilities? Why is the client’s number sense so pathetic? Before I divide their limbs into five pieces, I’ll humiliate them and chase them out!”
However, most of the time she was holed up in the Research Lab with vacant eyes. Her clothing showed no concern for appearance whatsoever—the same checkered hairpin every single day, those hollow eyes and sharp gaze…
‘How could the Princess of House Prelai be so obsessed with such trivial matters?’
A noblewoman who had found what she truly loved and excelled at.
Fernando, who had been plagued by doubts about his own innate abilities, found himself helplessly captivated by her. Of course, he couldn’t actually tell her that directly—he feared it might cost him his life…
‘That’s right, I’ll work hard like the Princess and skip a grade too. Then I can enter the same Research Lab as her soon.’
But working hard didn’t guarantee skipping a grade. Kiana’s case was unprecedented even at the Academy. Skipping grades aside, it was difficult just to maintain a middle position in class. After one semester, many students began dropping out of the lower ranks.
“I’m just going back home. It’s gotten too hard and stopped being fun.”
“I didn’t like mathematics like this. I think I only enjoyed the introductory level.”
“Physics has no place in my future anymore. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
By the second semester, his grades fell further behind relatively. It was questionable whether he could even reach the level needed for a master’s degree, let alone skip a grade. Fernando barely managed to survive that first year.
The Academy had a program each year in the second half where students could request mentorship from senior students. Fernando wrote ‘Kiana Prelai’ as his desired mentor. Though he didn’t hold great expectations—everyone wanted Kiana as their mentor.
But the next day.
“You want to have a consultation with me?”
Kiana called him to the Research Lab with those vacant eyes.
“So… you’re Fernando, a first-year? Alright. What do you want to know?”
She rubbed her eyes, yawned once, then gulped down her coffee before asking.
Fernando nearly fainted facing her. As he hesitated, Kiana raised her eyebrows. Seeing her displeased expression, Fernando quickly blurted out.
“I-I’m sorry! My heart is just racing from meeting you like this…”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Kiana answered indifferently.
“Excessive adrenaline secretion. That’s the typical reaction when encountering a predator. You’re not the only one, so I understand. But since I’m busy, I’d appreciate it if you’d calm down quickly. I have a pile of other students waiting for consultations.”
“…Wouldn’t it be fine to reject some since you’re so busy? I heard you turn down that many research requests too…”
“Senior.”
“Yes?”
“What’s with calling me Princess? We’re both Academy students—call me senior.”
“Oh…”
“And I always accept all mentorship requests.”
It was to recruit any students considering graduate school, though Fernando didn’t know that at the time. He was even deeply moved, mistakenly thinking she was ‘warmer to her juniors than expected.’
So Fernando unknowingly opened up about his long-standing worries.
“I just… don’t seem to have any talent.”
“Hmm.”
Kiana let out a faint sigh at this very common concern she’d heard at least five hundred times before.
Fernando continued earnestly.
“Actually, what you said—senior, I mean—about ‘doing what you’re good at and love’ seemed so cool to me…”
“Did I say something like that? Well, let’s say I did.”
“Before coming to the Academy, I was pushed out of the position of heir to my Domain. Of course, I can challenge for it anytime… but that failed too, and now my grades here are below average…”
“Wait, wait.”
Kiana interrupted him.
“Failed? How is being pushed out of the heir position a failure?”
“What? Obviously because there’s someone better than me…”
“Still, you were second place there, weren’t you? That’s doing well. Do you think someone placing second here would be considered doing well?”
“…Ah.”
“So stop talking about it like it’s a failure, and do what you truly love.”
Kiana took another sip of her coffee and spoke matter-of-factly.
“The way you talk makes it sound like you ran away here because you couldn’t become the successor. The environment here is harsh—unless you genuinely love magical engineering, it’s difficult to last long.”
“….”
“The successor position? Either way, that’s something you can work toward. If it’s something you can work toward, then do it. If your goal is first place, you won’t achieve it here anyway. Because I’m here.”
“….”
It was truly a counseling method that showed no consideration for the other person’s feelings, yet it struck right at the heart of the matter.
Doing well and loving what you do…. Fernando wanted to become the successor to the Levin Domain. He wanted to take that position fairly, through legitimate means, by demonstrating his own abilities.
It was true that without Sezare, everyone acknowledged that his abilities were the most outstanding. So, according to Kiana’s words, he wasn’t a failure but rather ‘second place’.
But… if he returned to the Levin Domain, he wouldn’t be able to see Kiana.
“Well, my perfect counseling session is over now. Do you have any other questions?”
“…Senior, do you perhaps have no thoughts of marriage? You’ll be coming of age soon. Since you love the Academy, I wonder if you’ll meet a man like you here at the Academy….”
“Are you insane?”
Kiana made a horrified expression.
“A man like me? That would be the worst. I have no thoughts of romance, let alone marriage, but if I were to meet someone, it would be a man who’s my complete opposite.”
“…Um, perhaps someone younger….”
“Are you seriously telling me to date a minor right now? I’m about to come of age myself. Are you out of your mind?”
At that moment, a knock sounded at the door. It seemed the next student requesting mentorship was waiting. Fernando nodded and quickly stood up.
He would return to the Levin Domain. And he would challenge and challenge again until he became the successor. Because according to Kiana, that was something he could work toward. And once he became the successor to the Levin Domain and came of age, he would confess his feelings.
Having decided on his path this way, Fernando returned to the Levin Domain the next day. Sezare, Count Levin, and many people of the Levin Domain welcomed him with relaxed smiles, as if they had been waiting for him all along.

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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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