A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 17

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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 17
Grandfather gazed at me quietly and asked.
“…How did you think to save Hou? And how did you even know he was here?”
“I came to the Ducal Residence yesterday after a long time, and I happened to see him while passing through the Garden.”
I answered sincerely while finishing the last candy.
“To be honest, Hou and I aren’t really close. We still don’t have much of a relationship.”
【Kid, that’s true, but it stings a bit.】
Hou clicked his beak and interjected sulkily.
【When did you say you’d save me like that…. I was moved back then.】
I ignored Hou’s words and met Grandfather’s eyes confidently.
“But he’s someone precious to you. That’s why I decided to save him.”
At my words, Grandfather’s pupils wavered. It seemed that saving his summoned creature had quite an impressive effect.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment. Unable to bear it, Joshua interjected.
“But what’s all this?”
He nudged the empty stimulant bottles and candy wrappers I’d consumed while calculating earlier with his foot.
“Why are you drinking so much coffee?”
“It’s a habit, what else?”
I yawned casually and stretched.
“When you’re thinking hard, you need to stay alert…. What’s the big deal about this much?”
At that moment, Joshua and Grandfather exchanged glances.
Huh? Is something wrong?
“Kiana.”
Grandfather spoke in a solemn voice.
“Let’s discuss something else for a moment.”
“Yes? How long are you planning to thank me? If it goes over thirty minutes, even the best flattery will be exhausting.”
“There’s a different matter first.”
The touched expression from before had vanished, and Grandfather’s face had hardened once again.
When Grandfather gestured to the Spy Maid, she openly brought him a report. After scanning it with his eyes, Grandfather furrowed his brow deeply and thrust it toward me.
“Look at it yourself.”
Huh? Did I do something wrong? No matter how I think about it, I don’t seem to have done anything seriously wrong.
As I took the report, Joshua leaned over from beside me and read along. What Grandfather handed me was a report of my daily patterns observed by the Spy Maid. The content wasn’t long, so I finished reading quickly.
Joshua and I reacted simultaneously.
“Why is this a problem?”
“Are you insane?”
The contrasting reactions brought silence again.
But I genuinely couldn’t understand why this was such a big deal. As I blinked with a bewildered expression, the Spy Maid quickly lowered her head and spoke.
“Young Lady, you haven’t had a single proper meal until this hour today. Yet the amount of coffee consumed is….”
“But why is that a problem?”
“Moreover, the amount of coffee and stimulants you consumed while fixing Hou earlier was truly enormous….”
“But if my stomach hurts, I take antacids anyway, don’t I?”
When I answered nonchalantly, Joshua’s voice trembled with shock from beside me.
“Did you really live like this at the Academy too?”
“What are you talking about? If I lived that way, it would be a disaster.”
I waved my hand dismissively.
“If I slept whenever I felt like it and wandered around whenever I wanted, when would I write my thesis? Did you think theses just appear out of nowhere in an instant?”
It was an ordinary answer, but in that moment, shock flashed across Grandfather’s face, Joshua’s, and the Spy Maid’s. Joshua’s eyes widened as he cried out.
“Wait! Then how on earth did you survive at the Academy?”
If he asked, I had to answer.
“Well, you saw me doing quick calculations next to Hou earlier, right?”
I explained kindly.
“I spent about sixteen hours a day in the laboratory like that. Since I get sleepy when too full, I kept my meals minimal, just like before.”
Suddenly, there was a thud.
【Scari!】
Grandfather staggered with a look of disbelief and leaned against Hou’s body.
“Y-you just said….”
Well, if he didn’t understand, I should explain further.
“Since producing a thesis is far more difficult than that, I was locked in the laboratory without sleep or food.”
What was so remarkable about that? I elaborated in detail.
“I just pounded stimulants, coffee, and stomach medicine all day long.”
With a thump, Grandfather collapsed to his knees.
* * *
The Ducal Residence was nearly turned upside down. That Kiana, whom they had sent to the Academy six years ago, had lived as a machine for writing theses without eating or sleeping—no one had ever imagined such a thing.
Yet Kiana herself remained composed.
“That’s just how it is. I did it because I wanted to, you know? I love magical engineering. And the people at the Academy were very pleased when I researched like this.”
“That’s——”
Scari cried out as if coughing blood.
“That means they didn’t care for you at all!”
Joshua also cried out in disbelief.
“You lived like that for six years? You didn’t sleep at night, so you didn’t grow tall! You didn’t eat properly, so you became skin and bones! You didn’t see sunlight, so you’re this pale!”
Before the agitated Joshua and Scari, Kiana responded calmly.
“I told you. There was no time. The Academy’s performance presentations happen twice a year, so just meeting the quota was tight.”
“You filled that entire quota by yourself?”
“Yes.”
Kiana answered confidently.
“No one has as many ideas or executes them as well as I do. And I’m telling you again—I did it because I wanted to.”
“But….”
“Because I did that, the Dean and all the professors were desperate for me. They begged me to stay, saying this was where I belonged.”
A sudden emptiness flickered across Kiana’s usually composed eyes.
“If I wanted to truly belong somewhere, I had to earn the qualifications first. It was unavoidable.”
“What?”
“And I had to quickly build up my publication record to become a professor.”
Only Joshua was excited, while Kiana’s face remained utterly composed. She was subtly using past tense, but no one noticed.
“That’s the only way I could become a true member of the Academy… After all, being a student is just a temporary status, isn’t it?”
Scari stared blankly at Joshua and Kiana as if lost in a dream. Then he murmured vacantly.
“What… what did I miss, Kiana?”
I had known for some time that Kiana had been distancing herself from the family. The image of young Kiana, who would rush to hide in her room the moment I took a step closer, remained vivid in my memory.
“For you to become like that… there must be something I overlooked….”
Yet did she really have to stay at the Academy even while receiving such treatment? Surely no one at the Prelai Manor would have dared treat Kiana so carelessly.
‘What should I have done… how could I have handled this differently?’
In truth, simply holding onto the Duke’s position at my age was already a burden. I hadn’t even seen the face of my eldest son, the heir, in a long time. As my grandchildren grew older, they became increasingly unreliable.
Alex was strong but reckless, unfit to be a leader. Joshua cared too much for money and gossip to be worthy of nobility. Kiana had been called gloomy since childhood, had poor interpersonal skills, and spent all her time locked in her room. Melissa was weak-willed and indecisive, causing nothing but controversy among the young nobles.
I had to work harder to ensure that the Ducal House could remain stable for at least two or three generations, no matter which of these incompetent grandchildren inherited it.
‘I should have paid more attention… I wasn’t enough.’
That was when it happened.
“Wait, Kiana.”
Joshua hesitated, then seemed to remember what he wanted to say, opening his eyes wide. Now he recalled the original reason he had chased after Kiana all the way to the Prelai Manor.
“What exactly is that professor position to you that you abandoned your entire family and destroyed yourself for it?”
He even swept his hair back with an exaggerated gesture as if aggrieved.
“After you went to the Academy, you didn’t come back to the Manor even once in six years, and you didn’t even attend your own graduation ceremony.”
At those words, Kiana’s previously composed face changed.
“What? That’s… what are you talking about?”
Joshua continued indignantly.
“Then you suddenly appeared in the Empire one day, and we’re just grateful for that much… Did you really keep your family from visiting the Academy even once just to receive that kind of treatment?”
Kiana’s mouth fell open, her face clearly shocked. Joshua seized the moment and pressed on eagerly.
“You ignored all the letters too. Even when we sent ten letters a month, you only replied carelessly once every three months? We were so worried that we had to ask the professors about how you were doing!”
Kiana furrowed her brow. Then she responded with a somewhat shocked voice.
“…I replied to every letter I received from the Manor. It seems like they came once every three months. What do you mean ten letters a month?”
Even Scari’s eyes, who had been reflecting and regretting his entire life, snapped wide open. Kiana added hastily, breathing heavily.
“What do you mean about the graduation ceremony? Didn’t you all completely ignore the letter where I invited you to my graduation and my first thesis presentation?”
A brief silence fell.
Then Hou spoke quietly.
Someone intercepted the letters in the middle.
A clean summary of the situation.
Even if the letters didn’t arrive, they didn’t bother to clear up the misunderstanding, just thinking “Well, that’s how she’s always been.” It pierced right through the true nature of this dysfunctional family.

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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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