A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 181

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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 20
Side Story 3. Childhood
Kiana arrived at the Crown Prince’s Palace early in the morning.
“Look at this for a moment, Ed.”
Her expression was more serious than ever as she held a report on the Imperial Magic Engineering Academy’s space-time construction.
“Wait a moment, Kiana. Let’s have something to eat first. I can tell you haven’t had breakfast.”
Edmund seated the serious-faced Kiana at the table. Then, playfully placing a slice of apple into her mouth, he said:
“Eat while you talk. You know what I’m sensitive about, don’t you, Kiana?”
Edmund’s greatest goal remained ‘keeping Kiana well-fed and well-rested.’ Knowing this all too well, Kiana chewed the apple while flipping through the report. It was faster to eat quickly and continue the conversation than to whine about not wanting to eat.
“Here, page 45, second paragraph.”
Kiana pointed to a number with her finger as she spoke.
“The unit is wrong here.”
“Hmm?”
Edmund raised his eyebrows and blinked. Kiana poured out words like a waterfall.
“I think they confused h and b, which caused this mistake. To prevent such problems in the future, I think we should include the international standard unit system in the very first part of the curriculum.”
“I see. You’re right. And try some of this too.”
Having finished her business, Kiana obediently accepted what Edmund offered and began eating. She blinked her eyes as she added:
“I actually discovered this last night and wanted to send Piyak, but it was so late that it seemed rude. So I waited until this morning.”
“I see.”
“I thought about sending a letter this morning, but I felt more comfortable coming to tell you in person. These kinds of issues need to be settled properly.”
“You did well.”
Edmund chuckled softly and brushed her cheek.
In fact, Edmund had also discovered this error last night. So this morning, he had written a letter beginning with ‘Princess, I was thinking of correcting the unit error in the second paragraph of page 45 on my end.’
However, he didn’t write the next sentence and simply discarded it. According to the spy maid Alice’s report, Kiana hadn’t been eating breakfast well lately and was lying in a dark room with blackout curtains until noon. And there was no one at Prelai Manor who could match Kiana.
Well, Edmund couldn’t match Kiana either, but he could at least get her up voluntarily and feed her breakfast.
“Since you’re here at the Imperial Palace, shall we take a walk?”
The Imperial Palace was vast, so Edmund always suggested walks whenever Kiana visited.
Originally, Edmund always went to find Kiana, but on those days she would never leave the research lab at Prelai Manor, so Edmund changed his strategy. On days when she didn’t leave the research lab and only conducted magical engineering research, her food intake would drop significantly.
“No.”
Kiana stretched and shook her head.
“It’s bothersome. I’m going home to finish the experiment I was working on yesterday.”
At those words, Edmund sighed quietly to himself. He wondered if he’d been inviting her to the Imperial Palace too often lately. It seemed her curiosity about taking walks in the Imperial Palace Garden was reaching its limit.
Edmund tidied Kiana’s hair and muttered bitterly.
“I think it was a grave mistake for the Duke to build a research lab at Prelai Manor.”
When Edmund returned to the Imperial Palace, Levin Manor in the Capital was naturally disposed of. Along with it, Kiana’s research lab disappeared as well.
“Why… dispose of it? Your Highness doesn’t need the money, so why are you trying to dispose of it so quickly?”
“Because the research lab still exists.”
Of course, everything was done according to Edmund’s plan.
“We need to naturally eliminate that place. Otherwise, she’ll keep holing herself up there.”
Edmund was now the Crown Prince, and he couldn’t stay by Kiana’s side all day like before. But to entrust such a place to Kiana? At the same time, a healthy life for Kiana would slip further and further away.
After that, Hyde had a research lab built for me in the Prelai Manor, which was actually better. At least many people could come knocking on the door and shout at me to eat.
But even so, no one in that household could match Kiana’s temperament, so Edmund’s greatest concern these days was ‘how can I get Kiana to exercise naturally without triggering her resistance.’
‘And now I can’t even naturally suggest a stroll through the Imperial Palace either….’
Edmund smiled gently while internally groaning and wracking his brain.
“If it weren’t for the research lab at the Prelai Manor, Kiana wouldn’t have just finished her business and left me like this… Or I wish the facilities had been worse.”
“The environment isn’t even that much better than the research lab at Levin Manor. So why did you sell Levin Manor?”
Kiana protested in a resentful voice.
“It was a place where we had so many memories! How could you sell it so callously? Hm? We spent so much time together there.”
“Well… that’s true. It did hurt my heart a bit since it was a place where Kiana and I spent so much time together.”
Despite the bright morning sunlight streaming through the window, Edmund casually uttered suggestive words.
“But from now on, I’ll be more passionate in many more diverse places, so I decided not to dwell on it.”
“….”
“Well, if I suddenly miss it too much, I’ll just prepare a similar desk and lab coat….”
“Ah, please. Ed, it’s 9 in the morning—is that really something you should say with such a composed face?”
“Even if it’s 9 in the morning, I still want to.”
“Want to what!”
“Talk?”
“….”
“That’s a lie. Kiss?”
Watching Kiana’s ears turn red, Edmund laughed mischievously to himself.
“That’s a lie too. Actually… mmph!”
Eventually, Kiana covered his mouth with her small hand. Then she narrowed her eyes and spoke.
“Don’t change the subject. I mean… we spent a lot of time together there even before we did those kinds of things. Ah, not eating each other up. It’s a similar phrase but the nuance is completely different.”
Kiana, who had once again stopped Edmund’s cheeky joke, added while rolling her eyes.
“I was talking about something more pure-hearted.”
“Pure-hearted?”
“I mean, while we were researching together… since Ed was harboring unrequited love for me, you must have been so attentive to me the whole time. Watching over me from behind, getting excited, yearning. The research lab is a place where those pure moments are embedded!”
“…Ah.”
At those words, Edmund blinked as if he had realized something.
“Wait, Kiana. I’m just realizing this too….”
Then he kissed Kiana’s hand that was covering his mouth and smiled softly.
“I think I understand now why I didn’t attach much meaning to those times.”
“What?”
“Those times were actually so common in my memories… There were far too many similar spaces to call it a place filled with special pure love.”
Edmund slowly closed and opened his eyes. Did this lovely fiancée of his know that unrequited love, if prolonged enough, eventually destroys oneself?
In childhood, he watched from behind with such persistence. She would never know how much that prickly girl’s back—the one who loved his friend—tormented him. It was something that simply couldn’t be explained in words. He loved Kiana madly and wanted to share everything, but back then he didn’t even dare hope to be understood.
“I haven’t talked much about that time, have I?”
He gazed intently at Kiana’s bewildered face.
The reason he hadn’t spoken about how desperately he yearned for her back then was because it was a memory of failure. It was a time when she didn’t care for him at all, so he thought bringing it up wouldn’t be particularly attractive to Kiana.
But if at least Kiana could attach meaning to that space in this way….
“If you’re curious about my sincerity, I could tell you about those days in childhood when I burned with longing behind the Princess. There are plenty of spaces filled with such petty, aching memories of yearning alone.”
Curiosity flickered in Kiana’s eyes.
“For example, the Imperial Palace Theater…”
“The Imperial Palace Theater? What happened there?”
As expected, Kiana remembered nothing. Well, that was the fate of unrequited love—he didn’t mind. In any case, Edmund considered himself successful. When he naturally extended his hand, Kiana readily took it.
“Let’s go there and talk about it. There’s no performance today anyway, and it’s just a short walk from here.”
Thus Edmund succeeded in taking Kiana for a stroll. Of course, he would need to reveal some of those childhood tales of unrequited love that Kiana could never have imagined.

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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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