A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 210

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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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Commemoration of Webtoon Adaptation
Side Story Episode 13
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Scari, who had entered the Palace alongside Edmund, swiftly handled the matter.
The moment the stone bearing Tailizes’ seal was shattered, the Emperor immediately threw off his illness and rose to his feet.
The Emperor promptly ordered Dolores’ arrest, though he formally added that leniency would be granted if she confessed the full details truthfully.
However, when Dolores faced the soldiers, she mistakenly believed they had come to arrest her over yesterday’s picnic incident and cried out in panic.
“I-I don’t know the details! Why, because… this was planned by Hitten… of course, Hitten was also merely manipulated by those around him! Please, I beg for mercy, for compassion….”
Thus Hitten was arrested as well.
Hitten, who had been holed up alone in the Prince’s Palace muttering “I won’t get caught… they’re all dead anyway…,” suddenly became a criminal.
The Emperor was about to execute them both for attempted regicide against the Imperial family, but changed his mind at the last moment.
“I have suffered greatly from prolonged illness. For the sake of the Empire, and so that Edmund could marry safely, I gritted my teeth and endured. There were more than one or two times I wished I were simply dead.”
Fury rippled across his piercing blue eyes.
“I wish to make them pay a price far more agonizing than death itself.”
“Your Majesty, then please send them to the Prelai Duchy. That place is always in need of laborers.”
Scari answered immediately.
“I had originally intended to send Melissa there as well. However, since it would appear unseemly for one bearing the blood of House Prelai to perform labor in the Prelai Duchy, I have reluctantly decided to send them to the Convent instead, where they shall undertake the most arduous service.”
Throughout all this, Edmund anxiously gnawed at his lower lip. He still had no knowledge of Kiana’s whereabouts.
Intellectually, he understood that Scari’s approach was the best course. His role was to remain here, compiling a list of places Kiana might go, while the three men of House Prelai searched on foot.
Scari, a capable patriarch who had long led his household, moved with the most rational answers despite the shock of Kiana’s disappearance.
Though Edmund followed his counsel, the countless truths being revealed felt as though they belonged to someone else entirely.
‘Where could she be… among the places the Princess and I visited, where did she say she particularly enjoyed… or rather, where did she mention wanting to visit even in passing? Ah! I had already prepared a list of magical engineering exhibitions being held this year—could it be one of those?’
While Edmund was lost in thought, a servant cautiously approached.
“Excuse me, Crown Prince.”
“…What is it?”
“Are you perhaps hungry… You haven’t eaten anything since around lunch yesterday. Shall I bring you some refreshments? Your favorite chocolate chip cheesecake and a blueberry strawberry shake topped generously with whipped cream, or a meat pie filled with various meats tossed in sauce….”
“That’s enough.”
Edmund shook his head.
“It was never about eating because I was hungry. I enjoyed eating delicious things… but right now I can’t taste anything.”
Still, he needed to eat and regain his strength to keep his mind sharp until he found Kiana. Edmund instructed them to simply prepare a plain chicken breast salad without dressing, saying everything tasted like sand anyway.
The Emperor stared blankly at this sight.
“…Ed? Did you just… refuse food?”
“That… the poison caused me to lose my sense of taste….”
“You’re going to succeed at dietary control, something you failed at for 3 years despite singing about dieting?”
The Emperor’s pupils trembled, already worried that Edmund might be rejected by Kiana.
Though Edmund’s active pursuit had resulted in a successful engagement with Kiana, everyone in the Empire knew that the person Kiana had first loved was Lord Rodrigo.
When asked why she liked Lord Rodrigo, Kiana had once answered in passing, “His appearance….”
Lord Rodrigo’s appearance didn’t seem particularly exceptional, but at least he wasn’t portly. In other words, the Emperor had always been anxious that Edmund might ultimately fail at marriage because of his appearance. This anxiety was compounded by his failure to diet for three years.
“Wait, hold on.”
Suddenly Scari furrowed his brow and tilted his head in confusion.
“That’s… a fragment of Tailizes stone that hasn’t been destroyed yet, isn’t it? It’s a very small piece, but it still remains. I suspect that breaking this last piece might restore His Highness the Crown Prince’s sense of taste.”
At those words, both Edmund and the Emperor stared intently at the stone fragment.
Because of that stone fragment, for the first time Edmund could escape the temptation of food—
From that very gluttony that had allowed him to maintain his large frame despite his tremendous physical exertion—
“Wait, just a moment.”
The Emperor breathed heavily and murmured.
“Let me think about this for a bit.”
“Yes… of course.”
Edmund readily agreed as well. After all, he had always been conscious of Lord Rodrigo and harbored thoughts of losing some weight.
Kiana had said it was because of Lord Rodrigo’s eye color, but the diminished self-esteem from his long unrequited love always made him appear shabby in her presence.
Moreover, as Kiana cared for him and fed him various things, her once-thin frame had gained weight beautifully, making her even more lovely.
She had always been the most beautiful in his eyes, but lately it was nearly impossible to look away. After the engagement, he had held her hand trembling for the first time, and that soft touch nearly sent his entire body springing upward.
But then, he suddenly noticed the shadow of the two of them holding hands so carefully.
Edmund had grown considerably taller since he was seventeen, towering over Kiana, and with his added weight, he had truly become what could be called a “large frame.”
Kiana was smaller than the average woman and still underweight, so the physical difference between them grew increasingly pronounced with each passing day.
Kiana always said his pale, plump flesh was “cute,” but now it seemed he had passed the age where that could truly be called cute anymore—
“I… I should at least think about it until the wedding ceremony.”
Edmund spoke with determination.
He had never forgotten the image in the crystal ball that a certain Gypsy had shown him one day when he was sixteen.
In it stood a tall, slender man with black hair and refined features. It meant that Kiana’s taste in men was for that type of man.
Kiana had smiled at that man with such affection.
What if she didn’t make that expression at their wedding ceremony?
“Then I shall return to my room for a moment.”
With that, Edmund voluntarily gave up regaining his sense of taste and spoke slowly.
“In my room, there is an exhibition list that the Princess said she wanted to visit in the future. If we find the Princess among the three places they visited, that would be fortunate, but it’s possible we won’t, so it would be best to bring the list and search for the next location.”
In any case, the most important thing now was finding Kiana’s whereabouts. According to Scari, she was simply at a place she had wanted to go, but he couldn’t help but worry.
“Yes, Ed.”
The Emperor nodded slowly.
“Go ahead and return. While you’re there, eat some of that dressing-free chicken breast salad as well. Duke, why don’t you eat something too while we wait? Join me.”
Of course, all three of them had lost their appetite, but they thought they should eat something regardless—a decision born from the realization that finding Kiana would likely be a long undertaking.
‘Princess… I want to see her…’
It had been far too long since he’d seen her. They used to meet every single day, yet now more than a month had passed without seeing her.
With that, Edmund headed to his room with a face full of melancholy.
But the moment Edmund arrived at his room—
“…Huh?”
Edmund stood dumbfounded and rubbed his eyes. And without thinking, he murmured.
“A hallucination… is it also the poison’s effect?”
Remarkably, Kiana was sitting on his bed.

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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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