A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 6

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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 6
After that, I began preparing for my outing while sipping the coffee the Spy Maid had prepared.
My room hadn’t changed much from six years ago. Since my body hadn’t grown significantly since I was sixteen, all the clothes in my wardrobe still fit me. They were all from six years prior, but it didn’t matter—I’d always had my own fashion philosophy that didn’t follow trends.
“Um… Young Miss, should I choose a hair ornament from these?”
“Yes. This one.”
The Spy Maid fastened a checkered ribbon to my hair with an uncertain expression.
I gazed at my reflection in the mirror, lost in thought.
My goal today was to build a new relationship with Grandfather after meeting him for so long. To transform our awkward dynamic into one where we could converse openly and naturally.
‘To do that, I’ll need to start by doing something impressive—something that can offset all the trouble I’ve caused over the years.’
I had devised a plan to achieve this.
Since Grandfather was also of the Prelai Family, he naturally kept a summoner. It was a black hawk the size of my body, named Hou.
While analyzing the original work, I discovered something peculiar. Naturally, summoners and their summoners are almost always together, but after I left for the Academy, Hou never appeared in the original work again. Whenever Grandfather appeared in the original, he was always alone. Only when Grandfather was dragged away for treason did Hou suddenly appear.
Hou had limped out from the Greenhouse in the Garden and cried out.
Screech!
Though unable to support its own body, it was consumed with the desire to follow its master being taken away.
The description wasn’t detailed. At that time, Melissa was also being captured, so Hou was of no concern. Besides, Hou had emerged from the Greenhouse in the Garden—a corner of the Estate that even the household staff rarely visited.
Hou’s ability was none other than ‘purification.’ It could absorb and purify any poison. However, Hou was merely more resistant to poison than humans—it couldn’t achieve perfect detoxification instantly. Usually, after absorbing poison, it would undergo a recovery period on its own.
‘When I left for the Academy, Hou was perfectly fine. It hasn’t been seen since then.’
I recalled that large black hawk and pondered deeply.
‘Then could it have absorbed a poison so lethal that it couldn’t detoxify itself over seven years?’
It could be some other chronic illness, but that seemed most likely.
If I was meeting Grandfather this afternoon, I had roughly six hours remaining. Enough time, but not comfortably so.
I downed the rest of my coffee and stood up. There was somewhere I needed to go first—to look good for Grandfather and to find the man I needed to help.
“Young Miss, where shall I take you?”
The Spy Maid asked carefully. I answered lightly as I climbed into the carriage.
“Rauditan 12th Street.”
“Pardon? That place is…”
“Yes.”
I helpfully dug into the Spy Maid’s ear as I spoke.
“We’re going to our useless second brother’s place—that eternal teenage brat Joshua.”
* * *
Rauditan Street was lined with magnificent and luxurious estates. Among them, the owner of the most expensive and grandest mansion was Joshua Prelai.
The wall surrounding that estate was quite low, so one could see Joshua sitting leisurely in his elegant garden, sipping tea. Many passersby would stop and gawk at the sight. Just watching Joshua’s angelic face made time pass pleasantly, and the things he wore were of the highest quality, making it entertaining to observe.
“Look at that. From head to toe, nothing but luxury. The logos embedded in everything are enormous.”
“If you added up everything he’s wearing, you could buy an ordinary house.”
Surely every detail of his appearance would be featured in the capital’s finest gossip column, “Lorelai,” without question.
There was something else that caught people’s eyes.
“Is that… a summoner?”
“The kind everyone in the Prelai Family is said to have…”
A green snake was coiled around one of Joshua’s arms—his summoner. Moreover, jewelry adorned with gems hung along the snake’s body. It was a display of truly remarkable wealth.
“Perhaps that Summoner’s ability is to sniff out money? Otherwise, there’s no way someone so young could accumulate such absurd wealth.”
The bystanders who had come to gawk at Joshua’s extravagance whispered among themselves in admiration.
“What good is having so much money when no one knows where it came from? It must be dirty money. That’s why the House of Prellay released him, isn’t it?”
“Right. Look closely—his clothes are nothing but luxury items plastered with logos. It’s less about taste and more like some kind of message. Is it an inferiority complex trying to buy recognition with money?”
That was when it happened.
“Huh, what’s that?”
Even Joshua, who had been savoring the gazes of the bystanders and passersby, widened his eyes. A carriage bearing the crest of the House of Prellay had arrived.
【What the—why is a Prellay carriage showing up here?】
The Snake Summoner whispered in surprise. Joshua furrowed his brow and replied.
“It’s fine. At least it’s not Alex coming for my head. Alex doesn’t ride in carriages.”
Then he tilted his head and muttered.
“…But who could it be?”
Soon the carriage door opened, and someone no one had anticipated stepped out. Joshua’s eyes widened.
‘Kiana?’
His younger sister, whom he hadn’t seen in six years, but he recognized her instantly. As his eyes traced her fashion sense—checkered patterns from head to toe—his brow furrowed.
‘Why hasn’t she grown taller? She’s so gaunt, and why is her skin so pale?’
In other words, her appearance hadn’t changed much from six years ago. She approached Joshua with a bewildered expression and spoke calmly.
“Brother, congratulations on your self-made success—scraping together money like a miser, though you’re late.”
Her doll-like cute appearance contrasted sharply with her indifferent expression and unguarded manner of speaking.
“You look exactly like a attention-seeking nouveau riche, but honestly, I’m not surprised since you seemed destined to turn out this way from childhood.”
After finishing her words, Kiana thrust a shopping bag at Joshua with a thunk.
“Anyway, this is a gift. It’s impolite to come to a housewarming empty-handed.”
Kiana was, after all, well-versed in aristocratic etiquette. Joshua reluctantly accepted the shopping bag. Inside was a checkered vase.
‘…That’s hideous.’
【Hiss!】
Though Joshua’s thought remained unspoken, the Snake Summoner’s mutter reached Kiana’s ears. Kiana looked at the Snake Summoner with an unfazed expression and spoke.
“You’re a Summoner who doesn’t understand the beauty of right angles. It’s as pretty as a coordinate plane, but… well, ignorance isn’t a sin.”
Then she arrogantly lifted her chin and turned away.
Her gaze shifted toward the bystanders who had been peeking over Joshua’s Wall. Then she rolled up the magazine “Lorelai” she was holding and hurled it at the forehead of the bystander who had just said Joshua was suffering from an inferiority complex.
“Ow!”
While that bystander clutched their forehead and staggered, Kiana spoke in a clear, ringing voice.
“Hey, let me say one thing.”
The bystanders, suddenly facing Kiana, flinched in surprise.
“My brother doesn’t cover himself in luxury goods with logos because of some inferiority complex.”
Speaking in a tone of genuine indignation, she wore an exasperated expression as she continued.
“It’s not about some hidden message—it’s just his taste. He just has a shallow personality that wants to show off his money to everyone. Didn’t you notice he deliberately kept the wall low?”
And she finished with a smug expression.
“So if you came to see Joshua brag about his money, shut your mouths, watch quietly, and get lost. Don’t make up stories about other people’s affairs and tear them down out of jealousy.”
Kiana, who had created an eerie atmosphere in an instant, turned her head with an arrogant expression to look at Joshua. And she spoke with conceit.
“My heart is trembling because I’m nervous speaking so carefully in front of all these people after so long.”
“Softly, softly…?” In that instant, everyone’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment—did this lady truly not understand what “softly” meant?
“Honestly, it irritates me when people babble about things they don’t even comprehend. I have a nature that pursues truth above all else.”
Kiana added irritably.
“I happen to be extremely close with the editor-in-chief of Lorelai, so I’ll make sure only those without skeletons in their closets speak ill of Joshua. Unless you’d prefer your dirty secrets exposed all over Lorelai.”
The crowd flinched, shielding their faces. Lorelai was a gossip rag that indiscriminately exposed people’s scandals—once your name appeared there, you were utterly ruined.
“…Just close your mouth and come inside, you hopeless wretch of a sister. It’s been six years since we’ve seen each other.”
Joshua sighed and dragged Kiana deeper into the Estate.
“If I keep listening to you talk, my ears will go numb from the pressure.”
Kiana couldn’t help but retort.
“That’s not because of my words—it’s because of the pressure differential.”
Joshua glanced at Kiana and muttered under his breath.
“…I wish magical engineering had never been invented.”

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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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