A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 73

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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 73
For three months, I sat quietly on the hill, gazing at the Clock Tower throughout the afternoons.
Yet Edmund found this unwavering dedication strangely captivating, and he watched over me from afar each day. Even when Orca, my sword master, suggested we practice at the Imperial Palace Training Grounds since summer had arrived, I insisted the Outdoor Training Grounds were superior.
But then, one day, I simply stopped coming. Edmund felt an inexplicable sense of loss.
And several months later.
A Professor from Riloni Academy came again to promote a “structure that changes color based on precipitation probability.” This time, I triumphantly thrust a pile of parchment at him.
The Professor gasped in astonishment.
“Goodness! Such mad talent and stubborn determination—what a peculiar young woman!”
Only then did Edmund realize I had uncovered the Clock Tower’s secret and no longer needed to visit the hill.
“Then you could also decipher this structure’s principles? There’s a hint in the design of the uppermost section.”
My eyes blazed with competitive fervor once more.
Edmund, enchanted on the spot, purchased the structure. He declared he would pay five times the price to have it installed exclusively in the Empire’s Imperial Palace. After drawing up the contract, Edmund ordered it installed beside the Clock Tower, remarking the structure looked rather hideous.
For several months afterward, Edmund could see me daily again. Whenever he observed me lost in thought, he felt an odd sensation stirring within him.
He approached me as if by chance and struck up a conversation.
“Princess, but why are you so curious about this? What do you intend to use it for?”
I offered a perfunctory bow and answered with utter disinterest.
“I’m simply curious, Your Highness. Even if it’s pointless.”
“Doesn’t it exhaust you, sitting there thinking continuously like that? How can you concentrate so intensely?”
“I simply do it, Your Highness. Difficult as it may be.”
I answered curtly, radiating an unmistakable aura of being disturbed. Had he not been the Crown Prince, I would have plainly told him to leave.
Since I had answered “simply,” Edmund feared I might not return if he pressed further, so he refrained from bothering me. Yet his gaze lingered on my sullen expression as I furrowed my brow and worked through lengthy equations.
‘Ah, I truly wish to care for her. I want to meddle. She must be cold—I’d like to drape a blanket over her. I want to feed her something delicious.’
That thought ultimately converged into one.
‘…I want to keep seeing that girl.’
Before long, Edmund had grown fond of that sullen young woman, and only later did he realize he found her rather admirable.
‘Of course, her personality is somewhat cold and distant….’
In truth, no one cared about the operating principles of magical artifacts that held no practical value even if a noble lady understood them. What he found beautiful was her pure conviction—that she could immerse herself so completely in pondering something so utterly useless.
‘Of course, I can’t even expect her to be gentle….’
Wanting to converse with me, Edmund even began attending mathematics and science lectures diligently. Researching shared interests to grow closer to someone you care for was the most basic approach, after all.
But from age thirteen onward, I openly expressed my affection for Lord Rodrigo. Edmund possessed such rigidly correct values that he believed if you cared for someone, you must respect and support what they desired. So he ultimately never expressed his own feelings.
He merely thought of me when he ate something delicious, and wished to share beautiful things with me. Whenever he gathered courage to take a step closer, I would flee without even meeting his eyes….
Yet he thought it sufficient to simply watch from afar. I didn’t want him, and he didn’t wish to pressure me with his authority. Besides, Lord Rodrigo was Edmund’s closest friend, so he couldn’t confide his feelings to anyone.
Time continued to pass. The Emperor fell ill, the Imperial Palace began severely restricting outsiders, and Riloni Academy’s product promotions ceased.
“Didn’t you mention fireworks next time? What a shame. I wanted to see them once.”
I mentioned this in passing to the Professor during his final visit, and he agreed, attempting to sell fireworks to the Ducal Family. But for reasons unknown, the deal fell through. All Edmund could do was quietly summon the Professor and purchase fireworks in bulk under the pretense of his birthday banquet.
‘My mood has been poor because of the summoned beast, so I hope this lifts her spirits….’
Hearing rumors of fireworks being set off, Edmund believed that even I, who disliked banquets, would remain in the Banquet Hall until then.
While the fireworks burst overhead, couldn’t he naturally bring up magical engineering and have a conversation? And if he suggested sharing refreshments during that time, it would be even more natural. I seemed so fragile—couldn’t he also suggest exercise?
‘Princess, even if you love another man, I love you.’
Perhaps he could stop tormenting Melissa and focus on what the Princess did well, indulging in a bit of meddlesome concern.
‘If only the Princess would take better care of herself….’
However, his seventeenth birthday banquet, prepared solely for Kiana, never came to pass, and he reached adulthood in a foreign land without speaking a single one of the stories he had prepared.

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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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