A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 85

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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 85
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That night.
After seeing Sezare off and turning back toward the manor, I encountered Joshua in the garden.
“Grandfather is still with Piyak. I’m heading home now.”
“Yeah, get going.”
“Did that bastard marquis leave?”
At my words, Joshua’s eyes widened like an axe as he glanced around nervously. It seemed he was wary of Sezare, so I told him not to worry and to go home and rest.
“Yeah, once you’re gone, that’s all I need.”
“That reckless bastard…”
Joshua narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“You like him, don’t you? The way you came running here was absolutely frantic.”
“I might like him. So what?”
That’s when the Spy Maid carefully approached and handed me a letter.
“Hmm?”
“Your Highness, a letter just arrived.”
Joshua craned his neck to look at the envelope. Surprisingly, it was from Avian Risineus.
“What does this bastard want now?”
Joshua snorted in irritation.
“Ah, I’ve rejected his invitations a few times, so now he’s sending a letter instead.”
After the banquet ended, I’d received a couple of invitations from Avian to visit Lord Risiniss’ Mansion. But I was too busy creating magical artifacts to go.
When I declined saying I was busy, he replied that it was fine to come late, but I still couldn’t make it. Every time he invited me, my experiments weren’t going well, so I was conducting research late into the night with Sezare and couldn’t visit at such late hours.
“Well, if it’s another invitation… maybe I should accept and visit this time.”
Since my busy work had ended, I thought it would be fine to accept the invitation, so I opened the letter—but the contents were unusual.
“Huh?”
“What?”
Joshua rudely stepped beside me and read the letter’s contents without permission. Then he glanced at me cautiously and asked belatedly.
“Is it okay if I read too?”
So I told him it was fine.
“You already read it all, and now you’re shamelessly asking after the fact.”
In any case, the contents of Avian’s letter were quite shocking to Joshua as well. The reason was that there had been a fire in the town house’s drawing room at Lord Risiniss’ residence today. An incense merchant had come to show his products when the fire broke out, and while the incense merchant agreed to pay several times the reconstruction costs, it would be difficult to receive guests for the time being.
Of all times, why did a fire have to break out today? In any case, there was no financial loss, which was fortunate, but he went so far as to send a lengthy letter saying, “I always invited you but was rejected, so I’m contacting you because I’m worried you might feel disappointed that I can’t invite you for a while.”
“He likes you.”
Joshua said it outright. I slowly nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, I think so too.”
At my words, Joshua made a face as if he’d had enough.
“Hey, normally you’d say something like, ‘No way~ he probably just wants to get closer to me~.'”
“Who? Melissa?”
My point was valid, so Joshua coughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Did you know that all the young ladies in the Capital have their eyes on Avian since he quit being Captain of the Guard?”
“How would I know? I don’t have any friends.”
I grumbled, but inwardly I had to admit it made sense. He had a good character, was the second son of a duke, had decent looks, and was physically fit. On top of that, he’d been the Captain of the Guard all this time, so there were no entanglements with other women.
“So in the end, you’d have to be the one to invite him to even meet…”
Joshua spoke thoughtfully.
“Are you going to invite him?”
“Not to that extent.”
I answered without hesitation.
“I don’t like that person. If he were to invite me, I’d declare ‘go find another woman.’ But since he hasn’t even confessed yet, there’s no need to preemptively reject him.”
“Well…”
Joshua answered reluctantly.
“If it becomes known that you were really Piyak’s owner, if the truth about Melissa is revealed, you might receive even more marriage proposals. Are you really okay with not publicizing this externally?”
“Yeah, I don’t care. What good would such connections even be? Besides, we still don’t even know the real mastermind. Since there are other people who know about this incident, it’s obvious Uncle Roki didn’t act alone.”
It was unfortunate that Alex had killed him, making interrogation impossible. But still, learning this much was remarkable. Before my regression, Alex hadn’t attended Riloni Academy, so no one had known about this at all.
I couldn’t understand how Roki had managed to take my summoned creature and give it to Melissa. Or how to reverse it. All I knew was that it was somehow connected to the Arun Region… And when there was so much I didn’t know, I had to keep my head down and not draw attention.
“There’s no need to signal that we know anything until we can precisely trace the mastermind.”
“But it’s so unfair!”
“I know, Piyak knows, and our family knows.”
I smiled softly as I spoke.
“That’s enough for me.”
“Mm.”
Joshua made a strange expression. Then he quietly sat in a chair prepared in the garden and spoke softly.
“…Do you know this, Kiana?”
In any case, it meant he wasn’t going to let this go right now.
“Me, Grandfather, Alex… we weren’t actually distant with you all this time because you couldn’t summon your creature. We were all just not close. So don’t misunderstand.”
“I know.”
“The reason I came out here now from the office is because Grandfather keeps asking Piyak similar questions over and over… It’s because he’s worried about Father, ultimately.”
“…”
“If being able to enter that harsh land alone upon learning that your child’s summoned creature has a problem is an expression of love for your child… Grandfather must have been in tremendous pain all this time.”
“…”
“So he couldn’t pour sufficient affection on us either. And we weren’t in a normal enough state to recover from ordinary affection.”
I could sense what Joshua was trying to say. That the way my family treated me wouldn’t change going forward.
From the beginning, the fact that I couldn’t summon my creature wasn’t important to our relationship. Of course, I felt terribly wronged, and the time I spent withdrawn by myself felt hollow. But Joshua was making sure his words didn’t feel like ‘we didn’t recognize our real Kiana because of Melissa!’ Instead, he wasn’t even expressing anger about the matter. It was his consideration so my heart wouldn’t be hurt.
Because that was the priority, Joshua wasn’t saying things like ‘it must have been hard, right? We’re sorry for not recognizing you. You’re now a confident direct descendant like us.’
Joshua continued with a wry smile.
“We couldn’t do anything about each other’s wounds, but weren’t we still a family that tried not to hurt each other?”
I answered quietly with a smile.
“Yeah. I think so too. But that’s not something an older brother should say when he’s been driving nails into Grandfather’s heart, saying Father abandoned us.”
“…”
Joshua made a dizzy expression, then shook his head and spoke.
“But even now… it’s a bit awkward to say it in words, so if we used something like a letter instead, could we convey the warmth we’ve been hiding all this time more clearly? What do you think about that method?”
“A method using letters?”
I answered seriously.
“It seems reasonable.”
“Really?”
“Burning paper would certainly warm things up.”
At my response, Joshua muttered under his breath.
“…Ah, I really hope magical engineering fails.”
Since it wouldn’t fail anyway, I didn’t even listen with half an ear. It was a conversation like any other. Even though the truth about Melissa had been revealed, even though my family all knew I was a legitimate heir.
Many things had happened at Prelai Manor today, and new facts about me had come to light. But the fact that no one’s attitude had changed, that tomorrow would come just like yesterday—that was the finest evening.

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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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