Don’t Look for the Resurrected Villainess - Chapter 122
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122
Now I finally understand what rumors those noble ladies were talking about earlier. And their source too.
‘She hasn’t given up on pushing the undead narrative.’
It was probably an attempt to damage my image, and judging by the banquet attendees’ reactions, it seemed to have worked to some extent.
It wasn’t a bad attempt.
‘Though it would only be effective under the premise that I’m staying put in this place.’
I didn’t want to criticize her efforts themselves. She too was just moving to find her own way to survive.
However, her attitude of trying to use even Jeon for that purpose was quite irritating.
Jeon is the only guest sent from the Magic Tower. That means Jeon’s words carry quite significant influence. Enough to be considered as representing the Magic Tower.
‘If he denies Lilia’s words, it would be like acknowledging God’s miracle as a mage. It would also look like a Magic Tower mage completely rejecting the Imperial Palace Mages’ views.’
It was an ambiguous situation in many ways. So it would be difficult for Jeon to refute carelessly, and the best method would be to remain silent…
“Excuse me, do you perhaps have vision problems?”
“What?”
Not only me, but other people around who had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation also looked at Jeon with wide eyes.
Jeon seemed unaware of how many people’s attention his words had drawn.
“How does that person look like an undead to you?”
“…What?”
Jeon, who had been glaring at the bewildered and frozen Lilia with disdainful eyes, sighed and swept up his bangs. His neatly arranged red hair became disheveled.
‘Ah, this is the Jeon I know.’
Feeling secretly pleased, I listened more intently while holding my breath.
“Of course, she’s so abnormally beautiful that I briefly wondered if she’s human. But then shouldn’t you guess she’s a spirit or fairy instead?”
What is he saying right now. Everyone’s listening.
I wasn’t the only one who felt bewildered, as Lilia immediately objected.
“N-no. What on earth are you talking about.”
For the first time, Lilia and I were in agreement. A historic moment that would never happen again – not joyful, but historic nonetheless.
“I’m telling you how much nonsense you’re spouting right now.”
Jeon faced Lilia with his arms crossed in a rather insolent posture.
“I don’t know where you picked up a few words and came here with them, but have you actually seen a real undead?”
“I-I haven’t seen one, so that’s why I’m scared and afraid.”
“So you’re saying it’s just something you blurted out without knowing anything? This is why know-it-all amateurs are the biggest problem. Ah, you’re not even an amateur, are you? From what I can see, you have no connection to magic whatsoever.”
“Your words are excessive!”
Perhaps flustered, Lilia retorted sharply.
“Or are you declaring that the knights and mages in this Imperial Palace lack the skill to distinguish a single undead?”
Wow, that’s quite a proper blow.
Even as I sent applause in my heart, Jeon’s sharp words continued.
“You said you’re the Crown Prince’s fiancée, right? The Crown Prince’s fiancée is spreading rumors because she doesn’t trust the Imperial Palace Mages and Imperial Guards – this is quite an interesting place.”
Seeing Lilia speechless made me feel completely refreshed. It was such a clean and perfect finish that my thought of stepping in to help seemed pointless.
“Did he practice rhetoric or something.”
As I muttered unconsciously, a response came from beside me.
“He was always like that.”
It was Samuel, who had been watching Jeon with me.
“You’re the only one who sees him as naive.”
Am I mistaken? Samuel’s voice seems to have a sigh mixed in.
“Well, you were the person who said even the Dura’han were kind.”
…Is it not a mistake?
Just as I was about to question him, feeling like I was being treated as someone completely clueless, I heard Jeon let out an exclamation.
“Ah!”
Jeon, who had been surrounded by layers of people, somehow spotted me and was hurrying over.
The person who had been cynically sneering at Lilia just moments ago disappeared, and the thoroughly sullen expression was the Jeon I usually knew.
Just by looking at him, one might misunderstand that he had been bullied by Lilia. He quickly whispered in a very low voice.
“If you finished dancing, you should have called me! Do you know what a great crisis I faced among those terrifying people?”
I don’t know about the crisis, but I did see you deliver a blow.
I was about to respond like that but just closed my mouth. Jeon’s expression as he stood there looking upset really seemed like someone exhausted from hardship.
‘Even if he acted boldly in front of Lilia, he might have been struggling inside.’
Reflecting on Jeon’s usual timidity, such occasions would certainly be quite stressful for him.
Come to think of it, when I first met him, he had tried to pretend not to know even while knowing my identity.
Also, because of his brother’s issue, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to have good feelings toward the Imperial House?
Thinking that way, Jeon before me seemed pitiful. Though it was his choice, he was essentially dragged to an unwanted place, so I should take good care of him.
“How long do I have to stay here?”
“We won’t be here long. The banquet is scheduled for tomorrow as well anyway.”
“You’re attending tomorrow too?”
Jeon looked at me with wide eyes.
“Didn’t you hear from the attendants that it’s scheduled for a total of 3 days?”
Actually, the usual banquet period is longer than this.
The current ‘3 days’ was a result of having to reschedule after the celebration banquet was canceled twice, unable to remove the existing imperial schedule.
“I naturally thought you were joking to tease me.”
Grumbling in a dissatisfied voice that it was inefficient, he pouted and asked in a small voice.
“Then you’ll be entering with that prince for all 3 days? And I have to wander around alone among those scary people like this?”
“Well…”
I was about to answer that since I’ll be leaving the Imperial Palace soon, shouldn’t I give Heinrih support one last time, when someone suddenly interrupted.
“My goodness, I wondered where you were going in such a hurry. You didn’t receive threats before attending, did you, Mage?”
Unlike other attendees who were being cautious, it was Lilia who approached us without hesitation and spoke.
Lilia’s followers who had been trailing behind her stopped with pale faces when they made eye contact with me.
‘What kind of rumors did they spread about me for them to react like that?’
Do they think something terrible happens just from making eye contact with an undead?
‘Of course, I’ve heard that undead bites cause flesh to rot… Surely they’re not worried I might bite them?’
While I was looking over the followers with distaste, Lilia approached right in front of me. Perhaps because of the earlier conversation, she glared at Jeon with unfriendly eyes.
“Something like threatening not to cooperate with research if he talks to others at the banquet hall. You know, that kind of threat.”
Unlike her gently curved lips, the voice coming from Lilia’s mouth was rather sharp.
“Little sister, I understand you want to monopolize the guest’s attention, but shouldn’t you give others opportunities too?”
Those who knew about the bad blood between Lilia and me watched our conversation with gleaming eyes. It seems they can’t abandon their curiosity despite being too afraid to even speak, thinking I might be a monster.
“Your personality of not being able to bear not receiving attention remains the same, sister. It makes me nostalgic thinking of the old days.”
Lilia was confident. It was good confidence for the Crown Prince’s fiancée to have.
She should know how to take responsibility for the results that confidence brings.
“Your words are wrong in two ways.”
I let out a low sigh and looked at Lilia with indifferent eyes.
“First, this banquet is for me, so there’s no reason for me to try to receive attention. Second, you won’t miss the old days.”
Lilia opened her lips as if to refute my assertion. However, I continued speaking faster than her.
“No matter how stupid you are, you wouldn’t miss the old days when you had wine dumped on you, right?”
To reiterate, our conversation was receiving quite a lot of attention right now.
There were plenty of people who had directly witnessed the scene I was talking about.
“Or did you already forget? Those days when you shamelessly presented yourself as the partner of a man who had a fiancée?”
“What are you saying right now…!”
“Did I say anything wrong? You were going around showing your face everywhere as the partner of ‘my fiancé’ back then.”
Lilia frantically rolled her eyes looking around. She seemed to be looking for Maxel. Whenever she was in trouble, Maxel always stepped forward and wielded the Crown Prince’s authority.
Maxel was not far away. Seeing that Lilia and I were confronting each other, he hurriedly approached. However, he couldn’t intervene.
As if they had made a promise, Jeon and Samuel simultaneously blocked his path and engaged him in conversation.
‘They’re quite perceptive.’
A faint smile appeared on my lips. Lilia seemed to understand my smile as mockery and frowned fiercely.
“Little sister. Do you know how much turmoil has occurred since you came to the Imperial Palace? To resolve that, they’re holding such a splendid banquet, and everyone is making efforts. Yet how can you mock their efforts?”
Lilia’s way of speaking, pulling only provocative words without considering cause and effect to make me seem like a person without blood or tears, was the same now as it was before.
‘In that regard, this girl really hasn’t developed at all.’
The morning god must like having his representative do only what they’re told. Thinking that way, I couldn’t even laugh. I opened my mouth.
“I may remember blocking angry Dura’han or ferocious Wyverns, but I have no memory of causing disturbances. Rather, shouldn’t you be the one being more careful?”
Then I let out a long breath and glanced around. I needed to lower my voice a bit.
“How bad must it be for rumors about you to reach even the Palace where I am.”
“…Rumors about me?”
A faint anxiety crossed Lilia’s face.
Heinrih said he reported ‘Lilia’s suspicious behavior’ to the Emperor in front of Maxel.
However, seeing how Lilia knew nothing like this, it seemed Maxel hadn’t pressed or questioned Lilia yet.
‘I thought he had decided to abandon Lilia since she talks such nonsense, but apparently that wasn’t the case.’
Well, Maxel deeply trusted Lilia’s kind heart. So he might have chosen not to believe Heinrih’s words instead.
In that case, let the two of them hold hands and fall together. With that thought, a smile finally appeared on my lips.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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