I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 108

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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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I wanted Father to return to politics and build amicable relationships with other nobles.

Fortunately, Father thought well of my feelings on this matter.

So Father’s image, which had always felt unapproachable, was gradually changing these days.

‘Recently, he’s been having quite serious conversations with anyone who speaks to him. He doesn’t ignore them either.’

I shifted my body slightly and let out a shallow sigh.

‘How annoying it must have been for him, given Father’s personality.’

It seemed I’d have to disband the fan club when I returned. It would be terrible if something like sasaeng fans emerged.

Father would pretend to be fine in front of me while suffering tremendous stress behind the scenes.

I resolved to somehow deal with the fan club and lay down on my side. However, the position was uncomfortable, so I shifted slightly.

Inside the cave was warm and cozy, but my back was still sore.

‘The beds Anna prepared were always cozy and soft…’

Not only that. The blankets always had a pleasant fragrance.

A refreshing scent that put my mind at ease and made me drowsy.

‘Come to think of it, Rubel had a similar scent, didn’t he? It was like some kind of forest smell.’

He didn’t seem to wear perfume separately, yet I wondered how he always smelled so nice.

‘Is it a male protagonist buff?’

As my thoughts reached that point, another shallow sigh escaped.

Father, Anna, Rubel too. The more I thought about them, the more I missed them all, making me feel melancholy.

It seemed I’d have to write letters to everyone as soon as the exam ended.

Especially to Rubel, without fail.

After hearing Duke Haren’s story, I had been continuously thinking about various possibilities regarding the past.

Duke Haren’s lost daughter Sharlina, and Charlotte Irina, who had been the Former Empress.

The commonalities between them were too numerous and precise to be mere coincidence.

‘It would be nice if I could contact Walter, even briefly.’

As I was thinking such thoughts, my eyelids gradually drooped.

‘If I just endure today… it’s really the exam.’

It was a strange final night mixed with anticipation and worry.

The next morning, we woke up early, fastened our clothes tightly, and stepped outside the cave.

Thanks to Verain’s incredible spatial perception ability, we were able to reach the central building quickly.

But the view of the garden visible through the Creda trees seemed a bit strange.

“It’s true that many people have dropped out.”

Rosette muttered in surprise.

The crowd that had packed the garden had been reduced to about half in just two days.

But there was something even more puzzling than that.

Anita and her teammates were doing something strange in the middle of the garden.

“S-stop! I surrender!”

Several students who had fallen right in front of the building stepped back hesitantly and shouted.

“Are you really surrendering? It’s faster than I thought… How disappointing.”

Anita smiled coldly.

Watching this scene, I muttered to myself as if it were absurd.

“What are they doing right now?”

Janet answered.

“I-it looks like they were having a friendly battle. Anita has been saying for months that she really wanted to have a friendly battle before the exam.”

“That’s right. She said she wanted to check her skills.”

Verain added. I stared at Anita with a frown.

Really, I didn’t want to hate her, but she felt annoying in many ways.

Just then, the white protective barrier around her gradually subsided.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t Anita’s ability also protective type?’

I heard her level was slightly behind mine though. That’s what I was thinking when.

“Anita! You just defended against an attack ability for a moment, right?! Originally you could only defend against physical attacks!”

A teammate beside her shouted with a bright face. Anita nodded as if newly proud.

“I think so. I can feel myself gradually improving, little by little.”

“My goodness, that’s really wonderful! And what I felt during that friendly battle just now…”

The person who paused mid-sentence and took a deep breath as if excited was Joseph, who handled poison abilities.

“Our group seems to have an incredibly good balance between offense and defense! Whatever this exam’s events are, we’ll have an advantage.”

The other teammates nodded enthusiastically with flushed cheeks. Anita was the same.

“If there are no major upsets, won’t we pass the exam with the highest score?”

She looked quite confident. I walked on silently. The assembly time was approaching anyway.

But it was right after that when my eyes met Anita’s.

“Why is that Lady…”

Anita’s face, which had been bright until just now, darkened instantly upon spotting me.

Her gaze soon fixed on Janet and Verain behind me. Her eyes widened.

“Huh? Janet, Verain! What’s going on?! Why are you two with Lady Seleneae…”

Anita’s eyes gradually narrowed. Soon she let out a bitter laugh and raised one eyebrow.

“Surely not, right?”

I turned around. I saw Janet with her head hung low.

What was surprising was that Verain was in a similar state. Her expression was especially full of inexplicable awkwardness.

‘Yesterday in the forest, she was cursing Anita so much.’

Verain had expressed anger as if she’d throw punches the moment they met, but it seemed she still lacked the courage to face her head-on.

It was probably because she had spent so long as Anita’s lackey.

‘Things have gotten a bit complicated.’

It didn’t seem like Anita would let Janet and Verain go easily. And time kept passing.

I turned my head to look at Anita again. I was about to say something, but then closed my mouth.

‘No, let’s not interfere and just ignore it.’

I quickened my pace. My head was already complicated enough without wanting to argue with Anita too.

But that’s when it happened.

“Lady!”

Someone suddenly appeared and blocked my path. My expression gradually frowned as I identified the person.

“…Prince?”

It was Prince Hanod of Sorad.

Having unconsciously dropped the honorifics, I quickly closed my mouth. However, Hanod either didn’t hear or muttered in a pleased voice.

“So you didn’t run away after all?”

Run away?

My brow furrowed involuntarily at the absurd word.

“Where have you been all this time? You seemed to be nowhere to be seen for two whole days.”

Whether he knew my inner thoughts or not, Hanod asked in a newly friendly manner. His deep purple eyes scanned my face, shoulders, and hands in turn.

It was an attitude that felt completely lacking in plausibility.

Frozen in bewilderment, I reluctantly nodded slightly and opened my mouth quietly.

“Ah yes, I just went somewhere…”

“So where exactly?”

…There’s no way this guy would understand.

Changing my plan, I deflected with a smiling face.

“Wow, Your Highness! You look really good today. You must have had a very peaceful two days!”

Hanod’s eyes widened, then he smiled brightly.

“Really? Thanks. I do often hear that I’m quite handsome.”

I wondered how he had maintained his position all this time with such devastating obliviousness.

As I tried not to contort my expression, Anita behind him glared at me with fierce eyes.

Unlike Hanod, her expression showed she had caught the hidden meaning in my words.

‘You look really good today’ was actually a roundabout way of saying ‘It must be nice to be so clueless and thoughtless.’

I couldn’t help it. I absolutely detested Hanod.

‘This bastard swung a sword at me on our first meeting just because he was curious about my ability, and I can still vividly remember it.’

How could I deal with this shamelessly brazen human with a smiling face?

But still, he was a member of the royal family.

I couldn’t openly display hostility. So drawing the line indirectly like this was the best option.

“Anyway, then I’ll be going now.”

It was the moment I tried to pass by Hanod after quickly ending the conversation with a formal smile.

“Janet, Verain! Wait, stop right there!”

My steps halted at Anita’s voice coming from behind. When I turned around, I could see Janet and Verain caught by Anita.

“What on earth are you doing here? Don’t tell me you two joined a group with Lady Tigris?”

Anita asked in a pressing manner. Her voice was so sharp that I could feel her irritation and bewilderment raw and unfiltered.

Janet hung her head low, and Verain hesitated, moving her lips slightly. Anita continued as if urging them.

“Ha, didn’t you hear me say to wait a little? How could you not endure just that short time…”

Letting out a sigh, Anita looked Verain up and down.

Verain bit her lips tightly before opening her mouth in a crawling voice.

“We couldn’t wait forever either. Miss Anita had already found all five group members. We also had to find group members. What if we couldn’t take the exam because we just sat around doing nothing…”

“No, I said I would call you two after examining the abilities of the group members!”

The group members behind Anita flinched in surprise and looked at each other.

It seemed they had just realized that they could have been the ones to be discarded from the beginning.

“If you had just waited a little, I would have taken care of putting you two in the group, but knowing my situation, how could you…”

Anita, biting her lips as if she was dying of displeasure, stared directly at me.

Thanks to her making a loud scene, all the surrounding gazes were focused this way.

A tired sigh rose from my mouth.

‘I didn’t want to keep clashing with those kids like this.’

Especially not at a time when the exam was approaching.

But Anita didn’t seem to have any intention of letting this matter slide. After pondering, I had no choice but to step forward.

“Stop it already, when we’ve all finished organizing our groups.”

As if she had been waiting for me to intervene, Anita’s eyes lit up.

“This doesn’t seem like something for the Lady to interfere with?”

To her curt words, I casually shrugged my shoulders.

“Anyway, it seems like Miss Anita was the one who broke the promise first?”

Anita clamped her mouth shut. I could clearly hear the displeased ‘ha’ sound escaping between her stiff lips. I smiled brightly, timing it perfectly with the moment her complexion turned coldest.

“Anyway. As a result, I ended up being too grateful, you know?”

One of Anita’s eyebrows slowly rose.

“Thanks to Miss Anita yielding such excellent friends, our group became much more comfortable for taking the exam.”

“What… did you say?”

I patted the shoulders of her, who had turned pale beyond white to blue, and said brightly.

“Hey, don’t get angry and let’s do well! It seems like it’ll be a wonderful competition. Miss Anita likes competition, right? Or not?”

Anita’s face flushed bright red.

I nodded once with a smiling face, then turned my body without hesitation and passed by her.

I could hear Rosette whispering from behind.

“You saw that just now. That’s how you do it.”

“Yes…! I understand clearly. Expression was important when being sarcastic to someone!”

It was the moment I realized why Estelin’s way of speaking had been getting stranger lately.

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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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