I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 118

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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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“What? What the hell happened!”

Rosette asked, slapping my back.

I looked back with a bewildered expression and whispered quietly.

“Well, something like that happened. More importantly, how did the group registration go?”

Rosette pouted with a sulky face. Then she held out a strange-looking magical device.

“I did it in a hurry. Here, take this.”

“What’s this? A magic mirror?”

“Similar. It’s called a location tracker, and the group leader carries it during the exam.”

Rosette waved her wrist in front of my eyes as she answered. A peculiar-looking bracelet was swinging on her wrist.

“If the group members wear these, you as the leader can know everyone’s location.”

“Really?”

I examined the magic mirror carefully.

Indeed, four red dots were blinking around the emerald-colored diamond in the center.

‘I’m the diamond, and the other group members are marked as red dots.’

As I was thinking that, I heard a somewhat excited voice from beside me.

“What strategy should we use when the mock battle starts? The number 1 we discussed during the day? Or number 2?”

It was one of the group members who had been in Anita’s group.

But Anita kept her mouth tightly shut and didn’t answer. Joseph tapped the group member’s arm.

“Read the room a bit, Lark.”

The group member called Lark closed his mouth. Then he glanced at Anita once, hesitated, and opened his mouth again.

“But we need to establish a strategy…”

“Really! Can’t you figure it out yourselves?!”

At that moment, Anita suddenly shouted. Everyone nearby turned their gaze toward her.

“Why do I have to do everything from one to ten? Everyone really…!”

Anita, who had been fuming, closed her mouth. Rosette whispered quietly beside me.

“She seems pretty heated up.”

Verain chattered with an excited face.

“That’s understandable. Lady Selene seemed to have a deeper friendship with the Chancellor than she did. My goodness, how satisfying.”

Janet also approached with a smile playing on her face and asked.

“But how do you have a connection with the Chancellor, Lady Selene? Did you know each other originally?”

I shook my head.

“Well, it’s a long story…”

I hesitated as I was about to speak. Walter’s earnest request from a few hours ago came to mind.

‘So from now on, you can say that there were marriage talks between you and the former prince, no, Marquis Tatio and our house. The friendship with House Haren is also because of that.’

‘Father allowed that?’

‘He did break the table, but he knows better than anyone that there’s no more certain and safe method. Moreover, we compromised on just light marriage talks at the house level, not a confirmed engagement.’

I swallowed and glanced at Father, who was talking with Walter in the distance, then said to Verain.

“Friendship… Yes, there was. The prince who is Duke Haren’s grandson and I…”

“…”

“Almost got engaged.”

The four people’s eyes widened.

After a moment of silence, Estelin grabbed my hand tightly.

Her face was flushed with color.

“Then what the Chancellor said earlier was about that! Selene, why did you hide it all this time!”

“Right. We didn’t know that knight, no, Prince Haren was your fiancé, and we thought you liked him for a while.”

I opened my eyes wide.

To these girls, the fact that Rubel and I were connected through marriage talks seemed more surprising than the fact that Duke Haren had a hidden grandson.

‘Just like teenage girls.’

I sighed inwardly, then frowned and said.

“I said we almost got engaged, not that we did? It was just talks between the houses, and Father opposed it… No, that’s not what’s important. Anyway, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

But Rosette and Estelin weren’t listening to me at all.

“No wonder! That’s why Lady Selene’s face would brighten whenever Marquis Tatio was mentioned!”

“Exactly. She would talk about that knight, no, Prince Haren all the time.”

“So starting with a promise between houses, feelings eventually sprouted? How romantic!”

My mouth gradually fell open.

“No, I said it’s not like that? I never liked him…!”

But then, a small voice came from Anita’s group.

“Um… Lady Anita.”

The owner of that endlessly serious voice was Joseph, who was said to use poison abilities.

“Didn’t you say that Duke Haren dotes on you like his own granddaughter because he has no children?”

We all perked up our ears in that direction.

Anita, who had been keeping her mouth shut, answered coldly.

“I did, so what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem. But something seemed strange earlier.”

Joseph frowned and continued carefully.

“When Lady Anita greeted him, the Chancellor didn’t seem very interested in you.”

“What did you say?”

“No, rather he seemed to favor Lady Tigris more. He even said something about his grandson’s fiancée… Right, Lark?”

Lark nodded while watching Anita’s reaction.

“That’s right. He definitely did. It was different from what Lady Anita said. You said Lady Tigris was nothing special. On the other hand, Lady Anita had a connection with the Chancellor…”

“…”

“You said it like we could receive some special treatment if we were in the same group, so I joined this group.”

Anita’s face turned bright red. From her expression, it wasn’t from shame but from being extremely angry.

She shouted at Lark and Joseph.

“When did I ever mention special treatment? I just said I had a connection, and you guys came running because you liked it!”

A hollow laugh burst from Joseph’s mouth.

“What…! Isn’t that the same thing? You subtly acted like you had a connection with the Chancellor, so naturally students desperate to get in would want to be in the same group as Lady Anita!”

Lark also added with a stern expression.

“But the one who really had a connection with the Chancellor was Lady Tigris instead. If I had known this would happen…”

Lark glanced at me, so I raised one eyebrow slightly.

That’s when it happened.

“Stop it.”

Hanod stepped forward. His expression had darkened.

Anita, who had been trembling with clenched fists, also flinched and closed her mouth.

“If you don’t want to be in the same group, leave.”

Hanod took a step closer to Lark and Joseph and whispered lowly. Then he tilted his head slightly and added.

“Anyone watching would think I threatened you or something. Like I’d cut your ankles if you left the group.”

Hanod’s purple eyes flashed fiercely. I watched him and nodded inwardly.

‘He’s still royalty after all.’

Hanod whispered without taking his eyes off Lark and Joseph.

“I can easily pass the entrance exam without vermin like you. So I won’t stop you if you want to leave.”

At the same time as those words, Joseph and Lark’s wrists were roughly lifted into the air.

“Ugh, ahhh!”

“What, what is this…!!”

It was Hanod’s ability, telekinesis.

Soon the magical devices were ripped from their wrists and rolled on the ground.

Joseph’s face turned pale, and Lark stared back and forth between the magical device on the ground and Hanod with wide eyes.

Joseph’s eyes rolled around busily as he grasped the situation. Soon, he hurriedly bowed his head toward Hanod.

“S-sorry!”

“Sorry? What for?”

“I, I got a bit sensitive with the exam coming up…”

Hanod, who had been looking down at Joseph’s head, made a strange expression. Then he gestured toward Anita.

“Then you should apologize to Anita, not me.”

Joseph’s eyes widened. But he soon bowed deeply toward Anita as well.

“I, I’m sorry, Miss Anita. It’s not like you two seemed completely unfamiliar with each other, but I made a fuss for no reason. I, I apologize.”

As Anita was about to speak, Hanod spoke again.

“Of course they’re not unfamiliar. Anita’s grandfather, Marquis Solb, was my personal tutor for a very long time. He’s a smart and wise person.”

His voice was languid but carried a subtle sense of pressure. He continued.

“Do you know why Sorad appointed that person to the position of royal tutor?”

“…I, I don’t know.”

“Because he worked as a researcher at this prestigious Rishion for a long time. That alone was judged to prove his abilities.”

Joseph and Lark looked at each other. Their expressions showed dismay.

“Duke Haren and Anita’s grandfather, Marquis Solb, are close friends. It’s also true that the Duke was fond of Anita, his friend’s granddaughter. You guys keep babbling as if Anita was lying…”

I looked at Hanod with interested eyes.

Beside me, Anita’s eyes were glistening with tears. She looked completely moved.

“Anita might exaggerate a little due to her personality, but she wouldn’t make up stories that don’t exist at all.”

“Pfft!”

Rosette, who had been listening, covered her mouth. I also quietly covered my face and turned my head away.

Anita opened and closed her mouth with a flustered expression but couldn’t say anything.

Hanod drove the point home with a newly serious face.

“So don’t you dare make fun of Anita in front of me again. Next time, I might really cut off your ankles.”

When he smiled brightly, Lark and Joseph hurriedly nodded. They still looked ridiculous with one hand suspended in the air.

The other classmates also swallowed nervously with tense faces.

“That side is really brutal.”

Estelin whispered quietly beside me. Verain and Janet also nodded.

“A-as expected, it seems like it was a good choice not to join the group with the royal descendant.”

“Right… He definitely would have threatened to cut our ankles too, wouldn’t he?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said playfully.

“I won’t make threats like that, so everyone needs to work hard.”

Janet’s expression instantly relaxed. She smiled and nodded.

Rosette also answered with an excited face.

“Of course! Anyway, no one else here knows what the exam task is, so we have a definite advantage.”

“Right. Even if everyone else panics, we should be able to maintain our composure, shouldn’t we?”

Estelin also spoke spiritedly. Janet and Verain chimed in.

“Yes, always stay calm. Janet, you can do it, right?”

“Mm-hmm, I can do it.”

As the atmosphere grew increasingly fired up with determination, a loud bell sound came from the entrance.

“Now, now! Move to the examination hall!”

Finally.

It was the sound announcing the start of the Rishion entrance exam.

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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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