It's Overwhelmingly Convenient That the Female Lead Has Darkened - Chapter 18
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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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A darkened heroine is overwhelmingly convenient.
#18
“Sorry, what was that?”
Jern Blythe, who’d clearly heard every word, played deaf with that trademark gentle smile of his.
It was the kind of smile that would have melted any other student on the spot.
But Daisy just wanted to punch the bastard.
While Daisy coaxed her trembling fists with internal reassurance—*Easy, good hands, easy*—whispers rippled through the crowd around her.
“My goodness, so the rumors are true?”
“He spoke to her again this morning!”
“But why would Jern, the young duke, even—? What’s he lacking?”
“Maybe he’s got some leverage on him?”
Leverage? She’d sussed that out long ago.
This man was a sociopath.
Only there was no proof to show for it.
Besides, he didn’t actually care for her in the first place.
Daisy studied the empty red eyes beneath his radiant smile, then turned away.
To live quietly, one could not stand out.
Nothing drew attention quite like entanglement with the young duke—so ignoring him was the only answer.
“Wow, she’s ignoring him.”
“I didn’t think she’d be so rude. How can someone dismiss someone like that so openly?”
The whispers of the new students drifted toward her.
Right, because the rude one is clearly the person who talked after being told not to.
But Daisy didn’t say that aloud.
She simply let the students’ chatter wash over her in silence.
“And he was only worried about her, too. Said her hands might get hurt.”
“Did you hear her swear at him? Can a countess’s daughter really speak so coarsely? Though I suppose what education could she have had?”
“Oh right, she’s from a countess’s house. I’d completely forgotten.”
“Easy to forget. Honestly, I bet even her own family’s forgotten they have someone like her.”
“Why?”
A third student interjected with curiosity.
“Ah, you’re from the eastern territories, so you wouldn’t know. She’s famous for it—completely disowned by her own house.”
Disowned.
The moment those words reached her ears, Daisy’s fingers involuntarily twitched against the spine of her book.
The original Daisy’s life flashed through her mind unbidden.
Before her marriage to the young duke gave her purpose, Daisy Sablehart had been, quite literally, nobody.
Deliberate neglect and indifference.
That had been the Earl’s parenting philosophy toward her.
Of course, he’d provided regular meals, bought her new clothes as she grew, sent her invitations to every ball, enrolled her in the expensive Academy, and spared no expense on her dowry.
But so what?
Did spending money make him a good father?
This was one of the parts that infuriated Daisy most when she’d read the original novel.
The way Earl Sablehart believed his financial obligations absolved him of all parental responsibility.
The Earl’s indifference had carved deep grooves in the original Daisy’s life.
The meals meant for her grew meager over time.
It made sense.
The servants felt no obligation to bother with her care.
Her new clothes were always last season’s style or shabby designs, and her noble peers mocked her for it.
The ball invitations came only so they could toy with her; every gift she’d labored to choose landed in the trash.
Whatever meager allowance she’d scraped together was pocket change to them.
The way Lydia and her followers treated her.
The way others exploited guileless Daisy at will.
The way even those who couldn’t afford to disrespect the house mocked her outright.
All of it traced back to the Earl.
No one honored someone their patriarch despised.
A sharp throb.
‘Wait—a throb?’
Daisy blinked, suddenly aware of an ache in her chest.
‘Why does my heart hurt?’
After all, that was the original Daisy’s tragedy, not hers—she was merely a reader who’d lived through those pages.
Hadn’t she already been grateful that the Earl and his sons paid her no mind?
He wouldn’t care what she did anyway.
So apart from being personally irritated by his brazen, hypocritical attitude, there wasn’t much to fault.
‘Besides, if it drives away all those people trying to fake familiarity with me, I should be grateful.’
Daisy was turning this over in her mind when it happened.
“You’re making such a sad face. My heart aches for you.”
Jern bent his head slowly and whispered softly against Daisy’s ear.
“Don’t mind what they say. I don’t think that way about you.”
If he really believed that, he could have said it aloud and been done with it.
But Jern didn’t.
He left everyone’s misunderstanding as it was, speaking only to Daisy in that low murmur.
I trust you.
…….
Trust? What are you talking about, you mad bastard.
She was about to say just that.
When Jern’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.
“Getting hurt over something so trivial… you’re cute.”
The voice that had been barely audible to Daisy alone grew loud enough for every student in the training grounds to hear when it spoke those words: “you’re cute.”
“Gasp—is Count Blight really—”
“No way…”
The startled freshmen murmured among themselves.
And in that commotion, Daisy heard a very small snap.
Yes.
The sound of her reason breaking.
“What are you all doing? Do you find your instructor amusing?!”
Instructor MacDowell bellowed at the whispering freshmen.
“If you don’t tear those books this instant, I’ll count it as worshipping theory and assign you extra training every single day—”
Before MacDowell could finish speaking.
Daisy raised both hands gripping the book.
Jern opened his mouth, his face still bright with suppressed laughter.
“Oh, if you tear it like that, you’ll get hurt—”
Rip!
“—so be careful—”
……
……
Ha, see?!
Daisy looked up at Jern, her eyes asking the question.
What about now? Still cute? You damn dog… wait.
Whether fortunate or not, her reason severed as quickly as it had reconnected.
Along with sense returning in an instant, Daisy looked around her.
Every eye held shock and was fixed on one place.
Following their gaze, Daisy slowly lowered her head and fell silent.
The <Elementary Sword Theory> that even a mosquito would have sweated through while tearing bit by bit was now split cleanly in half.
……
Oh, divine grace.
What is this?
That was when it happened.
Pat-pat-pat-pat!
Instead of divine voice came dense applause.
Instructor MacDowell was clapping his thick hands vigorously, producing enthusiastic noise.
“Splendid!”
MacDowell exclaimed in an excited voice.
“Truly splendid! To apply such great power in precisely the right direction, tearing it clean with no wasted effort! What is your name?”
……
I would prefer to make no comment.
“Daisy Sablehart, sir!”
“Younger sister of Student Council President Kaelan Sablehart, sir!”
“And we have Chester too, sir!”
But the freshmen, ignorant of the terror of personal information protection violations punishable by imprisonment of five years or less, or fines of fifty million won or less, eagerly offered up others’ private information like sacrificial offerings.
She would sue them all.
Unaware of Daisy’s thoughts, Instructor MacDowell sent forth that dense applause once more: pat-pat-pat.
“Ah, so you’re the younger sibling of Kale and Chester! Daisy Sable Heart, I’ll remember that! I won’t forget it, mark my words! Tearing a book in half like that—truly astonishing! Absolutely remarkable!”
“…….”
Professor, mind yourself on the walk home.
If you don’t, it’s on you.
Forgive the rudeness on our first meeting, but I had no choice.
No matter how much I turned it over in my mind, erasing the professor’s memory seemed to call for nothing but a blow to the back of the head.
‘How did it come to this?’
As Daisy searched for the cause, she slowly turned her body toward something—or rather, someone.
Dern Blight flinched at the weight of her gaze.
The hand that had rested on his shoulder had long since fallen away.
‘Right. The root of all this was him from the start.’
That wretch who ignored her perfectly clear instruction not to speak to her and opened his mouth anyway.
That wretch was the starting point—the very genesis—of this entire disaster.
Daisy’s grip tightened.
Crunch.
The half-destroyed <Beginner’s Sword Theory> began to crumple and warp in her hands.
“Dern Blight.”
“Huh? Oh, you know my name…….”
“Never again.”
“…….”
“Never speak to me again.”
“…….”
One more word out of your mouth and what gets crumpled in my hand won’t be a book—it’ll be you.
Dern Blight’s eyes dropped.
This was Daisy Sable Heart’s victory.
“Wow, you see that book crunching?”
“She’s lost it.”
“Was she always that strong?”
“The bear’s labyrinth strikes again.”
And now defeat comes along for the ride…….
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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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