She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 15

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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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I Am the Villainess’s Daughter in a Melodramatic Novel
Chapter 15
“Shh! Are you out of your mind? Keep your voice down, or we’ll be in real trouble.”
“Ahem! I mean, I have a nephew, so I know. He pulled this sort of trick himself whenever things went against him.”
“Jeiana-nim said this time it wasn’t like that, didn’t she?”
“That’s only because she’s so kind. Jeiana-nim said the same thing back when Lady Idel hit her.”
Somewhere along the way, the story had morphed into Idel striking Jeiana, and that made the mood even more ominous.
“And honestly, the way Lady Idel has always behaved is just rotten…”
“…It’s a bit much, isn’t it? And even if she really is sick…”
A servant who had lowered his voice glanced toward the door.
Confirming that the door was shut tight, not a breath of wind getting through, he shrugged his shoulders casually and whispered.
“Who told her she could wander around while she’s being punished?”
It’s all her own fault, isn’t it?
With a short, mocking laugh from the servant who had said it, a strange atmosphere settled over the corridor.
It was the result of one commotion after another, the wickedness Idel had cherished and nurtured, and Melissa’s words.
Just as the tide was turning in a way Idel would have welcomed with both hands, heavy breathing rose from the bottom of the staircase.
Sensing someone approaching, the servants nudged the person beside them with an elbow.
“Hey.”
“Yeah, I know.”
As if nothing had happened, the servants shut their mouths, and through them a man who looked rather advanced in years hurried forward at a near run.
It was Ayman, the Ducal Household’s physician, who had rushed over in a frantic state at the sudden summons.
“Whew, phew! Right. Is this the room?”
“Yes, Ayman-nim. His Grace and Her Ladyship have been waiting a long time. You may go in right away.”
“Very well. Is Lady Idel’s condition very bad?”
“…I may have misjudged it, being unlearned, but it didn’t seem to be serious. It appears she’d been outside for a while.”
“Is that so? His Grace kept urging me, so I thought it must be a grave matter. How strange.”
At the puzzled look Ayman gave him, the servant bowed his head a little deeper.
Ayman, who failed to notice the subtly altered tone in his voice, quickly straightened his clothes and went into the room.
Behind the door, now firmly shut again, the servants exchanged quick glances with one another.
Then they turned to Diane, who stood rigid, and spoke to her in a kind voice.
“Hey, Diane.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“If Lady Idel starts picking on you again, tell us right away. This time, we’ll help you.”
The look in her colleagues’ eyes was quite different from the grumbling they had muttered until now, and Diane, without meaning to, held her breath and darted her eyes around.
The Head Maid, Melissa-nim, and now even her colleagues.
‘…Should I just quit?’
Against the ominous atmosphere spreading around her, Diane pressed a hand firmly to her chest.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it might burst.
* * *
Having set off a bomb for everyone in the Ducal Household, from the servants all the way up to the Duke and Duchess, Idel finally managed to open her eyes in bed the next morning.
A ceiling that was both familiar and strange.
She moved her hand for a moment, then realized her body felt as sound as if she had never been ill, and let out a long sigh.
Through her hazy mind, the great uproar of yesterday came back to her.
She remembered obeying Melissa’s order and embracing her, but after that…
‘It’s not all ruined, is it?’
With one variable piling onto another, she had no idea what outcome had come of it.
From the start, the risk she’d had to shoulder because of Jeiana’s involvement had been unsettling.
She had at least thrown a tantrum in front of everyone, cursing Jeiana and wailing, but that alone didn’t ease her mind. Why?
‘Because I suddenly collapsed!’
Idel buried her face in both hands, flopped forward, and kicked her legs in frustration.
Just thinking of the expressions on the Clementine Ducal House’s people when she had collapsed made her vision go dark all over again.
A child who couldn’t adjust to a strange place, tried to escape the Ducal Household, failed, and then, overcome with grief and resentment, cried herself into a faint.
‘Put in a single line like that, it’s even more hopeless.’
Still, she was just a child. No matter how wicked the kids’ behavior had been, once you saw a little one crying bitterly right in front of you, your heart tended to soften.
Idel pressed her face into the pillow and prayed fervently.
‘Please let people’s attitudes not have changed. No, as for the image, I’ll find some way to handle that… At the very least, I hope Melissa didn’t say, right in front of her after I collapsed, something like “Turns out she’s a sweet, fragile child”!
She shivered at the thought of Melissa, her temper soured, casting an even worse curse. Just as she was about to jerk herself upright in a panic, the door swung open with a creak.
At a timing she had never imagined, Idel could not even manage to move. She met the visitor’s eyes while still halfway up from her seat, frozen exactly as she was.
“…You’re awake.”
‘Vincent Clementine.’
Silently calling out the visitor’s name, Idel squeezed her eyes shut.
Just like at the thicket, and just like now, I can’t figure out why he always shows up at the most unexpected moments.
Watching the duke stride toward her, Idel slowly sat up in bed.
Then she let her lowered gaze drift upward, just slightly, to study his expression.
He was the type who hid his feelings well, so it wasn’t easy to read him, but he didn’t seem much different from usual.
Vincent came to stand right beside the bed, pulled up a medical chair, and asked her a question.
“How are you feeling?”
“…I’m fine.”
“Your fever.”
Instead of answering, Idel shook her head. Silence settled over them once more.
In the suffocating quiet, Idel and Vincent were each lost in their own thoughts.
Idel was watching to see whether Duke Vincent Clementine’s attitude was still the same, and Vincent was…
‘So, how is she?’
‘Her fever’s quite high. But…’
Vincent Clementine was recalling the diagnosis Doctor Aiman had given after examining Idel yesterday.
To put it simply, Doctor Aiman had said that the reason Idel collapsed was ‘mental strain.’
‘Taking all the symptoms together, it doesn’t seem to be a cold or any other particular illness. Still, for a fever to come on so suddenly and bring her down, the only explanation is that the psychological pressure has grown so heavy it has taxed her body.’
‘…Taxed it, you say.’
‘The young lady is still so young. And when you consider all the commotion she’s caused lately… her mental instability may well have manifested as an actual illness. I think it would be wise to keep watching for a while.’
Recalling what Aiman had said, Vincent fixed his somber eyes on Idel, unwavering.
Despite her claim that she was fine, the girl still looked pale, and something about her seemed unsteady.
Especially her glances, darting furtively at him as if reading his mood.
“…Hah.”
Without meaning to, Vincent let out a sigh and briefly clenched his fist.
Aiman’s diagnosis and Melissa’s words were tightening their grip on Vincent’s heart, deeper and deeper.
No matter how blameless the girl might be, he could not give Idel his love.
He simply didn’t think he could manage it.
‘But leaving a child who collapsed under pressure like this, just as she is…’
Because he had not yet settled on how he ought to treat the girl, Vincent could not bring himself to say a single word to Idel.
‘And I didn’t come here expecting her to be awake to begin with.’
Meanwhile, Idel, who had been studying every movement Vincent made with great care, easily caught a glimpse of ‘guilt’ in his behavior and realized something new.
‘What? Could the duke really be the same kind of person as Jeiana?’
At this unexpected realization, Idel’s eyes trembled faintly.
‘Well, I did think he was surprisingly reasonable for a makjang novel, but I assumed that was because of the duchess…’
Even when she dug through her memories again, the duke’s eyes and manner of speaking had been as cold as ice.
‘I suppose she hasn’t been raised properly.’
‘Idel, stop acting spoiled and get up on your own two feet properly.’
Anyone could see it. He’s the typical makjang novel father who tosses money at his daughter and tells her not to expect any love.
Ignoring the throbbing in her head, Idel continued her thoughts and recalled one fact she had overlooked.
‘The duke died at Idel’s birthday party, killed by Idel.’
Setting the birthday party aside, how did Idel manage to kill someone as strong as the duke?
‘The answer is obvious.’
Despite going through all the series of events in the original work, the duke ended up opening his heart to Idel.
The moment she realized that, and the moment she caught a fragment of emotion in the duke, it hit her like cold water and jolted her awake.
Getting close to him would be nothing but trouble for her.
‘The sooner the duke opens his heart to me, the more chances Melissa will have to use me.’
And that would make saving the duke all the harder, that much was certain.
Idel, having changed her mindset from before, suddenly spoke up to Vincent.
“You don’t like me, do you, Your Grace?”
“What?”
“I don’t like you either, Your Grace.”

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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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