She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 22

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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 22
Perhaps because of the commotion, the place fell suddenly silent. Idel gave a light shrug.
‘Well, I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see.’
Judging by the way she said she wouldn’t let this slide, she must mean to paint us as the bad guys somehow. But that was practically a reward for Idel. To rack up sins without lifting a finger, what a bargain.
‘I hope they smear me to their heart’s content, exaggerating everything.’
Since Ivan Ernest and Vivian Bright, the Count, already knew the truth, Idel didn’t care what happened to her outer reputation.
She let out a short breath, glanced at the time, and immediately nodded at Sigmund.
“Let’s head back already. I don’t want to eat cake looking like this.”
“Ah, I agree.”
“Diane, can’t you do something about this?”
“Ah, well… shall I take you to the dressing room first?”
Idel didn’t answer Diane’s question. Instead, she glanced at the cafe master handing a towel to Ivan and brought up something else.
“Our table was already prepared, wasn’t it?”
“Huh? Ah, yes! Of course!”
“…Then pack up some cake for me. One cheesecake… no, make it two, including the fruit cream cake.”
“Cheesecake and fruit cream cake… Yes! I’ll get them ready right away!”
“Me, having to give up cake over something like this. Hmph, my pride is wounded, don’t you think?”
Diane reflexively nodded at Idel’s question, then made a subtle expression.
Despite what she said about pride, she kept stealing glances at the cafe master, as if she was… worried about his situation.
‘And the fruit cake, too.’
Idel, who didn’t notice the subtle change in Diane’s expression, walked away without a second thought.
Just as she was about to pass the two of them, Ivan, drying his glasses with a towel, called out to her in a flustered voice.
“Ah, wait a moment!”
Ivan had caught not her wrist but the hem of her sleeve. Idel raised one eyebrow and turned her head.
Worried that she might be displeased, he hurriedly let go and, with an earnest expression, offered his thanks.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me. And I also wanted to apologize for the insult Farrel gave you. You must have been deeply hurt. I’m truly sorry.”
Despite his gentle yet fragile appearance, his expression as he offered the apology looked surprisingly resolute.
Idel tossed out her reply with the look of someone who couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Why on earth are you apologizing to me? And I didn’t help you, did I? Did you dream it up or something?”
“It was neither a dream nor a mistake. I’m not so oblivious that I can’t understand why you sent your maid instead of settling things through the master.”
“That’s… ”
As if sensing she was about to protest, Ivan quickly continued.
“Even if you didn’t actually help me, I felt a certain satisfaction because of it, so surely that’s still worth thanking you for.”
“Indeed, Ivan is right. I too am grateful. I’d like to offer you some compensation… Would you mind telling us which noble house you belong to?”
Like father, like son, as the saying goes…
Seeing the Count show the same expression and similar goodwill as Ivan Ernest, Idel raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two of them.
‘You don’t need to compensate me.’
She meant it. Helping Ivan Ernest had been a subtle seed sown for the future, not a request for anything in return right now.
‘Besides, if he contacts the Ducal Household right now and spills everything…’
She briefly pictured the situation in the Ducal Household, then quickly shook the thought away.
The costs clearly outweighed the benefits. Tilting her head with a sulky look, Idel muttered.
“Hmph, I don’t care what your family name is. Why would that name matter to me?”
Slipping the words out in a manner fitting the ‘Idel of the rumors,’ she turned on her heel and pushed open the cafe door. Standing right outside, as luck would have it, was Kailon.
Having confirmed that the area was safe, he had been about to step into the cafe when he stopped short at the sudden sight of Idel.
Noticing the look on his face, as if asking why she was standing there, Idel lightly flicked her fingers and spoke.
“Turn around and go back out.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’re leaving. Do you want to stay here by yourself?”
“But didn’t you say you were going to eat cake at Cafe Florang?”
“You saw what state Sigmund and I are in and still… Ugh, never mind, never mind! I’m heading to the carriage first. Diane, you explain things to him.”
“Y-yes!”
Waving her hand as if she’d truly had enough, Idel slipped neatly past Kailon’s side.
Sigmund glanced back and forth between Kailon, who was looking at Diane with eyes demanding an explanation, and Diane, who was flailing about, then gave a slight shrug.
For a brief moment he had considered adding a word or two…
‘Well, I suppose joining in this much is enough.’
Besides, it didn’t look like that knight would take anything he said seriously anyway.
Quickly giving up on the idea, Sigmund followed Idel’s example, slipping past Kailon’s side and out of the cafe.
The rest was up to them.
* * *
Meanwhile, a man who had been watching Idel leave the cafe with keen interest rubbed his chin and spoke quietly.
“A daughter of the Clementine family, is she…?”
The girl had never revealed her house, but he recognized the face of the knight speaking with the maid.
‘Someone here must have figured it out too.’
Ivan Ernest, the employee he had been keeping an eye on, would have caught on immediately.
Dominic Nightray, owner of Shellami and head of the Nightray Ducal House, saw Ivan adjust his glasses and knew his suspicion had been right.
‘A sharp eye is a reporter’s greatest virtue, after all.’
Ivan was exactly the talent he had been counting on. Still, he hadn’t expected to witness such a shameful display in a cafe he’d visited with his son.
‘I was prepared to step in if need be…’
Thanks to that girl, there’s no need now.
Just as he tried to replay the girl’s unconventional entrance, the voice of his son, whose voice had not yet broken, cut into his thoughts.
Seated across from him was his son, Dante Nightray.
“Does that mean that girl is the child of the Clementine Ducal House?”
Noticing his son’s green eyes waver slightly, Dominic rested his chin on his hand and lifted the corner of his mouth.
“Yes. Why, does she not seem like a duke’s daughter at all?”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant. I just…”
“Just?”
“I just thought she could respond to rudeness like that.”
“It was an unexpected move, I’ll grant you.”
Nodding in light agreement with his son, he looked again at where the commotion had been. The girl was already gone, yet his son still couldn’t tear his gaze away from that spot.
“…Why didn’t she give her name?”
“What do you think her reason was?”
“I think it’s because she didn’t want payment. Wasn’t it simply a kindness? So the family name must not have mattered to her.”
Smiling faintly at Dante’s earnest expression, he quietly swallowed the truth.
‘Well, I doubt she meant it in that sense.’
The Jeiana he knew didn’t have red hair like the girl he’d seen today, and though lively, she was not one to act so raw and unfiltered.
‘So that girl must be the one from the rumors.’
Idel Clementine, daughter of the former Countess Lopez.
‘She’s quite different from the rumors.’
Of course, judging only by her behavior, one couldn’t say she differed from the rumors at all.
Hurling her towel like a bull charging at red cloth, she had barreled into Farrel, and her biting, irritating remarks were just as the rumors described.
‘But as Ivan said, it wasn’t for her own sake.’
If she had truly picked the fight out of humiliation, she would have dragged up her own troubles even after Count Bright appeared.
‘Though, with such exaggerated behavior, it seems few have noticed.’
Over the rim of his coffee cup, Dominic caught the whispers of the other patrons.
“…If that’s Farel Underwood, the eldest son from the rumors, right? Honestly, how pathetic, picking on a child… The rumors weren’t wrong.”
“Right. I wonder whose daughter she could be.”
“Well… Farrel did make a fool of himself, but that girl certainly looks like she could use some discipline too. Even so, a noble lady acting so undignified…”
In the patrons’ gossip, curiosity, shock, and a touch of contempt could all be heard at once.
Watching a fresh piece of gossip take shape, Dominic set his coffee cup back down. A strange sensation had been prodding at him for some time now.
‘And at times like this…’
Having reached his judgment through experience, he turned his head and spoke to his son.
“Dante, would you like to learn swordsmanship from Duke Clementine for a while?”
“Really? Is that all right?”
“Yes. The duke was your mother’s classmate at the Academy, so I’ll put in a word.”
Ruffling his son’s hair, which showed unmistakable eagerness, he smiled quietly. At times like this, one should not ignore instinct.

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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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