She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 25

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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 25
“…That’s all.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. The physician said it was too early to be certain, so we even called in a priest, but the results were exactly as Farrel described.”
“What?!”
Jeiana shot up from her seat the moment Ivan finished, her voice rising sharply.
She seemed to remember where they were, since this was the Academy, and clapped a hand over her mouth in a hurry. Idel understood the reaction completely.
She felt the very same way.
‘Pregnant, for real? Farrel?’
That couldn’t be right. If something this significant had been at the center of the story, it would have been mentioned in the book report.
‘And Ivan Ernest couldn’t have teamed up with Count Bright to help Jeiana, either.’
Arms folded, Idel stared straight at Ivan and spoke.
“So that’s why you came to the Academy to look into the Empire’s history of black magic?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. I thought there might be something, just in case…”
In other words, he had come hoping to grasp at straws.
‘I suppose I could at least ask Sigmund about it.’
He’d probably throw a fit and complain about it nonstop, but it still wasn’t impossible, was it?
Above all, there were plenty of points in Farrel’s account that were hard to believe. At least, from the standpoint of someone who had more information than Count Bright’s family, thanks to her younger sister’s book report.
‘Pregnancy is tied to the Creation of Life. If the Forbidden Magic devotees pulled this off, Melissa would have jumped at the chance to use it.’
If they could make a man pregnant, why would Melissa have needed to resort to some other black magic to turn me into a Clementine?
‘She could have just gotten pregnant by the Duke for real.’
Melissa was a woman driven mad by love and inferiority. She would have thought nothing of a pregnancy. And yet Farrel supposedly succeeded where the black-magic expert of the story had failed?
‘Something smells off.’
Still, setting those suspicions aside, Idel fell into a brief spell of thought. She couldn’t tell whether this matter would have happened regardless, or whether it was a variable born from her own interference.
“….”
Noticing Idel lower her gaze in thought, Jeiana rolled her eyes and nudged Ivan with her elbow.
“Ivan, now’s the time.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Oh, honestly, you have to catch Idel when she’s thinking!”
Having whispered to Ivan, she nodded solemnly, as if to show him how determined she was.
As though she’d forgotten the moment she had puffed out her chest, Jeiana crept closer to Idel and drooped the corners of her eyes. Her murmuring voice sounded pitifully forlorn.
“It’s so sad when two people love each other and get separated because of someone else… Idel, can’t we help them?”
“…How ridiculous. What could we possibly do about grown-up affairs?”
“We can find someone who can help! Let’s ask Papa or Mama and look for someone they know! Or, um…”
“Hmph, as if. Forget it. I’m not interested in such a trivial matter.”
“But you don’t want the person who tormented you to end up happy, do you, Idel?! What if she takes the Count’s side and comes after you too?”
“….”
At the slight twitch of Idel’s brow, Jeiana flashed Ivan a sly, mischievous smile.
“Let’s think about it together, okay? The doctor saw it, and the priest saw it, so, um… how about finding a magician too? Or we could prove first that the woman made up all those bad deeds! You’re a reporter, Ivan!”
Jeiana, racking her brain to draw Idel in, quickly lost herself in her own ideas, forgetting her goal altogether. It was a thoroughly childlike display.
Idel, who had been watching her quietly, raised her head with a prim expression.
“If we don’t help that man, that old uncle will be thrilled, won’t he?”
“Ah, well, Lady…”
“Just as Jeiana said, once he gets what he wants, he’ll go on about his lessons and all sorts of pointless nonsense to me again.”
The child’s eyes, rolling as her head tilted, looked remarkably earnest. When the two children took on a truly eager stance to help, Ivan grew somewhat flustered.
He had indeed poured out his frustrations to the young ones because the situation had grown so stifling, but this was never the outcome he’d wanted.
‘I should have stopped her before Lady Jeiana got involved.’
No, he shouldn’t have brought the matter up at all. What a disgraceful display from a grown man.
“Fine. I’ll help you.”
“No, no, that’s not necessary!”
Ivan hurriedly shook his head at the words that had finally burst from Idel’s lips.
As if they’d never imagined they’d be turned down, the two pairs of wide eyes fixed on him.
Facing the two children, who resembled each other and yet didn’t, Ivan stated his position slowly but firmly.
“I didn’t mention this to draw you two into my affairs.”
“Hmph.”
“I know it may sound like an excuse, but I mean it. So please don’t say such things. What you did for me at the cafe, and the sentiment you’re showing now, is more than enough.”
His gentle eyes, which might have looked feeble at a glance, shone with sudden resolve.
Idel could easily read in those deer-like eyes an apology, worry, and self-reproach directed at himself.
Watching him intently, she tilted her head primly and arched one eyebrow.
“Until the professor returns, I’ll show you around the Academy…”
“No, thanks.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not that I’m helping you for your sake. I just feel like helping, that’s all. It’s because of me, not you. Got it?”
“…Huh?”
Ivan’s eyes wavered slightly at the absurd words. Worse still, when Jeiana nodded vigorously as if she’d understood perfectly, his head only grew more tangled.
Apparently, children had some kind of wavelength of their own.
“Yeah, that’s it! Ivan, you finally get how we feel, right? Right?”
“Well, that’s…”
For the first time in a long while, Ivan doubted his own skills as a reporter, and his face twisted into an awkward expression. But before he could say anything, Jeiana’s eyes went wide and she abruptly changed the subject.
“Oh, Idel, isn’t that Professor Hector over there?”
“It is.”
“Professor! Over here!”
Professor Hector was hurrying toward them, apparently having just finished dealing with something.
Jeiana waved both hands and ran over to him with a cheerful bounce.
The way she darted off before anyone could stop her was exactly like a puppy let out for a walk.
“Ah…”
Ivan rubbed the back of his neck with a troubled look and let out a sigh.
It seemed that if he left things as they were, they would quietly slide into being forgotten.
‘No way.’
Idel had no intention whatsoever of stepping out of this matter, no matter what Ivan wished.
Setting aside that he was Jeiana’s important ally, what bothered her was the Black Magic Farrel had used.
‘Or more precisely, its source.’
Her keen instincts were telling her this would be a crucial clue. Besides, she had to pay Sigmund a visit sooner or later anyway.
And so…
“Two days from now, at noon, meet me in front of Cafe Florang.”
“Ah, surely not…”
“You’ve got it right. I mean you’d better accept it, whether you like it or not.”
“…”
“Since it’s come to this, wouldn’t you feel better watching us with your own eyes?”
Meeting those blue eyes fixed on him, Ivan felt a peculiar sort of unease.
Unlike the bizarre words from a moment ago, what Idel had just said was perfectly logical. At least to the extent that he could understand it.
‘Could she really be hiding her true self?’
Just as his reporter’s instincts began sending their signals, the child, who had been speaking so crisply, pushed out her lower lip in a pout and muttered to herself.
“Hmph, she said to wait and see, and now she dares to pick a fight with me? I’m not losing.”
“…”
“What? Why are you suddenly smiling? Do I amuse you?”
“Ah, my apologies. It’s nothing.”
“Hmph.”
…No way, it can’t be that.
Just as Jeiana had forgotten what she was saying the moment she spotted Professor Hector and ran off, Idel seemed to be acting on a childlike whim.
‘Unlike Lady Jeiana, though, she seems to have fixated completely on one single idea.’
Ivan brushed away his suspicion and calmly gathered his thoughts.
‘I need to figure out a way to rein those two in at a reasonable point.’
If they spent about half a day together, he could probably soothe them and send them home.
No matter how clever and lucky the two young ladies were, they surely couldn’t resolve a matter that the Count Family was struggling with in a snap.
And then, two days later.
“…Hey, is this what you were looking for?”
Ivan was forced to retract his words.

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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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