She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 28

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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 28
Unlike what Farrel had so disdainfully assumed, Ivan Ernest’s name carried considerable weight across the Empire.
Part of that was due to the sharpness of his articles, but it also owed a great deal to the rapid rise of Shellami, the press outlet that employed him.
In other words…
“Have you seen the bulletin Shellami put out? The announcement about Count Bright’s marriage!”
“Yes, I have. It’s truly unconventional! I’ve never heard of a wedding being announced through a press release and an interview like this.”
“Wasn’t there a young noble who was engaged to Count Bright? Did they break it off?”
“Oh my, now that you mention it. I haven’t heard anything about that…”
It meant that the high society’s attention had been seized before Farrel, who had threatened to publicly announce his pregnancy, could take the stage.
[Exclusive capture of the two’s private moment, leaked by an anonymous source!]
[Count Bright still involved with his former fiancé? A game of deception or true love?!]
[Count’s House switches to a public wedding… Guests welcome, no invitation required.]
Whenever interest seemed about to fade, some new scandal would spring up from somewhere, and high society buzzed with it day after day.
Of course, the one who burned the hottest was Farrel.
“My lord, no matter how much of a lord you are, you can’t just—!”
“Get out of my way!”
Bang!
“Vivian! What is this supposed to be? A wedding announcement with Ivan Ernest?”
“Farrel? I was just about to visit the Underwood house anyway. The Count’s House has already signed the documents. All that’s left is for your side to confirm, and the engagement can be dissolved properly…”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Ha. Vivian, do you think what I said was a joke? Do you think I was just bluffing to scare you?”
“…”
“Ha, ha-ha! Fine. I can tell from your face well enough. Yes, let’s see how you like falling into hell together.”
With eyes burning a cold blue, he declared war on Vivian, and Farrel made good on his word.
Perhaps he had prepared for exactly this outcome, because his pregnancy spread with remarkable speed.
Unfortunately, things did not unfold the way Farrel wanted.
Buried under so much information that no one could tell fact from rumor, people instead began to grow numb to the shock.
“Have you heard the latest gossip? You know, the one about the young lord engaged to Count Bright being pregnant?”
“What? Lord Farrel is pregnant? Ahaha! Oh, my lady, you’re such a joker!”
“I’m not joking, I heard it from someone who really knows. They say the Count’s House used black magic. Someone even supposedly has a photograph…”
“Honestly, to think such far-fetched stories are circulating means this affair has truly shaken high society. Well, we’ll see for ourselves at the wedding.”
“Will you be attending, my lady?”
“Of course I will!”
Watching all the effort he had poured into his scheme dwindle into mere amusement for others, Farrel ground his teeth.
Pregnancy in a man and black magic were topics that sounded absurd, but they were not something to be tossed about so lightly.
In other words, they carried enough weight that the houses eager to pick at the Count’s House would sink their teeth into them.
“And that lowborn Ivan, how did he ruin everything with a few scribbled words?!”
Crash!
He hurled the objects from the table in a fit of irritation and breathed heavily through his teeth.
‘How on earth did he think of this?’
Only moments ago, when he had revealed the truth, neither the Count’s House nor they had reacted like this.
‘Could they have found something out in that short span? No, even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.’
After all, it was true that he had become pregnant through black magic.
‘Of course, that gloomy Dark Mage said he couldn’t guarantee the child’s condition, and that the risk was high…’
But that was no concern of Farrel’s. Having the child had been nothing more than a means to secure a place by Vivian’s side.
‘If things keep going like this, I might actually have to end the engagement.’
He had boasted that he could handle everything, so the Underwood Family had not yet made any move, but that could not last much longer.
Faced with a situation that refused to bend to his will, he gnawed at his fingernails and rolled his eyes in agitation.
‘The wedding.’
If he had any chance left, it was only then. On the wedding day, when they asked whether anyone objected.
Farrel’s eyes gleamed with a dark emotion.
As he glared into empty space and turned the matter over in his head, a fact he had brushed aside earlier suddenly surfaced.
‘Those two said they would hold the wedding openly to the public.’
Anyone could attend, even without an invitation.
‘Anyone…’
Thinking about it again, he was appalled at how utterly without decorum it was. A marriage of an old, distinguished noble house was no joke, and to make such an affair public without even sending invitations…
‘They must want to show their love to the commoners because the partner they chose is of such low standing…’
Such a gap in status would, in the end, be the cause of their defeat.
Stung by the thought that he had been outdone by a commoner, he drew a deep breath and laid his hand on his stomach.
Was it because he had used black magic rather than the proper way? He felt as though his belly was swelling far faster than any ordinary expectant mother’s.
“Honestly, this turned out well for now.”
There’s no clearer proof than a belly that’s already swelling.
Convinced he could not lose, he rose to his feet, snatched up his coat in a hurry, and left the mansion.
It was time to seek out that Dark Mage who had helped him produce a child.
* * *
Meanwhile, Ivan Ernest, the central figure of the rumors that had shaken high society, was once again pounding away at his typewriter as usual today.
It wasn’t for overtime work or a private assignment, but because of a critique from one particular reader.
A reader he could not afford to ignore, a very important and exacting one.
[Please write it a bit more dramatically and naturally so people will feel drawn to it. A love of the century, but not clingy, something light and fresh?]
[No, you wrote the Bright Count Family’s devotion to the Empire so well, so why do you stumble the moment it comes to the love story between the two of them?]
The critique Idel sent through the artifact was so sharp it was hard to believe she was a child, yet at the same time it was headstrong in the way only a child’s could be.
‘It really is strange, you know.’
Shaking his head, he resumed typing, but his fingers slowed down once more.
‘Strange, huh…’
Honestly, the recent situation felt like a strange dream to Ivan.
Absurd things had suddenly torn through his everyday life and brought about one change after another.
And at the center of it all, as expected, was Idel Clementine.
‘Take this matter, for instance. I never imagined I would be getting married so suddenly like this.’
That day, she had abruptly declared that she would use him, and, making full use of the fact that he was a reporter, she had tossed out an outrageous proposal to announce the marriage in the newsletter.
Even now, it felt as though her clear, bright voice was ringing in his ears.
‘No, who said anything about actually getting married? Well, if you want to go through with it while you’re at it, I don’t mind, but… what I meant was to set a trap. One that works in our favor.’
‘Well…’
‘Given that man’s character, he’s bound to cause another commotion at least once more, so wouldn’t it be better to cast him as the lead on a stage we’ve prepared?’
As he recalled the smile that had spread across her lips like a mischievous child playing a prank, another thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘How on earth did Miss Idel end up caught up in such rumors?’
The Idel he had seen was not always forthcoming, and though she had few peers she was a kind child.
‘And she’s brilliant, too.’
Ah, could that be the reason?
Idel did not think or act like an ordinary noble’s child.
What child from any noble house would propose deliberately releasing information through a ‘newspaper article’?
‘She said rumors could be stopped with rumors.’
Whenever he saw her eyes shining with that blue light, Ivan sometimes wondered how she had come up with such an idea.
‘If Miss Idel had spoken in unusual ways with that crooked, unforthcoming attitude of hers…’
People would most likely have judged her by her appearance alone. Things that are unfamiliar are easily rejected.
Especially since she was not yet old enough to make her debut in society, rumors were all too easy to attach to her.
‘…She must have suffered greatly.’
Those must have been gazes that no child could easily brush off. Perhaps she had already been hurt by them.
Having reached that point in his thoughts, Ivan quietly sharpened his steady eyes behind his glasses.
Idel had said she was helping because of her own feelings, but whatever the reason, he had received a great deal of help from her.
So much that he could say she had been his benefactor. So…
‘So next time, I hope I can be of help to you, Miss Idel.’

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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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