The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 12】

“What on earth is wrong with you…! Do you think it makes sense for a father and daughter to have such difficulty seeing each other’s faces? Are we even really blood relatives?”

The Duke flew into a rage.

In contrast, Rianel remained expressionless.

“I won’t mince words. Stop suffering out there and come home.”

Rent in the Imperial Capital was expensive. With Rianel’s meager salary barely enough to cover it, she was living in a cramped house in a remote, out-of-the-way location.

Every time the Duke thought of his daughter laying her body down in such a place each night, his blood ran cold.

“Why should I do that?”

“Why? You’re my daughter! You’re my family!”

Bang!

The Duke’s fist slammed down on the table. The impact made all the household items shake.

Even Vanessa was so tense she was watching the Duke’s mood carefully.

It seemed like one wrong word and she herself might be kicked out of the ducal house.

Rianel’s mouth moved on its own like a creature oblivious to the atmosphere.

“Must one necessarily reside in the same mansion to be family? If so, I would like to point out that this is a hasty generalization and an error in necessary and sufficient conditions.”

“What?”

“If that were a necessary condition for family, then the servants who prepared this meal and Lady Violen would also become family, creating a logical error.”

Violen was Vanessa’s surname.

Even in this situation, Rianel had clearly pointed out that Vanessa was definitely not family.

‘Why is she picking a fight with me again?’

I was staying quiet this time!

Vanessa ground her teeth inwardly but couldn’t glare openly.

Instead, she forced a gentle smile and chimed in.

“Rianel’s words do have merit, Father.”

As long as Rianel didn’t come home, she could do whatever she wanted.

“Besides, Rianel has an independent nature, so staying at the mansion would feel stifling to her.”

Those words contradicted the logic she had used when arranging a marriage meeting for the supposedly unstable Rianel, but Vanessa acted shamelessly.

However, Vanessa immediately regretted taking Rianel’s side.

“More importantly, there is no space for me to stay in this mansion.”

“Why wouldn’t there be space for you to stay? The room you used before leaving home is still there!”

“Didn’t you know? That room is currently being rented by Lady Violen.”

“What?”

The Duke’s eyes widened.

“Why is someone else using my daughter’s room!”

Crash—!

This time the entire table shook and the food plates clattered.

The Duke had seen Vanessa and Rianel in the same room, but since the room’s furnishings remained the same, he hadn’t known Vanessa was using it.

‘I occasionally saw Vanessa or the maids going in and out of Rianel’s room, but I thought they were just managing the room while the owner was away.’

Feeling deceived, the Duke’s fury was considerable.

‘Oh no, this is bad.’

Vanessa flinched and cowered.

Vanessa had taken advantage of the Duke’s lack of attention to family affairs to seize control of the mansion’s authority through her position as his fiancée.

But the Duke was still not someone to be ignored.

The power she enjoyed was no different from a fox entering an ownerless place and stretching out in the empty space.

Vanessa stammered out excuses under the Duke’s piercing gaze.

“Th… that’s nonsense! I never did such a—”

“Ah, so it was unauthorized occupation?”

However, realizing that contradicting Rianel’s words would make things even stranger, Vanessa hastily agreed.

“No, no! I did borrow it.”

“I thought so. When I checked earlier, all the room’s furniture was still there.”

All the furniture Rianel had used was of the highest quality.

Some pieces were limited edition items that were hard to obtain even with money, others were things the Duke had personally bought for her, and still others were inherited from the Duchess.

There were even a few rare gifts from Rupert.

Everything in that room was proof that Rianel had been loved in this house.

Vanessa, who had secretly envied Rianel, had simply stolen and claimed that room for herself.

The Duke spoke.

“If you were residing there temporarily, it would be natural to vacate the space when the room’s owner returned. Pack your belongings and return the room to Rianel.”

“F-Father. The thing is…”

Vanessa hesitated.

There was no room in the mansion as spacious and nice as Rianel’s room. She had accumulated quite a lot of belongings during her three years of residence.

Most of all, she didn’t want to be pushed aside by someone like Rianel.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Rianel said.

“I have no intention of staying here for long. So I think it would be inefficient for Lady Violen to pack her belongings for my sake.”

‘Why is she taking my side for once?’

Vanessa brightened momentarily.

“So paying rent and key money would be appropriate.”

She realized it was a trap.

“R-rent is one thing, but… why key money…”

Key money referred to the premium paid for shops with good locations and thriving business.

She couldn’t understand why she should pay something that merchants exchanged among themselves.

“My room is a place that has been used by Vincenheim princesses for generations. It’s a place filled with the family’s prestige and history, so I think it has sufficient value to warrant payment.”

Vanessa wasn’t wise, but she wasn’t a fool either.

She knew it was meaningless to debate whether Rianel’s words were logically correct.

Because the conclusion of this conversation would inevitably lead to the fact that Vanessa was wrong to have stolen and used Rianel’s room.

Vanessa sighed with drooping eyebrows. In times like this, emotional manipulation was the best option.

“It’s hurtful that you suddenly bring up money. I thought we were close…”

“Were we close?”

Rianel meant it as if she had discovered an unexpected fact, but it sounded different to Vanessa’s ears.

‘Is she mocking me right now?’

Vanessa’s face flushed with anger.

She gripped the hem of her dress under the tablecloth and gritted her teeth.

Vanessa noticed that the Duke’s gaze toward her had changed.

Until recently, she had been treated as a precious and useful prospective daughter-in-law who looked after the family’s internal affairs on his behalf.

Now she was being treated as pathetic and immature.

Noticing that momentary change, Vanessa ground her teeth inwardly.

The Duke looked at Rianel and said.

“I’ll give you a guest room, so stay until tomorrow’s formal dinner. Lisa would be happy if you spent more time at the mansion too.”

Though he outwardly used the Duchess as an excuse, it was obviously a ploy to keep Rianel in the house.

Rianel shook her head.

“That won’t do.”

The Duke’s eyebrows twitched.

“What else are you dissatisfied with? Fine, tell me everything. What more do you need!”

“I don’t have enough service days to take annual leave.”

The reality for low-level civil servants was harsh. Annual leave accrued based on months of service, and Rianel had not worked long and had almost no remaining leave due to disciplinary action from a previous incident.

“So please process it as a business trip.”

“…Wouldn’t sick leave be better?”

“Processing it as a business trip provides an allowance.”

“….”

The Duke was momentarily speechless and couldn’t respond.

However, he was the type to turn a blind eye to his daughter’s minor corruption, ultimately nodding his head.

“…Understood.”

* * *

Vanessa paced anxiously around the room, then asked as soon as the maid returned.

“How did it go?”

Though the Duke loved Rianel, he wasn’t the type of father who used affection as an excuse for oppression like other nobles.

Rather, he was more inclined to be appropriately permissive and quietly support his child’s chosen path from behind.

If Rianel wanted to become a civil servant, he wouldn’t directly promote her, but he would pull strings to ensure she wouldn’t be dismissed.

Vanessa had previously used this trait to drive Rianel away. As long as it appeared that Rianel was withdrawing on her own, the Duke didn’t pay much attention.

This time was no different.

Of course, she used the maid’s hands rather than her own.

If things went wrong, all the blame would fall on the maid.

[Guide Rianel to a suitably nice room. Do you understand?]

This meant to guide Rianel to a room that would make her never want to set foot in the Duke’s estate again.

What if the maid failed to grasp this meaning?

She would be expelled from the Duke’s estate or banished to do menial work.

Since Vanessa was the one who signed their pay slips, reading the atmosphere was a matter of livelihood for the maids.

They didn’t ask for much.

Not getting fired and barely earning enough money to put food on the table.

They didn’t question whether the process was immoral or not. Only the thickness of their pay envelope mattered.

But the maid’s expression upon returning was troubling.

“Well, you see….”

Fidgeting hands, eyes full of bewilderment.

Vanessa pressed her before her patience wore thin, and the maid confessed everything.

The maid was perceptive enough for Vanessa to keep by her side.

So naturally, she guided Rianel to a room that was uncleaned and unmaintained, covered in mold, with bedding of questionable cleanliness.

She thought that Rianel, being temperamental, would get angry and leave on the spot.

But Rianel stood at the doorway, surveyed the room, and said this:

“The room is quite shabby. I’m deeply concerned whether someone as precious as myself should stay in such a place.”

“…Pardon?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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