The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 16

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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 16

There was an impact, but it didn’t hurt as much as I expected.

It was strange. I had definitely fallen.

When I opened my eyes, there wasn’t a floor beneath me but a person.

It was Demian.

Demian was lying on the floor with me in his arms.

…Wait.

What kind of situation is this?

I’m not stupid, but I couldn’t understand the scene unfolding before my eyes, so I just stared down at him blankly without doing anything.

Demian frowned.

“…You should work on your awareness.”

Ah, right. I need to get up.

I hurriedly tried to lift myself up, but my hand slipped. I fell forward again.

“Ugh.”

“…Please get up properly.”

Demian sighed deeply and pushed me up. Then my body dangled from his hands.

So I ended up hanging from Demian’s hands like a keychain, swinging my feet.

My face burned. I don’t know if it was from embarrassment or what, but even my ears felt hot.

“S-sorry. I accidentally…”

I stopped mid-apology.

Demian’s arm caught my eye.

From his elbow to his forearm was scraped raw and bright red. Blood was dripping down his hand.

“Eek!”

A scream escaped me in surprise.

“Your arm! Your arm is bleeding!”

“…Don’t scream. It’s nothing serious.”

Demian brushed off his arm as if it was no big deal. That made more blood splatter.

Nothing serious my foot. Look how much blood there is!

I tear up just from getting pricked by a needle, but he doesn’t even blink while covered in blood.

And this guy fell with me while trying to catch me. He cushioned the fall for me and hit the ground himself.

It was because of me.

“Nothing serious? Look how much you’re bleeding!”

“This much is common during training…”

“Just because it’s common means you should leave it alone?!”

My voice got louder. I raised my voice without realizing it.

Demian looked at me with a bewildered expression. I ignored his gaze and stood up abruptly.

“Where’s the Apothecary?”

“…What, all of a sudden.”

“Quickly.”

Instead of explaining, I grabbed Demian’s wrist firmly. Normally I would have been more cautious, but not now.

Demian looked down at my tiny hand gripping him with a completely confused expression.

“Loreia, did you perhaps hit your head when you fell? I thought I protected you well.”

“Yes, you protected me so well that I’m perfectly fine.”

“Then why are you acting like this?”

“Do I need to say it again? You’re hurt. Maybe you’re the one who hit your head, Grand Duke?”

“I told you it’s nothing serious…”

“I’ll be the judge of whether it’s serious or not.”

I cut him off. Demian’s eyes widened. He seemed surprised.

Of course he was. I was surprised too. I didn’t know I would say something like that.

“…Where is it?”

“…East end of the Pavilion.”

Finally Demian sighed and answered.

So it was at the east end of the Pavilion. I probably didn’t know because I only wandered the west corridor endlessly last time.

“Let’s go.”

I started walking without letting go of his wrist.

Demian followed along, bewildered by my behavior but allowing himself to be dragged.

* * *

The Apothecary was a quiet, small room.

Medicinal herbs were neatly organized on shelves, and basic medical supplies like disinfectant and bandages were placed on a table to one side. Dust sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the window. There was that musty smell characteristic of rooms that hadn’t been used in a long time.

Last time I caused all that commotion because I couldn’t find this place.

I felt somewhat deflated.

“Sit down.”

I pulled a chair over and placed it in front of Demian.

“…This really isn’t necessary.”

“I said sit down.”

I spoke firmly once again.

Demian sighed deeply and plopped down. His whole face showed his annoyance, but I didn’t care.

I rummaged through the shelves. Disinfectant here, ointment there, bandages next to that. I took out what I needed one by one and laid them out on the table. I found clean cloth too.

My hands moved on their own.

It was a familiar motion.

I could feel Demian watching me, but I ignored it for now.

I soaked the clean cloth with disinfectant and carefully took hold of Demian’s arm.

“…It might hurt.”

“It’s fine.”

I slowly cleaned the wounded area. It was scraped quite widely. He must have gotten scratched when he hit the ground. While protecting me.

‘…I feel terrible about this.’

I muttered inwardly as I continued disinfecting. Demian didn’t move a muscle. I wondered if it didn’t hurt or if he was just enduring it. Maybe this really was nothing to him. For a swordsmanship genius.

After finishing the disinfection, I applied ointment.

My hands moved smoothly without hesitation.

Actually, this level of treatment was already familiar work for me.

As I focused on the treatment for a while, I suddenly felt a gaze and looked up to find Demian staring intently at me.

“You’re too skilled for a princess. You shouldn’t have had many occasions to treat wounds.”

As expected, that question came up.

My hands hesitated for a moment.

“…Just because.”

I avoided answering.

I couldn’t tell him I’d become skilled because of blood drawing.

After having blood drawn at the Imperial Palace, there were always wounds left behind. Needle marks, cut marks, infected and festering marks. The person in charge of blood drawing only provided minimal treatment, and since the fact that I regularly had blood drawn was kept secret even from my closest maids, I couldn’t ask for help.

For that reason, changing bandages or treating wounds when they reopened had become a habit I handled myself. That’s how I’d become so skilled.

But I couldn’t tell him that story.

Demian didn’t press further. Instead, doubt remained in his eyes. He seemed to sense something was strange.

I began wrapping the bandage.

An awkward silence flowed between us. In the apothecary, there were only Demian and me. It was quiet. Only the rustling sound of bandaging could be heard.

“…Why did you run away?”

Demian was the first to speak.

“…Pardon?”

“From the Imperial Palace.”

He looked at me. His eyes were serious.

“What reason did you have to come all the way to the Duke’s Mansion to hide?”

My hands stopped.

What should I answer?

Because I hated the Imperial Palace? Because I was afraid of the Emperor? Such words weren’t enough. To explain the real reason, I’d have to say too much.

“…Because I felt like I would die if I stayed there.”

That’s how I finally answered.

I spoke lightly as if joking. As if stating an insignificant fact.

But my eyes couldn’t smile.

Because it was sincere. Before my regression, I had truly died bleeding in a cold prison.

“…”

Demian’s expression changed subtly.

He seemed like he wanted to say something. His lips moved slightly. But in the end, he said nothing. Instead, he looked at me. With a different gaze than before.

Wariness?

No, that didn’t seem right.

How should I put it. I didn’t know.

I forced myself to swallow the words caught in my throat and tied the bandage knot.

“…It’s finished.”

Demian looked down at his arm. After seeing the well-wrapped bandage, he opened his mouth as if to say something.

“Thank y…”

He seemed to be muttering something, but his voice was too quiet to hear clearly.

“Pardon?”

I reflexively asked back, but Demian’s words cut off there. Instead, he just stared at me for a long time with a subtle expression.

How much time passed like that?

Demian suddenly stood up abruptly, leaving me behind.

“…Young Duke?”

“Let’s stop here for today. I can’t teach the princess with an injured arm.”

“No, I understand that, but…”

Before I could finish speaking, he suddenly opened the apothecary door and left just like that.

I stared blankly at the closed door.

‘So, I’ve been abandoned again?’

This irreverent young duke had clearly made a habit of abandoning the princess and leaving.

What was unfortunate was my situation where I couldn’t even say a word about such behavior.

‘Well, at least I treated him properly…’

I stared down at the bandage still clutched in my hand.

Last time I was annoyed that he abandoned me and left, but this time I strangely wasn’t angry.

More than that.

I kept thinking about earlier.

When I fell, the arm that reflexively wrapped around me.

Demian protecting me, that brief moment of being held in his embrace.

It was firm and warm. That kept coming to mind.

‘…Strange.’

It had never happened at the Imperial Palace.

No one had ever embraced me, or tried to protect me.

Because I was the villainess that the Imperial Family put forward. I was a means to rationalize the Imperial Family’s misdeeds, a villain created by them. It was my role to step forward and receive criticism and condemnation.

The Emperor I called father only saw me as a tool, the maids only watched for cues, and no one in the palace ever extended a hand to me.

I was an object of fear, not someone to be protected and cared for.

When I fell, I had to get up alone, and when I was hurt, I had to treat myself alone. Enduring pain by myself when sick was natural. I couldn’t appear weak in anyone’s eyes.

It was like that until the moment I was abandoned by the Emperor and locked in the Underground Dungeon.

Even in despair, I never once bowed my head before the ministers and people.

I thought that was natural.

But today, Demian reflexively wrapped his arms around me.

Even knowing he might get hurt himself.

‘…Why?’

I couldn’t understand it.

I thought he hated me.

He had called me Loreia, a burden, someone who held him back.

Without even knowing that I was his sister. He had told me not to dare invade his precious sister’s territory just because I was a princess.

Unlike my mind that couldn’t comprehend it, my heart kept beating like a small drum, pounding loudly. It continued like that for a long time.

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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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