The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 78

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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 78

Late at night.

Carlos closed the study door and came out.

The corridor where everyone was asleep was quiet.

He walked slowly, pressing his tired eyes firmly. His eyes were strained from writing replies to letters all day long.

Cold wind seeped through the window at the end of the corridor.

‘I don’t know when it became this cold.’

It didn’t seem to be this bad just a few days ago.

Winter seemed to have approached quickly.

Suddenly, the night sky was visible beyond the window. Stars were twinkling. The moon was bright. It was a cold and clear winter night.

‘…How long has it been since I looked at the night sky.’

Such a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Since when? He hadn’t thought to lift his head and look up somewhere. There were many reasons. Suffering from magi, dying, enduring day by day.

It would be correct to say he didn’t even have the leisure to look at the sky.

He was too busy gasping from the pain before his eyes.

It got worse after losing his wife and daughter. Everything in the world seemed to lose its color. What color the sky was, how brightly the stars shone. He didn’t even want to know such things.

But now, he was strangely peaceful.

Carlos gazed at the night sky for a long time. The cold air penetrated deep into his lungs. He felt alive.

That feeling wasn’t bad at all.

Eventually, he turned his steps.

He was about to go to his room. Certainly he was. But without realizing it, his feet were heading somewhere else.

When he suddenly realized the direction was different, he was already standing in front of Lorea’s room.

‘…I must have lost my mind too.’

Carlos frowned at his own absurdity.

He was about to shake his head and turn back when suddenly the slightly open room door entered his view. Light flickered through the gap.

‘Don’t tell me she’s still not sleeping.’

At this hour?

What on earth was she doing until this late hour? Carlos, who had been lost in thought for a moment, quietly peered inside through the door crack.

Lorea was slumped over the desk.

She was in her pajamas. Her disheveled hair half-covered her face. Her small shoulders rose and fell evenly. She seemed to be sleeping.

‘With a bed available.’

Carlos, who had been thinking briefly, slowly entered inside.

The desk was a mess. Papers were scattered here and there, and an ink bottle was left half-open. Seeing that the candle had almost burned down, she seemed to have been sitting at the desk for a long time.

Lorea’s small hand, which had fallen asleep while holding a pen, was covered in ink.

Carlos picked up a piece of paper.

Dense writing was written on it. Purification stone distribution methods, sales order, pricing standards. It was a meticulous and detailed plan that was hard to believe a child had written.

‘Did she do all this alone?’

Lorea had aspects that didn’t match her thirteen years. She would smile innocently like a child, but in some areas she was thorough and methodical. As if she had experienced such things tediously.

It was the moment he was about to put the paper back down.

Something in the corner caught his eye.

It was a doodle.

Two black-haired figures were drawn. One was big and one was small. Next to the big one, ‘Carlos’ was written in crooked letters, and next to the small one, ‘Demian’ was written.

“…No talent for art.”

Carlos muttered without realizing it.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. It was a smile he wasn’t even conscious of.

He remembered when this child first set foot in the mansion. An uninvited guest. A thorn in his side. An existence he wanted to get rid of as quickly as possible, even if just one day sooner, if he couldn’t strangle her. It had been months since he holed up only in his bedroom and study, finding it unpleasant to even be in the same space.

‘….’

But what about now?

Carlos asked himself, but no answer came. He just stared blankly down at the sleeping child.

Lorea stirred slightly. She seemed cold. Her pajamas were thin.

‘Come to think of it, is the room a bit cold?’

Although Carlos had neglected the mansion for a long time, Mia had been taking care of it accordingly.

Even though there was no way the room where Lorea had lived for nearly half a year could be cold, Carlos somehow had that thought at that moment.

He looked down at Lorea again.

Should he wake her and send her to bed? But she was sleeping too soundly to wake up. She must have been exhausted from pondering this and that all day.

He sighed and reached out his hand.

He lifted Lorea up. She was lighter than expected. Like a feather. A faint warmth was transmitted from the child’s body.

He moved her to the bed, laid her down, and pulled up the blanket to cover her. Lorea didn’t wake up. She was still sleeping with a peaceful face.

“….”

It was a young face. Her sleeping appearance looked even younger. It was completely different from how she boldly schemed during the day.

“She sleeps so deeply that someone could carry her away without her knowing.”

It was the moment when Carlos, who had been quietly looking down at Lorea, slowly raised his upper body.

“Mmm…”

Lorea frowned lightly and tossed and turned. She seemed to be dreaming.

“I’ll protect… you.”

A voice murmuring through small gaps between her teeth flowed out. The way she gripped the sheet tightly with hands that still had baby fat looked desperate.

‘Protect?’

What on earth was she thinking about?

Why was the princess, of all people, desperately clinging to and trying to restore the life that Carlos himself had given up on?

What was so desperate about it?

A princess who used to regard the House of the Duke as a thorn in her side, no less.

Even after spending several months together, I still couldn’t understand Lorea’s true feelings.

“….”

Finally, Carlos finished tucking Lorea’s blanket up to her neck and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Then he stopped for a moment in the corridor. He thought he could faintly hear Lorea’s steady breathing from behind him.

Moonlight was pouring through the window at the end of the corridor. The winter night was cold.

Even so, it didn’t feel cold.

* * *

Sunlight seeped through my closed eyelids.

When I tossed and turned and opened my drowsy eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling.

‘…Hm?’

I’m pretty sure I fell asleep at my desk yesterday. I definitely remember my eyes closing while organizing the purification stone distribution plan, but I had no memory of what happened after that.

I sat up in confusion and looked around. The blanket that had been covering me up to my neck fell with a thud.

“What?”

Moreover, the desk that had been piled high with papers like a mountain until last night was now neatly organized. The papers were gathered in an orderly fashion, the ink bottle cap was closed, and the pen was back in its proper place. Even the candlestick had been cleanly put away.

‘Did Mia come and go?’

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Princess, are you awake?”

It was Mia’s voice. The door opened and Mia entered.

“Breakfast is ready. Today we have the soup you like, Princess….”

“Mia.”

“Yes?”

“Did you come into my room last night?”

Mia tilted her head.

“Last night? No, I didn’t. Is there some problem?”

“…No, nothing.”

I looked back and forth between the neatly organized desk and the blanket that had been covering me up to my neck.

‘Then perhaps….’

A familiar face briefly flashed through my mind, but I quickly shook my head again.

Carlos tucking me into bed? It seemed more plausible to think I had developed sleepwalking.

“Princess?”

“No, I’ll come down now.”

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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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