The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 17

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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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Episode 17

A boy?
“Huh?”
Reportnya tilted her head. The information she had didn’t match the knight’s account.
‘The one who came to the cottage back then was definitely the neighbor lady and this knight, wasn’t it?’
That’s why she’d thanked him for reporting it. Could he have been the neighbor lady’s son?
“But after reporting it, he disappeared suddenly, so the neighbor lady I met while exploring near the house became the second informant.”
The neighbor lady was the second informant? Then there was someone who reported it first? Who on earth?
‘…Could it be the person who swapped out the Soinhwa Potion?’
If not, how would they have known there was a child in that house to make the initial report?
“What did the first informant look like?!”
Reportnya asked Bellik urgently. Her pronunciation seemed clipped at the end of her words, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
“Did you hear that pronunciation? How cute…….”
“Back when the Second Young Master couldn’t pronounce words like that, I never thought anything of it… but it really is adorable.”
The knights beside her seemed to murmur among themselves, but Reportnya dismissed it lightly.
Bellik, recovering his memory, slowly parted his lips.
“The distinctive feature was that for a child, his facial features were remarkably sharp, which caught my eye… but I didn’t look closely enough.”
“What about hair color or eye color?”
“Nothing special. His hair was black, and his eyes were golden.”
Wait.
The moment Reportnya heard Bellik’s words, she found herself recalling that boy from back then.
Could it be……?
‘That boy definitely said “you’re alive” when he saw me back then, didn’t he?’
What if that was something he said because he thought Reportnya was dead — because he’d swapped out the Soinhwa Potion?
The pieces fit perfectly.
“What is it, little one? The description of that boy you mentioned earlier — it matches, doesn’t it? You asked because it seemed similar?”
Reportnya simply laughed off Pelrens’s question.
Of course, that child might not be the first informant. But Reportnya’s instinct was telling her there was some connection.
‘Just let him get caught.’
Reportnya clenched her fist tightly.

* * *

Though she circled the Training Ground, Reportnya couldn’t choose an escort. Pelrens recommended several knights, boasting of their skill, but Reportnya refused, saying she didn’t like them.
The reason was simple.
‘Ack. That knight is the one who chased me so relentlessly when I was stealing. Ack, that one almost caught me on the day I snuck in!’
They were all knights she’d encountered during her time as a Spy for the Church. Reportnya desperately buried her face in Pelrens’s arms, whimpering that she disliked them, terrified he might discover her true identity.
Of course, when she was on a mission she wore a mask, so there was no reason they’d recognize her face, but she remained cautious anyway.
Besides, she didn’t want such persistent, skilled knights as her escort.
As a grown woman, she felt a twinge of self-reproach, but fortunately those around her treated it as nothing more than the tantrums of a five-year-old.
“Little one. You need to choose an escort, given what’s happened. If it bothers you to have me staying close beside you, I could have them hide in the distance and protect you instead.”
That’s the problem. That right there.
She couldn’t spend every day searching for the Heirloom with an uneasy heart, never knowing where he might be watching from.
Reportnya glanced sideways at Pelrens.
All day today, Pelrens had carried Reportnya in his arms. He could have set her down in the Training Ground, but he kept holding her because sand from shoes was troublesome for the servants to clean; in the Corridor, he continued holding her, saying she was the perfect weight for exercise.
‘I didn’t realize I was getting used to this.’
At first, when she was in the Duke’s arms, she’d thought being carried around in someone else’s embrace like this was shameful and embarrassing and absurd.
Now here she was, spending all day circled through the Training Ground, comfortably nestled in those arms.
‘My social standing…….’
She felt grateful that no one knew her body was only five years old.
“Tell me if there’s something on your mind, little one. Don’t look at me like that.”
She’d barely glanced, and yet his perception was uncanny. If Pelrens was like this, and then someone similar were to be added as an escort, watching and guarding her like that… ugh.
“You’re going to send me away anyway once I’m better.”
Reportnya parted her lips, trying to convince him somehow.
“According to what you said, I’m someone you’re going to send away, so do I really need an escort… ow!”
Before Reportnya could finish speaking, Pelrens ruffled the child’s hair into complete disarray.
“Stop it, don’t!”
Reportnya thrashed her small arms and swatted Pelrens’s hand away.
Her hair tumbled wildly across her face, obscuring Pelrens’s expression. Once she’d managed to comb it back into something resembling order, Reportnya glared up at him.
Pelrens was laughing.
“You’ve ruined my hair!”
“No, really—you look prettier now than you did before.”
Reportnya summoned all the ferocity she could muster, but in a child’s body, the effect fell short, and Pelrens simply laughed all the harder.
“That little head of yours comes up with the strangest ideas. Someone’s offering to protect you—why would that bother you? Wouldn’t it be nice to be safe until you leave?”
“Children have their own discomforts and dislikes too.”
Reportnya spoke with quiet firmness. Pelrens faltered.
“I dislike having a stranger nearby. Even if they’re hidden, watching from the shadows—it’s suffocating, it’s frightening, and I hate it. Someone constantly observing me in secret.”
Reportnya murmured her thoughts steadily.
“But I understand they want to assign a guard to prevent the same thing from happening again. So…….”
Reportnya paused, her eyes widening. A brilliant idea had just struck her.
A wonderful solution that would spare her from dealing with both Pelrens and a guard.
“I’ve picked my escort.”
“You stopped mid-sentence just to say that?”
Pelrens tilted his head.
“Yes. You, actually.”
Reportnya pointed at Pelrens with one small finger.
“……What?”
“I want you to be my escort.”
Reportnya had just designated a fossil—someone who’d dropped out of the Academy and was drifting aimlessly—as her guard.
After all, Pelrens was already watching her constantly, suspecting her of being a con artist. Assigning him as her official escort wouldn’t reduce his surveillance one bit.
So then, better to…….
‘Make Pelrens my escort and keep him at my side!’
Besides, if she walked around with House Kraitan’s second son as her escort, she’d naturally gain easier access to the Duke.
The true heir to House Kraitan was the eldest. Pelrens, as the second son, would either return to the Academy and become a fossil like the rest, or graduate and become a knight.
Which meant Reportnya could absolutely choose Pelrens as her escort.
‘At least my mind didn’t regress into a child’s—that’s a relief.’
Reportnya beamed, satisfied with her own cleverness.
“……No.”
At least, until Pelrens refused.
“What?”
Reportnya’s pleased smile faltered into an expression of pure bewilderment.
“Why… why would you say that?”
Reportnya hadn’t even considered refusal as a possibility, and her words came out in stammers.
Pelrens suspected her of being a con artist. If he were her escort, he could watch her closely—surely he’d jump at the offer!
Pelrens gazed down at Reportnya in his arms, his eyes sharp and cool, stripped of their usual playfulness.
“Because I don’t want to protect you.”
Pelrens answered quietly, then set Reportnya down. They’d somehow arrived in front of her bedroom.
After the fire had consumed her old bedroom, and during the repairs, Reportnya’s room had been relocated elsewhere.
The space was filled with new furniture and belongings, but since none of it was truly hers, she didn’t concern herself with it much.
“Think about choosing a different knight.”
Pelrens gently patted her head once or twice, then turned to leave.
Reportnya watched his retreating figure for only a moment before turning and entering her bedroom without hesitation.
“Young Miss, you’re back—oh my, Young Miss. Why do you look that way? Has something happened?”
“No. Nothing at all.”
Reportnya answered Buddy’s concern lightly and turned her face aside. In the wake of Pelrens’s calm, genuine refusal, for just an instant—
—her heart had lurched. But there was no need to tell anyone about that.

* * *

By morning, after a night’s sleep, Reportnya had organized her thoughts cleanly.
‘So he refuses? I’ll just follow him until he accepts.’
Now that she thought about it, rejection wasn’t new to her—it had happened more than once or twice. So why had yesterday’s hit her so hard? She couldn’t understand it herself.
‘I’ve just gotten too used to this child’s body. People really are creatures of habit—no truer words were ever spoken.’
Reportnya made her morning preparations with Buddy and Becky’s help, organizing her thoughts aloud in her head the whole time.
‘Anyway, none of this matters here. I’ll steal the Heirloom, escape, find my freedom, take payment from the Pope, buy the Nullification Potion, drink it, and go back to my original body. It’s not a relationship that will continue after that.’
She might as well try everything possible in this five-year-old body.
And thinking about it, the more Pelrens refused, the better it was for her.
Reportnya insisted it had to be Pelrens, and Pelrens kept turning her down.
‘That way the assignment of a bodyguard knight just keeps getting delayed!’
Perfect.
Reportnya clenched her fist and headed to the Dining Hall for breakfast. The Duke Kraitan and Pelrens were already there.
“Reportnya. Did you sleep well last night?”
“Little one. Why do you look so determined this morning? Planning some expedition?”
Reportnya settled into her designated seat. The moment she sat down, she got straight to the point.
“I’d really like for you to be my bodyguard!”
Pelrens, apparently unprepared for such a direct assault first thing in the morning—and in front of the Duke no less—coughed in surprise. He choked so hard his face turned red.
“……Pelrens?”
The Duke repeated her words as if he’d misheard. But Reportnya simply beamed and nodded like a five-year-old with no idea what she was doing.
“Yes. I asked him yesterday and he already turned me down, but I still don’t want anyone but you!”
What were they supposed to do when a five-year-old said she didn’t want something? It was the privilege of being five.
“I already told you I didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, I heard you.”
Reportnya laughed in response to Pelrens’s refusal.
“I’ll be heading back to the Academy soon anyway. Even if I agreed to guard you now, I wouldn’t be at your side.”
“Then you can do it while you’re here. After that, I’ll talk to the Duke again and find another way.”
Faced with a five-year-old’s rebuttal—a perfect blend of petulance and logic—Pelrens simply ate in silence instead of answering.
Watching Pelrens’s reaction, the Duke tried to soothe Reportnya.
“Reportnya. Pelrens will be leaving soon, so perhaps another knight you’d like better……”
“But I’m scared of strangers.”
He’d anticipated this. No matter how wild Pelrens was, he was blood kin—the Duke’s actual family—while Reportnya was adopted, a false family by blood. He’d known whose side the Duke would take.
She’d already prepared her answer anyway.
“Because of what happened recently, I get nervous when strangers stand beside me. Even knowing they’re my bodyguard knight.”
Reportnya laughed.
“I’d feel safe if you protected me.”
A frightening five-year-old’s tantrum, working perfectly.

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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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