The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 19

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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 19

The Wooden Horse was certainly faster than the maids who walked about, but it didn’t dart away with the whoosh-and-dash speed she’d imagined.
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
“Oh my, Miss. What a charming Wooden Horse you’ve acquired.”
“Miss, are you taking a stroll? Good day to you.”
At least her feet felt comfortable not having to walk, and it was faster than trudging on foot, but…….
“Forgive me, Miss. Would it be alright if I passed ahead of you?”
“Hm? Uh, um…… S-sure…….”
It was slower than a servant running at full speed.
‘Well, of course. The Duke would never give me a Wooden Horse that goes whoosh, swish, zip like that.’
The man who tells me to use a Chick Fork to eat, no less!
Deceived, then. Or rather, he never actually claimed it would be fast, so perhaps I wasn’t deceived at all.
Besides, because the Wooden Horse was so ornate, everyone noticed from far off that the young mistress was coming and thoughtfully stepped aside. Or came toward her with smiles, as if charmed by the sight.
‘Still, it’s faster and more comfortable than walking…….’
It was also the first gift she had ever received in her life.
Reportya rode the Wooden Horse diligently around the estate.
And that day, word spread through the household that the young mistress who had received the Wooden Horse had become even more endearing.

* * *

Having received the Duke’s permission, Reportya diligently followed after Peles.
“Peles! Come guard me.”
“I could see that Wooden Horse coming at me from far away, and I genuinely couldn’t decide whether I should run or wait for you. Little one.”
“Come guard me.”
“Little one. The world doesn’t flow according to your heart alone. Even if you want something, there are people who refuse, and that’s why I——”
“I know. I’ve been refused many times already. You’re not the first person to turn me down.”
This much, at least, is not a first either.
Reportya spoke so matter-of-factly that Peles, who had been in the middle of his speech, felt apologetic.
“But I need you, so I’m going to hold on to you. The person who needs someone should be the one holding on, shouldn’t they?”
“Am I supposed to agree with that, or say you’re wrong?”
“You know I’m right.”
“Hah. Doesn’t your father even hire you a tutor? Hmm? As for me, well, I’m planning to remove you from the household, but your father says he intends to keep you?”
“The Duke might be planning to remove me too.”
“Hah.”
Peles pressed his forehead and lowered his head.
“Listen carefully, little one.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t want to protect you. So ask someone else for an escort. If you don’t know who might be suitable, I can help you find someone.”
“I don’t like that.”
“I don’t either.”
Peles was unyielding. He spoke with such firmness that it was clear he had no intention of changing his mind, and then he turned away.
“M-Miss. Are you alright?”
“Young Master Peles was never one to let anyone close. It’s absolutely not because of you, Miss. That’s just how he is.”
Buddy and Becky, who had been watching from afar, approached and tried to comfort Reportya.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll go talk to him again.”
Reportya smiled with such genuine composure as she activated the Wooden Horse, and everyone watching her retreating figure felt sorry for her—but in truth, Reportya was perfectly fine.
More than fine, really.
‘Good. I’m buying time well.’
Following Peles around wasn’t actually her primary goal.
Under the guise of trailing after him, of searching for him, she was roaming throughout the estate, checking again and again whether there was anywhere she might have missed.
And whenever Peles came into view, she’d bring up the escort matter and cleanly accept a single refusal before moving on.
Besides, since Peles was actively avoiding Reportya, it was convenient for wandering the estate.
“Where could it be.”
Where on earth was the Family Heirloom hiding.
“Hah. Little one. How did you find your way here again.”
The Family Heirloom refused to appear, and only the hapless Peles kept showing up instead.
Looking up at Peles, who had climbed into the tree to escape Reportya and was resting there, she wondered how he’d managed it.
“Escort me.”
“……No.”
A nod.
Reportya nodded and turned around casually, still seated on the Wooden Horse.
‘I want to find the Family Heirloom and leave before the Duke assigns me an escort.’
With no intention of staying here long, Reportya busied herself trotting around diligently.
Trot, trot, trot……
Despite her grim determination, riding the Wooden Horse made her look all the more endearing.
Days of this back-and-forth continued.
“Will you escort me?”
“I said no.”
Even when Peles was resting.
“You’re really not going to escort me, are you?”
“Mm.”
Even when Peles was eating.
“Senior, won’t you—”
“Leave.”
“Fine.”
Even when Peles was napping.
She threw herself into being rejected while searching relentlessly, and all the while she maintained her duties as a household daughter. Each morning she greeted the Duke and dined with him.
She read roughly one book a day to appear diligent enough that the Duke wouldn’t rush into Dismissal—so even amid the chaos, she made sure to finish at least one book.
But nothing changed.
‘I’ve searched every corner of the estate. I even went through the rat holes and the incinerator. It’s not there.’
Today, fortunately, Kraitan the Duke was away at the Imperial Palace attending some nobleman’s succession ceremony, so she searched with even greater urgency.
Reportya let out a long sigh from her seat on the Wooden Horse.
“Siiigh.”
……The Family Heirloom is something only the Family Head manages, right?
‘What if I just disposed of the eldest and became the Family Head’s heir myself? I heard he’s been nothing but studious since childhood.’
…That would never work. Even if he’d only studied since childhood, the eldest was a prodigy who wielded Aura at a young age.
There was no way Reportya could defeat someone like that. And even if she somehow managed to eliminate the eldest, the probability of her defeating Peles, the second son, approached zero.
“Siiiiigh.”
Reportya sighed deeply, resting her chin in her hand.
Her plump cheeks, fattened from eating well lately, flattened under the pressure.
“Hey, little one.”
A shadow fell over the brooding Reportya’s head. She looked up from where she’d been sitting with her chin propped, lost in thought.
“Senior?”
It was Peles.
Ever since Reportya had whined about wanting an escort, he’d been avoiding her, so his approaching her like this was rare.
“God, you really……”
Peles ruffled his own hair and sat down carelessly beside the fountain.
‘Why is he like this?’
Reportya stared at Peles with a look of incomprehension—he’d sought her out without her even looking for him, and now he was sighing.
“……I had a younger sibling.”
Peles spoke quietly, gazing into empty space.
“I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead now. Actually, she’s dead. It’s just that no one acknowledges it.”
Reportya blinked. She hadn’t expected Peles to broach this subject on his own.
‘Now that I think about it……’
No one in the Kraitan household.
No one had ever told Reportya this.
The dead youngest daughter.
The ‘real’ household daughter who had perished.
The absolute Taboo of this family.
When the Duke had adopted Reportya, and even now when he spoke of thinking of her as true family.
Neither the Duke, nor the servants who attended to Reportya, nor anyone else in the family.
No one had ever told her about the past.
If Reportya hadn’t drunk the potion and become a child while retaining her memories, but had actually been a true five-year-old child, she would never have learned the truth her entire life.
‘There was no need to tell me.’
It was ironic.
Only Peles, who suspected her most and wanted her gone, was the one who revealed the truth to her.
“……I can’t protect anyone.”
Peles lowered his gaze quietly.
“If I’d been able to protect someone, my mother wouldn’t have died that way. My brother wouldn’t have either.”
I hadn’t expected Peles to harbor such thoughts.
‘Now that I think about it, he kept saying he didn’t want to protect anyone.’
Was that what he meant all along?
“That’s why I have no intention of graduating from the Academy either. I have no plans for what comes after graduation. I hate coming to this mansion and seeing my father’s face even more. Because my family isn’t here.”
Peles crossed his arms.
“I was never someone who could protect or save anyone in the first place. And if I can’t do it—”
Peles turned his head and finally looked down at Reportya. His eyes, calm and settled, held only sincerity.
“Then you’re the one who’ll get hurt, little one.”

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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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