The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 28

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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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28

What if.
‘Am I trapped in the Mansion right now?’
Reponya’s eyes wavered. The truth was that the Duke already knew everything, and so he’d been playing along, pretending to accommodate her until concrete evidence surfaced — but that couldn’t be right, locking her in the Mansion.
“But why? Why?”
At Reponya’s question, the Duke only smiled bitterly.
“Reponya. If there’s anything you need, whatever it is, I’ll prepare it for you. Just tell me.”
“That’s not the issue!”
“Did you say there were things you needed to retrieve from where you were staying? I’ll have Bellic bring everything from that place — your desk, your chair, every speck of dust. How does that sound?”
What she truly needed wasn’t objects. It was to go outside.
“Tell me why I can’t. Please.”
When she asked for a reason, the Duke answered with the same bitter smile instead of words.
Refusing without explanation, flatly saying no — this was different from how the Duke had behaved until now.
Reponya pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow. Something felt wrong.
‘Did I think that whenever I asked, the Duke would always give in? Why does it feel like betrayal? Why do I feel so hurt and upset?’
As Reponya’s lower lip jutted out and began to tremble, Felence, who’d been watching from the side, quietly produced a handkerchief and held it ready.
“Your Grace.”
Rather than cry like any five-year-old would, Reponya asked a question, as if trying to understand the situation.
“Is it… well, are you worried people will find out about me?”
“What do you mean by that, Reponya.”
“Because if it gets out that I’m the Duke’s daughter, it’s embarrassing, so you’re hiding it?”
She couldn’t think of any other reason why the Duke would be this adamantly opposed.
And when she thought about it, it made perfect sense.
He’d be worried that she, having received no proper education yet, might go outside and bring shame on the name of Craiton.
Or perhaps he felt guilty toward the true daughter, and didn’t want to reveal to others that he’d adopted a child who looked like this.
“If it’s embarrassing that I’m known as the Duke’s daughter, I’ll keep it well hidden—”
“Reponya. I would never be ashamed of you. Why would you even think that? Sigh.”
The Duke let out a long breath. He swept his hair back, then pulled a case from his pocket and opened it, drawing out a cigar.
“Father.”
Felence shot the Duke a look that asked if he’d lost his mind.
“Don’t worry. Since Reponya arrived, I haven’t lit one even once — I stopped immediately. I’m only holding it in my hand for the sake of composure.”
Reponya’s eyes widened. He quit right away? Was that even possible?
She knew how addictive it was. The orphanage director had tried it a few times after watching nobles smoke, and had become addicted, spending expensive money to keep buying it.
Yet he’d quit it just like that.
For Reponya, who had never been protected from anything harmful — not alcohol, not gambling, not violence or foul language — since childhood, it was an unfamiliar situation.
Both the sight of Felence shooting a reproachful look at the Duke for pulling out a cigar and the sight of the Duke who’d quit immediately upon bringing Reponya home.
“Reponya.”
“Yes?”
Reponya stared at the Duke with a blank expression.
“My objection to your going out — it’s not because of you.”
“……….”
“It’s not your problem. It’s my problem.”
The Duke sighed and rubbed his face with his palm. Then, with a troubled expression, he spoke almost as if to himself.
“You met Felence there, they say.”
He seemed to be referring to that time when she’d met Felence at the Annex Building.
Reponya nodded.
“Reponya.”
The Duke of Craiton reached out and grasped Reponya’s small hand.
“I’m afraid — afraid that I might lose you again through the same mistake.”
What came from the Duke’s lips was an entirely different reason.
One she could never have imagined.
One she had never imagined.
“…What?”
“The Carriage Accident. There were dozens of knights escorting us, and guards with us too, yet I couldn’t protect her.”
The Duke gently stroked the back of Reponya’s small hand, as though she were precious. As though asking her not to be angry, to calm herself, to let her resentment fade.
As though soothing her, saying it wasn’t her fault but his own burden to bear.
“Reponya, I haven’t searched for the culprit behind the Fire Incident as you wished. And the retainers still haven’t returned.”
“…….”
“Of course, I know you can’t understand this. I know it makes no sense. But I also know, Reponya, that I cannot and must not constrain your freedom.”
Beside her, Felence seized Reponya’s other hand, his large palm trembling in her grip.
Startled, Reponya turned to see Felence’s face drained of color, his head bowed.
The Duke’s words had stirred up memories from that time.
“Just a moment longer.”
The Duke smiled bitterly, yet refused to release Reponya’s hand.
“Just a moment longer. Could you bear with me? Reponya.”
She truly had not expected the reason to be this.
“Not long ago, you nearly suffered grave injury in the Fire Incident, and then you were in danger after falling into the Lake. That’s why—I still haven’t shaken this unease.”
So his objection to her going out stemmed from fear of losing her.
“I’m asking only for a few days, Reponya.”
Reponya looked down at her captive hands—one held by the Duke, the other by Felence.
He’d said he still couldn’t approach even the vicinity of the Annex Building, so wounded by those memories.
Yet for that very reason, he’d forbidden others from entering the Annex, lest even a trace of it fade away.
“…I understand.”
Speaking thus, she could say no more about leaving.
‘Not to someone saying they’re afraid of losing me.’
Of course, there was always the option of keeping it secret and slipping out unnoticed, but if she were caught in such a clandestine outing, she might face Severance of Adoption before she could attempt anything further.
‘Better to postpone the report for a few days.’
Something felt strange.
She’d learned early to deaden her emotions in such circumstances, to remain unmoved—turning her eyes away, plugging her ears.
So why couldn’t she do that now?
Her own choice in this moment felt unfamiliar to her.
‘Did I remind him of his wife so much that I triggered his trauma?’
Yet oddly, she didn’t feel resentment. After all, she’d known from the start she was a replacement—so there was no reason for fresh bitterness now.
It was simply strange to discover that someone existed who worried what might befall her.
Was that why she couldn’t turn away?
‘Ah. Well, there is one other. The Pope was afraid of losing me too.’
Though it wasn’t Reponya herself he feared losing—merely one capable spy who worked efficiently.
“Then once I’m well… tell me then.”
Reponya tightened her grip on both their hands.
“I’ll bring whatever’s needed.”
A delayed report was a serious matter, but a few days would cause no real harm.
The Pope valued the capable Reponya.
When she’d wept, refusing to carry out assassination orders, he’d chosen to beat her to the brink of death rather than end her life.
He wouldn’t kill her merely for a few days’ delay in reporting. He never had once in all these years.
She’d been with the Pope for over a decade. He wouldn’t mark her as a traitor for a belated report.
Moreover, he’d sworn by Divine Will that he wouldn’t interfere beyond this final task—so he must surely know that Reponya wouldn’t flee.
After years in service, there was no chance she’d abandon this last one thing and run.
‘There’s no choice.’
Reponya exhaled softly and squeezed the hands of the Duke—who muttered apologies—and the ashen-faced Felence.

* * *

“Reponya. Where are you going?”
“…To the Library.”
“Then I’ll come with you.”
Ugh. This man really was something.
“Hey. Cotton-head. Where are you off to?”
“Washing, I go. Just now, said horses dirty.”
“Ah. Take your time. I’ll wait here.”
One mustn’t strike people. The noblewoman of the distinguished house of Craiton, who carried forward their honor, would never commit such violence.
She must always maintain her dignity, conduct herself with the refinement befitting an intellectual.
Being a perfect noblewoman was her present objective, after all.
Reponya drew a steadying breath and suppressed her rage.
But it was already the fifth day.
With the same situation repeating endlessly, Reponya’s patience was wearing thin.
“Reponya. Where exactly are you going now?”
“……”
Still, there didn’t seem to be anyone around—couldn’t she just land one solid blow?
No. She couldn’t.
‘Think of it as patience training.’
This was training. Training herself to endure any situation and maintain her composure, no matter what.
Reponya rose from her seat to open the Library window.
“Felence, where are you—”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going, I said! What? Please stop asking. Is it that I’ve spent five whole days now with you asking where I’m going, and that’s how every day ends? Hmm?”
Her patience finally shattered, Reponya planted both fists on her hips and scolded Felence.
A normal person would have admitted fault and quieted down, but the Duke’s second scoundrel was cut from different cloth.
“I’m your guard, so checking your location is only natural.”
The scoundrel was shameless.
“Besides, since Father opposed it, you might sneak out of the Mansion on your own.”
“I won’t!”
“Oh, sure. Of course you say you won’t. But when I was little and Father put me under house arrest, I said the same thing—then I snuck out through the dog hole in the Mansion wall in broad daylight.”
“I’m not like that.”
That kind of courage only came to someone who knew there was a home waiting for them no matter what they did.
Reponya, who would lose not only her home but her very place to stay at the slightest misstep, could never do such a thing.
Of course, Felence didn’t seem to understand that at all.
“It’s fine. I don’t believe you anyway.”
At Felence’s lazy drawl, Reponya’s brow furrowed deeply.
“You’re the one who’s torn apart half this Mansion—I couldn’t possibly trust you.”
“Don’t brag about that.”
That was only possible because he had the faith that his family would accept him no matter what and never cast him out.
Reponya whipped her head around to glare at Felence. Their eyes met, and he laughed.
“I hit the mark, didn’t I? You were thinking about sneaking away—”
Whack!
“Oof.”
Before he could finish his sentence, Reponya’s face flushed hot with irritation, and without thinking, she drove her foot into Felence’s shin as he sat there.
“Ugh.”
Pain crossed Felence’s face.
She’d actually hit the second scoundrel.
‘An accident. I made a mistake.’
Reponya’s face went pale as milk.

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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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