The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 35

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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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Chapter 35

Leponya rubbed her eyes, wondering if she’d misread it, and checked the Invitation again.
The Invitation to the Succession Celebration Party unmistakably bore the name Lyderum Villeman.
“The Duke’s son who inherited the dukedom… is Lyderum?”
At Leponya’s reaction, the Duke’s eyebrows bent at an odd angle. Pellens, who had been teasing her with playful mockery about being a clump of cotton, fell silent at once. With his playful smile vanished, Pellens parted his lips, his face gone rigid as stone, chin cupped in his hand.
“Cotton-brain. Why did you react like that? Do you actually know him?”
The atmosphere turned perilous in an instant. If she said yes, he’d certainly demand to know how she knew him.
“Could it be the person who sent you here-”
“Pellens.”
Huh?
Pellens was about to say something when Duke Kraietan stepped in and cut him off.
“Hush. Not another word, Pellens.”
At the Duke’s chilling remark, Pellens closed his mouth.
Both of them looked distinctly unsettled.
‘Ah! A House as exceptional as Kraietan House must mean… they’re rival families!’
That would explain why they were reacting so sensitively.
‘It couldn’t possibly be the same Lyderum who came to my bedroom twice. That makes no sense at all.’
Leponya desperately denied it.
“No. I don’t know him. Since this is my first Invitation, I was just curious whether the name written here was the Duke’s son’s name.”
Thankfully, the cold atmosphere softened again.
Pellens smiled once more, his chin still resting in his hand.
“Cotton-brain. There’s no such thing as a good person in this world. Suspect everyone except my father and me. Well, scratch that—everyone except me. Got it?”
“Brother.”
“What?”
“You don’t have a single friend, do you? Not normally.”
Pellens didn’t deny it; he simply laughed, ha-ha-ha.
Now that she thought about it, no letters ever came from the Academy, and no one ever came looking for him as a friend.
‘With his reputation as a ruffian, everyone was probably too scared and just avoided him.’
That’s why he was always telling her to suspect people like that.
Poor brother. Now that she thought about it, maybe the time he asked to play together last time was because he was lonely with no friends.
Leponya patted Pellens consolingly, as if to say she understood everything.
“So you don’t know him, then. Leponya.”
“That’s right. I don’t know him.”
“Hmm. However you found out, the fact is you were the very first in the Empire to receive an Invitation, and everyone’s waiting for your reply.”
“What?”
“The next Invitation won’t circulate until the first invitee’s response is confirmed.”
……
“For what it’s worth, I haven’t received mine yet either.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Neither have I, cotton-brain. Ha-ha. A mere stripling putting on airs. Ha-ha.”
“So… everyone knows I’m the first invitee?”
“It hasn’t been announced publicly, but everyone’s been talking amongst themselves, so word has spread.”
Leponya looked at the Invitation with bewildered eyes.
What on earth was this Lyderum Villeman thinking?
‘He’s just made every noble in the Empire aware of my existence.’
The burden of it twisted through her entire body.
“Do I… really have to go?”
“No. You don’t have to.”
The Duke answered swiftly, as if he’d been waiting for that exact question.
“If you don’t want to go, of course you needn’t.”
“Father’s right. Cotton-brain, it’s entirely your choice. There’s no fun in attending some stranger’s Succession Celebration Party anyway.”
Leponya stared at the name Lyderum written on the Invitation, turning it over in her mind.
Going to such a place would likely be stiff and joyless.
As Leponya lifted her head to refuse, Lyderum’s final words suddenly echoed in her thoughts.

—We’ll meet soon. And when we do, you’ll come, Leponya.

Back then, you said you’d come, didn’t you.
‘…No. Surely not…’
Leponya looked at the invitation again, her eyes wavering.
‘No… no… it can’t be, right?’
After a moment of hesitation, Leponya made her decision and nodded.
“I… I want to go to this Succession Celebration Party.”
At Leponya’s decision, Pellens crumpled his face in dismay.
“Cotton puff. I’ve even set aside a few tea party invitations from friends I’d like to be close with if you got along with them.”
Pellens pulled several delicate invitations from his breast and sighed regretfully.
“I’ll make my own friends. You go make friends your own age.”
“For a cotton puff, you’ve got quite the mouth on you. Don’t wound me with words.”
Leponya patted Pellens absently and fixed her gaze on the Duke.
The Duke, too, seemed displeased, his brow creased in a tight frown.
“Leponya. It’s not that I’m unhappy with your choice.”
“Duke, you’re already looking unhappy.”
“May I ask why you’ve decided to attend?”
Why indeed.
“Because you said you’d gradually start showing me off to people.”
“I could attend any party Pellens and I are invited to together.”
“That would work, but I’d rather go as someone who was invited.”
It’s a lie.
She’s going to find out whether this Lyderum is the same Lyderum or just someone who shares the name.
“…You’re right, Leponya. There’s a difference between being invited yourself and attending with us uninvited.”
Duke Kraietan stroked his chin, lost in thought.
“Then what if Kraietan House held a party under some suitable pretext to introduce you?”
“What? All of a sudden?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Since we’d be the ones doing the inviting rather than being invited, it seemed you’d feel less nervous.”
Leponya nodded.
“But you didn’t mention it from the start. There’s a reason, isn’t there?”
“If Kraietan House held a party, the retainers would have to attend as well.”
What difference would that make, Leponya wondered with a tilt of her head.
“Meeting them again would be difficult for you, I thought.”
Ah.
She hadn’t expected him to think that far ahead.
“It’s fine. …I can’t avoid it forever anyway.”
“If you didn’t want to, you could avoid it. Why couldn’t you? You should be grateful it happened while I was away. I’m different from Father. If I see it, I just—”
“Pellens.”
As his words grew heated, the Duke called to Pellens with a light warning.
Holding a party to introduce her wasn’t a bad approach, actually…
“What pretext would you use for the party?”
Pellens answered Leponya’s question confidently.
“Pretext? Why would a party need a pretext? We just say we’re showing off our house cotton puff.”
The Duke sighed at Pellens’s words. The Butler standing behind the Duke opened his mouth to explain, but Leponya was faster.
“Brother. If you hold a party just to show me off, there will be far more people making excuses not to attend than people who actually show up.”
“What? Who would do such a thing? That would make them enemies of our house.”
“If they have clear reasons not to come? A sudden terrible stomachache on the day of the party, or someone in the family got gravely injured and they need to stay by their side.”
Pellens made a displeased face. The Butler’s eyes sparkled toward Leponya as if impressed, and he continued his explanation.
“The young lady is absolutely right. That is why the Duke intends to hold a party under a pretext that no one could refuse, and introduce the young lady there.”
“What pretext could no one refuse?”
Pellens asked. The Duke casually sipped his tea and parted his lips.
“We’re displaying the Family Heirloom.”
……!
Leponya’s heart sank. She nearly dropped the teacup in her hand.
“Leponya. Are you all right? Was it too hot?”
Fortunately, Pellens caught that instant and wrapped his hand around the back of hers.
Leponya smiled and said she was fine, steadying her trembling breath.
The Family Heirloom.
She never expected to hear that word come directly from the Duke’s mouth. And certainly not here, now.
When she was searching for it, it never appeared. But now that she tries to protect it, it surfaces.
“The… the Family Heirloom exists?”
Leponya asked without even realizing what expression she was making.
“The Kraietan House has a Family Heirloom that has been passed down through generations. It’s a heirloom that the head of the Imperial Guardian House must absolutely maintain.”
Leponya swallowed hard, her throat dry.
“Word of it has spread quietly among the nobility, but since it’s never been publicly displayed even once, I suspect the nobles will come flocking.”
Right. If it had ever been unveiled before, there would be no need for nobles to wander about the mansion searching for the heirloom…….
“…You’re, you’re going to display that?”
Leponya’s eyes trembled as if an earthquake had struck. The Duke tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s the problem, Leponya?”
The idea that he would use a heirloom that had been carefully guarded through generations and never once unveiled to introduce his adopted daughter struck her as far more peculiar than anything else.
‘Am I the only one who thinks this is strange?’
Leponya glanced around at the household staff. The butler, the maid, the knights—all of them wore perfectly composed expressions.
Pellens, in particular, was gazing at the Duke with unmistakable admiration.
“Father. You’re truly brilliant.”
Leponya gave up trying to make sense of it all.

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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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