The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 44

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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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44

Before Havelian had even finished speaking, a murderous Aura poured forth from Pelens.
Reponia gasped, her face contorting as she stumbled backward.
Havelian clicked his tongue and smothered Pelens’s Aura with his own.
At least now Reponia could breathe more easily.
“You’d tear down every last bit of the Greenhouse—a place Mother treasured—just because of one fake? Pelens?”
“Then I told you to shut your mouth, didn’t I?”
“Every time I came, you hid here to avoid me precisely because here was the one place the two of us couldn’t tear into each other. And you still can’t control your emotions properly. Don’t go around calling yourself an Aura Master. It’s embarrassing.”
“So what makes you think a reckless fool has changed at all? You shouldn’t have said that to Reponia right in front of me.”
“Reponia? Ha. So your heart’s finally found its way to her, has it?”
Havelian’s face turned glacial at the tender way Pelens spoke her name.
“It’s my duty to guard Reponia. As a guard, isn’t it a problem if I just stand by at a time like this?”
“Guard? Don’t talk until you’ve graduated from the Military Academy.”
They looked ready to fly at each other’s throats. Havelian kept his Aura pressed down on Pelens, but his own face was flushed with barely contained fury.
At this rate, the Greenhouse really would come down, just as Havelian had said.
‘The Duke’s wife treasured this place?’
Sitting on the Rocking Horse, Reponia looked around the Greenhouse. Built in the sunniest corner, it spoke volumes of Duke Kraitan’s devotion to his wife.
‘If this collapses…’
The Duke couldn’t even bring himself to approach the Annex Building, still unable to forget his wife. Losing this place would rob him of one more space to cherish her memory.
Reponia gripped both handles of the Rocking Horse. With a low hum, it began to move.
Creak-creak-creak…
The slow Rocking Horse wedged itself between Havelian and Pelens. The moment Pelens’s threatening Aura touched it, the safety mechanism Duke Kraitan had recently added activated automatically.
“…What in the—”
Havelian, who’d maintained an air of indifference all along, muttered in disbelief.
Naturally. The instant the threatening Aura made contact, the Rocking Horse deployed a Protective Barrier.
“Ahem.”
Reponia cleared her throat, suddenly embarrassed.
Ever since the last time Reponia had tumbled into the Lake without warning while riding it, Duke Kraitan had spared no expense adding several safety mechanisms.
This Protective Barrier was one of them.
It was a safeguard designed to activate automatically the moment a threat was detected.
She didn’t even want to think about how many Mana Stones had gone into it.
The Protective Barrier deployed from the Rocking Horse spread across the Greenhouse.
Wedging herself between the two of them was awkward, but now that it had come to this, she had to say something.
“This is a place that can’t be allowed to fall apart.”
She spoke with solemn conviction, though sitting on a cute Rocking Horse with her hands on its handles rather undermined the effect.
“Once this place crumbles, you won’t regret it? A place filled with memories just… vanishes?”
Both of them froze. In that single moment of hesitation, Reponia felt how deeply they cherished this place.
Why Pelens always fled here to escape his brother, why Havelian would sit here quietly sipping tea with such peace—it all made sense now.
“If you want to fight, you can do it outside.”
……
“And if you’re fighting because of me, there’s no reason to.”
Reponia turned her head to look directly at Havelian.
She was about to repeat what she’d just told Pelens.
“It was Duke Kraitan who adopted me. Only he can dissolve the adoption. Since my consent isn’t even needed for that anyway, if you want me gone from this house, don’t torment Pelens about it—go speak to the Duke.”
……
“And before you tell Pelens to come back after graduating from the Military Academy, I…”
What should she call him?
Reponia paused, genuinely considering the question.
She couldn’t call him “brother”—that didn’t fit. “Senior” wasn’t right either. “Lord” would violate proper protocol.
“…Well, I should check the imperial laws first before presuming anything.”
“S-what?”
Havelian furrowed the corners of his eyes, demanding clarification. He’d noticed her hesitation over the proper form of address, but clearly he hadn’t expected something so utterly incongruous to tumble out.
“Master. You teach at the Military Academy, don’t you?”
“Does anyone at the Military Academy call me ‘Master’?”
“Then what should I call you?”
“How would you not know. We call it ‘Instructor’.”
“I’m not a cadet at the Military Academy, so I have no intention of calling you instructor. If you’re teaching me, you’re a teacher.”
Reponia brushed past him without concern, and once the situation settled, she disengaged the safety mechanism.
She turned both handles once, and it released immediately.
‘I thought it was overprotective, but it’s actually useful.’
Reponia pattered forward toward Pelens.
“The Duke said to come to the Family Inner Chamber. Let’s go.”
Pelens gazed down at her quietly. Without a word, he cradled Reponia in one arm as she sat on the Rocking Horse, and gathered the toy with his other hand.
Then he tapped Havelian’s shoulder as he passed and made his way toward the Family Inner Chamber.
Havelian watched their retreating figures in silence, then exhaled deeply and bowed his head.
“…Mother.”
The Duchess’s fragrance had long since faded to nothing. Not a trace of her remained anywhere in the manor.
“This is why I didn’t want to come back.”
Coming back meant having to accept it.
And the empty space had been filled by the presence of Reponia—the newly adopted child.
She bore a chillingly striking resemblance to the Duchess.
That Pelens had shielded the girl with his own Aura when she flinched back in fear of his outburst—it was surely because of that face.
“I won’t fall for such a counterfeit.”
Havelian muttered under his breath and straightened his posture. As though his emotion had never surfaced, he drew himself up rigidly and headed toward the Family Inner Chamber.

* * *

House Kraitan had assembled in full. Yet the Family Inner Chamber was suffocatingly silent.
So quiet that the soft rolling of Reponia’s eyes could be heard—a delicate clicking sound as they moved.
Pelens entered the Family Inner Chamber with one arm cradling Reponia, his face plainly furious, arms crossed without uttering a word.
Havelian, who came in after him, simply dropped into a seat across the way and kept his mouth shut.
Duke Kraitan, accustomed to this behavior from his two sons, ignored them and kept his gaze fixed on Reponia.
“How is the Rocking Horse treating you? The new safety mechanisms didn’t cause any problems, did they, Reponia?”
“Mm-hm. It helped.”
“It helped? Was there some danger?”
“Not danger, exactly…”
As Reponia trailed off, Havelian, sitting across from her, spoke up instead.
“Pelens failed to contain his Aura properly, and the girl nearly got caught in it.”
“Caught in his Aura?”
Duke Kraitan’s brow furrowed, and he turned to Pelens with a look that demanded an explanation.
Pelens glared at Havelian across from him with obvious contempt before speaking.
“…I had no intention of hurting the little one. I only meant to threaten him—he said something infuriating.”
“Threaten?”
The Duke’s voice dropped to a chill. His tone was so sharp with anger that even Reponia, sitting nearby, flinched at it.
“Reponia is an Ordinary Person. You haven’t forgotten that exposure to Aura can cause serious injury to Ordinary Persons, have you, Pelens?”
………
“I told you always to remember that Reponia could be hurt because of how your moods dictate your actions.”
The Duke’s sharp, anger-laden voice cut through the chamber.
Pelens, acknowledging his fault, could say nothing and merely bowed his head.
“Don’t let it happen again, Pelens.”
Pelens nodded. The Duke turned his gaze from Pelens to Reponia.
“Reponia, that must have frightened you. You’re not hurt?”
His voice was no longer the chill he’d used with Pelens, but warm and gentle.
“Mm-hm. I’m fine.”
Reponia, who had been held down by the oppressive atmosphere, nodded with slightly slurred speech.
“If you’re hurting anywhere, tell me. You remember the Family Rule, don’t you?”
“Yes. If I’m hurt, I get treated right away.”
“That’s right.”
Duke Kraitan stroked Reponia’s head approvingly.
Havelian, watching this scene in silence, suddenly let out a laugh.
“Ha, ha ha.”
At Havelian’s abrupt laughter, both the Duke and Pelens turned their attention to him at once.
Reponia did the same.
“Ha ha…”
Havelian continued laughing as though at something genuinely amusing, his loosely clenched fist covering his mouth, his head turned away.
A clean, restrained laughter filled the air.
“Both of you—Father and Pelens.”
Havelian laced his fingers together and rested his hands on his thigh, then crossed his legs.
“You’ve forgotten my mother, dead and gone, and my sister, who may yet be alive somewhere.”
Beneath the placid surface of Havelian’s words lay a current of betrayal and disappointment aimed at them both.
Rage flickered in the depths of his crimson eyes.

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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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