The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 46

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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 46

Pelens covered his mouth with his palm. Only then did it occur to him that he’d never apologized for what happened back then.
“Reponya, I’m sorry. I was just too—”
“I didn’t say that so you’d apologize to me.”
Reponya cut him off mid-sentence. After all, she too was deceiving the Craitan Family, doing whatever it took in desperation to avoid being cast out—she wasn’t nearly clean enough to deserve an apology.
“You said yourself that when you first met me, there was a time you wanted to throw me out of the mansion. But you don’t think I’m a fraud now, and you’re not trying to throw me out, are you?”
“Right, that’s true. I don’t think you’re a fraud anymore, and I have no intention of throwing you out of the mansion. I’m your guardian—where would I throw you? If you go, you go with me, you little fluff.”
Pelens nodded rapidly in agreement.
“The first— well, the tutor must feel the same way. He’s been away for so long; it’s natural he’d be flustered and surprised by my sudden presence.”
“Reponya.”
Duke Craitan, who had been listening to the conversation between Pelens and Reponya, interjected.
“That doesn’t mean you should be blamed for anything. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Mm, I know.”
Reponya rose from her seat and climbed onto the hobby horse tucked away in the corner.
“As for this matter, I don’t think I was wrong either. It was you who brought up the adoption in the first place, not me.”
Grasping the horse’s handles and setting it in motion, it began to rock gently—creak, creak, creak.
“But it was wrong of you not to consult with the tutor and Pelens beforehand about my adoption.”
“What?”
“After doing that, expecting me to understand without any proper explanation—isn’t that rather high-handed?”
Having delivered her final words, Reponya rocked away on the hobby horse—creak, creak, creak, creak—her departure oddly charming.
Duke Craitan and Pelens watched her departing figure with concern, wondering if she might be hurt.
But.
‘This person Havelian… he treated me not as a child, but as a noblewoman, truly and fairly.’
As Reponya rocked away on the hobby horse, her cheeks were flushed pink.
It wasn’t something to be overly delighted about, but neither was there reason to feel troubled.
Because she was a child, and because she was an adoptee, both Duke Craitan and Pelens protected her far too much.
Perhaps that’s why the two of them struggled to even speak to Reponya about the true noblewoman.
But Havelian had not done so. He’d asked Reponya for her opinion directly, and spoke freely about the family’s affairs right in front of her.
‘If he truly thought I was a fraud… he wouldn’t have shared the information he’d discovered tracking the real noblewoman’s fate in the very room where I was present.’
A man who’d actually served as a knight and fought on battlefields wouldn’t make such a careless mistake.
‘He might be exactly the kind of person this family absolutely needs.’
Reponya nodded thoughtfully, holding the frank and hostile Havelian in high regard.

* * *

Several days had passed since Havelian arrived at the mansion.
‘It’s quieter than I expected.’
Given how much he’d initially opposed her, she’d thought there might be complications ahead.
She’d worried he might not trail behind her like Pelens did, but whenever they encountered each other, he’d find fault with her, and that together with the remaining servants, he’d band together to drive her from the mansion.
Yet surprisingly, Havelian did nothing of the sort. Moreover, he appeared regularly at mealtimes.
The first time she’d encountered him sitting in the dining hall reading a book, her heart nearly stopped from the shock.
Without his formal uniform, he wore simple house clothes, and with his pomaded hair now falling softly instead of being neatly combed back, his whole demeanor seemed somehow different.
Reponya, gauging the mood carefully, offered a quiet greeting, but as expected, he didn’t acknowledge it.
Yet that was all there was to it. He simply kept reading his book as Duke Craitan and Pelens entered the dining hall, and continued until the meal was served.
When the food arrived, he closed his book, pushed it aside, and ate in silence.
What was even more surprising was that Duke Craitan and Pelens accepted this as perfectly natural and left him alone.
As if it had always been this way.
‘…Am I some sort of ghost only I can see?’
Even when Duke Craitan and Pelens made a fuss feeding Reponya, as they normally did, Havelian never spared her a glance.
He said nothing either, of course.
When the meal ended, he would quietly disappear to the greenhouse or library to read.
There were countless times Reponya, worn down by Pelens’s insistence, would play outside in the garden and spot Havelian reading in the greenhouse.
This pattern had been repeating itself for several days now. Gradually, Reponya found herself naturally ceasing to pay much attention to Havelian’s presence.
‘Come to think of it, I wonder how Rydeum is doing.’
Had his old wounds reopened? Was he still struggling as he had before, burdened by the role of an assassin?
Sitting on a bench in the garden, Reponya’s thoughts drifted away.
‘I’ll just have more questions when we meet again.’
She needed to find out how much Rydeum already knew. Only then could she plan what came next.
Reponya thought of Rydeum.
Perhaps it was because they were the same age, but despite all the suspicious things about him, she felt no animosity toward him.
Maybe it was because he was the first to tell her she had to live. Or maybe it was because she owed him her life after that succession celebration party.
She suddenly recalled what he’d said—that they should be allies instead of enemies.
“…But we haven’t even seen each other since that day. How can we be allies?”
It was difficult to gather news of him separately, and impossible to contact him without the Duke and Pelens catching on.
‘A way to keep Rydeum close and see him often…’
She couldn’t think of any such method, no matter how hard she tried.
‘He said he’d wait for me to call him.’
He said he’d come if she called—but how was she supposed to summon him? He’d told her to call while holding that green jewel, so she’d kept it with her always.
‘Could he really be waiting?’
Reponya tapped her foot restlessly against the ground.
Wait—Rydeum summoned spirits, so wouldn’t he be able to hear even a small call and appear?
Reponya swallowed hard. She glanced around; Pelens was practicing swordwork at a distance.
Good. If it’s now…
“…Rydeum.”
Reponya clutched the green jewel in her hand and whispered the name in the smallest voice imaginable.
A wind stirred.
Reponya’s eyes darted about, her heart racing like a child waiting for a fairy to appear. Her pulse quickened against her ribs.
The breeze that rose up caught her hair, sending it dancing.
‘I should have called when I was alone.’
If Rydeum appeared now, she’d have no excuse for Pelens and Duke Craitan.
Yet some part of her hoped he would come, since she’d called as promised.
Reponya placed a hand over her pounding heart and waited.
The wind died.
At the same moment, she heard footsteps approaching.
“…!”
Reponya jumped and whirled toward the sound of the footsteps.
“……Huh?”
She’d called, but the person she’d summoned didn’t appear—so why…
“You.”
Reponya blinked. The man standing before her was not Rydeum.
It was Havelian.
He was holding a new book today, apparently having finished the one he’d been reading yesterday.
He stood before her with his face creased, as if deep in thought.
She’d noticed he’d been quieter than usual; now it seemed he was finally about to do something.
After slipping the green jewel back into her pocket, Reponya swallowed nervously.
Perhaps he’d spent days watching her, seeking ways to wound her.
‘It doesn’t matter what he does anyway, since I’m not leaving this place.’
Havelian gazed down at Reponya, who sat on the bench, his expression utterly blank. Then he opened his mouth.
“You. You play too much.”
But what came out was something entirely different from what she’d expected.
“…What?”
“I’ve been watching for days. When exactly do you study?”
“…….”
“Do you know how to write? To read?”
Right—at five years old, a noble child would just be beginning to learn letters and writing.
While non-nobles struggled to read and write, Reponya had learned it all living with the Pope.
‘Now that I think about it, why didn’t Duke Craitan or Pelens ask me about that?’
When the Duke had given her the adoption papers to read, and even when she visited the library to read books in front of Pelens, neither had shown any particular reaction.
In fact, Pelens seemed indifferent—he kept pulling her away whenever she tried to go to the library to play.
And Duke Craitan…
‘The Duke must have investigated my background and already knew.’
As Reponya closed her lips and fell into thought, Havelian suddenly plunked himself down on the bench beside her.
Then he opened the book in his hands.
“Look here.”
“…….”
“Pelens calls you cotton fluff, apparently. These are the characters for ‘cotton fluff’—cot-ton-fluff.”
Unlike yesterday, the book now held in Havelian’s hands was, surprisingly, a primer for learning to read.
One suited precisely to a five-year-old’s level.

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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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