The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 47

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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 47

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Reponya bit at her parched lips. Her eyes wavered.
“What am I doing?”
Havelian, seated across from her, withdrew his Pocket Watch, checked it, and snapped it shut with a decisive click.
“Time’s running short, and you haven’t even read the questions yet. Should I assume you’re taking this lightly?”
Reponya swallowed dryly.
‘Why am I doing this here?’
When Havelian approached her in the Garden—contrary to her expectation that he’d torment her—he simply sat beside her and began showing her a book on letter study.
Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Reponya read every character he pointed to with his finger.
At first, Havelian had taught her slowly, showing her the shape of the word “Reponya” with his lips, but sensing something odd, he gradually increased the difficulty of the words.
When Reponya read them all without error, he abruptly stood, swept her into his arms, and carried her to the Library.
Felens, who had been practicing Sword Practice some distance away, hurried after them in alarm, but Havelian paid him no mind.
Havelian seated Reponya in a Library chair and brought her a notably thick book, ordering her to read it.
The atmosphere was unfolding strangely, and she’d considered pretending not to know the letters—but the book Havelian brought was the very one she’d been reading in front of Felens.
The same book she’d been studying while pretending to be a proper lady-in-waiting, intent on learning the location of the Family Heirloom.
Felens was watching intently from beside her, his eyes wide with suspicion that Havelian might be up to something sinister, so she couldn’t later claim ignorance.
If word got out that she’d lied about something so trivial, she’d never gain the trust of the Kraitan Family afterward.
So Reponya read the thick book Havelian had brought. As she read through it without pause, Havelian settled into a chair beside her.
He asked about the meaning of words here and there, or demanded she explain the sentences she’d read in simple terms.
By this point, Felens, who had been standing with crossed arms and glaring sharply, quietly moved behind Reponya’s chair.
When Reponya succeeded at everything, Havelian’s face registered shock. He hurled the book aside and personally wrote out problems to create an Exam Paper.

And that was exactly where they were now.
“Time’s almost up. Do what you can. But make sure you read the questions first.”
Reponya slowly gripped her pen. The evenly formed handwriting of the questions—written in the master’s own hand—came into view.
‘Is this… really an exam for a five-year-old?’
Reponya’s eyes trembled. The problems Havelian had written were content she herself hadn’t learned until after she turned ten.
The teacher the Pope had hired to oversee the children’s education had denied her meals and sleep until she understood and memorized everything, so she’d studied desperately—and even then, it had been too difficult for a ten-year-old Reponya.
Back then she’d gotten answers right while crying as she studied, and now he was asking this of a five-year-old.
‘Havelian might be crueler than I thought.’
Of course, she knew all the material, so it wasn’t actually difficult.
‘Should I solve it, or should I pretend I don’t know?’
Reponya began deliberating as though her life depended on it.
She’d already discovered what the Family Heirloom was and where it was, so she didn’t need to keep up the pretense of studying.
And she couldn’t carry it out of here anyway.
Besides, if five-year-old Reponya solved the problems perfectly, it would certainly raise suspicion.
Suspicion piled upon suspicion, and even if not immediately, it could become a catalyst that eventually undermined their trust in her.
‘I should answer some incorrectly. Just get a few right.’
Reponya gripped her pen. As she tried to write down wrong answers deliberately, her hand wouldn’t move.
The pain etched into her body over long years dragged fear into the light.
‘…If I get the problems wrong, will Duke Kraitan blame me for being stupid and worthless, like the Pope did?’
Sweat beaded across her palm as she held the pen.
Even if not immediately, the Duke might come to regret adopting Reponya.
The moment she imagined Duke Kraitan turning cold, calling her stupid and useless, a heavy stone seemed to plummet and lodge itself in her chest.
Before she could even conjure the image of Felens turning away in disgust, Reponya’s hand was already moving.
‘I don’t want that.’
Even if that future would inevitably arrive someday, she wanted to delay it just a little longer.
Even if this later became a catalyst that shattered their trust, just a little longer would do…….
Reponya’s hand moved fluidly as she solved the problems Havelian had given her.
With trembling fingers, barely gripping the pen, she wrote her answers in a shaking hand.
From the moment Reponya read each problem to the moment she finished solving them all, only a few minutes had passed.
Behind her, Felens drew in a sharp breath. At the same moment, Havelian glared at Felens, placed his index finger to his lips, and shook his head.
Havelian tucked the Pocket Watch into his pocket entirely. Time no longer mattered.
“…Here.”
Reponya set down her pen and held out the Exam Paper. Havelian didn’t bother checking the paper she offered.
There was no need anymore.
Havelian rose from his seat without a word and walked toward the bookshelves in the Library.
‘What’s he doing?’
Reponya tilted her head, watching his retreating figure. She’d worked up the resolve and solved all the exam problems, yet he hadn’t even looked at them.
“What’s the matter? Cottontop worked so hard on those problems—why aren’t you saying anything?”
Felens complained and rested his hand lightly on Reponya’s head. When she looked up, he broke into a soft, delighted smile.
“Cottontop. You’re really sharp. When I was older than you, I found things like this difficult, but you solved everything smoothly without getting stuck?”
His touch ruffling her hair in praise felt clumsy and rough, as if he’d never done it before—which somehow made it feel all the better.
“I just solved them as I read the books.”
“Right. You must be a genius. In my whole life, I’ve only ever met one person I’d call a true genius.”
Felens gestured with his eyes toward Havelian, who was pulling several books from the shelves.
“Though that was when we were younger.”
It was a strange bond, really. They acted like they wanted to kill each other, yet Felens readily admitted Havelian was a genius.
And Havelian, for his part, sometimes treated Felens like a fool, but never with real malice in it.
“But today I think I’ve seen a true genius. I felt it even back when you were holding books you couldn’t read the titles of.”
Mm.
Clearly, Felens had never paid any attention to the fact that Reponya could read and write.
Meanwhile, Havelian returned to his seat with several books he’d retrieved from the shelves.
And he flicked Felens’s hand away.
“Stop interfering and go practice handling your Aura instead.”
“What reason would I have to leave you alone with Cottontop?”
“When I brought her to the Library earlier, you’d already left us alone anyway. Go do your Sword Practice.”
Havelian set the books down in front of Reponya.
“Looking at the schedule, it seems you don’t have a tutor.”
Reponya looked up from the books and fixed her gaze on Havelian.
“Once you leave this Manor, you’ll need to find a way to earn your living. Even if that weren’t the case, the more you know, the less likely you’ll starve if you have to fend for yourself.”
“Brother. Why do you always talk like—”
“I’ll oversee your studies from today on.”
“…What?”
“You used to call me ‘teacher.'”
……
“I wasn’t doing anything, yet you called me teacher, and it felt like I was collecting a salary every month without even being hired—a lovely mistake in accounting, if I’m honest.”
It was actually quite a pleasant feeling.
“Brother. Cottontop is five years old. What studying are we talking about for a five-year-old? Five-year-olds should be playing and running around.”
“Even at five, she should learn when she has the chance. I’m not asking her to study all day.”
“I didn’t start studying at five.”
“Felens. You were still learning to stop babbling at that age.”
Havelian sat across from them. Then he carefully folded the Exam Paper Reponya had offered and tucked it into his pocket.
“Even among the cadets at the Military Academy, I never saw anyone accomplish this much at five.”
“That doesn’t mean she has to study, though.”
“Then you decide.”
Havelian turned his gaze to Reponya.
“Learning from me won’t hurt you. Later, even if you leave the Manor, you could find work at the Imperial Palace or in noble households. Do you have any plans in mind for your future? If so, we can focus on that, and it will serve you well later.”
Havelian spoke of a future for Reponya that no one else had ever considered.
The Duke had never even mentioned what would come after, and Felens had only promised to support her until adulthood and provide her a place to stay when he’d first tried to drive her away.
“If you don’t want to, you can just keep playing with Felens like you do now.”
A future after being adopted.
Could such a thing even exist?
‘I’d never even thought about it myself.’
A normal future beyond the Pope.
A future she was imagining for the first time.
Reponya placed her hand over her heart. Inside her chest, colors brilliant and radiant sparkled and shimmered.
“…Yes.”
Reponya nodded.
“I’ll learn.”

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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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