The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 55

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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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55

Reponya swallowed hard. The Green Jewel hadn’t been discovered, so it was better to play frightened here instead.
“It hurts so much… so much…”
“Hurts? Oh, it hurts, does it? Look, there are plenty of kids in here who hurt worse than you do. Got it?”
The Orphanage Director opened the ointment with an exasperated expression.
“Ha. You used quite a lot of it. Well.”
After checking the contents, the Director hurled the ointment down hard. He could’ve simply set it aside, so why did he have to throw it?
Reponya nearly winced but caught herself, instead whimpering as though terrified.
“I was being good to you, and you dare steal what’s mine?”
The Director reached out to shove Reponya’s shoulder. Before his hand could touch her, she threw herself backward in a practiced tumble, as if she’d been pushed hard.
She landed as gently as she could manage.
“Huh?”
The Director stared back and forth between his own palm and the fallen Reponya.
Right. He hadn’t felt any contact, so it would seem strange to him that she’d fallen.
“Ow, ow, ow…”
Reponya whimpered her pain performance.
“See, you still haven’t learned what real pain feels like, have you? Huh?”
Haven’t learned? She’d been learning for over ten years. She’d learned it well enough that this didn’t warrant real fear.
“Come here.”
The Director pulled Reponya up from the floor and led her out.
“Stop! Stop, please!”
Reponya made appropriately frightened noises. This way, the Director would feel superior and finish quickly.
She still didn’t apologize, though.
His pace was too fast; scrambling up the stairs after him, she stumbled and her knee scraped against stone.
‘I’ll settle with you later.’
Reponya escaped the Basement.
“I’m going to teach you exactly what it means to hurt today.”
She already knew it well enough—painfully well.
With all the children asleep, the Orphanage’s corridors were silent.
“Do you know what kind of people I hate most in this world?”
Since he wasn’t asking for a real answer, Reponya said nothing.
“People just like you—thieves. I earn my own money, and yet they demand I pay tax. I provide slaves myself, yet they deduct a fee. And you dare enter my office and steal my ointment?”
At a glance, it was clear the ointment wasn’t anything from the Director’s office at all, yet he insisted it was his—a behavior unchanged from when she was younger.
“Everyone up! Wake up, you useless worms!”
The Director slammed his palm hard against the thin wall, jolting every sleeping child awake.
“Get to the Dining Hall! Now! Those who are slow will be punished!”
As if this were routine, the children responded quickly. A few shouts and the sound of his palm striking the wall—and they all scrambled to their feet.
Every face was pale with dread at what was coming.
Only Reponya remained unmoved.
‘He’s going to punish me in front of everyone.’
It was all too familiar. These kinds of people always thought the same way. She’d endured it so many times it no longer startled her.
When they reached the Dining Hall, the Director lunged to shove Reponya again.
This time too, she deliberately fell first, tucking her body into a safe, graceful roll forward.
“Ow!”
But she cried out loudly as she did.
With men who needed to flex their power, this display would make the ordeal end faster.
If it dragged on, the other children who’d been summoned would suffer for it.
“There. You all watch carefully. This is what happens when you steal what’s mine.”
At the Director’s words, the gathered children trembled.
How many blows would there be?
Reponya curled her body tight and covered her head with her arms.
It wasn’t the first time—she was used to it. She’d be fine.
Just as Reponya let her eyes fall closed—
Whoosh—Crash!!!
“Ugh!”
With a tremendous sound of something striking and embedding itself, the Director let out a scream.
Startled, Reponya uncovered her head and opened her eyes. A familiar pair of boots filled her vision.
They stood where the Orphanage Director had been moments before.
“Ha… ha…”
Labored breathing echoed through the room.
Reponya lifted her head slowly.
Gone was the composure from their first meeting. His trousers were creased and disheveled, his shirt half-unbuttoned and hanging loose, his vest undone. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his platinum hair tumbled wildly in all directions. His forearms were swollen with muscle, veins stark and bulging beneath the skin.
“…Sir?”
It was Havelian.
At the sound of her voice, he lowered his gaze toward her.
Crimson eyes fixed upon Reponya, who remained crouched on the floor with her arms wrapped protectively around her head.
The moment their eyes met, Reponya froze, unable even to think of straightening herself up.
Rudeuum had said he’d bring the three men of House of Craitan, but she hadn’t expected them so soon—and certainly not that Havelian would arrive first among the three.
“How dare… who—”
Havelian’s words died in his throat as he clenched his jaw.
In the instant Reponya blinked, Duke Craitan and Fellens stepped into the Dining Hall in a wave of Aura.
“Ponya!”
At the call, Reponya turned her head, meeting Fellens’s gaze as he rushed toward her.
The moment Fellens saw her, his blue eyes went wild and unfocused.
Specifically, at the sight of Reponya curled up as though she’d been struck by someone.
“I’ll kill him.”
The low murmur came from neither Fellens nor Duke Craitan.
It was Havelian who’d spoken those words. His gaze swept over Reponya methodically, taking in every detail.
That was all.
Havelian drew forth his Aura and, in the same motion, strode toward the Orphanage Director crumpled in the corner. He seized him by the collar and dragged him bodily from the hall.
Crash—!!!
The moment Havelian left, a tremendous sound erupted from outside.
‘Why is Havelian so furious?’
This was nothing like the Havelian she’d known. As Reponya tilted her head in confusion, the Duke approached her.
“Ponya.”
His face ashen, the Duke dropped to one knee before her.
With trembling hands, he gently grasped her hands where they still shielded her head.
“Oh.”
Only then did Reponya realize she was still in the same position, and she slowly straightened.
“I should never have left. I’ve done it again… failed again…”
The Duke’s eyes traced over each of her wounds.
Guilt and fear were etched across his face. Beside him, Fellens stood quietly, his anger visibly churning beneath the surface.
‘This has gotten bigger than I planned.’
The original plan had been to bring the three men of House of Craitan to the Orphanage,
and then have them all greet each other warmly, unharmed and intact, punish the Director, and return to the Estate laughing and cheerful.
She hadn’t wanted this heavy, guilt-laden atmosphere.
‘I didn’t expect things to spiral like this.’
Still, she’d come to retrieve what she’d abandoned and lost, so perhaps that much could count as success.
Reponya glanced around cautiously. Just then, Havelian, who’d dragged the Orphanage Director outside, strode back into the Dining Hall.
His clothes were even more disheveled than before—he must have moved quite violently.
“Reponya.”
…What? Did Havelian just use her full name?
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Havelian knelt before her, bringing his eyes level with hers. His gaze swept over her carefully as he asked.
As Havelian examined her, the Duke quietly stepped back slightly.
He’d been informed through Rudeuum that Havelian had been shocked to find Reponya absent from the Orphanage, but he hadn’t anticipated such an intense reaction.
“N-no, I’m… I’m fine.”
She’d blurted out that she wasn’t hurt in her panic, but the wounds on her skin told a very different story, and she felt mortified.
‘This wasn’t what I wanted…’
Reponya hesitated, glancing around uncertainly, then carefully tried to steer things back toward the atmosphere she’d originally envisioned.
“I’m… I’m really all right.”
But the moment Reponya said she was fine, all three men’s faces went rigid and hard, as if they’d just received a death sentence.
Well. The mood had completely fallen apart.

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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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