The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 61

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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 61

A familiar voice rang out.
Reponya turned her head toward the sound.
“It’s difficult to distinguish who did such a thing. Since you said you would strip away our Vassal House status, no one will step forward and confess to it.”
“If we’re not careful, someone entirely innocent might bear false blame. I beg you to reconsider, Duke.”
“Though we cannot know who did it, whoever acted surely understood your righteous anger and has grasped the value of the young lady. Confiscation of assets and restrictions on the children’s marriages alone constitute a severe punishment, Duke.”
“We fully comprehend your fury, Duke, but the foundation of House of Craitan must not be shaken by the words of one still so young. You must stand firm and unwavering, Duke.”
The retainers, fearful that they themselves might be punished though innocent, each added their own plea.
The Duke turned his gaze toward Reponya as he listened to them.
“Reponya.”
“Mm?”
“Did you see the face of whoever switched out your carriage and took you to a different orphanage?”
Lies would be useless. He could speak with such certainty only because he knew Reponya had not seen the person’s face.
Reponya simply shook her head.
“No. I didn’t see.”
Someone breathed a sigh of relief, while someone else exhaled as if disappointed.
The Duke clicked his tongue.
He couldn’t let the matter drop, but he seemed frustrated that there was no clear way to reveal who was responsible.
Reponya continued slowly.
“But I know who did it.”
Reponya raised her hand sharply and, without hesitation, pointed at one man.
“That gentleman.”
“…Baron Drear?”
All eyes fixed on Baron Drear.
Baron Drear laughed, appearing flustered, but soon composed his expression with deliberate calm.
“…My lady. Are you suggesting that I switched out your carriage and sent you to a different orphanage?”
“Yes. It was you.”
Baron Drear turned toward the Duke with composed dignity, protesting his innocence.
“I am wronged, Duke. I truly did no such thing.”
“Still, it was definitely you.”
“If I have displeased you, my lady, I shall leave the capital and return to my estate. But to be accused without cause like this is unjust.”
“All that denying won’t help.”
“I ask that you investigate my innocence thoroughly, Duke.”
“Just admit it confidently, sir.”
Reponya and Baron Drear spoke past each other, each pressing their own words forward without listening.
Heads swiveled back and forth between Reponya and Baron Drear in rapid succession.
“Your lady’s words are nothing but contradictions. How can you know who did it if you didn’t see their face? There is no evidence, Duke.”
“There may be no evidence, but I can still prove it.”
Every eye in the Conference Hall fixed on Reponya.
Baron Drear, too, fixed his gaze upon her.
Reponya opened her lips, regarding Baron Drear with a composed expression.
“If I knew the location, I might crack under questioning later when the Duke asked and reveal the answer. So I got hold of a list with a few orphanages written down at random and took one. I don’t know which it is, so don’t tell me.”
Reponya spoke naturally, as if reading words written on paper.
Baron Drear’s face began to harden.
“When you arrive at the orphanage, you’ll bring the child down and hand these coins to the director. Three hundred fifty Gold Coins. Tell them not to hand over the child even if someone comes looking for her.”
“Wh-wh-what.”
As Reponya recreated it identically, the color drained from Baron Drear’s face.
By contrast, anger began to frost over the Duke’s features as he watched.
“When the carriage driver asked what you’d do if I died or was badly injured, that’s what you told him.”
Reponya, who had etched that entire scene into her memory as though burning it into her mind, opened her lips with perfect calm.
“Did I need to worry about that? If you die, so be it. That would be the end of this child’s thread of life anyway. …or so you said.”
“You bas—mmph.”
The instant Reponya finished speaking, Fellens shot to his feet.
He spewed a curse, ready to strike Baron Drear at once, but Havelian hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Compose yourself.”
“But—”
“Mind your language and behavior now that the youngest is listening, Fellens.”
Drear, observing Reponya as though she were some manner of creature, watched her recreate that entire conversation with perfect recall, and his hand began to tremble.
“This is your money. I’ve set aside three hundred gold coins, so you’ll have no shortage. Once you’ve delivered the child, take this and lie low for a time.”
Reponya finished speaking and turned her gaze toward the Duke.
“If you examine the Orphanage director’s ledgers, you’ll find evidence that they received three hundred fifty gold coins in exchange for hiding me. And the coachman who first drove me away—ah, I suppose he’s dead now.”
Reponya murmured this as though it were of no consequence. When a five-year-old rattled off another’s death with such bland indifference, the Duke’s face twisted.
But Reponya, oblivious to his reaction, continued with what she had to say.
“When you investigate that coachman, you’ll find evidence of the three hundred gold coins.”
Judging by the way the corpse had been left on deliberate display, the money would still be there beside him.
It would all point to Reponya having been kidnapped and spirited away by someone acting under orders, only to perish in a carriage accident.
“Even if that’s true, there’s no proof I did it! Even if those three hundred fifty and three hundred gold coins turn up, someone else might have—!”
“Has the coachman’s body been examined yet?”
At Reponya’s question, Duke Craitan shook his head.
“There were suspicious aspects, so it’s been preserved in the state it was found.”
“Then when you examine the coachman’s body, check his pockets.”
At that point, Rudeuum mentioned that the dead coachman’s corpse showed no signs of having been disturbed.
It seemed no one had even touched it, so as to leave no trace.
Then.
“There will be a piece of paper in his pocket, written in that man’s own hand. Paper with the Orphanage’s name on it.”
Drear drew in a sharp breath and held it, frozen.
As though he’d never imagined this detail would be what caught him.
“I saw him put the paper in his pocket without throwing it away. Since he dropped me at the Orphanage and died on his way back, it should still be there in that pocket.”
Reponya spoke with perfect calm and composure.
“Surely that’s enough for you to believe me?”
“There’s no need for that, Ponya.”
“Mm?”
The Duke gently pulled Reponya, who sat on his lap, into a warm embrace.
“I’ve never doubted your word from the start.”
“…Mm?”
“When the fire incident happened, I didn’t ask you to find the culprit—I let it pass quietly.”
Reponya nodded.
“So when you’re the one asking for punishment first, there must be a reason.”
The Duke gestured lightly with his hand.
“In any case, since you’ve been targeted in this way during your life, that alone is sufficient recompense for Drear’s crimes.”
At the Duke’s signal, Havelian stepped forward.
In the same instant, Drear bolted from his seat.
The fact that he’d left a noble daughter to die without lifting a finger was a grave matter indeed.
He might be executed for the Crime of Aristocratic Homicide.
Feeling his life slip away, Drear rushed toward the Conference Hall door to escape.
Havelian moved with practiced speed.
He wrapped his legs with Aura and positioned himself before the door faster than Drear could reach it, then subdued him with ease.
Under the crushing force, Drear fell flat against the floor with an ugly thud.
Havelian pressed his knee down hard on Drear’s back.
“Baron Drear. The investigation hasn’t even properly begun, and you’re already fleeing? Should I take that as a confession?”
“Do you know what I went through back then? Hm? It’s all your fault!”
Fellens approached and seized Drear by the hair, wrenching his head upward with brutal force.
With his back pinned and his head forced up, Drear’s eyes met those of Duke Craitan, who sat in composed dignity.
“Since you presumed to judge the weight of a noble daughter’s life by yourself, I wonder what weight that head of yours truly carries. Perhaps I should place it on the scales.”
The Duke cupped his chin and drew Reponya close, shielding her eyes with his arms.
He would not have her see such violence.
Not a single retainer dared add another word.

* * *

What was that?
Reponya surveyed the three men with a bewildered expression.
‘I haven’t even verified the gold coins yet, and they just trust my word outright?’
Drear was led away by the knights toward the dungeons, and the other retainers withdrew.
Some of them bowed deeply to Reponya as they left, thanking her that the matter ended in mere confiscation of assets.
Duke Craitan ordered his retainers to vacate the Estate by day’s end.
There was no vassal who dared disobey an order grounded in sound reason.
Once everyone had withdrawn, only three men of House of Craitan and Reponya remained in the Conference Hall.
While they deliberated, a Soufflé Cake arrived for Reponya.
‘Oh.’
The Soufflé Cake bobbed and trembled like clouds drifting across the sky on the wind, and her mouth flooded with saliva at the sight of it.
The lightly toasted surface gleamed with an appetizing golden hue. The sweet aroma seemed to plead with her to eat it at once, wafting insistently toward her nose.
During her time at the Orphanage, the only thing she’d eaten was the sandwich Rudeuum had brought her.
‘I should be asking him why he believes my words so easily, but….’
Her eyes refused to leave the Soufflé Cake.
“Reponya. Why don’t you eat first and we can talk? You must have had quite a shock earlier, and something sweet might help you calm down….”
“Yes!”
Before he could finish, Reponya snatched up the Chick Fork as though she’d been waiting for permission.
The moment she cut off a large bite and brought it to her lips, her head snapped back and her eyes widened in wonder.
Soft and moist as though warm sunlight had been gathered and melted, fluffy as a cloud bitten clean through—her mouth became pure joy.
“A… a cloud….”
The three men struggled to suppress their laughter. Oblivious to their amusement, Reponya continued with an expression of amazement.
“I… I’m eating a cloud….”
The flavor of a dessert eaten after so many days was far too intense to bear.

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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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