The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 65

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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 65

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The class turned out to be more enjoyable than expected. Havelian taught in a way that Reponya and Rudeuum could easily grasp, calibrated to their respective ages.
Of course, Reponya already knew everything being covered, but she listened attentively alongside Rudeuum anyway.
Reponya rested her chin in her palm, her expression pleased, and glanced back and forth between Havelian and Rudeuum.
When they’d first met earlier, the atmosphere between them seemed strained, and she’d worried about it—but now that the lesson had begun, they looked like an ordinary teacher and student, and she felt relieved.
‘So this is what it feels like to learn alongside someone. It’s so peaceful.’
When she’d lived in the quarters the Pope had arranged, attending lessons and learning something had felt unbearably painful.
‘Since coming here, it feels like my whole life has been remade from scratch.’
Five years old.
From that very moment when the first button had been fastened wrong.
“All right, then. We’ll end today’s lesson here.”
Havelian closed his book. The moment class ended, Reponya whipped her head around to look at Rudeuum.
“So, what did you think?”
Reponya’s eyes sparkled.
Havelian, as the heir to House of Craitan, had completed his Successor Training by the book.
Rudeuum, by contrast, had inherited the dukedom from Billemen, but as an heir he had neither attended the Academy early nor received Successor Training from a tutor.
So while Rudeuum was here, doing what he needed to do to secure his position, she wished that Havelian’s knowledge might help him.
She wanted to help him with as much as she could before then.
Because when Reponya eventually disappeared, there would be no one left to help Rudeuum.
Seeing Reponya’s face full of expectation, Rudeuum spoke with his chin propped on his hand.
“Yeah. It was fun. Really helpful.”
At those words—that he’d found it helpful—Reponya, who had made this arrangement happen, nodded with satisfaction, feeling like she’d done something good.
For as long as she’d lived, she’d only ever done things that would help the Pope; she’d never helped anyone else before.
“Cotton ball.”
Behind Reponya, who was looking pleased with herself, Fellens arrived—he’d been waiting for the lesson to end all along.
“Now that class is over, it’s time to play.”
Fellens scooped Reponya up in his arms with one hand, sweeping her away from her conversation with Rudeuum.
According to his insistence that a child had to run about in the sunlight at least once a day, Reponya had been keeping him company in play every day.
“What should we play today?”
“But you promised to watch my sword training too.”
“Attending multiple lessons in one day would exhaust the Duke himself. How about we set aside a separate time for sword training instead?”
At Fellens’ words, Rudeuum nodded as if he agreed.
“See? The Duke thinks so too. So, what should we play? Hmm?”
Reponya touched her chin thoughtfully at Fellens’ words, then suddenly turned her head to stare at Rudeuum, who was preparing to leave.
He’d probably just be heading back to that Estate anyway.
“Rudeuum.”
“Yes?”
“Come play with us too.”
The moment Reponya finished speaking, Fellens’ brow furrowed.
“This is my playtime with you, Ponya.”
“But you said children need to run around. Rudeuum is a child too, isn’t he?”
A five-year-old telling a nine-year-old that he was a child and needed to run around struck Rudeuum as so absurd that he had to press his palm against his mouth to stifle his laughter.
Seeing Rudeuum suppressing his laughter, Fellens’ expression darkened with displeasure.
Fellens, who usually agreed to everything Reponya proposed, shook his head stubbornly for once.
“Let the Duke play by himself.”
“What fun is playing alone?”
“Then tell him to roll around by himself. I want to play with just you, cotton ball.”
“We could all play together.”
“No. Today I want to play with just you, cotton ball.”
“Oh, Fellens, really.”
Five-year-old Reponya looked at the grown Fellens as she might regard a younger sibling, shaking her head.
“Friends should get along well.”
She even spoke firmly, as if coaxing a petulant child.
“Who’s friends? Who. Why would I be friends with the Duke? I’m much older than him.”
“Who says you and Rudeuum are friends? Rudeuum and I are friends. You’re too old to be my friend.”
Fellens, who had flatly denied being friends just moments before, scrunched his face.
“…What? Why do you two get to be friends without letting me in? Ponya, are you leaving me out? Didn’t Duke Billemen say earlier that age doesn’t come first in learning? Then why are you putting age first with friendship? Hmm? I have friends who are twenty years older than me, and we’re still friends.”
“You’re lying. You don’t have any friends.”
The barb struck home, and Fellens fell silent.
“…I do want friends.”
“Fine. I’ll make a special exception—you and Rudeuum are friends too. So we’re all friends now. Let’s all play nicely together. There, satisfied?”
“…Huh? Uh, yeah. …This isn’t what I—”
Fellens, suddenly made friends with Rudeuum, muttered under his breath, but Reponya lightly pretended not to hear and ignored him.
“Come on. Let’s head to the Garden.”
She grasped his finger from where she sat in his arms, moving it as though pulling the reins of a horse, and Fellens obediently walked toward the Garden.
“Come on, Rudeuum. You too.”
One nod from her, and Rudeuum quietly followed behind without a word of complaint.
Havelian, watching the scene, smiled with satisfaction.
“Our youngest certainly has a gift for commanding—she’ll make a fine leader.”

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It was supposed to be nothing more than playing around in the Garden.
Reponya looked down at the kneeling knights with cold eyes.
“My Lady. I swear I shall survive to the end and offer you victory.”
“My Lady! I, more than anyone, shall remain uncaught and offer you the glory of victory!”
“My Lady. If you would favor me with your support, I shall hide so completely that not a single strand of my hair shall be seen until the game ends, and thus prove to you that you are the goddess of victory.”
“My Lady, I am the one who shall bring you victory.”
To hear them speak, one might think they were participating in some grand hunt held every year, but that was a misunderstanding.
Right now, they were simply playing Hide and Seek in the Garden.
‘How did it come to this?’
After Havelian’s lesson ended, Fellens had asked to play, so she brought Rudeuum along to the Garden.
The plan had been to play a modest game of Hide and Seek among themselves and send Rudeuum home before it got too late.
That was, until the knights who had just finished their training thought it looked fun and asked to join in.
“…We’re just playing Hide and Seek. You all understand, right? We can keep it light and casual.”
“Cotton doll. For the knights of House of Craitan, there is no such thing as light and casual. When we do something, we do it properly.”
Fellens chuckled. The knights responded enthusiastically, as though confirming the truth.
“I won’t lose to these fools either, so let me show you how well I can hide, cotton doll.”
Just then, Rudeuum, who had been watching the situation with amusement, spoke up.
“Me too.”
“…Huh?”
“Since everyone is talking about offering victory to Ponya. I’ll hide without ever being found and give you victory as a gift.”
The moment Rudeuum joined in, the game of Hide and Seek became as heated as a stone blazing in fire.
“Have you ever played Hide and Seek before?”
Reponya asked Rudeuum. Hide and Seek couldn’t be played alone—it required at least two people—and it was a game Reponya herself had only started playing after arriving at the Estate of House of Craitan.
Rudeuum likely had never played it either, not having anyone to play with at the Billemen Estate.
“No.”
Just as Reponya had suspected.
“It’s my first time. But I’m confident I’ll win.”
What was he so confident about? She almost wanted to tell him that this game wasn’t as simple as he thought, but she decided against it.
‘It can’t be helped. The world of competition is harsh.’
He’d have to learn it the hard way.
“All right then, let’s draw lots to pick who’s it.”
A fair selection began. Everyone wrote their name on a stone, put it in a box, shook it, and whoever’s name was drawn would be it.
All those who had promised to survive long and offer her victory watched the selection box with tense faces.
And the choice was made.
“…I’m it?”
It was Reponya who had drawn the lot to be it.
The knights, Fellens, and Rudeuum all fell silent—they had just sworn they wouldn’t be caught even once.
Reponya was taken aback herself.
Since everyone had promised they wouldn’t be discovered, she worried what she’d do if she couldn’t find a single person.
“All right then, I’ll cover my eyes and count. Everyone, go hide. Um… if you hide somewhere too difficult, it’ll be hard for me to find anyone, so if you could all hide in reasonably findable places, that would be good.”
After speaking, Reponya covered her eyes with her palms and slowly began to count.
She had to find at least one person, or it would be embarrassing.
“…ninety-nine, one hundred. Now I’m coming to find you?”
Reponya lowered her hands from her eyes once she finished counting.
“…….”
She could see them all clearly—hiding behind trees but with their legs deliberately showing, faces poking out from the tall grass, or hands thrust up in the air as if announcing their own positions.
“Oh dear, oh my. I’m so nervous my voice keeps getting louder. Oh goodness. The seeker’s going to know I’m here for certain… Oh no. If the seeker just takes ten steps to the right, they’ll find me immediately…”
Some were even calling out loud, broadcasting their exact locations.
“What on earth are you all doing?”
For the knights of House of Craitan, there was no such thing as doing something half-heartedly.
In the end, Reponya found every last person in less than five minutes after Hide and Seek had begun, claiming victory for herself.

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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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