The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 72

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 72

Reponya led Rudeuum toward the storefront, then naturally extended her hand to Fellens, who had followed behind.
“Brother. Money.”
“Oh. Our little cotton ball. You’ve got some real skill at this, haven’t you? I was planning to teach you myself later, but I suppose that’s what comes of being my sister. The talent’s already showing.”
Reponya felt a twinge of guilt. There had indeed been times at the orphanage when she’d taken things from others in just this way, so she couldn’t deny it.
“The Duke gave me spending money for my outing, and I left it with you, so Buddy and Becky told me I could ask you for it if I needed it, didn’t they?”
“Which is why you came at me so brazenly to steal my money. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest—it’s the first time in my life I’ve experienced something like that, cotton ball.”
Fellens handed over the money without complaint. But then Havelian reached out and took the bills from Fellens’s outstretched hand.
“Reponya. Were you thinking of buying that?”
“Yeah. Why? Is something wrong?”
Reponya turned to look at Havelian.
“No. You should keep the spending money Father gave you. I’ll buy this for you.”
“But I could buy it with my own allowance.”
“You could, that’s true. But I want to buy it for you. It’s not every day I get a chance to treat you to something delicious.”
Reponya gazed up at Havelian quietly. It occurred to her that perhaps the one who wanted to treat her to something delicious wasn’t truly herself, but rather the real sister that Havelian had lost.
‘He wants to buy it for me—what’s the harm.’
Reponya didn’t resist and simply nodded. Then she walked to the Hotcake Shop with Rudeuum and placed an order.
Of course, Havelian paid.
As Reponya waited for the order to arrive, her eyes swept across the people around her. She found herself naturally catching fragments of nearby conversation.
“Did you hear? It happened again.”
“What was it again? The one where someone looks at faces and then runs off?”
“Isn’t this the sixth victim now?”
“Someone’s been following people from behind, checking their faces and then vanishing. And only young women with silver hair and red eyes, apparently. It’s definitely the work of some pervert.”
Reponya’s fingers froze. Silver hair and red eyes—a young woman?
“I heard the victims all had very thick, voluminous hair.”
“From what I understand, the person doing this is envious of people who’ve lost all their hair.”
“Ugh, how ghastly.”
Reponya’s gaze, which had been drifting absently into empty space, turned ice cold.
She could guess who was behind this.
‘The Pope Pretes.’
It had been quite some time since the order came down to eliminate Reponya. But no matter how hard everyone tried, no one could find her.
Of course not. Who could have imagined that Reponya would become five years old?
So it seemed the Pope was methodically checking faces at random, hunting indiscriminately.
‘I’d like to have what remains of her sent to burn in the Craitan Family vault.’
After years of working together, not even a shred of courtesy remained.
“Reponya.”
Reponya, whose face had hardened at the thought of the Pope Pretes, snapped back to attention at the call.
Rudeuum, holding two rolled hotcakes, was watching her with concern.
“Are you alright? Your expression looks terrible.”
“What? Who? Our little cotton ball?!”
Before Rudeuum could even finish, Fellens approached and checked Reponya’s complexion.
“No, it’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Reponya. Your face has gotten worse.”
Havelian also drew near to check on her. He pulled out a handkerchief and gently dabbed her cold, clammy forehead, then pressed the back of his hand firmly against her ashen cheeks.
“I’m really okay.”
The Pope Pretes had already ruined ten years of Reponya’s life; she wasn’t about to let him spoil today’s outing as well.
“I’m just hungry.”
Reponya accepted the hotcake Rudeuum offered her. She took a large bite, savoring it fully.
Compared to the days when she’d forced herself to eat mechanically, choking down food even as someone died beside her just to survive, this was nothing.
“You’ll get indigestion. Eat slowly.”
Rudeuum laughed as he stopped Reponya from taking another bite, her cheeks already stuffed full.
He followed her lead and took a bite himself, then nodded appreciatively.
“It’s delicious.”
Ah.
The hotcake, which until just moments before had tasted only of stale flour and dust, now tasted sweet.
Reponya looked at the hotcake in her hand. There was no syrup drizzled over it, no cream, and the thickness varied throughout—some parts charred, others underbaked.
Yet strangely, it tasted sweet all at once, as though prepared by the Imperial Palace’s own kitchen master.
“Now I understand, Reponya.”
Rudeuum, who had devoured every bite of the bland Hotcake as if it were the most delicious thing in the world, traced his fingertip across his lips.
“Everything tastes good when I eat it with you.”
……
“I find sweetness in all of it.”
“Hmm?”
“I think I like building these memories with you.”
Reponya bobbed her head absently.
Curiously, she had tasted something similar to what Rudeuum felt just moments before.
It was a flavor only two children building ordinary days into cherished memories could ever know.

* * *

Hand in hand, they wandered from place to place, sharing new foods and admiring fresh grains and fruits.
As the time for the Procession drew near, they claimed a spot with the best view.
‘Wow. All these people came to watch the Procession.’
She peeked her head out from their vantage point.
A trumpet’s call echoed from the distance. Knights of the Imperial Palace in ornate uniforms marched at the fore, followed by spear-bearing soldiers.
“Wow.”
Her mouth fell open at the daring acrobatics—long spears tossed high in the air and caught again as they marched.
Cavalry followed in their wake. The thunder of hooves made her heart pound.
‘That’s amazing!’
Reponya’s eyes gleamed. Once the cavalry passed, she glimpsed Knights in a familiar deep blue uniform.
Their standards were so heavy they seemed barely able to bear them.
A Knight carried aloft a banner bearing the House of Craitan’s seal.
“Oh!”
Reponya’s eyes widened and she pointed. Havelian nodded with pride and smiled.
“That’s right, Reponya. Our family’s Knights.”
Our Knights. Our family’s Knights. Those few words set her heart racing.
Their footfalls were perfectly synchronized, as if a single person were moving.
Canwell led at the front, his expression rigid and dignified as he marched, followed by familiar faces.
These were the Knights who had played with Reponya and her, not the ones who chased after her.
‘Not the Knights who pursued me. The ones who played with me.’
At first, the sight of those faces had terrified her, but now something strange bubbled up inside—laughter.
“They look so magnificent.”
The thought escaped her lips before she could catch it.
Rudeuum beside her turned his head. “That’s magnificent?”
“Yes!”
Reponya nodded brightly, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
“I thought Knights were scary, but they’re actually amazing.”
For so long she’d done nothing but sin, so she’d always thought all Knights were frightening and relentless. But she’d been wrong.
Knights were magnificent.
“Hmm.”
Rudeuum made a soft, thoughtful sound and stroked his chin.
“So if I became a Knight and marched in a Procession like that, wouldn’t I look magnif—”
“Oooooh! Duke Craitan!”
“The Duke!”
Rudeuum’s quiet murmur was swallowed by deafening cheers. Reponya leaned toward him.
“Rudeuum, what did you just say? I didn’t catch it.”
“…Nothing. I wasn’t saying anything.”
Reponya tilted her head.
“Reponya. It’s Father.”
Havelian pointed to Duke Craitan, who appeared mounted upon a horse. Reponya’s head snapped around.
“Oh.”
She saw Duke Craitan mounted on a horse draped with a tapestry bearing the House of Craitan’s blue seal.
She’d seen cavalry before, but this presence was utterly different. His movements were unhurried, his bearing serene, yet his gaze fixed forward was sharp as a blade.
The Empire’s guardian.
He was the Empire’s unyielding fortress—a manifest shield against all that threatened it.

Until that moment, Duke Craitan had kept his gaze fixed straight ahead as he walked. Now, for the first time, he turned his head.
“…Ah.”
The instant their eyes met, Reponya startled and drew her shoulders up.
‘Surely he didn’t recognize me at a glance, not with this many people around?’
Even if an Aura Master had exceptional dynamic vision, was such a thing possible?
That was the moment it happened.
Duke Craitan said something to the Knight holding his horse’s reins, then vaulted cleanly from the saddle.
“Waaaaaah!”
The roar of the crowd rang sharp in her ears.
Once dismounted, Duke Craitan’s feet carried him unerringly toward his destination.
“Reponya.”
Why—why are you here? What—
He had come to a stop directly before her.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————