The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 8

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

Chapter 8

Reponya’s eyes snapped open, startled from her half-closed state.
Deep in the night, swallowed by darkness where even firelight could not reach.
A boy perched atop a creature shaped like the Silver Wolf hovered above Reponya’s Terrace, looking down from the empty air.
The boy, who looked only a few years older than Reponya—perhaps nine at most—had a face so handsome that even a fleeting glance would carve itself indelibly into memory.
Not that she should judge a child of mere nine years, yet his hair, dark as an abyss, seemed almost sacred, like the night sky inverted overhead; and his eyes, golden as the sun itself, gleamed with startling brilliance.
‘A face I’ve never seen before.’
It was a face absent from Reponya’s memory—she who never forgot anyone she’d seen even once.
“Who are you?”
The boy didn’t answer her question. He simply gazed at the Terrace as though confirming something.
“I honestly didn’t think it would actually happen.”
“What?”
“It’s a relief you’re alive. Isn’t it?”
The boy muttered words she couldn’t understand, his voice tinged with an unsettling exhilaration.
To say someone was alive—twice, no less—to their very face showed this child had no manners whatsoever.
“Then I’ll need to confirm things going forward too.”
“What?”
“Well. See you again.”
“Wait, what do you even mean by—ah!”
Before Reponya could finish her question, the boy with his cryptic words simply turned. As the Silver Wolf beneath him kicked off into the air, a gust so violent it was almost impossible to open one’s eyes swept across the Terrace once more.
When Reponya opened her eyes again, the boy was already gone.
‘…What was that? Did I fall asleep standing? Was it a dream?’
Reponya blinked at the empty, vacant sky stretching before her.

* * *

‘Fall asleep standing—that’s not it. This couldn’t have been a dream.’
Reponya propped her chin in her hand, tilting awkwardly as she recalled the brief encounter from the night before.
Because of the boy who’d arrived on a whim and left just as abruptly, she’d tossed and turned all night without sleep.
‘He definitely said it—you’re alive. Did he think I was dead?’
But no matter how hard she thought, that boy’s face was one she’d never seen before.
‘My head feels ready to split just thinking about where a family seal is hidden, and this kid is… what exactly?’
Reponya bit her lip and pressed her temples firmly, though her fingers lacked the strength to do much good.
‘Could he have mistaken me for someone else?’
But then the boy’s gaze returned to her mind—that fixed, relentless stare. It made no sense for him to look at her like that while confusing her with someone else.
‘Unless the Pope sent him?’
Reponya shook her head almost immediately.
‘If the Pope had sent him, he wouldn’t have just left last night. He would’ve killed me right there.’
The Pope had never taught anyone to leave their target alive.
‘I don’t want to get tangled up in more trouble.’
Gurgle.
Her stomach made its voice heard at precisely the wrong moment. Because she’d overslept, breakfast had come late, and now this.
People truly are creatures of adaptation.
‘Since when did I start worrying about meals?’
There were times when, having failed to complete the Pope’s orders properly, she’d been locked alone in the Underground Prison and gone hungry for days.
How could she complain now over skipping a single meal?
Reponya patted her stomach reproachfully with the flat of her hand.
“Don’t get comfortable with fullness. This won’t last.”
Gurgle.
Despite her rebuke, her stomach continued to rumble loudly.
“We’ll get food later. Just wait.”
Gurgle.
Her stomach protested, insisting on an immediate meal.
“Have you no shame?”
Gurgle-gurgle.
“A stomach with no shame—that’s what you are.”
Reponya muttered helplessly, patting her belly.
“Right. I know it’s not the time to be proud. If you’re going to be so noisy about it, I can’t help myself.”
Having neatly rationalized her decision, Reponya reached out and pulled the bell pull to signal her waking.
It seemed better to fill her stomach first and think later.
This noise was unbearable.
A moment after signaling, a sharp knock came at the door. When Reponya bid them enter, the bedroom door opened and two maids stepped in.
“Miss, did you sleep well last night?”
“Good morning, Miss. Did you have pleasant dreams?”
They were Burdi and Beki, maids from the Main Residence assigned to attend to Reponya.
They were the same ones who had washed her when she first arrived at the Residence and had gone to fetch clothes for the young masters.
“Yes.”
The nickname had mortified her at first, but hearing it repeatedly had made her indifferent by now.
After all, she’d only hear it while she remained in this Residence, so it was more trouble to react to it each time.
“The Duke ate breakfast early because of business. He asked us not to wake you so you could rest well, Miss.”
“That’s fine.”
Her tongue had gone slack from distraction, causing her words to slur—something that no longer embarrassed her as much.
After washing her face and changing into a dress, Reponya sat before the mirror.
‘Urgent business, apparently.’
She recalled the maids bustling about the Residence these past days, preparing to receive unexpected guests arriving without notice.
“Will you take breakfast in the lovely Greenhouse by the Garden today, Miss?”
Beki asked as she brushed Reponya’s hair. What had once been stiff, half-curly locks of uneven length that hung to her waist had grown considerably softer now.
Reponya, whose hair was neatly braided in two plaits today, envisioned the Greenhouse. It was quite a distance from the Main Residence if it was in the Garden.
‘Ah. I see what this is.’
Reponya smiled.
“Why? Not the dining hall?”
Reponya feigned ignorance and asked in turn.
Burdi, who was selecting a pretty hairpin, answered with a smile.
“With guests arriving today, the Main Residence will be quite crowded and chaotic. Is there any breakfast menu you’d like? If you tell us, we can pass it along to the cook!”
“Mm. Anything is fine.”
Reponya nodded while watching Burdi and Beki’s expressions in the mirror behind her. At her response, both exhaled in relief.
It was confirmed.
‘Craithan’s vassals have arrived, then.’
Reponya smiled as though she’d been waiting for this.
No one had told Reponya that vassals were coming, but it was hardly surprising.
There weren’t many guests who could arrive at the Duke’s Residence without advance notice and still be received with courtesy in the Main Residence.
It was an easy matter to figure out with just a moment’s thought.
‘They must be rushing here to oppose news of my adoption.’
Such was the way of Noble Society.
Vassals pledged their loyalty to the Duke’s House and corrected their lord if he strayed from the right path—that was their duty.
No sensible person would approve of a child of uncertain birth and unknown identity being suddenly adopted as a daughter without warning.
‘In fact, it was strange that the adoption went through so easily from the start without any resistance at all.’
Perhaps because she had learned everything about Noble Society from the Pope, it all seemed like the natural course of events.
‘Since the documents have already been submitted to the Imperial Court, disownment would be impossible unless the Duke changes his mind.’
Perhaps because she was already bound by official papers, she felt relatively unconcerned even with the vassals arriving.
Duke Craithan had adopted Reponya to ease his guilt over his lost daughter.
Thus he had no reason to change his mind and disown her just yet.
‘It’s fortunate I made sure to have the documents completed and submitted to the Imperial Court as quickly as possible, even if it cost me blood.’
She looked down at her fingers, now unmarked by scars thanks to the physician’s swift treatment.
‘The Main Residence will be noisy for several days.’
There was no outcome she could change anyway, but having come this far, the vassals wouldn’t simply back down without effort.
The Duke clearly wouldn’t see eye to eye with them, so they would surely stay in the Residence for a few days and apply pressure to Reponya.
‘There are ways to help settle the House’s affairs favorably and prove my usefulness to the vassals.’
But Reponya had no intention of taking the initiative to solve the House’s problems.
If matters had deteriorated so badly that a child’s hand was needed to resolve them, the House should have collapsed long ago. That was a matter of the Head of House’s competence. She wasn’t the Head of House, so she had no intention of handling affairs in his stead. Unless, of course, she were given the position itself.
‘This works out well, actually.’
Reponya patted her growling stomach as if to silence it.
“…Burdi.”
“Yes, Miss?”
“Is the Duke in the Great Conference Hall right now?”
“What?”
Reponya, who had never once sought out the Duke of her own accord, seemed flustered when she asked about his whereabouts today.
When Burdi looked up with that confused expression, her eyes met Reponya’s in the mirror’s reflection—Reponya who had been watching her all along.
Burdi’s gaze flickered away. That was answer enough.
“Whoosh.”
Without thinking, Reponya made a loud noise as she sprang from her chair.
“Young lady, miss. Where are you going?”
Reponya moved her short limbs with determination as she left the bedroom, with Burdi and Beki following at her heels.
“To see the Duke.”
“……Pardon?”
With no inclination to explain further, Reponya hurried down the corridor on small feet, her mind already picturing the way to the Great Conference Hall.

* * *

The Great Conference Hall.
“An adoption, suddenly? I fear you’ve made a hasty decision, my lord.”
“If the child merely caught your eye, it would have been better to offer patronage, my lord, I believe.”
The Great Conference Hall was in uproar with vassals crowding in.
“We do not mean to withhold our blessing for the new young lady’s arrival. But if that child should later covet the Duke’s House assets—”
“What do Havelian and Pelens have to say about this?”
“This is not the time for such talk. The adoption is already decided; we must first establish the child’s status. Have you investigated whether there are any criminals in the child’s bloodline, my lord?”
“Are we meant to simply accept this adoption? A child of unknown parentage, raised who knows where and how. What if she’s contracted some plague?”
“Yet wasting time searching for the lost young lady, when we don’t even know if she lives or dies, seems—”
Bang!
The Duke Craithan, who had been silent and rubbing his temples throughout, brought his palm—thick with concentrated mana—crashing down upon the table.
The desk, crafted from magical materials, fortunately did not shatter, only trembled.
The killing intent that radiated from that tremor silenced every vassal in the room.
“Give them a voice and they begin to overstep their bounds.”
His rough voice strangled the air itself, leaving them breathless.
“Do I need your permission to adopt my own child?”

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