The Villainess Duke Lady Hides Her Identity - Chapter 94

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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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94

It was a landscape no one could ever see without riding a Spirit, and Reponya found she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
A gentle wind brushed against her cheek, and a ticklish sensation bloomed in her chest.
“Reponya. Are you having fun?”
“Mm. It’s fun, and it feels good.”
All those ashes she’d been forced to swallow because of Pope Fretes seemed to drift away on the wind now, and everything felt fresh and clean.
This was a feeling only Rudeuum could give her. Only Rudeuum, who commanded Spirits, could make her soar through the sky like this.
“Rudeuum, you must find it boring—you see it every day.”
“…I thought so too, but it’s fun.”
“Hmm?”
“Reponya. You make me feel so many things. It’s strange.”
The wind blew.
“I’ve never lived with such desperation before, and I didn’t even have much of a goal in life to begin with.”
Rudeuum lifted his head.
“When I woke up again, my only thought was to prevent destruction.”
“Hmm? Prevent destruction? From what?”
Had she been caught in a nightmare before coming to the Estate today?
“But lately I’m happy. Thanks to you, Reponya.”
Reponya’s eyes widened. She’d heard before that she made people unhappy, that her luck was terrible—but no one had ever said being with her made them happy.
Being up here in the sky, her chest felt light and fluffy, like she’d turned into a cloud.
She’d always thought of herself as someone who upset others, but that wasn’t true.
“Even though they’re not things I’m trying for the first time, with you everything feels new. It’s like the world I’ve known all this time is being rebuilt.”
She was only ten, so of course everything felt new when she did it.
But she understood what Rudeuum meant.
Reponya felt the same way.
The new sensations Rudeuum brought were shattering the world she’d lived in until now and rebuilding it anew.
“I’m glad we’re friends, Rudeuum.”
Rudeuum gazed at Reponya.
“…Me too.”
His voice scattered like a breath, barely audible.
Rudeuum, muttering softly, clenched his fists tight.
“Reponya.”
“Hmm?”
“I won’t let you die.”
At his solemn tone, Reponya turned to look at him. Rudeuum was watching her with a serious expression.
“Much has already changed, and I don’t know what winds may come, but still—I’ll protect you.”
“Did you read some military strategy book before bed last night?”
He must have had a terrible nightmare. Even at Reponya’s words, Rudeuum simply laughed silently.
‘Actually, if you think about it, I’m the one who should be protecting Rudeuum.’
Rudeuum lived an anxious life, constantly under threat from assassins and other dangers, and besides, Reponya had more experience with such things.
“That’s why I decided to attend the Military Academy when I turn eleven. There are dormitory assignments and preparations to make, so I’ll probably leave when winter starts this year.”
“What? Not the Academy?”
Noble children attend the Academy when they turn eleven. Then they study at the Academy for about four years before either moving on to the Military Academy or graduating from the Academy entirely.
Of course, heirs to major houses attended the Academy at younger ages, but even so, attending the Military Academy at eleven was unusual.
“Is it possible without going to the Academy?”
“Because I’m House Billemen. In exchange, I won’t be able to graduate in the standard four-year program—they say it’ll take six years.”
The Military Academy’s standard program took four years from entrance to graduation.
Six years was two years longer than that.
Though it would still be much faster than attending the Academy first and then the Military Academy.
“To have justification for everything I do, I think I need to graduate from the Military Academy, but if I attend the Academy too, it’ll take too long. I want to finish quickly and come back.”
Rudeuum continued, his face serious.
It seemed he’d given much thought to things since his consultation at the Academy last time.
That was far better than giving up and refusing to go.
“Truthfully, at first I only thought it mattered that you stayed alive somehow, but now I want to protect you. Being with you is fun and makes me happy.”
Reponya felt that Rudeuum had crystallized a new purpose, though she couldn’t quite name it.
‘Winter will be starting soon. Not much time left.’
I’d never felt reluctant about farewells before, but perhaps because Rudeuum was my first real friend, the sadness caught me off guard.
“So this year… the snowman?”
Reponya asked hesitantly.
“I promised I’d build you a snowman, didn’t I? You said you’d come see it once I made it.”
Rudeuum smiled and rested his hand on Reponya’s head.
“You remembered. How good of you.”
“I never forget a promise once I’ve made it.”
“Even in six years?”
Reponya lifted her head.
“Not now—six years from now.”
Rudeuum spoke with such certainty, as though they were bound to meet again in six years.
“Promise you’ll make my snowman in six years.”
A person with a goal shines brightly as they picture the future.
Watching Rudeuum glow like that, I couldn’t help but smile.
How could I tell such a radiant child that I’d miss him?
“All right.”
Reponya nodded with a smile, then reached out and tapped Rudeuum’s head gently.
“Then I’ll protect you too. It’s not fair if only one person is protecting the other.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I will protect you.”
Rudeuum had just told me there was no one at the Billemen Estate who worried about him.
“I’ll be on your side, Rudeuum.”
Which meant no one had ever stood by his side before.
“If you ever try to do something wrong, I’ll scold you and set you straight. If anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll protect you. I’ll be that person for you.”
Rudeuum gazed at Reponya, who was so much smaller than him, and smiled as he nodded.
“That’s reassuring.”
Rudeuum held out his pinky finger.
“We promised, Ponya.”
“Just trust me.”
Six-year-old Reponya spoke with firm assurance to ten-year-old Rudeuum and locked her pinky with his.
“So if there are people bullying me at the Military Academy, I can tell you about all of them?”
“Of course. Tell me everything.”
“Will you keep protecting me from now on?”
“Yes. You manage fine on your own, but whenever you need my help, I’ll be there.”
“And you’ll keep me alive? So I don’t die?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Reponya laughed as if the question were absurd.
“You told me to live. So I want you to live too, Rudeuum.”
…….
Rudeuum’s eyes deepened. He looked down at their linked pinkies and gently shook them.
“Keep the promise. Ponya. You said you want me to live.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t forget a promise once you’ve made it, right?”
Perhaps Rudeuum was hearing words like that for the first time in his life.
Reponya nodded.
“Just trust me, all right?”
Rudeuum smiled.
The two flew through the sky a few more times before returning together.
Havelian and Fellens, who had been worried sick from reading only the letter, bombarded them with scolding the moment they arrived.

* * *

“Havelian.”
Before falling asleep, Reponya called to Havelian, who was reading her a storybook. He set the book down and answered lightly, “Hmm?”
“Once you enter the Military Academy, I suppose we won’t be able to see each other during training?”
“The Military Academy? That’s right. There are breaks, but the training is so harsh that everyone just wants to rest.”
Six years.
Once Rudeuum turned eleven, the next six years would make it difficult to meet.
‘What if I leave during that time?’
Would Rudeuum and I part without even saying goodbye, becoming strangers? Of course, people always say that childhood friendships fade that way as you grow up, but the sense of loss was unavoidable.
“Why? Reponya, are you thinking of going to the Military Academy?”
“Huh?”
“I won’t stop you if it’s something you want to do… but if you’re planning to go to the Military Academy, let me know. Then I’ll reinstate myself too.”
“What? You already quit. And weren’t you planning to focus on the family succession now?”
“It’s fine. If my youngest is going, of course I should go with you.”
Havelian began casually planning at what age it would be best to attend the Military Academy.
Reponya laughed and shook her head.
“I’m not the one going. I have no intention of attending.”
She was already tired of training. If she were to go anywhere, she’d rather attend the Academy—she had absolutely no desire to attend the Military Academy.
“Then who?”
“Rudeuum is going to the Military Academy next year. He said he’d be leaving before this winter begins.”
“Ah, that makes sense. House Billemen has to go, of course. It’ll be easier to command the knights that way. Skipping the Academy entirely and going straight to the Military Academy is just so… very House Billemen of him.”
Havelian was right. Every title that followed Rudeuum was extraordinary.
He’d been called the youngest duke since inheriting his dukedom, a man who’d pioneered new maritime trade routes, an assassin-hunter, and now a duke enrolling straight in the Military Academy instead of the Academy.
“Reponya.”
“Mm?”
“Are you disappointed that the Duke of House Billemen is enrolling in the Military Academy?”
Disappointed…
Reponya hesitated before answering, unable to respond carelessly. It was all the more difficult because she’d never spoken her honest feelings aloud before.
“…I know I should be congratulating him.”
Havelian smiled and nodded at his sister’s murmur.
“But… when I think he won’t be around often once he enters the Military Academy, my heart feels strange.”
“That’s what disappointment is, Reponya. You and the Duke of House Billemen got along well from the moment you first met, and you’ve played together wonderfully ever since.”
“Disappointed… yes.”
“But just because you can’t see each other for a while doesn’t mean you’re not friends. That’s what real friendship is—being happy to see each other even after a long time apart.”
Havelian gently patted Reponya’s head, as if her pouting was endearing. Reponya looked up and met his gaze.
“You don’t have any friends.”
“…How did you know?”
Havelian laughed.
Fellens had no friends, and true to form, neither did Havelian.
‘My brothers have no friends…’
Reponya patted Havelian’s shoulder with a pitying smile, and he chuckled as he gently pulled her small hand close, wrapping her in an embrace. Reponya patted his back comfortingly.
“Even I have friends, and I’m only six…”
“Our Reponya is smarter and more amazing than her brothers. Making friends is truly a difficult thing, isn’t it? Right? Our youngest does everything—be my friend, be my family, be my sister, everything. You understand, don’t you?”
Reponya hugged Havelian tightly and patted his back.
“It’s okay. You can rest easy. I only have one friend too—Rudeuum.”
It occurred to her that maybe Fellens and Havelian kept asking her to play so often precisely because they had no friends.
‘Poor brothers. I should play with them even more.’
Reponya resolved this to 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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