The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 117

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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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The Villainess Hides Her Identity, and Everyone Misunderstands
Chapter 117

The moment I heard that rough voice, my head snapped up like lightning.
“Your Highness!”
Crimson eyes gleamed between his eyelids before closing again.
“Your Highness, are you… are you alright?”
“…Of course I am.”
A playful tone colored his words.
“That’s your problem. Do you really think I’d die from a little blood loss?”
“That’s not… I mean…”
“How many years do you think I’ve been rolling around on battlefields? I’ve experienced worse than this a hundred times over.”
At his bravado-filled words, I narrowed my eyes slightly.
His hair appeared damp with blood, though the darkness made it impossible to see clearly. Yet he had fallen from that crumbling rooftop—if he were truly unscathed, he wouldn’t be human.
Still, a thread of doubt wormed its way into my mind.
‘…Is that really true?’
Despite his ragged breathing, his tone remained remarkably unchanged from usual. There was no tremor in his voice.
“…You’re really sure you’re alright?”
“I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”
He lifted his eyelids slightly and met my gaze.
As if to reassure me.
“Ideally, I’d prove it by standing up right here, but… that won’t be possible.”
“If you could do that, you wouldn’t be human.”
I replied with a slight grumble.
Seeing him speak so naturally, my heart calmed in an instant. Just moments ago, I felt like giving up entirely, yet now it seemed as though I could accomplish anything.
‘Have I been relying on him more than I realized?’
On Rakiel.
Perhaps it began then—when Genie fell ill with the plague, and I faced him declaring so confidently that he would go to the Northern Region and resolve it.
The feeling that he could solve anything.
“It will take some time for them to rescue us from outside.”
He murmured as his eyes swept over the stones blocking us in.
Because we had slid toward the end of the railing at the last moment, our position was poor. We appeared to be buried quite deeply.
‘Still, I should be grateful that a space like this formed at all.’
I thought this while tapping the stone directly above us.
Outside, I could barely hear what was happening. There were vague murmuring sounds, but I couldn’t even distinguish whether they were people’s voices or simply the wind passing through.
“Are we the only ones caught in this?”
“Probably. You pushed Saint Liliana at the very end, after all.”
“…You saw?”
“I saw it clearly. I watched you throw yourself forward to save someone else.”
“No, that’s not….”
I had indeed acted in a way that invited such misunderstanding, but I had my reasons for keeping Liliana alive. She was the only one who could explain this strange system to me.
Regardless, once I survived this ordeal, I would interrogate her relentlessly until I uncovered her true identity.
‘Of course, it’s also true that I was operating under the assumption that I could restart even if I died.’
If I could restart, wouldn’t it be better for me to die instead?
Rather than make excuses, I protested to him with a sullen tone.
“Your Highness, you shouldn’t have fallen directly into the trap that was laid for you.”
It was obviously a trap set for him, yet he rushed in to save me alone. How foolish.
“Because it was Eve.”
His voice dropped low.
“I would rather take my own life than watch you die.”
“Good heavens, what are you saying? Quickly, take it back!”
I cried out urgently.
Was he trying to get himself killed?
But instead, Rakiel nodded with satisfaction.
“Then treasure your own life. I don’t want to see you die.”
“Your words are just…!”
I was about to snap in anger, forgetting the situation entirely, but I closed my mouth again. After all, it was my fault that he was in this predicament.
Rakiel, glancing at me, changed the subject.
“Anyway, thanks to you saving the Saint, those Valter Empire dogs must be furious. Ah, since we’re still alive, the Crown Prince must be upset too.”
“…!”
I opened my eyes wide and asked.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That they came intending to kill the Saint.”
“Ah.”
He chuckled softly.
It was something I only discovered just before the accident occurred. And that was thanks to my memories of the original story. They had always tried to kill her under the guise of an accident whenever things went wrong.
But he continued without hesitation.
“I was certain from the moment the Saint went to Rosenthal Manor. Of course, I didn’t expect them to push forward so recklessly.”
“…Why?”
“Look, the current situation in our Empire is unstable. Naturally, the Valter Empire knows this too. The one they’ve allied with is the Crown Prince, so if the Emperor changes, it would be quite troublesome for them.”
I nodded at his words.
“That’s right. There’s no shortage of incidents connected to the Crown Prince.”
“But now rumors are spreading that my fiancée is the ‘Saint,’ which must be a nightmare for them—even controlling the actual Saint would be difficult.”
“…Do you mean they fear I might actually be the Saint?”
“Exactly. If you were truly the Saint, Saint Liliana would have no reason whatsoever to oppose you.”
…That much was true.
This wasn’t something worth worrying about—whether the Saint’s position was stolen or lost. Unless the two of us joined hands.
“So I thought it would be better to dispose of both Saint Liliana and you. And me as well.”
In other words, we were bundled together as a set. Liliana and me, and Rakiel.
The intention was to eliminate us all.
‘In the end, my actions brought about this catastrophe.’
If I had behaved like the usual Evelyn, I would never have earned the title of Saint.
As I sat in quiet contemplation, I suddenly felt a chill near my back. Through my thin summer dress, it felt as though water were dripping down, leaving a damp sensation.
‘Ah, is it water from the Fountain?’
The last thing I had seen was water cascading from the Fountain, wasn’t it?
Fortunately, the place where we were trapped wasn’t flooded, but it seemed water was dripping from somewhere nonetheless.
With no immediate way to address it, I tried to ignore it, but as the cold water continued to drip steadily, my body instinctively flinched.
‘Ugh, if I move just a little, I think I can avoid it.’
I began to wriggle my body, burrowing deeper against Rakiel to escape the falling droplets.
After some time, I heard a low, stifled sound from above my head.
“Eve.”
“Yes?”
“If you keep moving like that… it will be difficult in many ways.”
I froze mid-squirm.
“…What?”
I tried to lift my head with a bewildered expression, but my forehead lightly bumped against something solid. Or rather, against Rakiel’s jaw.
…Ah.
Only then did I realize just how peculiar our current position was.
When everything collapsed, he had pulled me into his embrace, and even now, after losing and regaining consciousness, our position had barely shifted.
I was half-buried within his arms, and a firm arm was wrapped around my waist.
“….”
“….”
As I slowly lifted my gaze, his crimson eyes gleamed distinctly even in the darkness. He wasn’t wearing his usual leisurely smile, but the subtle twist at the corners of his mouth suggested he was fully aware of the situation.
“Since it seems you didn’t understand,”
he whispered softly.
“I meant that if you continue like that, it will be you, not me, who will be in trouble.”
“…!”
Heat rushed to my face.
“W-wait a moment!”
I startled and hastily tried to pull away. But I quickly realized that sudden movements were inadvisable and stopped urgently.
In my flustered state, my palm pressed firmly against his chest.
Thump.
A heavy pulse resonated beneath my fingertips.
Thump, thump.
Given the silence around us, the vibration was far more vivid than what I had felt playfully in the Garden earlier. The pulse reverberating through my entire palm made me catch my breath.
“…Really, it’s actually beating…?”
The foolish observation tumbled from my lips, and Rakiel let out a hollow laugh.
“Did you think I was a liar?”
“No, that’s not what I meant….”
My attempted excuse caught in my throat.
His breath brushed against my forehead. In this cramped space, the slightest tilt of my head would bring our noses together.
The moment our eyes met, I held my breath.
“….”
Surely not.
In the gaze fixed upon me, I discovered something that made my body shudder. But once I recognized it, every scene he had shown me began to rearrange itself in my mind.
All those actions I had dismissed as ‘performance’, glossed over as ‘pretense’, and ignored as ‘social courtesy toward his betrothed’….
‘…all of it.’
Had it all been genuine?
Only now, in this narrow darkness, did I understand.
The pulse beneath my palm had not ceased.
Rather, from the moment I grasped this truth, each beat struck against my fingertips with crystalline clarity—as if asking, ‘Did you finally notice?’
“…Your Highness.”
I hesitated before my lips parted.
“Your Highness, could it be….”
Without even deciding what to ask, my mouth moved first. No words seemed capable of containing this revelation.
But Rakiel appeared to have already grasped my question before I could voice it.
“Have you only just realized?”

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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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