The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 119

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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 119

He held his breath in silence.
“Shh, keep your voice down. After all, he does carry the blood of the Imperial Palace.”
“Blood? What blood are you talking about? Everyone knows the First Concubine wandered outside and came back with a child. It’s even questionable whether he’s actually the Emperor’s son in the first place.”
“…Well, that’s true enough.”
One of them nodded and clicked their tongue.
“They say the atmosphere with the escort knight who entered the Imperial Palace with him is quite unusual.”
“An escort knight? Ah, you mean that commoner knight he’s always with?”
“That’s probably it. According to the rumors, if the Emperor hadn’t taken a liking to him, he would have married that commoner instead. Well, it seems he was practically driven out by his family because of it.”
He, who had been listening quietly, slowly leaned against the wall.
“To be honest, the Crown Prince probably isn’t too pleased with him being in the Imperial Palace at all. Even though he’s practically illegitimate, he has to be treated the same way.”
“True enough. I heard the Emperor himself once let slip something like that. That it would be better for him to live as if he both exists and doesn’t exist.”
He felt his breathing become ragged. As if he had overheard a conversation he shouldn’t have, cold sweat began to trickle down his entire body.
“By the way, this is a secret….”
The voice became even quieter, as if whispering.
“I heard the reason the Emperor accepted him in the first place was because the First Concubine has some leverage over the Emperor.”
“…Leverage?”
“Yes, it’s well known that the Emperor became the ruler despite being the third-born prince, so you must know that well.”
Her whispered words continued.
“The incident where the First Prince was poisoned back then… there’s a rumor that the First Concubine holds the truth about that incident-”
Thud!
He dropped the book as he listened absentmindedly, stumbling backward with a startled expression. He couldn’t even bring himself to pick it up.
However, in that moment, a soft voice brushed against his ear.

-Don’t be angry.

‘A ghost? A ghost?’
The moment he flinched in alarm and turned to look around, voices erupted from beyond the corner as if people were about to come searching for him.
“Who’s there!”
At that suffocating voice, he took a step or two backward before suddenly spinning around.
Patter, patter, patter, patter.
His short legs moved with surprising speed as he fled away from the corner. Behind him, the tail end of their conversation brushed past his ears.
“Wait, aren’t you Prince Rakiel? Oh no, you didn’t hear all of that, did you?”
“Shh, be quiet. It doesn’t matter anyway. What could a twelve-year-old possibly do? Especially Prince Rakiel, who’s practically invisible.”
He ran with his ears plugged shut.
I didn’t want to hear anything, didn’t want to see anything. If only I could just disappear somewhere. If my existence vanished, everything would become so much easier.
But the voice brushed past my ears once more.

-The one at fault is someone else entirely. So why must Your Highness suffer?

“…!”
That was the moment.
Patter, patter.
He slowly came to a stop, his eyes still closed as he ran blindly. By then, the ground beneath his feet had changed to grass.
Lifting his head, his eyes caught sight of a single horse galloping freely across the vast plain. Upon it sat a woman, waving her hand vigorously.
“Rakiel!”
“Oh, oh Mother!”
In response, he hesitantly raised his hand and waved back.
It was the first time in a long while I’d seen Mother looking so healthy. The new medicine she’d been taking recently seemed to be working quite well, and she’d regained her vigor.
I hoped she would continue to stay healthy like this.
The conversation from moments before completely vanished from my mind as Rakiel gazed at Agnes with a smile.
“…Huh?”
Then something else caught his eye.
Now that I looked closer, Agnes wasn’t riding alone. A boy was sitting with her on the horse.
“Older… Brother?”
It was the Crown Prince, Ludwig Bernhardt.
An ominous premonition suddenly washed over him. Though this should have been a scene I’d never witnessed before, I couldn’t shake the sensation that I’d seen it somewhere, sometime.
‘No, Mother’s horsemanship is incredible.’
There’s no way an accident could happen. She had excellent athletic ability.
Yet my heart refused to settle. An overwhelming urge to run over and pull my older brother away dominated my mind.
It was truly strange.
As anxiety gripped him and his gaze turned back to them, the two leaned in close and whispered intimately before beginning to increase the horse’s speed.
The horse galloped across the vast plain, accelerating as if making one final, desperate charge. The refreshing wind was so strong it was visible to the eye.
But that was the moment.
At a speed even a child’s eyes could barely follow, Ludwig skillfully twisted his body on the galloping horse and….
Thud!
“Ahhhhh!”
I shoved Agnes away.
Her body tumbled onto the soft grass below. Unable to withstand the momentum, her delicate frame bounced repeatedly against the ground, bending, twisting, breaking with each impact.
“Your Highness the Concubine!”
“Good heavens, Your Highness the Concubine!”
People screamed and rushed toward her. Rakiel stood frozen, unable even to think of moving.
His gaze remained fixed on Ludwig, still mounted on his horse.
With practiced skill, he seized the reins of the galloping horse with all his strength, gently soothing it to a halt. A smile slowly spread across his face.
A fresh, exhilarating smile—the satisfaction of finally disposing of a troublesome obstacle.
The moment Rakiel met those twisted, narrowed green eyes, he clamped his mouth shut.
“Ugh, uuuugh!”
Nausea surged up.
A nausea that would never cease for the rest of his life.

-…Why does Your Highness bear such guilt?

Someone’s voice continued echoing in his ears, but tears and mucus streamed uncontrollably down his face.
As dizziness crashed over him like a drifting mind, the space warped once more. This time, he stood in the heart of the battlefield.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, flee!”
One of his subordinates was shouting amid the deafening clash of swords and spears.
He looked around in a daze. Barely any of the Bernhardt knights were visible. All that remained was the Valter Army pressing down to sweep them all away.
“What… what is this…?”
Panicked, he tried to step back, then realized he was mounted on a horse. After steadying his swaying body for a moment, he looked back at the shouting subordinate.
Ah, I remember now.
His name was Eric, wasn’t it?
“This won’t do, Your Highness! We’ll create an escape route, so please-”
“Nonsense! Are you telling me to abandon all my men and flee?”
“Your Highness!”
Eric gritted his teeth and roughly yanked the horse’s reins. At that moment, a knight pierced by a spear fell from his horse beside them. A familiar face.
Jade.
Crimson blood splattered like muddy water.
“If Your Highness dies here, it’s over! You know this—it’s just a meaningless death!”
The Valter Army surged in from all directions.
It was a trap.
A signal flare had risen from within his own army. There was nothing he could do to prevent the enemies from encircling him in an instant.
“But…!”
“Go!”
Someone struck the horse’s hindquarters hard.
Neigh!
The horse shrieked sharply and bolted forward.
“Wait…!”
“Save His Highness!”
Behind me, desperate cries mingled with the violent clash of steel. I tried to rein in my horse several times, but my subordinates were already using their bodies to block the enemy, clearing an escape route.
“Damn it, damn it…!”
My fractured voice scattered into the wind. In that final moment when I glanced back, the throat of the subordinate who had smiled at me was severed by an enemy blade.
Patrick.
“Ah…”
It wasn’t just one.
Dennis.
Xenon.
“Ahhh…”
David.
Nicholas.
Those who had thrown themselves forward to save me fell one after another. Screams erupted, flesh tore, and the sound of breaking blades pierced my ears.
I shouldn’t have fled. I should have died with them. Yet I alone escaped so cowardly…
“Save… His Highness…”
I saw the lips of my subordinate, coughing blood as he cried out until the end. In that instant, the horse’s hooves missed their footing in the air.
Crash!
My body plummeted downward, and an endless darkness yawned open, swallowing me whole.
In an instant, everything was drenched in crimson blood, and countless hands jutted out. They were different from the massive palm I had dreamed of at first.
Stained with blood—hands so grotesque they could hardly be called human anymore.
“Damn it, I…”
My throat was locked, and my voice wouldn’t come out properly.
“I…!”
As I sank deeper into the abyss, despair consumed me.
“Come to your senses.”
“…!”
An oddly firm voice brushed against my ears.
“Where are you going, leaving me behind?”
It was the moment he reached out his hand.
Flash!
Rakiel’s eyes snapped open violently.
“Gasp…!”
His hand stretched toward empty air as if to grasp something. After breathing heavily for a moment, he slowly lowered his hand.
‘…Is this my room?’
The same room I’d used since childhood.
The familiar ceiling greeted me, just as it had appeared in the dream.
I gazed quietly at that ceiling, lost in thought. My final memory wouldn’t surface easily.
‘Ah, the Garden collapsed. So I rushed in to save Eve…’
I had sustained a critical wound. Though I had tried to appear unaffected before her, I remembered pouring out everything I wanted to say, fearing that if rescue was delayed, it truly might be the end.
I had survived, it seemed.
‘Then that must have been a near-death vision.’
It had been unnervingly vivid—a sensation I never wished to experience again.
‘Well, I didn’t even get an answer, so I can’t die here.’
With that thought, I unconsciously raised my left hand—the opposite of the one I had been reaching out before.
But…
Nothing.
My hand wouldn’t lift. Something gripped it firmly. A terrible premonition flashed through my mind.
Surely I hadn’t lost my left arm or anything like that.
Anxiety gripping me, my head turned to the left. But the moment I perceived what held my hand, my eyes widened instantly.
“…Eve.”

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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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