The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 4

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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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Third grade.
The moment those words reached my ears, my mind went completely blank—as white as a sheet of paper.
“H-hic… hic….”
Princess Melissa, or rather the third-grade child, had burst into tears again and was utterly useless.
But this was normal.
Third grade meant ten years old in Korean age, nine in this region’s reckoning.
It was the age when children grew nervous in front of others, made mistakes, panicked, and ran away crying.
I finally gathered my wits and began soothing Melissa.
“Oh dear, you’re ten years old? Well, you must have been through so much…. How did you end up possessing someone?”
“H-hic, sob, b-before bed… I was watching a web comic about Grand Duke Cardicha… hic.”
“I see, it was a web comic…. Do you remember what it was called?”
I kept my expression composed on the surface, but internally I was reeling.
Unlike novels that explained every minor detail meticulously, web comics often abbreviated explanations and conveyed information through illustrations instead.
That meant even if Melissa remembered the entire plot, my ability to respond would be limited.
Assuming this ten-year-old actually remembered everything, that is.
“S-save the villain brother….”
That instant.
My head suddenly spun.
‘…What?’
I couldn’t maintain my balance and sank to the floor.
Like electricity suddenly flooding a darkened room with a flash, vivid images crystallized in my mind.
It was an image of myself reading the novel Melissa had mentioned.
‘A novel I’d only read once, one that hadn’t left much of an impression….’
Perhaps forgetting it was only natural.
But Melissa’s single phrase had resurrected the memory in its entirety.
As if… her words were a trigger.
Abbreviated as “Save the Villain.”
It had been so popular that a web comic adaptation came out almost immediately. Melissa must have watched that version.
‘I was an extra in a child-rearing story.’
A bureaucrat from some obscure department—the kind whose name was never mentioned in any novel.
But I had no time to wallow in shock.
“I-I want to go home. I want to see Mom and Dad. I want to play with Choco….”
“Who is Choco?”
“O-our family’s poodle.”
Melissa pouted and her chin trembled as if tears might spill at any moment.
‘Oh dear.’
She was trying to hold back her sobs, but it was clearly ineffective.
I soon found myself cradling the whimpering child and soothing her while swallowing a sigh.
‘Good heavens….’
My head throbbed.
It wasn’t guilt over having to tell a ten-year-old child that she could never return home.
She would learn the truth sooner or later anyway.
The fact that among those thousands upon thousands of romance novels, only a handful featured protagonists who actually returned to their original bodies in reality.
What truly gave me a headache was the content of “The Hidden Villain’s Sister.”
True to its title, the hidden villain—Melissa’s older brother, Achilles—is the mastermind.
What does that mean?
It means that despite appearing outwardly obedient to the Imperial Palace, he is actually plotting treason.
Yes.
Grand Duke Cardicha is currently preparing a rebellion.
All while harboring the grandiose delusion that the Northern Autonomous Region could transcend its autonomous status and dominate the entire empire.
For reference, in the original novel within “The Hidden Villain’s Sister,” Grand Duke Cardicha does seize imperial authority for a brief moment, but ultimately meets defeat.
Naturally, his end was beheading.
And Princess Melissa was beheaded alongside him.
“Um, sister…”
The small girl trembling in my arms—she would die.
To be honest, whether Grand Duke Cardicha lives or dies is no concern of mine.
If anything, considering the atrocities he committed in the so-called “original novel,” I’d sooner assassinate him myself.
Then Melissa would live, the empire would have peace.
Two birds with one stone, wouldn’t it be?
But I lacked the ability to do such a thing, and if I simply left them to their fate…
‘Everything just falls apart.’
When war breaks out, the Child Protection Bureau—leisurely caring for children—simply ceases to exist.
My carefully built career, my position, all of it vanishes.
Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility of becoming just another handful of blood mixed into a sea of carnage.
Hahaha, my life…
I let out a hollow laugh internally before snapping back to reality.
‘There’s no time.’
More than one person must be searching for Melissa right now.
Naturally, someone among them will eventually think to check the balcony.
Once Melissa returns to the Grand Duke’s household, it will be extraordinarily difficult for a commoner like me to maintain any connection with her.
If Melissa’s side were to seek me out, there would be no problem, but expecting such resourcefulness from a child in her current state would be foolish.
‘Not that the situation isn’t already chaotic enough…”
Melissa was none other than the protagonist of “Save the Hidden Villain Brother.”
Not a bastard child, mind you—merely a remarkably late-born daughter, seventeen years younger than her brother.
The Grand Duke and his wife doted on their youngest daughter dearly, but unfortunately, Melissa fell into a lake on her fifth birthday and spent four years in a coma.
The Grand Duke and his wife summoned every renowned physician in the world, but nothing helped.
Despairing over a daughter who would not wake, the Grand Duchess wasted away and died, and the Grand Duke soon followed her.
And when Grand Duke Cardicha, having rushed back to the estate upon hearing of his parents’ deaths, encountered…
His younger sister, perfectly awake.
Remembering nothing at all.
By now, you’ve probably figured it out, haven’t you?
Princess Melissa awoke because someone’s soul had entered her body.
‘But I’m certain there was no mention of a ten-year-old being possessed in the “Black Calamity”!’
It seemed the age hadn’t been mentioned at all.
Yet one thing was undeniable—an adult, not a child, had taken possession of her.
After all, they had rescued Grand Duke Cardicha using knowledge only adults would possess, and had skillfully managed business ventures and real estate investments.
It was unimaginable when looking at the current ‘Princess Melissa’.
I took a deep breath.
Regardless, I had to accept the reality now before me.
And I had to act in ways that would benefit Princess Melissa.
But before I could devise any suitable plan,
the door burst open and a man rushed inside.
Achilles, Grand Duke Cardicha—the very person I had wanted to avoid most.
Grand Duke Cardicha looked far more exhausted than when I had seen him at the Ballroom hours earlier.
His disheveled silver hair and bloodshot violet eyes bore clear traces of his desperate search for his sister.
But a beautiful man remains beautiful at any time.
Unlike his imposing and cold demeanor at the Ballroom, he now exuded a precarious, decadent aura that made him all the more captivating.
…In other words, unnecessarily sensual.
“Princess Melissa.”
Grand Duke Cardicha spoke in a hoarse voice.
“So you were here.”
I had no desire to catch the attention of the shadowy Grand Duke, so I hastily tried to slip away.
Princess Melissa foiled that attempt.
“Oh, big brother….”
No, Princess Melissa! If you’re calling for your brother, go to him. Don’t come to me!
But Princess Melissa seemed oblivious to my silent protest, as she timidly hid behind my back while peeking her face out.
“Brother, I’m sorry….”
Grand Duke Cardicha’s eyes narrowed.
He took a step toward me and slowly opened his mouth.
His voice carried unmistakable hostility and wariness.
“And who might you be?”
I sighed.
This is exactly why I hate older brothers in romantic fantasy novels. Treating someone who kindly cared for their sister like some suspicious stranger.
“I am Tessa Harrington, Vice Director of the Child Protection Bureau, Your Grace.”
Still, I offered my greeting as respectfully and properly as I could manage.
I had no desire to give him any grounds for complaint.
After all, I valued my own life.
“The Child Protection Bureau…I see.”
Grand Duke Cardicha’s expression became subtle. Fortunately, it wasn’t as hostile as before, but I couldn’t let my guard down.
Princess Melissa, trembling beside me and gripping my hand tightly, was no help whatsoever.
Grand Duke Cardicha stared at us intently, and finally, words spilled from his lips.
“Do you also think I abuse Melissa?”
…What?
Grand Duke Cardicha spoke the word “abuse” without hesitation, his tone dripping with self-mockery.
“Your Grace, I have never harbored such thoughts.”
Above all, my encounter with Melissa had been pure chance—not official business as Deputy Director of the Child Protection Bureau.
But before I could say as much, Melissa burst in loudly.
“No!”
Melissa sounded desperate.
“My brother… he…”
The child’s voice began to tremble with sobs.
Melissa gripped my hand tightly, looking up at me as she whimpered.
“He really does care about me, sob… sniff…”
If only Grand Duke Cardicha could hear what Melissa was saying.
Unfortunately, she was mumbling so softly that only I, standing right beside her, could hear her words.

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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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