The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 334
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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1.
One morning, Sedric Evron woke up feeling a sense of unease.
The unease wasn’t from his wife not being beside him or from not being in the familiar bedroom of the Empress’s Palace. With his keen senses, he felt that his body was different from usual. Specifically, everything from the length of his limbs to the weight of his head. All the joints in his body ached, and his body felt excessively light.
‘What is this?’
Somewhat captivated by discomfort, he pulled one hand out from under the covers and looked at it. The size of his hand was different.
‘A child’s hand?’
There were calluses from martial arts practice, but otherwise there were no scars at all. There were no traces of lacerations from battles with monsters, nor any frostbite marks that anyone who spent northern winters on battlefields would inevitably have – it was smooth and soft.
Sedric blinked several times and sat up. His legs had also gotten a bit shorter. No, his legs hadn’t shortened – his entire body had shrunk.
The balance of his body was different from usual, making him stagger slightly. That was why he didn’t think this was a dream. There was no way he could feel such detailed physical changes through his senses in a dream.
He silently got down from the bed. Having awakened in an unfamiliar bedroom with an unfamiliar body, though it was luxurious, he needed to be careful.
He decided not to think that this was impossible. He was already someone who had experienced going back in time once. He was thinking he shouldn’t be surprised by anything when it happened.
“Please wait! You haven’t coughed yet…!”
Bang!
After hearing some commotion outside the door, the door opened without even a knock. Then a boy who appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen years old shouted.
“Get up, Sed! We agreed to go horseback riding!”
“Ah.”
Sedric, who had been testing his physical condition by clenching and unclenching his fists and moving his legs, turned toward him and opened his eyes wide. Then, uncertain about the unbelievable situation but half-believing, he called out that name toward the familiar face.
“Pavel…?”
“What? Are you sick somewhere?”
Prince Pavel spoke bluntly. Sedric knew it was really him and his mind went blank for a moment.
He didn’t know Pavel’s teenage years. Pavel had died before he was even six years old. The reason he hadn’t forgotten his face was because the shock and trauma that young Pavel’s death brought him in his childhood was not small.
That face was now before his eyes, having grown up. Though his body had grown, his face that greatly resembled Empress Katrin hadn’t changed much. Even the plump baby fat remained the same.
When Sedric just stood there blankly staring at him, Pavel finally showed a worried expression and came closer.
“Hey, are you really sick? You sleeping in late for once… Hey!”
“Ah, no.”
“Lie back down. Is anyone outside?”
Grabbing Sedric’s shoulder and pushing him toward the bed, Pavel shouted toward outside the door. A servant entered and bowed his head.
“Call Ansgard! The court physician! Sed seems to be sick!”
“Yes.”
The servant hurried outside. Sedric finally came to his senses and grabbed Pavel’s wrist.
“Are you really Pavel? Pavel Irkin?”
“What nonsense are you talking? Then are you really Sedric Evron?”
“Alive… you’re alive…?”
“You really are sick.”
Then Ansgard, who had been summoned, entered the room. Seeing him much younger than his memories from yesterday, Sedric felt something indescribable surge up from within his chest.
Ansgard also seemed to sense something was unusual from his expression and rushed over urgently. Pavel also abandoned his blunt attitude and spoke worriedly.
“Rest well. My goodness, so you do have days when you get sick too.”
“What nonsense.”
Sedric was finally able to smile, even if forced. He hadn’t known how joyful it would be to see Pavel alive.
Pavel strongly urged him to lie down again. Sedric, still feeling dazed, obediently listened to his words.
“You broke the promise. You’ll have to compensate me later.”
Pavel grumbled. Sedric closed his eyes again, half-convinced this was a dream. It was hard to accept.
But even after sleeping and waking up again, both his smaller body and the changed world remained the same. After sleeping a bit more, he was able to easily adapt to his body’s balance and sensations.
Eventually Sedric accepted the phenomenon.
And trying not to seem strange to the worried Ansgard, after asking various questions, he learned that this year was spring of Imperial Year 472, he was thirteen years old, and while his parents’ deaths in the past were the same, it was an accident rather than a purge.
And he also learned that all three imperial children were alive and healthy.
In fact, the change in Evron’s situation was probably due to that. Since Empress Katrin was wide awake instead of secluding herself, Emperor Gregor was focused on checking House of Riagan and had no capacity to interfere with Evron.
Since he was under the Empress’s protection, Evron was also at ease.
“Are you alright, Lord Sed?”
“Ha, haha.”
Sedric laughed. Feelings of futility and relief spread simultaneously, nearly paralyzing his hands and feet.
If Princess Eloise was alive, she would already be an adult. Unless Emperor Gregor saw his own daughter as a political enemy and eliminated her, the Empire’s succession structure was solid. Even if something happened to Eloise, there were two more legitimate princes, and the Empress was solidly supporting them from behind.
There was no place for Duke Loigar and Lawrence and their ilk to interfere. The same went for himself.
So the only things he needed to worry about were himself and Evron.
Only then was he able to confirm what he had actually thought of first.
Would Artizea exist in this world? In this changed world?
When he asked about Milaire’s current situation, Ansgard showed a very flustered expression. It was probably because he thought it inappropriate to talk about the Emperor’s mistress to a thirteen-year-old boy.
Sedric asked with a composed face.
“I’m not asking out of any particularly lewd curiosity. There should be one son and one daughter…”
“Ah, you mean Lord Lawrence. You met him recently. He doesn’t come to the Imperial Palace very often. There shouldn’t be anything to worry about. His face is pretty, and His Majesty the Emperor dotes on him greatly, but he’s not in a position to dare show his face in the Imperial Palace.”
“What about the daughter?”
“Do you mean the Young Lady of Marquess Rosan?”
Ansgard asked back with a puzzled expression. Lawrence was of imperial blood and they had even encountered each other in the Imperial Palace, but there wasn’t a single thing about Milaire’s daughter that Sedric would have reason to be curious about.
There was only one reason he could think of.
“Perhaps you’re asking because you wonder if she’s pretty.”
“Pfft.”
Sedric, who had been drinking the strong tea Ansgard brought him, ended up spitting it out.
Well, she was pretty. She was beautiful. But that wasn’t why he had asked. There was no need to ask others about Artizea’s face either.
But contrary to Sedric’s embarrassment, Ansgard was able to smile broadly.
‘Lord Sed has already reached that age too, hehe.’
Being curious about pretty girls was natural for a teenage boy. Of course, the Young Lady of Marquess Rosan was too young, but wasn’t her mother Milaire herself?
And that story was almost the only rumor Ansgard knew about the Young Lady of Marquess Rosan personally.
“They say she doesn’t resemble her mother at all. There are rumors that she’s ugly, but even if I’m being generous, she probably doesn’t have a terribly unsightly face.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Sedric sighed. What he was curious about was whether Artizea was doing well.
Since the Empress’s position had changed, Milaire’s position would have changed too. Then Artizea might be living a different life from what he knew.
He hoped that was the case. At least in this dream, he hoped she was living a happy life without anything to forgive or be forgiven for.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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