What cost the duke is his son’s heart and happiness.
༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺
“Good job with comforting Jennette. I hear that she doesn’t cry as much anymore.”
After nodding, Ezekiel looked at his father straight in the eye.
“Are you involved in it?”
The Duke of Alpheus felt uneasy hearing his son’s tone.
The number of times Ezekiel attempted to defend the late princess came to his mind… Was he not doing it on behalf of Jennette?
Roger thought of a wild theory as to why his filial son is acting this way.
It was so preposterous that he didn’t want to even think about it.
“Don’t worry about Jennette, she’ll soon forget about the late princess.”
Ezekiel left the office before his father could say anything.
His father didn’t answer the question and that’s all the answer he needed.
Ezekiel has always been the perfect son that always had his father’s back.
His son never disrespected nor disappointed him. It’s the two of them against the world. They are a unit, a team, a family.
One of the reasons he sent Ezekiel to study far from home is to keep him away from Jennette. He didn’t want his son to be overly attached to someone… Now that this happened, he recognizes that it might have been a huge misstep on his part.
As soon as Jennette had fully recovered from her mourning, he summoned his son.
He hoped that his son moved on just as Jennette has.
Ezekiel rejected his invitation…
Sometimes the best course of action is to do nothing. That’s what Roger believes when it comes to minor disagreements.
He won’t force his son to talk.
Ezekiel will surely come around in a few days.
Famous last words?
In the meantime, he ordered his informants to report everything his son does.
<Tea with Jennette>
<Barely touching his food>
<Not sleeping>
<Would constantly work>
<Routinely taking long walks at night>
“Where?”
“The greenhouse of the Ruby Palace.”
“Keep the surveillance”
After that, Roger made great effort to stop anyone from uttering hername.
Ezekiel continued to flawlessly attend to his duties as heir of the Alpheus dukedom and future consort so aside from their minor disagreement he thought he had nothing to worry about.
When it rains, it pours.
Ezekiel collapsed.
After sending Jennette away for Ezekiel to have a rest, he properly looked at his son’s state.
Listening is the only thing Roger can offer. What happened to the lateprincess wasn’t even his plan or his doing.
Her name was eventually cleared but the king couldn’t care less so the full weight of the lateprincess’s tragedy fell on Jennette… and Ezekiel.
After a moment of silence, Ezekiel finally opened his mouth.
“I’ll tell you what the problem is. I don’t know how to be indifferent.”
Ezekiel looked his father in the eyes. “I can’t master this and it makes me susceptible to pain. In other words, it hurts.”
The greatest proof of a heart is a broken one.
Roger didn’t have to turn around to see who it is that came to his room unannounced.
“You’re drinking.”
<Magic tower burnt to the ground>
<Enemies and pawns quietly killed>
<Anyone who has any ounce of magic abilities are hunted>
<Visiting Ezekiel>
“Was that really necessary?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“Who could have power without wealth or fear or love?”
Roger should have known that allying with this person is like signing a deal with the devil.
“Don’t come near my son.”
A sadistic smile flashed in his face. “I just reminded him to take care of the crown princess.”
“They are engaged and my son will always do his duty. So unless you want Jennette despaired and inconsolable, I suggest you stay away from him.”
He realized something after a moment of silence and laughed. “What am I even saying to you?”
Roger truly felt stupid assuming he cares for his daughter. He is just like the king. They are truly brothers.
They have poison running on their veins.
The world could burn and his ward would continue to be a beautiful fool who is unable to understand anything. Jennette will be happy… Her mother really did well choosing her name, God is truly gracious with his ward.
And who could forget about the other one? The undying…
It had gone beyond her, beyond everything…
No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.
He understood what’s in store for his son and there’s absolutely nothing he could do.
That cursed family poisoned his son and everything is his fault.
“Ann”(Mary) POV (Based on Chapter 89 of the novel)
The moment I saw her, I immediately understood the thread eyed boy’s motive…
Today is my first day serving my new mistress, Lady Isabella. She’s currently grilling some chicken in the backyard.
I stared at the lady’s golden fluffy hair as she hummed a song while she wait for the chicken to cook. I can’t help but smile seeing her so happy.
I looked around and saw the gardener drinking tea on a nearby flowerbed.
This might be the first time ever in my life that I am having such a peaceful time.
Hearing my twin sister’s daily hysterics added to my daily dose of stress but now that it’s gone… it’s quiet. For some reason I still feel uneasy.
“Is it time to put it in the oven?” the young lady broke my train of thought.
Danger. Danger. Everything is so peaceful and calming that it’s making me brace myself for the worse.
I continued to watch the lady grill the chicken.
For a second the roasted chicken looked perfectly cooked but it began to transform in to a sludge, only the burnt skewers remained intact.
“I’m sorry, Ann. I wanted to feed you some decent food.”
After the lady recovered from her shock, she immediately apologized to me.
Even the energetic young lady can’t hide her disappointment after producing a sludge five times in a row.
What if she’s a total failure in cooking? She is a duke’s daughter. Also, there’s no need to apologize to a servant like me.
Fu~fu~ the lady is still cute in her disheartened state.
She looks like a doll or a fairy, but to me, she mostly looks like a golden (chick) little bird with her golden fluffy hair and quick, short movements.
Although I find it cute, I don’t want to keep my cute little bird depressed so I comforted her.
“My lady doesn’t have to apologize. It’s delicious, so please be confident! It’s the only food in the world that has the ability to surprise everyone with its appearance and taste. I love the lady’s cooking!”
“R-r-really?” the lady is clearly anxious.
“When I become Ursch’s wife in the future, wouldn’t he hate me if my cooking is constantly a sludge of surprise?”
I would be happy, but I don’t think the young lady wants to hear that.
Based on my prediction, the thread eyed boy would be happy with whatever the young lady prepared.
“I think Master Ursch spends a lot of time making magic tools so the young lady’s cooking would be convenient since the food that you cook can be consumed immediately.”
“True… but if he finishes eating right away, his breaks will be reduced and his working hours will be longer. Ursch-kun already works so much.”
“Then why not ask Master Ursch to cook from time to time? It will be a great change of mood, the lady can set the table and prepare tea and spend time together.”
The young lady nodded and considered it.
Oh, wait a minute.
“My lady, can you make some tea?”
“Tea is okay. It can be brewed without any problems. Also, yeah… the juice made by squeezing the fruits is okay.”
I see, if it’s liquid, you can make it without problems, but if it’s a solid dish, it becomes sludge.
“Then how about a soup?”
“The soup melts while I’m mixing it and turns in to a sludge…”
The taste is good but you really can’t cook.. I wonder why?
We pondered over it for a bit, but I really can’t figure it out so I decided to eat the newly made sludge for the time being.
It’s my first time tasting something like this. The sludge is delicious but it doesn’t taste like roasted chicken with onions.
What is it? A mellow taste with a little salt. Is it seafood? I also taste butter and a little pepper.
As I contemplated, the young lady tasted her sludge and groaned.
“It tastes like butter-grilled mussels.”
If you ask me, I think it’s great to be able to bring out the flavor of a shellfish with chicken and onions, but the young lady looks disappointed.
Of all the food I’ve eaten in my past twelve years of life, the young lady’s sludge is the most delicious.
Conpared to what I’ve eaten so far, the difference is cloud and mud.
By the way, my lady’s cooking is the cloud although it looks muddy.
While I was at the Schneiver safe house, they fed me regularly. But I ultimately didn’t feel like eating because I found the thread eyed boy really creepy and my lady’s dish (sludge) tastes so much better.
I don’t ever recall eating anything delicious up until now.
I am trained by the Dark Guild to replace a noble daughter so I was constantly drilled in to raising my level.
Sometimes I was given sweets and decent food on a whim, but my twin sister, who was better than me, kept taking it away from me and I never got to taste it.
As my twin sister continued to take things from me, I couldn’t be positive about the role of robbing someone’s life.
Eventually, I couldn’t get into the training and fell out, and when I wasn’t as good as my twin sister, the treatment and my living environment became worse.
How long have you been treated like a princess, my sister, while I’m being scorned?
I didn’t want to be a changeling.
Growing up like a normal child, go to school, and get a normal job. I dreamed of such a life.
‘You don’t have to live a luxurious life because you’ll become an aristocratic daughter someday.’
I want to live a normal life without having anything to do with the Dark Guild.
So I have to thank my sister for taking something from me one last time.
You wanted to go back to the dark guild, to be treated like a princess, rather than having an honest job and living a normal life in a protected place.
The thread eyed boy coerced us to switch bodies.
When you replaced me and returned to the Dark Guild, did you think you would be warmly welcomed?
Didn’t they say it so many times?
Our ability changes to constant activation once it is activated, so once you have transferred, you will not be able to get out of the body.
You believed the lie he said, 'You two are identical twins, it’s like having the same body so it doesn’t really count.’
Our replacement ability is a one time use ability.
I was able to escape from the guild without doing anything by replacing my sister.
From now on, I will live the normal life I wanted with my sister’s body.
While being healed by my little bird, I will work as her personal maid.
I’m walking with Ursch on the crowded and noisy platform of the train station.
I decided to ask him a question I’ve been meaning to ask.
“Why did you ask Gijs and Allis to pretend to summon the Hell’s gate with me?”
“It’s a show for the people watching. I want them to think that casting Hell’s Gate became possible only because of the four of us. If people find out that you can summon it alone, they would surely covet Isabella and break our engagement.”
I didn’t think about that possibility. Summoning it alone would surely gain a lot of attention.
I thanked Ursch’s quick thinking.
Gijs is the son of the leader of the Magic Division, and Allis became known to have a strong magical talent and power because of her nonstop firing of bombing magic during the turmoil.
Ursch is partly famous as a genius alchemist who creates magic items for the Schneiver Company, and I’m mostly famous from the game of tag fiasco.
It was convincing that the four of us summoned the Hell’s Gate.
Furthermore, even if someone tries to find out how to summon it, they can’t just force the Duke’s daughter, Marquis’s daughter, the son of the Magic Division’s leader and the son of the Schneiver Company, who is a commoner but someone that you don’t want as an enemy.
It would be difficult to interview all four, unless you are royalty.
The royal family is aware of this but they are also concealing Chris’s skills and I am also a daughter of a former princess (technically a royal) so they don’t ask me anything.
“By the way, I heard that you refused a marriage proposal from the Queen’s maiden family, The Lambert family.”
Thankfully, the queen was not displeased with my rejection.
The queen laughed lightly when I refused on the spot. “I thought so. I told them that you will refuse since you are already happily affianced but they still insist that I ask.”
Today, I came to secretly say goodbye to “someone”.
Actually, I shouldn’t go to see him off, but I really wanted to see him, so I asked Ursch to take me.
Look from a distance and never call out. That was the condition my mother gave me for them to allow me.
I watched him board the train at a distance with Ursch.
Ursch stoked my back, I felt sad that I may never see him again.
When we discovered that Lucy-oneesama was involved in the Colors Collector Case, the first thing that came to mind is Trevor-oniisama.
He wouldn’t be the brother that I know and love if he didn’t make this decision.
Amidst the dread that I felt with what waits for him, I understood my oldest brother. I would have done the same thing if it means that I can be with Ursch. I comforted myself in thinking that I know he’ll be happy…
When he boarded the train and disappeared from our view, I cried to Ursch’s chest.
Ursch put his hand on my back and hugged me tightly until I settled down.
Stay safe, Trevor-oniisama.
Please come back safe and sound.
I couldn’t come to see you off, but father, mother, and Daemon-oniisama are hoping that you will come back safely.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Lucy, the former daughter of the head of Magical Division, was detained in the train.
She is being sent to Count Lambert’s territory.
It has been confirmed that the largest dungeon in the Roserial Kingdom, “Zelvandam”, has up to 45 layers three years ago.
Because of her involvement with the Colors Collector Case, she will be sent out as a reinforcement in the most dangerous parts of the 45th level of the dungeon for five years.
Her dungeon survival rate is estimated to be 25% in the first year and 7% in the second year.
Lucy is supposed to be executed but because of Chris’s “Oath Magic”, it was proved that the only crimes she was guilty of is the kidnapping and attempted murder of Gijs and Isabella. Both of them did not sue.
If she can survive the dungeon, she’ll be free in five years.
Lucy’s sentence was considered a community service but going to the 45th layer of the dungeon is no different from a de facto death penalty.
The odds of surviving and returning after five years were hopeless.
A long haired man sat beside Lucy who was restrained and waiting for the train to depart.
Lucy’s eyes widened in surprise “No way… Trevor? Why? Why are you here?”
“Do you really think I’ll let my precious fiancee travel alone? I can only provide assistance and support, but I can almost make anything on the spot.”
“I was disowned by the Toland family. Our engagement has already been dissolved. You’re the eldest son of the Duke, there’s no reason for you to dive into the dungeon with me.”
Trevor shakes his head in disagreement.
“I don’t remember breaking our engagement. Besides, I was disowned like you. Lucy, after five years, after our dungeon adventure, I’d like to marry you in a cute little church. I can’t give you the Marquis title that you wanted, but I’m confident that I can give you a lot of love… so will you marry me?”
“You are really stupid. … Really an idiot that can’t be saved…”
Lucy nods many times, crying and rubs her forehead against Trevor’s chest.
Trevor hugged her head, crying and muttered how stupid Lucy was as she cried.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
I eventually let go of Ursch when I calmed down.
“There are rare items being imported around the station, would you like to see them before I take you home?”
Ursch asked me on a date right? KYAAAAAAA~ So happy! “I would be happy to do that!!!”
I pushed all the sad thoughts at the back of my mind.
It is no exaggeration to say that my happiness lies in the days I spend with Ursch.
Fandom: The Villainess Wants To Marry A Commoner!!!
