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Episode 17: The Villainess Returns (XVI)
Grandpa looked at me and asked.
“
How did you think of saving Hou? How did you know he is here?”
“Yesterday, I came to the ducal residence after a long time, and saw him by chance while passing by the garden.”
I answered truthfully, grabbing the last remaining candy.
“Actually, Hou and I have nothing to do with each other. We’re not close at all.”
<Oh, that’s true, but it hurts a bit.>
Hou interjected sullenly, jutting out his beak.
<When you said you’ll save me
 I was so touched.>
I ignored Hou’s words and confidently met Grandpa’s gaze.
“But he is precious to my grandfather. So I thought of saving him.”
Grandpa’s pupils shook at my words. Certainly, it seemed saving his summoned beast had a tremendous effect.
There was an awkward atmosphere for a while.
And as if he couldn’t stand it, Joshua intervened.
“But what’s all this?”
He kicked the empty bottles and candy wrappers I had earlier while calculating.
“Why do you drink so much coffee?”
“It’s a habit.”
I yawned carelessly and stretched.
“I need a little caffeine and sugar when I use my brain
 What’s wrong with this much?”
At that moment. Joshua and Grandpa exchanged glances.
Huh? What’s wrong?
“Kiana.”
Grandpa spoke in a solemn voice.
“Let’s talk about something else for a while.”
“Yes? How long are you going to express your gratitude? If it goes beyond 30 minutes, I think it will be difficult no matter how sincere you are
”
“No, it’s another matter.”
Where did the moved expression from earlier go? Grandpa’s face hardened again.
Grandpa nodded at the spy maid, who now openly brought one of her reports to him.
Glancing at the report, Grandpa frowned deeply.
“Look at it with your own eyes.”
What. What did I do wrong? No matter how I thought about it, I hadn’t done anything seriously wrong.
When I received the report, Joshua stuck out his neck and read it together.
What Grandpa handed me was my lifestyle today, as observed by the spy maid.
It’s not long, so I read it quickly.
Joshua and I reacted simultaneously.
“Why is this
?”
“Are you crazy
?”
Silence flowed again in the conflicting responses.
No, but I really couldn’t figure out why this was such a problem.
As I blinked in confusion, the spy maid lowered her head and whispered quickly.
“Until now, the Princess hasn’t taken a proper meal. By the way, the amount of coffee is a little
”
“What about it?”
“The amount of coffee and candy you consumed while healing Hou earlier is truly staggering
”
“But if I get heartburn, I can take stomach medicine, right?”
When I replied casually, Joshua asked in a frightened voice.
“Did you live like this at the academy?”
“Ugh, what are you talking about? If I live like this, I will be in big trouble.”
I waved my hand and continued indifferently.
“If I just sleep and walk around like today, when will I write my thesis? Do you think papers come out in an instant?”
It was a very normal answer, but for a moment, surprise passed over the faces of Grandpa, Joshua, and the spy maid.
Joshua exclaimed with his eyes wide.
“Hey! Then, you
 How did you live at the academy?”
Since he asked, I answered.
“Um, did you see my hurried calculation next to Hou earlier?”
I explained in a light tone.
“I think I spent about 16 hours a day like that in the lab. If I’m too full, I’ll become sleepy, so I eat as little as possible.”
Suddenly, a snap was heard.
<Seukali!>
Grandpa staggered with a face of disbelief, leaning against Hou’s body.
“Gee, now
 what
”
Well, if they didn’t understand, I should explain again.
“Publishing a thesis is much more difficult than this, so I just stayed in the lab without sleep or food.”
What’s the big deal about that? I explained in detail.
“While pouring candy, coffee, and stomach medicine like this all day long.”
With a loud thump, Grandpa sank to his knees.
─➜⊰
The ducal mansion was almost turned upside down.
No one could have imagined that Kiana, who had been sent to the academy six years ago, did not eat or sleep and lived as a thesis writing machine.
However, Kiana was calm.
“That’s the way it Is. I did it because I like it? I like magic engineering. And the people at the academy really like it when I do research like this.”
“That!”
Seukali shouted in a voice that seemed to vomit blood.
“It means they don’t care about you!”
Joshua also shouted like he was dumbfounded.
“You lived like that for six years? You aren’t tall because you didn’t sleep at night! You’re skinny because you didn’t eat properly! You’re so pale because you haven’t seen the sunlight!”
Kiana calmly replied to the agitated Joshua and Seukali.
“I told you. I didn’t have time. The academy performance announcement is once every half year, so time is tight to meet the target amount.”
“Can you fulfill that target by yourself?”
“Mhm.”
Kiana answered confidently.
“No one has as many ideas and implements them as well as I do. And again, I did it because I liked it.”
“But
”
“Because I did that, the dean and professors were all desperate for me, they say ‘Please stay, this is where you should be’.”
A feeling of emptiness flashed in Kiana’s relaxed eyes.
“If I want to belong properly, I have to qualify first. It was unavoidable.”
“What?”
“And I had to finish my thesis quickly to become a professor.”
Joshua was very upset, while Kiana was very unconcerned. She was strangely using the past tense, but no one noticed.
“That way I could be an actual member of the academy
 After all, being a student means being a vagabond.”
Seukali was staring blankly at Joshua and Kiana, as if he was dreaming. And she muttered blankly.
“Did I
 What did I miss, Kiana?”
He knew that Kiana would distance herself from the family at some point. The young Kiana, who was busy hiding in her own room whenever he took a step closer, was vivid in his memory.
“Until you become like that
 I must have missed something
”
But was it to the extent that she had to stay at the academy and receive such treatment?
Obviously, no one at the ducal residence would have treated Kiana carelessly.
‘What should I have done
 How
?’
In fact, holding on to the title at this age was too much for Seukali.
His eldest son, who was the heir, hadn’t shown his face for a long time. His grandchildren became less trustworthy as they grew up.
Alex was strong, but he was a nutcase and couldn’t be the family head.
Joshua was too fond of money and gossip even for a member of the nobility.
Kiana had been gloomy since childhood, her interpersonal relationships were poor and had confined herself to her room most of the time.
Melissa was weak and behaved ambiguously, causing controversy among the young lords.
Seukali had to work harder to make sure that even if any of those messed up grandchildren inherited the family, they could survive for at least two generations.
‘I should have paid more attention in the meantime
 I wasn’t good enough.’
It was then.
“Wait a minute, Kiana.”
Joshua hesitated, then narrowed his eyes as if he had found something to say again. Now, he remembered his original reason for coming to the ducal residence.
“What the hell is that professor position for you, that you abandoned your family and ruined yourself?”
He brushed his hair in a slightly exaggerated manner as if to express it was unfair.
“Since you went to the academy, you haven’t been back here for six years, and we weren’t even able to attend your graduation.”
At those words, the face of Kiana, which had only been unconcerned, changed.
“What? That’s
 What are you talking about?”
Joshua sighed and continued.
“Then one day, you suddenly appeared in the empire, and although we just said we’re happy with that
 Did you stop your family from visiting the academy just to be treated like that?”
With a stunned face, Kiana’s mouth dropped open.
Joshua must have thought it was time, so he fired away.
“Ignoring all the letters. Even when I sent 10 letters in a month, you replied roughly and insincerely once every three months, didn’t you? We were so worried that we even asked the professors!”
Kiana frowned. Then she replied in a somewhat shocked voice.
“
I replied to every letter I received from the ducal residence. It seems to come once every three months. What do you mean
 10 a month?”
The regretful eyes of Seukali, which appeared to be retracing his life, flashed.
Kiana gasped for breath, then she added hastily.
“And, the graduation ceremony? Didn’t everyone just ignore my letter of invitation to my first thesis presentation after the graduation ceremony?”
A moment of silence passed.
Eventually, Hou muttered lowly.
<Someone stole the letter in the middle!>
It was a neat arrangement.
<They see through the true nature of the ridiculous family who doesn’t even think about solving misunderstandings, simply saying, ‘Well, it’s like that’, even if the letter doesn’t come.>
Ame: Little old me thinks Kiana should go back to the academy and clean them out of equipment