The Dead Villainess Had A Child With The Male Lead

Chapter 33 Wrong Original

“Haaam…”

Jediel yawned, escaping his tiny mouth.

“Are you sleepy? Do you want me to stop reading now?”

“But… Can’t you keep reading?”

“If you’re sleepy, you should go to sleep.”

“Because that’s how you grow taller?”

“Yes. That’s right, my Jediel, you’re smart.”

Veronia closed the book she was reading and patted Jediel’s chest gently. The child asked, still half asleep.

“When will Mummy’s new children’s book come out?”

“I’m still working on the first draft, so it’ll be a while, but I think it’ll be ready by your fifth birthday?”

“Then it won’t be long…”

“Yeah, right.”

Jediel didn’t hear the last of Veronia’s reply. A small, soft breath echoed quietly.

“Good night, my dear.”

Veronia kissed Jediel’s forehead, lightly, and then walked softly out of the room.

Veronia made her way to the first floor, hoping to find some hot herbal tea. The kitchen was already wafting with the scent of herbal tea.

“Grandmother?”

“You’re just in time. I made some for you as I took mine.”

“Thank you.”

Veronia immediately took a sip of the fenugreek tea. It was made from the same ingredients, but strangely enough, her grandmother’s tasted better.

“I know you’ve had a lot of colds lately, so I’ve been working overtime today. I’ll take you to Jediel kindergarten tomorrow morning, so you can sleep in.”

“Wow, I survived! Thank you, Grandma.”

“Don’t stay up too late reading the newspaper again. Okay?”

“Yes, I will. Good night.”

“Okay. Good night, too.”

Hearing Luisa’s worried nagging made Veronica’s day.

Somehow, she felt like she understood a little bit about the psychology of people who deliberately acted out for attention.

Returning to her bedroom with a steaming mug of tea, Veronia immediately opened the newspaper.

It was an important part of her daily routine to read all kinds of newspapers whenever she had a spare moment, morning and evening.

‘Everything is different because of me, because you never know when or where something strange will pop up…’

The events of the original story have all changed since the day Veronia escaped from the imperial palace.

In the original, the death of the Princess led to a rebellion and the fall of the existing imperial family. All of the immediate imperial family were executed and Killion was crowned Emperor.

In this twisted version, there was no rebellion, and of course, the imperial family is still intact.

Killion had inherited the dukedom four years earlier, when the previous duke had died of illness. He was recognised for his peaceful handling of the civil unrest in the south.

Under Killion’s leadership, the empire had never been more peaceful, with policies that favored the well-being and welfare of the people.

Even today, the front pages of the newspapers were filled with stories about Killion.

It marked the beginning of a policy that would limit the number of hours workers could work, and ensure that they were paid for any extra labor.

“Still cool.”

Veronia smiled as she ran her hand over his portrait in the newspaper. She was just glad to be able to keep up with him, even if only in print.

It seemed that the fandom she had developed in her previous life by reading the original novel was now being nurtured by reading the article.

A wistful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

***

Late at night, Killion’s office.

Killion is alone with a masked man.

“This is Crystal, who came to the Sutter Province three years ago.”

The man placed a fist-sized video stone on his desk. The stone slowly began to spin, showing a woman answering questions.

She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties, with a thin build.

Killion watched the woman’s image intently, then shook his head.

“No, that’s not her voice.”

“Yes.”

Sana pulled out the next video stone.

“This is Joyce, who came to Latoraka three and a half years ago.”

Once again, a thin woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties was shown speaking, but Killion sighed.

“She doesn’t speak at all.”

The scene repeated a few times. Each time Killion shook his head, the masked man would pull out a new video stone, and Killion would shake his head again.

“Not this one.”

“She’s the last one this month.”

“Already? …Yes. I see. Then I’ll look forward to next month.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sana gathered up the video crystal and headed out the door. Alone, Killion poured himself a whiskey in a clear glass and walked out onto the terrace.

It was dark outside, and the stars were shining brightly in the night sky. He took a sip of his whiskey, looked up at the sky, and spoke quietly.

“Is that what you think, too? That I’m crazy for still looking for her?”

He laughed.

It had been five years since the princess’s funeral, and Killion still couldn’t give up on Veronia.

At times, he felt terribly ashamed of himself, as if he were crazy to even think about it.

Killion shook his head again. It was a mistake, but he couldn’t help it.

“Yeah… You’ll tell me it’s not. Because even if the whole world says I’m crazy, even if I say I’m crazy, … would never say that.”

Hoo-hoo-hoo, he laughed happily and poured the rest of the whisky in the glass into his mouth.

“…Thanks, big brother, and…”

His eyes moistened as he looked up at the night sky.

“And… help me with this incompetent brother. Help me find her… Help me, big brother.”

The droplets of water at the corners of his eyes glistened in the moonlight.

***

Inside a small examination room. A girl about Jediel’s age sat in front of Veronia in a white gown.

“My little one, what is ailing you?”

“I’ve been running a fever since last night, and my cough has gotten worse.”

Veronia’s standing next to her, replied.

“A fever and a cough… That must be really hard.”

Veronia removed her gloves and ran her hands over the child’s forehead and neck. A faint glow emanated from her hands, and soon the child’s expression relaxed.

“Wow, that’s amazing! I feel better now.”

“It’s not all better yet. You need to go home and eat well and take your medicine for a few days before you feel completely better. Do you understand?”

“Yes, healer. Thank you!”

The child jumped to her feet and looked like she was about to run away. Her mother’s eyes widened in surprise at the rapid change in her condition.

“We’ve come a long way from what we’ve heard about your skills, but we didn’t expect this.”

 “Healer, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately, and I’ve been feeling bloated, so I was wondering if you could take a look at me.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, but my healing powers only work on young children.”

The child’s mother left the examination room with a sigh. As Veronia put her gloves back on, she remembered the voice she had heard in her dream five years ago.

‘I know it must be hard to lose your life, but I think you’ll need this gift, my little favor. I hope you will find it useful, my child.’

The heavenly gift of life, of a stable life with Jediel, was healing powers.

When Veronia realized that her healing powers had come at the same time as her pregnancy, she went to see Marco, the village healer.

He had been a healing priest in the temple for many years, but after retirement, he left the temple to run a small clinic.

Over the past five years, she’s been running experiments with him, and they discovered that Veronia’s healing powers grow at the same rate as Jediel’s growth.

When Jediel was one year old, she could only heal children up to about one year old, and when he was two years old, she could only heal children up to about two years old.

He saw all kinds of healers, but he had never seen one like this before.

Marco looked at Veronia with a twinkle in his eye, and Veronia began working as a healer under Marco.

Each healer had their specialities and their weaknesses.

In Veronia’s case, there was a limit to the age of the patient, but within that limit, she could heal any illness, no matter how dire.

And it didn’t cost her any holy power.

Other healers were limited to the number of patients they could heal per day by their divine power, but Veronia had no such limit.

She could only run out of stamina or time, not divine power.

‘The bigger Jediel gets, Veronia, the better healer you’ll become!’

Marco looked at Veronia with a smirk on his face. Every time he said something like this, Veronia felt a little nervous.

It didn’t feel like her own, as if she hadn’t worked hard for it, but rather something that came naturally with having Jediel.

Being praised for abilities that weren’t hers made her feel uncomfortable.

“Next patient in!”

She heard her assistant Megan shout from outside. Veronia immediately shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“Yes, please come in.”

The door to the examination room opened and in walked another patient, this time a baby of about a year old in her grandmother’s arms.

 ***

Veronia had one more job, she was a member of the Planning Advisory Council of Matap. So this morning, she left the doctor’s office after her morning appointment.

‘I’m late. We’d better hurry!’

Veronia jumped on her horse. Her workplace, the capital branch of the Matap, was just outside the capital, a half-hour’s ride away.

When she was offered a job at the Matap, she initially declined, as she had no horse. She didn’t like the idea of commuting to the capital several times a week.

She also didn’t want to interact with the nobles who traveled to the tower from the tower.

But the benefits of working at the Matap were too good to pass up. She was able to send his children to the Imperial Normal Academy.