The Dead Villainess Had A Child With The Male Lead

Chapter 34 Matap Institute 

Commoners had few opportunities for education, but the children of commoners who worked in state establishments such as the imperial palace or the pagoda were different.

They were given the opportunity to be educated at the Imperial Normal Academy for free until adulthood.

It was an offer no parent could refuse, and Veronia was one such parent.

‘I’m so lucky!’

Veronia counted herself lucky, even as she was busy riding her horse with no time to eat.

There was a children’s book she had written when she was pregnant with Jediel.

It was a gift for her precious child, but also a hobby to keep her mind and body occupied, and it featured a little wizard. 

She thought, ‘Oh, this is good, it’s too good to be left to rot. Why don’t we publish it as a real children’s book? ‘

One day, Onyx saw the book on his shelf and put him in touch with a publisher.

The first book became quite popular, and she published five in a row. 

Veronia thought she was just lucky. The Empire was not yet a place where children were respected as cultural bearers. 

There were not enough cultural or educational facilities for children, let alone in the placenta.

Therefore, there were no children’s books other than traditional fairy tales, and Veronia’s original fairy tales broke new ground.

However, despite its popularity, the book did not bring in much money. This was due to the fact that they were aimed at children, so the price was too low, and there were few people who bought them.

In addition, the concept of copyright was not well established, and although many people took the stories and turned them into plays or readings, these activities did not lead to income for Veronia.

Apart from feeling good about the popularity of her fairy tales, she was also disappointed that she was not being rewarded financially.

Just when she was feeling down, she was offered a job at the tower. 

‘I’ve always been fascinated by all the magical concepts in children’s books, and we’re going to be focusing our efforts on developing magical tools for everyday use. The age of war is over, and it’s time for peace, isn’t it?’

The Matap employee who visited Veronia spoke with a twinkle in his eye and a more fervent tone in his voice.

 ‘I think you could be of great help to us as an advisor to Matap. Would you be interested in joining us to help make this world a more convenient and enjoyable place to live? Please consider it. ‘

At first, Veronia thought about declining, but the educational opportunities Jedielah would receive made her change her mind, and so Veronia embarked on a life as both a healer and a Matap advisor. 

And these days, she was quite content. The income was quite salty. 

* * * 

Meeting time. 

Veronia reported on the results of the polygraph she had been working on for the past six months. 

“This is an improvement on the polygraph I developed last year. We’ve made it more resistant to magic, so that even a wizard or someone with a wand can’t escape it. The experiments have been quite successful, and I’ll let you look at the data for the numbers.”

Smiles of satisfaction crossed the faces of the officers as they flicked through the data. By the time the meeting was over, Veronia was completely exhausted. 

‘At least I’m off work! ‘

Veronia dragged her exhausted body out of the lab. Picking up Jediel after work was the most enjoyable part of her day. 

But when she arrived at the kindergarten attached to the Imperial Normal Academy, she was greeted by a puzzled-looking teacher.

“Huh? Jediel was taken away by a man earlier?” 

“What? Who was that, and what did he look like?”

Veronia’s heart sank at the teacher’s words. 

She was so surprised and bewildered that her head was spinning. 

“He was very close to Jediel, too. He was tall and red-haired and… Oh, there he is.”

She looked where the teacher was pointing, and there was Jediel, riding back on Onyx’s horse, laughing hysterically.

Veronia ran straight to them.

“Mum!”

“Nia!” 

Jediel and Onyx greeted her with smiles, unaware of Veronia’s distress. Veronia immediately turned her ax-eyes on Onyx. 

“What is it? You can’t just take Jediel away like that, you scared me!” 

“Mum, don’t be angry. I asked him to buy me candy.”

But it was Jediel, not Onyx, who reacted to Veronia’s axe-eye. Onyx, on the other hand, merely shrugged her shoulders and cheerfully replied.

“What’s the big deal, I was going to be in the neighborhood and it was just in time so I could see his face and buy him some candy.”

“No, but…!”

Veronia was about to add more nagging, but Onyx beat her to it, using Jediel as a shield.

“Didn’t you like seeing your face, Jediel? Did you like it when he bought you candy?”

“Yes! I liked it very much!”

“Jediel, come down here.”

 Veronia gently picked up Jediel, who was sitting on Onyx’s shoulder, and pulled him down. The bulge in his trouser pockets showed that he had bought a lot of candy.

“I thought you said you could only have one candy a day?”

“Yes. I can never have more than one candy a day, I promise.”

She could no longer keep her ax-eye on Jediel as he grinned and stuck out his pinky finger. 

Veronia’s eyes curved upwards into a smile. 

“Yes. Promise.” 

She smirked as she hooked her finger around the child’s tiny pinky.

The three of them climbed into the carriage together. They had to stop at the market to get some groceries before returning home.

“Grandma, Grandpa is waiting for us, so let’s go.” 

“Yes, yes, let’s go!” 

Veronia took the reins and was just about to start the carriage when a carriage drove up from the opposite direction, the lion crest on the door clearly visible. 

‘The carriage of the Duke of Drea! ‘

Veronia’s face instantly stiffened. Panicked, she pressed her robes deeper into her already tight robe. 

Onyx’s sharp gaze swept over Veronia’s expression. 

“Are you alright? Should I know?” 

“I’m fine.” 

Veronia started to drive the carriage. She was already in no mood for grocery shopping. 

‘But it’s too late to just turn back.’

Veronia glanced at Jediel, who sat beside her. The child was laughing hysterically, his mouth gaping wide open. 

Jediel loved going to the market, especially with Onyx. 

“Mr Onyx, I can buy everything I want to buy today, can’t I?” 

“Yes, that’s right.”

Onyx patted the child’s head and smiled wryly at Jediel’s affection. Veronia, who relaxed a little at the sight, cut in. 

“Only one, and in half an hour. We can’t keep Grandma and Grandpa waiting that long, can we?”

“Yes…” 

Jediel replied with a grimace. 

Veronia was worried that Jediel was following Onyx so closely. It was because of the secret of Onyx’s birth.

‘Even if the original story was altered, the fact that he is of the Empress’s blood is still true, and someone will find out one day. ‘

So it made sense to disassociate and distance himself from Onyx, but it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy, because Jedielah often sought her out, and she often hovered around them. 

Right now, everything was so perfect, so happy.

But there was always that nagging feeling in Veronia’s throat that if the smallest, most insignificant thing went wrong, everything would come crashing down.

That anxiety was especially acute today, when she ran into the Duke of Drea’s carriage.

***

Killion stepped out of his carriage and walked down a market alley. 

He had been informed that his former comrades in the United Knights were gathering in a tavern after a long absence. 

‘I must have been here somewhere…’

It’s been so long that he’s lost his bearings, so he wanders up and down the alleyways.

Bam.

A small child in the group in front of me dropped something. It was a candy that rolled down the street in front of Killion.

Killion immediately bent down and picked it up.

“Oh, my candy…”

The kid turned around and looked at him, confused. He had to hand the candy back to Killion, but he already had a bunch of other candies in his hand.

The mum next to her held out her hand on behalf of the embarrassed child.

“Thank you.”

Her robe was pulled tightly over her face, so Killion couldn’t see her face. Nor could Veronia, who had her head bowed low, see his face.

But Onyx’s eyes saw it all.

As he watched the hands of Killion and Veronia, once betrothed, grow closer, he panicked.

‘They can’t be together! ‘

Onyx quickly stretched out his arms. By a narrow margin, he was faster than Veronia.

Onyx took the candy in return and waved to Killion.

“Ahhh, thank you. Jediel, you should come over here and say thank you too, come on.”

Onyx’s words stuttered out, and Jediel bowed low.

“Thank you for saving my candy!”

But when he turned to face the child, Killion was puzzled.

The child looked so much like his brother Aaron from the portraits he’d seen as a child, with his flowing blond hair, large, round blue eyes, and small nose and lips.

‘…’ 

When there was no response to his thanks, the child cocked his head and looked at Killion, and Veronia looked up as well.

She recognised Killion instantly and gasped.

She was so surprised that all the blood in her body seemed to evaporate into the air.