The Dead Villainess Had A Child With The Male Lead

Chapter 43 I Thought You Said You Had A Child?

“So, you’re a normal person with no magic, but you have a great magical imagination?”

“I’m … It just happened to be that way.”

“Can you tell me how you first came up with the moving staircase?”

“That’s…”

The nervousness that had been eating away at her mind slowly faded as Killion’s next question was asked.

‘So Killion was just interested in the tool, just curious about it… just curious… But he was also the one who ordered the construction.’

Veronia was relieved that she’d managed to hide her identity perfectly. She felt like she had finally shed her ‘princess’ shell.

“I always liked to daydream,” she says, “and when I was feeling low on energy and there were a lot of stairs to climb, I would get lost in my thoughts, so I imagined it. I imagined a staircase that moved on its own.”

She couldn’t tell him that she had invented the escalators that were so common in her previous life, so she answered with a little truth and a lot of exaggeration.

After a few more questions from Killion, they reached the carriage house.

“You may climb in first.”

“Yes, Your Excellency, and we shall be on our way.”

Veronia bowed her head in acknowledgement and climbed into the carriage. Finally, the door closed and the carriage began to move.

‘I made it! I didn’t get caught!’

She breathed out a huge sigh. She was so happy that she was almost in tears.

Veronia stroked her still heaving chest. Her fingertips were trembling.

She could feel her shriveled heart regain its shape, and her cold hands and feet felt warm as the blood rushed back into them.

‘So, so it is, you didn’t recognized me!’

Veronia drew in a deep breath. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she blinked.

“Hmphhh… hmphh…”

The sobs intensified. Something must have malfunctioned somewhere in her tear system, because her panicked chest calmed down instantly.

And so Veronia sobbed until she reached home.

***

Veronia didn’t know how she got home. She woke up to find herself at home.

Luisa and Hugo were worried when they saw her red and puffy eyes.

“It’s just that I’ve been working overtime,” she said, “and I’ve been working on the staircase in the palace, and I think I was a little nervous.”

Veronia smiled as if it was no big deal. But even her smile looked weak and wistful.

“Should I get you something to eat, maybe some soup to make it easier?”

“Just soup, then, nothing else.”

“Okay, just soup. I’ll make it and bring it to you when you get upstairs and wash up.”

“Don’t worry about Jediel. He’s already asleep from all the running around he did today.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

As exhausted as she was, she knew one thing for sure.

This was her home, her real home, and its warmth was what had kept her alive all these years.

Upstairs, Veronia went straight to the bathroom and removed her piercings for the first time in a long time.

Her hair changed from silver to gold, her eyes from green to red.

The burn marks and tattoos quickly faded away.

Her face reflected in the mirror, the one she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Veronia.”

Veronia, not Nia, she said, using her real name.

“You were nervous, weren’t you? You were worried, but it’s all right now. You’ve done well. You’ve made it, Veronia.”

In the end, Killion didn’t recognise her. That would not change, even if they were to meet in the future.

As long as she wore this piercing, made from a magic stone.

‘I never thought I’d see Killion again like this…’

She only saw him briefly, but he hadn’t changed. His beautiful face, soft voice, and fresh scent were all the same.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought of him.

‘You’re crazy, you’re crazy.’

She should have been freaking out and trying to catch her breath, but for some reason she felt a little excited.

A self-deprecating smile tugged at the corners of Veronia’s mouth. She felt so pathetic and stupid.

She slipped the piercing back into her ear.

Veronia’s beautiful face disappeared, replaced by Nia’s dark, scarred face.

‘I shouldn’t even see Killion again, but even if I did, he’s completely irrelevant now, just a man.’

She said firmly, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

“So you have to remember that, Nia.”

***

Meanwhile, Killion stared blankly at the carriage carrying Veronia as it drove away.

Ignoring the carriage waiting for him beside him, he continued to stand in the same spot until the running carriage was completely out of sight.

“Huh…”

A sigh of anguish escaped him, and he ran his hands down his face.

‘Your Highness… is alive after all, I knew it, I knew you were, I knew you were!’

He gritted his teeth to keep from bursting into tears.

Killion recognized Veronia as soon as he saw her. It was a piercing made from the magic stone.

Five years ago, after a failed attempt to chase after the silver-haired woman who had won the prize at the Princess memorial service, she had this piercing custom-made.

If Veronia were still alive, he surmised, she would have used magic to change her form.

When he wore the piercing, he could see her original, magically transformed form.

So when he looked at Veronia, he could see her true face. The magically altered form was only a faint afterimage.

‘You can’t pretend to know her.’

He knew Veronia the moment he saw her. The moment he recognized her, she would run away again.

‘She has run away, even faking her death. She’s a woman who’s abandoned one life for another.’

Surely she had a reason for doing so, a reason that should be at the forefront of her mind.

He was happy to see Veronia alive again. But he was sad that he couldn’t reach her.

He was happy to see the face he had missed so much. But it broke his heart to see that her real face was hidden by magic.

He hoped desperately that she was still alive somewhere. He had a faint conviction that she was.

He told himself, as well as everyone else, that he was crazy.

He had to hold back his hands from wanting to hold her hand, his body from wanting to hug her, his mouth from wanting to call her by her real name.

He had to hold it all in.

“Ugh… hmphh… Huhuu…!”

He finally climbed into the carriage and let his sobs pour out. Thump, thump, thump, his heart was racing like crazy.

He had finally found her.

He had found her after all these years of searching.

‘Now I can’t lose her again!’

Killion vowed through clenched teeth. But he didn’t know how to keep her with him.

‘I can’t even keep her shackled and locked away…’

The tears had already stopped. Now was not the time for tears.

Instead, she had to think hard and figure out a way.

A way to not lose Veronia, a way to keep her by his side for the rest of his life.

‘I’ll call him.’

Killion’s damp eyes flashed sharply for a moment.

***

Killion’s office in the Duke’s Residence. Killion sits alone at his desk, looking nervous.

He was waiting for a guild member from the Intelligence Guild.

He was going to ask them to find out about a woman named Nia from the Matap Institute. Where she lives, who she lives with, and so on.

But was it a good idea…? Killion had a sudden suspicion that it might not be such a good plan.

Five years ago, Veronia had slipped out of the palace without anyone knowing, and she’d faked her death with great care. And she seemed to be adjusting quite well to her new life.

She has a cushy job at the Matap Institute.

‘She couldn’t have planned all this on her own, she must have had helpers, like the … Information Guild?’

It was risky to ask a man who was about to show up on her doorstep to do her background checks when he didn’t know what kind of information guild it was.

‘If she found out I knew her identity, she’d probably try to run away again.’

That had to be stopped. If she was lost this time, she would never be found again.

‘So no one can know that I know her real identity. Not even me…!’

To do this, he first had to reduce the number of times he dropped an honourific in front of Veronia. 

But it wasn’t easy, as the habits of dealing with the Princess were ingrained in him. Even when he consciously tried to be condescending, it was still awkward and didn’t come out right.

‘Still, if I don’t want to arouse suspicion, I’ll have to try to get used not to being deferential.’

Killion was just steeling his resolve when the cloaked man stood before his desk.

“You called for me.”

“Yes. I was afraid I couldn’t.”

“Go ahead.”

“I think we should broaden our search. I want you to send investigators to our bordering countries.”

The masked man’s eyes wavered for a moment, but then settled back into place.

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s it. I think you should go.”

“Yes, sir.”

The cloaked man bowed curtly and disappeared into the shadows.

Alone, Killion headed straight for the terrace. There were so many things he wanted to say to his brother.

“Brother, I was right, I was right…! The Princess is alive, I met her today…”

Killion spoke low, looking up at the starry night sky. His excitement was evident in his voice.

“I guess it’s all because of you… because you believed in me and helped me… because you’ve always been there for me!”

Desperate longing drifted through his voice and into the air. Killion begged desperately.

“Brother, help me not lose her again. Help me do right by her, please.”

The stars seemed to shine unusually bright tonight.

It was time to leave the terrace. Suddenly, he remembered something important that he had forgotten.

“Come to think of it,” He thought, ‘didn’t you say… that you had a child, and that you had to get back to work quickly…? Did I hear you right?’