Chapter 63
“Bella?”
Duke Bell was the first to respond to his daughter’s voice.
[Are you really a direct descendant?]
“O-Of course not!”
Bella’s face hardened coldly as she shook her hand.
Could she be possessed by a ghost?
It was an unbelievable situation for her, but the voice she heard now was actually the same as what Bella had said to Billishia.
“Why would I say that! I’ve been quiet since before!”
Bella hurriedly waved her hands and explained.
It was a completely different look from the one when she had concluded earlier that it wasn’t hurtful because it was ‘comfort’.
However.
[Are you not? If you perhaps aren’t a direct descendant… gasp. Then, shall I check with you? The two of us could have changed!]
Bella’s recorded voice made her complexion pale.
“What?”
It was Cassis who responded this time to the absurd words.
Scary eyes were on her.
Bella quickly turned away and looked around and found something.
‘A-A cat doll?’
It was a doll who recorded her words.
‘I think Billishia dropped it when she erupted Magi, so how is it here?’
Not far away, a conversation echoed in the stomach of an abandoned doll.
[Be quiet.]
Even this time, let’s continue with Billishia’s calmly warning answer.
“…Wait a minute. Princess Billlishia’s voice…”
“I know.”
Cassis hardened his face as if he had understood the situation to some extent.
“…Then, did she ask Dust if she was a direct descendant?”
“Who? That collateral thing?”
Even Kai and Bian, who were looking at Billie on their knees, stood up.
All eyes were on Bella.
This time, it wasn’t the gaze asking for an explanation of the situation.
Talking about bloodline from a collateral towards a direct descendant was controversial enough even for the head of a family.
But if it was a lady of the collateral line saying it sarcastically.
‘It’s ruined.’
Bella then realized that her own words and actions, wrapped up in her rationalization, were wrong.
‘No, that’s nonsense. First, the doll…’
“Kyaaak!”
“B-Bella!”
It was then.
Bella, who was about to snatch the doll, was lightly pushed away.
Duke Bell, who was hastily helping Bella, also paused and took a breath.
“…Cough, cough!”
Pressure on the lungs.
Duke Bell let out a cough at the aura that seemed to weigh heavily on his shoulders and neck.
It was Magi.
“Y-You.”
“Don’t touch it. It’s a direct descendant’s object.”
Cassis warned.
However, his eyes were still on the recorded cat doll.
[Anyway, His Grace will be in big trouble.]
And what follows is about him.
“…?”
As the point of the conversation became more and more strange, Cassis, who had tilted his head in perplexity, stared at Bella.
“!”
Bella stiffened all over her body.
It was a fleeting look, but it was a terrifying look as if she had been hit by an arrow.
[Honestly, you know too that you have a scary personality. You must have been loved because of your lineage, but if it turns out that you’re not…]
[I told you to be quiet.]
[You’re a child who’s difficult to love.]
Back then, the quality of her voice was not good.
[Why are you running, crackleㅡYou have to listen to me, crackleㅡ]
[Crack, crackleㅡ]
There was noise here and there as if Billishia was running around relentlessly.
Even in the midst of that, there were a lot of crying noises.
Realizing that the noise was his daughter’s, Cassis lowered his gaze slowly.
He looked closely.
That his daughter’s closed eyes were red.
He felt the shock overwhelm him.
The reason Cassis sent his daughter to the garden was because of the accusations of the vassals.
‘But for her to hear such a thing in the garden.’
In the Vallois castle, at that.
[Crackleㅡ]
[Beepㅡ]
After the doll exploded the bomb.
The entrance to the duchy sank in shock.
Bella’s words and actions were too specific and violent to say that it was a 5-year-old prank.
In particular, even those on the sidelines, who doubted Billishia’s bloodline, were glancing at Bella with an expression of incomprehension.
Because criticism and condemnation are fundamentally different.
“…Is she really 5 years old? Who the hell did she learn that from…”
“I’m worried if the Princess is hurt. Of course, we were a little suspicious too, but in that way…”
The shock soon turned into anger and contempt.
Bella’s fingertips began to get cold at the sound of conversations between the vassals that followed.
‘I-I just said it as a joke.’
That’s because she’s also of direct lineage.
It’s no big deal, but people are angry because she’s Vallois.
Bella trembled at the injustice.
Duke Bell, who was watching the scene, took care of it.
“She’s 5 years old. You understand, don’t you? She’s saying this because she’s jealous as Princess Billisha is a direct descendant and has good skills…”
Thudㅡ
It was then.
“Hmmmp!”
Duke Bell’s forehead was smashed by Magi and he, who was flailing his mouth, was thrown into the field.
“Hmmmph…!”
Was he out of breath?
The Duke, who seemed to be bowing flat, slammed his hand on the floor with a strange noise.
“Yeah, you should lie down like that.”
A terrifying sound was heard.
Cassis, who got up, knelt down in front of the Duke, still hugging Billishia.
“If you’re at fault, of course you have to beg. Not making excuses.”
There was no emotion in the strange tone.
“Hmmp, hmmmp!”
In the meantime, by the time Duke Bell’s breathless face gradually expanded blue.
“Hmmph!
Duke Bell’s head snapped up.
Cassis lifted his hair with a strong hand, trying to meet his eyes with his.
“Huft, huft…”
Duke Bell was finally able to breathe.
But when he really thought he might die, the physiological tears flowed.
“I didn’t know what to do with you from before.”
“…Hmp…”
“It’s understandable that collaterals have fears for direct ones. But you described it as childlike jealousy.”
Cassis stared at Duke Bell like a bug.
“You’re already over 30 years old. Should I accept that pampering?”
“Y-You…. For now, calm down…”
To think that he was told to calm down in the midst of this.
He’s more sane than ever.
Cassis, who laughed at the absurd remark, let go of his hand.
Thudㅡ!
“Hhmmmp!”
The Duke, whose forehead was once again buried, murmured gaspingly.
In the meantime, Cassis, who looked after his daughter once again, got up from his seat.
The heel of a fine shoe pointed at Duke Bell, who was lying flat.
“I guess you’d better stay that way until Billishia wakes up.”
“Hmmp, hmmp!”
“Your daughter should see that you’re reflecting on yourself, right?”
“Your Grace, in such a state, Duke Bell’s breath…”
“What an exaggeration. He won’t die.”
If he doesn’t struggle correctly, he won’t die.
There was a hole to breathe between the damp soil if you were lying down quietly without moving your body.
“Send the rest of Bluebell and the collateral to the carriage. Pick up the rest.”
Cassis, who left the order, left the castle entrance.
“…Shouldn’t that Lady Bluebell be scolded as well, not only Duke Bell?”
“First of all, Billishia comes first, Kai.”
The same was true of Kai and Bian, who were muttering disapprovingly.
“Mmmph, mmph!”
That’s how Vallois disappeared.
Bella, who watched everything from the sidelines, sat down.
All she could hear was her father’s painful breathing.
***
[You’re a child who’s difficult to love.]
After something spurted out of my hand, the sudden pain drained my strength and I fell into a daze.
But Bella’s voice kept ringing.
I knew better than anyone that I didn’t have to care, but I couldn’t.
It’s hard to be loved.
Because this word was no different from a theme that ran through my life.
The first moment I opened my eyes to the world.
The moment of living the life of an extra who was assigned as the daughter of a villain.
[So you’re an evil child.]
I remembered what I had heard from the maid in my first life.
It was because I stole the female lead’s snacks.
At first I was elated.
Because my goal was none other than to live as the daughter of a villain.
However, each time the accusations that felt like medals piled up in my heart, I felt that they were getting a little more burdensome.
I had to laugh and pretend I wasn’t sick.
I had to insist that even though I was lonely, I wasn’t lonely.
I felt skeptical about the life of a villainess who eventually leads to ruin.
Why do I have to live like this?
By the time I was slowly getting tired, the gift of regression came out of nowhere.
[No. T-Thank yew.]
At first, I just wanted to live well.
[Still, we have to eat.]
Second, I realized that villains are people too.
[…Let’s talk like this for a long time, us three. Until Dad can smile in front of Mom…]
And for the third time, I realized that love gives as much as it receives.
[I want Little Miss to play and eat.]
[This is my princess! Everyone, stop pretending to be friendly all of a sudden!]
[Will you accept our apology?]
It hasn’t been more than a year since I returned, but there are many people around me who I’m grateful for.
…But what if I mess things up?
What if people looked at me like the villain’s daughter again?
“Ugh… Hic…”
As the uncontrollable feeling of despair came, the consciousness that had been locked in soma awoke.
Boingㅡ
I rolled over my body with my eyes closed.
As I lay on my stomach, I shook my body trying to hold back my sorrowful feelings.
“Hic… Sob…”
“Billie?”
I was crying endlessly when I heard a slightly startled voice behind me.
Soon something gently lifted my armpit.
“Why are you crying.”
It was Cassis.
“Huwaaaa!”
Eventually, I burst into tears and struggled with my arms.
Bewildered, he put me back on the bed as if he couldn’t force me to be hugged.
I could have hated it more if I was caught crying.
I was crying with my face hidden under the blanket because of my pride.
“Billie. So you had a nightmare.”
A friendly voice.
“…”
I didn’t say anything, and soon I felt Dad cover my body with the blanket that had only covered my face.
“Tell Daddy.”
“…”
“You don’t want to talk?”
“…”
“It’s nice to be under the covers.”
“…”
There was silence for a while.
I could feel the gaze staring at me crouching like a turtle.
“But I’d rather you be in Daddy’s arms than under the covers.”
“…?”
‘Weren’t you disappointed in me?’
I stopped crying and fell into agony for a while.
Then I stayed under the covers for a few minutes, yet after that, Dad didn’t call me urgently nor did he press me.
‘Really?’
Peek.
I ended up losing out of curiosity.
I only showed my face from under the covers, and Cassis was smiling.
“…”
