Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Otherwise, by the time I took action, Layola’s head might already be separated from her body, making it impossible to locate Sister Serine and the other children.

I was curious about the identity of the man who had promised to come searching for me, but there was no helping it.

The original story never mentioned such details, as Duke Rayes had already found and adopted me through a substantial bounty after hearing the rumors, before that man could arrive.

Come to think of it, Layola didn’t even know what kind of children we were, solely lured by the gold offered by the Duke and Senia. In all likelihood, she had probably been horrifically killed by Duke Kablos in the original storyline.

‘She really is just brainlessly musclebound. Her brain must be composed of pure brawn too…’

Putting aside the notes about the ‘eldest son’s return’ and ‘incurable illness,’ I focused on planning tomorrow’s crucial tasks.

Knock-knock-

“Miss Laveria, may I come in?”

“Yes… Oh, yes! Come in.”

I awkwardly corrected myself from the accustomed form of address.

The young woman with golden hair who entered was Garnett, assigned as my personal maidservant.

Stowing the papers in a drawer, I rose from my seat.

“It seems you should change into different attire before the Duke’s return.”

Garnett opened the wardrobe wide. Hanging inside were countless dresses suited for girls my age that I had been unaware of.

“We’ll need to take your measurements, Miss Laveria, and have these all refitted.”

From among them, Garnett selected a lightweight green lace dress suitable for indoor wear and helped me into it.

The dress was quite oversized, likely due to my petite, underfed frame compared to average girls my age.

As Garnett zipped me up from behind, I asked:

“When did you say the eldest son… no, my eldest brother would be arriving?”

“Prince Drehan will return after graduating from the Imperial Academy next week.”

The eldest son, who had enrolled at the prestigious academy as the top student, would be returning as the top graduate – a figure to be wary of, unlike Miller.

Though uninterested in swordsmanship, Drehan had displayed considerable scholarly talents at the academy and would later earn renown as a sage. Yet ironically, he had ultimately failed to recognize his own younger sister.

When the Duke who had retrieved Ria from the orphanage decided to bestow her with Laveria’s name and re-register her records, it had been Drehan who vehemently objected, insisting that nameless child couldn’t take his sister’s place.

As a result, in the original story Ria had been adopted as an incomplete princess without truly inheriting Laveria’s name and title. But at this current juncture where I had escaped the orphanage and arrived at the Duke’s estate first, Drehan was still merely an upcoming academy graduate unaware of my existence.

In other words, I had preemptively gotten ahead of him.

His reaction upon returning next week was predictably obvious.

Letting out a resigned sigh, I closed my eyes.

Noting my demeanor, Garnett remarked:

“Please don’t worry overmuch. Once the Young Duke meets you directly, he will surely understand the Duke’s decision.”

“I hope so… More importantly, what is head chef Shrimp’s specialty dish?”

I needed to indulge in some delectable fare to alleviate this unsettled feeling.

“The Rayes household’s signature menu – head chef Shrimp’s shrimp bisque is truly scrumptious. I’ll have it prepared for your dinner tonight, miss.”

…Cannibalism? The mental image of head chef Shrimp meticulously preparing shrimp that looked remarkably like his own mustache made me shudder momentarily.

* * *

The Duke didn’t return until late that evening.

As the one who had brought back the missing Crown Prince, he would likely be summoned to the Imperial Palace several more times in the near future.

It seemed the Duke had sent word ahead to have dinner served, but I had instructed Garnett that I would dine together with him instead.

I needed to discuss the tasks awaiting me tomorrow.

As the Duke began his meal across from me, I addressed him.

“Duke, there is a request I would like to make.”

My words drew Miller’s attention from the adjacent seat as well.

“Speak, then.”

Taking a deep breath, I voiced the prepared words.

“There are children who were truly precious to me. All of them young and frail, just like I was. They remain trapped in the Troy Orphanage I escaped from… Likely crying from the director’s abuses.”

Hearing that, Miller slammed down his utensils with a clang.

“You were abused too?!”

I dejectedly hung my head and nodded meekly in affirmation.

“That woman… I should have killed her when I had the chance!”

Raising a placating hand toward the riled Miller, the Duke turned to address me.

“Tell me what you desire. Not only will I have those children rescued, but I will ensure that orphanage director faces punishment as well.”

Playing coy, I cautioned about the risks involved.

“It’s just… Our orphanage sent the children away somewhere once they turned fifteen. It definitely wasn’t for adoption purposes. I overheard the head mention it in her quarters once.”

This was indeed something I had overheard from Layola’s own mouth.

“She said this one had a large build suited for sending to the illegal mines as a laborer, then haggled over how much compensation the Duke Kablos’s estate would provide, saying it had been difficult raising him.”

Feigning innocence, I asked as if merely curious about my departed friends’ whereabouts.

“Where is the Duke Kablos’s estate located? If I go there, could I reunite with my friends?”

Unsurprisingly, my words visibly sobered the Rayes father and son.

Of all households, it had to be the Duke Kablos’s – currently drawing harsh censure from the Imperial Consort and nobility factions for aiding the Crown Prince’s return to the palace. The Kablos estate was practically the nobility faction’s leadership.

While returning the Crown Prince could be justified as a subject’s duty, openly exposing the Kablos household’s darkness tacitly permitted across the Empire would be no easy decision, even for the prestigious Duke Rayes. It risked erupting into an inter-household war.

Even if the Duke refused my request, I could make no objections.

‘Then I’ll have no choice but to hire a guild to at least rescue the children still at the orphanage first…’

“If that is your request.”

The Duke’s voice snapped me from my contemplation, bearing an unexpectedly tender smile – the way one would gaze upon a daughter.

“Then there is nothing I cannot grant you. Those Kablos have grown far too audacious. To think they would lay hands on my own daughter is utterly unforgivable.”

Miller nodded in accord with his father’s decision.

“However, if I am to fulfill your wish, what will you offer me in return?”

What could I offer? Some childcare experience… pretty good at hide-and-seek… Want to do origami together?

Considering it now, I realized I truly had nothing of value to offer, leaving me flustered instead.

Noting my prolonged silence, the Duke smiled as he spoke.

“Simply call me ‘Dad’.”

“In that case… does that make me your ‘brother’? Wow, those terms feel so awkward. Though I’d prefer if Ria called me like that.”

“Dad… Brother…?”

It had been so long since uttering those terms that like Miller said, they did feel rather unfamiliar on my tongue.

He had likely taken issue with my insistence on the formal ‘Duke’ honorific after all.

Just calling him ‘Dad’ was his request in exchange?

Would that paltry condition truly suffice?

A barrage of questions flooded my mind.

“We cannot officially declare war between Dukes. Our Shadow Knights will only be able to rescue those children who have already been sent off from our estate… but…”

“That’s more than enough. There’s no need to save those who willingly engaged in criminal acts. Thank you… Dad.”

He ruffled my hair affectionately.

“From now on, tell us whenever you require our aid. We are family, after all.”

Rising first, he mentioned summoning a trusted few from the order of knights before taking his leave.

Only Miller and I remained. I posed to him the same question I had wanted to ask the Duke earlier.

“Have you never considered the possibility that I might not be this family’s true daughter? Why are you being so kind to me… Is it simply because I resemble her?”

At my rambling inquiry, Miller replied.

“There is a degree of caution behind treating you that way, in case you think otherwise.”

Then he grinned mischievously as he continued.

“But neither Father nor I view you in such simplistic terms.”

I gazed up at him with wavering eyes, my nose tingling inexplicably.

“Now that the sturdiest rampart in this world surrounds you as well, you can pursue anything you desire.”

After lightly patting my head in that teasing manner for little sisters, Miller rose to leave.

“…”

Garnett remained behind, standing vigil over me.

In a barely audible murmur, I asked her:

“Garnett, do you also think I… truly deserve all this?”

Inwardly, I had already concluded that to them, I was merely an outsider who had appeared abruptly one day.

The affection I perceived from them was perhaps directed solely toward the name ‘Laveria Jenne Rayes,’ and I was nothing more than a stand-in donning that guise.

Even if my true origins turned out to be the Princess Rayes, until that fact came to light, truth could still be indistinguishable from falsehood.

It was akin to being unable to discern a genuine masterpiece from a forged imitation without firsthand experience of the authentic emotions resonating within.

Yet in that moment, I felt utterly foolish.

From the instant I had departed the orphanage of my own volition, this body and name fully belonged to me – not some guise or substitute role I had assumed.

Why had I failed to realize there was no hint of deception in their every gaze directed toward me?

Perhaps it was simply because I had gone too long without encountering such an earnest situation.

“You are the precious Princess Rayes, more than deserving and beyond.”

That was Garnett’s response to my query.

* * *

Dawn broke.

Surrounded by the finest bedding fabrics, opulent curtains filtering the morning sunlight, and the sprawling geometrically arranged gardens visible outside – none of it felt remotely familiar yet.

Knock-knock-

“I shall enter now, miss.”

It was Garnett.

“Oh my, you’re already awake?”

“What about the Duke, I mean, Dad?”

“The Duke has been occupied with drafting documentation and evidence regarding the Crown Prince since last night. As for young master Miller, he performs his daily morning drills at the training grounds as always.”

Garnett paused briefly before continuing with a warm smile.

“Both have skipped breakfast, insisting they will only dine together with you this morning, miss.”

Unable to repress the fluttering in my chest, I obediently began my preparations under Garnett’s guidance.

“So Dad hasn’t slept a wink…?”

I asked worriedly as Garnett attended to me.

“He suffers from chronic insomnia, so this is quite normal for him. You need not worry.”

Garnett smiled reassuringly as she brushed my long tresses.

Just overnight, the pampering with expensive hair oils had transformed my formerly frayed silver locks into gleaming silken strands cascading in soft waves down to my waist.

‘The innate hue of one’s inherent magic power…’

The Rayes signature silver hair was an exceptionally pure shade verging on platinum blonde. In contrast, mine was lighter than gray but darker than white – simply an appropriately moderate silver tone.

And that subtle rosy sheen emanating throughout revealed the distinct pink hue of my mana aura.

In the novel, it had been dismissively described as ‘tainted’ and ‘impure,’ yet the image reflecting back at me from the mirror appeared doll-like in its loveliness.

My emerald eyes shimmered iridescently whenever catching the light, while my tresses were an exquisite, far from unsightly shade.

Had I still lived in Korea, this was the exact hair color I would have rushed to recreate at a salon.

It seemed less an issue of erroneous descriptions and more that the original Ria had simply lost her radiance over the years of suffering and trauma, including crippling her legs, at the orphanage.

There were even accounts of Ria smashing every mirror she encountered at the Duke’s estate out of hatred for her own ‘impure’ reflection.

‘She must have been such a beautiful child originally…’

Garnett deftly braided a section of my hair before dressing me in a deep crimson frill dress that had been refitted to my measurements overnight.

The mirror reflected the perfect visage of a Princess Rayes as I exited the room trailing behind Garnett.

I wondered how Layola would react if she saw my current appearance.