Chapter 24

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: The Villainess Imprinted with the Male Lead: Chapter 31

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He crossed his legs silently, as if urging her to go on.

"You mentioned before that werewolves exist in the roots of the Cassio Duke family, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then... by any chance, can you transform into a wolf like them, Your Grace?"

Recalling the illustration she'd seen in the異種族 compendium the other day, Luciana gazed at him with eyes tinged with faint unease.

"What's the reason for asking?"

Richt, who had been listening to Luciana in silence, halted his movements and met her eyes.

"Well, you see... to get accurate results, the degree of werewolf blood inherited is important..."

Perhaps he'd read fear in her expression.

Luciana panicked under his silently staring gaze and began babbling excuses.

"...I've heard it was possible."

"!"

Past tense? So Richt couldn't?

"But as time passed, the ability to gradually transform faded away. Because of that, I can't take on a beastly form either."

"Ah..."

"Should I explain more?"

"Is there something else?"

Luciana, who had been scribbling busily with her pen, perked up her ears at Richt's words.

"Though that ability has vanished, the werewolf influence still lingers in the Duke family's blood. We're stronger than ordinary humans, with far superior physical prowess."

"...I see."

I thought he was just overwhelmingly strong thanks to the protagonist buff. So there was a reason after all.

Maybe because it wasn't mentioned in the original story. Luciana felt a spark of inner curiosity.

Richt also explained that the lack of collateral branches in the Duke family stemmed from the mixed異種族 blood making children rare.

"Instead of bearing many children, our lifelines are hardy, allowing the line to continue to this day. Is that answer sufficient?"

Luciana quietly nodded at his question.

He seemed less affected by werewolf blood than she'd imagined.

'My questions are settled, now I just need to return that thing.'

Before invoking Return Magic, Luciana handed the Duke one final item.

"By the way, yesterday I noticed a gem in the box. It seems like it was sent by mistake..."

"...!"

Richt instantly recognized it.

Lunet. He was the culprit who had sent it, after all.

"Your Grace?"

Damn.

'If I gave it, she should just keep it quietly. Who returns it...'

Maybe the letter omitted it because she hadn't considered it hers at all?

Her innocent question turned Richt's insides to chaos.

Luciana held the gem out to him again, and to refute her claim of a mistake, he inevitably had to explain his motive for sending the Lunet.

'What? I figured she'd snatch it in a huff the moment she saw it...'

Luciana grew suspicious of the Duke's demeanor—he couldn't answer straightforwardly and averted his gaze as if hiding something.

"No way..."

"..."

Even as Luciana, sensing the oddity belatedly, ventured cautiously, Richt remained tight-lipped.

'He really sent it to me?'

No... why me?

Her wide, bewildered eyes seemed to ask as much.

'Damn it.'

Richt clenched his fist and swallowed curse after curse.

Swept up by instinct at the birthday news, tossing sleeplessly over the pink diamond, and not satisfied, he'd even impulsively bought the Lunet.

The ordeals to acquire that wretched gem were ones he'd take to the grave.

'This is maddening. What the hell do I say...'

Richt recalled the saga leading up to sending the Lunet to Luciana.

The day he obtained it, he soon had to shove the precious, exorbitant gem into storage. Every time his gaze inadvertently fell on it, Luciana flooded his mind, ruining his focus.

But even that didn't last.

Out of sight, his mouth burned dry as if aflame.

Luciana, Luciana, Luciana. Like scooping water into a shattered bowl, her name echoed relentlessly.

"Tch, then what's the point of buying it?"

He'd thought possession would quell it. Irritated by his stagnation, a clever notion struck moments later.

"Just dump it on that woman."

She showed no interest in jewels anyway, and Lunet was supposedly a lady's delight. Wouldn't giving it to her be better?

To Richt, Lunet was nothing but a cursed reminder of Luciana.

He didn't realize it was a sly pretext for gifting her. No need to—he hadn't even considered it.

The instant he resolved to pass the Lunet to Luciana, the gnawing unease tormenting him vanished.

Only after boxing it and securing the lock did complete satisfaction envelop Richt.

He'd merely cleared out an unnecessary trinket.

Nothing more.

"Your Grace? Are you even listening?"

He could stick to the story he'd told himself.

Yet before Luciana, the excuse refused to emerge.

As if some force banned the words, sealing his lips.

'Damn it. Say something...'

His prolonged silence bred an awkward distance between them.

"!"

Right then.

Hounded by a frantic urge, Richt seized a plausible excuse and finally spoke.

"It's a reward."

Huh? What did he say...?

"...Did I do something special?"

"You're shouldering the research alone, aren't you?"

"Ah..."

So, it was Richt's personal token of thanks?

"By any chance, is this gem called..."

"Lunet. Word is, it's a rare import from the Ivnia Kingdom."

What. He knows it well?

Does he lack a sense of value? Aware of its worth, yet offering it to me?

"I-I'm fine."

"..."

As Luciana set the case before him, a faint crease marred Richt's refined brow.

"You've supplied all those materials until now. Without your aid, the research wouldn't have advanced."

The materials she'd requested from Richt alone rivaled the cost of a dozen gowns from a famed designer.

'No one else can conduct it but me. The male lead showed sincerity in his own way.'

Even if meant for her, accepting felt burdensome.

"So, please take it back..."

"I said take it."

"Pardon? I'm truly fine."

He shoved the Lunet toward her; undaunted, Luciana pushed back.

'Damn it, this isn't right.'

They said women adore such gems?

Richt, expecting delight, felt only fluster.

'At this rate, I'll be stuck with it.'

Forced to keep that wretched gem.

The thought ignited urgency.

All this stemmed from one word—birthday. Only nestling Lunet in her arms would shatter the chains.

"!"

Suddenly, his impatient red eyes fixed on Luciana across from him.

Restless gaze, uneasy posture.

"..."

Gazing at her pristine profile, a long-buried memory resurfaced.

'Her eyes were just like that.'

The morning after his rut, lips bitten at his icy rebukes.

He'd turned away in the end, but guilt lingered stubbornly in his heart.

Her fragile form shrinking before him bobbed to the surface.

Adrift, his lips betrayed his heart.

"No. You take it, Lady."

"No, I couldn't..."

"It's also an apology for that day."

"Pardon? That day...?"

As Luciana floundered lost in fog, a scene flashed through her mind.

'Is he talking about the rut?'

Stinging words coldly hurled at her weary frame, barely risen.

Puzzled, Luciana eyed the Duke, who delivered staggering words with evident hesitation.