Chapter 23
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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How to Survive as the Villain's Younger Sister
Episode 23
"I-I really did fail the exam because I'm stupid! I didn't do it on purpose!"
"Speak clearly. We share half our blood—there's no way you could be that foolish."
"Sniff... but I take after Mother..."
Cyrilia looked up at Alexis with a tearful expression.
'She only inherited Julia's pretty and adorable looks.'
Alexis gazed out the window of her office.
The night had already turned to dawn while interrogating her sister.
Even as Cyrilia protested earnestly, her eyes were half-closed with drowsiness.
'She's just a child, so she must be even more exhausted.'
Since I'd already questioned her about nearly everything, it was time to let her sleep.
Just then, Cyrilia tilted her head and stumbled as if about to collapse.
Alexis quickly caught her in her arms.
Cyrilia buried her plump cheek against Alexis's shoulder.
"!"
It was not something she would normally do.
It meant Cyrilia was that exhausted.
Alexis felt strangely moved.
By holding Cyrilia in her embrace.
By how much smaller and warmer Cyrilia felt than expected in her arms.
Alexis whispered to Cyrilia, who was drifting into slumber.
"I won't tolerate a foolish sister who only schemes. Starting tomorrow, separate from helping me with my work, you'll have a proper tutor and restart your studies from the beginning."
"Mm... okay..."
Not even understanding what was being said, Cyrilia mumbled and nodded her head.
Alexis carried the sleeping Cyrilia to her room and laid her down with her own hands.
Cyrilia, who had whimpered for a moment, soon fell asleep peacefully.
As she turned to leave, she stopped upon noticing an unfamiliar cabinet.
"..."
Her softened blue eyes sharpened.
Alexis smiled coldly and left the room.
* * *
I glanced at my tutor.
The middle-aged woman stared at me with a terrifying expression.
Her tapping finger was like the second hand announcing an execution, and my heart shrank to the size of a bean.
"So you're saying you only memorized half of it?"
She was looking at the exam answer sheet I had written.
I bit my lip in frustration and nodded miserably.
"Sigh... Miss Alexis—or rather, the Duke herself memorized the entire legal code at an even younger age than you."
The tutor lamented and slammed the thick book down with a bang.
That was the legal code.
A cruel tome my teacher had demanded I memorize in a single week.
"They say there's no younger brother quite like the Duke, but isn't this taking it too far...."
My teacher muttered under her breath.
'Isn't it my sister who's taking it too far?!'
I wanted to protest.
But the teacher standing before me was Maren—Alexis's childhood tutor.
A commoner-born woman who had educated a Duke, a truly legendary figure.
'She was also the teacher my birth mother assigned to Alexis.'
Though my mother had intended for me to learn poorly from a commoner teacher, Maren was an exceptional instructor.
'The problem is that after teaching Alexis, her standards for students became impossibly high.'
In this world, there's only one person who is so brilliant, diligent, and perceptive—the protagonist Alexis!
And I'm the villainous younger sister.
'Being "duller than my sister" was naturally my assigned attribute.'
'This is so unfair!'
I swallowed the cry that threatened to burst from my lips.
"I'll give you one more chance."
As I slumped dejectedly, my teacher thrust a blank sheet of paper at me.
"Here. Write down everything you can remember."
If you can't write it all, you're dead.
That's what Maren's expression was telling me.
'Could Alexis be using this "opportunity" as a pretext to assassinate me?'
I wondered.
Why on earth would she bring Maren, the very woman who had taught her, to be my teacher?
Alexis adored Maren.
So at first, I was pleased.
'But there's no helping it.'
"Oh!"
The moment I took the blank paper in hand, I leaped to my feet as though struck by divine revelation.
Maren jumped in surprise as well.
"Teacher, something terrible has happened!"
"Something terrible?"
"I had something important to tell my sister, but I completely forgot!"
Maren's expression turned glacial.
I barely suppressed the trembling in my legs and brazenly cried out.
"It's incredibly important. Oh no, what should I do?"
"What should you—"
Before Maren could grab me, I bolted desperately for the door.
But the moment it swung open.
"Where are you scurrying off to like a flying squirrel?"
I ran straight into Alexis, who was standing right in front of me.
"Oh my, Duke Parkision."
Maren's face lit up as though she'd found reinforcements.
Alexis grabbed my shoulder with her large hand and spun me toward Maren.
"Here she is."
"Thank you. I nearly lost this little squirrel."
"Is the thief squirrel keeping up with her lessons?"
"Well, she's ordinary. Compared to how you were at her age, she falls far short. It's quite frustrating."
I made a pitiful face and looked up at my sister.
It was a desperate plea for mercy.
"Sister, I really do have something to say."
But.
"Study."
Alexis said that and closed the door behind her.
"Hehe. Well then, shall we begin in earnest once more?"
Maren spoke with cruel kindness, her face full of smiles.
* * *
"Sigh."
I sighed at the mountain of homework piled before me.
If stacked on the floor, it would be high enough to lean my back against.
"When the Duke was your age, she completed twice—no, three times this amount of homework!"
Maren said this to me as I whimpered, then left.
As I sighed with the urge to cry, someone suddenly leaped through the window.
"Why the long face again?"
It was Kyle.
He approached me with an amused expression.
"It's nothing."
I said coolly.
Kyle plopped down beside me.
"Nothing, huh. I saw everything. Got scolded by your tutor?"
"No, I wasn't scolded! I just found it difficult to keep up with the lessons."
"That woman's level is nearly on par with the professional instructors at the Imperial Palace."
"You watched my entire lesson?"
I asked, surprised.
Kyle shrugged.
I hadn't noticed anyone watching me at all.
Kyle didn't look like he was more than fourteen, no matter how I looked at him.
He was tall with a sturdy build, but his face carried a youthful, innocent air.
Yet he concealed his presence so skillfully.
Since I was an Awakened One in my past life, I was quite good at detecting others' presence.
'Besides, I know the caliber of specialized instructors who teach at the Imperial Palace.'
They might not be ordinary nobility.
I concealed my true thoughts and subtly edged closer to Kyle.
As I drew near, Kyle flinched.
"Where did you go?"
"Why? Did you miss me?"
Kyle asked with feigned indifference, his tone playful.
I blinked my green eyes as cutely as possible and nodded.
"Yeah. I missed you."
When I trailed off shyly, Kyle's ears turned crimson.
'Oh? Look at him.'
I was only teasing a little.
'Getting embarrassed over something like that.'
No matter what, he was still just a child.
Finding it amusing, I decided to tease him a bit more.
"I was bored, you know. Where were you? I opened the cabinet this morning to greet you, but you weren't there."
"Well... I was exploring the Mansion."
"The Mansion?"
I widened my eyes in surprise.
Kyle nodded awkwardly.
"It's where I'll be hiding for a while. I need to know the layout just in case."
"An outsider learning the structure of the Parkision Dukedom. Do you realize how dangerous that statement is?"
"So you're going to tell your sister?"
I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head.
"No."
"I thought so. You seemed to have some sense of loyalty."
"But if you keep doing this, I might have to. I'm only hiding you—I didn't give you permission to roam through the Mansion freely."
I lowered my voice as I spoke.
This was a serious warning.
'When I checked the empty cabinet this morning, there were signs that two people had been coming and going.'
As I suspected, Kyle hadn't come here alone.
I was quietly harboring suspicions.
Why was that?
Suddenly, a passage from the original work came to mind.
"I'd rather go to Nightmare Valley barehanded and hold my ground than entrust its purification to Duke Parkision."
Crown Prince Kailson Ruel Kinister had said it sarcastically.
Alexis hadn't even pretended to listen.
The two of them had opposing temperaments.
Clashing with each other was routine.
'Here we go again.'
Alexis merely murmured quietly to herself.
'Kailson Ruel Kinister?'
It was precisely that name that troubled her.
The Crown Prince's name in the original story bore an uncanny resemblance to Kyle.
'No, surely not.'
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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