Chapter 32
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How to Survive as the Villain's Younger Sister
Episode 32
* * *
Tap, tap, tap, tap... poke.
Something kept tapping my swollen cheek, and finally jabbed it.
I scrunched my eyes and whimpered with an annoyed groan.
Then laughter echoed from above my head.
It was an insufferable laugh.
As far as I knew, there was only one boy with a laugh like that.
"Kyle!"
I shrieked and bolted upright.
"Oof!"
The startled Kyle tumbled backward onto his rear.
I peered down at Kyle sprawled beside my bed.
"So you do fall sometimes?"
"Don't laugh."
Kyle huffed as he picked himself up.
"Where were you all day?"
"I've been with you the whole time. You're too much of an idiot to notice."
I puffed out my cheeks indignantly, then my eyes widened as something occurred to me.
I retrieved the Imperial seal ring from beneath my pillow.
Alexis had surrendered all the evidence to the Imperial Guard, yet withheld this one piece.
She hadn't confiscated it from me either.
Even though she'd sided with me in front of the con artist as if she knew something.
It was strange.
'Though the strangest thing is Kyle standing right in front of me.'
Kyle stared at the ring and asked flatly.
"What's that?"
"You secretly planted it in my pocket."
"So you're not completely hopeless."
"How did you know I'd be able to use it?"
Kyle settled onto the edge of the bed.
"When I saw your fool family meeting with Borgil, I figured I'd better help or this would end badly."
"You knew he was a con artist? Then why didn't you report him?"
"I did. That's why the Imperial Guard showed up."
Ah, so Kyle was the anonymous informant.
"So you were in that room the whole time too?"
"I didn't go inside. I just snuck the ring into your pocket. I already knew that bastard was running a scam pretending to deal with the Imperial Court."
"How?"
"The princess fell for it."
I slipped my hand beneath the blanket.
It was to hide the cold sweat that anxiety was drawing from my skin.
"You knew Borgil would try to swindle us with a fake Imperial seal, so you gave me the real one instead?"
"Yes."
"How did you know I'd use it according to your intentions?"
"If you couldn't manage that much, why would I have chosen you?"
"Chosen? You certainly have a way with harsh words."
Perhaps when he calls me a fool, it's actually quite the compliment coming from him.
"But 'chosen'? You're the one I'm hiding."
"If you were anyone else with half a brain, you'd have already blabbed about my existence everywhere and gotten yourself killed."
Kyle smiled wickedly.
It was a somewhat terrifying expression for a teenage boy to wear.
"Give the ring back now."
"No."
I clenched my fist around the ring.
Bewilderment flashed across Kyle's face.
"What? Hand it over. You borrowed it from me."
"It's the 'real Imperial seal.' It should be returned to the Imperial Court."
Kyle's expression turned incredulous.
But I had no choice if I wanted to uncover Kyle's true identity.
'If I say this, he'll have no choice but to confess just to get the ring back.'
Though I've already guessed the truth.
"W-wait, the Imperial Court doesn't need something like this anymore!"
Kyle stammered in a way unlike himself.
"How do you even have this?"
"I stole it."
"It's not yours?"
"It is mine—I stole it."
I grabbed Kyle's hand as he floundered in confusion.
Then I slipped the ring onto his index finger.
The ring fit his finger perfectly.
"It's yours, isn't it? This ring."
"!"
Kyle clenched his teeth, his eyes widening as he stared at me.
His crimson irises blazed with intensity.
After meeting him, I investigated the Imperial Court's members.
There was a Crown Prince around Kyle's age.
His name bore a striking resemblance to the Crown Prince in the original work.
"No."
“....”
"Really? You're staking your life on this? You're serious?"
"Don't carelessly wager your life before me. The life that should be at stake might very well be yours."
"Then I'll stake it. My life."
I drew a small dagger from my bosom and pressed it against Kyle's throat.
That was the moment.
Three shadows emerged from nowhere without a sound, their sharp blades leveled directly at me.
"No! Lower your swords! Don't hurt her!"
Kyle shouted at them.
But they did not withdraw their blades from me.
Because they were secret knights bound by duty to protect the Crown Prince.
Though invisible to my eyes, they must have been guarding Kyle at close range all along.
I let the paper dagger fall onto the carpet.
And I gazed intently at Kyle—no, Kailson.
Eyes burning a cruel crimson, as though ready to incinerate the world itself.
Yet crowned with hair as lustrous and smooth as silk, golden as spun treasure.
A cold, composed young man who had harbored killing intent since boyhood.
The Empire's heir apparent, as he was known.
Kailson Ruel Kinister.
Kyle was the Crown Prince of the Kineste Empire.
"Damn it. I told you! That you'd have to stake your life!"
Kyle shouted.
I smiled and bowed toward him.
"Cyrilia, the Young Lady of Parkision, pays her respects to His Highness the Crown Prince, glory of the Empire."
Kyle—no, Kailson—pressed his forehead with his hand.
"I didn't want to hear such formalities from you."
He murmured.
The door burst open at that very moment.
Someone entered the room with killing intent, swift as the wind.
It was Alexis.
Without the slightest hesitation, she leveled her blade at the knights threatening me.
'No, this can't happen!'
Drawing a sword against the Crown Prince's knights!
I went pale.
'I have to stop her! Otherwise, my sister will be hurt!'
Yet in the span of mere moments, scarcely enough time to blink.
After the sound of clashing blades struck my ears several times.
When I regained my senses, all the secret knights' swords lay shattered.
"!"
Alexis confirmed I was unharmed, then let her blade fall to the floor.
"Your Highness, forgive my rudeness. Yet since your knights were threatening my sister, I committed this breach of loyalty."
"Duke Parkision...."
"If you demand I pay for my sins with my life, then so be it."
Alexis knelt down.
Seized by panic, I stepped forward to shield her.
"No! Don't kill my sister. If someone has to die, let it be me! I'm the one who held a blade to the Crown Prince's throat!"
"You held a blade to the Crown Prince?"
Alexis asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.
Kailson let out a sigh.
"It was a paper sword."
"But a sword is still a sword."
I spoke timidly.
Alexis seemed somewhat relieved.
"Neither of you will die, and I'm unharmed, so pretend you never saw me again. Every time you two show up, it's genuinely exhausting."
Kailson vented his frustration at the secret knights.
The secret knights bowed their heads and vanished like shadows once more.
As silence settled over the room, Kailson spoke first.
"Duke Parkision, how long have you known of my existence?"
"I've known since you were hiding in the cabinet."
"Wh—what did you say...!"
Kailson's face, which had been solemn as befitted the Crown Prince, flushed crimson.
I too was startled, covering my mouth with both hands.
'I thought I'd hidden perfectly!'
How on earth had Alexis known about that?
"You seem embarrassed."
Alexis didn't mince words.
"I'm not!"
Kailson burst out loudly.
He was clearly mortified.
'Even so, hiding in a cabinet is rather embarrassing.'
Alexis's upper lip trembled slightly.
She seemed to be suppressing laughter.
"Then it would be acceptable for me to tell everyone that the Crown Prince took refuge in my sister's adorable little cabinet?"
"Wh—what?"
"That very cute and charming cabinet, no less."
"It—it wasn't that cute and charming!"
"So I may go about telling people?"
"No! Absolutely not!"
Alexis stared up at Kailson with an expressionless face.
Kailson bit his lower lip.
"It's too embarrassing, so don't go around telling anyone...."
No matter how much of a crown prince he was, he was merely an adolescent.
He could not contend with Alexis, who had lived through a second life after regression.
'Our sister truly is the best.'
I felt an inexplicable sense of victory.
"If that is Your Highness's wish, I shall take all matters concerning the cabinet to my grave."
"Now we're getting somewhere sensible."
"I won't even ask why you hid yourself in the Parkision Mansion, specifically in my sister's room, and prowled about the place."
"...."
Kailson's face hardened.
I too opened my mouth in shock.
'How long has Alexis known? How much does she know?'
She truly is the protagonist.
She never strays from the center of the narrative.
In other words, we were all dancing in the palm of the protagonist's hand.
'So this is the fate of a supporting character. Sigh.'
If she had known this much, she would have already realized that what I offered was Kailson's ring.
'That's why she took my side even while fabricating a story.'
Because she knew it was the genuine Imperial seal ring.
"What do you want."
Kailson asked in a slightly trembling voice.
He was overwhelmed by Alexis's presence.
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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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