The Strange but Effective Villainess Life

Chapter 32 Episode 32: Someone Is Back (X)

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Upon the sudden visit of the emperor, I returned to my room.

The spy maid asked, flustered.

“His Majesty… What do you think he will ask?”

“Well…”

Previous emperors always stopped by the Prelai residence when making private and important requests.

Due to Prelai’s ability to handle summoned magic beasts, they could use supernatural powers. So, when the emperor was in trouble, he would personally make a request. As the Duchy of Prelai has always been the most reliable and loyal servant to the imperial family.

“No, what kind of difficult request will he make…”

And whenever the emperor made this request, the head of Prelai would call all the members of the family to choose a suitable summoner. This meant there would be talk about the summoned beasts.

Grandpa spoke lowly to me as he prepared to greet the emperor.

“Kiana, be sure to come.”

Originally, I was a child who would never go out with the excuse of being sick, even if the emperor came to visit me and my grandfather called me. So I guess I could see why Grandpa said that to me.

Calmly, I sat down in front of the vanity table and started choosing a hair accessory.

‘I understand why you’re here…’

This was because in the original work, the emperor visited the Prelai mansion.

I knew he would come soon, but I didn’t know it would be this soon.

‘Hmm…’

I started changing into a formal dress with the help of the spy maid.

After quickly dressing up, I was guided by the butler to the drawing room. It was time to suddenly have an audience with the emperor.

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‘Oh my gosh. You look fine…’

As soon as I saw the emperor in the drawing room, I sighed deeply inside.

He was a handsome middle-aged man with silver hair and blue eyes, but his face was clearly sick. He was, definitely, much younger than my grandfather, but his hand that was holding his staff was shaking.

“I see Your Majesty the Emperor. This is Kiana Prelai.”

“It’s been a while, Princess. I heard you returned from the academy a few days ago.”

The emperor smiled benevolently and answered appropriately.

Usually, when the emperor came to the Prelai mansion, all the Prelai’s direct line had to gather. Therefore, Joshua stuck around, albeit with a dissatisfied face. No matter how reckless Joshua was, he had to crawl before the power of the emperor.

“Alex is away… So this is all the direct line.”

Grandpa said politely.

“According to the oath from the beginning, if there is anything you want from us, please tell us anything.”

Those polite words carried the weight of an oath that had been going on for a long time.

An oath of allegiance that Elika Prelai, the first head of the family, swore to the first emperor, Edmund Tales.

“As always, Prelai will do its best to fulfill Your Majesty’s request.”

Prelai could handle summoned beasts, but even the imperial family was unaware of the individual abilities. So, whenever the emperor asked for a favor, the Prelai family would hold a meeting and mobilize summoned beasts with appropriate abilities to solve it.

That was the reason why the head of the Prelai duchy and the direct line stayed in the capital rather than the duchy.

Most of the time, the summons of the direct descendants had strong abilities, so it was solved within it. However, if the direct line couldn’t solve the problem, the collateral would be contacted. Among Prelai’s collateral bloodlines, there were a few people like Melissa who could command summons.

Hence, 10 years ago, a collateral, Julius, came to the capital from the outskirts of the north.

“You know, I’ve done a lot for the Tales, too, until I’m this old.”

“Kuh, euk, Duke… Your words have increased in the time I haven’t seen you…”

“I’ve now decided to express all the words in my heart and live. It was very refreshing and good.”

After muttering ‘Pride…’ very softly, the emperor cleared his throat and said in a slightly scratchy voice.

“Well, a-actually…”

His blue eyes trembled slightly.

“Actually, I am not feeling well. Right now, I’m in a situation where I’m requesting painkillers and stimulants from the imperial doctor.”

Ah, I did wonder how he was able to move with such ease. It turned out to be the power of drugs.

The emperor sat up straight and continued.

“I was told that to be able to move a little today, I will suffer from more severe pain for about a couple of months and will not be able to regain consciousness.”

Joshua sent me a sneaky glance.

It meant that this favor must be so great that he took such nasty drugs to come to the Prelai’s mansion.

Even Grandpa was nervous. The emperor slowly uttered.

“The Duke must have heard of it, but Orca made a fuss about meeting Ed last night.”

Ed.

When the name came up, not only me, but also Grandpa were slightly taken aback. Ed was the nickname of Crown Prince Edmund, whom the emperor loved. He was named after the first emperor.

“According to Heaton, Orca was drunk and saw an illusion…”

The emperor’s deep blue eyes were filled with pensiveness.

“Oh, Your Majesty.”

Grandpa sighed lightly and gently added.

“As I have said many times, even Prelai does not have the ability to find the missing crown prince…”

“No, I didn’t come here to make such a push. I just have a very small wish.”

The emperor continued to speak in a sad tone.

“Anyway, since the crown prince might be alive, I want to personally pray to the Tales tree.”

‘As expected…’

In the original, the emperor made the same request to Grandpa. He was probably earlier this time because the crown prince moved faster than expected.

“With the heart of a parent who loves his child.”

The Tales Tree.

A long time ago, a huge tree grew where Edmund Tales, the first emperor of the Tales Empire, was buried. This tree was named the Tales Tree.

The tree… It was a tree that could not be called a tree. For the tree’s favorite things were not water and sunlight, but jewels.

Anyway, it looked like a tree, so it was named ‘Tales Tree’.

The emperors of the past would go to the Tales Tree and pray for their descendants when they encountered difficulties. Of course, by offering the tree’s favorite jewel.

When a jewel was placed on its body, the Tales Tree would glow and absorb the jewel. And the more it liked the jewel, the more it would happily and gently shake its branch.

As a result of gifting jewels to the tree in various ways, successive emperors discovered several rules.

The bigger and heavier the jewel, the better. It especially likes Elistone the most. As you know, the first emperor was a snob.

The tree was remarkably similar in many ways to the first emperor.

The higher it is, the better. The first emperor did not like to bow his head.

And it couldn’t be given anywhere. Some were even forbidden.

Beasts cannot come near the Tales Tree. The first emperor hated non-human creatures.

The Tales Tree was sacred in its own way, so insects, birds, and squirrels never got close to it.

The emperor sighed and said,

“I want to offer the biggest and heaviest Elistone I have to the highest place.”

Elistone was very beautiful, but it was too heavy to be used as an accessory.

If it was the biggest and heaviest Elistone the emperor had, it would be really huge.

“Ah…”

“Is there any way?”

“Hmm…”

Grandpa thought for a moment with a puzzled expression.

Since a summon was also a beast, they could not go close to the Tales Tree.

The summons’ unusual abilities didn’t help either. Hou’s purification or Leah’s humanization abilities wouldn’t help much.

Same goes for Peep. Peep couldn’t carry heavy things like Elistone. Moreover, she hadn’t even come back yet.

‘Of course, few know that Peep became my pet, but…’

The only places I went out with Peep were the clubhouse and Cesare’s mansion. So, the emperor probably didn’t even know that Peep was my pet.

From the old memories, he must be thinking that I couldn’t command a summoned beast.

“And the time limit is today… … .”

Grandpa muttered with a face of difficulty. There weren’t any collateral summons that he could think of, and even if there were, it would be tough to call them.

“…Far higher than human hands can reach… you say…”

“Yes.”

There was silence for a moment.

The emperor was gazing at Grandpa with desperation. But that didn’t mean Grandpa would say he could do it. Unfortunately, it was a request that was not granted in the original.

‘Ugh.’

According to the original, the emperor’s health soon got worse and he almost lost consciousness. So when Heaton painted Prelai with treason, he didn’t even get involved.

‘At that time… The empress was already weak, and the emperor was no better than a living corpse.’

I wondered if I should step in for someone who wasn’t very helpful. Joshua, too, was tapping his foot aimlessly, disinterest clear on his face.

But…

The young Joshua’s complexion was too good, and the old Grandpa’s face was too tired.

‘How pitiful to see him still worrying about the position of head of household at his age because of his unanswerable grandchildren…’

Eventually, I swallowed dry spit and broke the silence.

“Your Majesty.”

And I calmly asked.

“Can’t you shoot an arrow and dedicate the jewel upwards?”

The emperor looked at me with a slightly puzzled face, but soon replied gently.

“I thought about that too, but arrows can’t handle the weight of Elistone.”

“How much does that Elistone weigh?”