I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 29: Didn’t Know! -

Leah ran and ran, and then ran some more.

With only one word echoing in her mind.

'It’s over...'

Goodbye, my Academy life.

With hollow eyes, she searched for a place to die and found herself staring at a vast sandy building. It was much larger than the training grounds at her family estate, so she hadn’t recognized it immediately, but it was definitely a training ground.

Leah trudged over and slumped down at the edge of the training ground.

"...Ughhh."

The moment she stopped running and had time to think, the black history she would never forget for the rest of her life started replaying in her head.

Hugging her knees, she struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow.

There was no one she could blame.

'I ruined everything...'

The world wasn’t a novel.

Looks alone couldn’t accomplish anything. To hold a smooth conversation, you had to know common topics, share similar cultural experiences, consider each other’s feelings, and sometimes even lie.

Leah had never been taught any of that. The only thing she had learned was how to kill people swiftly with a sharp blade.

She silently lifted her hand and examined it. The rest of her skin, ever since she had mastered Swift Steps, was as smooth as any noblewoman’s. But her palms, which had to grip a sword, couldn’t lie.

Calluses had formed, torn, and formed again, leaving rough scars behind.

No matter how she looked at it, these weren’t the hands of a noblewoman. They were the hands of a warrior who had crossed the line of death dozens of times.

"Maybe I should just drop out..."

Clenching and unclenching her palms, she muttered in bitter self-deprecation.

The Academy just didn’t suit her. Maybe her father was right. Maybe it was better to walk the path of a hero.

Even if she didn’t have the talent to be loved by a prince, she at least had the talent to take lives swiftly.

While sighing in her gloom, she suddenly felt someone’s presence.

"...Hm?"

"..."

It was the voice of a male student.

Leah quickly buried her face in her knees.

She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

If she did, something might truly explode inside her.

"..."

Go away. Just go away.

No matter how insensitive someone was, they wouldn’t stay when a beautiful (at least her face was) young lady was hunched over and sobbing.

To make it even more convincing, Leah deliberately trembled and pretended to sob. Once that student left, she planned to go back to the dormitory.

But.

-Thud, thud, thud.

"Not here... Not here. Check."

The student paid her no attention.

Without the slightest hesitation, he walked to the opposite side and started digging furiously into the training ground with a shovel.

"..."

Leah was so dumbfounded by his utter disregard that she couldn’t even get angry. She peered through the gap between her knees to observe him.

He was digging the ground one handspan at a time, as if searching for landmines.

What the hell is he doing? Despite the blazing sun making him sweat like a waterfall, he kept digging, checking, and then covering the ground again, only to move on to the next spot.

It was a nearly manic display of obsessive determination.

She couldn’t understand what he was doing, but she figured he would give up soon and go back to the afterparty.

That’s when she would leave too. No way he was going to dig up the entire place, right?

But regardless of what Leah was thinking, the student kept working tirelessly with the shovel.

And then.

...

..

.

"He’s really digging ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) up the entire place..."

The setting sun, indicating that the afterparty had long since ended, cast its orange glow across the sky.

Leah, half-exhausted and half-amazed, muttered in disbelief.

Around the one-hour mark, she realized he truly had no interest in her and lifted her head, now openly watching the bizarre spectacle.

Propping her chin up, she had been watching for nearly four hours as the massive construction project reached its final stage.

The time had flown by. Wondering what on earth he was doing had kept her mind too occupied for any other thoughts.

Thanks to that, she felt a bit more at ease than before. It was almost like staring at a campfire, zoning out.

"Excuse me."

"...?"

"Could you move for a moment?"

So, when he suddenly spoke to her, she was startled.

Leah, still sitting there blankly, looked up at the student, then quickly stood up, realizing that the spot she was sitting on was next in line for his digging.

"Y-Yes!"

"Thank you."

Up close, he was clearly different from the other students.

His clothes were undeniably high-quality, but they were butler’s attire.

...Butler’s attire?

'Ah, the one who was standing next to Lady Firnea...'

Leah recalled the entrance ceremony. He was Virdem of the Serbus Family.

He was supposed to be a butler, yet he had entered as a special talent student.

The special talent exam was rumored to be insanely difficult.

Leah, forgetting her earlier embarrassment, scrutinized Virdem with the eyes of a swordswoman.

Indeed, his body was not one of a mere butler.

His muscles were beast-like, not the kind formed by lifting heavy objects but by combat training.

The white color of his uniform made it easier to see through as it clung to his sweat-drenched skin—

'...Wait, this is basically voyeurism.'

Leah snapped back to her senses and hastily looked away.

Virdem finished digging up the area where she had been sitting and wiped his forehead.

"Phew..."

"Kyah!"

Thud. With a heavy sigh, he collapsed to the ground.

Leah, startled by the sight of what looked like a dead body, instinctively stepped back. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she cautiously approached and nudged him with the tip of her shoe.

"E-Excuse me, are you okay?"

"I’m fine. Just need to rest for a moment."

His voice was muffled, face buried in the sand, so it wasn’t very convincing.

Leah hesitated for a moment, then decided to go to a nearby building and filled a canteen with water.

Keeping a canteen on hand wasn’t exactly something a young lady should do, but in the Paltis Family, you were expected to carry a sword and a canteen at all times. If the world turned upside down, those two items would be more valuable than gold.

"Here, would you like to turn over?"

"..."

Despite being treated like a turtle, Virdem silently rolled over without complaint.

His expression was more relaxed than she had expected. Leah carefully poured some water into his mouth.

"Thank you. Whew..."

Virdem swallowed the water and took a few deep breaths.

His steady breathing reassured Leah that he was truly recovering.

The speed of his recovery was impressive. Even without the water, he probably would have been up in a few more minutes.

Is he even human? Leah wondered to herself, feeling a strange sense of awe. Then, unable to suppress her curiosity, she asked,

"E-Excuse me... What were you doing just now?"

"I was wondering when you’d ask."

"...S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to spy on you."

"Oh, I wasn’t accusing you of anything. It was just a safety check. Since it was so boring, I thought you’d leave quickly, so I didn’t bother explaining."

"A safety check?"

"Yes. Ugh..." freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Virdem stood up and, without hesitation, sat down next to her.

'...Too close.'

For Leah, this was the first time in her life that she had been this close to a man who wasn’t family.

Of course, Virdem maintained the socially acceptable distance with someone he was meeting for the first time, but for Leah, even that felt too close.

As Leah tried to calm her pounding heart, Virdem bowed his head slightly and introduced himself.

"Pardon the late introduction. I am Virdem of the Serbus Family."

"Oh, I’m Leah of Paltis..."

"...Paltis?"

Virdem’s eyes widened slightly, as if he was surprised.

Leah gave a bitter smile and scratched her head.

"Yes, uh... The Hero’s family."

"No, I know that. But... are you by any chance Armeria’s younger sister?"

"Huh? You know my sister?"

"Uh, well..."

Virdem trailed off awkwardly.

So, he’s had to deal with her too, huh? Leah felt a slight sense of camaraderie and spoke to him more casually.

"You can be honest. My sister’s kind of strange, right?"

"She seems to take an... unusually keen interest in me."

"Oh, really? My sister’s usually not interested in people. She always chases after weird things."

"...?"

"Oh, no! Not that you’re weird, Virdem! I mean, my sister is just... Sorry..."

And she’d done it again. Another verbal blunder.

As she lowered her head in shame, Virdem let out a hearty laugh and scratched his head.

"Lady Armeria and you certainly have opposite personalities."

"Ugh..."

"As for the safety check, it’s just as it sounds. Ensuring it’s safe. Especially since the training ground is where Lady Firnea will be training starting tomorrow. I had to get it done today. That’s why I skipped the afterparty and did all this."

"...Is the training ground dangerous?"

"No. It’s safe. Considering it’s a place used by noble students, it must be thoroughly reinforced with magical security. Even if someone tried to set a trap, they wouldn’t do it in a place as heavily monitored as the training ground."

Leah tilted her head, confused by how he contradicted his own statement.

"Then why did you do all this...?"

"Duke Pitus was assassinated in what was supposed to be the safest place."

"...Oh."

Leah knew about that.

It was still a sore wound that the Empire had yet to fully heal from.

Virdem’s voice was calm and detached, as though he was simply stating a fact.

"If we want to prevent another incident like that, I need to personally confirm that a place is safe, even if it’s supposedly secure. At the very least, if I haven’t thoroughly inspected every place Lady Firnea sets foot, I can’t call myself a proper butler."

"But the training ground is going to be used at least three times a week, isn’t it?"

"Yes. That’s right."

Virdem looked at Leah as if he didn’t understand why she was even asking.

"And you can’t check the training ground every single time like you did today. Right?"

"Why not?"

"...Uh, what about during the Grand Competition? Lady Firnea will be using the training ground every day. Are you planning to abandon all other duties to spend four hours on this every single day?"

Virdem burst out laughing at that.

"Haha, Lady Leah. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding."

"Oh, so it was a misunderstanding?"

Of course. Spending four hours a day on such a meaningless task wasn’t something a sane person would do.

As Leah was thinking she had misunderstood again, Virdem smiled confidently and said:

"Yes, today it took four hours. But now that I’ve figured out the pattern, it won’t take that long next time. The next time, it will be less than three hours. And the time after that, even shorter. My goal is to complete the check in under an hour."

"..."

There was no pretense in his confident response.

Leah studied Virdem’s expression.

He was serious.

Seriously claiming that he intended to do this ridiculous task every single day.

Despite his initially intimidating appearance, after talking with him and seeing him laugh like this...

"...Pfft."

For some reason, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Not because Virdem’s actions were particularly funny, but because it seemed so absurd that he was tormenting himself over such a trivial matter.

Here was a man choosing to endure hours of thankless, grueling work that no one had asked him to do and that no one would recognize or praise him for.

And here she was, debating whether to drop out over a few verbal blunders. She felt like a fool.

"All right... up we go."

Leah stretched as she stood up.

Should she go apologize? She should find that student she had humiliated in the name of "evaluation" and tell him that what she said was inappropriate for a public setting. She should apologize.

She couldn’t keep running away. Just because the first button was fastened wrong didn’t mean she should walk around with her clothes half-off.

Having resolved herself, she suddenly remembered there was something else she needed advice on.

"Oh, Virdem."

"Virdem the butler is enough. After all, I am a butler."

"...But we’re fellow students."

"Then just call me Virdem."

"Hmm, then if you call me Leah first, I will."

"That’s easy. Leah."

"..."

It was the first time someone other than her family had called her name like that.

Feeling a strange, ticklish sensation, Leah asked,

"Uh, I was thinking of dyeing my hair..."

"...Pardon?"

"What color do you think would look good? I’m completely clueless about fashion and stuff, so I wanted to hear your opinion, Virdem."

Virdem shook his head in genuine horror.

"No, Leah, it’s not my place to say this on our first meeting, but... have you lost your mind?"

"W-What? I heard dyeing your hair isn’t good for it, but..."

"That’s not the issue. Listen carefully. If we gathered every noble lady at the entrance ceremony right now and offered to dye their hair the exact same shade of blonde as yours, how many do you think would take up the offer?"

"Uh, three?"

"Every single one. Without exception. Some of them would pay more gold than they weigh to have it. Dyeing such beautiful hair would be a national loss. You must never, ever do it."

"...Okay."

Despite his words sounding almost like scolding, for some reason, it made her feel good.

While absentmindedly twirling her golden hair that glistened like sunlight, Leah tried to suppress a grin as she came to a conclusion.

'...I’ll just dye Armeria’s hair while she’s sleeping.'

After all, her goal was to differentiate herself from her sister.

And it wouldn’t be a huge loss to the "nation" known as Armeria.

That country was big enough to endure such a loss.