T/N: Today I’d like to thank my Cookie Donors Emilia and Johanna! Thanks for the snacks! 😀
Mmm, this feels so nice. A fluffy bed. Super soft pillow. Deliciously warm body heat.
…….Body heat!?
I’m so shocked my eyes fly open. In an instant, all traces of drowsiness are completely blown away.
In front of me I see lovely, long eyelashes, a strong, straight nose, and slightly thin lips. An unbelievably beautiful sleeping face. I feel like I could just stare at this face for the rest of my life and I’d be happy.
….Wait, no. A villainess can’t be swayed from the mere power of a handsome man!
Okay, snap out of it. There’s something more important to be thinking about right now…. why is Duke-Sama sleeping next to me? And… why is he shirtless?
…..Wow, his body looks great though. Look at those muscles! I wish my muscles could look like that. But it seems that no matter how hard I train, even though I’m clearly getting stronger, visibly you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Absentmindedly bemoaning my accursed body type, I take a look around the room. And realized that this…. isn’t my room….? My room isn’t anywhere near as large as this, and the decorations here are much simpler too.
Which must mean that this is Duke-Sama’s room I suppose? Which also means that I’m currently in the Royal Palace, right? But how did I get here…. I don’t remember anything that happened after getting onto the carriage. I must have fallen asleep as soon as I sat down.
Well, I guess I can figure out how I got here at a later time… For now, there’s really only one thing that I can do in a situation like this.
……Let’s hurry up and get out of here.
Without making a sound, I very carefully swing my feet out of the bed. And then slowly, slowly…. I start to remove my weight.
“And just where are you going?”
I had been about to take my first step towards the door when I hear Duke-Sama’s voice call out from behind me. Could he have actually been awake this whole time?
Feigning nonchalance, I slowly look back at him over my shoulder.
……Huh? That’s my diamond necklace. Why does Duke-Sama have it?
It should be around my….. wait, no. It wasn’t there when I noticed the magic sealing collar…. which is also now missing. My neck feels oddly bare like this.
“This was in the pocket of the man who’s head you sliced off,” Duke-Sama says with an evil, teasing little grin.
No way. Are you telling me that I let my extremely valuable diamond necklace be stolen from me? I can feel it distinctly as the blood drains from my face.
Yup. Okay. Maybe I should be running away right about now.
Pretending as if I saw nothing, I turn away from Duke-Sama and make to bolt out of the room.
“Come here,” Duke-Sama says and then grabs me around the waist, lifting me up easily.
Isn’t that move just foul play?
He sets me back down on the bed and has me sit down. But what I’d really like to know is why I have to sit facing him….
This posture…. Am I about to be in for a huge lecture? I need to stay strong now. A villainess cannot allow herself to lose her nerve just because of a bit of scolding.
But instead of saying anything, Duke-Sama just silently brings his hands around my neck.
…..Huh? Why is his face suddenly so close to mine?
My mind goes blank. Then I feel something cold and hard laying against my chest and I look down and see that my diamond necklace is once again back in its usual spot.
Just as before the diamond glitters exquisitely.
“Beautiful,” Duke-Sama murmurs, his eyes looking directly into mine.
…..You mean the diamond, right? Right….?
I wish you’d say the subject of the sentence out loud…. Then there would be no possibility of misunderstanding. You were being vague on purpose to tease me, I just know it!
His gorgeous azure eyes gaze deeply into mine. With just that look, I can feel my body growing hot.
What am I supposed to do in this sort of situation? If it was the heroine I’m sure she would demurely lower her eyes. But, isn’t looking away quite rude? Plus, if it’s something the heroine would do then I certainly don’t want to do it!
“Um, so, His Majesty the king……”
My mind still blank, I blurt the first thing that comes into my head and unwittingly switch the topic over to the king.
The moment the words pass my lips, Duke-Sama’s face clouds over darkly.
Typically, I never regret saying something once it’s already been put out there, but this time, seeing his face, I feel an incredible wave of sheepish regret pass over me.
T/N: Chapter 100!! Woohoo!! To celebrate, this is a bonus chapter for you guys~! 😀 It won’t count as one of the 5 for this upcoming week 😉
Lol, I was literally just asking how many of you guys can accept Duke as the ML….. and now we get this! Man am I glad that more than half of you said you liked him XD For the 221 of you who like the flirting, the 85 of you who are hoping for a confession, and the 67 of you who can ignore the age gap, this was probably a fun chapter lol. Shocking, but fun. Unfortunately, that still leaves at least 9 of you disgusted, 49 of you bored from the romance, 66 screaming for Alicia to stay single and keep her eyes on the prize, and 9 of you wishing it was anybody but Duke.
There was also a record breaking number of people who just don’t feel like they fit into any of the categories I supplied haha. A couple of people are shipping Alicia and Gilles (which is still a four year age gap in the other direction if I might add XD), one person who prefers Will still (LOL), and one person who wants a harem for her but is upset due to lack of decent male options. They admitted that Duke, Gilles, and Henry would suffice though! (But you know that Henry is her blood related brother, right? That’s just bringing along a whole new level of taboo hahahahaha) I also had a couple people say that they prefer the Gilles x Henry ship to the Alicia x Duke one, a couple more hoping for the romance to remain a slow burn until Alicia’s a bit older, and a couple more emphasizing their dislike by calling for Duke’s head or yelling, “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY ALICIA!!!”
As you can see, opinions are pretty spread out haha. We’ve got a super diverse lot of readers and opinions and that just makes this all the more fun~! Thanks for playing, guys!! 😀
Carnation Scans 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
CONFESSION? CAN WE PLZ GET A CONFESSION!?
P.S. Thnx for the chapter!
Though I’m grateful that both side can somewhat confirm their feelings for each other ,i still feel slightly uncomfortable with this scene since Ali is only 13 and duke is near adulthood. If the author waited until Ali is around 16, i wouldn’t mind as much .
yeah, this seemingly pointless chapter which raises sooooooooo many ‘creeper’ warnings has me changing my outlook from ‘i can accept the age gap’ to ‘holy fuck, this is going stereotypical cliche creeper trash at light speed’.
sooooo many red flags are being raised that my interest is starting to wane because i hate controlling, possessive creeper MLs who effectively take over the story just by their presence.
You know that this isnt something the author sees but the translate keep your complaining to your self or complain a place where the author sees
Haha thank you! But it’s fine 😂 at this point, I’ve seen it allllll~ And I’m still here! It’s kind of funny seeing the huge dichotomy of opinions 😉
To be fair, the age gap isn’t that big… the problem is the actual age….. 3-4 years later, it wouldn’t be a problem…
Thanks for the chapter XD
At this stage it’s just too weird for me.
Totally agree! 🙂
In my mind I just bump Alicia to around 16 and Duke’s generation to around 19 (everyone just goes to school Later in life ) like there was a miscalculation of age by the authorities or something
I dunno… I seem to find that Japanese authors don’t seem to care as much about loli love…
i feel guilty bc i know the feminist thing to do is disprove of alicias and duke’s relationship bc the age gap and how controlling he is,,, but i have always been a fiend for romance 😔 setting the woman rights movement back for a “doki doki” moment, i know…
It’s only ever a problem if ignorance towards the partner is included in the relationship… If every relationship had both parties madly in love with each other trying to get the best for each other (even in a manipulative way as duke) we wouldn’t have this big of a problem in this word with this… -> so no worries I don’t think you’re setting anything back for the female rights movement (at the essence of it why couldn’t just anyone not give a dmn as long as both parties love and care for each other)
You really do care to much
I’m not a feminist ‘cuz I think people in general suck too much to take sides,…gotta give everyone equal rights and privileges or the more favored side will naturally abuse their privileges. But isn’t the feminist thing about letting women choose what they want? Alicia seems to be wanting Duke quite a bit right now.
actually feminism means equal rights for woman, so a girl can do everything a man can.
I wonder how long it’s going to take Alicia to decide that it’s not worth her time and genius to define herself in contrast to Liz. I don’t think Liz is in the least bit evil but she’s also the kind of person that just isn’t going to change their mind.
She’s too focused on her mission. Only if Liz does something unforgivable will the gloves come off because at this point she’s beating a dead horse.
Thanks for the new chapter! Congrats on 100 chapters!
I don’t know about other countries, but age gap 5-7 years is a common thing in my place, especially if the man is older 🤔
Anyway…THIS CHAPTER IS ABSOLUTELY HOT CUTE BEYOND EXPECTATION! 😍😍 Argh! Kinda hate how little vocabularies that I have, but in a simple sentence I could say : I’M MELTING! 😆❤️
…Ehem~ Thank you so much for ur hard work as usual 😘💐👍
At their age? Just asking *inquisitively*
Cuz if they were older (late teens to early twenties) then no problem.
Hm, they are not talking about marriage, right? Even if Duke has any intention to marry Ali-chan, I think Duke has enough common sense to wait Ali-chan to reach adulthood 🤔😶 Though Duke has to gives so much efforts so he can dates Ali-chan before that…
I think Duke is playing this long term. Considering his the heir apparent to the throne, his fiancee is going to need training ( for diplomasy and the likes) which might take a long time so he might be thinking marriage. That’s if his not thinking of a purely love match.
Has the king finally done something? Why does Duke’s expression darken? Arrghh… i’m so confused!
Imagine waking up in the arms of handsome boy…XD Ali-chan surely has strong mental~ if it were to be me, i’d already made my nose bleed so much earlier.
Maybe it’s just the King’s incompetence. Or that he gave Ali the order that put her in this situation in the first (if you put aside that she was going to do this anyway).
Um. This kinda made me uncomfortable lol
She’s only in her tweens and dukes like 4-5 years older than her.. but like I dont know this chapter just made me feel unsettled
Many thanks
Thank you for the translation and extra chapter. And CONGRATS on the 100!
What a hot chapter – Now, had author-san set them to be a handful of years older, and most readers would have swooned lol.
A lot Of fucking femmnist in this comments section she is setting her own Life at risk the duke like her so he stops her its just a story god damn
Thank you again for the great and consistent work! Im sure when I say this I say it for everybody, your work is very much appreciated.
Duke likes her and Alicia was obviously appreciating his muscles so, yeah, go them! I do think I’d probably prefer Alicia x Gilles a little more right now if only because I have a soft spot for male tsunderes and I like how he directly criticized Liz, but Duke x Alicia is fine, 1000 times better than other pairings I’ve seen (I’m looking at several Korean manwha in particular, smh).
Also, I’m half laughing at Alicia’s desiring more muscle since it’s so rare to see such an attitude among female…especially Japanese light novel female…characters, and half sympathetic. I guess her muscles don’t grow because it’s a world with magic? I’d give her some (not amazon style but some…unless Alicia wants amazon style then I’ll give her what she wants!) since, magic schmagic, if you can cut people’s heads off with a one-handed axe when your magic is sealed then you have to have some impressive physical strength. (Not saying that a person with more normal strength can’t wield a one-handed axe effectively, it’s the beheading in one strike feat that requires some oomph.)
Looks like Duke might be getting fed up with Baka-Ou, btw. Good, I got fed up with the king ages ago. “We need you to be the heroine’s monitor because we can’t possibly educate her directly! If we did, we’d have to punish her when she does something stupid and give her consequences and stuff!” It’s well-known what spoiling does to people, that it doesn’t help anyone, least of all the spoilee and yet people, both in stories and real life, still do it. Ugh!
its time for you openly stood by Alicia side, Duke-sama.
Time to rebelling against your father
so who wants to bet that Duke’s face grew dark cause the king plans on ding nothing to the “saintess”?
also i was kinda hoping that she would teleport everyone to that village since it was prob daytime so they could see what happens there and so theyd shut up on their idealistic bullshite? itd be fun to see the idiot brigade throw up cause of whats happening there and have their worldview shattered like it was for Alicia.
I for one am going to laugh my butt off when Liz turns evil in the future and the King is just looking out the window up to the sky wondering how this could possibly happen. What a maroon!
Okay, even without the age gape I find it creepy that she woke in bed with a shirtless Duke. If the following romance is going to be like this chapter, I’d rather Alicia stay single.
Duke.. thats.. sekohara is it not?? Duke are you a pedo???
I think the King told duke that he is not gonna punish liz that’s why duke is mad of him
Thank you for the chapter, I knew many people would blow their fuses, but I’m disappointed in it happening for all the wrong reasons all the same.
I’m disappointed in so many people being OK with a 13 year old killing people(with or without the self defense aspect, modern society still does its utmost to educate people into disarming and disabling offenders and leaving the full punishment to the authorities, else we’d get mayhem, and by no means does the modern society, with the values some are trying to force onto this story, assign 13 yos to the firing squad or the injection room where criminals would be executed, so, I sniff some double standards at play), even as they act all grossed out by the actually platonic gesture of sleeping next to someone, shirtless as he may have been, even though real modern teens and young adults play pool Chicken and play around the beach in only bathing suits with friends, cousins, siblings, without giving much care to all the skin contact going on(with or without crushes taking place too).
They’re both romantically interested in each other, yet this gesture in and of itself was overall platonic. Neither of the two tried anything more, and she doesn’t feel victimised in the least, she simply feels her villainess status threatened, even though this event would/will work in her favour.
We’ve been reading all along a fantasy and historical novel where the FML is an adult modern woman reincarnated( and self-aware) as a child growing into a teenager then maybe adult, all the while crushing on this prince, initially as a fictional character in a game, then as a flesh and blood person in the world she was reborn into.
And they’re in a medieval setting where others already pointed out marriages themselves would occur at far younger ages for the sake of politics, yet the author minded modern common sense enough to modernise their ML and have him not literally try to sleep with her, not try to kiss her, not touch her in any inappropriate place to ensure definitive claim to a marriage to Alicia who now is technically pubescent and awakening sexually, at least in the inner sense. It wouldn’t be morally right to act on anything at this age for her(even though mentally she’s still a cougar), but that’s the thing, he technically didn’t make any, even by modern standards, sexual, thus creepy, move on her.
We have an environment where these young people are expected to be political and smartly move around the adults with the de facto power as to not plunge the country into more strife than it’s already experiencing, not to mention make it vulnerable to outside forces that may or may not try to conquer them.
We have some characters who get bashed on for overly idealistic nonsense, but when the mains thread the middle, more realistic, ground, they’re bashed too?!
I’m sorry, but it’s high time to wake up and smell the “we knew what we were reading from the title, premise and description of the story” coffee.
Count me in as another one for disgusted.
Is the Kingdom really okay being left in the hands of an unapologetic pedophile and creep?
It’d be different if it were their parents arranging a political marriage to be legally fulfilled when she comes of age. Still incredibly disturbing and gruesome by modern standards, but that’s a thing that actually happened, albeit at a time where women didn’t have the same rights and people presumably had shorter life expectancies than what we’re dealing with here (they have magic, and seemingly an understanding of germ theory).
It would also be different if a twenty five year old started hitting on a twenty year old.
But, it’s pretty clear that Duke views her as a child—which she is—and if he’s not lusting after her he’s clearly got no understanding of boundaries or appropriate behavior. That’s a messed up combination.
If I were the King I would be fast-tracking my Kingdom into a constitutional monarchy and ensuring as little power goes to Duke as feasible.
bRo jUsT WAIT UNTIL SHES AT LEAST SIXTEEN before making moves on her… I was all tryna defend him cuz he hadn’t done anything to her yet. That scene would’ve been soooo romantic if she wasn’t a LitErAl cHiLd
Gee this relationship escalated quickly, also he basically kidnapped her (kinda ironic now that I think about the recent ordeal).
Anyway I’m fine with the age gap but hold your horses Duke, ya can’t immediately sleep with her.
Oh and thanks for clarifying my doubts last chapter.
Yeah the problem isn’t the age gap but the actual age that he is (18) and she is (13)
It’d be fine if she was like nineteen and he was 24 or smth…
why did this chapter make me feel single even though im not even single
AND YOOHOO CHAPTER 100! THANK YOUUUU <3333
i dont exactly enjoy/or am comfortable with the age gap, but i just imagine alicias just a bit older to make up for it hahaah… really hope some authors realize huge age gaps aren’t all that romantic and actually make some readers uncomfortable with reading. also that comment about people being “femmnist” in the comments LMAO, nah people are just not okay with the age gap here.
So. I’m sorry to do it. But it now is crucial.
This story seem based on a medieval era where nobility control the power. Many daughters, especially prodigies like Alicia, are bethroted really early, sometimes they are AT BIRTH. The age gap only is a wall or disgusting for us, the only element that might make someone a pedophile is wanting to bed a child that did not reach puberty while being more than 20. It is morally wrong, pointless and harmful to try and force your modern value onto other and other era, the self-righteousness of the left already killed enough people, so for the love of god, stop bringing your ideals and politics into litterature that does not need it. If it was an essay on politics or phylosophy I wouldn’t have said anything, but this is a fiction in a fantasy.
Thank you 😊
nah, the dude’s still a creep. I say take him to the gallows
Darn, my original general comment ended up as a reply to someone I never tried to reply to.
That’s happening more and more it seems. I’m going to have to look into it! It’s on my to-do list, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Edit: I submitted a support request to wordpress. We’ll see if I can get to the bottom of this!
This was a great read, thanks!
Why does Alicia love Duke again? Because he is handsome? That’s it?
Empty.
Maybe she is attracted to superficial look but acting like having a thousand years old crush is weird.
well that escalated quickly…
this gives ‘omg, that is so adorable, can I please see your id’ vibes