I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 17: Didn’t Know! -
Of course, it’s not like I didn’t try to resist.
[My Lady, I haven’t received a notice. That means I can’t go.]
[You can enter as a special talent student, right?]
[...Is that even possible for me? Isn’t the competition something like a hundred thousand to one?]
[Do it.]
“Haa...”
Well, what choice did I have.
I sat in the rattling ascetic’s carriage, lost in thought for a long while.
Special talent student.
It’s not that I’d never considered it.
But the thing about these special admissions is that even non-nobles can apply, which makes the competition absolutely brutal.
Of course, I’m confident in my skills. But if you ask whether I’m good enough to be one of only three among hundreds of thousands...
‘...Not impossible, right?’
As I rubbed my hands, I started feeling a little irrational confidence.
It may sound arrogant, but after struggling to raise a genius like Firnea, I was confident I could take down a decent knight even without using magic.
And with magic allowed?
I could probably twist the wrists of some ordinary entrance exam students without much ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ trouble.
Of course, the written test’s still a problem, and I know there are a lot of eccentrics in the world, but—
Thud!
“Hm?”
Lost in thought, I suddenly felt the carriage come to a sharp stop.
I opened the window to see what was going on, and the coachman bowed his head, apologizing.
“S-Sorry! The carriages up ahead stopped all of a sudden...”
“It’s fine. Looks like something’s going on.”
“I’ll go check!”
Thanks to the financial scolding My Lady gave him, the coachman was now thoroughly disciplined and stomped up to the front—then returned with a puzzled look on his face.
“There’s some girl standing there?”
“...?”
What the hell is he talking about?
I got off the carriage and walked ahead—and it was exactly as he said.
A small girl with black hair was standing in the middle of the road, bold as can be.
The coachman at the very front shouted in disbelief.
“Hey, kid! Are you trying to die?! What the hell are you doing jumping in like that?!”
“Sorry.”
“You gonna move or not?!”
Crack! The coachman swung his whip through the air irritably.
It was the kind of whip crack sharp enough to make most people bolt on instinct—but the girl didn’t even flinch. She just spoke.
“I have a request.”
“...What?”
“Let me ride.”
“???”
The coachman spat on the ground with a dumbfounded expression.
“The fuck you sayin’? Get the hell outta the way! You gonna take responsibility if my Young Master’s late for his entrance exam?!”
“I’m also on my way to the entrance exam. I’ll pay.”
At that, the coachman tensed slightly and scanned the girl.
Worn-out black clothes, a scrawny body, barefoot, a rusty sword.
The moment he finished assessing her, he flew into a rage and raised his whip.
“Crazy bitch... You brought this on yourself!”
“...!”
Crack!
Before I could stop him, the whip struck the girl.
She rolled sideways several times from the force, and though the coachman hesitated for a moment, he then whipped the reins and continued forward.
“...Tch. Should’ve moved faster!”
“Oh ho.”
I let out a quiet sound of admiration—not at the coachman’s character, but at the beast-like reaction speed of that girl.
She didn’t just absorb the impact of the whip—she flew with it.
In other words, she didn’t take the hit.
The dramatic tumble was a reactionary movement to avoid damage.
As expected, she staggered back to her feet and stood in the road again.
“W-What the hell? She was just—”
“Let me ride.”
“Is she out of her mind?!”
No one knew who she was, and she was blocking the way—
And there was just something unsettling about her.
Eyes with no focus, a face completely devoid of expression.
She was like a monster that had learned to speak human language.
A hitchhiker no sane person would ever want to pick up.
She was whipped, beaten with sticks, and even kicked by horses. She was thrown from the road dozens of times.
But no matter how many times she was rejected, she stood right back in the road.
And then—our carriage’s turn came.
The girl made the same request.
“Let me ride.”
“What should I do?”
At the coachman’s question, I nodded.
“There’s space. Let her on.”
“You want me to—wait, where’d she go?”
The coachman lost track of her. Even with my own eyes, I barely managed to spot her—climbing up the back of the carriage using some bizarre bug-like movement.
“Thanks.”
“...You probably could’ve just snuck on at that point.”
“That would be a crime. I shouldn’t do that.”
“...”
“Shouldn’t do it.”
Her black eyes locked onto mine as she said it.
Definitely not normal.
Up close, her strangeness was even more obvious—hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in days, her whole body covered in wounds, and a blank expression like she wasn’t even aware of her own condition.
She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me.
“What’s this?”
“Money.”
“...”
Three copper coins, caked in mud. Not even enough to buy a candy.
That was why I let her on—but now I was curious.
What the hell is this kid? Was she abandoned by some assassination cult?
Lacking both common sense and knowledge, but with physical ability that could rival knights.
Naturally, the question came out.
“Forget the money. What’s your name?”
“Arin.”
“...What?”
“That’s my name.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“H-Hold on, what did you say? Say it again. Arin?”
“Yeah. Arin. That’s my name.”
It was a completely unique name I’d never heard before.
In this world, at least.
I wasn’t sure, but that pronunciation and structure—it was just too different from this world’s naming conventions, almost like...
...like a name from Earth.
I clenched my teeth and grabbed Arin’s shoulder tightly.
“You—are you Korean?! No, are you from Earth?!”
“...? I don’t know what that is.”
“Don’t lie! I’m also...!”
“Never heard of it.”
“T-Then who gave you that name? Your parents?”
“I don’t have any.”
“You mean they’re dead?”
“I never had any. I gave myself this name.”
“...Where did you get the idea?”
“I don’t know. Just made it up.”
“...”
“That hurts.”
...Guess it couldn’t be.
I let out a long sigh and released her shoulder.
“...Seems I mistook you for someone else. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
That was the end of it.
Arin sat upright and began meditating. I scratched my head.
What the hell was I expecting?
Apparently, I still hadn’t fully let go of my lingering hope.
****
We arrived at the capital, and I had the coachman take my luggage to the inn I had reserved in advance.
Arin bowed her head once in thanks and turned to leave.
“Thanks for the ride. Bye now.”
“...”
I watched Arin walking down the street with cool, detached eyes.
“What the—there are beggars in the capital?”
“Maybe she’s an escaped slave?”
“Should we call the guards...?”
The passersby were murmuring as they looked at Arin’s beast-like appearance.
Not that I cared. Really, I didn’t...
But that name still bugged me. And the fact that I questioned her—it kept eating at me.
So, scratching my head in defeat, I called out to her.
“Hey.”
“...?”
“Come with me for a second.”
“Okay.”
I dragged Arin to the inn and shoved her into the bathroom.
I was about to walk away, but just in case, I asked from the other side of the door.
“You do know how to wash, right?”
“I do. But there’s no mud here.”
“...You—wait.”
That was nearly a disaster. Good thing I asked.
I pulled her back out and gave a step-by-step lecture on how to wash properly.
“So first, wet your body and hair with water. Then use this to scrub your head, this one to make foam, and this one to rinse it off. Water comes out from here. For your face, apply the potion inside this shell. And this is a towel. After you’re done—”
“Why do I have to do all this?”
“Didn’t you come here for the exam? You won’t even be let in looking like that.”
“...Got it.”
Once her question was answered, Arin began bathing immediately. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
For thirty minutes.
When the sound of water finally stopped, a slightly cleaner Arin came out.
Peeking into the bathroom, it looked less like a person had washed and more like someone had scraped up 300 years of underwater garbage.
...I decided to put off cleaning it and, dragging her by the arm as she dripped all over the floor in a towel, brought her into the room.
As I naturally gathered mana into my hands—
Shfft! Arin bolted across the room on all fours.
I twitched an eyebrow and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Magic user. Dangerous.”
“It’s not dangerous. Come here. You’re going to stay dripping wet like that?”
“...”
Is this thing even human? She had zero socialization.
I gently dried her hair as she shuffled awkwardly toward me, then dressed her in some casual clothes Firnea was about to throw away.
“Hm...”
I examined Arin’s face from various angles, and the butler spirit within me began to stir.
This girl...
She had potential.
“Hold still a second.”
“Okay.”
Since childhood, I’d been in charge of My Lady’s hair and makeup.
There used to be a professional maid for that, but one day Firnea insisted that no one else could touch her hair but me—and that was that.
Naturally, my grooming skills were top-tier.
Snip, snip...
Like sculpting a plaster statue, I trimmed, applied, and dabbed.
For a whole hour.
Arin didn’t react at all. She was so still, I thought she’d stopped breathing.
“All right, done.”
I spun the chair to face the mirror and showed her the finished look.
Of course, since I’d done it, it was perfect.
That filthy wolf-girl who looked like she’d crawled around in the wild for three months now looked like a stunning young woman—one that would make passersby turn their heads.
Arin looked in the mirror and muttered something strange.
“Amazing. I look like a person.”
“...Of course you do. You are a person.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You’re a person.”
What is this, middle school edge phase?
Arin frowned faintly as she touched her face, then lowered her head slightly.
“Thanks.”
****
“Wheeeere the hell did she gooooooooo!!!!!!!”
“Unnie...”
Leah tugged on Armeria’s armor with a face as red as a beet.
“E-Everyone’s watching... Stop it.”
“No, Leah! I can’t let this slide! T-The protagonist is missing!”
A crowd of onlookers had already gathered in the capital’s main street.
“...House Paltis? What’s going on?”
“They’ve been shouting about someone going missing since earlier...”
“Has anyone seen a girl like this?! Small, kind of beast-like?!”
“N-No, we haven’t!”
Armeria lunged at random people with wild eyes.
Leah, watching her sister’s outburst, noticed it was a little different from the usual episodes.
‘...Protagonist?’
Of course she didn’t understand, but that word—protagonist—was one she’d heard many times before.
Basically since she learned to speak.
Whenever Armeria whispered some “secret” to her, it always involved phrases like:
“If we don’t raise the protagonist, we all die.”
“We’re not the Hero—the protagonist is the Hero.”
“All the elixirs we’ve gathered are to be fed little by little to the protagonist,” and so on.
In fact, in the last few weeks, the frequency of those lines had increased dramatically.
She’d kept going on about how it was finally time, that everything was ready...
And then today, she’d dragged Leah out and caused this whole scene.
“...”
Definitely some kind of mania.
But Leah knew this mania wasn’t normal—she’d consumed enough elixirs over the years to be sure of that.
If Armeria was having an episode this intense—then something serious must be happening.
Leah braced her embarrassment and approached her sister.
“Unnie, I’ll help you, so calm down. Everyone’s going to run away at this rate.”
“A-Ah... you’re right. Sorry. I think I got too worked up.”
Once Armeria calmed down with a deep breath, Leah pressed for details.
“So, this ‘protagonist’ person... What do they look like?”
“Like a wild wolf.”
“...What?”
“That’s how she was described! You’ll know when you see her. Just a half-tamed beast.”
“Then... shouldn’t we call the guards?”
“She might look like that, but she’s got proper manners, so don’t worry. She wouldn’t get arrested.”
“She’s still somewhere in this street, right?”
“Yeah... probably. But she should be showing up by now...”
“All right. I’ll go check the opposite street.”
“Leah...! I knew I could count on you!”
Leah dodged Armeria’s lunge and added a final question.
“What do I do if I find her?”
“If you tell her to come, she’ll follow. Let’s meet in front of the fountain.”
“G-Got it. Any precautions?”
“Precautions...”
Armeria thought for a moment before answering.
“No matter what happens, absolutely do not tell her she’s normal.”
