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Chapter : 66
“Hm…”
Since many of Vanessa’s followers had left, I expected it to be a small gathering.
However, I hadn’t expected to be seated right next to Vanessa, so I was a little flustered.
Still, there was no reason I couldn’t sit there.
“Excuse me.”
I gathered up the hem of my voluminous dress and walked past the ladies to the seat beside Vanessa.
But just as I was about to pull out the chair and sit down—
“How rude.”
Vanessa’s cold voice cut through the air.
‘Me?’
The way all eyes turned to me, it was clear she was talking to me—but what did I do that was rude?
I pointed to myself in genuine confusion.
“Me?”
“You must not know, but the seat you were about to take is Miss Fiona’s seat, the host of the party. She only stepped away momentarily to greet guests.”
How was I supposed to know that?
Even with my supposedly low intelligence, I still remembered that unless nameplates were placed at each seat, there were no assigned seats according to etiquette.
When I stared at Vanessa in disbelief, she lifted her chin and said proudly,
“There’s the crest of House Bern embroidered on the seat cushion. That means it’s Miss Fiona’s seat.”
“……”
“Surely you didn’t know something so basic?”
Honestly.
Really honestly.
Back when I studied etiquette, I probably had the intelligence of a dolphin at best, so I didn’t have much faith in my knowledge.
Still…
“Pfft.”
“Hehe.”
When the young ladies started snickering, I realized they had set this situation up to mock me.
“So, which etiquette book is that from?”
“Pardon?”
“You said it was common knowledge. I’m asking which etiquette book says that.”
As I pressed harder, the young ladies exchanged awkward glances.
They clearly hadn’t expected this kind of reaction from me.
‘Hah.’
This is what a “good small business” in Korea looks like: full of politics, backstabbing, and passive-aggressive games. Too bad that stuff doesn’t work on me.
‘Should I just let it go?’
I briefly considered letting them off, seeing how flustered they looked after their prank backfired… but—
“Why should we explain it to you?”
Vanessa’s bold response made that thought vanish instantly.
“Why should we fill in Ulmer Young Lady’s lack of common sense?”
“She must not have attended many social gatherings—this is obvious etiquette.”
“I guess the Duke of Ulmer didn’t bother to educate his adopted daughter.”
“Oh dear, how pitiful…”
Their roles were clearly well-practiced.
It was obvious they’d used this kind of social maneuvering to exclude and belittle others many times before.
Probably Paula had been their usual target.
“If you don’t know, try learning instead of acting so confident.”
“That’s the limit of commoners, isn’t it?”
“It’s embarrassing to be grouped with her as fellow nobles…”
“That’s enough.”
I cut them off, intending to enlighten them on an important fact they’d overlooked.
And what fact was that?
“Which etiquette book is it from?”
SPLASH!
That I’m not Paula—I’m the kind of villainess who flips tables when things don’t go my way.
An elite villainess, trained daily by the system’s quests on how to flip a table with maximum efficiency.
“Kyahhh!”
“Oh my!”
With expert skill, I kicked the table over. The seated ladies screamed as tea and sweets splashed all over them.
None of them escaped unscathed—just to varying degrees.
[SYSTEM] ‘Vanessa Neselrod and 17 other young ladies’ are horrified by your brutal, senseless wickedness! Infamy +30, Karma +5
“W-What on earth is going on here?!”
Just in time, the tea party host ran over, pale-faced.
‘So that’s Fiona Bern?’
She had been standing next to the maid who guided me earlier, but she hadn’t even acknowledged me—so I didn’t realize she was the host.
While I was processing that, she seemed to realize I was the cause of the chaos and immediately confronted me.
“You! Did you do this? What the hell were you thinking?!”
From the look in her eyes, she was ready to rip me apart.
Of course, she hadn’t been involved directly, but she was one of them nonetheless. So I didn’t feel the least bit sorry about ruining her party.
Still, I felt I should say something.
“I just made room.”
“What?”
I put on a faintly apologetic face—though I didn’t mean it at all—and explained.
“There was no seat for me.”
“W-Wh-What…!”
She backed away two steps from me.
[SYSTEM] ‘Fiona Bern’ feels fear at your madness and inhuman behavior! Infamy +5, Karma +1
Hmm. I guess my explanation had the opposite effect. So I asked politely,
“Did you understand what I said?”
“Uh, well…”
“If you understood, then nod.”
“KYAAAH!”
…Okay, that part wasn’t entirely intentional.
I didn’t stay long at a tea party where I clearly wasn’t welcome.
“I won’t let this go! I swear! I’ll never forget this humiliation!”
None of the other young ladies dared speak to me, but Vanessa—probably emboldened by being crowned Spring Queen two years in a row—shouted after me as I left.
And as I rode back in the carriage, having completely abandoned my shameless villainess act, I kept replaying her words in my mind.
“Hmmm…”
So I came back with nothing but infamy and karma?
It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for, but it wasn’t terrible either.
Still… the fallout with Vanessa Neselrod didn’t sit right with me.
I wanted to ignore it—but if it were that easy, the social route players in the ARC community wouldn’t have been crying about it so much….
“This won’t do. I need a plan.”
Determined, I summoned Marco to my room as soon as I got home.
It bothered me a bit that he wasn’t fully recovered yet, but honestly, if he was well enough to walk around the mansion, he was probably fine.
“You… You summoned me, Lady.”
Marco entered my room looking much better than before.
Even in the game illustrations and when I’d first seen him, his face had always been swollen.
But now that he’d recovered a bit while staying at the duke’s estate, he looked like a normal boy his age.
I nodded, eyes on the freckles sprinkled like sesame seeds over his nose.
“Yes, I called for you.”
Marco looked even more nervous at my reply.
“Um… W-What do you need, my lady?”
“You know you agreed to work under me, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
He nodded with a reluctant expression.
“I don’t remember it, but I was told I agreed to work for you before I passed out…”
No, Marco. You didn’t. The system basically forced you into labor under me.
Honestly, I had considered whether it was okay to make him work—he was still just a kid.
But as the villainess of the mighty Bregenz Empire, the system had been subtly pressuring me… and besides, teaching him the value of give-and-take wasn’t a bad thing.
So I decided to draw up a proper employment contract with Marco.
After all, better to work for a slightly stingy noble house that feeds you than starve as a poor beggar, right?
Having fully justified it to myself, I handed Marco the same employment contract I gave Randolph.
“Sign this first. Then I’ll explain what your job will be.”
Though I saved him from a life of begging, I had no intention of making him work for free just because he owed me.
The other terms might be strict, but I thought the pay was pretty fair.
“Ah, um…”
But Marco just hesitated and kept looking at me.
‘What’s wrong?’
Was the contract that bad? Was he going to try and run?
I waited nervously for his answer.
“My lady, I… I can’t read….”
Phew, thank goodness. That’s easily fixed.
At my gesture, Sophie came over and began reading the contract line by line for him.
“Clause 2: Job Duties and Work Location. You’ll work wherever Lady Adelheid tells you to. And as for your duties… they’re basically anything the lady tells you to do…”
But as the explanation went on, Sophie’s face grew increasingly grim.
