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Chapter : 03
The Circumstances of the Villainess (2)
Silvy was already used to my eccentric behavior, so she calmly pushed a cup of lavender tea toward me without comment.
“Today you must attend the imperial ballroom in the afternoon. It would be best if you applied a facial mask and rested for now.”
“…Do you really think I have that kind of luxury?”
I pushed the lavender tea aside and brought a cup of cold, bitter coffee to my lips.
Ugh.
It was disgusting. I had asked for strong coffee to wake me up, but who brought me something undrinkable?
And yet—it did wake me up. Grimacing, I sipped it anyway while my eyes quickly scanned the documents on my desk.
Silvy said in a subdued voice,
“Perhaps you should postpone your work for a while…”
“If I postpone it, it just becomes tomorrow’s work.”
“Then you can postpone it again tomorrow.”
“…Have you secretly joined some religion without me knowing?”
“I am simply giving rational advice.”
What kind of strange religion worships “tomorrow’s me”?
From my previous life working in a company, I had learned this one truth: tomorrow’s me is less trustworthy than today’s me. Trusting her leads only to misery.
“This is really important paperwork. I’ll just finish this and prepare.”
At my reply, Silvy sighed deeply.
“I also know you said the same thing last night and went to bed very late.”
“What? How do you know that?”
I had tried to sneakily work without anyone noticing yesterday because everyone kept nagging me. I didn’t finish in the end only because I suddenly lost consciousness from exhaustion.
I narrowed my eyes.
“…Don’t tell me you turned off the lights on purpose?”
“……”
Silvy averted her gaze. That was a silent confirmation.
“Seriously…”
I let out a hollow laugh, completely dumbfounded. Then Silvy leaned her cheek toward me.
“If you dislike me, you may hit me.”
“I’m not doing that. I don’t hate you at all.”
“I would prefer it if you used a whip, though.”
“I don’t have that kind of hobby!”
What a terrifying thing to say! I pushed Silvy away.
“Get out! Because of you I can’t concentrate, and the work is piling up even more!”
After sending her out, I buried myself in work again.
Even while working, Silvy occasionally peeked in.
“Young lady, you must rest at least a little.”
“Just let me finish this.”
“You may not be able to rest, but you still need to prepare for the ballroom.”
“No, just this first.”
“The Crown Prince has arrived to escort you. However, Lord Benjamin is currently causing trouble, saying that Your Highness will always be only his sister’s escort partner for life, and we need you to come stop him…”
No, no, no. Wait a second!
How much time had passed like that?
The one who woke me was not Silvy—but a young lady I had never seen before, dripping in dazzling jewels so bright it hurt my eyes.
“Are you ignoring me, Lady Goldwarde?!”
“Pardon?”
I blinked.
At the same time, I reflexively raised a hand and wiped the corner of my mouth. When you wake up from dozing off, you never know if you were drooling.
Ah… I must have nodded off.
Everything felt strange. The glittering crystal chandelier, the people dressed in colorful silk gowns, the softly flowing music.
Wait… music?
At our house, music was banned while working because it made people sleepy.
I was definitely working just now.
When did I end up here?
I looked around in confusion and muttered incoherently.
“What were we talking about? Something about how my maid likes to be whipped if she makes a mistake?”
At my words, the young lady’s face turned pale.
“What on earth are you saying?!”
“Ah, I’m still half-asleep. I’m having trouble following the conversation. Could you explain what we were talking about?”
“That’s disgusting!”
Despite my attempt to explain, she shuddered and hurried away.
I tilted my head and looked to the side.
Wasn’t my escort for today supposed to be my fiancé, Crown Prince Adolf?
But the hand holding mine belonged to my adorable younger brother, Benjamin.
So I asked him,
“Did I say something wrong, Ben?”
At my question, Benjamin replied in a stiff, soldier-like tone.
“You are always perfect, sister.”
His shining eyes looked at me like a captain admiring a division commander.
In short, he looked like someone who would never say anything bad about me.
“…Right. Who am I even asking.”
I sighed deeply. My temples throbbed from just waking up.
Well, whatever.
Too tired to investigate anything further, I simply yawned.
And the next day.
For some reason, I had become the infamous villainess of the empire who casually beat her maids and even drove out the Crown Prince without hesitation.
To Lady Nanari Dryan, who is destined to be recorded in imperial history as the first noblewoman to die laughing.
I didn’t realize until now that you had so much free time. I never expected someone to fill an entire page of letter paper with “k”s.
I’m honored that the backstory of the empire’s greatest villainess is so entertaining to you.
But be careful—what will you do if you get whipped by that villainess you’re laughing at so openly? Rumor has it I even tried to whip the Crown Prince before being stopped.
I suppose I should practice whipping to meet everyone’s expectations.
In the second page of your “kkkkk”-filled letter, you suddenly wrote words of concern for my social isolation.
Are you trying to act like a kind lady who suddenly remembers to worry about the villainess after laughing at her?
Worrying about me after laughing that much doesn’t feel very sincere.
And honestly, my situation wasn’t even that bad. I just blamed it all on Silvy’s “whip comment” and ended up eating mountains of chocolate marshmallows that are usually forbidden.
Speaking of chocolate marshmallows, it reminds me of the outdoor banquet where I first met you.
You were very adorable as a child. You just came up to me and said I looked like a fairy, that I was too beautiful, and all sorts of honest, cute things.
So what happened to make you so irritating now?
I met Nanari Dryan at a garden banquet held in the Dryan family gardens.
The ancestors of House Dryan were dragons who helped found the empire. Most citizens of the empire looked at them with awe—but I did not.
The eldest son of this family is the one who goes berserk and burns down the capital.
Knowing the original story, I could not look at them with admiration like others.
In truth, I didn’t even want to attend the banquet. But there was only one reason I forced myself to come despite my fear.
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you shall never lose a hundred battles.
The villain who would destroy this empire—Cal Dryan.
I needed to know what kind of person he was, so I wouldn’t trigger his “berserk switch.”
And, just a little, I was also curious about what a true dragon descendant looked like. In the end, I gained nothing.
He’s more normal than I expected.
I thought while fanning myself with a folding fan.
I thought dragon descendants lived in caves or something.
Or that they piled mountains of gold around themselves. But the Dryan mansion was no different from any other noble estate.
If anything, our Goldwarde ducal house is more flashy.
Our ancestors must have been crows or something, because every descendant was obsessed with shiny things. Money, money, and more money.
Because of that greed, the descendants worked themselves to death every single day, never able to properly organize anything.
But I don’t even see Cal Dryan… I should’ve just stayed home and done paperwork.
At that time, I was only ten years old, but I was already handling the work of one adult. My father, who initially tried to stop me calling it “child abuse,” had long since given up.
Father must be desperate enough to hire even a cat’s paw…
What was a cat anyway? If any animal could work, he’d probably want dogs, horses, even cows lined up doing work.
Anyway, the banquet itself was nothing special. And I tried to find some value in attending so that I wouldn’t waste the time.
And that was…
