TVMF 15

Chapter: 15

“Oh, Adrian!”

Seeing the smile revealed in the candlelight, the duchess gasped in admiration.

“Are you finally listening to me now? Are you finally understanding a mother’s heart?”

“Yes.”

Hiding his usual anger, he replied, and Melisandra’s body trembled with joy.

“My dear child!”

She pulled the boy into her arms.

At that moment, the boy flinched, but even that reflex quickly subsided.

“I’ve been too harsh all this time.”

“…….”

“From now on, you can enjoy everything. Everything that the Velas family heir can enjoy……”

In the darkness, only Adrian’s eyes shone brightly.

“Utel.”

“Hm?”

“You’ve been controlling me like a puppet all this time, haven’t you?”

“……?”

Adrian’s gaze was mercilessly cold.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“A-Adrian?”

“Yes. The young master of the Velas family, moving exactly as you wished. Must have been a delightful toy.”

“Don’t say something like that!”

I swear I had never thought of Adrian that way.

I only intended to correct his behavior a bit before handing him over to Lexia.

But……

It seemed the misunderstanding had already piled up solidly.

“Regrettably, it’s better now to entrust my leash to someone else.”

“What?”

“Does Lexia displease you?”

Before I knew it, Adrian had grown into a tall adult.

And in his arms was Lexia, with her blonde hair and pitiful green eyes.

“Wh-what……!”

Lexia had already appeared. I had missed the timing to escape.

Backing away, I thought reflexively, What’s gone wrong?

“Status window.”

I called the activation word, but it was as silent as a mouse.

The golden light that had gently illuminated my vision for 24 hours had completely vanished.

“Status window! Status window!”

Then, with a sharp beep, this message appeared:

[SYSTEM: Main quest failed.]
[SYSTEM: Penalty ‘The petals of the poison rose fall eight times’ has begun.]

“Yah!!”

I screamed, but the system window faded as if it had never been there.

With a swing, Adrian drew his sword and approached me.

From his glacier-blue eyes, there was no trace of ‘affection.’

“Adrian. Please, please!”

I begged until the very end, only turning to run when he was almost on top of me.

Of course, it was too late.

“Kyaaa!”

Pain cut across my shoulder and back.

Damn it.

“Huff, huff……”

It was a dream.

Though it was still midnight, it wasn’t completely dark.

Unlike in the dream, the system window now illuminated the corners of my vision.

Relief washed over me, but so did a surge of frustration.

Not only have I become the villainess of a bleak novel…

Why do I always have to tremble in fear?

“Administrator.”

[ADMIN: Yes, Roshesia.]

Seeing an immediate response in the popup eased me somewhat.

Perhaps because it was night, I voiced my usually suppressed question honestly.

“What happens to your plan if I fail the quest?”

[ADMIN: ……]

“Will you find another ‘player’ to complete the quest?”

[ADMIN: No.]

I felt quite relieved at that.

Even if it didn’t seem so, I realized I had been relying on the system more than I thought.

[ADMIN: There is only one chance. For you, and for me.]

“Then……”

[ADMIN: Yes, Roshesia.]

“If my existence no longer helps save the world… will you still help me?”

The administrator did not answer.

Well, of course.

After all, the administrator and I were connected through the system only out of necessity.

Apparently, I wanted someone who would remain truly on my side until the very end.

Otherwise, the reality of falling into this bleak novel world felt unbearably cold.

Such selfishness.

I laughed at myself, yet couldn’t suppress the sad feeling.

“I just want to survive.”

Whether the administrator heard my almost solitary muttering, the golden remnants of light lingered around me even after the message window disappeared.

Surrounded by that light, I was able to sleep that night without any dreams.

The next day, I shook off my complicated thoughts and headed to the Velas mansion.

Though my mood had slightly improved overnight, the reality that I had to clear the quest immediately hadn’t changed.

Upon arrival, the duchess called for me.

“Rosha.”

Melisandra’s eyes glimmered in an unsettling way as she looked at me.

I could confidently say that a duchess pretending to be friendly with such eyes could never have pure intentions.

“I have released Adrian. I regret the past days when I could not act for fear of the duke’s orders.”

She was still lying, claiming she had kept Adrian imprisoned only due to the duke’s command. Annoying.

But I couldn’t show any sign of irritation.

“Yes, I saw it too, madam.”

I smiled brightly and praised her.

“Seeing Adrian in his room made me very happy.”

“Which reminds me, Rosha.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it time to give me what you promised?”

Ah.

She meant the potion of love, transformed from Erden’s potion.

In truth, the love potion was only an excuse for me to come and go freely at the Velas mansion.

Once I had that freedom, I had forgotten about it, but the duchess had apparently been waiting.

Hmm.

Come to think of it, the duke would never willingly take Melisandra’s potion, treating her as invisible.

Even if she somehow slipped it into his food, the duke was far away in the north.

It would take quite some time for him to realize it has no effect.

I could continue the quest in the meantime.

Even if she later complained, I could just deny it.

Why isn’t it working? That shouldn’t be possible……

I would make her believe she had trusted a child’s bluff.

Fine, I might as well give it.

“All right. Seeing Adrian released made me like the duchess even more.”

“Of course, that’s only natural.”

“Here, madam.”

I handed over Erden’s potion, which I had been carrying in my pocket.

[ITEM: Alchemy potion made by 13-year-old Erden. Effect unknown.]

“Please use it carefully.”

Placing the treasure carefully in her palm, Melisandra smiled cunningly.

“Of course, Rosha.”

Even if she seemed happy, it was pointless.

It wouldn’t have any effect anyway.

After Roshesia left, Melisandra’s smile vanished.

“Foolish girl.”

After her father-in-law died, Melisandra had insisted on remaining single for a long time and presented one condition to the Velas duke:

I will not seek your love. Instead, give me the title of duchess.

The Velas duke accepted.

Yet even while saying that, she wanted her husband’s love.

She believed, like in a common romance novel, that once married, the duke would cling to her.

If not, she would at least seek the young master’s love.

But it wasn’t merely because she wanted to be loved.

Love.

It was a tool.

As a member of the family through marriage, it was the minimum tool to own the Velas family.

Much follows a wife who is loved.

She had struggled before, but no longer.

“Damn Velas fools.”

Whether the Avigan son or not, they were all like walls of ice, devoid of emotion.

Continuing to plead for love with such beings was ridiculous.

Melisandra had decided to possess the Velas family in a much more direct way.

She unlocked a drawer with a key and took out another bottle.

Then, she dripped its contents into the potion Rosha had given her.

Once the other Velas die, I’ll be the only master of the family.

What Melisandra added was a deadly poison. The potion’s color was pitch black, and shaking it with the lid on made it indistinguishable.

Moreover……

Anyone could tell by the distinctive bottle that it was Utel’s work.

“Hoho.”

But there was one problem: how to give it to her husband.

Hmm.

After some thought, she wrote a letter to her only subordinate who had accompanied the northern deployment.

[This is a tonic made according to Utel’s special prescription. Mix it into the duke’s meal, but keep it secret—if he knows I sent it, he won’t drink it.]

Perfect.

The obstacle, her husband, would die suddenly in the north, and even if discovered, it could be blamed on Utel.

However, Melisandra had not considered one fact: the security at the Velas duke’s garrison was far better than expected.

After leaving the Velas duchess’s residence, I immediately went to find Adrian.

Together, we entered the servant quarters of the Velas mansion.

As expected from a duke’s estate, the servants’ quarters were spacious and comfortable.

Additionally, the head butler had a separate room for work.

“The butler used to work from that room,” Adrian said, pointing to an elegantly designed door, reserved only for the family’s butler.

As far as I knew, Melisandra’s henchmen were handling the butler’s duties.

So that room was likely being used by them as well.

Adrian and I decided to search the room for evidence of Melisandra’s misdeeds.

“No one’s here?”

“Yeah.”

As we stealthily approached the door, we stopped.

“Huh……?”

Was this locked before? And with such a crude, serious lock?

From Adrian’s shaking pupils, it seemed this lock hadn’t existed before.

Just as I was about to speak to confirm,

“……!”

Adrian’s confused gaze sharpened. And the next moment,

My vision darkened, and my body lurched.

When I came to, I was hiding behind a table, clinging to Adrian’s arm.