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Chapter: 4
“Oh my, really?”
“Yes. Since each person can only make it once, Father gave it only to me. With this, they say I’ll be able to marry the person I love someday!”
So that she could infer why Father hadn’t given her one, I even provided the hint that it was a ‘one-per-person creation.’
—Ding!
Another effect activated.
[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of the skill ‘Deception Lv.3,’ ‘Sounds Plausible’ has been activated.]
[The opponent’s chance of noticing logical inconsistencies has decreased.]
“There isn’t one for Erden, but… my brother is good at alchemy too, so he can just make one himself later.”
That guy really shouldn’t be making things like that. I’ll need to educate him properly so he doesn’t do anything stupid.
“You’re lucky, Roshia. Which young master are you planning to make drink that?”
The Duchess’s eyes were already filled with determination to take the potion from me. Good. She’d completely taken the bait.
Pretending not to notice, I stretched my arm straight up.
“I don’t have anyone I like yet. But if I do get married someday, I hope it’s to someone tall, with a pretty smile!”
“A lovely child like you will surely be able to capture someone like that.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So you won’t need Marquis Utel’s potion either.”
Wow—her true intentions were showing far too clearly.
The Duchess’s blue gaze crept ominously over the vial in my hand.
“So, will you give it to me?”
The idea of tricking a child just to obtain a fake potion was ridiculous, but I forced myself not to laugh.
“Why does milady need this?”
“H-huh?”
For a woman who already ruled a household, needing a love potion was strange enough that even a ten-year-old would find it odd. Melisandre realized this too late and muttered a curse under her breath.
She only moved her lips silently, but I caught it all.
“Well, you see… I have a son. I want him to be united with the person he desires someday.”
“……”
“Marrying the one you love is one of life’s rare blessings.”
So this woman was really trying to achieve her goal—
By pretending she was doing it for the sake of the child she tormented, imprisoned, and starved?
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
The muscles in my face, which had been forcing a bright smile, nearly gave out.
[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of the skill ‘Deception Lv.3,’ ‘Convincing Expression’ has been activated.]
[You appear reluctant to part with your father’s gift.]
Thankfully, the skill saved me from losing control of my expression.
Timing my reaction with the system message, I shifted my gaze to the potion. It completed the image of a child hesitating to give up her father’s only gift.
“Hm? Roshia. Let’s make a deal.”
She’d even picked up on the nickname my father used for me. It made my skin crawl, but I smiled slowly.
“Since Father gave this to me, I can’t just hand it over so easily.”
“Come now, Roshia!”
“But since I’ve been spending time at this house, I’ve come to like Lady Bellas more.”
Melisandre’s patience seemed to be wearing thin. For a moment, her expression twisted as if she were plotting something, then she barely restrained herself.
“So if I keep coming here often, I think I’ll end up liking you so much that I’d be happy to give you something precious!”
“……”
“Um… maybe five times? Or ten?”
I spread my arms wide and spoke cheerfully. Melisandre’s cold eyes stared at me in silence.
* * *
To cut to the chase—it worked.
I didn’t know if she was completely convinced, but I gained a legitimate reason to visit the Bellas ducal estate frequently.
Erden’s potion was still safely in my pocket.
I planned to delay giving it to Melisandre as long as possible, just in case the fact that it was fake was discovered.
Unable to obtain the potion right away, Melisandre soon lost interest in me.
“I’m going to rest, so you can play as much as you like.”
As soon as the Duchess left her seat, I pretended to ask a servant where the bathroom was and quietly slipped outside.
If she asks later where I went, I’ll say I got lost.
I hid myself in a secluded spot, but even a quick glance around showed that the ducal grounds were vast beyond reason.
Among the countless buildings, I couldn’t even begin to guess where Adrian was being held.
[TIME LIMIT 21:02:27]
The quest timer continued ticking mercilessly.
Should I hide somewhere and search the estate all night if I have to?
Just as my thoughts were dangerously converging on breaking-and-entering crimes, the administrator’s chat appeared again.
[ADMIN: Miss Rohesia, you did very well.]
“……”
[Despite how unexpected the first sudden quest must have been, you handled it excellently.]
“Hey.”
That calm tone made my blood boil.
While I was running around with my life on the line, that bastard was probably sitting somewhere comfortably, manipulating me through chat.
“Who are you?”
[ADMIN: …….]
“What did I do to deserve this when I was living just fine?”
[ADMIN: You already know.]
[That quietly living on like this is not the correct answer.]
“……”
He wasn’t wrong.
This was the world of a bleak novel with a bad ending
The fate assigned to me—the villainess—was a cruel death.
Even if I survived, there was a high chance I’d be dragged into the brutal competition between the male leads later on.
[ADMIN: I apologize for implanting the system without your consent.]
[But I am just as desperate as you are.]
I folded my arms and glared at the message window.
Thinking calmly, the existence of the system was undeniably advantageous to me.
“Fine.”
Maybe this system was the rope that would pull me away from a total annihilation ending.
“I’ll do the quests you assign me. So you protect my life.—Beep!
[ADMIN: That is precisely what I hoped for.]
And just like that, a preliminary agreement was reached between the administrator and me.
[TIME LIMIT 20:58:27]
“Argh, I wasted three whole minutes talking about nonsense!”
As I panicked, another message appeared.
[ADMIN: The player can check location information at any time by activating the map function.]
If you had a feature like that, you should’ve told me earlier!
“Activate map function.”
The moment I muttered it, my mind turned pure white.
My vision swam, and it felt as though something was rapidly reconstructing itself.
Then, at last, it was over.
When I opened my eyes, a map of the Bellas ducal estate appeared, drawn as precisely as a game map.
A blinking pink dot marked my location.
And fortunately, not too far away, a black diamond-shaped quest icon shimmered.
That had to be Adrian.
—Ding!
[SYSTEM: Beginning guidance to the quest location.]
Once I was free to act, everything progressed smoothly.
[SYSTEM: Turn left in 30 meters.]
With the system’s navigation-like guidance, I steadily approached the black diamond.
[SYSTEM: Servants are resting behind the corner ahead. Please wait here for a while.]
Following the detailed instructions, I waited for about ten minutes before standing up. By then, no one was around.
The place where Adrian was confined turned out to be a storage building. Isolated from the other structures of the estate, it was ironically easy to approach discreetly.
I opened a small door and descended a dark underground staircase. There weren’t even torches—it was as dark as midnight.
Carefully stepping down one stair at a time to avoid falling, I finally reached the bottom.
My eyes had adjusted slightly to the darkness, but all I could see was the outline of a circular space.
Even so, as if sensing something terrifying within that darkness, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Adrian Bellas—the future Sword of the Empire.
Adrian, who at the age of twelve slaughtered his family and murdered his stepmother.
The reason novel-Adrian was able to escape despite being shackled and locked in a basement.
The reason he could kill everyone at such a young age, even with countless servants trying to stop him—
Was his special power.
The direct bloodline of the Bellas family, tasked with defending the empire through martial strength, was born with physical abilities beyond normal humans.
And befitting a romance-fantasy male lead, Adrian was exceptional even among them.
With sheer physical strength alone, he was treated as something close to supernatural—and once grown, powerful enough to be called a monster.
If ordinary people were herbivores like rabbits or sheep, Adrian was a predator.
That dangerous existence was right in front of me.
As my thoughts quieted, I heard the faint clink of chains.
“Adrian?”
Tense, I called out his name first. My voice trembled.
From the darkness, the boy replied.
“Get lost.”
It was hard to believe such a voice came from a boy barely twelve years old—so rough, sinister, and chilling.
Looking more closely, I saw iron bars a few steps ahead. Behind them, a boy crouched low, glaring at me. His figure was blurred by the darkness, but his eyes gleamed with terrifying clarity.
Just as I slowly approached and sat before the bars, chains rattled loudly, and something suddenly shot out between the gaps.
“Ghk!”
“Didn’t I say I’d kill you the next time we met?”
I can’t breathe!
Adrian’s hand was wrapped tightly around my throat. His dry breath seeped through the iron bars, carrying a metallic scent.
“L-let go…!”
“……Who are you?”
Confusion colored his voice. It seemed he’d mistaken me for someone else.
That someone was probably Duchess Melisandre.
The grip around my neck gradually loosened. I could breathe again, though he still held me firmly in place.
“I-I wasn’t planning to let you go completely…”
“I asked who you are.”
He was a bit bigger than Erden, I thought. I couldn’t see his features clearly, but one thing was unmistakable.
If he wants to, he can kill me.
Haha. I was a villainess who would’ve lived smoothly until eighteen—but the moment I realized I’d been reincarnated, my life started unraveling.
But I wasn’t meant to die here. The status window wouldn’t have pushed me into this situation just to kill me.
“I’m Rohesia Utel.”
The moment I said my name, the darkened world was engulfed in bright light.
