Chapter 14
‘Ah, this feeling is…’
Momentarily, I was engulfed in the illusion of being at a company dinner.
I mean, when was it.
While drunk at a company dinner, I praised my senior saying he was handsome, but the boss sitting at the next table was staring at me intently.
So I forced myself to tell a white lie that our boss was the handsomest.
‘It was a lie back then, but it’s the truth this time so it’s okay.’
Considering the Duke is around the age of a boss, I gave a slightly cheesy double thumbs up and winked.
“Actually, the handsomest bread in the world is exactly our Appang (Dad-pang)!”
“……”
“……”
Silence.
‘Damn it, is this not it? It’s too humiliating.’
Embarrassed, I lowered my hands, and suddenly the Duke sprang up from his seat.
“Varden.”
“Yes.”
The eyes of the Duke and Varden facing each other flashed eerily.
“I must go see the 3rd Prince. To think the Crown Prince rejects my cute daughter like this. Ask the 3rd Prince secretly if he has no interest in the Crown Prince position for the sake of the Belvent Empire.”
“Yes, Father. I will go right away.”
What is this.
I had to stop the foolish father and son who, unexpectedly weak to aegyo (cuteness), were trying to change the next Emperor.
“I didn’t know your heart was so generous.”
‘It’s not being generous.’
Showing an awkward smile to the Duke who was overestimating me again, I saw off the Duke who had to go to work at the Magic Tower directly from the cafe.
To think he split his working time to let his daughter shop.
The Master of the Magic Tower also suffers from excessive work.
As expected, you shouldn’t show off that you are outstanding.
Watching the back of the Duke going to work with a tired face, my head became complicated.
It was because the original Yvonne was pitiful.
If Yvonne also knew her father was such an affectionate person, wouldn’t she have refrained from such evil actions.
Varden, seeing off the Duke together, sighed with an expression full of annoyance.
“I also have to go to the Imperial Palace right away. His Highness the Crown Prince called me.”
Since I wasn’t particularly curious why the Crown Prince called Varden, I waved my hand nonchalantly.
“Go ahead.”
“Hm? I thought you would say you would follow if I go to His Highness.”
“I’m not going!”
Varden narrowed his eyes as if suspicious, then added.
“You can go home alone, right? Don’t cause trouble and go straight home.”
“…Yes.”
This guy.
I pouted toward Varden who still thinks of me as a troublemaker.
Varden, who got on his horse to go to the Imperial Palace, hesitated, then gestured to me.
As I approached, the guy bent his body and whispered to me secretly.
“Yvonne. If you really want to destroy a building or important property, come to me and take the artifact bomb made in my name. I will take the blame for you.”
“I said I’m not doing it….”
“Well, that much is fine.”
Both Duke Argenthose and Varden.
Both seemed a bit strange.
“It’s not fine.”
As I raised my fist seeing the guy’s despicable smile, Varden freaked out, drove his horse, and quickly disappeared from my sight.
‘Hm.’
That is clearly the reaction of someone who has been hit.
It was clear Varden was weaker in strength than Yvonne.
‘You were hit a lot by Yvonne when you were young, right?’
I giggled alone finding Varden, who is getting cute like a younger brother despite being the older brother, too funny yet pitiful, and turned my body.
First I wanted to go back home and organize my thoughts calmly.
‘Haa. To think I would have a real matchmaking interview unexpectedly.’
Actually, I should have refused the matchmaking right there, but I couldn’t.
The Duke and Varden, who understood the reason I lived a bit quietly unlike the original Yvonne was because I was heartbroken by Crown Prince Adrian, were a bit absurd, but thinking about it carefully again, it wasn’t all bad.
The shock of heartbreak—though actually it was just Yvonne’s one-sided unrequited love—was suitable as an excuse for living in a different appearance from the original Yvonne.
It was a bit sorry that Crown Prince Adrian, that is, the male lead, was becoming a guy deserving death to the Duke and Varden.
But so what.
The male lead has the female lead.
If only I, the villainess, step out, a future like a brilliant and beautiful rainbow will unfold.
In exchange for protecting the future of the protagonists, accept this much cursing as the representative male lead.
Right now, unable to use magic which is the most outstanding part of Yvonne’s abilities, the only people I can rely on are family.
‘The matchmaking is a bit burdensome but… shall I meet that outstanding matchmaking partner the Duke introduces first.’
The Duke and Varden who misunderstand that I am still suffering from lovesickness unable to forget the Crown Prince.
Honestly, I was thankful they worried about me so much.
‘Right, let’s go out for now.’
It is certain that Duke Iels either decided to make a deal with Duke Argenthose or was caught on some pretext to allow a public matchmaking interview with me.
Because there is no way he doesn’t know my rumors.
‘Even if called a public matchmaking, we’ll probably just drink tea briefly at a cafe and end it.’
An awkward matchmaking where the other party also came out forced.
Imagining that atmosphere, my hands and feet were already curling.
‘Duke Ludnine Iels, huh.’
Since I had never seen him nor had interest, he is a person who doesn’t appear even if I search Yvonne’s memories.
I narrowed my eyes and retraced the original work slowly again.
‘It’s clear. According to my memory, Duke Iels did not appear in the original work. Because he focused on the duty of protecting the Empire by killing monsters coming out from the Northern Gate and didn’t come to the capital.’
Certainly, Duke Iels did not appear on the main stage of the original novel.
I think he was mentioned very briefly as ‘the Duke of the North’ in passing.
But due to my unexpected action of deciding to live quietly, Duke Ludnine Iels came to the capital.
It started to become different from the original work little by little.
‘Since it’s an action taken to change the fate of the original work. I must be prepared from now on.’
Thinking this much wouldn’t be a big problem, I decided not to think more complicatedly.
Instead, I decided to devise a way to finish the public matchmaking safely without causing harm to Duke Iels as much as possible.
“Ah, right.”
Putting my foot on the step to get into the carriage, a thought flashed in my mind and I looked around.
‘There it is.’
I grinned seeing a shop specializing in lace nearby.
The heart wanting to give a gift to Carol who saw me off earlier was sincere.
Usually, Carol has a hobby of collecting pretty lace, so I had kept an eye on her attaching various laces to the clothes she was wearing.
If I buy lace, it would be a perfect gift for her.
If I could follow my heart, just as Duke Argenthose spent money on me recklessly, I wanted to buy a set of new clothes for Carol, but.
‘I am sorry the master you serve is poor… Sob.’
Anyway, wanting to buy a gift, I got off the carriage again.
And I gestured slightly toward one of the escort knights who came as attending personnel, the one with the biggest build.
“Yes, Princess.”
He ran over immediately.
“Escort me. Since there is an item I want to buy, to that shop over there.”
The escort knight, looking at the shop I pointed to and me alternately, asked in puzzlement.
“Pardon? It’s such a close place… Why do you insist on taking me?”
“……I am a Princess, and since it might be dangerous, I request an escort, right?”
“Pardon? Isn’t the Princess herself a ‘weapon’? Why bother…”
‘This guy.’
As I glared wordlessly at the escort knight who was babbling something, the guy turned pale receiving my fierce gaze and shut his mouth tight.
Did I look too soft compared to the original Yvonne.
Everyone has become talkative.
I liked it too since they spoke to me comfortably, but it was a bit troubling because I didn’t want to be caught that I couldn’t use magic.
If I were an outstanding mage, I wouldn’t know, but the current me could die suddenly just like a sunfish in a sunfish game.
However, the escort knight’s reaction was also understandable.
Since Yvonne hated escort knights following her usually, loathing it.
So he must be confused by my behavior showing such a whim.
‘Hm. First, when it’s hard to explain, let’s use the usual Yvonne’s personality.’
“Wait here.”
Arriving in front of the shop, I spoke coldly on purpose.
“Yes, yes! Princess.”
Scaredy-cat.
Although I felt a bit sorry for the terrified escort knight, I left him standing outside the lace shop door and opened the door to enter.
Ding-a-ling.
A clear bell rang from the door.
“Welcome… Hiiiek!!”
The clerk who greeted brightly was surprised and covered her mouth with her hand.
The gazes of the women inside pierce me sharply.
And a silence mixed complicatedly with shock, fear, and contempt settled inside the shop.
Tsk.
‘If someone sees, they would think a monster appeared.’
As I moved my steps and started looking around the displayed lace calmly, the ladies and young ladies started whispering.
“I heard the mad dog appeared in the Naciel District after a long time. It was true!”
“So scary…”
“No. I thought she was on probation quietly these days. Why did she come here again? What accident is she planning to cause.”
“The bomb incident… That was done by that Princess, right? Although everyone is hushing it up.”
…It’s heard too well.
Yvonne, who has outstanding physical abilities, had good hearing too, so she could hear this backbiting clearly.
I became very bitter.
Really, Yvonne. You have no friends.
Well, a lonely life, I am used to it so it’s fine, well.
But I get a little annoyed and don’t understand.
They call you a villainess? They call you a mad dog.
Moreover, you are Princess Argenthose. A high noble of the highest rank.
Not a kid who has nothing like the original me, but an outstanding person.
At that moment, I recalled Yvonne in the original work.
If such backbiting was heard in her ears, Yvonne snorted saying it was because they were jealous of her and ignored it.
Whether by magic or by force.
She treated such people, who weren’t even opponents to fight, as flies buzzing around a lion.
‘Do these people think Yvonne is hard of hearing.’
I really hated seeing the flies who became arrogant at the mercy shown by the lion.
Hiding my inner thoughts as expressionlessly as possible, I looked around slowly.
And I made eye contact with the women who were still whispering one by one on purpose.
“Oh my, nice to meet you. Since my mood is very good today…”
Recalling a villain actor I saw often in dramas, I pulled up one corner of my mouth and smiled wickedly.
