When The Villainess Loves

If the crown prince catches wind of these word, I‘ll die instantly. Crazy! No way! Never! Eugene, who was standing as if protecting me, and Cain, who was drawing me in with his fascinating appearance, stopped at my shout. After taking a deep breath for a while, I closed my eyes and opened them and said.

“My dream is to live freely.”

Cain opened his eyes slightly wide at what I said.

“Thank you very much for your help, Duke.”

Come on, I have to convince him!

I seriously refined my expression. I slightly escaped from behind Eugene‘s back and stood alone while facing Cain in an upright posture as one does when one saw the emperor.

“Seriously, I don’t desire the things that the Duke is talking about.”

Cain’s black eyes were still looking at me.

“If you heard the rumors about me, you’d know. I’m not interested in that position, nor doI fit into it.”

“Really?”

Eugene seemed to have decided to listen to our conversation for now. When I nodded at Cain’s polite words, he continued.

“I can vaguely understand how you feel, your Highness. However…”

I think he understood. I had hope, but I was nervous at the sound of “however” and I was straightening my posture and closing my lips. Cain didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment.

“I don’t know what other people are like, but in my eyes, you seem to have a character that suits the position more than the Crown Prince1 does.”

“…….”

What?

Did you just talk about the crown prince like that? You didn’t use any honorifics…1

“However, if your Highness has no such will, there’s nothing we can do about it. It is definitely too late for that. But I think your Highness…… I hope you will be a someone to the crown prince that can keep him in check.”

No, wait. Those eyes……. Was this in the original? Cain’s black eyes were gentle, but a little hostility was visible in them. It became clear every time he talked about the Crown Prince. I was genuinely embarrassed. Still, I couldn’t say I knew it, so I desperately picked anything to argue against it.

“But I’ll be leaving soon.”

Eugene’s face was distorted. And at the same time as Eugene dragged me back, Cain whispered: “……until then.”

“Stop it.”

Eugene coldly cut off Cain‘s words. And the atmosphere between the two made me shiver. Well, wasn’t I just asking something that I was curious about, but things progressed differently from what I expected and the atmosphere between the two turned out like this. The tense atmosphere did not last long, because Cain apologized quietly with his eyes closed: “I made a mistake. Please forget about it, Your Highness.”

“It’s nothing”, answered I in a hurry. Having said this much, I wondered i he would have understood now, because the relationship between the two of us should not get worse right away.

Then let’s get going now, shall we?”

Eugene sighed. That’s how the atmosphere got a little warmer. Although my position was moved from the center to the side of Eugene. Anyway, I confirmed one thing: Cain hates the Crown Prince very much. In the original work, he has never showed his likes or dislikes clearly. In the drug room that we arrived in after a short conversation, there was not only Rox but also one more stranger.

“My name is Ripley. I am an expert on medical herbs. I look forward to your kind cooperation, your Highness.”

“Oh? Me as well.”

The status of a Duke or that of a Free Knight was a position that even the Imperial Family could not carelessly ignore, but he was holding none of these positions, so I spoke to him after short hesitation. Ripley was an ordinary impressionable young man with grayish brown hair and green eyes. He was a bit sneaky, but his smiling face was quite friendly. That day, I took turns listening to their explanations and received a handful of medicines that I would take in the future.

Eugene, Cain, Ripley, and Rox said something about a treatment with mana, but I couldn’t understand anything, so I nodded as if I understood everything. And on the spot, I felt a flood of memories coming in. Oh, crazy! Day three! It was today! I have forgotten so many times now, but next time, I’ll remember it properly and move. Ah, shoot!

“Your Highness, oh my goodness…”

When her body cooled, Eugene held out a clean handkerchief to me with a frustrated look. The three, who saw me vomiting blood for the first time in person, were just staring at me blankly.

“Well, it’s fine.“

I stood up while pulling myself together. Seriously, if it wasn’t for this timing, I would welcome you with open arms. It’s not the right situation currently, so I decided to take a closer look at the memories later.

“It’s  nothing to worry about at all, so keep going, please.”

I can’t wait to finish this difficult herbal medicine class and go back! The four remained silent for a while and began explaining again starting with Eugene. I pretended to know even harder now. And my knowledge was validated here, too. 

By the time Ripley returned with the medicine, what Ripley said to Rox had leaked out to my ears: “She seems to understand everything, senior.” 

“Her Highness is an incredibly clever person.”

Oh my, please stop.

“Beside that, her determination… It’s truly admirable.”

Ah please! I hurried my steps while taking a deep breath.

The memory of my unnie, who was alone, looked like they were still of of a six-year-old. My unnie opened her mouth: “Emma, what’s that?”

“It’s a gift, your Highness.”

Finally! I heard her voice! Even listening to young Emma’s caring voice, was nice. I sighted as I looked at the small Leticia-unnie, who squeaked alone and smiled very faintly.

An angel. I saw an angel. I want to hug her!

My unnie seemed to have received a birthday present. As I got closer, I felt like I had a congratulatory letter.

[To your Highness, who passed the age of five safely: Happy 6th birthday to you – Dante Vance]

Vance. When I saw those words, I squatted down and took turns between looking at the  presents and looking at Leticia-unnie. Vance is the surname of unnie’s maternal family. I thought the communication between them and her was cut off after the death of unnie’s mother, Lysian Vance. Were they still in contact with unnie when she was still young? However, when I saw unnie‘s blushing cheeks, all the ideas that came to mind felt worthless.

There, if you like it, I like it, too!

The gift was a quill pen as white as snow. Leticia-unnie was absorbed in writing dark gray letters with the quill pen. That’s how the memory of the six-year-old Leticia ended. I closed my eyes like a fool and smiled happily before sighing.

“I think she‘s becoming happier.”

Even if she becomes happy, it will all change one day. On the day she found out about her illness.

“I don’t know when that was.”

It would be very painful to see the memory of that moment. But I decided not to pity her. Perhaps it was because it was clear that the Leticia-unnie, who I had met, would hate it to be pitied. I just decided to like her harder then. Unlike other characters who have become able to take care of her, my sister is a person who has nothing more to take care of.

“Because I received it all.”

The more I live my life, the more beautiful the world seemed to be. Just by looking at the mixed memories of my previous life, I could see that I would not have been able to be a fan to my heart’s content in my previous life.

“This is a life that I received as a bonus, so I was lucky.”

Well, by the way, Cain and Eugene seem to have a pretty good relationship. Although their personalities are complete opposites, I can feet how the respect each other

“I don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

It’s a pleasure. If so, I think it’s time to tackle Cain’s personal problem a little.

“After I got to know Cain a little more. Great!”

I hummed joyfully with enthusiasm. Today was a six-year-old memory, so it had already been 18 days since I met Leticia-unnie. So far, it was day 18 out of the 3 months that I had. On the 21st, when I find the next memory, it’ll be three weeks have passed. After much consideration, I decided to meet Cain more often before that.

“Even though, there are some things that are burdensome for me.”

Still. Unlike Leticia-unnie who had died already, I cannot be caught up in the love of Ariel and the Crown Prince and become unhappy. Therefore, I strengthened my mind according to my original purpose.

When the day came, I told Eugene.

“Sir Bolton, shall we go on a walk again after a long time?”

“Are you sure?”, replied he while smiling. 

I suggested to him: “How about the library?”

„I had heard that Cain was living in the library these days“, said Eugene while holding back his laughter. He definitely laughed a lot now and became somewhat softened. It feels like trust is vaguely contained. In fact, it seemed that Cain, Eugene, and I all had became friends these days.

“Good. Why don’t we drag out someone who’s stuck there?”

“That’s a great idea.”

As expected, we can communicate well.

“I thought I could see him more often because he said he is on vacation. I thought Sir Bolton would have a sparring duel with him, but what do you mean a library? It’s no different than when he is working!”

When I spoke enthusiastically half-jokingly, Eugene solemnly agreed.

“You’re right. Then, shall we go?”

We went to the outer palace library with the same smiles.