Villainesses Never Die 04
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“Your Royal Highness.”
“Ha! Why are you always dissatisfied, aren"t I off the hook?”
“Then I"ll call for your highness" attention once more, unless you"re deaf.”
Of course I knew. Albury always called the Crown Prince by his name. But that"s not the case anymore.
“I know you can"t trust me easily, because I"ve been criminally charged.”
“I thought hundreds, thousands of times during my stay. Why am I doing this? Why bother trying to win an un.o.btainable love by hara.s.sing one"s sister?”
"…What?”
“It"s been in my thoughts all this time. Why did I do that, don"t do that.”
The prince was shocked. His pupils were slightly shaking.
"During my reflection, my affection towards your majesty has slowly disappeared."
“Like a pile of ashes.”
I spoke in a perfectly earnest voice.
“Your Highness. No matter how wild a fire has risen on a stove, it will die down someday if there is no firewood to light it.”
“Nonsense…”
The crown prince shook his head as if trying to deny reality. He held up a hand signaling for me to stop, but I didn"t.
“When I was punished, my firewood was burned.”
“You wanted to trap me… Didn"t you?”
I bowed my head after speaking. So I couldn"t see what face the crown prince was making.
“Mr. Syutia? Sister?”
It was Rose"s voice.
‘What a relief."
She was hesitant on raising her head and confronting the cold atmosphere, but it was gratifying now that Rose had shown up.
“Rose, where have you been?”
“I went to explore the garden for a while.”
The prince eyed me with displeasure.
‘You didn"t come to hara.s.s me?"
I could read his expression as is.
“Now that Rose has arrived, we can eat.”
“Is that so, sister?”
Rose sat down and smoothly conjoined her arm with the crown prince while facing me.
“Mr. Syutia..?”
The prince looked at his arm for a long time, then took a glance at me.
‘What"s this? This is surely.."
It was as if he was looking at me. He must have been worrying about how I would react to their sudden show of skinship.
‘Did he hear what I said?"
I don"t care, whether they were arm-in-arm or kissing. I replied back to his gaze with a pa.s.sive smile.
“Ha!”
The crown prince moved to the dining room with a sigh. I followed along.
‘Wa, this isn"t an imperial palace for nothing."
The prepared dishes were first-cla.s.s. The orange sorbet tasted heavenly and melted in my mouth.
“Albury, you really have changed.”
“I"ve changed?”
Nomming on my sorbet, the crown prince looked at me in wonder.
“Didn"t you always give that sorbet to me?”
You"re telling me to give up my sorbet right now? Just ask the servants to bring you another one. I tilted my head and pretended like I couldn"t catch what he said.
“Ah… Did I imagine it?”
[Nom] I bit the sorbet again. The bite made the crown prince grit his teeth. KKK, I think I"ve heard this grinding noise somewhere before or am I mistaken.
“Mr. Syutia, I told my sister that we"re getting engaged.”
Rose watched the scene that took place. I had to interject because the crown prince"s attention seemed to be on me.
“My sister told me that she wanted to congratulate Mr. Syutia directly, and asked to eat together with you.”
Rose"s shy smile was so beautiful that I almost fainted seeing it. However, the crown prince was a stranger to such a Rose.
‘Eh?"
Rather, he was paying attention to me. The crown prince was busy staring back and forth, from the sorbet in front of me and my face.
“Mr. Syutia…?”
Now that I"ve noticed, she seems to have noticed too. Rose called out to him in confusion but a reply did not come. I was perfectly able to grasp the situation.
‘I don"t like them but I don"t want them to leave."
It was just like that. The prince was a b.u.m. On an occasion where the obsessive stalker woman is suddenly supportive, one grew more curious and finally started caring.
Rose fell in love with a man like that. And the Albury who was crazy about him was pathetic.
‘He would be your-average-joe if it weren"t for his appearance. Oh, and the power that comes with being a crown prince."
The prince"s gaze on me was strikingly intense. If things remained like with Eve, she would be charmed by his face. So she deliberately avoided seeing the crown prince"s face. When she was forced to look at him, her eyes would magically stare at his black hair instead.
‘Let"s not pay attention to the face."
The moment she ate her orange sorbet, the crown prince smiled and spoke again.
“Albury.”
“Yes, your highness.”
I answered with my head stuck in the sorbet.
‘Don"t look."
But my resolution was overshadowed, and he laughed at me.
“You haven"t looked at my face since then.”
Oh dear… Maybe it was too obvious. His perceptiveness made a chill run down my spine and I scrambled for my sorbet.
“Why?”
“I"m sure it"s because you won"t be able to keep up the act after seeing my face.”
At the absurd remark I turned to look at Rose. Confirmed–she had a strong sneer on her face. Perhaps the prince has a similar look on.
"It"s a misunderstanding on your part, I didn"t mean that."
“So why don"t you look at my face?”
Proving that I didn"t love him was harder than I thought. I sighed deeply. I slowly raised my head to face him.
Red eyes and black hair were the first things I saw.
If Eve was innocent, Syutia was masculine. Staring at his face for a while,
‘What is this…?"
It was a p.r.i.c.kly feeling similar to a b.u.t.terfly flying into my stomach. The feeling gave me gooseb.u.mps. Thump, thump, thump. Is my heart-rate okay? Is it because of Albury"s body? Regardless of what a doctor would say, my heart had jumped out of it"s chest. How severe it was, the feeling of pain in my chest.
“Are you done…?”
I ignored my thumping heart and cast him a naive look. The Crown Prince persistently looked at my expression as if he were trying to tear it apart.
“Mr. Syutia. If it"s about the sorbet, have mine.”
“No need.”
It was a cold reply, practically allowing a cold breeze to flow through. I looked at Rose in astonishment.
The Rose in my vision, was chewing on her lips.
‘She"s going to get engaged soon, what the h.e.l.l is that?"
Not a single event flowed as I had read in the novel. [Gw.a.n.g] The chair where the prince was sitting on got pushed out. It was because he was stirred too much. He"s probably been hurt, he went out without a word after shaking away a growing black aura.
“What"s this now..?”
Only frost was felt on the sumptuous dining table. Rose did not answer my question.
“Rose, was the engagement really made because of true love?”
“Shut up.”
Her shoulders were trembling.
“Brace yourself. The crown prince doesn"t love you.”
“SHUT UP!”
Clang! A small spoon was pulled out of the sorbet and rushed over to me like a snake. [Tinge] I felt pain. It was fortunate that I wasn"t hit with the fork.
“What"s going on!”
The next day, the duke was found flipped upside down (t/n: like all over the place, confused, something along those lines). This was because the prince sent a messenger to cancel his engagement with Rose. It wasn"t officially announced yet but a few people knew about it, even so it was natural that the duke was humiliated.
“What the h.e.l.l happened.”
As a result, Rose and I who ate with the prince were called into the Duke"s room.
“Father…”
When I arrived, Rose was already crying tears like a miserable and misfortunate heroine. The duke held his forehead—seemed like he had no intention of reprimanding her.
“Albury!”
The target was me instead. When I made eye contact with him, the duke angrily burst into a shout. It was loud enough to startle one"s body.
“Yes, you called.”
“Albury, you dare…”
I looked back at the grimly-crying Rose. Rose was smiling as she casually wiped away her tears.
‘Ha…"
I didn"t have to see to know that this was an act. The situation should be in favor of Rose. I"ll have to tell the Duke that it was all my fault. The Duke won"t listen to what I have to say.
‘That"s rather good."
I would become a bitter villain who was jealous of my sibling, and the destroyer of their engagement with the crown prince.
‘There maybe an opportunity to get out of here."
One would indeed be kicked out of house ‘Valentine". But this was a better option than death.
‘I"ll pretend to reflect and then get kicked out after receiving money."
I waited for the Duke"s next words, like a sinner waiting for judgment.
“How dare… you…”
I swallowed my saliva in suspense. But,
“Think about leaving the Duke"s!”
“Eh? What is this?”
I widened my eyes at the unexpected remark.
T/N: Sorry this was pretty late. I didn"t have internet for 3 days and couldn"t work;; I"m starting to believe that this novel is sort of like that one obsessive servant manga where all the main characters are reincarnated. Oh yeah, I"m also getting the vibes that maybe the twist with the crown prince is that he"s some kind of reincarnated masoch*st who also read the novel and he wanted Albury to abuse him, but is disappointed because she"s different from the og. I dunno why… what do you guys think?? But as always, lmk of any mistakes in the comments below c: