CH 10

Chapter 10: The Story of How He Became a Villain

“You must really like Hernan’s face!”

As if confirming what I’d just said, Linzel’s father yelled out the embarrassing truth.

“H–huh? Ah, ah, how does Father know about that?”

She was surprised and ashamed, but there was no room for excuses because it was not wrong.

“Didn’t you tell me when you met the handsome ‘Sir Handsome’? I like a handsome man. Heh heh heh.”

“……”

….. Linzel. How far did previous Linzel go about spreading her honest tastes?

“Ha ha ha. Was it like that?”

She ended up laughing along with her father.

Her smile was a sign of agreement.

She didn’t want to deny it when she discovered that she and the real Linzel had a common taste.

Be it what it is.

Then her father declared, “Well, His Highness Hernan is handsome. It was enough to make even this old father’s heart flutter.”

(E/N: love this guy already.)

“Father too?”

“Then. Whose daughter are you? Heh heh heh.”

‘Damn it.’

She couldn’t help but laugh along with her father while swearing a little inside.

***

It took three hours to dress up.

Linzel thought she was going to pass out because she was still weak. Even so, it was thanks to Mini that she did not faint.

Every time she repeatedly asked, ‘Are we finished now?’ Minnie replied, ‘Yes! It’s all over!’

All she said was that it was over even though it spanned three hours. She won.

The funny thing was that the effect of the words was great.

Linzel was able to endure only believing that it was all coming to an end.

Minnie was a great trainer.

Before getting on the carriage to the imperial palace, Linzel packed a gift. She thought it would be disrespectful to go to the place she was invited to empty-handed.

The gift was oil from the West region with fragrant spices added, and it was a limited edition and even an expensive product.

She was the daughter of a duke, a family of gold spoons, so she was able to get the item easily.

Just applying this oil improved one’s skin, but how much more handsome would Hernan get when he applied it?

She couldn’t dare imagine. She asked Minnie to prepare five oils.

One each for the imperial couple and the three princes. The packaging was done by Linzel herself.

The antique glass bottle of oil was placed in a square box, and the box was wrapped with red ribbon.

The knot was, of course, a delicate bow.

By the time she packed the oil and got on the carriage heading to the imperial palace, the twilight was setting.

Why was it that she was already feeling tired? She gave a long yawn.

It was Letty who saw her off.

“Linzel! Have a safe trip. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Linzel poked her head out the window of the already departing carriage and waved her hand at Letty.

A lovely blush hung over Letty’s white cheeks.

Letty stood there until the carriage Linzel rode left the duke’s residence. She seemed somehow lonely.

Soon after, the carriage started to run down the main street.

Linzel’s heart went numb at the same time that Letty became invisible. Dinner was almost always with Letty….

She was worried about Letty, who would have dinner alone.

She already missed Letty. It was likely that Letty would not be the only one who became lonely.

On the way to the imperial palace, Linzel thought of Hernan in the original story.

Hernan, who gave off an intimidating atmosphere but somehow became docile, did not fit the role of the villain.

However, his position in the novel was clearly a “villain”.

Because the novel was written from Letty’s point of view, Hernan’s thoughts were not revealed in detail.

In other words, Hernan from Letty’s point of view was a “villain”.

Then, why was the naive Hernan recognized as a villain by Letty?

There was another reason.

“……because some guy urged him.”

Even if it was an arranged marriage without love, Hernan wanted to live happily with Letty, who became his bride.

It wasn’t that he loved her madly, but because he had a crush on her.

However, Hernan was at a loss because he didn’t know anything about dating, love, and women. Just as he destroyed the romantic atmosphere when Linzel was with him.

There was a person who urged him on like that.

That person was Hernan’s aide, Gatt. Gatt gave Hernan the wrong information.

For example, to pluck out the eyes of those who stare at Letty, that love was best expressed with the body, not words.

Hernan believed the words of Gatt, who had been by his side for a long time.

(T/N: Himbo on a whole new level O.o)

At least that’s how it was when it came to dating.

There were so many knights whose eyes were pulled out for looking at Letty, to the extent that an eyeball tomb was built behind the imperial palace.

(E/N: an EYEBALL TOMB. Bahahah.)

Afterwards, almost everyone turned away from Letty….

The isolated Letty felt a deep sense of loneliness, and it was Izekiel who soothed Letty’s loneliness.

Izekiel was able to approach Hernan because he was the first prince who couldn’t have his eyes pulled out.

Izekiel’s kindness and warm gaze melted Letty’s frozen heart.

Two people. They couldn’t help but fall in love.

Also, Letty and Hernan were very lacking in conversation.

Lack of conversation built up misunderstandings about each other, and in the end, Hernan, seen from Letty’s point of view, had no choice but to become a villain.

It was a pity.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that Letty did not know the story at all.

Only from Hernan’s point of view, which came out occasionally, did the story come out in small detail.

Linzel already knew the story, so she knew from the beginning that Hernan wasn’t a bad person.

The thoughts didn’t go any further. It was because the carriage that had been running without rest had stopped.

She straightened her body, which had been lazily leaning against the carriage seat.

Then she looked out the carriage window.

“Oh.”

The scenery had changed.

The view of the lively downtown had changed to a front of a gorgeous building.

She looked up at the building in front of her.

It was an ivory-colored antique building with an impressive high spire. It seemed to be one of the many buildings in the imperial palace.

At that time, Mini, who was sitting across from her master, opened the carriage door and suggested getting out of the carriage.

“Miss! I’ll help you get off!”

“Yeah, thank you.”

“Watch your feet!”

Linzel let out an exaggerated sobbing voice as she went down the carriage steps.

“If I fall down…. If I accidentally hit my head and die… bring me.…”

Mini was quick to respond to Linzel’s sudden play. She, too, gave her voice full of tears.

“Miss…..please don’t say that. We cannot bury you here.”

When Linzel came down the last set of stairs, she did, in fact, stumble greatly.

It wasn’t acting this time, it was because her legs were a little weak.

“Miss!”

“Mini!”

Mini quickly hugged her and prevented her from falling.

It was Mini who held Linzel, but since Linzel was much taller, it was like she was holding Mini.

She rubbed Mini’s soft back intimately.

“Mini… … Thanks to you, I didn’t fall. It didn’t happen that I would be buried here…”

“Miss! No matter how much you wanted to do a situational drama, you have no idea how shocked I was when you were really falling!”

“Ooooooh, my poor baby. Did I surprise you too much?”

Linzel tapped Mini on the butt as a sign of praise.

Mini made a sound that sounded like she was both pleased and embarrassed.

“Ah, really.”

She looked around with my chin resting on Mini’s shoulder.

The place they were dropped off was the garden in front of the ivory spire. There was no one else in the garden except for them. It was strange.

Since she was invited by the imperial palace, there should have been at least one person who came out to meet her.

‘Hmm….Why?’

No one showed up even after Mini unloaded five gift boxes from the wagon.

The coachman left, leaving behind the words that he would go to the carriage stop.

All that was left was Linzel, Mini, and five gift boxes.

“Mini. Why is there no one there?”

It was dark as the sun had completely set. A garden with no people…. It was kind of bleak. It even felt desolate.

Did the coachman come to the wrong place?

If not, did they arrive too early?

“Miss. Please wait here. I’ll go into the building and call someone.”

Mini was just cheerful, as if she didn’t feel the bleakness that I felt.

Linzel patted Mini’s butt again.

“My little one, please come back quickly.”

“Yes! I’ll be back soon!”

The figure of Mini, who started running somewhere, soon disappeared.

Left alone, the quiet surroundings felt even more hideous.

It wasn’t the season to feel the cold, but goose bumps were growing on her forearms. There seemed to be a strange chill in the wind that brushed past her back.

It felt like it wouldn’t be strange if something that wasn’t human appeared somewhere.

“I…. Am I frightened?”

Linzel wrapped her arms around herself. She wanted Mini to come back soon.

Time passed slowly.

In reality, it shouldn’t have even been five minutes, but she had the illusion that five hours had passed.

It was then that she heard the sound of an unknown bird. The sporadic chirping startled her.

“Kyaaak-!”

She flinched in surprise, as if she had seen a ghost.

Her trembling leg touched the gift box piled up in front of her.

Like a person who often loses strength in her legs, she fell immediately straight to the floor.

It was fortunate that the ground was soft grass…. If it had been a hardwood floor, she might have broken my knee.

Oh, of course, that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful.

“Argh……”

Knees, calves, and even thighs throbbed. She couldn’t get up for a while, lying in the garden.

It was lucky that she didn’t hit her head on the floor, though.

If that were the case, the situational play she did when she got off the carriage could have become a reality.

‘Linzel Valencia fell and died in the garden of the Imperial Palace, Amen.’

Maybe this phrase would be written on the tombstone.

When she thought that far, heat began to rise around her eyes. When she closed and opened her eyes, tears poured out.

These weren’t tears without a reason.

It wasn’t that Linzel was crying because the contents of the tombstone were sad.

She cried because her leg was hurt when she hit the floor. It hurt so much that tears flowed.

There was a great correlation between pain and tears.

She couldn’t hold back the tears flowing down her face.

Her body got bruised even if she touched it lightly somewhere…. she couldn’t even fathom how messed up her legs must be.

She was invited to the imperial palace and even brought a gift, but it was funny to see herself falling down and crying all alone.

So, she laughed a lot, resulting in Linzel sitting on the ground with eyes that were crying, and a mouth that was smiling. What a weird face she must be making.

And she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“….Wow. That’s a really weird face.”

A man’s voice rang in her ears.

She thought it would be Hernan, but it wasn’t his voice.