I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - Chapter 6
Except for stopping to eat and sleep, I thought we’d be on the carriage the whole time.
But don’t tell me…
“Bleurgh.”
I…
“Urk.”
“Meliara, are you alright?”
I didn’t think I’d get carriage sickness…!
The carriage ride was worse than I had imagined. It was like riding a never-ending ride of Disco Pang Pang1.
Although I didn’t eat much, I still kept feeling nauseous, so we finally ended up stopping the carriage.
We managed to find a lodging nearby where I could lie down on the bed while we passing through a small village.
Still, the motion sickness showed no sign of going away.
“That medicine really doesn’t work on you.”
Although I had already taken the motion sickness medicine that the knights had saved for Linden, it only tasted bitter, and showed no sign of helping me get better.
“We’re trying to find a more effective drug. Just wait a little longer.”
Although I felt sorry for the knights who would suffer from Linden’s words, I was in no position to argue about it right now.
“Whine…”
Kelber also struggled to rest all three of his heads on my bed, perhaps because he was also worried. I stroked his head, saying not to worry, but even that small action made it feel as if the whole world was spinning.
“I’ll take a quick nap.”
“Yes, that would be for the best.”
I lay on the bed and closed my eyes. In this case, it’s best to take a nap.
‘If you keep getting motion sick like this, it’ll probably take more than half a month to get to the temple…’
It was a road that had to be driven on for three days, yet I cried out in surrender after just a day. Although the temple was also a problem, this would further disrupt my plan for asylum. I groaned at the unexpected wedge thrown in my plan.
‘Chrysanthemum tea is the best for motion sickness…’
Even in my previous life, I also frequently got motion sickness. There were many folk remedies for motion sickness, but chrysanthemum tea was the one that worked best for me. So, whenever I rode a roller coaster or a boat, I would always carry some chrysanthemum tea with me in a thermos.
‘But here, I don’t even know where to get it from.’
Now, I couldn’t even go and look for it, since the world would spin even if I tried to walk on flat ground.
All I could do was lie on the bed and moan. I tried to close my eyes, hoping that ‘time would heal me’, but Lecht entered the room after a knock.
He had disappeared as soon as the carriage had stopped, so just as I was about to ask where he had gone, I saw that he had a cult of hot tea in his hand.
“Drink.”
The moment I got up to receive the cup with a bewildered mind and caught a whiff of the orchid’s scent, I immediately knew what it was.
“Chrysanthemum tea…?”
“That’s right.”
“How did you…”
“…”
He closed his mouth which was trying to say something, then said stiffly.
“It was Tanma. He said that chrysanthemum tea was good for motion sickness.”
“Ah.”
Judging from the fact that it was the butler, and not just anyone else, who had said so, it seemed to be a well-known folk remedy in this world.
I took a sip of the tea he gave me. I only took a few sips, but it completely cleansed my stomach. The uncomfortable feeling disappeared in an instant.
“Haa, it seems like I’ll live another day.”
The amount of chrysanthemum tea he had brought was more than enough for five people to share between them.
After I finished drinking a moderate amount, I set the cup aside.
“Thank you.”
“Since it’s already quite late, we’ll stay here for dinner tonight and leave tomorrow.”
Lecht said, as if he knew that I wanted to sleep.
I smiled timidly.
“Yep, that’s fine.”
“I cast some heat insulation magic on the tea.”
He seemed to imply that I’d be able to drink it any time I want throughout the evening.
To be honest, I didn’t need the chrysanthemum tea anymore because most of my nausea was already gone, but I simply laughed without telling him the truth.
“Lecht, you’re very kind.”
His fingertips flinched.
“…I’ll leave Kelber behind with you.”
At his words, Kelber quickly climbed into my bed and settled down there. After confirming that once more, Lecht proceeded to leave the room without saying anything else.
As I watched him leave, Linden, who was watching from the side, tucked me in bed and said.
“I’m in the room right next to you, so just call me if you need me. Understand?”
I noticed his appearance as he tucked the blanket over me tightly for no reason.
‘He seems to be thinking that no matter how much I’m suffering from my broken engagement, that I’ll still be a good chess piece he can use, just by being the Princess of Darchez…’
So for him to take care of me this much is all because it fits into his scheme.
But I’m a doomed stock.
“Linden.”
“Why did you call for me?”
I, who had already read the novel, knew just how much he wanted to bring down his older brother, the Crown Prince.
He was compared to his older brother, the Crown Prince, for his entire life, and was chased endlessly by the powers in the Crown Prince’s faction. His precious connection was killed by the Empress, and all those how approached him favorably were the Crown Prince’s spies, thus, he was always a loner.
It was the female lead, who finally touched his heart, which was falling apart after losing his last blood relative, the head of the Ezzarson Guild. It was only natural for him to fall in love with her.
However, the novel, which had all of its narratives revolve around the male and female lead, was harsh to the second male lead. Even her, who was no different from being his salvation, was taken away.
By his older brother, whom he had been jealous of and hated for his whole life.
‘All the readers thought that Linden would blacken and revolt. And it probably would’ve have happened if it weren’t for the Demon King Invasion cliff hanger ending.’
When the Demon King invaded, the amount of troops that had gathered under Linden’s name was enormous. It was a size that couldn’t have been prepared in a short amount of time.
That meant he must have built up the power to confront the Crown Prince a long time ago.
So, if he was taking this opportunity to force his way through that crack that came about after my broken engagement with the Crown Prince and make me one of the people in his faction, then I was only wasting this person’s precious time.
“Is it true that you have something to do in the East?”
Even I, too, wanted to lighten his life a little bit.
Because no matter how much of a schemer he was, he still wasn’t a bad character. He had simply lived a life of cheating and deceiving in order to survive.
“Yeah, why?”
“What sort of thing?”
“I can’t tell you because it’s confidential…”
He talked without even blinking. As a character who was good at lying by nature, I couldn’t even tell if his words were true or not.
“It’s not because of me…right?”
“Because of you?”
It was something I couldn’t outright ask him, so I was at a loss for words.
As I bit my lips, unable to say anything else, Linden came up to me with a grin.
“Although I’m not sure what you’re worried about, it’s alright, so you can relax.”
“…Really?”
If it was this guy, who could read other people’s expressions and intentions proficiently, he would definitely know what I’m thinking.
“Yes. I really have something to check, so we’re going together.”
That make sense… He’s such a busy kid, where would he even find the time to spare in order to try and capture me like this? To think such a thought would be far too arrogant.
Thinking like that, I was able to let out a breath in relief.
“Then I’ll believe that.”
“It’s because it’s true.”
He reached out and placed his hand slightly against my forehead.
“You seem to have a slight fever too. Enough, get some sleep.”
“…Okay.”
I turned my body to watch Linden, who had meticulously shut my curtains, leave my room.
‘He said it himself that that wasn’t it, so it probably isn’t.’
Even if that wasn’t the case, I didn’t want to make it any more complicated, since I still felt rather sick due to my motion sickness.
At last, I closed my eyes and went to sleep at the sound of the door closing.
Thanks to the chrysanthemum tea, i was able to quickly fall into a deep sleep.
Unfortunately, the good night’s sleep didn’t last very long.
***
“Bring the sedan chair from the Grand Duchy.”
Lecht, who had come out of the lodging, said to Tanma.
“Although it’ll definitely make her less motion sick, wouldn’t the real thing still be visible to to her, even if it looks like a carriage to everyone else?”
The ‘sedan chair’ that Lecht referred to was a means of transport which was frequently used in the Demon Realm. Although it was brought to the human world and made to look like a carriage with illusion magic, it was actually an installation that was made by having two slug spirits the size of a brown bear carrying a sedan chair.
“Then it will only bring me closer to certainty.”
Tanma burst into laughter at Lecht’s words.
“Aren’t you certain about it, even now as well?”
“It’s not just a matter of seeing Kelber properly.”
“Aha, so that person who thought that was the same person as the one who ran around chaotically just to find one chrysanthemum flower, right~?”
“…”
Tanma said with a sly smile.
“His Majesty, at least the one that I know, would never act like that. How unusual.”
Just like he said, this wasn’t at all like Lecht.
This was Lecht, who treated everyone in this world as if they were air. He was born noble from the very beginning, and never once thought of others, nor ever had to lower his head at all.
That person then immediately overturned the village upside down, just because he was looking for chrysanthemum tea.
He wouldn’t do that, unless he thought that was her.
“You don’t remember. They’re completely different in appearance.”
Tanma smiled softly at Lecht’s blunt tone.
“But the way they smile is the same. …That’s what you’re thinking too, right?”
Lecht’s fingertips twitched at Tanma’s sharp sense. Tanma, who had been serving him for over 100 years, knew exactly what Lecht was thinking.
“Aren’t both her memories and appearance all exactly to your expectations?”
In Tanma’s eyes, using the facts that he knew as an excuse only seemed to be his way of complaining.
“Are you worried about repeating what happened two years ago?”
“…”
Two years ago, there was a case where a newly appeared saint of the sun god in the empire, insisted on visiting the Arvis Grand Duchy to ‘bless’ it.
The Grand Duchy was a place that was no different from a hotspot that transported those of the demon realm to the mortal one, and was filled with the blessings of the moon god, which was worshiped by the demons.
It was pathetic and troublesome for the saint to give the blessing of the sun god to such a place, but he was persuaded by Tanma, who said that they should get along well, so she entered the Grand Duchy.
However, the woman saw through Kelber correctly.
She said that there were three heads.
Lecht was full of anticipation and placed all of his hopes on her.
However, it turned out that the woman was only a con tractor of a demon, and not the woman he had been waiting for.
“There’s no guarantee that this won’t happen again, even this time.”
Lecht never forgot is disappointment at that time. The feeling of his spirit being robbed and his small ray of hope that had bloomed being trampled all over.
“Doesn’t Your Majesty know better than anyone else that it’s different from last time?”
At Tanma’s point, Lecht’s fingertips flinched again.
He knew.
Lips that would purse when anxious. Eyes that would flit around when noticed. Adoring Kelber so much. Not eating breakfast and going to find chrysanthemum tea when you were motion sick.
There’s no way he wouldn’t know.
She would be the only one in this world who could say that such an arrogant and self-centered person like himself was kind.
Although a hundred years had passed, there was no way he wouldn’t recognise her, no matter how many bottles of liquor he had poured because of the memories that would become clearer and clearer as time passed.
god if a man could think abt me like that QAQ
However, Lecht replied sharply to Tanma’s prompting.
“Enough.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Stop spouting nonsense. That’s something we’re able to find out once we visit the temple.”
If she was taken to the temple, he would be able to make sure she was the person he was waiting for.
Lecht had already planned to take Meliara to the temple of the moon god, the very moment he heard that her destination was the village of Chiban. He was willing to make as many excuses as possible just to take her.
So, Lecht was suppressing the emotions that had suddenly surged up until he was certain.
“I’ll call for the sedan chair.”
Tanma was also aware of the fact that Lecht’s determination came from an effort to restrain himself, so the dispute didn’t continue any further.
It was when he was about step forward in order to get his job done.
“Won’t we all die like this?”
He heard two men talking in whispers after a day’s work, looking exhausted.
“Still, won’t it be fine since the fatality rate is less than twenty percent?”
“That’s the case for men like us. Our parents and wife. Besides, don’t you have three children? The mortality rate for children is particularly high.”
“Haa. That’s right. Apparently it’s transmitted through physical contact only, so it’s been tough trying to keep the wife and children from leaving the house.”
It could sound like a lament of a circumstance that could be found anywhere.
However, the next line caused both Lecht and Tanma’s heads to turn in that direction in unison.
“To think there could be an epidemic in our village, of all places.”
Tanma furrowed his brow slightly and walked over to where they were.
“Excuse me. Could you tell us more about this?”
[1] Disco Pang Pang is a popular korean amusement park ride where people sit on a circular machine holding onto the metal bars surrounding it and try not to get thrown off. there are countless viral videos of the host trying to shake passengers off while either making fun of them or trying to matchmake them to other passengers.
