I’m a Villainess, Can I Die? - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Are you okay… pfft… Miss?”

I nodded silently.

‘Ah… I wish you didn’t talk to me.’

Our salaried employees desperately wanted to work as well as they got paid! Desperately!

Holding back their laughter, their faces blushed, but they did their jobs admirably. After finishing all the work, they went out as if nothing had happened. Their red earlobes still hadn’t turned back to their natural color.

Such peculiar and professional servants… When a lady who was famous for being prideful showed such a clumsy act, no one would be able to hold back their laughter… Complimenting the professionalism of the maids, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw Lucas’s reflection sitting at the tea table.

Crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side, he said,

“You can’t bully the maids.”

‘Such a tiresome day…’

* * * 

“Selena.”

The duke and duchess looked at me and greeted me warmly.

‘We met less than an hour ago…’

At the warm welcome, I felt uncomfortable from not knowing what to do.

“…Mother, Father.”

As the titles came out of my mouth naturally, Lucas glanced to the side and bowed politely to the two of them.

“I greet the duke and the duchess.”

“Yes, Sir Lucas. We are indebted to you for taking good care of our daughter and son.”

“That’s not true at all. I’m just sorry that this is all I can do after the kindness Your Grace has bestowed upon me.”

Seeing them always say to each other that the other was better reminded me of the team leader who always smiled with a particularly business-like smile at customers in my past life.

‘Human life is the same anywhere.’

After the three people’s happy-praise-time was over to some extent, their gazes returned to me again.

“Okay, hurry and come in. Please take good care of our Selena today.”

“Yes, Duke.”

‘No. Duke, I don’t think he will.’

Despite the cry in my heart, the duke and duchess turned their backs and walked in.

I followed from behind, rubbing the back of my neck, feeling tired.

Today was a really exhausting day. All the energy I had accumulated in bed was already discharged.

The ceremony proceeded splendidly and simply. Simple yet gorgeous, colorful, and basic.

Since the ceremony had to proceed quickly and calmly with the tomboy—me, famous for being rude and naughty—all the formal procedures and tasks that required meticulousness were skipped. For example, instead of an engagement ceremony planned at least a few months in advance, once the date was set, the invitations were sent, and once the invitations had been made, the banquet hall was fully prepared and people were invited… In short, it was an old-fashioned engagement ceremony, and there was nothing to do about it.

A magnificent performance began, and the whispering voices subsided. Soon, at the highest point, a splendid-looking couple appeared.

When the people at the ceremony applauded the appearance of the main characters of the engagement ceremony, I followed suit.

‘What else should I do? I feel sorry because they’re having a late engagement ceremony because of Selena.’

I gathered the remaining energy in my heart and applauded enthusiastically. My older brother, who was greeting a long line of nobles with a smile, turned his head this way and hardened his expression for a short moment. He looked at me eagerly as if looking for something, then took a deep breath and smiled brightly at me.

When I saw his bright face, something thumping seemed to ring in my ears.

‘Don’t smile like that, I’m not Selena. Even if you smile at me, I can’t smile back.’

‘I will be leaving here soon.’

The afterimage of a small, skinny child overlapped with my current older brother’s appearance. The boy shivered, then turned and smiled at me.

I couldn’t answer with an awkward and weird smile, so I just waved my hand.

Selena’s older brother, who was foolishly kind and loved his younger sister, smiled even more brightly at my response, and while laughing, whispered something to Ariel, the heroine of this novel. As my brother moved away from Ariel’s ear, she also turned her head to this side, smiled shyly, and waved her hand.

“Please take care of Aaron,” I mumbled softly.

‘Please take care of that poor person who looks exactly the same as me from my childhood.’

And they clapped their hands together. They walked the virgin road with a joyful stride until their backs were small in my sight.

They moved further and further away.

When the oath procedure of the couple’s modest engagement ceremony was over, the atmosphere of the banquet hall changed and a free-spirited engagement party began.

In reality, it was time for everyone to pretend to be joyful while looking at each other like snakes and measuring who to talk to for gaining profits.

And that meant that it was time for me to get very, very, very annoyed.

“You look tired already.”

“Yeah. I’m a little worried about having to deal with people I don’t even remember.”

‘Even if I can’t do it today, I’ll probably have to hear the phrase ‘Remember me?’ a few times.’

Lucas, who was standing by my side to escort me, shook his head and stepped back. Apparently, it was because a young lady with dark blue hair in a yellow dress was approaching me.

‘Aren’t you being too cheap…?’

Was this how escorting worked? No matter how much I thought about it, I was biting my tongue at the escort for being cheap to me, but before I realized it, the woman bent her knees slightly and bowed her head in front of me.

‘So this is what a novel greeting looks like…’

As I glanced roughly at her lowered head, a cute voice came from the smiling face.

“Young lady Selena. I heard the news. I heard you were sick.”

“Yes… Well, I wasn’t feeling well. Thank you for your concern.”

The ‘yellow dress’ woman shivered.

‘I guess it’s kind of disappointing to get this reaction.’

‘Why is she so kind?’ The yellow dress lady, who was expressing her thoughts with her body, gave me a business smile.

“It’s only natural. Ah, perhaps… Do you remember me?”

‘My first ‘Do you remember me?’ of the day. Give her the prize!’

“I apologize. I don’t remember everything yet… If you tell me your name, I will remember it.”

“…I see. Your memories haven’t come back yet…”

The woman muttered lowly, as if speaking to herself. Considering that she was talking to herself in front of someone else, it was clear that her inner thoughts were quite peculiar.

‘Is she someone important? Her navy blue hair…’

But no matter how much I searched my head, I couldn’t remember. Well, I couldn’t even remember the names of the main characters, so how would I remember this person’s name?

‘Who the heck is this person, being so dramatic on her own.’

She was like a villain in a drama where they make a long monologue that takes up half of the content, muttering something out loud like, ‘Yeah, that’s what it was…’

“Ah! I’m Vivian! Vivian Jonas. Please take good care of me.”

‘Vivian Jonas…’

“Yes. Me too.”

I couldn’t remember such a character.

It seemed to just be a person who was trying to get close to me while my memory was not intact.

‘Then what to do? If we become acquaintances here, she’ll be coming to my funeral in the future.’

Well, at my funeral, everyone will have to face the genius knight Lucas, the great hidden wizard Aiden… and even the genius elite Aaron…

Once again, Selena’s greedy life became pitiful.

‘Everyone around you is a genius.’

Anyway, this woman named Vivian seemed to want to stay close to me.

To be honest, the useless chirping voice blabbering next to me was really loud and I wanted her to stop, but on such a nice day (of course, it was a good day for Selena’s family), I thought I shouldn’t do anything wrong, so I responded appropriately.

However, Vivian’s chattering stopped suddenly at the sound of high heels hitting the floor.

When I looked down at Vivian—as she was shorter than me—she was biting her lips with a stiff expression.

The dramatic change in the expression made me seriously think that this place was inside a play and not a book.

“Selena! Long time no see!”

The owner of a sound had a high-toned voice. The woman, with vivid red hair that was incomparable to navy blue and an exquisite gold-embroidered dress as if she wanted the eyes of the world on her, approached me.

“Lia.”

The middle boss of the socialite led by the evil Selena.

‘Lia Rashapel.’

“It’s Mia, not Lia. I heard that you lost your memory. I guess the rumors are true.”

‘Mia Rashapel.’

“Yes. That’s it. I’m sorry I couldn’t remember, young lady Mia.”

“Are you using honorifics between us…? So weird… Still, it reminds me of the past, so it’s quite nice.”

The past? When you didn’t even know Selena was a princess and fought in a dressing room…? Then the next day, with a letter of apology, you brought a basket of flowers and bent down saying that we should be friends?

As I recalled the intense first meeting of the two women in the book, I tilted my head, pretending not to know anything.

“I guess we were very close, weren’t we?”

“Of course, we were two best friends. Isn’t that right? Count’s young lady Vivian Jonas?”

Lady Vivian, who bit her lip when Mia appeared, shook her head with a gentle smile as if she had never been bothered by her presence.

“Of course. Your friendship was deeper than words.”

Unfortunately, Vivian’s cunning plan failed at this point. It was unavoidable.

A character whose name didn’t appear in the novel versus the right hand of the villainess. It was a battle that could not have been won in the first place.

“Oh my, I’m so happy to hear that. In that sense… I’d like to have a deep conversation with my beloved friend. Could you give us a moment?”

Li- Mia’s red eyes shone. Her tongue seemed to stick through the slightly curved red lips.

To be honest… I wanted to take a step away and take a look. Wasn’t it said that the most enjoyable thing in the world was watching a fight?

But sadly, this triangled relationship placed me exactly at the apex. I was the more important figure here. A fight in which I was also a part of would be completely annoying.

‘It has been less than a month since I collapsed and I lost my memory, but you guys are only interested in who will be the one locking arms with me?’

It seemed that the only people who had their mindset right in this world were Selena’s brother, Ariel, and the duchy’s couple.

“…Of course. Marquis’s young lady, Princess Selena, I’ll see you later.”

Vivian made a very meaningful remark and left, as her game was not over yet.

‘Though, it’s hard to tell if it will go well. Anyway, the important thing now is…’

What should I have done with this awkward, uncomfortable, and annoying situation where only the two of us were left?