Volume 1 Chapter 54 Mean Villainess, Realizing the Checkmate
Something terrible is happening.
Because of the rumor that Flora is trying to take Leve from me, her reputation is falling fast.
Because of this, I feel like I'm in the position of a tragic heroine instead of the Mean Villainess.
The problem is, I have no idea if this is okay or not.
Will a tragic heroine level up and evolve into a Mean Villainess if left alone?
Or do I need to take some action to switch to being a Mean Villainess?
There's also the issue that I'm not very good at being mean.
I'm aware of that.
But it's quite difficult to use my weapon of meanness on someone who is running away.
After all, I'm better at running away than chasing.
As I sat in the carriage heading to the academy, lost in thought, I sensed Rolus's gaze on me.
"Lady."
"Huh?"
"Are you thinking about that nightmare again?"
Rolus seemed really surprised by my self-harm yesterday when I tried to remember the dream by hitting my head.
Since then, he has been worried about me.
"I'm just thinking about reality right now."
"──By reality, do you mean the cause of the fifth king's death?"
"The cause of death."
Elder Brother, who had been listening to our conversation, quickly chimed in.
It's quite strange for a young lady to be thinking about the king's cause of death.
"...Well, I do want to know more about the cause of death, but I was thinking about something else right now."
"Something else?"
"Yes. When I saw the portrait of the 6th king in his youth, I felt an uneasy feeling for some reason."
As I murmured this, both Rolus and Elder Brother tilted their heads in confusion.
I couldn't say I was thinking about how to act as a Mean Villainess, so I quickly spoke about what I felt yesterday.
"You felt uneasy just from looking at the portrait?"
I nodded obediently in response to Elder Brother's question.
"I just had this vague, unpleasant feeling."
"Did he seem like a bad guy? Or is it just that you don't like that kind of face?"
The portrait itself had a calm expression, so he didn't seem like a bad guy. And since most of the royal family members are good-looking, it's not like I dislike the face.
Well, it's not exactly my type of good looks either.
"Bad guy... face... no, neither. It's more like disgust and an unknown fear..."
As I muttered to myself, Rolus, who seemed to have reached the peak of his concern, spoke up.
"My Lady, it doesn't seem like a good feeling. Maybe it's best not to dwell on it."
"Yeah, you're right."
I feel like I'll have to think about it again eventually, but I don't want to worry Rolus, so I'll stop for now.
"Rolus, you're such a worrier."
"My apologies. But yesterday, My Lady started hitting her head while thinking about this."
"Wait, Elena did that!?"
"I thought hitting it might help me remember something, Elder Brother."
"Stop that!"
I got scolded really badly.
* * *
That day, during lunch break.
After finishing lunch, I headed to the library with Rolus.
Since Rolus was so worried, we thought it might be fun to read an adventurous story together.
Normally, Rolus would say something like, "A servant shouldn't read stories with their master," but it seems he's willing to go along with it if it distracts me.
While secretly planning to maybe read a slightly scary story together, I stepped into the library and saw a familiar figure.
There, sitting alone at a table in the corner, was Flora.
If the heroine is alone, there's no way I, as the mean villainess, would miss the chance to approach her.
Thinking it was the perfect opportunity, I quietly snuck up behind her.
She'd probably run away the moment she noticed me, so if I approached her from behind, she'd be utterly shocked.
In the world I used to live in, Japan, I'm pretty sure startling someone like this could even count as assault. What I'm about to do is definitely way too mean, I'm sure.
I glanced at Rolus and put a finger to my lips.
"Let's get a little closer. Quietly, okay?"
When I said that, Rolus tilted his head for a moment but quietly followed me.
I crept closer, slowly approaching from behind her, and peeked at the book she was reading.
Several books on flower breeding were stacked together.
It seemed she was copying notes from them into her notebook.
"Flower breeding... Is that book interesting?"
I asked in a soft voice. Without looking up or pausing her work, she simply answered, "Yes."
Apparently, she hadn't noticed it was me.
"Are you planning to breed flowers yourself?"
"No, I'm not. I just got carried away researching various flowers for flower fortune-telling, but I'm not actually breeding them."
Even though we were having a conversation, she still didn't realize it was me.
I wondered just how focused she was.
At this rate, we might end up getting pretty close—and that would be interesting in its own way.
"Do you think these could be used for flower fortune-telling?"
"Well, the meanings behind flower language can be too complicated to use directly, but our teacher said that knowing different kinds of flowers is important for making the presentation of flower fortune-telling look impressive."
"I see."
In stone fortune-telling, people draw a sparkling magic circle to add flair, but flower fortune-telling uses a different method to achieve a showy effect.
By the way, this girl really doesn't notice me.
I moved closer to surprise her, yet I ended up being the one startled.
Feeling a rush to make her notice, I edged even nearer to get a better look at her work.
Then I saw the contents of her notebook, previously hidden behind her head.
There were sentences copied from the book along with some very cute drawings.
"...You're really good at drawing."
"My father is a picture book author, so I've been drawing since I was little—both as a hobby and as work."
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