Chapter 04
The men of the Rionette family were all equally cold toward her.
Elizabeth was convinced that it was because they did not truly consider her part of their family.
‘The same platinum-blond hair and blue eyes as the real young lady. That must be why the master couldn’t bring himself to abandon the poor, young girl and took her in. But now that she’s grown up, she’s neither cute nor particularly lovable.’
Bailey was always comparing her to the real Elizabeth, and with every comparison, Elizabeth grew more and more insecure about being a fake.
Perhaps that was why she had become so obsessed with becoming a proud and admirable young lady worthy of her family and household.
Even so, the men of the Rionette family still seemed to have no interest in her.
Even when Marquis Rionette occasionally crossed paths with her, he never once smiled at her.
Granted, he was busy and under a great deal of stress as the head of the family. But even so, his perpetually expressionless face sometimes felt downright cold.
Her brothers were no different.
No, in their case, it was even worse.
‘I think we used to be a little closer when we were children…’
Andrick, the eldest, always avoided her.
Whenever she managed to get him into a situation where they had to spend time together, he would find a way to end it as quickly as possible and escape.
Bernard, the second son, was not as blatantly avoidant as Andrick.
However, whenever he was around her, he would stiffen up. His body, his expression, even his voice.
And both brothers had one thing in common: neither of them would look her in the eye. They always looked away.
‘That’s right. My family doesn’t love me.’
It was a miserable truth she had acknowledged for a very long time.
She would never dare to ask for their love, but she had wanted them to at least recognize her as a member of the family.
Her entire ten years of life had been devoted to that one goal.
‘It’s all over now.’
Once the monster subjugation was over and the others returned, the men of the Rionette family would learn the truth as well.
‘The collateral branches of the family must be in an uproar by now.’
The mansion’s servants had probably heard everything, too.
She was afraid to leave her room.
She wanted to hide in here forever, shutting out reality and pretending none of this had happened.
‘But I can’t do that.’
She had to resolve this situation.
Now that everything had come to light, she had to find some way to minimize the damage to the Rionette family’s reputation.
‘It’s the least I can do for the family that raised me.’
With a determined expression, Elizabeth looked at the object resting on the shelf.
It was an invitation to the tea party being held at the Zillias estate tomorrow.
“I intend to attend the tea party at the Zillias estate tomorrow.”
Bailey’s expression was exactly what Elizabeth had expected.
She looked at Elizabeth as though she were a madwoman.
“I’ll find a way to minimize the damage to the family’s reputation—”
“Stop bringing shame upon the Rionette family!”
Bailey cut Elizabeth off sharply.
“I’ve warned you time and time again. And yet, you shamelessly concealed your filthy origins, deceiving and insulting every single one of us!”
Unable to contain her anger, Bailey glared at Elizabeth, her entire body trembling.
“Dozens of letters condemning you from the collateral branches arrive at the mansion every day! How exactly do you intend to resolve this situation? What an arrogant and presumptuous thing to even consider!”
“……I’ll.”
Elizabeth struggled to speak.
“I’ll tell them that I deceived the marquis.”
Of course, Marquis Rionette already knew about Elizabeth’s origins.
But now that things had come to this, he had to appear ignorant of the truth.
“That way, the Rionette family will be seen as victims who were deceived by the schemes of a lowly illegitimate child. The family won’t suffer any further damage.”
This was the only way.
“Please help me prepare for tomorrow.”
Elizabeth finished getting ready while enduring the maids’ considerably colder and more hostile attitudes than usual.
She did her best to conceal her nervousness and arrived at the Zillias estate looking as beautiful as ever.
But the atmosphere that greeted her was entirely different from what she was accustomed to.
“Oh, look. Here comes that filthy bastard.”
It was a young lady who had always been eager to flatter Elizabeth, calling her the Noble Flower of Rionette whenever they met.
Her remark was the spark that set everyone else off. Soon, they were all busy ridiculing Elizabeth.
“How shameless! After deceiving all of us, she actually has the nerve to show her face here!”
“What can you expect? Blood will tell, after all. I heard even her own mother was a prostitute.”
“How vulgar. And all this time, she’s been pretending to be some refined lady? It makes me sick.”
For a moment, Elizabeth’s face burned at the unfamiliar insults being whispered around her. But she soon regained her composure and took a seat in the drawing room as calmly as she could.
Unlike before, Lady Zillias, the hostess, made no effort to welcome her. Nor was Elizabeth surrounded by the numerous people who had once flocked to her side.
She had expected this and prepared herself for it. Even so, seeing with her own eyes how completely people had changed was undeniably shocking.
‘Stay calm. Remember why you came here…’
It happened in an instant.
Splash!
Someone approached Elizabeth and threw a bowl of cold water over her.
Drenched from head to toe, Elizabeth looked up in bewilderment, only to find Lady Zillias—the hostess of today’s tea party—staring down at her with a look of disgust.
“What do you think you’re doing here? Have you come to ruin my party?”
“Ah…”
“Don’t tell me you actually thought an invitation meant you were welcome here! Who would ever want you here?”
Lady Zillias pointed toward the exit with her index finger and shouted,
“Get out of my party this instant!”
With that, Lady Zillias stormed off, fuming.
The people left behind snickered and mocked Elizabeth.
Water dripping from her clothes, Elizabeth kept her head bowed for a while before finally stepping out into the corridor to straighten her soaked dress.
“That’s why I wish you’d listened to me.”
At the unfamiliar voice, Elizabeth stopped in her tracks.
There stood Sybilla, looking at her with an expression of pity.
“It’s not too late, even now. Leave Icarzan.”
Of course, Elizabeth intended to do just that.
After taking all the blame upon herself and minimizing the damage to the family’s reputation.
But before that, there was something she needed to find out.
“How did you know I was illegitimate?”
At Elizabeth’s question, Sybilla looked at her with an odd expression.
“You’re curious?”
She stepped closer to Elizabeth.
As though she were about to share a secret, Sybilla leaned in until their bodies were nearly touching. Then, she whispered confidentially,
“Let me tell you a secret. Why I know so much about this world. Why I knew you were illegitimate, and why I knew you were destined to become a villainess.”
Elizabeth frowned as she stared at her.
Then Sybilla said something shocking.
“The truth is, this is a novel. The world you live in exists inside a book. We’re all characters in that book.”
A novel? Inside a book? Characters?
Elizabeth couldn’t make sense of what she was saying.
She stared at Sybilla in confusion.
“And I’m the author who created this world in another universe. That’s why I know everything that happens here.”
“Another universe…? What kind of nonsense is that? Have you lost your mind?”
“Honestly, I thought I’d gone crazy at first, too.”
Sybilla let out a faint chuckle.
“I went to sleep as usual, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself inside the novel I’d written.”
“……”
“Anyway, everything that happens in this world is written in my book.”
“Hah? If that’s true, then my origins, my childhood, and even my current situation were all settings you came up with?”
“That’s right.”
Sybilla answered with a bright smile.
“A villainess needs a backstory like yours to make the plot believable and help the protagonist stand out.”
“……What?”
“You become a villainess because of your unfortunate childhood and your deep-seated inferiority complex about your origins.”
How absurd.
Even if this woman really knew everything about the world, Elizabeth couldn’t simply believe everything she said.
‘But if there really is a god, would it be someone like her?’
A world where the protagonist was chosen and favored by the gods from birth, while everyone else was forced to suffer and sacrifice themselves for that one person.
Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain a life as miserable as hers.
Before she knew it, Elizabeth found herself swept up in Sybilla’s words, and all the prayers she had offered to the god from whom she had always sought salvation turned into anger.
“I’ve never known a single moment of happiness in my entire life.”
Elizabeth began to recount her past, her voice trembling slightly.
“Before I became a Rionette, my biological parents mistreated me constantly. I grew up in a home where I could barely remember a day when my body wasn’t covered in bruises. After becoming a Rionette, I spent every day terrified that my origins would be exposed and that people would stone me like they did today. I struggled desperately to avoid being abandoned by a family that never loved me.”
As every painful memory from her life replayed in her mind all at once, Elizabeth shuddered.
“And yet… you’re telling me that you sacrificed me, my life, my everything, for something as trivial as that?”
What if a god really had designed her entire life to be miserable just to make someone else shine?
What if she truly was someone even her own creator couldn’t love?
Elizabeth was so heartbroken that tears finally spilled from her eyes.
“That’s right.”
That simple answer awakened something inside Elizabeth.
“And as the author, I support the female protagonist, and it’s my duty to protect her from you. So…”
“……”
“Now that I know the world I created is real, I certainly can’t allow the female protagonist to suffer any more misfortune. So…”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
Elizabeth cut Sybilla off in a sharp voice.
Her expression was so menacing that Sybilla instinctively flinched.
“The protagonist? Everyone is the protagonist of their own life! Even if you decided who the protagonist of this world would be, that doesn’t give you the right to ruin everyone else’s life so carelessly!”
Despite Elizabeth’s outburst, Sybilla remained calm.
As though there was nothing she could do about it. As though it was none of her concern.
Seeing that expression, Elizabeth felt something snap inside her, like the last fragile thread holding her together had finally broken.
“……Fine. I’ll do as you wish.”
“That’s a good decision. It’ll be better for you, too.”
Sybilla’s face brightened, and she clapped her hands.
“You’ll fall in love with the male protagonist, bully the female protagonist he loves, and eventually be killed—”
“I’ll become a villainess. Just the way you want me to.”
Sybilla’s eyes widened in shock.
Apparently, Elizabeth had misunderstood her.
Sybilla hurriedly opened her mouth.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? You’ll die if you do that! Why not just quietly leave for another country…?”
“I don’t care. If that’s how I was written, then I might as well follow my destiny.”
It was a lie.
She didn’t want to die, and she still didn’t believe in destiny.
But…
‘Whatever happens, happens. It’s not as though I have anything left to lose.’
Elizabeth smiled faintly.
“Thank you, Lady Sybilla. Thanks to you, I have a feeling a great many things are going to change starting today.”
“Wait, no! Lady Rionette!”
Sybilla hurriedly tried to grab Elizabeth, but Elizabeth turned away without looking back and walked off, leaving her behind.
She needed to return to the mansion.
As she headed toward the exit, she heard some familiar voices.
“Honestly, that dress she wore today is so tacky. What dreadful taste. Well, I suppose it can’t be helped when your mother is a prostitute. After all, people like that…”
It was the young lady who had once complimented Elizabeth’s brooch.
The same woman who had always praised her outfits was now criticizing her fashion sense for the very first time.
What a disgraceful change of heart.
Elizabeth smiled bitterly.
Fine, then. Why don’t we make a proper start to my villainess era?
She picked up a cocktail from a passing servant’s tray and walked straight toward the woman who had been insulting her.
Splash!
She threw it.
“Eek!”
The woman, now drenched in sticky cocktail, let out a scream loud enough to shake the drawing room.
Elizabeth watched her with an elegant smile.
Being a villainess for the very first time was far more satisfying than she had ever imagined.
