TPDSA 55

Chapter 55

The Prince is Dead, So I’m Starting Over

I hurriedly ran to Anna.

“Yes, my lady.”

“These people are calling me a villainess!”

“…A villainess?”

“Yes! Why on earth would they think that? Haven’t I been living very kindly for the past few months?”

It feels a bit boastful to say myself, but I’ve always been popular. People around me often described me as a warm and pleasant person.

In this round, I acted almost exactly like my original self. I never did anything particularly deserving of scorn.

So what is all this about?

“Of course! You have always been a good and kind person, my lady.”

Noticing my fluster, Anna smiled gently and patted my head. Then, she looked the servants up and down, one by one.

“Servants from the Capital. I had heard they were of poor quality, having been pushed out of Aspodel almost as if they were kicked out. But I never imagined they would be this indiscreet, unable to distinguish what should and shouldn’t be said.”

“That’s not the point, Anna! The problem is that no matter how hard I tried not to act like a villainess, I was still being treated as one!”

Until now, I hadn’t mingled much with the servants other than Anna.
I found the 3rd Prince annoying at first, but ever since I learned of his circumstances, I’ve always tried to be good to him.

So why, how, and since when did the people around me start thinking of me as a villainess?

“My lady, would you like to have your meal first? I will go see the Master for a moment.”

Anna led the servants out of the room in a line. I knew that if they went to meet Count Lulupel like this, they would face severe punishment, but I didn’t try to stop them.

Suddenly, one of the servants being led away by Anna turned his head. He looked at me with resentful eyes.

What does he expect me to do?

I shrugged my shoulders at him. If you did something wrong, it’s only natural to receive the appropriate punishment. Of course, since the one doling out the punishment is Count Lulupel, it probably won’t be a punishment that could be called ‘appropriate’… But still, that’s not my problem, is it?

…Ah!

Then, I soon realized one major fact.

Hariella’s reputation wasn’t very good even before I possessed her. In a society that revered quiet and mature noble ladies, Hariella was particularly ambitious and proactive.

The servants had already built up prejudices against me, layer by layer, through direct and indirect information.

To remove their biased lenses, I needed to do something special.

For example, like the female lead in a cider-fuelled story, establishing a reign of terror by slapping the servants, or like a typical female lead, forgiving the faults of those beneath her with an almost frustrating level of kindness.

It was one of the two.

Being moderately kind and well-behaved hadn’t changed a thing.

If I knew it would be like this, I should have just acted recklessly from the start.

“Anna!”

I called out to Anna, who was leading the servants at the front.

“Please tell him to banish them all from the territory!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs at Anna’s retreating back.

This would surely elevate Hariella’s notoriety even further, but I didn’t want to care anymore. It was obvious that the other servants would curse me upon seeing their colleagues being driven out. Count Lulupel was a powerful figure, while I was just a relatively easy-to-target child.

If I was going to be cursed anyway, I’d rather do something that would at least make me feel better.

Anna, who had gone to see Count Lulupel, didn’t return even late into the night. Since Anna didn’t like me staying up late, I went to bed first.

But I couldn’t sleep at all.

It wasn’t particularly because I was upset about being criticized. Just as I was a child they could speak ill of freely, they were also beings whose gossip meant nothing to me.

However, I began to ponder the path I had taken so far.

I had believed that my actions were vastly different from the original Hariella’s, but looking back now, the results weren’t that different. The 3rd Prince was firmly disliked by Count Lulupel and his wife, and my reputation seemed worse than when I had first regressed.

Other things, like being saved by the young Duke or developing a human fondness for him, were also the same.

‘Should I not have met the 3rd Prince?’

This way, there’s not a single difference from the original story.

It felt like I had chosen the wrong card. Everything felt futile.

A single salmon swimming upstream couldn’t change the river’s flow.

It seemed that changing the original story’s flow required far more significant changes than what I had done so far.

‘…But how? What ability do I have to create change?’

Among the novels I enjoyed reading before possessing Hariella, there were many with protagonists in similar situations. They were just ordinary people in their twenties in reality, but after possession, they became unparalleled geniuses. They recalled the novel’s plot perfectly, found its gaps, and cleverly twisted them.

But I was different. It took me a long time just to realize which novel I had possessed. Others could guess the novel’s title just by hearing the name of the villainess’s maid’s neighbor’s dog, but I couldn’t even remember the main characters’ names.

I wish someone had given me a hint. Even a simple signpost would have been much better.

‘…Then again, such things don’t exist in this world.’

But in life, hints aren’t usually given. This gloominess is just me being petulant.

Whether in reality or in a novel, it wasn’t much different. All I could do was choose what seemed like the best option at every moment.

‘Right. Let’s not worry unnecessarily!’

I kicked off the covers and sat up abruptly. Digging a tunnel alone like this was definitely not a good choice. It seemed the problem was that I had been cooped up in my room all this time. That’s why I was stuck on something that should have been easily overlooked.

‘I need to get some fresh air.’

To lift my mood, I flung open the bedroom window. The sultry summer wind rushed in like a wave. The window was large, but not enough to cool the worries in my heart. I stepped onto the windowsill and leaned out, and saw a faint lamp light leaking from the 3rd Prince’s bedroom.

‘He’s still up.’

Suddenly, I missed the 3rd Prince so much.

‘Should I jump over through the window?’

A foolish thought I wouldn’t normally have came to me spontaneously. For a while, I stared at the 3rd Prince’s window with longing eyes before returning to my room.

Sleep still wouldn’t come. So this time, I wandered around the room aimlessly. My gaze kept getting caught on the wooden door connecting to the 3rd Prince’s bedroom.

‘…Should I try pushing it?’

The doorknob, protruding from between the wooden planks, was so distracting. I knew it was a really stupid thing to do, but I couldn’t stop my steps from quietly heading towards the door.

I reached out and grabbed the doorknob. And then, very lightly, just to soothe my longing, I pushed.

Then, something truly strange happened.

“…Huh?”

The sound of iron nails and planks clattering to the floor was heard, and as if it were a lie, the door creaked open!

I pulled the plank on my side forward as well. The wooden planks, which had been fixed with sturdy iron nails, came out easily, like sweet potatoes buried in shallow soil. But I’m no superhuman…

“Lu, Lulupel Youngae?” (T/N: Youngae = Miss)

It seemed the 3rd Prince was just as baffled. Sitting propped up on his bed, he called my name in a bewildered voice. He even rubbed his eyes vigorously with his small hands, as if he couldn’t believe this reality.

“Your Highness!”

Looking at his dazed face, nothing else seemed to matter. I quickly ran towards him.

“D-Don’t run! There are nails on the floor!”

The 3rd Prince, startled, scrambled down from the bed. But I paid no mind and hopped right over, hugging him tightly. The 3rd Prince couldn’t support my weight and fell backward. Fortunately, the bed was behind us, so the unfortunate event of his round head breaking was avoided.

“Your Highness! I missed you! Have you been well?”

“I m-m-missed you too… I’ve been well. But how on earth did you open the door?”

“I just gave it a push and it opened? I guess the Empire’s nail-making technology is terrible!”

“You just gave it a push and it opened? When I pulled it, it didn’t budge an inch… Gah!”

The 3rd Prince covered his mouth in surprise.

“You tried to open it?”

“N-No, I didn’t!”

He lied with a bright red face, a lie that wouldn’t even fool a three-year-old. It was so cute that my gloomy mood vanished without a trace.

“But why didn’t you reply to any of my notes? Did Andrew, no, Anchovy intercept them?”

“T-th-that is…!”

So, it seems he was the one who ignored them. The 3rd Prince averted his gaze with an expression of being terribly embarrassed.

“…Do you dislike me now?”