Chapter 1
#01
Bianca Crofort was a villainess.
Her appearance was as beautiful as a rose, but her heart was more wicked than a poisonous mushroom.
Bianca couldn't accept that Ricardo loved someone other than herself, that Maria was more beautiful than she was. She nurtured a poisonous mushroom in her heart with only jealousy, hatred, and anger.
"It was you. You poisoned Maria."
"Yes. If she's gone, everything will go back to where it belongs."
Even as Ricardo's cold eyes and cold blade were aimed at her, Bianca didn't repent her actions.
Even in this moment, as Maria was on the verge of death because of the poison she had given her, she arrogantly raised her head and spoke as if it were natural. It was truly a villainous act.
"Please, come to your senses, Ricardo. I'm the one who suits you. You're just caught in that vixen's trap and can't think straight. I'll save you."
"No, Bianca, I will save you."
For a moment, a smile flickered across Bianca's face as she heard Ricardo's words. Finally, her former fiancé, Ricardo, had come to his senses and was returning to her side...
"Ugh!"
Ricardo, the Splendor Empire's best swordsman, pierced Bianca's neck with his blade. As if unable to believe the sword lodged in her neck, Bianca stared at Ricardo.
"Th... Cr..."
Sounds that couldn't form words bubbled from Bianca's mouth along with blood foam.
Red blood flowed out like a stream of life, slowly soaking Bianca's dress.
Bianca looked at Ricardo in front of her, as if unable to believe it until the very end. Her love was watching her with indifferent and cold eyes.
"I will kill you so that you can never commit another crime. This is the salvation I, your former fiancé, bestow upon you."
Ricardo's cold voice was the last thing Bianca remembered.
It was the miserable and wretched end of a villainess, killed by the one she loved.
"No way!"
I threw the book I was holding. The book hit the wall with a loud noise and fell to the floor, rolling away.
"Young lady, what's wrong?"
"Get out!"
"Yes!"
The maid, who had rushed in after hearing the loud noise from my room, closed the door and left at my shout. She probably knew my temper well enough not to ask any further.
"What kind of trashy book is this?"
I glared at the book that described me as a notorious villainess once again.
<The Tale of the Splendor Empire>
I had picked it up at the bookstore, thinking it was just a simple history book. It wasn't until I leisurely opened the pages with a cup of fragrant tea today that I realized it wasn't a history book.
It was a romance genre that I didn't usually read, but I was slightly curious because the male protagonist's name was the same as my fiancé, Ricardo, so I kept reading.
Later, when a character with the same name as me appeared, my eyebrows unconsciously twitched.
The same name as me. And the same blonde hair and blue eyes. She was even a Marquess's daughter like me?
"Since she's the same as me, this woman must be the female lead. The woman named Maria who came out earlier must just be a supporting character."
But it wasn't.
My name is Bianca Crofort.
The precious only daughter of the Crofort Marquess family, renowned in the Splendor Empire.
A famous beauty of the Empire with brilliantly shining blonde hair, blue eyes more beautiful than jewels, and lips redder than roses.
But in that damned book, I was the villainess 'Bianca' who would have her head chopped off.
"The weather is really nice, isn't it?"
The man, who had been absentmindedly looking out the window, turned his head at my words and looked at me.
Eyes as dark as his black hair stared straight at me. His well-defined nose, his firmly closed lips, his face was handsome without a single flaw.
And not just his face. His neckline, sculpted as if by the gods, and his firm shoulders and chest muscles made any woman in the Empire want to be held in his arms, and his long legs further accentuated his tall height.
Moreover, he was the heir to a prestigious Duke family and a swordsman whose skills had already been recognized.
"Indeed."
Even his low voice was captivating.
A man perfect in every way, Ricardo Wincaiser.
He was my fiancé.
Or, he was also the male protagonist of that damned book I had read. I had no intention of objecting to the fact that he was the male protagonist.
Ricardo had the perfect background and character to be the protagonist.
And compared to such Ricardo, I was not lacking in any way. The Crofort Marquess family was a prestigious family, although it fell slightly short of the Wincaiser Duke family, and I was also a famous beauty in the Empire.
Not only in appearance but also in etiquette, refinement, and knowledge, I was the perfect female lead material.
But... I wasn't.
The female lead in that book was completely the opposite of me. She was a woman from the countryside whom I had never heard of, who suddenly turned out to be the Marquess's illegitimate child and came to the capital.
Naturally, she had no etiquette or refinement, was uneducated, and didn't even take care of herself properly.
What was her name, Maria something?
The book said she was pretty and kind, but since I had never seen or heard of her, I couldn't accept it.
"I have a question."
I tried to ignore the contents of the book I had read and spoke to Ricardo.
"What is it?"
The way he slowly brought the teacup to his lips was truly picturesque.
He had rarely shown me a warm side since our engagement, but he had never shown any signs of ignoring or disliking me either.
He was just a man like a calm lake.
Come to think of it, that was strange in the book too. It described this composed Ricardo as an incredibly passionate man.
Moreover, the scenes of lovemaking in the bedroom were so intense that I, as an elegant noble lady, found it really hard to accept.
But in order to accept new facts with the attitude of academic inquiry, I repeatedly studied them several times...
"Bianca?"
"Yes?"
"Your face seems a little red. Are you not feeling well?"
"Ah, no. I was just thinking about something else for a moment."
I must have unconsciously thought about that lovemaking scene, and my face turned red.
Get a grip, Bianca. This is not the time for that.
"To say you were going to ask me a question and then think about something else, that's not like you."
"..."
I quietly closed my mouth at Ricardo's words. I wondered if I should apologize for thinking about something else in front of him, but I couldn't bring myself to say it.
My pride refused to let the word 'sorry' come out of my mouth. Apologizing was something I had hardly ever done, as I had never caused trouble for anyone, and it was something I shouldn't do carelessly in my position.
I didn't want to become familiar with that unfamiliar act of apologizing in the future either.
"I'll ask the question."
Instead, I pretended to be nonchalant and said what I wanted to say.
"If you were to kill someone, what would be the situation?"
"War, I suppose."
Ricardo said without a moment's hesitation. Despite being only twenty-three years old, he had fought in two wars and returned with great achievements.
I probably don't know, but he must have killed people. No, he definitely did.
When he returned from the first war, he acted like a lost soul for a while, and when he returned from the second war, I knew that his black eyes had become dry.
"If it's not war?"
"If it's not war, and I kill someone?"
"Yes."
"That's a strange question."
Ricardo put down the teacup he was holding. And instead, he looked straight at me.
"Why are you suddenly curious about that?"
"..."
I couldn't answer his question.
'Because you're going to kill me.'
That's what happened in the book.
Bianca, his former fiancée who loved Ricardo so much, couldn't accept being abandoned by him. Because she loved him so much.
Bianca's anger, driven mad by jealousy, was directed at Maria, whom she thought had stolen his love. Because she loved him so much.
Bianca tries to poison Maria, wanting to win back Ricardo's love even if it meant killing Maria. Because she loved him so much.
And such actions of Bianca eventually ended with Ricardo slitting her throat.
Bianca died like that. At the hands of the one she loved so much.
"It's nothing."
Yeah, let's not worry about it. Someone must be playing a prank.
There's no one who doesn't know Ricardo's and my name, so someone must have used our names to play a malicious prank.
It's just someone who knows the political situation of the Empire well and knows the relationship between Ricardo and me well who wrote it like that.
Yeah. If I go to the bookstore where I bought the book tomorrow and grill the owner, I'll be able to find out who wrote this ridiculous book. Then I'll find that person right away and give them a good scolding.
"If I were to kill someone privately..."
I had already said it was nothing, but Ricardo seemed to be trying to answer my question.
I looked straight at him with a little tension.
His expressionless and emotionless black eyes were looking at me.
"It would probably be when someone touched my people."
Ricardo's answer sent shivers down my arms.
And the contents I had seen in the book were being replayed in my head.
He must have looked at me with those indifferent eyes. And he must have held the sword with those rough hands, and pierced my neck with that sword.
While killing me, saying something about salvation.
"Bianca?"
"..."
"Bianca?"
"...Yes?"
I was imagining the contents of the book when I suddenly came to my senses at the sound of Ricardo calling me.
"You're a bit strange today."
Is Ricardo worried about me?
Like the 'Ricardo' in the book, would he make a worried expression at a sick woman and gently place his hand on her forehead?
"You should rest early today. I'll be on my way now."
As if he had no more business to attend to, Ricardo stood up from his seat.
There was no worried expression, no gentle touch.
A relationship of engagement made by the promise between families. He was always at that distance.
Visible in front of my eyes, but out of reach of my hands, at just that distance.
"Yes. Have a safe trip home."
I answered with a bright smile.
As if it didn't matter if we didn't touch.
