Chapter 21
#21
There was a crack in one of the rose petals.
It was just a cheap candy, made with crude skill, but the broken edge made me feel sorry for it, so I reached out.
My hand hovered in the air, unable to touch it for fear of crumbling it further, and eventually returned to its place.
"Why..."
A sigh-like word flowed out on its own.
It was difficult to understand Ricardo's intentions, which had suddenly changed.
No, more than his intentions, it was difficult to understand why he had suddenly started to see me in a new light.
He didn't have to do that now.
"Could this be part of the book too?"
I tilted my head.
When Ricardo showed interest in me, to be honest, I liked it.
Ricardo's changed attitude, to be honest, I liked it too.
His smile made my heart flutter, and even the casual touches made my heart race.
Every time I saw Ricardo's new side, I felt the old feelings coming back to life little by little.
Discovering the living Ricardo, not just the indifferent Duke of the future who had no interest in me, was a pleasant thing for me too.
Suddenly, I had a feeling that this pleasure might be a trap.
"Yes. It could be."
When I read the book, I thought it was absurd.
I was going to become a villainess? I was sure it couldn't be.
I even laughed at the ridiculous idea that I loved Ricardo so much that I would try to kill someone.
But if my heart keeps fluttering like this... maybe it's true.
I may be willing to choose a breakup now, but maybe not later.
"That can't be."
I shook my head violently, but the thought stuck to my head as if it would never let go.
"This!"
I grabbed the candy that I couldn't even touch a moment ago for fear of it crumbling.
I was going to throw it in the trash right away.
That was definitely what I wanted. My hand was already raised.
"..."
But I couldn't let go. I couldn't throw it away.
I couldn't bring myself to throw away the gift he had chosen for the first time.
"It's just candy."
I muttered to myself as if hypnotizing myself.
"It's nothing."
I quietly got up from my seat. I still held the candy in my hand.
When I opened my door, I realized something was wrong.
Nothing had changed. The bed, the bookshelf, the dressing table.
Everything was the same as before I left.
But something was different.
Looking closely at the room, I realized that a faint light was leaking out. From a place where no light would normally come out.
It was the bookshelf.
"The book!"
I ran from the door to the bookshelf in one go and stood in front of it.
And I immediately pulled out the book that was emitting light. Of course, it was that book.
The book was neither hot nor cold. It was just shining.
"It's okay."
I encouraged myself as I was about to open the book, my hands trembling.
It might be a good thing.
The story might have changed to one where I didn't die and just broke up with Ricardo normally.
Didn't he clearly say today? That he could break up if he had another woman.
It might have changed for the better.
Maybe I was changed to the main character instead of Maria.
Actually, I'm perfect as a main character.
"It's okay."
Not only was I fully armed with positive thoughts, but I also took a deep breath and turned the page.
Unfortunately, the beginning of the book had not changed.
The two still met because of a pickpocket, and it was written as if they had met very fatefully.
The main characters were still Ricardo and Maria.
"Wait a minute."
Disappointed, I turned a few pages and stopped at a part that was different from before.
Before, their first meeting was described as them introducing themselves and promising to meet again.
Of course, exaggerating as if it was incredibly fateful.
But it was different now.
It was clear that they had met a pickpocket, and the description of Maria's situation was the same as before.
What had changed was Ricardo.
He didn't tell Maria his name. He didn't promise to meet again.
"If you really want to repay me, help other people, not me."
"Yes?"
"I don't need repayment, so use it for other good deeds instead. Help an orphanage or donate to a homeless shelter. That's how you repay me."
"Ah, over there!"
That was all.
After saving Maria's life-like money, Ricardo turned away without revealing his name. Telling her to help others.
He probably didn't know.
That the words that he didn't need repayment, that he should help others, made Maria's heart beat even faster.
How reassuring it was for her, who had just come to the capital from the countryside and was scared and afraid of everything, that there was someone who helped others without expecting anything in return.
And that was the fateful first meeting of these two people.
Similar, yet different.
The book still emphasized the fate of the two, and it told that Maria had a crush on him at first sight, but Ricardo was different.
Just like the previous him and the current him were different.
"A little more."
Like a person who hasn't had a sip of water for three days looking for water, I craved the letters.
I hurriedly drank the words and turned the pages frantically.
I refused meals and sent back the maids who came to help me with my bath. I just read, read, and read again.
"Bianca."
At Ricardo's call, she turned her head.
"Ricardo."
She smiled with a bright expression.
It was a radiant smile, worthy of the title of the most beautiful woman in the Empire.
Ricardo's fiancée and his first love, Bianca Crofort, was such a woman.
Radiant and beautiful.
I, who was a villainess, had become Ricardo's first love.
She was a perfect woman who was famous for her beauty in the Splendor Empire and was well-received by both nobles and commoners.
And she was Maria's rival.
Surprisingly, Maria had blossomed into a flower of high society in the Splendor Empire, comparable to me, through hard work.
It didn't make sense that she had achieved in just one year what I had been working on for 20 years, but that's what the book claimed anyway.
The book said that if I was a glamorous rose, Maria was like a pure lily.
And there was still Ricardo between us.
If the previous book was about two beautiful male and female protagonists overcoming a villainess who interfered with their love and finding true love, this book was about Maria growing into a flower of the Splendor Empire.
And no matter how beautifully she bloomed, Ricardo didn't look back at her.
Because he loved 'Bianca'.
"I hated you."
Maria looked down at Bianca with a cold expression.
The pure country girl who had just come to the capital from the countryside a year ago could no longer be found.
Through hard work, Maria had become a perfect lady.
Enough to not be ashamed to stand by the side of Ricardo, whom she loved.
"Ma, Maria..."
Maria could have stood by his side if only Bianca, who was clutching her chest in pain in front of her, wasn't there.
"Do you think Ricardo's heart will change if you do this?"
Bianca said, gasping for breath.
"No. It won't change."
Maria didn't even blink an eye even though a person was dying in front of her.
"But I can have his body, right?"
"Maria..."
It didn't matter if Bianca looked at her with pitiful eyes.
It was she who had decided to have his body if she couldn't have his heart in the end.
As she watched Bianca slowly die, Maria's heart slowly cooled down.
Even with a cold heart, it was still beating.
"Good heavens!"
The first time I took my eyes off the book was at the part about my death.
I died again. This time it was poisoning.
No matter how hard she tried, Ricardo didn't look at her, so Maria finally made the wrong choice.
By poisoning me, her rival and the one Ricardo loved.
In the previous book, I, the villainess, failed to poison Maria, but Maria, the main character, succeeded in poisoning me. Thus, I died again.
Ricardo mourned my death, and Maria comforted Ricardo.
Maria seduced Ricardo, who was drunk with grief, and Ricardo, mistaking Maria, who was acting like me in his hazy consciousness, for me, spent the night with her.
Ricardo stayed by Maria's side due to a single night's mistake.
Maria, who had taken possession of Ricardo without a soul.
Loving, yet not loving.
The protagonists who have a 'happy bad ending'.
The story had changed like that.
"Why do I always die?"
That was my short review after finally reading the long story.
The story had changed, but I was still a dead person in the book.
"Anyway, it's definitely changing."
I thought maybe it wouldn't change when I saw Panya putting flowers on my grave, but I was a little hopeful when I saw that the main plot was also changing.
In the end, the fact that I died didn't change, but the content changed anyway.
The content could change as much as I wanted in the future.
Depending on how I acted.
I did good deeds and didn't become a villainess, but changed into a perfect Duchess candidate with an excellent reputation.
And Ricardo, who previously regarded me as just a formal fiancée and a villainess who interfered with his love with Maria, had also changed.
"Ricardo."
I quietly called his name and turned the page of the book.
And I stroked a passage that I had read.
"Bianca."
A tearful voice called her name.
Even lying in a coffin, surrounded by gorgeous flowers, she was still beautiful.
"I swear."
A drop of tear fell on her cheek. Of course, it wasn't her tear.
"The owner of my heart is only you, Bianca."
That oath was kept until Ricardo died.
