Chapter 5
#05
"What would you like me to investigate?"
"First, whether that woman exists."
"Pardon?"
After asking him to investigate a specific person, including their name and where they lived, he asked if such a person existed, which made the Butler taken aback.
"Understood."
But he quickly replied that he understood.
When someone named Croford gave an order, he followed it. No reason was needed.
"How old is she, what does she look like, is it true her mother is sick, and is she planning to come to the capital?"
The Butler quickly took out a notepad and began writing down what I said with a pen he always carried in his pocket.
"And there's something most important."
"Yes, please tell me."
"The relationship between that woman and Lord Wendsbury."
"Lord Wendsbury?"
He asked back, surprised by the sudden mention of the name.
"And the relationship between that woman's mother and Lord Wendsbury."
Maria was said to be Lord Wendsbury's illegitimate child. First, I needed to know if that woman existed and if she was truly his illegitimate child.
"Understood."
This time, he had a questioning look, but the Butler didn't say anything and nodded.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know about that woman?"
Actually, there was something else I really wanted to know.
Whether she would really fall in love with Ricardo, whether she truly loved him, whether she thought I was a villain, and why she was the heroine, things like that.
But no one would know those things.
Even I wasn't sure yet, and I was desperately hoping that she didn't exist.
"Just find out everything you can about that woman."
"Is there anything else you need?"
"No, that's all for that matter. This time, it's a different story..."
"Yes, please tell me."
"Do you know about my reputation?"
"Your reputation, Young lady? Of course, it's excellent."
"How is it excellent?"
"With your beautiful appearance and the manners and knowledge to match, you are like a flower of the Splendor Empire's social circles."
"Besides that."
"Besides that...?"
"What about my personality?"
"Pardon?"
"What's the reputation of my personality?"
The Butler blinked for a moment. I couldn't tell if he didn't know what to say or if he didn't know what the reputation of my personality was.
"What do the employees of this house think of me?"
"The employees?"
"Yes. Maids, servants, gardeners, coachmen, people like that."
In noble society, my reputation was excellent. But I already knew that.
What I was curious about now was whether I was rumored to be a villain in the world.
Just like in the novel.
"Well..."
He gave an ambiguous smile and uttered vague words.
From this, I could tell. That I wasn't receiving very positive reviews among them.
"Tell me honestly."
I said as if it was nothing, but inside, I was a little uneasy.
"I'm just curious."
I said as if it was nothing, but inside, I was a little nervous.
"The employees... they all like you, Young lady."
It was a white lie.
I noticed it because of the slight pause between the words.
"Really?"
"Yes, that's right."
The Butler nodded as if he was sure of his words and answered.
I realized that he was lying again because of the Butler's answer, which came out of almost reflexive professionalism without thinking.
"Do they think I'm nice?"
"Probably."
So, they don't think so.
"They're not afraid of me, are they?"
"Not at all."
It seems like they are afraid.
"Surely they don't have any grudges, do they?"
"Of course not."
What, are there even people who have grudges? What did I do?
It seemed that my reputation among the employees wasn't very good. Maybe it was the same in the world.
I really need to come up with something.
The problem was that I didn't know what that something was.
"Okay, I understand."
"Yes, Young lady."
He bowed slightly and was about to leave the room.
"Oh, and there's a girl named Panya who works here, right?"
"Yes. Did that child do something wrong?"
The Butler's feet, which were about to leave, stopped.
"No. Give that child a silver coin."
"It seems she did something good."
When I mentioned Panya's name, his face hardened slightly, but when I told him to give her money, his expression softened.
Instead, he gave a faint smile.
It would be a proud thing for him, as the Butler, that the servants he managed were serving their master well.
"Is she a maid who goes home at night?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Then when she finishes today, if there's any bread left in the kitchen, give it to her to take home."
"Ah... yes."
The Butler looked puzzled for a moment, as if he thought it was a strange order, but he nodded.
"Now, I'm really done with the business."
"Yes. Rest well, Young lady."
Even after the Butler left the room, I sat still in the room. Usually, I would have gone out by now.
It was time to go to a tea party with other noble young ladies, go shopping, or at least take a walk in the garden.
But I didn't feel like doing any of them.
It was as if a hangnail was stuck in my heart, constantly bothering and annoying me. But I couldn't just tear it off.
Because it would definitely hurt.
I turned my head and looked at the hangnail, which was stuck in the bookshelf.
"Huh?"
A very faint light was coming from the book.
Normally, I would have doubted my eyes, but since I knew that this book wasn't an ordinary book, I could accept the fact that it was emitting light.
"It's not going to explode, is it?"
I frowned and stared at the book. I also took a step back towards the door.
Fortunately, the faint light slowly subsided, and the sly book pretended to be just an ordinary book.
I carefully approached and gently placed my finger on the book. It was neither hot nor cold.
I took the book out of the bookshelf and examined it, but it didn't seem to have changed much. I flipped through the pages, but it was the same. Judging from the words that appeared here and there, the contents of the book were also the same.
"Ah?"
My finger stopped at one place.
"So that you never commit a sin again, I will kill you. This is the salvation that I, who was once your fiancé, bestow upon you."
Ricardo's cold voice was Bianca's last.
It was the miserable and wretched end of a villainess who was killed by the one she loved.
It was the part where Bianca's end in the novel came out. Clearly, the content ended here before. After that, it was an empty space, indicating that the chapter was over.
The chapter titled 'The Miserable End of the Villainess Bianca'.
If you turned the next page, Maria, who had almost been poisoned by Bianca, would dramatically wake up and kiss Ricardo.
I couldn't understand how a woman who had been lying down for days didn't have bad breath, and I couldn't understand how a woman who had been lying down for days had the stamina to kiss so deeply.
It wasn't just a woman's problem.
I couldn't understand what the man was thinking, kissing a woman who had been lying down for days so deeply.
What I couldn't understand the most was that a man who had just killed a woman was kissing another woman with a clear mind!
So I remembered it even more clearly.
There was nothing after Bianca's death.
But it wasn't like that now.
It was the miserable and wretched end of a villainess who was killed by the one she loved.
Because she was such a vicious villainess, not even grass grew on her grave. People whispered that it was cursed, and they were reluctant to even go near the grave.
Just once, a maid whom she had shown kindness to on a whim picked wildflowers and placed them on her grave, but even that withered before a day had passed.
In that way, the villainess Bianca met a lonely and miserable end even in death.
The book had changed.
It was a passage that showed the will to make me miserable even after death, as if it wasn't enough that I was miserable while alive, but anyway, the contents of the book had changed.
Words that didn't exist had appeared, and content that didn't exist had been added.
That was the important thing.
"A maid whom I showed kindness to just once..."
The maid's name wasn't mentioned, but I guessed that it was Panya.
I had never been kind to maids before. They were employees.
If they provided labor, I would give them money in return. That was the end of the relationship between me and the maids.
I didn't think we were in a position to be kind to each other.
So the maid mentioned here must be Panya.
The one I was kind to today.
"The book has changed."
Why?
"Because I did something I hadn't done before."
Then?
"I have to do things that Bianca, the villainess in the book, wouldn't do."
Then?
"The book will change again."
I finally found the answer.
I may be a villainess in the book, but I won't live like that in real life.
I hurriedly put down the book and rang the bell to call a servant. Unlike usual, I rang it very urgently several times.
"Yes, Young lady!"
The maid ran in as urgently as the bell rang.
"I'm going out. Prepare the carriage."
"Yes, I understand. Where is your destination?"
"The orphanage."
"Which orphanage are you talking about?"
"..."
There was no way I would know an orphanage. I had never been interested in such things in my life.
"A nearby, suitable orphanage."
"Ah..."
The maid seemed to be thinking quickly, but she couldn't think of a place easily.
"What... how suitable is suitable?"
"..."
Of course, I didn't know either. I had never been to an orphanage in the first place.
"Then take out the suitability and go to the nearest orphanage."
I didn't want to wait any longer, so I got up from my seat.
"And bring a checkbook. And plenty of cash, just in case."
"A checkbook? Cash too?"
"Yes."
I left the preparations to the maid and left the room.
Now it was time to do good deeds.
Very, very, very good deeds that a villainess would never do.
