The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 20
He blinked slowly and exhaled a long breath.
“If you don’t like it, shall we leave?”
“……No, come in. It is just that the inside is a bit messy…….”
He moved his steps hurriedly.
Being in the basement, the room had no proper windows; it was beyond shabby for a place where the heir to a ducal house resided.
“Wow, it really is filthy,” Roselyn said without hesitation.
Cherti’s shoulders flinched.
“My nose hurt coming down because the air is so bad.”
“……I suppose so. Most likely, a bit of the aftereffects of my ability may remain. I will give you an antidote, so if you drink this for now…….”
Roselyn accepted the blue potion Cherti Bellion handed her.
She had come here out of irritation, but she hadn’t yet thought of what to say.
“Father.”
“……Yes.”
Cherti Bellion stopped mid-pour and hesitated, looking at his fingertips.
Struggling to remain calm, he slowly finished preparing the tea and set it before Roselyn.
“The room smells like a lonely old man, and it’s dark and gloomy.”
Stab, stab, stab.
Invisible daggers flew from somewhere.
When Cherti Bellion gaped in shock at Roselyn’s blunt words, she merely maintained a dry expression.
“It seems it would be difficult to ask you to escort me to the Imperial Palace banquet like this.”
“……What?”
“Do you even have clothes?”
She was openly treating him like a beggar.
Even so, Cherti Bellion could only stammer. It was only natural, given that he had just heard something unbelievable.
“What did you…… just say?”
“The banquet. His Majesty invited me, so I’ll be attending. Can you escort me?”
“……Of course, I can. But are you certain you are alright with me?”
At Cherti Bellion’s cautious question, Roselyn shrugged and nodded.
“Yes. On the condition that…….”
“The condition?”
“That you move your room to the first floor and do something about that gloomy appearance.”
“Gloomy……?”
Cherti’s mouth hung open, his face full of shock.
Roselyn shrugged again and stood up from her seat, adding one last thing.
“Because on that day, I want to be the one who stands out the most.”
As Roselyn flashed a grin, Cherti Bellion’s jaw dropped.
It was because the face of the woman he had only seen in his dreams flickered across the child’s features.
“I was going to ask Marquis Gerran if you refused, so this worked out well.”
Sizzle—.
The high-quality teaspoon he was holding melted away.
“……I will go. Absolutely,” Cherti said, his teeth gritted.
And a few days later, the day of the banquet arrived.
The Imperial Palace’s regular banquets were held four times a year.
Each time, the festivities lasted anywhere from three to five days, during which nobles socialized and discussed necessary matters with the Emperor.
Of course, major announcements were usually made around this time as well.
This meant that titled nobles and their heirs were required to attend at the very least during this period.
“His Grace, Duke Devon Bellion; His Lordship, Little Duke Cherti Bellion; and Lady Roselyn Bellion are entering!”
Naturally, the Duke of Bellion attended as well.
Her father attended as the heir, and Roselyn attended by invitation of the Imperial Family.
Gazes pierced them from all directions.
“……Cherti Bellion?”
“Heavens, for what reason is the Little Duke of Bellion, who has been in seclusion, here……?”
“No, wait, is that Lady Bellion the stutterer? She actually showed her face after being so thoroughly ridiculed at the last debutante ball?”
“Can you even call that a debutante ball?”
Roselyn looked around with an indifferent face, listening to the voices laced with laughter that pricked at her ears.
There were quite a few familiar faces.
To a man, they were the same people who had gossiped about Roselyn and taken pleasure in her misery in her original world. A pack of losers who were jealous of her even after she had been exiled from social circles, because she was still constantly talked about.
Of course, Roselyn had no interest in losers, so she looked away.
“But who is that woman? Was there someone so striking in the Bellion family?”
“……Didn’t they just announce her as Lady Bellion?”
“……No way. That gloomy girl, I mean, the one who did nothing but stutter…… and walked around with that ridiculous makeup?”
“The young lady in that magnificent dress is her?”
“……Wait, I think I saw that dress at Pluie Boutique not long ago……. They said it wasn’t for sale because it was already reserved…….”
It was hard to tell if they were trying to whisper or if they wanted her to hear everything.
Roselyn wore a tired expression as the stories she heard with every step she took burrowed into her ears.
‘I want to sleep.’
It was because she had to wake up at the crack of dawn today.
Whatever he had understood her request to “stand out the most” to mean, her father had sent a makeup artist first thing in the morning.
They had even coordinated her entire outfit for today’s banquet.
A dress the color of the night sky, and silver hair flowing like silk.
Red eyes paired with a red lipstick that was slightly lower in saturation and lighter in shade than what she usually wore.
Brilliant jewelry and a posture without a single flaw.
The Roselyn Bellion they remembered was a gloomy woman who always walked around hunched over with a sullen face.
A woman who only glared when spoken to, or kept her mouth shut, or ignored people entirely.
A woman who didn’t know how to dress herself and wouldn’t say a word back even if someone insulted her.
Therefore, they could not immediately recognize the Roselyn in their memories as the same person standing before them now.
Seeing them gape as they finally grasped the situation, Roselyn made a bothered face.
“Tsk, they’re going to wear the child’s face out.”
At the Duke of Bellion’s words, those who had been staring at Roselyn without shame flinched and turned their heads away.
Belatedly noticing the Duke, they snapped to their senses and rushed toward the two men.
“Your Grace, Duke Bellion! It has been a long time. I hope you have been well?”
“Ah, Your Grace has arrived. We are honored by your presence.”
“My goodness, My Lord Little Duke, it is a pleasure to see you. I believe it has been ten years since we last met, I wonder if you remember……”
“I am Count Loira! We attended the academy together briefly in the past……!”
People swarmed around the Duke and Cherti.
Roselyn backed away, repulsed by the crowd that surged in like a tide.
Before she knew it, the Duke and the Little Duke were at the center of the crowd, and Roselyn had retreated to a suitably secluded corner.
‘……Wow.’
Roselyn watched her father, who had already begun radiating a somber aura.
With his long jet-black hair tied back and his bangs swept away to reveal his forehead, Cherti was truly at the peak of his looks.
It was to the point where it was baffling why he had been hiding that face.
The buttons of his shirt, fastened to the very top of his neck, gave off a stoic impression, while his slightly dark and rigid, hard face exuded a decadent charm.
His appearance was almost entirely devoid of wrinkles, belaying his age.
The way his brow narrowed slightly as if irritated perfectly displayed his high-strung personality.
‘Well, his face completes the look.’
In truth, he had a face that would stand out even if he wore rags.
But on top of that, he had spent money to apply powder and dress up to the nines, so what else could one expect?
‘I didn’t exactly mean for him to wear makeup, though.’
She had only told him to get rid of the somewhat gloomy and depressed atmosphere, but he had gone so far as to move his bangs and expose his face, which didn’t quite suit him.
‘……The mystery of genetics.’
And Roselyn was a beneficiary of that as well.
It was just as she, not wanting to stand out any further, went to a quiet corner and leaned against a wall.
A large shadow loomed over her.
“Mmm~? And who might this be? Is it not Lady Bellion~? My, my, you’ve become quite the woman since I last saw you…….”
The man blocking her view while licking his lips was a large, familiar man.
It was that bastard.
The one who had insulted Roselyn in her past life.
Baron Gilbert.
“Hmph, look at that. Just as I said, you look so beautiful when you dress up like this. From your full chest to your slender waist. It’s all thanks to my advice.”
The man, grinning ear to ear, said as he wiped away sweat with a handkerchief.
Roselyn also smiled brightly at the sight of the “welcome” face she hadn’t seen in a long time.
It was all thanks to the opponent before her, who had managed to drag her already foul mood down into the abyss.
