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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: An Audacious Proposal
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Serapina, who had been wearing a pitiful expression the whole time, suddenly scowled.
I paid her no mind and continued.
“I was just trying to see if your shoelace was really untied, so I only gave it a little tug… I guess Serapina is just so frail that she fell backward.”
As I spoke, making sure Gregory could hear, I glanced sideways at Serapina.
“Of course, Serapina, I’m sure you can understand such a trivial mistake between friends…”
After all, we’re friends. Right?
I threw back the words Serapina so often used like a mantra, then subtly lowered my head.
It was to hide the smile forming on my lips.
“Still, I felt I had to apologize. I’m truly sorry.”
“…”
Serapina glared at me murderously.
It was truly marvelous how, even in this situation, only her glare was sharp while her expression remained perfectly composed.
I guess you have to be that good to become the heroine who captures everyone’s affection.
Regardless, I addressed Countess Johanson again.
“Countess Johanson, I believe I will take my leave now.”
“But, Lady Ansi…”
“After causing such a commotion, I’m not so shameless as to remain at the picnic.”
At the same time, Gregory and Serapina’s faces twisted in anger.
With that one sentence, I had branded them as ‘people shameless enough to stick around at a picnic even after causing a scene.’
*Hmph, serves them right.*
I smirked to myself and slipped away from the picnic.
After that day.
I cut off all contact, refused all requests for visits, and holed myself up in my townhouse.
“My lady, letters keep arriving from Lady Lopes and Lord Gusto…”
“Oh, those? Just toss them in the fireplace.”
Sitting at my desk, I answered without so much as raising an eyebrow.
They were probably just demanding an apology anyway.
This document in front of me was more urgent.
[Annulment of Engagement]
That’s right.
I had decided to break off my engagement with Gregory Gusto!
From my perspective, there was nothing holding me back.
Gregory was from a count’s family, but he was the second son and couldn’t inherit the title.
In contrast, I was the heir to a viscounty with its own lands.
To be honest, Gregory wasn’t engaged to me because he liked me, but more because…
He maintained the engagement with the calculation that he could become the Viscount of Ansi if he married me.
His intentions were so blatant that,
“Lari, are you really planning to get engaged to Lord Gusto?”
“It seems Lord Gusto has his heart set on Lady Lopes.”
even my parents, who had noticed, had tried to subtly dissuade me.
Fortunately, the engagement was just a verbal agreement between our families, so it could be cleanly resolved simply by sending the annulment notice.
If it had been a marriage notarized by the imperial family,
I would have been stuck as Gregory’s wife, wouldn’t I?
I recalled the plot of the original story.
In the original, all logic was thrown out the window to shower the heroine with every possible benefit and favor.
This meant it was ruthless to all supporting characters other than Serapina.
*Besides, I’m not the only one who suffered because of this heroine buff.*
For example.
*There’s Duchess Claudius.*
Duke Claudius, one of the male leads of this world, has a younger sister.
That younger sister is this world’s villainess, Duchess Claudius, who brings all sorts of hardships upon Serapina.
The Duchess considers Serapina a thorn in her side and commits all sorts of villainous acts.
In contrast, Duke Claudius, a man of common sense, gets involved with Serapina while trying to stop his sister’s wickedness.
However, this is still the beginning of the original story, and Serapina hasn’t even had any contact with the main characters, the Claudius siblings.
*Around this time… the Duchess must be in a rather difficult position.*
Recently, a rumor that the Duchess was arrogant and insolent had been spreading through high society.
In the original story, Duke Claudius, unable to bear the rumors any longer, had sternly warned his sister to restore her reputation.
He threatened to cut off her allowance for maintaining her dignity if she didn’t.
The Duchess, a trendsetter in high society who lived and died by her style, was put in a very awkward position…
*Come to think of it, Serapina was involved in that rumor, wasn’t she?*
Of course, she didn’t spread the rumor openly.
She simply used her pure and innocent image to subtly guide people into shunning the Duchess.
She had cleverly exploited the fact that people were already intimidated by the Duchess’s lofty aura.
In the novel, it was portrayed as giving the villainess her just deserts…
But watching it unfold from the sidelines, it didn’t feel like that at all.
*Isn’t she just a terrible person?*
It made sense, since the Duchess hadn’t actually done anything to harm Serapina yet.
I don’t know the reason, but she simply didn’t like Serapina.
In fact, it was Serapina who first showed hostility toward the Duchess, holding a grudge because the Duchess didn’t keep her close.
Which means.
*If you think about it, Duchess Claudius is also a victim of Serapina, isn’t she?*
And yet, simply because she’s the heroine of this world, Serapina will continue to receive everyone’s favor and rise to success.
*Ugh, I hate it.*
To be honest, I want to see Serapina’s face crumble just once.
I’ve been Serapina’s doormat for years.
Isn’t it fair for me to want at least this much?
*…In that case.*
In that moment, my eyes flashed.
*What if I build a friendship with the Duchess?*
The Duchess needs to restore her reputation right now.
And I want to screw over Serapina and Gregory.
We could scratch each other’s backs!
[To the esteemed Duchess Claudius.]
I didn’t know then.
[I know a way to restore Your Grace’s reputation.]
what consequences that letter, scribbled recklessly in a fit of rage, would bring back to me.
***
The next morning.
“Ah, ahhh…”
Overwhelmed with regret, I buried my face in my pillow.
*What on earth have I done?!*
The Duchy of Claudius.
The highest noble family in the empire, comparable even to the imperial family. The one and only ducal house.
In truth, most nobles can’t even properly speak to the Claudius family.
That’s how different their family’s standing is.
The only reason Serapina, a baron’s daughter, could even maintain a rivalry with Duchess Claudius…
…was because of her special position as the heroine of this world.
The reality is that a low-ranking noble without even a fief of her own shouldn’t be able to so much as look at Duchess Claudius.
And yet.
I, a mere lady from a provincial viscounty who had been nothing more than Serapina’s doormat until now.
I had gone and sent a letter proposing a deal to none other than Duchess Claudius!
Just how absurd my actions were was proven by the reaction of my loyal maid, Amy, yesterday.
“My lady, are you really going to send this letter?”
“Is the recipient truly Duchess Claudius?”
Amy had asked me several times, her face filled with worry.
But I, blinded by surging anger and a thirst for revenge,
“Of course! You must make sure the Duchess receives this letter, understand?!”
…had practically shoved Amy out the door!
Now that I had come to my senses, I couldn’t regret it more.
“Ah… this is a dream. It has to be a dream.”
In romance fantasy novels, there are countless heroines who regress to the past.
Can’t I regress just for one day?
I mean, come on.
It’s sad enough being reincarnated as a minor extra who devotes herself to the heroine only to be cast aside like an old shoe.
And now I have to create my own cringeworthy history in real time…!
“Should I just go back to my hometown now? I’m their only daughter, my parents wouldn’t cast me out, right?”
Just as I was clutching my head and groaning in torment.
*Knock, knock.*
A short knock sounded.
“My lady, you have a visitor.”
The voice sounded somewhat troubled.
