She's the Kind of Woman Who Means What She Says

Chapter 3

Clack, clack.

Amid cheers and applause, a man and a woman walked in, stepping onto the red carpet.

A blond man with red eyes, handsome in the rudest possible way. Louis.

A silver-haired beauty with violet eyes and a cold expression. Elysia.

The guy who'd just shouted "Get lost" on the terrace, and the woman who'd been sobbing and then cracked up at my ridiculous flirting.

My jaw dropped.

So that woman from earlier was Elysia?

The final boss of this novel?

That legendary villainess who poisoned the heroine in the first timeline before regression, then killed herself after taking poison in the second?

"Fuck…."

A line of cold sweat ran down my spine.

'Wow, did I just speed up my own death?'

This was the kind of thing that'd leave me with nothing to say even if I got hauled off for treason.

If she said out loud that I told her to grab the crown prince by the hair, wouldn't I have no defense even if I ended up on the guillotine?

Of course she wouldn't. She heard it and laughed, after all.

The Farne family’s peaceful slacker life?

As if. I was about to be assassinated while digging potatoes in the potato field and become fertilizer.

'I'm screwed... huh?'

I could hear the surrounding nobles whispering behind their fans.

"My, look at the princess's expression. Could she have been upset about something?"

"His Highness the Crown Prince seems troubled as well."

"Those two are both so wonderful and beautiful, but they’re like the sun and the moon."

They really knew how to twist "you two don’t match" into something annoyingly nasty.

Amid the murmurs, Elysia walked with her head held high.

Her expression was cold, but the corners of her eyes were strangely red.

Yep, that's the woman I lectured earlier.

No mistake about it.

"I must be crazy. They say meddling is a disease, and I’ve got it bad."

Seoul really was a scary place.

I should've just stayed in the countryside and farmed. That was the moment I started resenting my father.

I slowly backed away.

As naturally as possible, like I was just part of the scenery.

I should hide behind a pillar—no, behind that giant chocolate fountain.

Please let me stay unnoticed and slip away quietly.

"I saw nothing. I’m not here. I’m invisible."

I set down the turkey leg I'd been gnawing on for ages and tried to crouch low, blending into the crowd.

But.

"……."

Elysia, who had been walking up to the dais, suddenly stopped.

Then she slowly turned her head and looked toward the corner where I was.

...Me?

"Gasp."

My breath caught.

No way.

She's not looking for me, right?

Her violet eyes were aimed straight at the pillar I was trying to hide behind.

And I saw the faintest twitch at the corner of her lips.

Is she smiling?

Or is that a signal that says, 'Got you'?

Either way, it was ominous.

'Damn it! I haven't even hidden yet!'

I instinctively hid my face behind the tray of a waiter standing nearby.

Please.

Please, just pretend you don't know.

I'm just Passerby No. 1.

Don't pay attention to extras!

Then Louis’s voice rang out from the dais.

"Thank you to all the honored guests who have graced us with your presence today. Especially…"

The crown prince's gaze drifted somewhere.

Why do I feel like I know exactly what that means?

The truth was, I'd read this story too.

I did it to kill time during the tail end of my military service.

Of course, I never told my older sister or younger sister, not even until the moment my first life ended.

Anyway.

So I could tell who this guy was looking for while ignoring the fiancée sitting beside him.

Before long, the crown prince’s gaze fixed on another woman standing in a corner of the banquet hall.

Saint Lily.

I could see her standing there with an uneasy expression.

She looks as fragile as hell.

Looking at that expression like she wanted to run, I totally got it.

Ah, so it begins now.

The opening act of the original story.

But there was something a little odd.

In the original plot, every time the crown prince pulled this crap, the villainess Elysia was supposed to be making a pissed-off face.

But she didn’t seem that irritated right now.

And she'd just made eye contact with me.

...What?

Surely it didn’t mean that getting back at me was more important to her than being pissed off at her fiancé’s emotional cheating, right?

* * *

As soon as I arrived at the manor and got out of the carriage, a servant hurried over.

"Young master, the master is looking for you."

"Now? I haven't even changed clothes yet."

"He said to come to the study immediately. It seems urgent."

Urgent, my ass.

Obviously. He was calling me in to recite verses 1 through 4 of his lecture like a rap.

I let out a long sigh and loosened my tie a bit more.

If I'd known this would happen, I would've stopped outside for one more bowl of gukbap.

"Sigh. This is my lot in life."

I stood before the second-floor study with heavy steps.

The aura leaking through the crack in the door was no joke. It felt like the chilly pressure right before entering a boss room.

Knock, knock.

"Come in."

His voice was about half an octave lower than usual.

'This is dangerous.'

Terrifying as hell.

"Hoo."

I took one deep breath and opened the door.

Creak—

Inside the dark study.

Only the desk lamp on the table grotesquely illuminated my father Corint’s face.

My father was silently rolling a crystal ashtray around in his hand.

Every time that heavy, angular chunk of crystal flashed in the light, the top of my head tingled.

I instinctively unleashed my survival instincts.

"Father, why don't you just smoke a cigarette? If you keep holding it in, that stress might splash onto innocent people. You'll ruin your mental health while trying to protect your blood vessels."

My flippant talk made my father snort a laugh.

But only his mouth smiled. His eyes didn't.

...Why are you like this? It's scary.

"I was just deciding whether to burn this, or throw it at your skull."

"……."

"Which do you think would relieve my stress better?"

"Hmm, the former would be better, wouldn't it? The latter would make the aftercare complicated. You'd have to wipe up the blood, and it'd cut off the family line."

"There's someone else to carry on the line even if it isn't you, isn't there?"

Well, that was true.

My older brother was even respectable and the legitimate heir.

Which meant.

If I messed up now, I was dead.

I slowly backed away, not letting go of the doorknob.

Because if things went south, I'd need to bolt.

Then.

My father set the ashtray back down on the desk.

Somewhat violently.

Thud!

"I sent you to make some connections, and you came back acting like a clown?"

"A clown? I just ate quietly in a corner and came back. The food was a whole new world to a country bumpkin like me."

"Then why is the rumor already spreading through society that the Farne family’s barbarian was there?"

Gasp. Already?

It hadn't even been an hour since I left the banquet hall.

No, that information network was faster than 5G.

Is someone streaming this live or something?

"You didn't even try to greet anyone, and no matter what the nobles around you said, you were too busy stuffing your face."

My father pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a deep sigh.

"Take after your brother even half as much. No, even a quarter as much. Your brother has never once slipped on table manners since he was a child. Who exactly did you take after to turn out like this?"

"I must've taken after Mother's free spirit. Didn't you marry her because you fell for that charm?"

"If only you could keep your mouth shut."

My father clicked his tongue, but loosened his grip on the ashtray.

Thank goodness.

My skull was safe for today.

"If you pull the same stunt at tomorrow's entrance ceremony, I won't let you off. The uniform's been tailored, so try it on."

Enrollment?

Ah, the academy?

...Was the entrance ceremony tomorrow?

"Already? I'm not mentally prepared yet…."

"Quiet. Stop loitering in front of me and get out. I don't even want to look at you."

"Yes sir, I'll vanish right away. Live long and prosper, Father."

I bowed quickly and slipped out of the study.

Bang!

This damn noble society was basically covered in CCTV everywhere.

I was just thankful the rumors were only about me making a mukbang.

If word had gotten out that I was shooting the breeze with the villainess on the terrace, I really would've been screaming, 'Fuck, I'm so dead~'

I really need to mind my behavior from now on.

If I mess up, it won't be an ashtray smashing my skull—it'll be my head getting chopped off on the guillotine.

Yeah. The villainess is the real deal.

She's the type who means it when she says she'll do it.

I can tell just by looking.

*

The next morning.

I finished my final check in front of the mirror.

"Perfect."

I was wearing the Imperial Academy uniform in the mirror, but something about it was subtly different.

That embarrassing white skintight tights everyone else wore?

I boldly shoved them into storage.

That thing would probably never see the light of day for as long as I lived.

I already hated those damn things enough to refuse them even under threat of death, but those stockings were truly the ultimate overkill.

Instead, I’d altered the roomy trouser legs to create a modern slacks fit.

And instead of choking my neck, I loosened the tie so a bit of collarbone showed.

Now that was effortless style.

As soon as I went downstairs, Alfred and Mary, who had been waiting in the lobby, both dropped their jaws at the sight of me.

"Y-young master?"

Mary rubbed her eyes and pointed at my legs.

"What are those pants? They're flapping around like sails—I feel like they'll fly away!"

"Aunt Mary, you just don't understand fashion."

I shoved my hands into my trouser pockets and stood with one leg relaxed.

"This is what ventilation is. A man's precious bits have to stay cool. Those tight stockings? Ugh, wear them and sit all day. Your blood circulation gets wrecked and you end up with varicose veins—varicose veins."

"Va, vari... what?"

"It's a terrifying illness where the veins in your legs bulge out like earthworms. For the sake of our family line, shouldn't I protect my lower-body health?"

My plausible-sounding...

Hmm.

My totally bullshit logic made Mary burst out laughing and clutch her stomach.

"Puhaha! Honestly, young master, you’re hopeless. You’ve got excuses for everything."

Alfred, standing beside her, also coughed awkwardly as if at a loss for words.

"Ahem. If the mistress saw that outfit, she’d probably clutch the back of her neck and faint… well, if it's comfortable for you, young master."

"See? Even you think I've got a point, old man. Honestly, you were embarrassed every time you wore those tights too."

"……I’ll refrain from comment."

Alfred’s ears turned a little red.

After all, only a man understands another man's hardships.

"Then I'm off! If the school lunch tastes bad, I'll come back here for lunch, so wait for me!"

I waved and stepped out through the entrance.

In front of the manor, our best driver, Uncle Thomas, was waiting atop the carriage.

"Yo, Thomas! Looking in top form today too?"

*

Murmur, murmur.

The noise poured in the moment I opened the doors to the academy auditorium.

The buzzing at my ears was louder than what you'd hear if someone kicked a beehive.

"Hey, look over there. That's him."

"Who? Ah, that Farne family…?"

"Yeah, the starving second son who ravaged the buffet at yesterday's banquet!"

What? Starving second son?

No, what kind of nickname is that?

"They say he practically drank the food. There were more than a few people who saw him chew through a turkey leg bone and all."

Do they think my teeth are made of carbon steel or something?

How the hell am I supposed to chew through a turkey leg bone, you idiots?

"Goodness, how barbaric. To think we have to take the same classes as someone like that…"

"Look at those pants. What are they, a sailboat? Is that fashionable in the countryside?"

People in the capital really are harsh. Harsh.

A hungry youth can eat a lot, can't he?

The barrage of stares stung, so I pulled up my collar.

This was exactly why I didn’t want to come.

This damn place where even breathing turns you into gossip.

I searched for the darkest corner I could find, behind a pillar and out of the light, and tucked myself in.

'Please don't look at me. I'm not here. I'm just Background Graphic No. 1.'

That was when I was fully engrossed in playing invisible man.

Suddenly, a huge ripple spread from the entrance.

Whoooosh—

As if Moses had waved his staff from somewhere, the tightly packed new students split apart to either side and made a path.

And at the end of that path.

A woman walked in with the clicking sound of high heels.

Twin tails of golden hair tied high.

A nose so high it seemed to pierce the sky.

And a haughty gaze that looked down on everyone around her as if they were ants.

...Who is that?

"Her Imperial Highness, the Princess…"

"My word, she’s even more beautiful in person."

"Look at that noble bearing. As expected, imperial blood is different."

Thanks, Speedwagon!

No wonder her hair was sparkling—it looked similar to the guy from that brutally fighting couple I saw yesterday.

It was Princess Iveline de Leopold.

Click, click.

Every time she took a step, the sharp stares that had been fixed on me were drawn to her like iron filings to a magnet.