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“I did something you’d hate.”

“I.”

“You’re not indifferent; you’re scared. So much that you don’t want to do anything. If you’d spoken about this situation, you would have just let it be, but I don’t like that.”

You act as if you’re going to leave any moment.

I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. Taylor said, laughing helplessly.

The sound of grinding teeth was unusually clear in the quiet room.

“I didn’t even share the information I gathered with the guild. So….”

The master hates you. He probably thought you’d be less troublesome than Florencia. The fool, he ended up looking ridiculous.

Taylor warned me that the master of Glacies was showing unnecessary interest in me. I shook my head and clicked my tongue at my own complacency.

Yeah, I should have known this would happen. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I wasn’t any different from the Crown Prince.

“So, Mel, I want you to consider this as just part of the comedy.”

With a gesture that seemed to suppress something, Taylor pleaded. His words, nearly a plea, were pitiful, just like him.

The tone he’d been struggling to keep steady was no longer even. He had clearly reached his limit.

I kept my mouth shut. I felt a wave of helplessness and laziness washing over me.

“There’s a party I have to attend soon. I, I….”

Just, come with me. I mumbled, and just before he lost control, I closed the door and sat down in the hallway.

* * *

As dawn broke, the maids, pale-faced, were busy screaming.

It seemed that Taylor, with his usual cunning, had slipped out before daybreak, leaving only the assassins’ corpses in my room.

I averted my gaze with a composed expression, and everyone was curious about the hero who had saved me from the midnight threat. Sir Heizen was the most likely candidate mentioned.

“How amazing, protecting even the sister of the one he loves.”

“Indeed.”

Everyone was chattering, caught up in contradictory feelings.

I, with a face that showed no interest, credited him, and my father, thinking it might have been the Emperor’s influence, simply made a gesture indicating a headache, without any other reaction.

The butler’s behavior was particularly absurd; he seemed shocked, as if I should have died.

“Sir Heizen wouldn’t have such skills.”

Though his suspicion was reasonable, I didn’t feel particularly good about it, so I coldly retorted.

“You lack an eye for things.”

Despite not having discussed it, Heizen matched my words, and by the afternoon, he went to visit Florencia, as he always did.

One could only imagine the expression on his face when the warden refused him entry.

After offering a simple snack to the depressed knight, I lightly suggested:

“Why don’t you ask Sir Kestiel for help?”

“He was the most adamant in refusing.”

“Oh dear. I didn’t realize he was so reserved…”

…Or at least, I couldn’t quite say that.

Clicking my tongue, I stared at the strangely neat notepad on the mess of a desk.

It was the report Taylor had left last night on the status of his request.

Information can sometimes be the greatest power, but also the greatest weakness. I didn’t take Taylor’s advice lightly, and I briefly considered where to hide it.

If it was within the reach of the authorities, the Crown Prince or the Guild Master could strip it away with just a word, so I thought it might be best to create a personal hiding place.

“In a villainess’s room, there should be at least one torture device or secret safe…”

I muttered as I opened my sister’s door. The room, which had been quite desolate from disuse, had been spared from layers of dust thanks to Heizen and the maids who followed her.

For once, I was grateful that reading the original story had been of some help.

Indeed, Florencia’s desk and one side of her room had a rather complex structure. Seeing that the desk had another drawer hidden inside, just as described in the novel, was quite a surprise.

“Wow.”

What a considerate sister. I mumbled. When she handed me her seal, it shattered my assumption that it was just a copy.

Inside the box, where the seal must have been, there was only a single key left.

‘This feels like an escape room.’

Though I had only been to one once.

Even outside the novel, I was amazed at how detached I remained from the events around me, and I pocketed the key before closing the box.

I didn’t return the dagger that should have originally been here.

It felt like the right thing to do, and since I knew my instincts were usually spot on, I left the room without further hesitation.

‘I’m glad I took it back then.’

Whether Florencia knew it was me who took the dagger, I wasn’t sure.

I recalled how my sister had once tried to stab herself with it, shook my head, and then forced myself to ask Sir Heizen in a nonchalant voice:

“I’m thinking of bringing a bodyguard. Do you think my father would oppose it?”

“I am here, am I not?”

“Of course. But I mean someone like Cavalier. It would be nice if they could double as an attendant.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I need someone I can call ‘Sir’ by name.”

I replied.

In this world, I first learned that when you address a knight as “Sir” with their surname, it shows respect, but with their first name, it’s an insult. (Of course, when Beatrice or I occasionally called Kestiel by his first name, it was a sign of camaraderie. As for Sir Heizen, he requested it himself.)

So, what I was essentially saying was that I needed someone of lower status than me, who could pretend to be my lover and who would follow my orders without question, even to the point of feigning death.

Yet they also needed to be of noble birth, someone who could escort me at social events. Hmm.

As I expected, he couldn’t hide the look of confusion on his face.

“You should only extend your hand when Florencia comes out. She might have to start calling you Sir Claude in the future.”

Probably, that will happen soon. I concluded before he could say anything in response.

There was much to be done, like reading and organizing information and managing the safe, but those were tasks that could be postponed. Now, I thought it was time to focus on what a noble lady in this world considers most important.

“It’s time to start preparing to enter society.”

I can’t keep pretending to be sick forever.

It’s not a good choice for a noble to be absent from social circles for too long. After the scandal involving my family was mentioned in the noble council, invitations meant to mock me had been piling up in real time.

I intended to attend at least once, to meet Beatrice or the Crown Prince. Needless to say, I’d need a dress for the occasion. After flipping through the catalog the butler brought, I got up and stood in front of the mirror.

Sir Heizen said I resembled my sister, but I thought that was a bit of a stretch. We had entirely different auras.

While Florencia exuded a more provocative and sexy vibe, I, on the other hand, could be described as dreamy at best and disheveled at worst.

As described in the original story, Florencia often wore brightly colored clothes and overly flashy accessories, which were arrogant, luxurious, and glamorous. In contrast, my outfits, as a secondary character, were predictably plain.

To maintain the appearance of being unwell, I rarely wore anything flashy. My hairstyles and accessories were also modest, and generally, light-colored dresses looked more or less the same unless they had a point color.

“Please assign one maid to me.”

I requested this of Sir Heizen, who was standing by the door, and watched as he bowed his head and disappeared after closing the door.

Although he had resigned as the captain of the knights, his official position was that of a guest, but he always followed my words without objection.

The servants, too, were accustomed to leaving Sir Heizen to his tasks, as if they were familiar with it. If my sister knew about this, she might have given me a slight scolding.

“…Will it be cold?”

I murmured, adding a burgundy shawl to my beige dress. Sir Heizen soon returned with a maid named Becky. I wondered if she had been my sister’s maid but decided not to pursue the thought.

The young girl, around eighteen years old, had a simple and cute appearance, unlike the colorful and striking people I’d seen so far. She had the kind of face I might have wished for outside of the novel.

Well, anyway.

“Are you not taking a bodyguard with you?”

Sir Heizen seemed uneasy about me getting into the carriage with only a maid.

“No.”

“But, My Lady.”

“It’s fine.”

“…?”

“Nothing will happen.”

With those words, I forced a bright smile. Calmly.

It was true that the outside world was dangerous, but I had good reason not to be overly worried. I fingered the dagger with the red gem in my pocket and shrugged.

It’s true that it’s hard to avoid deaths that are supposed to happen in the novel—like with my sister, where the villains are stepping out of their roles—but there isn’t much I can do. Fortunately, the novel that described the downfall of the Eilish family didn’t mention the death of the character ‘Margaret.’

The voice that told the coachman our destination was genuinely cheerful.

“Let’s go to the Magic Tower.”

I planned to visit a place that had never been mentioned in the original story.

‘This is what clichés are.’

There are only so many places to inquire about the outside of the novel. The temple, the Magic Tower, or Waguse.

And I don’t believe that a god is the one who put me in this miserable place for no reason. The stars might shine, but they’re useless.

The carriage began to move slowly.

* * *

The Mage Tower I arrived at was quite different from what I had expected. Instead of a tower-like structure surrounded by black clouds and piercing the sky, it resembled an ordinary high-rise cathedral that one might associate with medieval Europe.

Aside from the fact that it was black in color, it looked surprisingly like a decent tourist spot.

‘…You could probably make a lot of money if you opened it to the public and attracted visitors.’

“My lady, are you sure about this?”

Becky asked in a slightly frightened tone, and I replied with a relaxed smile and an indifferent expression.

“What’s there not to be sure about?”

“This place doesn’t seem very safe. And besides, it’s not very common for a lady like yourself to visit the Mage Tower….”

She hesitated, wondering whether or not to continue, then finished in a small voice, saying that this place didn’t really care about one’s social status. Becky, like most nobles, was already bracing herself as if the pride-wounded young lady would lash out at her.

Poor thing. I swallowed that thought and explained in a sing-song tone.

“If I avoided every place that was dangerous, I would never have set foot in Sinalore. There’s no need to use my status to give them orders, and if you’re scared, you can wait inside.”

I gestured for her to close the carriage door. Becky looked skeptical, but since there was nothing she could do about it, she hesitated only a moment before stepping into the carriage and closing the door behind her without further protest.

‘What a loyal maid, huh.’

Even Beatrice had at least one nanny. Ah, the life of a supporting character.

After confirming that she had started chatting with the coachman inside the carriage, I turned to knock on the door in front of me.

I didn’t expect anyone to respond to a few knocks on such a grand door, especially not for just one woman.

‘Now that I think about it…’

Was this carelessness on my part? I waited for the door to open, pondering this pointless worry. To my surprise, the response to my knock was quite prompt. I couldn’t help but be startled by the man who extended his hand in greeting before me.

The original novel didn’t describe the mages in much detail, but from the rumors I had heard while living in this world, they were supposed to be quite inhuman, their minds twisted in a different way from people like Carlix and other villains.

“…Ah, you must be her sister.”

The man, wearing a deep hooded robe, seemed unexpectedly cheerful. Deciding not to try and get a better look at his face, I politely stated my purpose before he could start warning me about their demeanor.

“I have some questions.”

“About supernatural abilities?”

“To some extent, yes.”

“Well, you won’t have much use for them.”

The man shook his head in dissatisfaction. The twisted frown on his face was quite obvious, making it clear he was someone who didn’t hide his emotions—a rather rude person, one could say.

‘Never mind.’

In any case, this observation didn’t help much in my conversation with the man.

I pulled out the emblem my sister had given me from my pocket and placed it down where he could see it.

“She gave it to me to use.”

“…Your name is Margaret, correct?”

The man asked as he took the emblem. Muttering that Florencia was overly protective of her sister, he then asked me how much I knew before seemingly losing interest in me altogether.

“I know it can be used as a medium, and that it can manipulate telekinesis. I was hoping to learn how to apply it.”

I waited for him to answer, but when it became clear that the silence wasn’t going to be broken, I turned my gaze and asked in a passing tone.

“Or, I’ve heard you conduct various research. Do you, by any chance, study other worlds—” I left the sentence hanging, knowing how embarrassing it was to even ask such a thing.

The man immediately looked at me with a bewildered expression. I forced myself to maintain eye contact with my crimson eyes, but the response I got was less than I had hoped for.

“It won’t be the answer you want.”

“I’d still appreciate it if you told me.”

“I don’t.”

He cut me off immediately. With an amused expression, I looked him up and down, and the man, unfazed by my blatant rudeness, calmly extended his hand to me.

“Anyway, come in. There might be something interesting in your story. I’m also curious why Florencia is so protective of her sister.”

“I owe a lot to my sister.”

“…Of course.”