Before the Villains' Ending

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“Let me talk to her, father. You look tired, so how about leaving the lady’s problem to me?”

The Crown Prince spoke without hesitation. Then, he briefly turned his gaze towards me.

As his icy gaze reached me, I shuddered and felt my body tremble. Bewildered, I watched the Emperor accept the prince’s actions as if it was natural, as if it were a matter of course.

It felt like a scene from a rural play, where the lead character changes as they transition to the next scene .

I bit my lower lip, fighting to hold back the laugh I felt coming as the mocking tone of my sister, who had once scorned the Crown Prince in front of me, echoed in my mind.

Was he such a foolish ruler? Or was he just a selfish man?

He would have been far more successful as a philosopher than the ruler of high society.

What a waste.

I let go of those useless thoughts and glanced at Beatrice, who stood next to the Crown Prince in a dignified manner.

She blinked her blue eyes, as if she understood the hidden intentions behind her partner’s words, just like the clever heroine she was.

The Crown Prince seemed uncomfortable when he saw my gaze slide on her, and impatiently brought up the main topic.

“There are reports that you have been causing trouble within the palace after your sister’s imprisonment. There are reasons for our approval of your audience request today, and you must answer the questions the throne has for you truthfully, without a hint of falsehood,” he stated with a cold voice.

I stopped holding my laughter back and openly smiled as I answered, “Yes, of course.”

Why would I even need to lie?

The Crown Prince didn’t hide the expression of disbelief at my joyous response. But after a moment, he sneered and warned me that he wouldn’t mercifully pardon my offenses even if acted weak and pretended to be wronged. He didn’t forget to add that there would be no concessions for my sister, even for the sake of the love she had for him.

His tone was chilly and resolute.

Beatrice bit her cheeks firmly as if to hide the rising corners of her lips.

Her actions weren’t very obvious, so I couldn’t be sure if she was smiling or not. Uninterested, I just averted my eyes.

My voice echoed in the mortally silent room as I sight faintly

“Your Highness,” I started, then stopped when I saw Beatrice’s gaze anxiously going back-and-forth between me and the Crown Prince. Or rather, she was looking at Kastiel standing behind me.

She seemed to be begging him to stop or prevent me from saying anything wrong, for the sake of her safety.

Kastiel’s words from the prison immediately echoed in my mind.

‘I know what you want to tell him,’ he said.

Did he think I’d cause a fight?

It seemed Kastiel’s loyalty and affection for those two had not entirely faded.

He was their sworn knight after all.

Well, it made sense that he decided to tag along to prevent me from causing problems by asking for mercy in favor of Florencia.

I should have known he wanted to play the savior when I asked if he would be a hindrance, and he could neither confirm nor deny it.

I felt disgusted.

I desperately tried to keep my polite facade from slipping away and showing the amount of aversion I felt for everyone in this room.

They truly looked like fictional characters playing defined roles in some book, incapable of escaping who they were written to be.

I forgot all of this was just a novel.

How foolish of me to forget about that.

The Crown Prince stared down at me with a face covered by a victorious look, or perhaps it was a curious desire to find fear in my eyes.

I chose to close my eyes for a moment instead of staring back at him.

The audience chamber fell into an almost suffocating silence.

Even worse than before.

“You can’t answer, can you?” Someone sarcastically said..

The Crown Prince was the one to finally break the silence, and opened my eyes at his voice.

“Yes, you seem to have known about Florencia’s misdeeds all along,” he added.

“I’ve heard, but….” I tried to say.

“But you haven’t seen it yourself?” He asked, cutting me off mid-sentence.

I certainly knew how my sister was perceived by the servants of our house. She was undoubtedly overly strict, had a hot temper, and was greedy for worldly possessions.

I hoped she had the cold demeanor required to withstand such treatment, even though I, myself, had no such traits.

According to the novel, the original Margaret did not think highly of Florencia either.

But amidst everything, I still couldn’t understand why she was labeled as a great villainess.

Truthfully, almost every noble acted the way she did..

Plus, they had no evidence whatsoever about her alleged crimes. Silencing anyone who wanted to question the unfounded charges was all they did.

“I’d advise you to not act too presumptuous.”

The Crown Prince looked like he was on the verge of exasperation.

“…I understand.” I answered, deciding to not make the situation worse.

“Stop with the meaningless chit chat and answer the question. Did you really have no idea about your sister’s activities or did you not restrain her for your own evil motives but just watched , and approached her only after she was imprisoned?”

…Ah, I can’t take this anymore.

The Imperial family only told the marquis what the charges against Florencia were, the date of her execution, and the name of the prison where she was held.

That’s it.

There was no trial or probation period, and they strongly warned us against discussing said charges.

I couldn’t talk for everyone but, I, myself hadn’t seen any evidence of the supposedly attempted regicide.

And while I did consider Florencia as the villainess based on how she was described in the original work, I didn’t remember reading about her handing a poisoned glass of wine to anyone.

In fact, the matter was not even close to being an attempted regicide.

For instance, what I witnessed at the Marquisate was a maid who confessed that she was involved in the villainess’s scheme, while there was no corpse lying in a pool of blood to back her words up, and no residue of said poison either.

Nothing at all.

Above all, my sister’s affection for the Crown Prince was not strong enough for her to resort to murder.

Yet her punishment was the most severe one.

Death!

I only went to visit my incarcerated sister; how dare they call it some kind of idiotic compassion, when she was my family?

Damn it, this world is just…

Ugh, I needed to stay calm.

“Can’t you show her the slightless bit of sympathy, your Highness?” I questioned, after regaining my composure.

“Hah!” The Crown Prince scoffed,”You really are foolish.”

I took a deep breath so I didn’t say something I might regret, then I calmly faced his scornful gaze, full of contempt directed at me, the villainess’s offspring.

Yes, they must see me as an extension of my sister.

Beatrice would likely be of no help to me. As if she, who was strongly infatuated with the prince, would listen to anything that could be beneficial to the woman who’s obsessed with her fiance.

“My sister genuinely loved you. Yet you, Your Highness, accused her of being a murderer after falling in love with someone else. You even planned to hold your engagement ceremony on the day of her execution.”

I was utterly disgusted by the main characters I used to cheer for.

“Even high society called her love for you a tragedy. Shouldn’t you, of all people, have some sympathy?”

“Enough of this now.”

“Florencia meant nothing to you,” I added unafraid.

“… Young Lady, be mindful of your words.”

“You were quite merciful towards the faction that rejected her tho,” I mocked, talking about my father who cowardly disowned his own daughter.

“Margaret!” The Crown Prince said in a threatening tone.

“It would have been acceptable if you punished Florencia, but this kind of humiliation is totally uncalled for. Do you really think Florencia was capable of trying to poison you?”

The nobles faction and Marquis Eilish, the head of said faction, implicitly showed their aversion for the royal family. Yet, they didn’t join the rebellion Callix had planned.. Why would he insult her affections like this, when the reason they didn’t participate in the coup was due to that very love?

And if she really intended to poison him, shouldn’t there be some “evidence” to show?

I was well aware that I was constantly spewing words that could easily be called treason against the throne.

But I knew that if it concerned Beatrice, the Prince would react quite emotionally.

The unrealistically blind love he had for her was just as described in the novel.

So, I was convinced that he would be too enraged to really pay attention to my words.

“Margaret Eilish!” He practically screamed.

“I won’t violate the imperial order. Just please postpone my sister’s execution until after your engagement ceremony. At least give her family time to mourn. I’m pleading for time to accept Florencia’s fate.”

Clang!

As I spoke, a sword flew in my direction, hit the marble floor, and sent broken fragments of it flying. The force of the impact was sharper than a blade stabbing through flesh.

“How dare you…!” The Crown Prince growled in a low voice.

“If you refuse even that, then at least respect Florencia and the former Duke’s deaths. Don’t use the murder of my sister and friend as your engagement celebration.”

His golden eyes became even colder, and swelled up with anger when he saw me still persisting despite the sword he just threw at me..

I gave him a weak smile, as I gently reminded him of a fact he had momentarily overlooked, “And you seem to have forgotten that the Eilish family is not tied to the Crown. Our nobility runs deep, we existed way before the imperial family, and… ”

I’m not my sister, I finished in my head.

* * *

‘I won’t be able to visit for a while.’

Calix looked down at his bound body, reminiscing about Margaret.

His shackles were rather loose.

If he decided to leave, he could easily escape. After all, he was the strongest person in the empire.

Calix pondered over Margaret’s words over and over again.

“Why?” He asked out loud.

His deeply sunken voice sounded weird in the desolated prison cell.

Three days ago, after that cursed day, Margaret Eilish really stopped visiting. He tried to calm his anxious self down many times, but ultimately kept asking the same question.

Why couldn’t she visit him anymore?

She said she had something to do, but Calix still didn’t understand the meaning behind her words.

What on earth was she going to do that would make her unable to come here?

He knew that Florencia’s execution would take place two months from now.

Mine is nine days before hers, it’s a bit hurtful, he thought.

Calix was someone who could calmly assess any situation.

Well, he believed that he could, and he was honestly not wrong.

Therefore, he could easily predict that the likelihood of her coming back here, in the near future, was pretty slim.

It was a reality he didn’t want to or couldn’t deny.

He pondered over the words he had said to her the last time they spoke.

‘Damn it. I should’ve met you before Beatrice,’ he remembered saying.

She thought it was a joke, but Calix really meant it. He was actually quite desperate that the woman, with a dawn-sky expression, appeared before him so late.

Perhaps if he had met Margaret before Beatrice, she could have seen a slightly different aspect of him.
A better version.

That thought kept crossing his mind.

“Damn it…” he cursed as his gaze swept over the visitation room; the place where Margaret came every day and sat for a few minutes to converse with him. Now, It was empty and he didn’t want to look at the abandoned seat.

He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

So he closed his eyes.