How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

After a while, the Empress also smiled.

“Eve’s heart is really beautiful. You can go to the temple as much as you like. His Majesty will be pleased too.”

The Empress agreed, smiling as if she knew nothing. She was smiling like a saint, but her cold green eyes were full of malice, telling her to go and be ashamed of before the Grand Duke. 

The Grand Duke visited the temple quietly to avoid public attention, but what would happen if Eve appeared and caused a commotion there? The enraged Grand Duke would be more angry than usual.

The Empress must have thought that it didn’t matter what Eve was thinking, because if she met the Grand Duke anyway, she would cling to him like an idiot and be humiliated. Even if the Emperor reprimanded her, the Empress had something to make excuses for.

‘Eve begged me to be polite and even brought a present. There were a lot of people watching, so I couldn’t bear to say no.’

Of course, there was no need to care about the Empress’ thoughts.

‘I’d appreciate it if you let me go out.’

She got up, bent her knees, and bowed gracefully.

“Thank you for your permission, Mother.”

* * *

An ornate carriage was driving through the snow-covered streets. Through the rattling car window, the white city scenery came into her eyes. All the buildings seen along the road were medieval-style buildings that could only be seen in movies or games.

She had come to a whole new world. She knew it, but she felt strange again. She smiled at the white frosted window.

‘Still, it went well as planned.’

Now she was leaving the imperial palace and heading to the Great Temple. Originally, princesses used to visit temples from time to time to pray or to purify themselves. Even if it was a short visit, when the princess officially visited, she had to take her maids and knights as escorts. However, the Empress asked her to return quietly without bothering the knights.

Thanks to the Empress’s willing permission, she was able to go directly to the temple in a carriage.

‘I’m glad I was able to leave quickly.’

It could be risky to draw people’s attention to the current situation. Especially considering who would be visiting there today. And the timing was also important.

There was a high probability that the time would not match with the Grand Duke if she made preparations, called the knights, and brought out a new wagon. So, in order to come as quickly as possible, she brought only one lady-in-waiting.

She glanced back at the maid sitting across from her. She was a young lady-in-waiting, looking only 17 or 18 years old, with her thin, sand-colored hair neatly tied into a plait. She looked quite mature in the headdress worn by maids of honor, but her heart-shaped face was kind and innocent.

She was the first maid she met when she woke up here. And her name was Nell.

When she first woke up here, she was in complete shock and horror. She thought she was dead, but when she opened her eyes, she was in a book world. It was something that would cause even the most courageous person to pass out. At that time, the only person in front of her was Nell.

She came in to check on the sleeping Eve in turn, and she bumped into her.

‘I grabbed this lady-in-waiting and asked who I was and how many times she was here.’

Once she got a grip on reality, she said it seemed to be temporary memory loss to put things right.

‘Hey, amnesia? Shouldn’t I call a doctor?’

‘No!’

She gave her confused lady-in-waiting an excuse that the real Eve would make.

‘If it became known that I was ill, it might interfere with the wedding.’

To Eve, that marriage was more important than anything in the world. If she was sick, the marriage may be postponed. So she begged her to keep the secret until the wedding day.

Since the maid was aware of Eve’s obsession with the marriage, she swore to help her.

‘Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll be sure to keep it a secret.’

‘I wondered what if he informed the Empress or others.’

Fortunately, the empress did not seem to know anything about it.

‘If that’s the case, at least that means I’m not a spy sent by the Empress.’

Empress’ test passed. On the other hand, how about the Emperor? What if that maid had told the Emperor the story of Eve’s amnesia?

‘Since the Emperor is out on the battlefield, he won’t be able to do anything right away, but he must have ordered me to keep an eye on him more closely.’

However, the Empress sent her to the temple where the Grand Duke was without thinking to vent her anger on Eve. She seemed to have heard nothing from the Emperor. If so, this lady-in-waiting was not even a spy on the Emperor’s side.

‘I don’t know if she has anything to do with the other side, but for now, she has nothing to do with the most dangerous emperor couple.’

So she specifically pointed out that lady-in-waiting because she wanted something for that alone.

“Wow, Princess.”

The lady-in-waiting, Nell, stuttered and called her.

“Huh?”

“Gwa, are you okay? You’re not wearing gloves…”

Nell looked at her hand on the window frame of the carriage and asked cautiously.

‘Right. Eve is a sophomore, so she always wore her gloves.’

She couldn’t even go out without her gloves, so she needed treatment rather than a problem with her personality.

“Are you okay?”

She kept covering her hand, which was kind of frustrating. She answered in a nonchalant voice and lowered her bare hands onto her lap. In fact, there was a special reason for leaving her gloves out.

‘Eve’s foresight.’

Because that ability had to do with her gloves.

Eve barely used her precognitive powers in the original story. Since she hadn’t used her holy power since she was 10 years old, Eve, the real one, lived thinking that she had completely lost her holy power. But in reality she wasn’t. Eve still possessed her precognitive powers.

‘She just didn’t know the conditions under which her abilities would activate.’

Her bare hands were very important in order to use her abilities. So she brought up another topic to divert Nell’s attention.

“As you know, my memory is not perfect right now.”

She talked again about the memory loss she had talked about on the first day.

“Because it’s my first time going outside the imperial palace. I want you, who knows the situation, to be by my side and help me. It will be difficult, but please.”

She said that, but Nell’s eyes started to fill with tears.

“…why are you crying?”

Nell wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and began to sob. Then she said with tears in her eyes.

“The princess is asking me for a favor… I am so embarrassed.”

Was she embarrassed to hear the word ‘please’? Eve wondered if she was being sarcastic, but there was no lie in her maid’s innocent-looking face. Nell shed tears as if she was genuinely moved.

“You really lost your memory.”

She knew it, but it seemed that she was shocked again.

“…”

Seeing her close lady-in-waiting act like that, she could guess how mean Eve was usually.

‘Although it seemed like she would treat her ladies-in-waiting indiscriminately.’

She was mean to everyone, but if she would have been kind to only her ladies-in-waiting, she would have been able to do much more.

“Do not worry. I will do my best to help.”

Nell wiped her tears with the back of her hand, while she swore.

She found it funny and a little cute to see the maid, who was not yet of adult age, so moved. She nodded her head, hiding a smile that emanated from her.

“Ok, thanks.”

Her snowflake-bearing avenue trees cast a calming shade over the carriage. The warm afternoon sunlight poured through the sparkling white snow.

* * *

The Great Temple was located on a hill in the center of the archipelago. From afar, a large blue roof towering high could be seen at a glance. The circular roof made of light blue stone was covered with white snowflakes, like a white veil.

“Welcome, Princess. It is a once-in-a-lifetime honor to serve the princess.”

As soon as she arrived at the Great Temple, the priest in charge came out to greet her.

“I want to donate my mother’s belongings. Where can I go?”

He answered her question with a calm smile.

“Come this way. I was contacted and prepared in advance.”

Speaking of temple ceremonies, there was nothing special about them. All one had to do was go to the altar, kneel, put their hands together, and pray for a while.

While she was praying, the priest put incense into the censer next to the altar. Bitter smoke rose from within the petal-shaped incense burner. After a short prayer, she got up in front of the altar. To offer it to God, the sapphire rosary, said to be a keepsake of the late Empress, was placed on the altar.

“Excuse me…”

After the consecration ceremony was completed, the chief priest was summoned. The priest who was closing the incense burner approached again.

“Princess? What are you doing?”

She called Nell closer to get her jewelry box and said.

“I want to meet the high priest. Where is he now?”

“The high priest is giving blessings to the believers in the main building.”

Since it was before a holiday, it seems that many people came. Some of them were there probably to see the princess that had gone there too, but she didn’t even come out.

After a while she was ushered into the large chapel attached to the main building. Inside the chapel were an old man in fancy clothes and about a dozen people who seemed to be visitors. As soon as she entered, everyone recognized her and bowed deeply in surprise. In fact, anyone who could enter and exit the Great Hall would know at least the face of the princess.

An old man in a fancy priest’s uniform hurriedly ran to her and bowed his head.

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