How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

The Grand Duke and his attendants all stopped.

“Wow, princess…!”

The Grand Duke’s subordinates looked back at her belatedly, all startled. They probably didn’t know that the princess would suddenly appear in a place like that, and no one was happy to see her, even out of courtesy. It wasn’t as if they were looking at their master’s fiancée, but the facial expressions of discovering an extreme stalker.

‘Well, considering Eve in the original story, it’s like that.’

They hesitated and bowed their heads to her.

“Greeting to Her Highness, the Princess.”

At the same time, the black-haired man in the lead slowly turned around. 

Her favorite novel, <Flower of Pathetic Love>, was a novel without illustrations. The only character on the cover was the female lead, and the appearance of all the characters, including the male lead, had to be imagined based on the artist’s insufficient description. However, ‘handsome’, ‘really handsome’, ‘a face that looks like a statue’. It was virtually impossible to imagine the exact face while looking at these sentences. Still, the Grand Duke was emphasized numerous times in the story as being handsome.

‘I imagined that he would have a great appearance because he came out as the most handsome man in the world, but…’

Black hair like the night sky and bright purple eyes. It was a face so perfect that it could not be described with words.

‘He’s ten times, no, twenty times more handsome than what I imagined.’

In the original work, it was repeatedly emphasized that he was a great handsome man, and there was a reason for that emphasis. A novel was a novel. But to think such a surreal handsome man existed…

A corridor lined with gray columns, a snow-covered garden beyond the corridor, and a dignified black-haired handsome man standing in the background of the garden. It was a picture-like scene. Since the original version was such a handsome man, it looked like a great pictorial just standing there silently. Seeing this up close, she fully understood why Eve liked that man so much.

‘In fact, it’s not just the appearance that’s great.’

That man was a capable high lord who won numerous victories in war and perfectly ruled the northern part of the empire.

‘He actually has enough power to threaten the emperor.’

It was only natural for the Emperor to rush at it without hesitation to bring down this man. Even to her eyes, who didn’t know much about politics, it seemed clear that if he couldn’t get rid of this man, he would become a huge threat to the Emperor. As she thought about it and looked at it closely, the Grand Duke slowly approached her.

A look of displeasure flashed in his delicate eyes. He lightly bowed his head and expressed his respect.

“Princess.”

It was a nice voice with a deep resonance.

“What are you doing here?”

She thought he would jump out and get angry, but he was surprisingly polite. Of course, being polite was all about talking. He was asking very politely, but the purple eyes looking this way contained a cold gaze telling her to go away if there was no business.

She watched his face in awe and shook her head lightly before coming to her senses.

“His Highness the Grand Duke.”

She stepped forward, clutching the bouquet from the garden with both hands.

“Can I give you the flower of the sacred tree as a gift?”

Before handing out the bouquet, she gently touched the firmly attached white buds. Carefully, as she put her fingers between the delicate petals, she felt the texture of the dry paper inside them. It was a small folded note.

At this moment, there was only one place she could turn to for help. Because there were only two people affected by Eve’s death. Eve herself and the Grand Duke in front of her.

In the current state of affairs, only the Grand Duke could stand against the Emperor. So, in order to survive, she had to explain the situation to the Grand Duke and ask for help.

‘But I can’t reveal a secret anywhere.’

The Emperor had eyes and ears everywhere.

‘Because if I do anything strange, it will be reported to the Emperor.’

However, it was not strange at all to beg the Grand Duke to accept flowers. Because Eve always clung to the Grand Duke and tried to get his attention. She used to bring all sorts of presents and beg to be accepted.

‘Of course I always get turned down…’

Again, the Grand Duke carefully examined the bouquet she was holding with suspicious eyes. It was a reaction as if an ordinary merchant had put a dubious drug right in front of his nose.

“I have no other intentions.”

She said it quickly before he said no.

“I want to apologize for what happened in the past.”

“Did you say ‘apologize’?”

The Grand Duke asked in a charming low-pitched voice that gave her goosebumps.

“Yes, I think I was too rude to the Grand Duke last time. It’s late, but I want to apologize…”

“Excuse me, but what are you talking about?”

The Grand Duke cut me off and asked a question.

“Are you referring to the incident when you threw a glass statue at the person next to me at the Sabilenga party? Or are you referring to how you mistook my officer for a woman, pulled out his hair, and assaulted him?”

“…”

It must have been the blood of the new feet that appeared in the original work. The actions of Eve that the Grand Duke had mentioned were more severe than in the original story. Even the incidents in the original story seemed serious enough.

“…Everything.”

She mobilized all her acting skills and put on an apologetic expression as much as possible, but the Grand Duke didn’t seem to believe it. His mysterious purple eyes, resembling the dawn sky, contained indifferent contempt.

She sincerely bowed my head again.

“really sorry. I won’t bother you in the future.”

“All right.”

When she apologized again, an indifferent answer came back.

“You said that a month ago and came to my training ground in three days, but I will believe you this time too.”

It was an attitude that showed he couldn’t trust her to the slightest degree, but he would roughly believe it, in words at last, so go back. She didn’t miss the opportunity and said it quickly.

“I wanted to give it to Hir Highness, so I donated it to the temple and received this flower. It is a flower that wishes for good luck and blessings. And after a while…”

“I don’t need flowers.”

She was about to explain what she had prepared, but the Grand Duke cut her off firmly.

“I will accept your apology, but please give the princess’s flowers to someone who needs a blessing instead of me.”

It was a very polite and respectful way of speaking, befitting a Grand Duke, but there was a cold refusal that left no room for a word in his eyes. The flowers of the sacred tree were flowers that wished for good luck and blessings. It was a gift that even a member of the royal family, or even an Emperor, could happily receive. However, the young Grand Duke in front of her refused to listen to her explanation until the end.

‘Wow, you really hate me…’

Even though they only exchanged a few words, she felt a clear rejection. It was clear that he hated Eve so much that he didn’t even try to hide it.

She deserved it. He was forced to take the stupid and wayward princess as his bride. And the princess was a selfish woman who had been chasing after the Grand Duke and even went on a hunger strike to ask him to marry her. Moreover, from the perspective of the Grand Duke, Eve was also the daughter of a political opponent. How could he want to marry such an Emperor’s daughter when the Emperor was wary of him and put him in danger? And to complete the joke, Eve had a bad brain and a bad personality.

‘It’s a relationship he can’t possibly like.’

By this point, he was no longer fond of her. When she was flustered and unable to speak, the Grand Duke slightly lowered his head and turned around.

“Then I’ll see you on the wedding day.”

The Grand Duke seemed to be bothered by further mingling, and walked toward the door again.

‘No!’

She nervously chewed on her dry lips and followed the Grand Duke’s back with her eyes as he left.

‘I must give this flower to that man no matter what.’

Without even thinking about it, her body moved first. She hurriedly ran ahead of the Grand Duke and stood blocking the road without hesitation. She could see his attendants stopped in bewilderment and the Grand Duke looking at her with an astonished expression.

“What is this?”

“The conversation isn’t over yet.”

She thought it was fortunate that Eve was always stalking. If a normal princess did something like this, rumors would spread that she was crazy.

“Wait a minute, please listen to me for a moment.”

It seemed that the Grand Duke’s patience had reached its limit due to her absurd behavior. A look of annoyance and bewilderment crossed his handsome face.

“Ha.”

The Grand Duke let out a laugh and walked towards me. The distance between the two narrowed without a chance to escape. The Grand Duke stopped at a distance close enough to breathe. The moment he got closer, the scent of a mature man like musk came over me like a sweet temptation.

“Princess.”

However, there was no warmth in the eyes of the Grand Duke looking down at her. The purple sharp eyes were like the eyes of a beast tearing down its prey. It felt as if the shapely eyes were piercing her from the front. Instinctively she tried to step back from him, but he grabbed her arm and tilted his head over her shoulder.

A colder voice, colder than ice, reached her ears.

“I already told you that if you bothered me one more time, I would break that pretty neck.”

“…!”

Unbeknownst to her, her hands were shaking slightly.

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Translator Note:

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