How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

Leaving the corridor and coming out again, a cold wind brushed the nape of her neck. Every time she breathed, it smelled like a cold winter. The refreshing scent of the cold wind and frozen snowflakes; and the bitter smell of incense permeating it… 

She rewound the heavy coat over my shoulders. Even though she was wearing a sable coat like a cloak, a chill penetrated hiser body.

“Princess, it’s this way.”

She walked toward the entrance with Nell. Every time she wandered, Nell took the lead and guided the road. She was tired of seeing the chapel and the garden continued without end.

‘How wide is this temple?’

The temple building occupied the entire hill, so it’s wide. They passed through the middle gate and went out to a small garden paved with flagstones. There was a white frozen pond next to the road. The snowflake covering the ice received the dinner and colored red. The road was still confusing, but she felt a little closer to the outside.

Straight to that road, the exit could be seen. And at the other side of the door a familiar person was waiting there.

‘Hmm? Isn’t that person…?’

It was a middle-aged woman wearing a modest navy blue dress and blonde hair. Even from a distance, she could see who was at a glance. She was the Duchess of Rohan whom she had met at a tea party with the Empress.

“Oh my god, Princess.”

The Duchess spotted her and approached her with admiration. She looked happy as if she was looking for her.

“Hello. See you here again, Duchess.”

The road was rather narrow. She didn’t expect to meet the people from the imperial palace again here.

The Duchess came up to her and bowed gracefully on her knees.

“I thought you already returned to the palace, but fortunately, you are still in the temple.”

Did she really look for her?

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“Oh, that’s…”

Whenever she approached with delight, the Duchess hesitated for a moment, unable to speak easily.

“I was talking nonsense at Her Majesty’s tea party during the day… I wanted to apologize, fearing that the princess might have been offended.”

At the tea party? Ah, was she referring to the Empress scratching her insides? But that was the Empress’s fault, not the Duchess’s. All this lady did was ask her about the war.

“No, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

She said it was not a big deal, but the Duchess was still terrified and looked at her.

“Don’t pay too much attention to Her Majesty’s words. The Grand Duke is busy right now, but it will be different after you two get married.”

Different? Wouldn’t the relationship get worse after marriage? She didn’t agree with the Duchess’ words in the slightest, but she smiled and pretended to agree.

“I believe so too. When we become a couple, we will get along better.”

“Yes, yes.”

When she answered with a bright smile, the Duchess stammered slightly and nodded her head. The Duchess didn’t seem to believe what she said, in fact she wasn’t even princess. And it was natural. How could the Grand Duke like Eve when the wedding was some kind of witchcraft or brainwashing, just because they were married?

She carefully observed her embarrassed expression on her face. The Duchess, even as she entered middle age, still looked beautiful and elegant. Her light blonde hair, neatly combed, was dyed in the setting sun and looks like red blonde hair. 

In her head, she quickly searched for information about the family of Rohan. The duchy of Rohan was not treated very seriously in the original work. The Duchess appeared occasionally with the Grand Duke, but the other family members were only briefly mentioned in connection with Eve’s wedding. Even so, because the only daughter of the Duke of Rohan was Eve’s bridesmaid, an explanation came only once in passing.

A bridesmaid was a woman who served at the bride’s side on her wedding day. And bridesmaids were usually friends of the bride, but when her friends were not available, her sisters or close relatives took over.

Since Eve didn’t even have that, nor a sister-in-law or a relative on the groom’s side to act as a bridesmaid, it was Diane, the Duchess’s daughter, that was the Grand Duke’s aunt, who took that role as the Grand Duke’s cousin.

‘Diane said that she secretly likes Eve’s brother, the crown prince, so she was happy to be a bridesmaid.’

Any other lady would have run away crying as soon as she was told to be Eve’s handmaid. However, Diane couldn’t attend her wedding because she was not feeling well.

‘Did they say Diane ever since she was little, she’s weak and can’t go out of the house?’

But she’s been feeling good lately, so she decided to be a bridesmaid. All of a sudden, her illness would get worse right before the wedding. In the end, Eve’s wedding took place without a bridesmaid.

‘If the daughter of the Duke was by her side on the wedding day, she would be helpful in some way.’

A bridesmaid used to take care of all the chores at the bride’s side during her wedding. She, of course, never left the side of the bride from the morning of the wedding day until she entered the bedroom.

She had her maids of honor, but the maids who were with Eve when she died were of no help.

‘So for me, it would be better for Diane to safely act as a maid.’

She couldn’t attend because of her ill health, so it couldn’t be helped.

She looked at the Duchess and she asked as if she had suddenly remembered.

“Oh, come to think of it, how is your daughter doing?”

“…yes?”

The Duchess seemed a little taken aback by her sudden question. She looked at Eve with her tense face.

“Yes, yes… Our Diane is also in better health these days. She is eagerly awaiting the princess’s wedding.”

“I am so grateful that Miss Diane is already preparing for her wedding.”

“Yes, she is practicing in her room to become the princess’s maid of honor. She already prepared the dress, how hard is she preparing!”

The Duchess emphasized once more that Diane was diligently preparing for her wedding. She seemed worried that Eve would cancel the bridesmaid on a whim. That’s why she went there and apologized. Because if her role as bridesmaid is canceled, her only daughter will be hurt.

It was as if she couldn’t help but look at Eve and try to please her.

Well, in the case of Eve in the original work, one day, she suddenly canceled it because she didn’t need a bridesmaid. But if she still was preparing for the role of a bridesmaid, that means she was still in good shape.

In the original story, it was not revealed exactly when Diane’s illness worsened. While she was thinking about that, the Duchess belatedly looked at her hand and was startled.

“Princess, your hand…”

Hand? She reflexively raised her hand. Her thin, white fingers were frozen red from the cold.

She couldn’t even feel that her hands were getting cold because she was only focusing on the meeting with the Grand Duke. She picked and carried the snow-stained flowers with her bare hands, so the cold was seeping into her hands.

“Why aren’t you wearing gloves?”, asked the Duchess, looking anxiously at her hand.

“Ah, that…”

She had nothing to answer. It was common knowledge in the social world that Eve, who was a sophomore, wore gloves everywhere.

‘Actually, this is the key to Eve’s holy power.’

She couldn’t be honest with the Duchess but after much thought, she came up with an excuse.

“Ah, I just received a flower from the Holy Tree. Since it is a precious flower that grows on a sacred tree, I thought I had to catch it with my bare hands to handle it carefully.”

“The flower of the Holy Tree?”

The Duchess was taken aback. Well, the flowers of the Holy Tree were not easy to pick, so it’s surprising.

“In addition to offering my mother’s relics, I also donated the jewelry I used to the temple. It’s not like I was expecting anything in return… I asked if it would be okay if I could take some flowers of the Holy Tree, and the high priest readily agreed. It’s been a while since I went to the garden to get those flowers.”

Of course, she was trying to get flowers in return from the beginning, but she calmly lied.

“What are you going to use those flowers for?”

“It’s the death anniversary of Her Highness, the late Grand Duchess, in just 15 days. I thought it would be nice to bring flowers to the graveyard.”

The Duchess heard her and seemed confused for a moment, but then she smiled, moved and bowed her head. She seemed genuinely thrilled with her actions.

“Oh my God, you are so kind… Thank you, Princess. My sister will be very happy.”

“I hope so.”

For a moment, the Duchess’s gaze unconsciously came out and quickly scanned Nell. They must be wondering where the flowers they received go and whether they are both empty-handed. So she quickly added.

“Ah, I just ran into His Highness the Grand Duke around here. I asked him to put it in the graveyard of the mansion instead of me.”

“You said you met His Highness the Grand Duke?”

The Duchess, who had been listening to her, asked with a surprised face. Why was she so surprised? Well, maybe it was because he looked too fine for having met the Grand Duke.

“Yes. I personally delivered flowers to apologize for what happened in the past.”

“…Apologize?”

The Duchess opened her eyes wide and looked at her. She couldn’t believe that the words of apology had come out of Eve’s mouth either.

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Translator Note:

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