How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

“I’m sorry for bringing up the divorce after asking for marriage first. But I think this is a good thing for Your Highness as well.”

“It’s okay. I was just a little surprised.”

The Grand Duke replied indifferently.

“I can’t help but be surprised that a person who just a few days ago said she would die if I didn’t get married said divorce.”

He only spoke indifferently, and when he asked to get married, he said in a sarcastic tone, “When do you talk about divorce?”

She put on an apologetic expression with the utmost sincerity and bowed her head.

“I am really sorry for the past. But now I have completely given up on Your Highness.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No, I don’t like His Highness anymore. I gave up completely.”

The Grand Duke stared at her without a word. There was a confused look in the purple eyes that looked at her. Why did he look so perplexed?

“Why…”

The Gran Duke was about to say something but shut his mouth. Why did she say she didn’t like him anymore? Well, she though it would be strange if someone who was chasing after him suddenly changed and said, “Sorry, I don’t like you anymore.” He must be wondering why she suddenly had a change of heart. But he couldn’t ask that with his own mouth.

‘Please don’t chase me! I hate you!’ 

He had reasons to hate her, so of course he also needed a plausible reason for the question, “Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

If he clearly pointed out this issue at this point, he would be able to get along well while keeping the line even after marriage.

“You may think it was a one-time attack, but I truly fell in love with Your Highness. But in fact, even if I wanted to marry His Highness… There were other reasons.”

She looked straight at the Grand Duke and brought out a lie she had prepared in advance.

“I thought that if I married Your Highness, the imperial family and the Grand Duke’s family would be able to hold hands and live peacefully. That’s why I wanted to get married even more.”

“You thought so?”

“I don’t know much about politics, but I’m not blind. I know that His Highness the Grand Duke and my father, His Majesty the Emperor, have a much worse relationship than they appear.”

The Emperor and the Grand Duke were no different from mortal’s enemies, but on the outside it seemed like a bit of a strained relationship. So Eve must have acted foolishly to marry the Grand Duke.

“I thought it would help both the imperial family and the Grand Duke family if I and the Grand Duke got married. but… It was all my mistake.”

She dropped her gaze as if to hide her bitter disappointment. She tried to mediate between the two in her own way, but in the end, she was used and abandoned by her father. Of course, Eve couldn’t have thought that way, and she was all made up by her… She remained silent, playing the grieving daughter. 

After a while, the Grand Duke spoke quietly, as if trying to comfort her.

“It’s not a stupid idea. If His Majesty hadn’t deviated from common sense, then it would have been natural for the princess to do as expected.”

She took those words and bowed her head deeply.

“I’m really sorry for bothering you all this time. I realized how selfish it is to force one’s feelings on others. I will never do that in the future.”

Then, with a look of great remorse, she swore to him.

“After I get married, I will live quietly in the mansion. If Your Highness wishes, it’s fine for me to live alone in the estate.”

If he told her to go to the manor and stay there, it would be okay to stay alone there. As the Grand Duke said, the territory would be much safer than the capital. Even if she lived in the mansion of the countryside, she was confident that if he told her not to come out of the place the Grand Duke had set for her, she would be confined to it.

“Wherever you are, I won’t bother you, Your Highness.”

However, after hearing all of her earnest determination, the Grand Duke remained silent.

After a few minutes, he asked me a question.

“Is that your condition? Divorcing in a few years?”

“Yes? Yes.”

The Grand Duke looked at her and then turned back over the balcony.

“All right.”

Then he changed the topic with a dry tone.

“Do you know how the Emperor is trying to kill the princess on the wedding day?”

At that question, stiff tension flowed through his whole body again.

“No.”

And this was another problem with her survival plan.

“I don’t know. I only know that I would die on their wedding day, but I have not seen how.”

It was that the damn original didn’t tell exactly how Eve was murdered.

“I heard you have a vision?”

Seeing the Archduke’s questioning gaze, she pointed her finger at him and explained in detail.

“My foreknowledge appears in a short scene. It’s a glimpse into the moment when something important happens.”

The description of Eve’s ability during the novel was like that. As a result of her own use of the ability, foreknowledge, although short, was quite specific. It feels like stepping into a scene in a movie or drama and then stepping out.

“What I saw was my dead body on the wedding day, and the Emperor later telling that this incident was a conspiracy. Both of these things.”

This was a lie made based on the original work, but in reality, this was all she knew. In the original story, Eve was killed right before her wedding, and a dagger used by knights of the Grand Ducal family was found beside her body. The Grand Duke was accused of the crime, but the real culprit was actually the Emperor.

Here’s just a brief explanation. Eve’s death scene was never depicted.

Was it a knight, a soldier, a priest, or one of Eve’s handmaids who stabbed Eve’s body with a sword? Exactly who killed Eve on the orders of the Emperor, what time and where she died is not properly explained until the end.

It couldn’t be helped.

Eve’s death was not a very important episode in the original story.

‘Eve died on her wedding day.’

It went by so short. Still, if that’s all, that’s fine. She just had to be careful on the wedding day.

“But that’s not all.”

A bigger problem was that the Emperor tried to kill Eve several times before her wedding. 

In the original story, the Emperor’s flashback to Eve’s death appears briefly. According to his recollections, he originally intended to assassinate her near the wedding. But he had failed a few times because Eve kept playing her whims. That was all the explanation that came out in the middle of the novel. But it was not revealed when or how she tried to assassinate her.

There were just a few assassination plans, but all of them failed due to Eve’s whim, and the last successful one was on the day of her wedding.

‘What whim did Eve do to escape her death?’

She had been thinking about it, but she couldn’t figure it out at all. Due to the lack of information, only vague guesses could be made.

Eve was in her probation now, but a few days before her wedding, she must have been going out and meeting people. Perhaps Eve averted her death by abruptly canceling or changing her appointment. However, she was not the original Eve. Maybe she couldn’t escape her assassination attempt, unlike Eve.

She also informed the Grand Duke that there would be several more assassination attempts. She couldn’t say that she had seen this in a book, so she mixed in some lies appropriately, saying, ‘I heard the emperor speak in my wisdom’.

“Okay.”

After hearing the explanation, the Grand Duke’s expression also changed seriously. It’s not just the wedding day that’s a problem, there were risks even before that. However, since she didn’t know how the danger would come, it’s hard to come up with a way to prevent it.

The Grand Duke slowly tapped the railing of the terrace with one hand.

She said looking at his thoughtful profile.

“Still, since the wedding is near, wouldn’t it be okay if I just pay attention for a few days?”

That’s what she said, but she wasn’t even sure about that. She didn’t even know exactly when the assassination attempt started. Besides, she was behaving differently from the original Eve in order to survive. Wouldn’t that make it even more dangerous than the original?

The Grand Duke also expressed a similar opinion to hers.

“Well. In planning, there are always variables. If there is even the slightest doubt about anything, the Emperor may move forward or change the plan.”

Then Eve, no, she would die before the wedding day. As long as she was in his hands, the Emperor would be able to kill her right away tomorrow and pretend it’s the work of the Grand Duke.

“And I heard that you can only have visions when you touch it with your hands?”

She nodded.

“Then, we have to be together so you can see the future related to me, right?”

“That’s right.”

It is not enough to simply wish to have visions for the Grand Duke. Currently, she knew very little about what goes on inside the story until her wedding day. If she wanted to know what would happen before the wedding, she had no choice but to rely on her ability to foresee. In particular, to have visions related to the political world, she had to go out into the social world and contact important people. Maybe then she would get a hint about the plan to kill her.

However, there was a high probability that she would be exposed to danger if she left the imperial palace. Of course, it wasn’t safe just because it was inside the imperial palace.

‘It’s difficult.’

While she was lost in her thoughts, the Grand Duke, who had been silent, spoke first.

“From now on, how about staying close to the princess and protecting her by her side?”

“You want to stay close?”

“We’re officially engaged, so it won’t be strange if we’re always together.”

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Translator Note:

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