How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

“Is it so?”

If they catch her before taking the drug and ask her what she’s trying to do, the culprit would pretend.

‘I’d like to tell the Duchess or Diane in advance, but there’s no way to explain it if they ask how I knew it.’

So the best way would be to hit the scene right before the incident happens. 

A beautifully crafted wall clock hung on the wall in the hallway. And Diane’s time to take her medicine is around 10, or so she said. So there was still plenty of time. The Grand Duke’s knights were also waiting downstairs, so she wouldn’t have to worry.

“Then let’s go to the music room.”

Together with the Archduke, she passed through the hall on the second floor and went up to the music room. On the day of the event, all the workers were mobilized even in the mansion. Even now, the downstairs of the basement where the servants worked must be running frantically. In the hallway, where rooms not related to the ball were located, there were only glass lanterns hanging on the walls, and not a single maid was walking around. Still, the tea room next to the music room was brightly lit, and maids were busy working inside. Towards the end of the ball, the ladies come up here to drink tea and chat. It seemed to be prepared in advance.

“Here.”

She opened the door to the music room. The door, which had been firmly closed, opened effortlessly. Nell should have come and opened it. It was dark in the music room with the lights off, but there, pastel-toned furniture and colorfully patterned harpsichords were quietly immersed in darkness. 

The only light was a yellow light from a small lantern Nell was holding. Nell was sitting on the sofa with a lantern waiting for me.

“Princess… Heck, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

Nell, who was happy to see her, found the Grand Duke and hurriedly bowed.

“Who didn’t come in?”

“Yes, Princess. No one came.”

“Good work, Nell. Now go downstairs, return the key to the Duchess, and rest.”

Nell shuts the door and leaves, leaving the two of us alone in the music room.

“You can wait here.”

She had no choice but to wait until another maid brought Diane’s medicine. So they sat down on the couch in the music room. There was a cold chill in the dark room. Only the small lantern Nell had left behind gave off a warm yellow light in the dark blue darkness. Outside the window, she could see a small garden covered with white snow. The snow that was piled up in the middle of the day caught the moonlight and gave off a bluish light. The cold moon hanging in the night sky drew white halos on the windows and decorations.

“Is it okay if you both keep doing this?”

After some time passed, he broke the silence first and the Grand Duke turned his gaze to her. In the quiet darkness, his eyes were also colored black and purple like the night sky.

“Do you want to go back to the ballroom?”

“That’s not it.”

She didn’t want to go back to a place where she could get everyone’s attention again. It felt like she was a rare spectacle in a zoo.

“I thought people would look at us weird if we didn’t go back after the prom.”

Hearing this, the Grand Duke looked at her carefully for a moment.

“There is nothing strange about it. Isn’t it natural to enjoy a tryst with your fiancé on a day like this?”

So, that part was weird. He went out to rest for a while and didn’t come back for a while. They didn’t even show up in the break room next to the ballroom or in the waiting room. It was a situation that could be misunderstood by anyone. Well, it’s a plan to look like a couple in love anyway, so it seemed to be going according to plan… While thinking that far, she felt the Grand Duke’s gaze and raised her head again.

“Why do you look at me like that?”

“Does Her Highness the Crown Prince know that the princess is in danger?”

Oh, was that what he was curious about?

“No, my brother doesn’t know.”

After hearing her answer, the Grand Duke took a moment to speak quietly.

“I am curious. Why did you leave your sibling, His Highness the Crown Prince, to ask for my help?”

That’s because he was the final winner in the original story. But she couldn’t say that.

“Your Highness Do you think that my brother can protect me? Against His Majesty the Emperor?”

Because he was the Grand Duke, he could fight against the Emperor and protect her. 

Right now, Arentine had no power to stop the Emperor’s plan.

“Honestly, I don’t think he has the heart to protect me.”

If it had been that special between siblings, he would have pretended to be sad when Eve died. In the original story, Arentine showed no sadness at the death of Eve. Rather, there was a scene in which the nobles whispered that the Crown Prince seemed to be happy for his sister’s death. Considering Eve’s actions, it’s not surprising, but wasn’t he a heartless older brother? She was his one and only younger sister.

‘Come to think of it, I’m not very happy with my family here either.’

Before coming into this world, even when she lived in the real world, she always had no family. Her parents died when she was very young, and she moved from one relative’s house to another, and later entered an orphanage and lived there. Thinking back on those days, living here enjoying the luxury of being a princess seemed a little better. Still, if she was going to enter the book, she didn’t have to be an aristocrat or an imperial family, so couldn’t she possess a character who lived happily in an ordinary family? She didn’t think she bought it to harm others in particular… To be hated by her family and become a villain who was about to die. it’s a bit too much.

She thought about that for a while, and suddenly something wrapped around her shoulder. 

Turning around in surprise, it was the black formal coat the Grand Duke was wearing. The Grand Duke, who took off his coat and put it on her shoulder, said in a nonchalant tone as soon as their eyes met.

“You’ll get sick if you wear such thin clothes in the middle of winter like this.”

What she was wearing now was an evening dress for a ball. Although the clothes exposed both arms, she did not feel the cold at the ballroom. However, it was a music room, so the air was chilly. So she felt much warmer in his coat.

“It is warm. Thank you, your Highness the Grand Duke.”

“Terrence.”

She looked back at what this meant, and the Grand Duke added in a calm voice.

“Call me Terrence. How long are you going to call your fiancé by his title?”

Oh, that was his name. She kept thinking that he was the Grand Duke, so she forgot his real name.

‘Yeah, since he’s my fiancé, we’d better call him by his first name.’

“Thank you, Terrence.”

The Grand Duke, no, Terence turned his gaze back to the window. She couldn’t see it closely, but at first glance it looked like there were wrinkles between his eyebrows.

‘What did I do wrong?’

But Terrence remained silent, staring at the window. He’s a really hard person to flatter. She was glad it’s a contract marriage. How hard would it be for a woman to be the wife of this man? She was like that when she was complaining.

Bruises.

At that moment, faint footsteps were heard outside the door. The source of the sound was the hallway. Passing through a quiet hallway, someone was approaching this way. They approached the door without even having time to discuss it.

Terrence quietly opened the door. Through the slightly open door, she could see the back of a maid walking down the hallway. The maid walked into Diane’s room carrying a tray with her medicine bowl. It was the same scene as the vision.

The moment she saw that, tension spread down her spine. The scenes she had seen as visions replayed in her head. After the maid with the medicine bowl went outside, the criminal inside put a suspicious powder on the medicine. Then Diane, who was in the bedroom, came out and drank the pills.

When she saw it in order, she knew she had to break in just before Diane took the pills, catch her culprit and catch the evidence too. The maid holding the medicine bowl opened the door to Diane’s boudoir and she went inside.

Terrence and she peeked into the hallway through the crack in the door and waited with bated breath. After a while, the maid who had entered the room came out with an empty tray. 

The maid turned her hallway and disappeared. And seconds passed in her tension.

“Now.”

By this point the culprit would have called Miss Diane. She sent her glance at Terrence, and he immediately opened the door and went inside, as if he thought the same thing. Passing through the small closet, she immediately opened the door to the drawing room. As expected, as soon as the door was opened, the culprit, the maid and Diane, were there.

“Diane.”

When Diane, who was holding the medicine bowl, heard Terrence’s voice, she raised her head in amazement.

“Cousin Terrence?”

“Miss Diane, you can’t drink that!”

“Pardon…?”

As Diane sat there, unaware of her situation, Terrence quickly approached and he snatched the glass from her hand. Sometimes, in the blink of an eye, the moment of desperation passes by. Looking back, her life came and went, but it passed in an instant and she only figured out the situation after it was over… 

Such was the case with Diane. Diane came to her senses when she realized that her cousin, Terrence, had grabbed her by the wrist and snatched her medicine glass from her.

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Translator Note:

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