How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

“Did you make the flower lantern?”

 

“Yes?”

 

For a moment she wondered what this was all about, but then she realized belatedly that it was a story about holiday flowers.

 

“Ah, a lamp.”

 

On the holiday of Rastana, she lights flower lanterns with the hope that love will come true. 

The flower lantern was made by the person praying with his/her earnest wish. The custom if you already have someone you love, was to make it together and hope that your love will last forever.

 

“Princess, are you going to make it with Terence?”

 

Diane asked innocently.

 

“That…”

 

Of course, she was speechless as she had never thought of such a thing. But she quickly answered with a smile.

 

“Of course. We decided to make it together. I did…”

 

She then naturally added an excuse to get out.

 

“Terence is very busy these days, so I don’t know if he’ll have time for that. I could just make it myself.”

 

She couldn’t imagine herself making flower lanterns with Terence. They always pretend to be lovers in front of people, but this was something on a different level. Terence, sitting next to her, cutting flower petals out of paper. She couldn’t imagine that. If she asked to make it together in the first place, he would look at her as if she had lost her mind.

 

“Oh… okay.”

 

Diane seemed to be even more disappointed as if it were her fiancé who was not here. So she asked quickly to change the subject.

 

“What about Miss Diane? Do you want to make it with me?”

 

“Yes, I like it!”

 

Fortunately, Diane was thrilled when she heard her suggestion.

 

“I’ll bring the flower lantern textbook and colored paper. We all make it together.”

 

There was also a textbook. Since she had no idea how to make it, it would be nice to have some reference material. As they were chatting and eating cookies, Nell opened the door and came inside.

 

“Princess.”

 

Nell looked unusually nervous.

 

“The chamberlain has arrived from the imperial palace. They say they brought a message from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

 

“I am truly sorry, Her Royal Highness.”

 

The chamberlain, who said he had come under Arentine’s orders, bowed deeply and asked for her understanding. Since he was someone she had never seen before, she just watched in silence. The chamberlain must have interpreted her silence as ominous, and he began to break out in a cold sweat before even bringing up the matter.

 

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ordered the imperial knights who guard the temple to be summoned to the imperial palace.”

 

“Why did my brother give such an order?”

 

“He said that now that the 2nd Prince has returned to the Imperial Palace, the Knights are short on personnel.”

 

“Did Vilos ask for it?”

 

“Yes?”

 

The chamberlain was surprised by her question and stammered.

 

“Well, I’m not sure about that.”

 

He looked at her with pondering eyes for a moment and then gave an answer.

 

“However, I heard that the Knight Commander made a suggestion to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

 

The leader of the Imperial Knights was Gyren. The Emperor’s right hand man. She also understood why Arrentine agreed with that opinion. At this point, Arentine probably wanted to get rid of the unreliable Imperial Knights and leave only his own knights here. The reason the Imperial Knights were here in the first place was because Michael asked the Crown Prince to do so. From Gyren’s point of view, if the princess was at the temple and she did not send any of the imperial knights, she would have no choice but to allow it because she would not have any prestige. Now that the 2nd Prince had returned, he was using that as an excuse to return the Imperial Knights to the Imperial Palace. She would have thought the same if she hadn’t had two premonitions. But now she knew what the intention was.

 

‘I guess they’re trying to get rid of the Imperial Knights.’

 

On a holiday, a fire breaks out here and the princess was injured. If there were knights from the Imperial Knights here, the Imperial Knights would also share responsibility for the fire.

 

‘They’re probably trying to leave out the Imperial Knights to prevent something like that from happening.’

 

She said she understood and sent the chamberlain away. Anyway, the Chamberlain had just come to explain the situation to her instead of the Crown Prince, so there was no use holding him back any longer.

 

* * *

 

The knights of the Imperial Knights withdrew from the temple the next day by those sent by the knight commander.

 

“Princess, I’m sorry.”

 

Mikhail bowed his head to me with a dark expression.

 

“There was an order from His Highness the Crown Prince. It’s fine.”

 

She reassured Mikhail that everything was okay.

 

“I’m safe now, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

 

Far from being safe, this place was going to burn down tomorrow. Sending the Imperial Knights was essential for the progress of the work. They had to be reassured that everything was going as they wanted, because criminals would start a fire on the night of the holiday.

 

After reassuring Mikhail, she took out the small box she had prepared.

 

“Oh yeah. Would you please give this to Sorel when you get back?”

 

“This…”

 

“I guess these are snacks given out on holidays.”

 

What was in the box were the snacks she ate with Diane yesterday. They said they would give it out at the temple to commemorate the holiday. Since it was a rare snack that was only made on holidays at the Great Shrine, she thought Sorrel would like it too.

 

“Tell her it’s a gift for safely returning to the island.”

 

A warm smile appeared on Mikhail’s neat face. He bowed his head and promised her.

 

“I will return to the imperial palace and deliver it to Princess Sorel.”

 

“Huh. Please.”

 

Early in the morning, the Imperial Knights all left. Instead, only the knights directly under the crown prince remained in the temple. Of course, there were a few people sent by the Grand Duke. The disappearance of the Imperial Knights was clearly the starting point for the fire plan.

 

‘It looks like something is happening in the room too.’

 

She didn’t know exactly what it was. Was it really incense? Smoke was still burning in the incense burner. A bitter yet sweet scent permeated throughout the room.

 

“Chloe, did you check the room?”

 

Just in case, she told Chloe to quietly investigate the bedroom. Because they may have already done something in the bedroom.

 

“Yes, princess. There was nothing suspicious at all.”

 

“Please be especially careful on holidays.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Because she didn’t want to fall asleep and not wake up at an important moment.

 

* * *

 

As she spent time carefully examining her surroundings, her whole body felt tense, as if she was going into battle. However, on the morning of the actual day, the moment she saw the group that came with Diane, she felt embarrassed instead of nervous.

 

“Why did you come?”

 

Next to Diane was Terence, dressed in casual clothes. Even after receiving her question, he remained silent with an indifferent expression. The person who answered instead was Diane.

 

“Terrence said he would give me some time. He wants us to make lanterns together.”

 

“Ah…”

 

Terence added an explanation to Diane’s words with a smile on his face.

 

“Because the princess wanted to make flower lanterns with me. I didn’t want to disappoint you, so I came with her.”

 

She remembered that she had originally planned to do it together, but Terence was busy so she said she would make it alone. While she was at a loss for words, Diane carried a large bag and headed to the parlor.

 

“I brought all the ingredients, but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough. I’ll bring this to the living room.”

 

Terence followed behind in silence. She too followed at a distance.

 

“Diane came to the mansion and convinced me. She said the princess was upset, because I couldn’t give her at least a little time.”

 

She was just trying to make a fuss, but she never thought she would go to Terence and ask him for a favor. As Diane, she probably thought she was helping her.

 

“…sorry.”

 

Feeling embarrassed, she quietly apologized, but surprisingly, Terence didn’t seem to be offended.

 

“There is no need to apologize. We are a couple who is about to get married, so it would be strange if we didn’t make it together.”

 

Diane followed her and took out colorful papers and books from her bag.

 

“Here I brought you some colored paper and a textbook.”

 

Diane brought so much colored paper that her bag was full. Next to it she had a full bag of glue and thread for embroidery. They sat down at the table in the living room and started making flower lanterns together.

 

She realized that flower lanterns have many different shapes. The only flower-shaped lanterns she could think of were lotus-shaped lanterns, but in the textbook Diane brought, there were flower lanterns of many different shapes. There were lanterns that looked like roses or lilies, and there were also small flower lanterns that had dozens of small flowers like hydrangeas gathered together and candles placed inside them. There was also an unusual shape with three or four small flowers hanging on one stem, like lilies of the valley. There were many lanterns featuring flowers she had never seen before. It’s probably a flower that only exists in this world and not in reality. The one she chose was one of them. A red flower that resembles a lovely peony. It was a Rastana flower that symbolizes love.

 

This was the flower that Terence sent with a gift and covered her garden with a wave of red. 

Actually, she didn’t choose it,

 

‘Of course you should use this flower! It’s a flower that symbolizes the affection between you two!’

 

She chose it thanks to Diane and Nell’s strong recommendations.

 

A symbol of love… That was such a cringe-worthy thing to say.

 

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Translator Note: