How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

She stood there mesmerized like that for a long time even after the Duke and Duchess left. Then Terence called her.

 

“Princess?”

 

She looked over and saw Terence looking at her with concern.

 

“Princess, why are you doing this?”

 

She grabbed his arm without saying a word.

 

“I have something to tell you right now.”

 

Terence took her upstairs without asking any questions. They entered the inner room where she was staying. As she quickly passed through the entrance and entered the living room attached to the boudoir, she saw Lot next to the chair. Lot was carefully lifting Bayan from the chair with both hands.

 

“Ah, princess, brother.”

 

“Lot, what are you doing here?”

 

“I want to show Bayan to my cousin Diane.”

 

“Diane went home.”

 

“Already?”

 

Lot was disappointed and put Bayan back on the chair.

 

“Why? It’s been a while since she came.”

 

“Diane says she’s not feeling well and she needs to go home and rest.”

 

“…She looks bad again.”

 

Worry seeped into Lot’s cute face.

 

“I couldn’t return her doll, but she went away.”

 

Lot took out the small yarn doll that Diane had shown him. When she saw that, she suddenly had a good idea.

 

“Then shall we go visit Miss Diane together tomorrow?”

 

“Really?”

 

After hearing her words, joy spread across Lot’s face again. She nodded and added.

 

“I think Miss Diane would be happy if we went together and returned her doll and gave her a present to wish her a speedy recovery.”

 

Terence, who was next to her, heard her and gave her a worried look.

 

“Are you going to be okay?”

 

The duke said that today, and he seems to be worried that something bad will happen if he goes to the mansion.

 

“It’s fine. I’m going with Lot to comfort Miss Diane. What could be going on?”

 

She was going with Lot, but he wouldn’t give in to her. In fact, even if the duke didn’t like it now, there’s nothing they could do about it. Because there was a reason why she must go to that mansion and see Diane again and again.

 

‘We need to find what herbs were in Diane’s room. I need to know exactly what her treatment is.’

 

She had no choice but to keep contacting Diane and the Duke and Duchess while hoping for another prediction. If possible, it would be a good idea to catch Diane and her close maids as well.

 

“Then I will go with you.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Since your aunt visited the mansion, it would be polite for me to visit with her as a return gift.”

 

Terence said that with a calm expression, but there was a faint hint of anxiety in his eyes as he looked at her. Since the duke came here and behaved rudely, he didn’t seem to mind sending them alone. She was confident that she would ignore or accept whatever the duke says.

 

“It would be nice if you could come with me.”

 

As he said, since a relative visited them as a newlywed, it was the etiquette in this world for them to visit in return. Lot was very happy to hear what they had to say.

 

“Then we’re all going together. Can I take Bayan too?”

 

“Yes, of course. Bayan would also love to go out.”

 

[Why is no one asking my opinion?]

 

“It looks really good. It’s meowing.”

 

Lot stroked the forehead of Bayan, who had a dissatisfied expression on his face.

 

“Princess, may I ask Chloe to make clothes for Bayan? Bayan has short fur on her, so I think she might get cold outside.”

 

[…no. I don’t like it.]

 

“Is it so? That’s a really good idea. Can you go and tell me now? It takes time to make clothes out of her yarn.”

 

When she accepted, Lot was happy and went outside to look for Chloe. Only her, Terence, and Bayan remained in the living room.

 

As soon as the door closed, she turned to Terrence.

 

“There’s a problem.”

 

She explained to him everything she had seen when she caught Diane. Terence’s expression became increasingly serious as he listened to the explanation.

 

“This winter… okay.”

 

A sad feeling filled his purple eyes for a moment. Although he didn’t show it out loud, Terence seems to have been shocked by the thought of Diane dying. When she saw that, a part of her heart felt sad. If Diane died, Lott and Terence would be very sad. But it’s still too early to give up. Because the future could change at any time.

 

‘I’ve already changed the future several times. If we do well this time…’

 

If they could find a way to treat Diane’s illness, they might be able to save her.

 

“Bajan, wouldn’t it be possible to cure Diane’s illness at least a little with the sap of this sacred tree?”

 

She took out the sap of the sacred tree that she had in her arms. Although the sap was given to Bayan several times, there was still a sufficient amount of sap in the glass bottle. But Bayan shook his head.

 

[Impossible. It is a medicine that treats wounds, not a disease.]

 

SheI knew it, but it didn’t work.

 

“What is the difference between treating a wound and treating an illness?”

 

[Isn’t it completely different from sewing torn clothes and washing dirt-stained clothes to restore them to their original state? That’s the way it is.]

 

Well, Sorel’s holy power didn’t work on Diane’s illness. Sorel’s healing power also heals her wounds.

 

‘In the end, is that herb the only hope?’

 

Unidentified blades of grass filled Diane’s bedroom. She asked Bayan, but Bayan shook his head as if he was embarrassed.

 

[I don’t know much about medicinal herbs.]

 

It seemed like a good idea to ask an apothecary or a doctor, but all she knew was the shape and smell of a blade of grass. Since she was so bad at drawing, she was not sure if she could properly describe the shape, and the smell was even harder to describe.

 

She wished she could look at the pictures and find something similar. She looked back at Terence and said.

 

“I want to find out what that herb is. Is there an herbal medicine guide in the mansion?”

 

“It will be in the library in the annex.”

 

In addition to the main building, this mansion had several separate annex buildings. Terence led her there. The annex building containing the library was located on the west side, a little away from the main building. She followed the small garden path leading from the main building and came across a simple, square-shaped stone building. It was a three-story building with few windows and looked dark.

 

‘Was this a library?’

 

She saw it a few times through the window in the main building. She had no idea it was a library. She thought it was just a guest house or something. As they entered, a large library filled with bookshelves appeared. The entire small building, from the first to the third floor, was a library. From the downstairs to the upper stairs leading to the stairs, the entire room was filled with books and… There was a place like this.

 

As she was watching in shock, Terence headed to a corner.

 

“The book on medicinal herbs will be over here.”

 

The types of books were divided by section. The place they went was a place with books on medicine and drugs. While Terence was browsing the shelves, she also found a book about medicinal herbs. She looked carefully at the spines of the books stacked up, one by one, but she couldn’t find any books on medicinal herbs. Before she knew it, Terence, who had been searching on the other side, came up next to me, looking around the bookshelf. After going a while, she saw a large herbal dictionary in the middle of the bookshelf.

 

‘Ah, it’s here.’

 

She was happy and quickly reached for the bookshelf, but Terence, who happened to be next to her, grabbed the book first. For a split second, her fingers touched his hand on the spine of the book.

 

‘Huh.’

 

She was startled and quickly took her hand away. Perhaps because she was so embarrassed, Terence also put down the spine with a puzzled look in his eyes.

 

‘…’

 

A heavy silence fell in the library for a moment. This was the first time she had had contact with Terence since the first night. She only touched him slightly, so she didn’t know why she was so embarrassed. Before that, they danced together and hugged and hid in a corner.

 

‘On the first night… I also did more.’

 

Although she was embarrassed at the time, she managed to get over it, but somehow after receiving the confession, she felt completely different. Until then, she thought she only thought of this man as a handsome sub male lead from a book. A being that was so cool and attractive, but didn’t exist in reality. But after receiving that confession, she started to feel like he was the opposite sex. She quickly opened her mouth to break the uncomfortable silence.

 

“Uh… hmm… I didn’t know there was such a big library inside the mansion.”

 

She said something to change the mood, but Terence looked at her with a puzzled look.

 

“Why do you look at me like that?”

 

“You’ve been here for over ten days, but you haven’t looked around the mansion?”

 

“I’ve seen the whole main building.”

 

In fact, the main building was so large that she couldn’t see everything.

 

“You looked like you were busy. What on earth were you doing at the mansion?”

 

Terence asked, looking at her in astonishment. It sounded like a reprimand as to why she couldn’t learn the structure of the mansion.

 

“I worked.”

 

She spoke confidently while looking at his bewildered eyes.

 

“You may not know this, Terence, but ladies are extremely busy. I also have to manage the mansion. I also manage the servants. I also prepare to entertain guests.”

 

“The only guests who have come over the past ten days are the imperial knights and the Duke of Rohan, and I understand that the servants are still managed by the butler.”

 

“…I focused on bookkeeping.”

 

She explained to him that she had been organizing the ledger for 10 days and created a new one. The more she heard the explanation, the more absurd Terence’s eyes became.

 

“Why did you handle it all yourself? You could ask the butler or the head maid to do it.”

 

“Yes, but I want to handle it myself. That way we can process the budget quickly.”

 

Save on unnecessary parts. Order more of what you need. While thinking about that, she was about to turn her attention to the herbal medicine book again, when she felt Terence’s complicated gaze next to her.

 

“Why do you look at me like that?”

 

Terence hesitated for a moment, as if he was struggling with what to say. The twilight shining from the window cast a dark shadow on one side of his face. He had complex emotions flowing through his purple eyes, which were as dark as the night sky.

 

“If you’re going to leave this mansion anyway, there’s no need to work so hard, right?”

 

“…”

 

That quiet voice contained a question as to why he was working so hard if he was going to reject the confession anyway. She was justified in thinking so, as she had not responded to his confession for over ten days. She couldn’t answer and just looked at the bookshelf.

 

She also didn’t know why she worked so hard. The ledgers organized using the new double-entry bookkeeping method would be rather confusing to other hostesses. It seemed like her mind was so complicated that she focused more on work to divert her mind. Or did she subconsciously think that she would never leave here? Suddenly, the vision she saw on the first night came back to her clearly. The future where she died and Terence destroyed the imperial family.

 

‘That’s why I can’t answer that confession.’

 

When she first received the confession, she was just confused, but as time passed, her thoughts gradually came together. If the prophecy came true, she would die in two years. There was still time, so she would try to find a solution in the meantime. What if she died because she couldn’t change the future?

 

This man would suffer from self-blame for the rest of his life. Their child would also grow up without a mother. In that case, wouldn’t it be better not to even start? She wondered if that would be a good thing for Terence. Although he would feel the pain deep in his heart when he lost his beloved wife. He just wouldn’t be that sad if the ex-wife he was briefly attracted to died.

 

As she remained silent, Terence took out a herbal medicine book. He sighed briefly while holding the herbal dictionary.

 

“You can do whatever you want in the mansion, but don’t overdo it.”

 

“…yes.”

 

She took out an herbal medicine guide and brought it to the desk between the bookshelves. She also went to the desk with him. They spread out the dictionary on the desk and started looking for herbs by flipping through the pages one by one. The dictionary contained descriptions of medicinal herbs along with detailed pictures.

 

‘Not this either… This isn’t it either…’

 

She flipped through the pages until they reached the end, eagerly looking for the grass mentioned in the prediction. She searched through the picture until the last page, but the blade of grass she saw did not appear.

 

“There is none.”

 

Why wasn’t there one? Should she look for a bigger book?

 

“Maybe it’s not an herb?”

 

“That could be true.”

 

Terence said as he put the herbal medicine book back in its place.

 

“I need to look for a plant guide.”

 

How much time would it take to find all the plants on the entire continent?

 

“Are there all the plants on the continent?”

 

“Well. It won’t be all there.”

 

Well, even in the original world where information was developed, rare plants and animals that were previously unknown were often discovered. There was probably no book that summarizes all the plants on this continent. Information about plants from other countries may not be known at all.

 

“Don’t be too disappointed. You said your bedroom was full of that grass.”

 

“Yes. It certainly did.”

 

“Seeing as how many of them were found before the winter was over, they must not be very rare.”

 

She listened to him and nodded her head. Well, that’s right. If it were hard to find grass, there’s no way they would have filled it so much.

 

“I should draw a similar picture and ask pharmacists and doctors. First of all, I’ll go see Miss Diane tomorrow and get some more insight.”

 

Terence nodded and added,

 

“As I said earlier, I will go with you. If you ever run into the duke, it would be better for me to be with you.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

In the end, it meant that he was worried about her and was going with her. When she said thank you, Terence looked at her closely again.

 

“Princess.”

 

He looked at her as if he couldn’t understand.

 

“You treated everyone so rudely in the past, but why couldn’t you say anything to the Duke of Rohan?”

 

“…I can’t keep being so violent.”

 

Eve was very cruel and violent, but this was a very honest question. But she was not Eve, so she didn’t want to be rude to anyone like that.

 

“It doesn’t matter.”

 

She said it without much meaning, but an unexpectedly firm answer came back. Terence declared as if he was saying something very obvious.

 

“You don’t have to put up with being rude to other people. I will take care of it, so you can do whatever you want, princess.”

 

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Translator Note: