Please Don’t Come To The Villainess’ Stationery Store!

“Do you really like it that much?”

“Yes!”

“Then make sure to promote this stationery shop later, okay?”

As the child nodded consecutively, his chubby cheeks jiggled.

“Yes! I will definitely say that it’s not boring, not at all like a battlefield, doesn’t look dangerous, and doesn’t seem like ghosts would appear!”

That sounds like you’re emphasizing it too much…

But I, who become infinitely gentle with children, awkwardly nodded in response.

“‘Mel’s Stationery Shop’ will open in about a week.”

“Then I will definitely be here!”

The child said with wide-open eyes.

“…I-I will dress up nicely and show up in front of Mel’s Stationery Shop!”

The child then hugged the music box that was placed on the ground and continued.

“I should go to my brother first and give him a gift, and I’ll talk about you too.”

‘Is he saying he’ll promote the stationery shop to his brother as well?’

If this child’s brother is around fifteen, fortunately, our stationery shop could definitely appeal to teenagers as well.

“Take this and give it to your brother too.”

The boy’s eyes sparkled as he received a tightly sealed slushie bottle.

“Yes!”

With that, the first potential customer interaction was neatly concluded.

As I sent off the mysterious noble boy in a rented carriage, I asked.

“Where will you go?”

“To the ca-, no, home!”

And the boy who got on the rental carriage was heard whispering something to the coachman, but I didn’t take it seriously.

Thus, a long day passed.

Entering the stationery store, I recalled the events of the day.

After finishing the garden cleaning, I brainwashed the servants of Lennox and Hildegard and sent a disengagement and excommunication letter.

‘I was lucky to meet a demon and even managed to make a slush!’

I even promoted the stationery store to an academy boy.

Even before the official opening of the stationery store, a lot happened today.

‘How much more will happen in the future?’

“Dominic.”

“Hmm?”

“The disengagement and excommunication letters, they must have arrived by now?”

The postal service is fast. Being a public service, they strive for quick and accurate work by putting in manpower, so the disengagement and excommunication letters I sent must have reached the respective families by now.

What would have happened? Has the atmosphere turned completely upside down? Or maybe they’re quickly trying to process my opinion?

I’m really curious, but it’s a shame I can’t see it for myself.

***

The two letters sent by Meldenik arrived at each ducal house that night.

As she had expected, the two ducal houses of the empire were turned upside down. The Hesman ducal house reacted first, before the Babeloa duke.

Upon arriving at the mansion, he looked at the ducal mansion’s elderly butler, who blocked his way, with a displeased and indifferent face and said.

“What’s the matter.”

“It’s… A disengagement letter has arrived at the house, Your Excellency.”

He wouldn’t have believed it if Meldenik had said so. She was a woman whose words and actions were always inconsistent.

‘The spies said nothing, suddenly?’

They were competently selected individuals.

They didn’t report anything, and Meldenik actually wrote and sent a disengagement letter?

“Where is Meldenik now?”

“That… It was sent by mail. She didn’t come in person.”

Lennox, feeling inexplicably sour, glared at him and said stiffly.

“Ignore it.”

He clenched his teeth, recalling the will his father had left.

‘Disengagement won’t do. That woman is absolutely necessary for our family.’

Specifically, it was her bloodline that was needed.

“You must marry Meldenik Babeloa.”

“But father, that woman comes from a cursed bloodline! I refuse to marry such a woman-.”

As he was dying from a carriage fall accident, his father weakly shook his head.

“Kinnoa is not a cursed lineage. It’s a false rumor.”

“Yes?”

“Kinnoa received the power of a dragon. But there was no one with the physical capability to awaken that power.”

“I see…”

“The blood of Kinnoa, inherited by Meldenik, contains a powerful force.”

The former Duke Hesman continued with difficulty.

“Watch over that woman and marry her. Suppress any power from manifesting. If a child is born, the hidden power within that woman will be passed down through generations.”

Despite being on his deathbed, the middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with greed.

“A child born with the power of a dragon will become the strongest human on the continent, and good fortune will follow wherever they go.”

The most powerful human on the continent? The great revival of the Hesman ducal family seemed within reach.

“I understand, Father.”

He closed his father’s eyes with trembling hands.

Afterward, Lennox faithfully executed all his father’s orders.

He deliberately approached Meldenik and seduced her. He spent years taming her and ensured she could not go anywhere.

‘How dare she think of going anywhere. She’s too rebellious.’

He twisted one corner of his mouth upward as he continued to speak.

“I’ll be back anyway.”

The butler, who had been quietly standing and organizing his thoughts, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“That is, Your Excellency, there was a warning written on the envelope.”

“Warning?”

It was the first time he heard about it.

“Ignore the annulment, and you will be turned into … .”

“What?”

The aged butler seemed to be looking at him with a somehow displeased and disdainful gaze.

Being a butler who had served the Hesman Duchy for a long time, he wouldn’t ignore him.

“It is written, ‘Ignore the annulment, and you will be turned into a national adulterer.'”

Lennox’s face contorted frighteningly.

The butler quickly composed his expression and handed him Meldenik’s letter.

As he tore open the envelope and confirmed the annulment, several sentences started to tangle in his field of vision.

“We have all the evidence of your affair with Sheria, so it would be nice if you would kindly proceed with the annulment.

You care about your image, don’t you?

-Meldenik

“Meldenik Babeloa……”

He murmured ominously, crumpling the envelope in his hand so that no one could see it.

He needed time to figure out exactly what Meldenik was planning.

“Leave the annulment letter alone for now.”

His pride was greatly hurt, but it couldn’t be helped.

Strangely, from some time, he felt like he was constantly being dragged around by the neck by Meldenik. Even though he was supposed to be using Meldenik.

Lennox, frustrated, roughly rummaged through the tie around his neck to dispel his stifled feelings.

“This matter will be disregarded.”

Just as the butler was about to speak,

Hiding her tiny body at the stair landing as if, the girl staggered down with a shocked face.

“……Brother.”

Mirisa, his frail younger sister with over fifteen years of age difference.

Mirisa was his half-sister born of an affair between his father and a lady from a prestigious family.

Of course, that incident was considered a shame, so rumors didn’t spread, nor did it leak outside the family.

But did she know about her birth?

The child was frail, young, and shy.

If there was one firm belief Mirisa held, it was that adulterous men and women should die.

Lennox frowned as if annoyed by his visibly suffering sister, then straightened his face again.

Then, managing his expression, he softly said,

“Yes, Mirisa. Your brother is here.”

Did Mirisa also know that his words lacked soul?

The girl only blinked her violet eyes and didn’t come any closer to him. Instead, she stepped back and muttered between her teeth.

“Could it be, despite having a fiancée clearly chosen… You’ve cheated?”

Lennox, who was looking at Merissa, quickly shook his head.

The idea of having an affair with Sheria was ludicrous to him. He hadn’t even been physically intimate with her, so calling it adultery was absurd.

He didn’t think of his current situation as an affair, so he smiled gently and scolded Merissa.

“No, Merissa. You misunderstand. It’s just a good relationship with her.”

“People call that an affair.”

He immediately frowned.

“……”

Merissa muttered in protest in front of him, who was at a loss for words.

“Cheating is a bad thing. I am really, really disappointed.”

Lennox yelled at the girl, who was half his size, as if to intimidate her.

“That’s not what it is!”

Then tears filled the girl’s eyes. It wasn’t because she was scared.

“I feel so sorry for Sister Meldenick……”

Merissa often heard the whispers among the household’s retainers, speculating whether she was conceived out of an affair.

For such a child, hearing directly about her brother’s alleged infidelity might have been a considerable shock, even if their relationship was distant.

With her eyes brimming with tears, Merissa turned her head and climbed the stairs endlessly.

Thump, thump.

The sound of her stomping feet faded away.

“Damn.”

I was feeling good until I came up with the business idea.

Strangely enough, everything felt like it was falling apart. Because of Meldenik Babeloa.

He roughly ruffled his hair, gritting and grinding his teeth.

No. All I have to do is get married. I will definitely repay this shame somehow.

He recalled his father’s will once again. The will that insists on marrying Meldenik, who has not yet awakened her abilities, and having a child.

“…Just need a child. Just a child to continue the family bloodline.”

However, unfortunately for Lennox, the situation was not developing in his favor.