The Villainess’ Kindergarten

The beauty pageant had as many spectators as its reputation. We were guided to a seat prepared for nobles, and we were told that this was because a noble had sponsored this beauty pageant. As I sat down and looked around, waiting for the beauty pageant to start, something familiar caught my eye. The bright yellow colored carbonated drink was, as I expected, beer. I swallowed my saliva. It was because it was my first time drinking alcohol in a long time. Since I spent most of my time with my children after coming here, I couldn’t even drink a glass of wine, which is what nobles drink so much, let alone beer. Baridas must have noticed that my gaze was focused on the beer, and he opened his mouth. I was watching so intently that it felt strange that I didn’t know.

 

“Do you want to eat it?”

 

I answered his question reflexively.

 

“Yes!”

 

Then Baridas looked at me with a slightly puzzled look. As expected, beer was Crescent’s traditional drink mainly enjoyed by commoners. There were some nobles who liked it, but most nobles rarely drank beer. In particular, Fiora in the original would not have even touched beer.

 

‘Oops, I did it.’

 

“Gung, I’m curious. What does it taste like…”

 

Baridas nodded his head at my words. He then instructed the driver waiting nearby to bring him beer.

 

“Is there anything else you’d like to eat?”

 

What was there to worry about? After all, beer had fried food. Knowing that there was chicken in this world, I answered without hesitation.

 

“I’d like some chicken, please.”

 

The eyes of the waiting knight widened at my words. How about that food? Chicken was one of the street foods that became explosively popular among commoners a few months ago. It tasted so good that even nobles who disliked commoners’ food admitted it after tasting the chicken. I couldn’t forget how surprised I was by the taste of chicken and the shock I felt when I ate chicken for the first time. He swallowed his saliva and stood up.

 

“All right.”

 

He saluted faster than anyone else and ran quickly to buy chicken. If the princess likes it, wouldn’t chicken spread to Damon as well? The intention was to spread chicken religion. Not long after the driver left, the host’s voice rang out announcing the start of the beauty pageant. The first person to come out was a brown-haired beauty. She started dancing and singing. It was a pretty sweet voice. This competition mainly evaluated two things. The first is appearance, of course, as it is a beauty contest, and the second is talent. It meant that she had to show off something special that would appeal to her own charm. And that fact was the reason why this competition was evaluated as being of a high standard. Not only commoners but also ladies participate, and you can see people with outstanding skills in various fields of culture considered important by nobles. At that time, a second contestant came up on stage. She also started singing, and although she was not as pretty as the first contestant, people let out low exclamations of admiration at her voice. After that, similar participants passed by and one woman came on stage. Most of them sang or danced, and only one participant played the flute.

 

As I gradually lost interest, I was doing something else and waiting anxiously to find out when the chicken would come, when I heard a huge cheer from the audience.

 

When I looked up at the stage, I saw a beautiful woman. With her red hair and red eyes, as well as her red dress, she looked like the incarnation of a rose. Like the other contestants, she didn’t sing or dance, but her mere appearance already had everyone’s eyes glued to her. But somehow it looked a little familiar. As I was looking at the beautiful woman on stage, a memory passed through my mind. Mary rose? What, why is he here?

 

Fiora was one of the main villains who tormented the children, but she did not like the male lead. However, in a romance novel, a villain who likes the male lead and tries to separate the male lead from the female lead was, in a way, an essential element. And now, Marie Rose, the villain who played that role, was on stage. As Marie also has her head cut off by her children in the ending, I felt sympathy for her and sympathy for her for a very brief moment.

 

We die the same way. Would you like to be friends?

 

At that moment, Marie’s eyes turned in this direction. She looked back and forth between me and Baridas, then smiled brightly. The crowd started to light up with her smile, but I could tell. Hey evil girl, did you capture me? How come you don’t plan on living comfortably with villains like us? Are you going to try to get Baridas somehow? And if it weren’t for me, Baridas’ fiancé, you’d think –

 

My headache was already hurting. I looked up at Baridas, feeling tired. So, this guy needs to be reasonably handsome. But you must be tired too. Because there are only evil women around. In a way, I thought it was natural that Baridas was attracted to Leria, who loved him without considering his background or appearance. But why did Marie participate in this competition? Did you just participate because you were bored? I don’t think it has anything to do with the original.

 

I tried to recall the contents of the novel by going back to my memory, but I couldn’t. It was because I only read the children’s part carefully and skipped over the romance part. After that, Marie came off the stage and a woman with her navy blue hair went up on stage. Her bluish navy hair and her white-gray eyes had a mysterious feel to them, and her white dress suited her very well. Holding a white violin, she looked like a fairy. At that time, her navy blue hair began to sparkle blue when it caught the light, and I belatedly remembered her identity.

 

That woman was Leria. Why was the female lead here? Leria was a commoner whose family was somewhat well-to-do, but to put it simply, she was a poor woman. But her family soon falls into ruin. Her irresponsible father kicks out Leria for not helping her. That’s how she came into the duchy’s house as her maid and met Baridas, which was the story of her early part. Still, I remembered most of the parts from the beginning. But I didn’t know that Leria would participate in this competition. At this rate, I guess this festival is a meeting place. The female and male leads of the novel, and the two most prominent villains at the same time! When I turned my eyes to look at Baridas’ expression, I saw that he had the same expression as usual.

 

Hmm, I guess he is not in love with it yet.

 

At that time, the sound of music was heard from the stage. She started playing the violin. Because of Rose’s gorgeous appearance, which is famous even among nobles, most people assumed that she won and did not pay attention to the next stage. However, Leria captured the attention of all the audience with just one melody. Leria’s playing sound was beautiful and the way she played the violin was elegant. She seemed to be talking as she played the violin. The main character of this stage, no, of the competition, is me.

 

I was very impressed with her appearance. It’s crazy. Is that the woman? After her performance, I looked at Baridas and opened my mouth.

 

“Isn’t she pretty?”

 

“It’s pretty.”

 

Why is his answer so dry? Shouldn’t you look at it with those eyes that look a little like you’re in love? I tilted my head at his attitude, which was much calmer than expected. However, the driver who had gone to buy food earlier came in with her beer and chicken, so I didn’t pay any more attention to them. How long has it been since we received the Holy God? I was waiting with a proud heart. Chicken and beer were set on the table in front of me, and when I saw that, I shouted to myself. It’s crazy. This is the first chicken and beer I’ve seen in a while. The chicken was boneless, perhaps out of consideration for nobles who mainly use forks. Although I like both boneless meat and bones, boneless meat was definitely easier to eat in this situation.

 

Let’s chop the chicken with an ornately crafted fork. The batter broke apart with a crunching sound. I immediately pushed the chicken into my mouth… It’s absolutely delicious.

 

After finishing every piece of chicken, I took a sip of beer.

 

“Nice.”

 

The sound I made instinctively caught Baridas’ attention. The first beer I drank in a long time was so delicious that I couldn’t resist it. Perhaps it was as strange as I expected, and Baridas was looking at me curiously.

 

“…braided?”

 

Embarrassed, I picked up the remaining beer glass and held it out to Baridas. He must have understood what I meant, as he let out a small laugh and gave me a glass.

 

Jang!

 

A small but refreshing sound spread and I emptied all the remaining beer in my cup. When I drank about three beers, I felt something strange. I got drunk much faster than usual, and with my usual drinking capacity, I could easily drink three bottles of soju. Is it because it’s been a while since I drank it? But that didn’t mean that I, who had been working for 5 years, couldn’t control my drinking. Maybe it was because I trusted myself too much, but after just four beers, I collapsed. Then I remembered.

 

This wasn’t my body. But by the time I realized that fact, I was already drunk.

 

* * *

 

“Yay!”

 

What should he do with this? Baridas looked at his fiancee, who was very drunk after four beers, and handed him the glass. At that moment, Fiora’s expression became grim. With a stern expression, she opened her mouth.

 

“Hey, ta-da.”

 

What he sensed from her was that she was clearly alive. For the first time in his life, Baridas felt alive to a woman, his fiancée. She poured beer into an empty glass without saying a word and then raised the glass. The glasses clinked again with a refreshing sound. Then, perhaps satisfied, Fiora smiled brightly and took a sip of her beer.

 

“Sure.”

 

Then, using a term he had never heard before, she took a shot of beer and fell asleep, breathing evenly.

 

“Hey, say it.”

 

Baridas muttered softly. His fiancee was two years younger than him. No, in fact, she said more than that, the only person who called him by the title “you” was her. She was the first person to survive after throwing her life away, and these are her words. He smiled and hugged Fiora.

 

* * *

 

When I came to, I was already in the carriage. I looked at Baridas sitting in front of me and looking out the window, then lowered my gaze to the floor. I couldn’t remember anything about the process of falling asleep. For a moment, Baridas’s eyes met mine, and I was startled and turned my head to avoid his gaze.

 

“Did you sleep well?”

 

Baridas’ attitude was the same as usual, but I couldn’t. This was because I couldn’t remember a single thing from when I fell asleep. What if I made some mistake? Cold sweat started rolling down my back from embarrassment and worry.

 

“Did I make a mistake…?”

 

Baridas burst out laughing at my question and opened his mouth.

 

“No.”

 

I breathed a sigh of relief at his answer.

 

‘Thank god.’

 

I was worried that I might have made a mistake. I wasn’t a dog. At that time, the carriage stopped in front of the mansion. He got out of the carriage first and held out his hand to me, and I, who had become somewhat accustomed to such behavior, was able to naturally hold his hand and get off the carriage.

 

We crossed the garden and entered the mansion. We climbed the stairs together and stopped in the hallway where our respective rooms were. I looked back at Baridas and smiled before entering the room.

 

“I had fun today. Thank you.”

 

Baridas nodded his head at my words. Entering the room, I turned around and slowly closed the door. I could see Baridas still looking at me through the slowly narrowing gap in the door. The door closed with a thud and I leaned my forehead against the door. The sound of Baridas’ footsteps entering the room was heard a long time later.

 

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Translator Note: