The Villainess’ Kindergarten

Originally, Crescent rarely held engagement ceremonies. However, there were two reasons why Baridas prepared such a grand engagement ceremony. First, I didn’t want to get married yet. Second, because the family needs a hostess both externally and internally. Because of that, he compromised by only holding an engagement ceremony after reaching an agreement with the Damon Empire. There were no particularly complicated procedures at the official engagement ceremony. All they have to do is exchange engagement rings. Well, what I meant was that there was no kiss of promise, no passionate embrace, or anything like that. I was sitting on a chair, wearing a blue dress, waiting for Baridas.

 

I wanted to finish it quickly and rest. The dress was heavy and the shoes were uncomfortable.

 

“…it’s hard.”

 

While I was waiting, muttering softly, the door opened. At that sound, I was startled, like a child caught doing something bad, and looked in the direction of the door.

 

“Princess!”

 

There were children standing there. I felt energized by the sight of children running towards me with bright smiles.

 

“Sister-in-law, you’re so pretty… ”

 

At that time, Jasmine muttered while fiddling with the rose flower hanging at the bottom of my dress. Ren and Lima likewise praised me and Greenly gave her thumbs up. When I thanked the children and kissed them on the forehead, they all smiled brightly and their cheeks blushed. At that time, I saw Thomas standing blankly without saying anything. He tilted his head and when I called his name, he finally looked at me. His face became redder than usual and he hesitated before opening his mouth.

 

“You are beautiful.”

 

So cute. I let out a small laugh. At that moment Lima giggled and opened his mouth.

 

“He fell in love with the princess~”

 

Thomas, whose face turned bright red at her words, glared at her and shouted.

 

“No it’s not!!”

 

As always, the children started screaming and fighting. At that time, Ren, who left the children behind and came to my side, opened her mouth.

 

“Then, can I call you sister-in-law now?”

 

My eyes widened at the unexpected title. No, out of all the titles, why was it sister-in-law?

 

“I want to call you that too!”

 

At that time, Lima, who was arguing with Thomas, shouted.

 

“Please take care of me in the future, sister-in-law.” Greenly said.

 

“Sister-in-law! Good!!” Jasmine said.

 

No, it did seem like I would be called sister-in-law. I want to be called teacher. The moment I opened my mouth to persuade the children, Ren struck me.

 

“Everyone can call you princess, but only we can call you sister-in-law, so I’m glad.”

 

After hearing those words, there was no way I could refuse to be called sister-in-law. I sighed and stroked Ren’s head.

 

“If it makes you happy, do it.”

 

Ren’s cheeks turned red at my words. Why do I have to be called sister-in-law? However, I also thought of other titles, but I couldn’t think of a word that could replace sister-in-law. And it was also a fact that I was their sister-in-law. When I could not get over the shock of being called sister-in-law, Baridas came into the room. As soon as he started moving, the children flowed out like an ebb.

 

“Congratulations on your engagement too, brother.”

 

Starting with Ren’s greeting, the children also began to say something to him one by one. At that moment, Lima’s words made me and Baridas stiffen at the same time.

 

“But, sister-in-law and big brother, are you kissing today?”

 

Sister-in-law, and kiss. The word ‘sister-in-law’ seemed to be a blow to Baridas as well. But, contrary to what I thought, Baridas was hit by something else.

 

Kiss.

 

That word, with its lovely and cute connotation, was very unfamiliar to him. Baridas looked at Fiora’s lips for a moment and sighed. What was he doing?

 

He gave a firm answer that seemed a bit late.

 

“…I will not.”

 

Seeing that his response was slower than usual, it was clear that he thought the title “sister-in-law” was strange. I need to change the title somehow. I’m a fiancee, we are not married yet, I’m still young!

 

A person who has two years left in his/her fifties! I was born in December in Korea and was physically weak, so I started school a year later than my other friends. Because of that, I turned 25 earlier than other kids and was teased for being half-fifty. On January 1st, I thought of my friends who unexpectedly called me sister and congratulated me on turning 50.

 

I burst out laughing at the memories of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, but after a while, I tried to erase the thoughts. It was because I knew that I would no longer be able to see them. I felt just a little bit lonely.

 

“I miss you, everyone.”

 

I didn’t know that Baridas heard me. And those words were received with a different meaning by Baridas. At that time, the door opened and Crimson came inside.

 

“It’s time.”

 

In response to his words, Baridas held out his hand to me. And Greenly and Lima, who will act as flower girls today, followed us carrying a flower basket. Baridas looked back at Lima and Greenly just before leaving the room. Wearing white dresses and white suits, they looked a little different from Fiora’s blue dress. Baridas smiled with satisfaction, thinking that it was only her and her set of clothes at this engagement ceremony. In a way, it was natural that the two main characters of the engagement ceremony had a set of clothes. However, the person concerned did not even know why he was concerned about such trivial things or why he was satisfied. When I held his hand and went outside, a red carpet was spread on the floor and many people were sitting in their seats and clapping. Pink and red flower petals flew and the sound of an orchestra was heard. Since coming here, I’ve felt like I’ve become the main character a lot. Of course, this world was a novel and I was the villain in it. Well, I guess I’m the main character at this engagement ceremony. I took a deep breath and walked forward slowly so as not to be nervous. 

 

When we reached the end of the carpet, there was a small box. When I opened the box, two pairs of brightly sparkling rings were revealed. Just as I was amazed, Baridas took the ring out of the box and put it on my hand. Perhaps because it was custom-made, it fit my hand perfectly. Now it was my turn. I took out the one ring left in the box and put it on his hand. I looked up at Baridas. From what I remember, the beginning of the novel was the engagement of Fiora and Baridas. The novel was finally about to begin. But I had no intention of doing it as the original. So, this time, let’s make sure that I die a natural death, not an accidental death or the death penalty. The moment I made a small resolution, my hand was freed from my will and headed somewhere by Baridas.

 

Baridas kissed the back of my hand. My face turned red as I was being treated for the first time in my life.

 

“I hope to go along well.”

 

It was a formal statement. I also nodded and opened my mouth.

 

“Please take care of me too.”

 

With those words, the priest standing in front shouted.

 

“Princess Fiora Tiane de Damon of the Damon Empire and Duke Baridas Child hereby declare that they have become officially engaged.”

 

No matter how many times I heard it over and over again, it was a long name that I couldn’t get used to. And now, that was my name. With the sound of a trumpet, the engagement ceremony was declared over, and people began to applaud. The children who came running to me and him jumped into our arms and screamed.

 

“Congratulations on your engagement!”

 

The nobles’ eyes widened at that sight. Since they accompanied the children from the banquet held last time to the engagement ceremony, they seem to think that the children have the status of a princess and a princess. It was better than having the children ignored.

 

It was that moment. Jasmine held out her hand to Baridas.

 

“Eldest brother, dance with me.”

 

At her words, Baridas looked back at me. Originally, the first dance was supposed to be with me, but I didn’t really want to dance. In fact, I was grateful to Jasmine who said she would dance on my behalf.

 

“I’m OK.”

 

As soon as my permission was given, Lima and Ren, who had been paying attention because they knew the nobles’ rules, also ran to Baridas.

 

“You promised me last time, please dance.”

 

“Eldest brother, I want to dance too.”

 

Baridas, who was left without both hands, picked up Lima and Jasmine with one arm and held Ren’s hand with his free arm. Greenly and Thomas exclaimed in exclamation at that sight.

 

“Doesn’t sister-in-law dance?”

 

I nodded at what the two said. To begin with, I didn’t particularly like moving my body, and now it was really, really annoying. It took three hours to get dressed and get ready in the morning, an hour to put on a dress, and two more hours to wait.

 

I’m tired too. I looked at Baridas, who was dancing without any sign of fatigue. He was even able to dance while holding a Lima and a Jasmine at the same time.

 

I stuck my tongue out at that sight. No matter how light the kids are, I can’t do that. Last time, even with just Ren, it was difficult. Just imagining it felt like my arm was falling off.

 

And even though I was a villainess character, I felt fortunate to have been born into a wealthy family. At that time, a servant came towards me carrying a tray full of whiskey glasses.

 

One drink would be okay, right? Recalling the fact that I fell asleep drunk in front of Baridas a few days ago, I took a glass of alcohol, thinking that it would be okay if I drank in moderation. As I took a sip, the drink went down smoothly and refreshingly.

 

It sure tastes more expensive. One glass went down. After drinking another glass, I quenched my appetite and looked at the empty whiskey glass.

 

…Would I like one more drink? I was going to test my body’s drinking capacity. If you want to live as Fiora from now on, you need to know that. Making an excuse for myself, I took another glass of whiskey. The moment I took the glass, it disappeared from my hand.

 

‘Oh, am I drunk already?’

 

I thought so when I turned around, Baridas was holding my whiskey.

 

“Stop, that’s enough.”

 

As someone who has been in the workforce for 5 years, my intuition was telling me that I made a mistake after drinking. My face started to heat up. He was being considerate of me when he said not to do it. However, Baridas probably sensed my expression differently and sighed and drank exactly half of my whiskey. He then poured the remaining whiskey into the glass I had drunk and held it out to me.

 

“You can drink this much more.”

 

Baridas remembered accurately. Fiora’s drinking limit was three beers. And the alcohol content of that whiskey and beer was almost the same. So if it was her two and a half drinks, she wouldn’t get drunk either. It was clear that she did that. My body can drink three glasses of beer.

 

‘Thanks for remembering, really.’

 

I felt embarrassed and drunk at the same time and felt like crying. I looked resentfully at the glass of whiskey he had poured for me, and drank it down in one go. I didn’t know that Baridas burst out laughing at me like that. Just like that, the noisy and hectic second engagement ceremony came to an end.

 

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Translator Note: