Chapter 20

The moment I saw Miel’s expression harden, I realized instantly. The maid the girl had mentioned was Miel’s maid, Rachel.

And the moment I figured that out, I grabbed the arm of Miel, who was trying to push past me with a stiff look. When I grabbed her arm to stop her, she spoke to me in a cold voice that was hard to believe belonged to the girl who had been laughing and chatting just moments before.

“Let go.”

The moment I saw her expression—cold and devoid of even calling my name—I flinched slightly, but I still didn’t let go of her arm.

“No.”

At my words, Miel tried to forcefully shake me off, but even if I hadn’t learned it for long, practicing swordsmanship had left me physically stronger than an ordinary person, so unfortunately she couldn’t break free from me.

Instead, she stared straight into my eyes and spoke once more.

“I said let go, Armienne.”

“…………”

Hearing her voice growl at me with a gaze that felt like she was looking at her natural predator, I thought to myself.

‘This is the “real” distance between Miel and me right now.’

She had said it even during our first meeting. She couldn’t truly forgive me, and even by my own reasoning, expecting Harmiel to just forget Armienne’s atrocities was an absurdly irresponsible thing to do.

Even knowing that, I felt a slight pang of disappointment as I looked at Miel without a word. I had held onto a sliver of hope while spending time together today, so it was a bit regrettable.

“Let go right now!”

Seeing her shout now, I shook my head once more. At that exact moment, a loud slap echoed from a distance, followed by the scream of the maid named Rachel.

“Eek!”

“Hmph, serves you right for being a mere maid.”

Seeing Miel try to shout while still trapped in my grip, as if she finally couldn’t hold back anymore, I opened my mouth.

“I’ll go. Stay here.”

At my words, Miel started in surprise and looked into my eyes. I met her gaze without flinching. After a fleeting moment passed, Miel bit her lip hard and spoke.

“…It’s my problem. It doesn’t matter if I go, so let go of me.”

She was right.

She wasn’t the fragile glass-box princess from before her regression—the one who could only receive the protection of others and do nothing for herself.

If she was the post-regression Harmiel, who had endured unimaginable trials, hardships, and heartache, there was no way she couldn’t handle a situation of this level with wit.

Even so, I had no intention of sending her.

“It’s fine.”

I gently stroked her hair and stepped forward.

“Just watch. This is the kind of work for someone like me.”

I thought as I walked slowly forward. The side of Miel I had seen while shopping today was genuine. That was probably closer to who she truly was—a girl who remained infinitely innocent, rejoiced over the smallest things, and never forgot her pure dreams even after becoming an adult.

I wanted to protect that side of her. As much as she had suffered before her regression, I wanted to let her enjoy herself more purely now, doing whatever she wanted to do.

I stopped right between Rachel—who was sitting down holding her reddened cheek—and a woman standing with her hands on her hips and a triumphant expression.

“Who the hell are you?”

Seeing her start a quarrel the moment she laid eyes on me, I could immediately size her up. She was definitely the spoiled, wild daughter of some country noble who possessed nothing special yet had an outrageously high sense of pride. Even we, the ducal princesses, didn’t talk to someone we were meeting for the first time like that. Ah, if it were the villainess Armienne, maybe she would have.

Come to think of it, did they say you can tell how someone will turn out from the seed? This woman had the face of someone destined to grow up into a villainess.

With sharp eyes and lips jutting out as if to say the whole world was unfair and displeased her. However, since I already knew the greatest villainess in the world whom no one could surpass, this level didn’t even evoke a feeling of amusement; it felt like nothing at all.

What a funny twist of fate, I thought. An encounter between a woman with the face of a future villainess and a villainess who, under normal circumstances, should have played the most important role in this novel.

I chuckled quietly. Since the other party had used informal speech first, I had no obligation to speak politely to her.

“And who are you supposed to be?”

When I proudly threw the question back, she flinched for a moment as if wondering whether she had picked a fight with the wrong person, but her pride apparently refused to let her back down here as she puffed up her chest and glared fiercely.

“I-I am Samiel de Jordan, young lady of the Jordan viscountcy, which governs the southern territories. I don’t know who you think you are, but if you bow your head right now, I might just forgive you.”

Hearing her words, which still carried a hint of politeness out of fear, I burst out laughing.

“Ha-ha, a viscount’s daughter, huh? But you know, can you really be so confident when you don’t even know who I am? What if I happen to be the precious daughter of a noble house far higher than yours?”

Samiel—the name itself contained the sound “miel,” bringing back the memory of Miel’s cold gaze from earlier. I hadn’t originally planned on sparing her, but now my intent was dialed up even higher. In fact, just revealing my name would have been enough to send her running with her tail between her legs, but the moment a woman named Samiel slapped a maid cherished by Miel, she had thrown away any chance of mercy.

Trembling with indignation at my words, Samiel shouted.

“Urgh! Be that as it may, I’ve revealed my identity, so you reveal yours too!”

Seeing Samiel clinging to her pride to the very end, I felt like giving her one last chance. It was a sudden, capricious whim that even surprised me.

“You might regret saying that, Samiel. So I’ll give you one last chance. Just apologize to this girl right now and quietly back away.”

At my words, filled with genuine sincerity, the woman called Samiel shouted without a shred of hesitation. Well, since nobles treated their pride like their very lifeline, having been disrespected this much, there was no way she would back down now—even if the opponent turned out to be a ducal princess.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I am Samiel of the proud Jordan viscountcy. Whoever you might be, how dare you look down on me—”

“Armienne de Celion. That’s my name, Samiel.”

I cut her off and revealed my identity.

My name, now spoken so naturally.

Armienne.

Just hearing that name caused the pupils of the girl who, until moments before, had been wrapped in unyielding pride and fearlessness, to tremble like leaves in the wind.

Yes, a moment ago, she couldn’t back down even if she faced a ducal princess. But it was a completely different story if that princess was Armienne, the notorious villainess of the kingdom.

If she had ever laid eyes on my face even once,

If she had paid even a little attention to my appearance and pictured a matching persona,

Things wouldn’t have come to this, Samiel.

“L-Lady… Armienne?”

At her abruptly overly courteous attitude, I smiled brightly.

“What’s wrong? Just a moment ago you were talking about whether or not to forgive me, but suddenly you’ve gotten so cute.”

At my words, the color drained completely from Samiel’s face, turning a pale blue. Now I was starting to feel a little sorry for her. But the one who had actually suffered harm was Rachel, and Samiel hadn’t suffered any real consequences yet.

“I told you so, Samiel. I said to just apologize and back off.”

“Th-that is….”

Trembling continuously without knowing what to do, she soon began to let loose a stream of tears.

“H-hic, ev-even now…”

“No.”

When I coldly cut her off, Samiel finally collapsed onto the spot and burst into tears.

“H-hwaaaang. I was wrong. I was truly wrong.”

Seeing that sight, I thought it looked like a situation I had seen many times before. However, this time, I was not in a position to forgive her. I was not the one who needed to forgive her now.

Wearing a smile that sent chills down the spines of any onlookers, I walked slowly toward Samiel. Samiel started in surprise and began to tremble violently, even worse than before.

Moving toward her at a snail’s pace, as if time itself were slowing down, I was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing onto me.

Standing there was a single angel wearing a somewhat complicated expression.

“Stop it, Armien.”

She was finally calling my name. But it wasn’t time yet, Miel. I still needed to act out the villainess a little longer.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t interfere, Lady Harmiel de Harun.”

Flinch.

Though not shaking quite as violently as Samiel at my cold tone, I saw Miel open her eyes wide in quiet shock.

“Armien, you….”

Cutting off Miel, who looked as though she wanted to say something to me, I turned around on my heel.

“Hmph, for the sake of Lady Harmiel’s face, I’ll let this slide as a special exception. Let’s go, Yul. It’s a shame, but, My Lady? I’d prefer to have dinner another time.”

I could feel a burning gaze fixed on my back, but I forced myself to ignore it and vanished from their field of vision alongside Yul.

Harmiel could not bring herself to hold back the slowly retreating Armienne. Chasing after her was out of the question because the young lady sitting on the ground weeping, Samiel, looked far too precarious.

Watching Samiel tremble continuously—both while Armienne was leaving and even after she had vanished—Harmiel felt as though she were looking at her own pre-regression self. Because of that, she couldn’t possibly abandon this place.

She simply reached out and embraced Samiel with gentle care.

“It’s alright. Everything is fine.”

At Harmiel’s words, Samiel burst into fresh tears once more and buried her face into the other girl’s chest.

“Sob, thank you so much, Lady Harmiel. Thanks to you, I survived. I will never forget this grace. Truly, truly thank you. And it was entirely my fault for hitting Lady Harmiel’s maid. I was wrong.”

“…………”

At the outpouring of boundless gratitude directed at her, Harmiel’s expression stiffened. She glanced once more in the direction where Armienne had disappeared, then bit her lip hard before checking on Rachel, who was still holding her cheek as if it hurt.

“Are you alright, Rachel?”

At her question, Rachel nodded. Fortunately, although her cheek was slightly swollen, there didn’t seem to be any major issues.

“Hehe, a little sting like this is nothing, Young Lady. More importantly, was that person just now Lady Armienne, the daughter of the Celion Ducal House?”

Hearing Rachel’s words, Harmiel looked as though she wanted to say something, but simply gave a light nod of acceptance.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Seeing her reaction, Rachel leaned in close and whispered right into her ear.

“She certainly lived up to her terrifying reputation as rumored, but she didn’t seem like a genuinely bad person, did she?”

At Rachel’s words, Harmiel started in surprise, finally parting the lips she had been biting down on and breaking into a bright smile. And then, without Samiel knowing, she confessed her true feelings right back into Rachel’s ear.

“That’s right. Armien is my precious friend, someone whose heart is warmer than anyone else’s.”

She decided she would have to contact Armien later via a communication magic crystal and give her a piece of her mind.

I let out a deep sigh as I headed toward the carriage that would take us back home.

Ugh, what if Miel ends up hating me? The thought drove me nearly to the point of madness.

I hadn’t intended to go this far, but somehow, caught up in the chaotic momentum of the moment, I had ended up acting out a full-fledged villainess before I even realized it.

Is this the inherent power of Armienne’s character archetype?! I’ll need to be more careful from now on.

‘Hick, though I doubt there will even be a next time.’

Of course, I hadn’t acted completely without a plan. The shopping city of Adre was the absolute best place for rumors to spread rapidly. What happened today would circulate in no time. Since I was already branded a villainess anyway and there was nowhere worse for my reputation to go, it didn’t really matter. However, it was certain that Harmiel would receive looks of admiration and awe from everyone else because of today’s events.

Harmiel de Harun, the daughter of the Harun Ducal House, who was the only one to stand up to and check the kingdom’s notorious villainess, Armienne!

Yet, recalling Miel, who had been wearing such a complicated, conflicted expression toward me, I shed internal tears. A part of me even wondered if this was the end of the line.

“Hah….”

Thinking that way drew another involuntary sigh from my lips, and a certain man who had been listening to my quiet brooding suddenly chimed in.

“Just why on earth did you have to go that far?”

Oh, come on, I’m already in a terrible mood, and now even this damn bastard is acting up.

“What do you mean?”

Despite my blunt tone, Carusien opened his mouth without a single change in his expression.

“Even a fool would know that there was no need to go to such extremes. No, if it were someone who didn’t usually know the young lady, they might have taken it as a matter of course. Yes, if it were the usual young lady. But the side of you we just saw felt exactly like watching the young lady of the past.”

“My old self?”

How long had we even known each other for him to speak as if an eternity had already passed? I muttered under my breath.

“The villainess, Armienne.”

Flinch.

Carusien trembled at my words.

“…That just now, you see. It wasn’t that I did it on purpose; a person like me is just naturally that kind of existence, Teacher. Tee-hee.”

With those words, I quickly climbed into the carriage, and Yul followed right behind me as if she had been waiting. Peeking my head out from inside the carriage while it was still stationary, I called out.

“See you tomorrow at swordsmanship class, then, Teacher! Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“………….”

How do you like that, you jerk? Doesn’t it drive you crazy?!

To think he’s the guy Miel likes, what a lucky bastard! Here, have a taste of this instead!

I thrust my hand out of the carriage window and raised my middle finger into the air with a casual flick.

Seeing that, Yul copied my gesture and raised her middle finger right beside me.

Huh?

“Yul, you do know what that gesture means, right?”

At my words, Yul nodded and replied.

“Didn’t you say it means ‘May infinite blessings be upon you’?”

Oh, crap! I said that, didn’t I?

With the lingering memory that I might have told Yul something like that in the past, I nodded in a daze.

“Um, yes. That’s right.”

Ah well, whatever.

Feeling a sudden wave of fatigue wash over me, I laid my body back against the plush carriage cushions. Watching me, Yul gently stroked my head and spoke in a soft voice.

“You worked hard today as well.”

“Nah, as long as we had a good time, that’s all that matters.”

At my words, Yul broke into a radiant smile. It would be wonderful if she smiled like that more often in everyday life. Not that she wasn’t pretty normally, of course.

“When we return to the estate, I will present you with one of my treasures later.”

“Huh? Yul’s treasure? What is it? Is it really okay to just give it away like that?”

At my question, Yul smiled even brighter than before. Entranced by her smile, which seemed to practically glow with light, I surrendered myself to the gradually approaching embrace of sleep and closed my eyes.

“It is a photograph of the young lady smiling brightly. You look truly wonderful when you are smiling, Young Lady.”

What is that supposed to be? Heh.

Even so…

It wasn’t a bad feeling at all.