A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

“May I buy one?”

“H-Huh?”

“One magazine please.”

The stunned boy scrambled to dig out a new magazine, but because he was too flustered, all the contents of his bag got strewn out.

“Allow me to help you.”

“Y-You don’t n-need to, ma’am! A-And please speak comfortably!”

Violet was very obviously a noble, and the boy gasped, surprised that she was speaking respectfully towards him. It’s so strange to hear someone so high above him speak formally like this.

However, Violet herself spoke in this manner as a sign of respect towards the other person. She frowned slightly.

After asking the boy how much a copy would cost, she gave him more than the said amount. Well, it was the smallest unit of currency she had on hand, but she also felt bad because the boy wouldn’t be able to sell all the magazines that had been dropped to the ground anymore.

As he received the money, the boy’s mouth gaped wide open. He wouldn’t have been able to earn this much even if he had managed to sell all the magazines he had.

Violet laughed inwardly. Somehow, this was the type of clichéd scene that might appear in a novel.

The capital had good security in place, so she didn’t have to worry about the boy losing this money on his way back.

Or, he might just return the gold coin to the magazine publisher and receive his wage there. Either way, it’s not any of Violet’s business.

As this all happened, the passers-by on the street paid no attention to them. This moderate indifference was characteristic of Werchen.

Settling down at a comfortable place where she could read the magazine, Violet’s expression immediately soured. In turn, as the escort guards saw that the esteemed daughter of their duchy was sitting on a bench where only commoners sat, they frowned as well.

Violet read through the whole magazine.

It just so happened that this magazine she bought was a special edition on House Everett. Of course, this included a scoop on ‘Violet S. Everett’.

She had just bought this magazine out of nowhere, but Violet could neither smile nor cry about it. She just looked at it blankly.

As it turned out, the boy had been so surprised to see her because she was the main topic of the magazine he was selling.

The camera had already been invented in this time period, but it wasn’t yet advanced, and it was very expensive to take even a single picture. Violet’s image, as it was displayed in the tabloid, was not quite a picture. It’s more like someone’s interpretation of how she looked.

Was this what a fairytale’s witch looked like? Beautiful, but filled with glacier-like coldness and ferocity of the severest kind. Feeling uncomfortable, Violet looked up at the sky.

‘Do I look like this?’

This momentary concern flashed across her mind. Although she looked vicious, the image conveyed a certain beauty that’s typical of a crafted sculpture. This was partly the reason that the rumors about Violet were spreading in the capital.

There were various things written about House Everett in the articles.

The scandal of the former duke’s heir, Mikhail. The expulsion of Aileen.

About the latter, it should have just been written that Aileen had been sent to study abroad, but instead the article wrote, ‘In the end, Everett’s angel was banished from the Empire due to the evil sorcery of Violet, the wicked woman.’

Besides those things, it’s also mentioned how Roen became the new duke’s heir, and how that Violet was dominating Werchen.

Violet herself read about how she apparently became the flower of high society and was dominating over all the nobles. She clicked her tongue.

This magazine’s articles were full of pure lies.

The most shocking part was reading about an interview with her that she never did.

Unable to bear reading the words that she allegedly spoke, Violet clapped the magazine shut.

‘I’ll have to tell Roen to sue these people later.’

What about this was believable? How dare those people write such lies. Did they go ahead and write this because they think that, if they were to be sued, only House Everett’s image would go down the drain?

Violet realized why the boy looked at her with such fear in his eyes. He might lose his job.

That’s understandable. But of course, it’s none of Violet’s business.

Intending to keep this magazine as evidence, Violet handed it over to one of the escort knights, then she looked up at the sky.

Out of curiosity, the knight opened the magazine. He stared alternately between the magazine and Violet, a look of disbelief on his face.

* * *

The people in the capital were generally indifferent to others, but they still sometimes glanced towards Violet.

Was it because of her silver hair and purple eyes? Silver hair was not common.

But Violet didn’t care about their gazes—she just proceeded to stuff her face with street food. The escort knights made a huge fuss about checking first whether there’s poison in the food, but Violet just responded to this by stuffing their faces with street food as well. They’re her accomplices now.

For a duke’s daughter, she wore only simple clothes and was quite easy-going. However, it’s still not enough to disguise her as a mere rich commoner; each action and gesture that she made undoubtedly exuded grace and elegance.

Still, people simply thought that she just looked like the famous Ducal Lady Everett.

Buying some fruit on the street and taking a bite out of it, Violet grimaced sharply. It’s terribly sour because it wasn’t ripe yet.

Thinking that she had been poisoned, the knights kicked up another huge fuss. But just as before, Violet just stuffed the sour fruit into a knight’s mouth.