A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

“Violet!”

Roen had been hoping to talk behind the crown prince’s back together with his younger sister, but he failed. Now, he was looking at her sadly.

Violet gave him an even more disgusted look.

Seeing Roen be so fixated on their ‘brother-sister bonding’, Violet got up from her seat.

In any case, it was a very peaceful day.

* * *

A few days later, Mary arrived at the townhouse. Some of the other employees came with Mary, and some of House Everett’s knights came with Zylo as well.

It was Mary’s first time coming to the capital. Her eyes were all lit up, and she kept making a fuss while excitedly saying, “This is only the second time I’ve left my hometown in my whole life!”

Zylo wondered why she needed to be this excited when it was the second time after all.

By the looks of his gaunt face, he was very tired.

“Milady!”

Mary was, of course, given the position of Violet’s personal maid. And, once again, Violet observed just how great Mary’s socializing skills were that she couldn’t say anything. The girl adjusted to her new environment very quickly.

For a while, there was a subtle war of nerves between the existing employees of the townhouse and the employees who were newly joining.

Between the pride of managing the household’s mansion in the capital and the pride of managing the household’s main mansion at the duchy, both were not to be taken lightly.

Fortunately, however, the subtle war of nerves was quickly settled. It was all thanks to Violet’s reception of Mary.

The employees of the townhouse were stunned by the sight of Violet enjoyably listening to Mary’s chatter.

As they realized that Mary was Violet’s favorite maid, they all saved themselves. There would be no benefit in butting heads with her for no reason.

Thus, the atmosphere within the townhouse quickly mellowed out. This was perhaps because of Violet’s treatment of the newly joined employees, or perhaps because they all knew that the ducal lady would not arbitrarily wield her authority whenever she wanted.

Thanks to this, all of the employees no longer thought that Violet was someone from a different world as them.

And Violet, who had absolutely nothing to do, started painting again.

Instead of using the brush all the time, she sometimes used other mediums to scribble or draw some croquis so that her skill wouldn’t fade.

Her regular morning training with Zylo had also resumed. Zylo still felt regretful about how Violet’s talent was being wasted, but Violet staunchly refused to train her swordsmanship in earnest.

As the ducal lady consistently came to the drill hall early in the morning, training alongside her maid, Mary, all the knights in the drill hall were at a loss for words.

Even if they tried not to mind her, it was a situation wherein they couldn’t help but be conscious of her. They all complained of what a headache it was.

But still, Violet just clicked her tongue at the knights for being petty about her morning exercise.

As expected, human beings should move their bodies. Violet’s physical condition improved day by day, and some other people started to follow her example and started to exercise as well.

Because Roen loathed moving his body, he could only watch the situation as it was unfolding.

As their days passed peacefully, Roen called in a dressmaker.

* * *

“It is a great honor to be able to build your wardrobe, Lady Everett, esteemed daughter of the noble and magnificent ducal household~!”

Violet frowned as she listened to the dressmaker’s ceaseless compliments. With as glib a tongue as that, it’s as if he had thoroughly oiled his whole mouth. It should be known by everyone that Violet had a notorious reputation.

“Then, about the Laurent Boutique’s clothes~”

This time, the dressmaker’s ceaseless bragging followed.

The boutique that Roen chose was the best one in the capital, so it was surely worth bragging about. Even so, bragging about it this much seemed a step too far.

For a long time, the drawing room they were in was filled with nothing but the dressmaker’s recitation of the boutique’s history and popularity, about what kind of dresses and designs of theirs had led the capital’s trends thus far.

To summarize, anyone who could book them and summon them to their manor should be very glad.

Of course, as Violet heard this, her expression was far from glad.

“Since Your Ladyship is tall, this design would be perfect!”

The prideful dressmaker showed a design that he sketched in advance.

He had only ever heard rumors about the ducal lady before this as today was his first time meeting her in person.

So, while showing his designs to the ducal lady, he excitedly said, “I thought that it would suit Your Ladyship better if I added more embellishments and changed this part over here!”

Of course, these words went through one ear and out the next with Violet.

“Is this a clown’s costume?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if this is a clown’s costume.”

“Weeell, ahaha. I’ll take it that you don’t like this design?”

When Violet asked this question with a frown on her lips, the dressmaker felt himself sweating.

Indeed, it was not an easy task to interact with the villainess of the rumors— This thought could practically be read on the dressmaker’s forehead with the way he couldn’t hide his expression.

Violet’s question could be considered rude, but actually, she was serious.

Violet genuinely wondered whether the clothes that this dressmaker had designed for her were meant for a clown.

The corset’s obviously too tight just for the sake of making the chest and waist look more pronounced. There’s also too much emphasis on the shoulders and the hips, and the frills are placed weirdly on the dress…

As a ducal lady who grew up surrounded by splendid extravagance, she was intuitively attracted to luxurious clothes. Even so, that didn’t mean she preferred clothes that were excessively embellished with accessories and gems.