Chapter 28

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I went to the temple for the first time in a while today. The first day of the week is usually when I go there to pray to God.

At that time, the high priests and the priests brought it up as soon as they saw me.

“Is it true that you, the Saintess, appeared in a more luxurious dress than the other ladies at the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet?”

When I answered yes, they then muttered, “God..” Their faces looked as if the world had fallen.

Then they surrounded me in a circle and began to pray.

It felt like I was a fallen angel.

I think they’d like for me to reflect on it. But unfortunately, they’ll never hear that for the rest of their lives.

I haven’t done anything wrong.

But somehow, I still feel a little sorry.

– On a green day,
Estelle

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Those idiots. If they have that much energy, then they should go out on the street to pick up trash and help people instead. They’re using their energy for useless things.

I had a peaceful daily life today, meaning Lord Kardien sent me a great amount of gifts again.

Yesterday he sent 10 gorgeous dresses, 20 pairs of shoes, and today he sent a jewelry set. 5 kinds of them: ruby, sapphire, diamond, emerald, and garnet.

Lord Kardien must’ve thought that I dress like a beggar ever since the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet. Well, it’s a present given to me as his fiancé, so I gladly accepted it.

Oh, and there is one surprising thing. A letter of apology had arrived from the Empress. She said she was really sorry about what happened that day and wanted to invite me for tea.

There’s no way a person can suddenly become good-natured overnight, so what the hell does she plan to do?

I’m a little scared.

– Rolling around in bed,
Nia

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Oh dear, did Lucian send you another present? That’s wonderful.

I’ve known him for over a decade, but I’ve never even seen him give a handkerchief to a woman before.

Lucian said he didn’t know where to spend his money so he would simply donate a huge amount of it to the temple every year. It’s surprising to hear how lavishly he spent it.

Don’t worry. There certainly isn’t any ruse in the Empress’ apology letter.

Because the day after the banquet, Lucian went to see His Majesty the Emperor. It was the first time Lucian took the initiative to visit him, and for that, there was a great interest from the temple in what Lucian was planning to discuss with His Majesty. 

After Lucian met His Majesty, a letter from the Empress arrived at your place. What do you think that means?

Lucian told His Majesty about the Empress’ evil deeds.

That Lucian….I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of face along with what words he had said to that granny who never had an ounce of guilt for anything she says.

But, this shows that Lucian cherishes Miss Nia very much, right?

– Estelle,
who always supports the love of two people

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That was the last chapter of the diary exchange between me and Estelle.

I closed our shared diary and turned my head slightly.

On one side of the room was a mountain of boxes that contained dresses, shoes, and jewels.

Those were all the gifts that Lucian had sent these past several days.

While sending this huge amount of gifts, he didn’t even show his face.

It was because of the training that started the day after the Prince’s birthday banquet.

It was a training session that gathered knights from all over the empire, and Lucian was in charge of the general command.

He wrote in a letter enclosed with a gift that it would be difficult to meet for a while due to the tight schedule of the training.

But it all seemed like an excuse to me.

‘No matter how busy you are, you should still be able to make time to visit. I wonder if he’s avoiding me because he was embarrassed by the things he said while drunk.’

At the time of the Prince’s birthday banquet, Lucian said that he was jealous of Estelle who called me by my nickname.

Then, he looked at me and said I was pretty.

I tried to think of it as nonsense that was let out by a drunkard, but I couldn’t get a wink of sleep that night.

‘Even if he was drunk, he wouldn’t say anything he didn’t mean. He also wouldn’t send so many gifts to his forced fiancé. He couldn’t possibly have.’

Thinking about it, I shook my head vigorously.

Lucian was a second male lead who was hung up on his unrequited love that will never return his feelings.

His heart, who loved Estelle so desperately, wouldn’t change.

So maybe now his heart is…

‘Isn’t it like an affection towards the first friend he ever had?’

Despite his beautiful appearance and gentle personality, there was no one around him whom he could open his heart to.

‘I helped him practice dancing and bought him pretty clothes.’

In addition, we even made financial transactions that would be impossible without a decent relationship of trust.

So it wouldn’t be surprising if I became a little special to him.

Which makes me happy.

Being the only friend of the female lead and the second male lead when I am dubbed as a supporting villainess is a great accomplishment.

Even if Lucian turns yandere in the future, the chance of him killing me will be significantly lowered.

And even if he suddenly decided to kill me, I have nothing to worry about.

All I have to do is run into the arms of Estelle, the safest place in this world.

“Now I have nothing to fear!”

I opened the window while laughing exhilaratingly like a demon king who had successfully ruled the world.

But I closed the window again in less than 0.1 seconds.

‘What did I just see?’

My heart pounded at the unexpected sight.

Anne approached me with a worried look on her face as I crouched under the window and calmed my heart.

“What’s wrong, my Lady?”

“Can you tell me who you see outside the window?”

At my strange request, Anne nodded and opened the window.

Anne, who leaned forward and looked out the window, widened her eyes.

“Oh my God, that person…”

‘Please I wish I was mistaken.’

But of course, reality doesn’t always go my way.

“It’s the Crown Prince. Why did he come here?”

I also wanted to ask.

────── 〔✿〕─────

My hopes for that figure to be a peddler that merely resembles Carlix were shattered.

It was indeed Carlix himself, who is currently entering the mansion with his escort knight.

Due to his sudden visitation, my father greeted Carlix with a perplexed face.

“Welcome, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. What brings you all the way here without a notice? Oh, of course, it’s not that it is unpleasant for you to come. Rather, I quite like this feeling of a secret friendship budding between the Crown Prince and I.”

“I came to see Lady Pernia.”

As expected, Carlix was not a polite man like Lucian that graciously tended to my father.

His black eyes, which mercilessly cut off my father’s words like a knife, turned to me who was standing with my hands locked together.

“I want to talk with the Lady alone.”

‘I don’t want to.’

I looked at my father with desperation.

‘Please stop this immature Prince, Father.’

However, my father, who would usually talk excitedly to anyone to the point of them wanting to escape from him, seemed to be overwhelmed by the pressure exuded from Calix.

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, I found out that my father was a man who could give short answers as well.

After uttering that remark, my father then left the drawing-room.

The escort knights accompanying Carlix also left. And just like that, only Carlix and I remained inside the room.

The heavy air seemed to weigh down on my whole body.

I smiled awkwardly at Carlix with my back soaked in a cold sweat.

‘Why did you come to see me?’

In the novel, Pernia and Carlix rarely interacted.

At best, Pernia would be snickering at Estelle and be attacked by Carlix’s glares. And that would be it.

‘But that’s not the case right now.’

Rather than harassing Estelle, I am now a close friend who received a lot of affection from her.

He must have known because he saw us in the banquet hall.

‘Don’t tell me..?’

Carlix said as he furrowed his eyebrows thinking about a situation where I didn’t even dare to imagine.

“What kind of tricks did you do to get so close to the Saintess?”

‘I was right.’

Carlix was in fact the embodiment of petty jealousy, to the point that he even glared enviously at the stray cat loved by Estelle even though he couldn’t properly express his feelings to her.

“She would never turn down anyone that asks for help. So, did you beg her to be friends with you?”

“No way.”

“Then did you catch her weakness?”

“Why do you make an innocent person sound like a criminal?”

“You must’ve called a skilled magician to hypnotize her.”

“If that was possible, I would have hypnotized the Crown Prince instead. That way, you wouldn’t have been so rude to come here this early in the morning.”

Carlix’s face distorted violently. But instead of choking me, he clenched his fists, while only daring to comment about my attitude.

I laughed as I watched his trembling fists.

‘Right. No matter how trashy the male lead is, he cannot touch the female lead’s best friend. Because the moment that he will, the female lead would go far away from him forever.’

Carlix spoke fiercely with his eyes trying to suppress his anger.

“The Saintess is known for being kind, but she would never allow just anyone to be close by her side. What have you done for her to give you that kind of smile?!”

‘This bastard doesn’t know anything about Estelle. And that’s exactly why he, as the male lead, doesn’t know the answer.’

I answered, inwardly clicking my tongue.

“Are you sure you don’t know?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s because I’m Estelle’s type.”

“…..Type?”

Carlix’s eyes shook as if he had been slapped on the back of his head.

I nodded with a proud face.

“That’s right. Estelle likes honest and friendly people. I have a better personality than I look.”

“Ha! Is that the only reason that the Saintess fell for you?”

“That’s the reason. Beauty in personality is so precious. Well, it’s not like you would understand.”

“What does that mean?”

“……”

“Don’t be so hesitant, tell me. I’m not going to break your mouth even if you say anything rude.”

‘Then I won’t hesitate because you wish to hear it so much.’

I looked at him with clear eyes and said,

“Honestly, your personality is really, really bad. Would such a person recognize the charm of a terrible personality?”

Carlix’s face grew cold as though he had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“…I’m that bad?”

“Yes.”

“Wh–Me?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell do you mean?”

From the sharp voice, I could feel a desperate feeling that couldn’t comprehend what I just said.

On the contrary, Carlix had many things that were amiable as a male lead.

The fact that he was the only heir to the royal family, directly inheriting their noble blood.

Also, his brilliant head with incredible charisma that even other nobles won’t dare to rebel against, not to mention his looks were great too.

However…

“You always ignore people when they are talking. And when you talk, you would only boast about yourself or intimidate others and threaten to kill them. Any woman with a good mind would never be attracted to a man like that.”

“……!”

Carlix’s face became as pale as a blank sheet of paper.

Moments later, Carlix struggled to pretend to be fine as he swept his hair back.

“Ha. You’re the first woman to say that to me.”

Gasp.

That sentence was usually a flag, often a sign when a man falls in love.

I covered my mouth with my hand, frowning my eyebrows as if I hadn’t heard anything.

“You’re not interested in me, are you? I have a fiance.”

Fortunately, Carlix had the same expression as me.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

After all, it’s only the female lead that would make the male lead fall in love at first sight through the ‘You’re the first person to treat me like this.’ line.

I was truly relieved.

“Anyway, did you hear enough of my answer to the question you were so curious about? I’m a little busy today. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to excuse myself first.”

The moment when I quickly got up from my chair, bowed my head, and was about to leave, Carlix’s long legs suddenly stretched out to block me.

“What you said was quite interesting. It felt crude, but it made sense. I may have been too despicable with my actions so far.”

“I’m glad you realize it now.”

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“Therefore.”

“……”

“You…..Fix this bad personality of mine.”

What–fix?! Do you even realize how self-centered you’re acting right now?!