The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End

Her head was foggy.

It was as if she was inebriated and her thoughts were not coherent.

The colours in front of her eyes become monotonous, as if she was looking at a black-and-white photograph – and as soon as she see D’Artano’s figure, it becomes as gorgeous as an extremely coloured painting.

“thump thump”, her pulse echoed loudly.

Her blood was so hot that it felt like it was about to boil, and the sounds around her ceased for a moment.

“I love you”.

She found herself drawn to D’Artagno like a magnet, she stretched out her arms and embraced him

‘I don’t know what is going on but…I like D’Artagno ‘.

‘Yes, I like Dartano’.

Sophia could think of nothing else.

☆

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

It was Cyril who spoke up.

Sophia hugged D’Artano firmly, and D’Artagno, who was hugged, went rigid with his hands in the air.

Randall was also stunned and looked at Sophia, who was hugging D’Artano with her cheeks stained.

Carnelia was….

“Oh no! Margherita! Why did you look that way! Sarra!”

“…… It’s no use, Lady Carnelia. Once triggered, there is nothing you can do about it. But it’s strange that the potion shouldn’t work on the immediate family”.

“Have you, by any chance, been given her a fake version?”

Carnelia covered her face with her hands.

D’Artagno finally huffs, stretches out his arms while Sophia hugs him, grabs the silver spoon next to her teacup and releases it towards Cyril. When Cyril received it, his complexion changed when he saw that the silver spoon had turned black.

“No way – it’s poison!”

Cyril looked angry and Carnelia shook her head with her hands covering her face.

“No, it’s not! Why would I poison little Margherita?”

“What then! It’s obvious there’s something wrong with her!”

Cyril had completely taken off his ‘prince’ mask. He was too flustered to play along. Yet, thanks to everyone’s confusion, no one seemed to question his appearance.

Carnelia looked up and exhaled as if in contemplation.

“…… It’s a love potion.”

“……what?”

Cyril and Randall, and Dartano’s eyes, narrowed to dots

“So, it’s a love potion.”

“A love potion?”

“That’s….I wanted…… to make Margherita fall in love with the Duke of Voltio. ……”

This was Carnelia’s plan.

She didn’t want to see Sophia in grief because she lost Cyril. But she couldn’t give up on Cyril either. After much thought, Carnelia came to the conclusion that she should give Sophia a new lover. Sophia could be happy with her new lover, and Carnelia could have Cyril, her lost love, for herself. It was a good idea. So they decided to go ahead with it.

“Ha, I thought it would work. ……”

“Do not be silly!”

Cyril, the party involved, and Randall, who was almost in the unintelligible situation of being smitten by his wife with a love potion, raised their voices.

D’Artagno had no choice but to pick her up onto his lap and sit in a chair, as Sofia wouldn’t leave him.

Sophia rubs up against D’Artagno like a kitten – she smells nice and cute, and yes, I don’t feel bad.

“When will the effects of the love potion wear off!”

“Um, it’s ……”

Carnelia turned left and tried escaping the question by deliberately saying something like “Oh my, a butterfly”. When Cyril, with a blue streak on his forehead, was about to yell at her, her lady-in-waiting, Sarra, opened her mouth apologetically.

“I am sorry. The effects of this love potion …… will not dissolve until he dies”.

‘Excuse me?’

Randall looked at Sophia, who was still hugging D’Artano. His fluffy, happy, smiling, wife who is rubbing up against a man who is not her husband. He was stunned when he was told she was Cyril’s lover, but now she’s fallen for D’Artano and the effect will last forever?

Randall clenched his fists tightly and punched the table.

“Don’t joke with me! Sophia’s my wife!”

“What?”

Carnelia looked puzzled, but Randall didn’t stop. There was no doubt that Sophia was his wife ‘Sophia’. Somehow she is supposed to be D’Artano’s sister here, and she poses as Cyril’s girlfriend, but Sophia is originally Randall’s wife. She belongs to Randall. You can’t take the liberty of making her your sister or your lover, or even dosing her with a love potion. He was at his limit. He couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“Sofia is my wife, the second princess of Grastona! I can’t stand it any longer, I’m taking her home! Prince Cyril, I don’t know if Sophia has amnesia or what, but she was originally my wife. I’ll have her back!”

Randall was frustrated and tried to pull Sofia away from D’Artano. However….

“No!”

Sophia showed strong refusal, clinging firmly to D’Artano and not letting go.

Randall was at a loss as to whether it would be a good idea to pull Sophia’s slender arm with all his might.

– just when he thought it would be a good idea to do so – D’Artagno said, “That’s the ‘witch’s legacy’.

“That’s a love potion called ‘The Witch’s Legacy’, isn’t it?”

He heard a quiet voice and turned to see Orion. She walked slowly, looked at Sophia and sighed.

I had a bad feeling, so I came to see how things were going, but I didn’t expect Sophia to be poisoned”

“Orion, do you know about this love potion?”

“What? Yes, well. I have a friend who knows a bit about that sort of thing. The only love potion I can think of that lasts a lifetime is The Witch’s Legacy, but what do you think, Lady Carnelia?”

Saara nodded broadly on Carnelia’s behalf.

“Yes. ‘The Witch’s Legacy’.”

Orion moved closer to Sophia and looked into her inebriated face.

“Then I know of one witch who can make an antidote”.

In the otome game “Snow in Glastona”, when Cyril was forced to drink the love potion “Witch’s Legacy”, he headed to the witch’s house to obtain the antidote.

“I haven’t met her in person either, but I believe that a witch called Marble, who lives in the forests at the foot of the Magellan Mountains on the border between Verhund and Saladora, can make an antidote.”

Though there’s no guarantee that she’s there now, nearly two years before the start of the game…

Orion swallowed her small misgivings and gently strokes the head of her best friend from her previous life.