Villainesses Never Die

Villainesses Never Die 03

–

Eve cried silently for a long time. The wretched atmosphere made his beauty stand out. I felt like trash for thinking that the slender hand covering his eyes was beautiful.

‘His beauty is inhumane, every human would shake on that.’

Eve and Rose were similar. It was natural for Rose to look like Eve’s biological sister, Lily.

‘Haa…’

I breathed a long sigh. How should I send him back, my mind was already running wild.

“Sister’s intentions, I understand them.”

In disregard to her anxiety, Eve snapped out of it on his own. Rubbing his eyes on the sleeves of his clothes, he became as calm as he was after entering.

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“However.”

I heard him at the same time I apologized.

“However. It’s never going to go sister’s way.”

Eh? What is he saying now..?

“I can’t tolerate you disappearing from my sight.”

My head turned blank. What nonsense did I just hear. His words came in one ear and out the other.

“Eve, what did you say. …..?”

Eve hardened his face and said.

Marriage? Don’t be ridiculous.”

He said his final words and left. There was no catch.

‘I thought he was a good brother…’

Did the personal lessons from the Duke teach him something bad? I held my throbbing head and laid on the bed.

‘Yeah, that hits the spot.’

One thing I liked about this place was the bed. The moment I rested my body on top of it, it felt as if I was lying on a cloud.

“But how the hell?”

I slowly fumbled through my memories of today. It was very different from what I knew about the novel. First of all, Rose’s attitude.

“She was definitely an angel in the novel.”

But from experience, Rose was far from an angel.

“Eve as well.”

Actually, I don’t remember Eve’s existence in the novel too clearly. The male lead crown prince, everything revolved around him and the heroine Rose.

‘He was definitely introduced as the sub-male lead.’

In the beginning, that is. It didn’t make sense for him to love a woman who looked exactly like his biological sister, though. His comments had increasingly grew in weight.

‘What was it.’

The words he said to me. It was hard to interpret them as familial love.

‘Eve…’

His expression was still vivid in my mind. The face of a liar would never look like that. Rather, he was spilling his heart out. I tried to rebuke him but,

‘He looked distressed.’

Emotions were conveyed. I don’t know the full truth about their relationship. My head throbbed, worsening my headache. My eyes were as heavy as potatoes so I fell asleep.

***

It’s annoying. What’s more annoying than going out for dinner with someone you don’t want to meet?

‘But this is cool.’

The palace was so grand that it left my mouth hanging open. It felt like a tourist spot. The possibility of getting lost in the palace seemed really high.

‘That’s why Albury was able to meet the crown prince.’  (t/n: The word ‘슈티아’ aka Syutia kept popping up and I thought it might have either been 1. the crown prince’s name or 2. a translation error or a raw extraction mistake. So I would change it to crown prince for safety measures.. This pretty much confirms that it’s his name though, for me at least. Let me know your thoughts.)

Albury came to the imperial palace for the first time as a child and got lost. She then met Syutia. Regrettably she thought it was fate.

“Hm..?”

The novel’s contents felt more and more ominous as I go through them.

“No way…?”

No, I shook my head.

“I can’t say this to the mister…”

Yeah. I had no choice.

I’m lost…!

She had definitely passed by this place before. I wanted to crawl back into the ground. Albury could navigate the palace like her own house, but I couldn’t.

‘I don’t know the way.’

I looked around but not a single ant or passerby could be seen.

“It can’t be helped.”

‘I’m sure there’s a guard nearby.’

She planned to ask a guard for directions. I walked towards the palace at a quick pace.

My bad premonition has the possibility of being false. I was being confronted with the worst.

“Albury?”

Frosty red eyes came into view. They were cold eyes full of contempt for me.

“Pleasure meeting your highness.”

Saying her name in disregard of her noble status showed his stance towards her. Only the prince had the authority to look at me like a pile of garbage on the roadside. I immediately bowed to him.

‘How can one look at someone with such disgust.’

I saw it before I bent down. The prince’s scrunched up mouth. He looked displeased that I was here.

“I accepted Rose’s invitation to dine.”

“Ah-“

“Where is Rose, are you the only one here?”

“That’s-“

“Another trick it seems.”

If you were going to ask me questions and then answer them yourself, why did you even ask them in the first place? I just waited for his entitled mouth to finish talking.

‘You have to act calm and upright. You must never be executed by the crown prince.’

I recalled my purpose for coming to the imperial palace. I have to show it. That I’m not the old Albury anymore. She vowed not to show any interest in the crown prince again.

“Albury, where’s Rose?”

“I don’t bear the knowledge of her whereabouts at all times.”

He finally stopped talking.

Rose left for the Imperial Palace before I did. I couldn’t have known where she went. I thought by now, she would be cozying up to the crown prince. Guess that wasn’t it. The prince even frowned more at my answer.

“Albury. Was your probation period too short? You don’t seem to have come to your senses yet.”

“That’s not true.”

In response to my humble answer, the prince stopped for a moment.

“Albury.”

“Yes.”

The rich smell of roses arose from somewhere. The rose garden mentioned multiple times in the novel popped into my head. I wanted to see it so I surveyed the surrounding area but the prince opened his mouth.

“Now… What are you doing?”

“What?”

I half-glared at him. The voice surprised me and I was slightly inconvenienced.

“I’m in front of you now!”

“Yes, so?”

Whether he’s in front of me or not… I looked disinterestedly back at the crown prince.

‘I’m not going to cling to you anymore. I have to survive.’

But this is weird. The prince should hate me for bullying his beloved, shouldn’t he hate conversing with me? I thought it was better to avoid the position to its fullest.

“Your Royal Highness. If you don’t mind, can I go over there for a while?”

“Ha! Are you asking me to go on a walk with you?”

“Hah? No, no way. Just me.”

“…”

The crown prince was now frowning with his mouth shut. What, he’s going to get angry at me now that Rose’s gone.

“Are you protesting now that I’m engaged to your sister?”

“Eh?”

the prince’s perspective gradually made more sense. A woman who was crazy over him half a year ago is suddenly tame,

‘Must think I’m plotting something.’

It’s not like that though. I thought to convey my heart to the Crown Prince.

“Your Majesty.”

“Tell me.”

“I heard you got engaged to Rose right after I was released.”

“Yes, that’s why you’re doing this to me now.”

The crown prince said that, looking at me with a certain smile on his face.

No, you’re wrong. I lowered my gaze for a second and then lifted my head up to reveal a bright smile.

“Congratulations.”

“…What?”

She was smiling so brightly that the corners of her mouth were trembling.

“As I have also said to Rose, my obsession with the crown prince has been removed from my heart. There’s no point in hindering your love for each other any longer.”

“…”

“I hope you’ll be happy after the engagement.”

“…”

“Would you mind excusing me?”

The prince looked at me without answering. Something’s twisted in that brain of his too, his expression looked discontent.

‘Was my answer not good enough?’

Not even an applause. Perhaps I overdid it and now the results are adverse.

“Jeo*, I’ll take my leave now.”  (t/n: happy exclamation)

The rose garden seems to be around there, so I’ll have to take a look at it before eating. After deciding this and turning around,

“Stop.”

Announced the prince in a low voice.

“I said stop.”

I stopped the first time but after a moment of silence, I took another step forward and the prince shouted once again.

“You really are crazy!”

“Yes…?”

“Yes, this is a new trick of yours. I’ve affirmed.”

A trick, not trusting my sincere blessing of their relationship.

‘Forget about me, that’s my eternal wish.’

The prince continued without hearing my cries. Displaying clear and cold eyes.

“So quit the act now and return to your original self.”

I couldn’t understand his mind for saying that to me. The crown prince is supposed to be disgusted with Albury for being so obsessed over him. Now that I’m letting him go, why is he holding on to me and saying to quit the act and go back to being Albury?

‘I can’t believe it.’

He had been through so much over a long period of time. One can’t believe someone who’s been harassing them for decades changing all of a sudden. I need to word it more properly.

‘I have to say it a lot of times for him to believe it.’

But I would repeat it several times over in order to live. I flashed a smile as bright as a rising sun for the crown prince. I firmly clenched my jaw to form the smile. The prince frowned at the smile.