Why Did I Become the Villainess?

Rufus stares at me. "How about you? What do you plan, purplany?"

I frown at him. "What do you mean by that question? Of course, I will follow our plan. Do you think I can betray the Vrawyth Kingdom?"

I want to roll my eyes at myself. Because I am definitely sure that there would come a time that the real Csille Lauretré will betray the Vrawyth Kingdom. 

Rufus shakes his head. "That's not what I mean. You wouldn't risk yourself last night if you will betray us. What I mean is what do you plan to do? Do you plan to avoid Prince Fraser forever? You do know it's impossible to do that, right? Especially now that we are facing problems?"

I knew it. The conversation will definitely lead to this again. Why does everyone seem so worried? I sigh. "You already said it. It's impossible for me to avoid Prince Fraser forever. So why would I do that?"

"So you would attend the meeting again? Purplany, we definitely need you there. Do you know how awkward the meeting is without you there? Prince Fraser seems like he will shout at us any moment."

I shake my head at him. "I didn't say I would attend the meeting. I am just saying you will see my presence when I am needed."

"But you are needed in the meeting!"

I was about to reply to him when someone knocks on the door. "Rufus? I heard from the maids that you are there. May I come in?"

My eyes immediately widen when I realized who is the owner of that voice. I immediately shake my head at Rufus. "You need to say no!" I mouthed at him.

Rufus shakes his head and sighs before he stands up and opens the door slightly. "Prince Fraser, do you need something?"

It's a good thing I mentioned to the maids that they shouldn't tell anyone aside from Rufus that I was inside the tea room. 

"I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

My eyes immediately widen. Please say no, Rufus! You need to say no, or else I would kill you. 

Rufus got silent for a moment while I am anxiously waiting for his response. Please, say no, Rufus. I beg you.

"Talk about what? I'm quite busy right now."

"Busy with what? What are you doing in the tea room? You don't even know how to brew tea."

Rufus snaps his fingers. "It's the reason why I am here. I am planning to brew tea for Purplany since she loves to drinks tea. Can we talk after this?"

Prince Fraser got silent outside. "Okay, if you're free, you can find me in my room." I sighed when I heard footsteps, but I froze when I heard Prince Fraser talk again. "Uhm. Rufus, did you talk to Csille?"

He's asking about me? I don't know if I should be happy or sad because of this. I admit I feel ecstatic when I heard Prince Fraser asked about me. But I felt sad too because even if I want to be with him, I don't have any other choice but to stick with my decision. 

"I haven't talked to her since last night. Why did you ask?"

Prince Fraser got silent for a moment. "Nothing. Thank you for answering. I'll be leaving now."

I slump on the chair when Rufus closes the door of the tea room. Damn. I thought he would realize that I was inside the tea room. I'm still not prepared to see him. Not now.

Rufus stares at me and shakes his head. "You really don't want to talk to him? I don't understand why you are doing this. It's obvious that you're suffering too." He sits on the chair again.

I just smile bitterly at him. "Are we going to talk about this again? All of you keep asking me the same question. It's really annoying now."

"It's because we don't understand why you are doing this. All of us know how Prince Fraser and you have feelings for each other. But here you are, breaking up with him."

I just roll my eyes at him. "It's not my fault that you don't understand it." I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, what are we talking about again?"

"You are saying that you will not attend the meeting but will be present on occasion where you are needed. I just don't understand why you won't attend the meeting. It's important too, and your presence is needed there.

"Rufus, you just had a meeting last night, and you all come up with the idea to solve our problem, right? So, I think you can do that even without me. Don't worry. I'll be with you when the Queen visits us and when we decided to deal with Prince Reeve. Speaking of Prince Reeve, when do we plan to make a move against him?"

Rufus shakes his head. "Prince Fraser still doesn't know. We need to wait for Saiven Royal's siblings to come to us. If we talk to them, I'm sure they will find it suspicious."

"But what if they didn't come to us? I thought we need to deal with them before the Queen's visit. How can we do that if the Queen will be visiting us next week already?"

I understand their concern, but I think it's quite troublesome. How can we be sure that Prince Reeve will visit us this week? Or before the Queen's visit?" 

"Then we will have to do something about it. For now, we will need to wait for Prince Reeve to come to us on his own."

Someone knocks on the door again. I immediately tense up because of it. Is it Prince Fraser? 

"Prince Rufus? We already prepared your food. Where do you want to eat? In the tea room or the dining room?" The maid asks outside the door.

Rufus hurriedly stands up and smiles at me. "Sorry, purplany, but I need to eat now. I'm really starving now. You already heard what you want to hear, right?"

I just wave my hand at him. He must be really starving with all the training. "I'll just ask you if I have questions."

After hearing my answer, he immediately opens the door. "I'll be eating in the dining room. Did they prepare a lot of food?"

I shake my head at Rufus. He is definitely a foodie. I stare at the empty cup in front of me. Now that we had the pill, all we need to do is to lure the target to the trap. 

If they can bear to wait. I cannot. I cannot let those Royalties from three Kingdoms to ruin my plan. With all these out of the script things they are doing, I am afraid the fictional world would start to destroy itself, and I cannot let that happen.

I immediately walk to my room. I need to do something tonight. I will make sure that this week, Prince Reeve will come to the Vrawyth residence on his own will.

________________________________

It's already five in the afternoon, and you can see that many people from other Kingdoms are walking around the busy street of the Saiven Kingdom.

"Miss, I don't think it is a good idea to go out now. The sun is about to set, and we don't have any bodyguards with us. Aren't you worried about the threat of Strzalka?" Eve asked while anxiously looking around our surroundings.

I stop walking and look back at her. "Can you calm down? I can assure you nothing will happen to me, okay? Instead of getting anxious there, why don't we enjoy the night? I heard they would have street performers for tonight. Isn't that great? You don't often witness street performance in a foreign Kingdom."

I continue walking around the street. I stop at every shop I can see. Pretending to look at the products they are selling, but my eyes Are inconspicuously observing my surroundings. 

I am sure the three royalties are strolling around the place again. And I would take this opportunity to lure the tiger. Do they think they are the only ones who are setting traps? Too bad they didn't realize we already see through their scheme. 

I walk to another shop, but my steps halted when I realized I am in front of a shop that sells charms. The handsome vendor immediately smiles at me. "Miss, are you looking for something? Maybe my charms can help you."

My feet start to walk towards the handsome vendor. I don't understand why but I feel like I was hypnotized by the handsome vendor. Is it because of his handsomeness? But as far as I remember, I am not the kind of person who easily falls for the exterior. 

"Miss, I heard from other people that there is a handsome vendor in the Saiven Kingdom that sells charms that definitely works. I know a person who bought a health charm for her unknown skin condition. But after buying the health charm and wearing it for a week, she noticed that her skin condition started to get better. I think he is that person. He kind of have this aura that is different than anyone else." Eve whispered to me. 

The vendor smiled at Eve. "I'm glad that the person you know is all well. How about you? Do you want some charms? Perhaps a love charm?"

I look at Eve and see her face is all red. I raised my eyebrow. So, she likes someone? Who could that be? 

Eve immediately shakes her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't have money to buy charms. I heard your charms cost a fortune which is reasonable since it definitely works."

The handsome vendor took a red bracelet. In the middle of the beads, there is a heart shape red crystal-like bead. He then gave it to Eve. "Here, it's for free because you believe my charms work. I will give it to you for free."

Eve shyly takes the bracelet and bows her head ninety degrees. "Thank you very much, Mister, for your gift. I promise to come back once I get enough money to pay you."

The handsome vendor just smiles at Eve. He then stares at me. "You must have a lot of problems these days."

I immediately raised my eyebrow. Even in the real world, I'm not really fond of these charms or even the tarot reading or anything that relates to this. It doesn't sound logical to me. 

"You don't believe that charm works? I see." He nods his head at me and stares straight into my eyes. "You just made an important decision, and even if you don't like it, you still did it. Let me ask you one thing, Lady."

I admit he is handsome, but no matter what he do, he cannot persuade me. "Question? What do you want to ask Mister?"

The man smile at me. "Do you want to change your decision?"

I smile bitterly at him. I can actually change my decision if I want to, but I don't want to do that. And does he think I would believe him just because he said something about me making an important decision? 

I read in the book of psychology that these things are called Barnum statements. I remember it says that those statements made people believe that it applies specifically for them. However, those statements can actually be applied to the general public. We just believe that it is true because it is applicable to us. But if we look it into another perspective, those statements can be applied to almost everyone. 

"I'm sorry, but I think I won't change my decision." 

The handsome vendor nods his head. "If that's the case, I will just give you this," he picked an olive green bracelet and offered it to me. "It is a charm for protection. Always wear this, and it will protect you from any harm."

I immediately shake my head at him. "No, no. It's okay. You already gave Eve a bracelet. I don't think it's appropriate of me to accept that."

However, the handsome vendor grabs my hand and ties it on my wrist. "There. This charm only works once. So, please take care of it."

I am about to take the bracelet off my wrist when Eve suddenly holds my wrist. "Miss, I know this. This is a protection charm. Even Queen Amalone wears a bracelet like this."

I stare at the bracelet. Come to think of it. I saw Queen Amalone wear a bracelet like this. I sigh. I guess I'll just let it be. It's just a bracelet. 

I took some centimes in my pouch. It's enough to even buy ten bracelets here. "I cannot accept free things. My father always told me to don't accept free things when it comes to business instead, buy them."

The handsome vendor takes the centimes and bows his head at us. "Thank you for your generosity, Lady. As a repayment, I will give you something that you can definitely use." 

I immediately shake my head. Why does this vendor love to give freebies? Isn't he afraid that his business won't grow?

"You don't need to." 

However, the man continues looking for something underneath. He then put four bracelets in my hand. "Please, don't refuse this. It will definitely be useful in the future."

I sigh and just take the bracelets so we can go now. It's just bracelets. It won't hurt if I accept it.