Regardless, Kasha did not stop walking.
Simon shouted once again.
“…Everything you’ve done until now! The things you’ve created! I know it all. I’m telling you I know everything!”
Kasha stopped in her tracks.
Thinking his threat had worked, Simon raised his voice even more.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this to me, but we’re not the kind of relationship that can end so simply. You know that, don’t you?”
“……”
“Especially, that… thing! I hid it well so the priests wouldn’t find out, but the seal you broke! If that were to appear in the world, do you have any idea how much trouble you’d be in?”
Simon yelled loudly, not even daring to utter the word ‘magic stone’ in case someone might understand.
Whisk.
As Kasha suddenly turned around, Simon flinched in surprise.
“Indeed, I wonder. Where could those magic stones be hid.den?”
It took all her effort not to openly mock his lies.
‘I’m going to find them with my own power from now on, just you wait, Simon.’
As Kasha turned back around after thinking that to herself, Simon shrieked again.
“Besides, we’re as good as engaged!”
Ha.
A scoff escaped her from the absurdity.
Could he possibly be referring to that nonsense from a few months ago when, while walking in the garden, he suddenly grabbed her hand and blurted out ‘We’re as good as engaged now’?
After rushing through marriage with just a cheap ring, it seemed he was now trying to claim he’d settled the engagement with mere words.
‘Right. That’s the level of shamelessness needed to be a villain.’
Simon continued his nonsense with an air of superiority.
“If you end things with me like this, you’re the one who’ll be in trouble! Don’t you know men and women have different social positions? Even if you’re bad at human relationships…”
Kasha remained calm no matter what he was spouting. However, she could see Sena’s face turning pale as she stopped in her tracks, entering the reception room with a new teapot and overhearing the conversation.
‘I can’t tolerate this any longer.’
Kasha walked over with clicking heels and picked up the teapot placed on the tray Sena was holding.
It must not have been long since it was boiled, as steam was still escaping from the spout.
Holding it in her hand, Kasha whirled around.
Simon flinched, seemingly startled by her movement.
Kasha raised the teapot high towards him with an expressionless face.
“Simon Blanche. Shut your mouth and get out. Before I pour this freshly boiled tea water.”
It was no joke. Listening to his continued blathering was making her feel murderous.
She felt disgusted, realizing how pathetically she must have acted for him to believe such nonsense would work and behave so shamelessly.
On the other hand, Simon’s pale, frightened appearance was a sight to behold.
“Ka, Kasha. Ha, have you really gone mad? Ho, how do you intend to resolve this situation? I, I won’t stay quiet about this. I can’t end things between us like this! Absolutely not!”
Yet he was backing away cautiously, so it seemed the tea water from earlier must have been quite hot.
Resisting the urge to throw the entire pot of boiling water at that unpleasant face, Kasha stormed out of the reception room like a tempest.
[This is the timeline separator]‘It didn’t seem like he would leave easily.’
Clank, clank.
Feeling the gentle vibrations of the carriage, Kasha was lost in thought.
As long as her talent as a magic tool maker was needed, Simon would never let her go easily.
He must have clearly realized that Kasha had changed from before, so now he would look for other methods.
‘If things end with me like this now, you’ll be the one in trouble! Don’t you know men and women have different social positions?’
It was a pathetic threat, but when you think about it, it wasn’t something to just scoff at entirely.
‘That kind of talk about playing around with this man or that man without consequences only applies to daughters of powerful families like Odette.’
Kasha’s situation was clearly different.
Although she’s the daughter of a margrave, she’s an illegitimate child with an ambiguous background. Moreover, wasn’t she the one rumored to be an imbecile and a madwoman?
If Simon were to spread strange rumors on top of that, it would certainly cause various difficulties.
‘It’s actually funny that he would spread such rumors himself. Until now, he’s been so careful to only meet at the count’s residence, afraid it would be revealed that we were close.’
Kasha snorted even as her face remained serious, sinking into the carriage seat.
In any case, it was true that she had unsealed the magic stone. The moment Simon and the shadowy figure behind him felt her existence was no longer valuable, they would try to eliminate her by framing her as a villainess, just like before her regression.
‘So, I must definitely break the curse on Leon, the first victim of the Onore magic stone, and make him my ally.’
Starting with Leon, she would find that woman. She would save both Leon and herself.
How anxious would the faceless mastermind become if Leon’s curse not only stopped worsening but actually improved?
Thinking about that made her mood considerably more cheerful.
‘That’s not the only benefit of getting close to Leon.’
She needed a way to prevent Simon from approaching her further while also ensuring he couldn’t spread any strange rumors.
In short, she needed a fence.
A fence that would block Simon’s approach and buy her time until she finished her ongoing magic tool research and uncovered the mastermind’s identity.
Leon was a man who had everything needed to do that – the status, family, and social standing.
‘If he accepts my proposal, that is.’
Kasha thought as she slightly opened the carriage window.
Beyond the well-paved road, a massive mansion loomed into view.
The Aranias Grand Duke’s residence.
The pure white exterior walls built entirely of white bricks were dazzlingly beautiful.
Just like that man, Leon.
‘He doesn’t seem as easy to handle as that man.’
Looking at the tightly closed main gate of the mansion, Kasha thought.
After the coachman had a long conversation with the gatekeeper, the gate finally opened slowly. Fortunately, it seemed her status as the daughter of the Lyuschino Count had worked.
Of course, she should have obtained permission to visit by letter in advance, but even if she had sent a letter, it didn’t seem likely that Leon would have granted permission.
So there was no choice but to push in recklessly like this.
[This is the timeline separator]“Would you mind waiting here for a moment? The Young Grand Duke has not yet returned home. But you did make an appointment, correct? I haven’t been informed of any…”
The mansion’s butler trailed off with a troubled expression.
Kasha tried her best to maintain a brazen expression as she replied.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Ah, I see. Well then, please have a seat for now. I’ll bring some tea for you while you wait.”
The butler bowed without further comment. But the doubt was still clearly visible on his face.
‘Our Young Grand Duke made an appointment to meet alone with a lady?’
It was probably this kind of doubt.
Kasha pretended not to notice and sat down neatly on the sofa.
The servants soon brought fragrant tea and cookies.
Kasha didn’t refuse and ate them with relish.
She was hungry as she hadn’t eaten in her haste to leave.
But once her stomach was full, an unexpected obstacle arose.
‘…I’m sleepy.’
The fatigue from staying up all night organizing research materials began to hit her.
‘This won’t do.’
Nod.
‘This won’t…’
Nod.
The afternoon sunlight streaming into the Grand Duke’s reception room was too drowsy to resist sleep.
Kasha soon began to doze off, her head bobbing.
How much time had passed?
Kasha lingered for a long while at the boundary between dream and reality.
‘Die! Villainess! Die!’
‘So, go save your own life first. I’m already ruined.’
‘If you’re going to die anyway, can’t you go a little more gracefully? After all the effort I put into faking interest and catering to your gloomy whims all this time! How much! Mental energy! I spent!’
It hurts. Stop it. Stop hitting me.
Her body, remembering the pain of her previous life, grew cold and began to tremble.
That’s when it happened.
Tap, tap
From somewhere, the sound of neat footsteps approached, and the memories like evil spirits began to fade away.
Kasha opened her eyes, drenched in cold sweat.
“What are you doing here?”
Hair damp with sweat, as if returning from grueling training. Uniform covered in dirt and a jawline that had become even sharper. Purple eyes narrowed as if unable to believe what they were seeing.
All of these combined to create a man exuding a dangerous aura like a tired beast.
Yet this was the man who had maintained his convictions even through the relentless suffering of his past life. The only person who didn’t resent Kasha despite losing everything. Leon.
Looking at him standing before her, Kasha blinked slowly.
He glared at her as if he would devour her, but she didn’t avoid his eyes.
‘To tame a beast, you mustn’t avoid its eyes. You’ll be eaten if you do.’
“Lord Leon.”
“……”
“It’s been a week, hasn’t it?”
Kasha stood up from the sofa, composing herself. When she suddenly staggered, Leon, with his ingrained chivalry, unconsciously moved to catch her, but then lowered his hand again as if thinking better of it.
“Did I invite you?”
His voice was cold. It was even frosty, as if he was consciously trying to make it colder.
But Kasha didn’t shrink back at all. She smoothed her sweat-dampened hair and wore a faint smile on her lips.
“You… wouldn’t come. So I… had no choice but to come.”
Leon couldn’t take his eyes off her slow gestures and smile as she spoke, staring at her with an intense gaze as if he would devour her.
“You’re not one for patience, are you?”
“……”
“Or is it that you have no fear?”
It was clearly a threat, but Kasha replied without wavering.
“I’d like… for us to talk.”
Ha.
As if finding it pathetic, Leon let out a derisive laugh and turned around without hesitation.
After taking three large steps, he suddenly stopped, as if something had occurred to him.
“…Guide her to the second-floor study. I’ll wash up and come.”
His order fell towards the butler who had been standing there restlessly. Still without turning back to look at Kasha.
Kasha, still not erasing the faint smile from her face, headed to the second floor following the butler’s guidance.
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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