I Became the Villain's Sister (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12

“My preference? Someone dependable!”

“Dependable, huh.”

He walked leisurely, yet his legs were so long that the Emperor kept trying to stride ahead of me. Just as I was sweating profusely under heightened alert, the Emperor spoke up.

“Why suddenly that?”

“…Didn’t I say last time that I wasn’t your type?”

“Surely not. Do you want to become my type?”

“Of course not. Since you said you like dependable people, I suppose I should lose some weight while I’m at it.”

In life, there are certain people—people you just want to flick on the mouth every time you see them. This Emperor was exactly that kind of person.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Yeah.”

Silence returned once more. For some reason, I felt I couldn’t stop talking even for a moment.

Ha, as if I were fawning over the Emperor, as if I’d become the submissive one, as if I’d just spotted a man I liked on a blind date, I kept blurting out unnecessary nonsense.

I even made a vow to myself: ‘Once I enter the imperial palace, I’ll never act like this again.’

“It’s a bit shabby, isn’t it?”

“I see. I expected a bit more from a count’s household, but it’s rather plain. Do all nobles live like this?”

“…”

I’d thought it was decent enough. After all, this hallway was something the Countess prided herself on, having indulged quite extravagantly in its decoration.

I’d brought the Emperor here specifically to show him our family wasn’t as impoverished as he might think, yet all I got in return was his unfavorable reaction.

“…Well. I suppose it’s all the same.”

“Do you even like these things?”

“These things? Ah… well… not particularly.”

Piling luxury upon luxury only causes them to clash. One side must play a supporting role, yet everything the Countess had arranged was excessive.

As if trying to prove her own superiority. The more I looked, the dizzier I became.

“Unexpected.”

“What is?”

“Nothing.”

The Emperor, who’d seemed like he had something more to say, closed his mouth again. By then, we’d arrived at the reception room.

Servants of the Count and Countess stood before the door, clearly indicating their masters had arrived first.

As soon as we reached the room, the door opened automatically, revealing the two of them nervously gnawing at their lips.

“W-We welcome Your Imperial Majesty the Emperor!”

“We greet Your Imperial Majesty! To grace such a humble place with your presence…”

“It is rather shabby, indeed.”

Unlike the trembling Count, the Countess appeared somewhat composed and stepped forward before the Emperor. Yet at his remark about shabbiness, her expression hardened.

“Y-Yes, indeed. It’s nothing compared to the Imperial Palace. But may I ask, Your Majesty, what brings you to our residence?”

“I ask the questions. You two stay quiet.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Actually, I have no questions. Since you seem so curious about why I’m here, I’ll tell you first: I will marry Isabella.”

Instantly, both their pupils wavered—as if questioning whether they’d heard correctly, whether this was real.

Their expressions and gazes conveyed it all so clearly.

So I shook my head firmly, then brightly declared, as if reinforcing the Emperor’s words:

“I’m going to marry His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!”

“Hah…”

“T-That’s… impossible…”

Seeing the Countess utterly dumbfounded, I smirked.

To ordinary people, an Emperor was—

Like a company chairman, perhaps. Someone you only ever saw from afar. You lived well enough because of him, yet whenever your eyes might accidentally meet his, you’d instinctively look away, pretending to be busy—just in case he’d overheard you cursing him earlier.

To me—or rather, to this body’s parents—the Emperor was exactly that sort of figure.

[The Emperor must surely be lacking something. Either he’s incapable as a man, or else how could the imperial throne remain without an Empress at his age?] [Exactly! He might even be impotent. Daughter, don’t you dare get involved with him.] [Don’t worry.][Right. Isabella, we trust your intelligence, so we aren’t overly concerned… but your father and I absolutely never want you to become Empress. That position gets you beheaded with one misstep. Better to live comfortably as a mere concubine.]

Back then, Isabella had firmly declared she’d never even glance at the Emperor—that a man with nothing but good looks wasn’t worth her attention—and insisted she’d marry a rich, foolish man instead.

Thus, her parents’ current reaction made perfect sense.

“W-Who are you marrying?”

“Who else? His Imperial Majesty the Emperor! I’m marrying His Majesty!”

“Ho… hoho… you clearly said…”

You clearly said you hated the Emperor. And now, after all this time, you’re saying the Emperor? Deny it. Tell me this isn’t true.

But I remained resolute. No—I knew exactly what the Count and Countess wanted to hear, yet I refused to utter those words. Not for their sake.

The Count staggered backward as if about to collapse, but the Countess, seemingly accustomed to such situations, quickly regained her composure.

“That’s impossible.”

Of course it was impossible. They expected to control me as they pleased—my future husband ought to dance to their tune—but the Emperor was absolutely out of the question.

What parent in the world would say “no” when their child married the Emperor? They should leap at the chance, overjoyed. But these two were different.

If we’d been from a middling family, they might have exploited me like they did Shasha—squeezing money out of me and manipulating me as they wished—but the Emperor was beyond their reach.

Moreover, instead of extracting material gains through their daughter, they’d now have to serve the very Empress their daughter would become. Their reaction was entirely predictable.

“Why not? I’m becoming Empress, and His Majesty has graciously agreed to marry me—yet you refuse? Isn’t this disloyalty to His Majesty?”

Go on, say it outright—that this is treason, that you’re defying the Emperor’s command. Hurry up and say those words. I glanced subtly toward the Emperor.

But the Emperor, who’d been speaking so smoothly until now, clamped his mouth shut. In that silence, the Countess spoke again.

“You already have someone you’re supposed to marry.”

Perhaps sensing the conversation would drag on, the Emperor had already seated himself in the place of honor without anyone noticing. Now he crossed his legs, humming amusedly.

“That engagement is…!”

He’d stayed stubbornly silent when it mattered most, but at the mention of another fiancé, he slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ve never heard nor seen any rumor that Lady Isabella had someone she was to marry. Now it seems the Emperor of a nation has proposed to a woman already promised to another.”

Though his tone sounded clearly furious to any observer, in truth his voice had grown noticeably brighter, as if thoroughly entertained.

‘At this rate, it’ll look like I proposed to him just to avoid marriage.’

Worried the Emperor might misunderstand, I hastily shook my head.

“We’ve never even met! It’s just an arrangement my parents made.”

“Still, it’s not allowed.”

“Why not? I love him!”

I pointed dramatically toward the Emperor, as if in a melodramatic soap opera.

“Didn’t you say before that you hated His Imperial Majesty?”

“W-Well, that was just… I was merely agreeing with Mother and Father back then. When exactly did I ever outright say I hated him?”

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly as they turned toward me again.

“But you did say you hated him, didn’t you?”

The Countess folded her arms calmly and shrugged her shoulders.

“Mother…”

“After saying that, you now claim to love His Imperial Majesty? What a skilled liar you’ve become. You swore you’d never marry His Majesty—you said he had nothing but good looks!”

So this was how it would play out. I’d kept quiet out of consideration, after all.

Granted, those words had indeed been spoken by Isabella—the original owner of this body—so I had no excuse to refute them. But if things continued like this, I wouldn’t stay silent.

“That’s not all—You claimed your preference was an obedient man, didn’t you? You outright said you hated the Emperor. You said you’d marry a foolish man, so surely…”

She didn’t say it outright, but the Countess subtly twisted her words, trying to make me misinterpret her implications.

I quietly stored every word in my heart. Though I couldn’t deny their truth, I’d wait for the right moment to rebut.

“But that was all…!”

“Why try to deny it? Go ahead and insist it’s false if you like. But who would dare speak falsehoods in such a serious matter?”

So this was her move?

I glanced sideways at the Emperor, who was watching me with his arms folded.

‘He wouldn’t just dismiss everything as if it never happened, would he?’

A sudden wave of anxiety washed over me. I couldn’t refute the Countess’s words—afraid that anything more I said might ruin everything at the last moment. Ugh, what was even the point of all this?

‘Typical of a family without real affection. They clearly know what kind of fate awaits me with the Emperor.’

Isabella felt no deep love for her parents, nor did they for her—no genuine care or fondness. Precisely because their relationship was so hollow, they could speak so freely of damaging things about their own daughter, all to manipulate her according to their will.

In a way, they were truly terrifying people.

Of course, such emotional detachment wasn’t limited to just these parents.

Having grown up under such parents, Isabella herself had developed slight emotional issues.

“Yes, I did say that. Back then, I didn’t understand love—I was just speaking nonsense.”

“So you finally admit it. But I wonder if His Imperial Majesty would truly like someone like you.”

“But…!”

I should have denied it, yet my lips sealed shut. Naturally, any man would hesitate to marry a woman who’d openly insulted him.

That was precisely what the Countess wanted—to make the Emperor grow weary of me through my past words.

She hoped the very idea of marriage would vanish entirely. Though her intentions were glaringly obvious, I had no words to counter her.

“After saying all that, claiming you’ll marry His Imperial Majesty makes absolutely no sense…”

Just as she sputtered, unable to form a coherent sentence, the Emperor’s voice cut sharply between the Countess and me.

“Are you presuming to read My heart as well?”

The Countess’s confident expression instantly froze.

“N-No, Your Majesty… I merely meant, how could I possibly present such a foolish child to His Imperial Majesty?”

“So what? It makes no difference to Me. If Isabella was the one who said those things.”

“What? You’d keep such a vulgar, foolish, willful child who can’t even distinguish proper speech beside you?”

“Yes.”

“Why…?”

Her plans were unraveling before her eyes. Unable to hide her bewilderment, the Countess grew flustered—yet a strange sense of relief slowly eased the tightness in my chest, as if someone had finally scratched an unbearable itch.

“Because I’ve resolved to keep Isabella by My side, no matter what?”

For a moment, my heart trembled.

‘Just how much does he intend to exploit me…?’

Other women might have found it touching—marveling at how romantically he’d confessed—but not me.

Because I knew the Emperor’s truly sinister intentions.