I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - Chapter 21

You’ve already finished planning the invasion of the Empire, haven’t you? Just when exactly will it start? 

What about the army? Are they already in the human world?

So was the reason why you came to the capital just to confirm if the invasion would go smoothly?

Why are you even invading in the first place? What exactly are you dissatisfied about?!

{“Because the rose has withered.”}

What sort of emotional outburst is that? Why is the Empire no longer needed if the rose has withered? Roses wither every year!

“Would you like me to dine in your room? Or would you like to eat in a restaurant?”

“Wh-What?!”

My voice was distorted since I was immersed in my own thoughts and hadn’t heard what Tanma had said properly. My heart began to pound with anxiety about my future and worries of my safety. 

I looked at Tanma while hugging my blanket tightly as he spoke with his characteristically gentle smile.

“However, I recommend you go to the restaurant.”

His words seemed as if he were threatening me, ‘If you don’t go to the restaurant, even I’m not sure what will happen to you’.

“Going on a light walk along the way will be good for your body, not to mention that His Excellency is also waiting for you too. If you don’t go, he’ll probably spend a few more days having sleepless nights.”

Why was it that to me, the sentence had been filtered into, ‘I’m keeping my eyes on you to make sure you aren’t getting into any nonsense, so be prepared’?

Gulp.

Tanma, who was staring at me, cocked his head to the side as I swallowed dryly and just stared back at him.

“Miss?”

“Yes, I’ll go!”

[t/n: formalities are used here bc ara is SCARED LMAGLDSF]

I answered straight away, scared that I’d hear more frightening words.

“Then I’ll call for Solte to help you get ready.”

Tanma smiled brightly and retreated from the room after replying as such. 

Just as my shocked heart had calmed down a little more due to his departure, Solte soon entered the room not so long after that.

She had come in with other maids as well. They kindly helped me in washing up and changing.

After being relieved for a while, I soon recalled the fact that this was the place where the Grand Duke of Arvis, the Demon King lives, and started to probe their awareness. 

Do they work here because they know the Grand Duke of Arvis is the Demon King? Then if that’s the case, are they also demons? Then what about the horns? Why don’t they have horns?

It was clearly said that demons had horns though. It was said that their physical abilities that surpassed humans as well as the abilities that were unique to each individual came from their horns.

So, although wings were a sole privilege that belonged to the Demon King, apparently all demons were supposed to have horns. 

Come to think of it, the butler, Tanma, didn’t have horns either, right? Then were they all just humans?

No, but if that was the case, Lecht is the Demon King and he obviously doesn’t have any horns either! 

Maybe he was hiding his appearance? It was probably that.

Since he had lived in the human world for 100 years, he’d easily be able to hide something like a demon’s appearance…! 

All sorts of endless possibilities entangled and filled my head. I arrived at the restaurant while I was distracted by my complicated thoughts.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Seeing the three heads of the dog greeting me temporarily alleviated the thoughts that had been weighing on my mind. I stroked Kelber’s head with a spirit that cleared like a bit of bad weather.

‘It seems like even demons have pets.’

So it wasn’t a race devoid of any humanity after all. 

As I was feeling comforted by Kelber’s soft fur, I suddenly had a small epiphany.

“Kelber… are you also, perhaps…”

If it was a pet raised by demons… then it would also be a demonic creature. My hand, which was still stroking Kelber’s head, suddenly stopped.

So the monster that the saintess female lead and the crown prince male lead had to slaughter in the novel…! 

A demonic creature!

After all, it wasn’t normal to have three heads! But why didn’t Linden or anyone else say anything?!

“Hing?”

Kelber came up to me, whining in complaint when my petting suddenly stopped. But I couldn’t pat him as naturally as before.

‘To think that I had the bravery of a fool! You’ve been sleeping with a demonic creature on your lap!’

The difference between knowing and not knowing something largely influenced my point of view on things.

“Ha, haha… I’ll show you affection later. Haha…”

Kelber tilted his head, whining, as I laughed awkwardly and slowly moved away. However, he didn’t go after me since he was a kid that understood what I was saying.

‘But you never know… what if he suddenly changes and bites me…’

Apparently demonic creatures could willingly change their size… So he could even suddenly become the size of something like a brown bear…! I need to be careful…

I crept sneakily into the restaurant. The attendants, who opened the restaurant door for me, the knights, who were standing by the door, even the waiters who could be seen as you walked in. 

There was no way for me to tell who on earth was a demon, who was human, who was aware of Lecht’s identity, and who was involved in the carnage following the invasion, so I became wary of everyone. I became even more frightened since everyone gave me a beautiful smile.

‘Apparently people who smile while stabbing you in the back are scarier than people who normally show their anger on the outside.’

I sat at the table with my nerves on edge, as if I was in the middle of a haunted house. But before my butt could touch the chair, the door opened once again as Lecht walked in.

“Ara.”

He seemed to look bigger than usual, as he strode towards me. Probably because I now knew he was the Demon King.

I felt like I could see invisible wings and horns on him, and suddenly felt like I was under the illusion that I could even see the black energy I saw during his first meeting with Linden.

“Hic.” 

A hiccup leaked out of me. It was because of all the tension that I had built up within me on the way here.

“Hic!”

I hurriedly covered my mouth with both hands. However, I couldn’t stop my shoulders from shaking from time to time.

As soon as I started hiccuping, the servants waiting around came up to me in the blink of an eye and poured me some wa3ter.

“Would you like some hot tea?”

“If you’d prefer a soda, I’ll prepare that for you right now.”

Seeing them react to my hiccups, to the point of making a commotion over it, I waved my hands while only taking a glass of water. They bowed their heads and retreated, perhaps because they knew I was fine.

However, as they moved away, Lecht filled my vision instead.

“What’s the matter?”

He stood right next to my chair and patted me on the back.

“Is the temperature of the restaurant uncomfortable?”

He seemed to think that the sudden hiccups were due to the temperature.

“Or did you put a strain on your body coming to the restaurant despite not being fully recovered yet?”

“Hic.”

No, it’s clearly because I was surprised to see Lecht…

When I couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth, he added quietly.

“Why didn’t you just call me to your room? It’s fine to eat there if it’s more comfortable for you.”

He spoke in a tone which was a mixture of sterness and tenderness. The aloof attitude that I had seen over the past few weeks was so miniscule that I couldn’t find it, even after washing my eyes. 

It disintegrated the tension within me for a moment, but I came to my senses straight away.

‘Now that I’ve been found out, it doesn’t matter anymore… is that why…?!’

Until recently, you continued to show such a domineering and overbearing posture in protecting your dignity, but now that I know you’re the Demon King, you’re telling me to grovel at your feet now that I know, right?

As I was trying to rationalize my thought process like this, I found something strange in my logic.

‘On the contrary, that doesn’t really add up.’

If you want to say, ‘Grovel at my feet now that you know’, after you reveal that you’re the Demon King, you should be even more domineering, so why did you suddenly become even more tender?

When I looked at him with a look that said I couldn’t understand him, he moved his hand that had been patting me on the back and placed it on my head. He gently patted my head, slowly, as if he were soothing a child, a faint smile appearing on his lips while doing so.

“You look like you have something to say.”

I was terrified when the thoughts in my mind were revealed. My eyes flitted back and forth as I frantically thought about how to say it. 

Could I just outright ask him openly, ‘Are you the Demon King?’ 

Come to think of it, the only thing he revealed to me was that he was the ‘Archduke of Arvis’, and it was thanks to the novel that I knew that the Archduke of Arvis was actually the Demon King. So there was a good chance that he didn’t know that I knew who he was.

However, isn’t the issue too serious for me to pretend to be ignorant and let it go?

But I couldn’t ask, ‘Why did you invade the Empire?’ And if I ask, ‘Why is the Empire of no use to you now that the rose has withered’… rather, he’d probably be suspicious of where I came to know of that.

Should I just lightly ask, ‘Do you know about demons?’ Or how about, ‘What are your plans for the next two months?’

I was trying to wrack my little brain with all my might, my eyes flitting back and forth when a warm hand touched my cheek. His thumb naturally brushed lightly against my eyes.

“You don’t need to look around and read the room like that. You can ask me.”

How did you know I was reading the room? Do you perhaps have mind reading abilities?

As I swallowed dryly due to anxiety, this time, his thumb came down to the corner of my mouth. Before I knew it, my lips, which were habitually pursed, were completely and perfectly exposed to his touch. 

When his roughly callused finger slowly swept over my lower lip, my nerves jumped, as if something that had been my secret had suddenly been revealed. The thumb that ran slowly across my lip line lightly rubbed the corner of my mouth before slowly sliding downwards.

His large hand, which was covering my cheek, also traced down the contours of my face, before gently taking a hold of my chin.

All his actions overstimulated me, perhaps because I was already extremely nervous. I was extra sensitive to his touch, as if all the nerves in my body were directed to my face.

The smile floating on his lips grew a little deeper.

“Why are you so nervous again?”

So, am I not supposed to look nervous in this situation? I mean, my favorite face is this close… 

Wait, no, it’s not that. Rather, it’s being caught by the Demon King?

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

I could hear the sound of my heart beating diligently in my ear drums.

However, it was his languid voice that made my eardrums cry for a respite.

“There’s something I want to do to you right now.”

The lack of strength in his voice created a needlessly sensual and suggestive atmosphere. 

His face, which had approached little by little, suddenly became close enough for us to feel each other’s breath. As if the tip of his nose could touch mine, it tickled me.

“But if I do it without permission… you’ll be frightened and run away, right?”

What do you want to do? What can you even do in this pose? There’s only one thing I can think of though.

It can’t be. There’s no way. Lustful demons, be gone. Pure thoughts, come back.

…Even then, there’s only one thing that comes to mind?!

“I want your permission.”

“…to what?”

The thing I’m thinking of? Is it really that? So suddenly, without any warning? 

It’s not like we’re lovers who get hot and flustered just from making eye contact, right? And in a restaurant too? With everyone looking at us?

Pfft, no way. In any case, Lecht might be too embarrassed as well…

“A kiss.”

…or not.

He stared straight at me with a scorching look so strong the temperature couldn’t be measured.

His request for consent was heard once more through the sound of my heart beating loudly in my ears.

“Please give me permission. To kiss you.”

There was an indescribably excitement that couldn’t be hidden in his deep voice.