I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - Chapter 31

The funeral ceremony ended successfully. After I gave the last blessing, I was forced to return to the accomodation first due to the fussing of the three musketeers who said that I ‘have to take a break’.

[Ara] “Thank you for coming with me.”

I said to Lecht after finishing dinner.

[Lecht] “It’s only natural since I couldn’t have let you go by yourself.”

[Ara] “Still, you don’t normally like to make public appearances.”

My gratitude was natural since he had stood by my side through it all and put up with it.

[Ara] “Besides, you did a good deed for Linden too.”

The place where he had his very first appearance, which had never happened before, was at an event entirely for Linden. 

It was also extremely meaningful for him to have defended me, who he had shown up with. That clearly showed that Linden and I had a close relationship.

Although I, of course, hadn’t done it deliberately, it just happened out of nowhere because of Ziken. As a result, it was clear that the hot topic in politics from now on would be whether or not Grand Duke Arvis was siding with Linden.

[Ara] “You got annoyed because of me.”

[Lecht] “I’ll just ignore it.”

However, Lecht was calm, despite being the one in the eye of the storm.

[Tanma] “On the contrary, it’ll help us sort out whether it is favourable for Miss or not if we already understand the intentions of those who come to contact us.”

The butler was even thinking of turning it into our own advantage. 

I laughed, slowly becoming accustomed to the unique kindness and love of these people. 

Then, I heard the fretful nagging of the three musketeers from beside me.

[Priest —] “Saintess, please don’t overdo it… You won’t even let us help you… hic hic.”

[Priest —] “Just me doing it would’ve been enough.”

[Priest —] “If the Saintess gets sick, I’ll file a formal complaint to the top of Ezzarson!”

[Priest —] “Give them a break. They’ve just lost their Head.”

They were both worried and affectionate to me today as well.

[Priest —] “Still, they’re much better than that damn bastard who denied the Saintess.”

[Ara] “Damn bastard…?”

[Priest —] “That’s right, how dare that damn bastard crown prince suspect the verdict given by our High Priest Lydia?!”

[Ara] “‘Bastard’ crown prince…?”

I’m sometimes worried that their worries and affection are a little too much though. My eyes widened at the sight of them cursing out the imperial family without hesitation, unaware of the final blow that was about to follow.

[Priest —] “It sounded like a declaration of war against Lunarism and Grand Duke Arvis, and I’m willing to accept it. Your Excellency, should we prepare for war?”

It was the butler who answered.

[Tanma] “That’s a good id-”

[Ara] “No, you can’t!”

I slapped Lecht’s shoulder and tried to stop them.

[Ara] “How is it that all of you are getting worse as time goes by?”

There seemed to be no limit to their overreactions and fanatical comments.

[Ara] “Aren’t you all underestimating me too much?”

Perhaps Lydia’s remark, saying that I could cover this world with my divine power hadn’t been an exaggeration, since my divine power had filled the funeral hall and even reached those who were mourning on the streets outside. And yet it still hadn’t run out.

[Priest —] “Hic hic. But you were shaking. Huhu.”

[Ara] “I was just a little dizzy since I wasn’t used to using this much all at once. It’s not because of any lack of divine power.”

As I continued to comfort the priests who seemed to burrow into the ground with guilt over not having properly assisted me, a gentle touch swept my hair to the side.

[Lecht] “Still, don’t overexert yourself.”

It was Lecht, who was also concerned.

[Lecht] “Who will treat you if you get sick?”

[Ara] “Haa… Then just who was the one who called the top five healer mages and twenty doctors last time, just because I overslept a bit due to being too fatigued?”

I said, as if I couldn’t believe it, but Lecht let out a sigh of dissatisfaction instead.

[Lecht] “Yet they still couldn’t relieve you of your fatigue. Useless things.”

If such talented people are useless, then who in the world is useful then?

Shocked, I looked at Lecht, only to find that his eyes were serious.

[Ara] “Okay. I’ll never overexert myself, so stop frowning already.”

I laughed, thinking that I should stay healthy, even if it was just because I felt sorry for the doctors and healer mages.

[Ara] “Even though you still look cool with a frown on your face, I still prefer the Lecht with a smile on his face. So stop frowning, okay?”

I pressed my thumb against Lecht’s furrowed brow, attempting to smoothen it out. The furrowed brow then relaxed like magic.

[Ara] “Aww, so cute.”

t/n: this is something you’d say to a child. english equivalent would be like ‘aww that’s it, good girl/boy’ etc

That’s when I heard the priests whispering to the side.

[Priest —] “Of course the only person who could treat Grand Duke Arvis like a child is our Saintess…”

[Priest —] “As expected, she’s so cool…”

I blushed at those words as Tanma burst into laughter.

I felt flustered and apologetic that it seemed like that, even though I hadn’t meant it that way. But despite hearing that he was treated like a child, Lecht just acted like nothing happened and pressed his face more into my hand.

[Ara] “B-By the way, will Linden be alright?”

Thinking that I’d probably pat his head and treat him like a child again if we continued to stay like this, I quickly retracted my hand and changed the topic.

Although I returned to the accomodation with the three musketeers after the funeral, Linden was probably still at the burial site. It was obvious he still had to deal with other people.

[Ara] “He kept pretending to be fine, even though he clearly wasn’t fine at all…”

He kept a bright expression on his face, but his lack of mischievousness and frequent sighs revealed that he was merely hiding his complicated emotions.

At my words that were tinged with worry, Lecht replied softly.

[Lecht] “He probably did that since thinks he’ll collapse if he doesn’t.”

I found that Lecht was looking at me when my head turned at the understanding tone that empathised with Linden’s pain.

[Ara] “What do you mean?”

[Lecht] “Knowing that your emotions will go out of control the moment you acknowledge that you’ve lost it. Knowing how vast the darkness that will swoop in to attack you will be, the moment you bring it up.”

[Ara] “…”

[Lecht] “So it’d just be better to endure it and pretend that you’re okay.”

Each word was filled with understanding and empathy. Just like someone who had gone through a similar experience to Linden .

[Ara] “It’ll fester inside if you don’t snap out of it though.”

I was worried since I had also ended up being entangled in my emotions when I had let them pile up one by one by brushing it off and saying I was ‘fine’. I was able to snap out of those emotions thanks to Lecht, but…

[Lecht] “It’ll be alright. The prince is a strong man.”

Lecht said, patting my head.

I nodded my head. But my worries weren’t easily dispelled. Since Linden was someone who best suited the words, ‘a soft heart under a strong exterior’.

‘Still, the saintess female lead will go and comfort you.’

I pressed down my worries by recalling the original story. But it wouldn’t be too long afterwards that I came to regret my foolishness in overlooking the fact that we had already deviated greatly from the original plot.

* * *

I tossed and turned in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep. I eventually got up.

[Ara] “I can’t sleep because I keep worrying!”

The face of Linden, who always had to force a smile, kept lingering in my mind, making me unable to fall asleep. Even though I knew that the female lead would comfort him anyways, I didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep unless I saw her comforting him with my own two eyes. 

Even though being nosy frustrated me, I couldn’t help it.

{To Linden, losing his grandfather was as if the last candle in his life had been extinguished.}

That terrible phrase kept grating against my nerves.

[Ara] “Candles or whatever…! I’ll make you a damn campfire…!”

Losing my temper for no reason at the original novel, I ran to the building that enshrined the Head of Ezzarson.

I was just about to go in after greeting the guard who was guarding the building until the door opened as a blond man walked out.

[Ziken] “You again. What is it now?”

It was none other than the crown prince, who had frowned and gotten annoyed at me. What the hell am I supposed to say to you when you ask me ‘What is it now?’ as soon as we meet?

[Ara] “Although I’m not sure what sort of answer you want to hear from me, I find it quite embarrassing that Your Highness completely changes your attitude right away when there’s no one around.”

However, Ziken continued to speak, further proving my point.

[Ziken] “Do you know how much humiliation I suffered because of you?”

[Ara] “And why is that my fault? You should blame yourself for not believing me and coming to your own conclusion, Your Highness.”

[Ziken] “You tricked me!”

[Ara] “I only said the truth. It was you, Your Highness, who chose not to believe me and came to the conclusion that it was a lie.”

[Ziken] “You deliberately left out the fact that your divine power is different!”

His angry voice echoed through the streets at night.

[Ara] “I was going to explain, but you didn’t even give me a chan-”

[Ziken] “Ha! Well I guess you’ve switched sides since we’ve broken off our engagement, so this must’ve been your way of sharpening your knife in order to get revenge on me.”

…Yeah, you didn’t even give me a chance to talk, just like right now, asshole.

I looked at the pathetic Ziken who was being sarcastic to me, despite being entirely in the wrong himself.

[Ziken] “Do you feel refreshed now? Will you sleep peacefully now that you’ve got your payback?”

Wow, how am I even meant to react to such a childish comment? Are you really the crown prince? It was so absurd that I couldn’t even find the strength in me to retort back.

[Ara] “Think whatever you want. Can you please get out of my way instead? There’s something I have to do in there…”

[Ziken] “Do you know how big of a shock Livi received because of you?”

Don’t interrupt people when they’re speaking. How many times has it been already? I would’ve already punched him if he wasn’t the crown prince. 

Although I was irritated momentarily, I wasn’t able to protest due to what he added next.

[Ziken] “How shocked must she have been to go back to the temple before the funeral ceremony had even finished?!”

[Ara] “What…?”

[Ziken] “That kind hearted child even came to bless Linden, despite knowing that he was hostile toward her…!”

[Ara] “What did you just say? The saintess went back to the temple?”

[Ziken] “That’s right!”

At Ziken’s words, I put aside my manners, pushing him to the side to go in. He lost his temper, but couldn’t catch up to me.

‘If the female lead has already gone back to the temple, then who will comfort Linden…!’

A dark environment greeted me as I opened the door abruptly and ran inside. The large space was created to commemorate the Head of Ezzarson, with a dim lamp lit at the innermost part.

I could dimly make out the figure of a man sitting next to the Head of Ezzarson’s remains, which were protected by layers and layers of magic.

Linden was sitting by himself, all alone in this cold, dark space.

My heart dropped with a thud.

* * *

Throughout the funeral, Linden never went to the area where his grandfather’s coffin was located. 

He knew he was going to crumble the moment he saw his grandfather lying motionless in his coffin, so he adopted a self-defensive attitude.

He dealt with the nobles who had come from far away. 

There was no one who had really come to pay respect to his grandfather. Everyone was busy trying to judge his worth by asking him questions about his future plans. 

It had always been like that, so there was no reason for him to get particularly hurt or surprised over it. He just laughed at them, thinking that life was just this futile. 

It was when he was conversing like it was nothing with those people who were trying to push him into the abyss.

[Ziken] “You’re lying!”

An angry shout that sounded from inside the hall made his head turn. There, Linden spotted a familiar head of blue and silver hair.

His heart seemed to melt the moment he saw that blue hair that resembled the night sky. 

Ara had come. What a relief… 

She was no different to a buoy or a lighthouse to Linden, who seemed to have been thrown into the open sea. 

Nevertheless, he was nervous about her being with his brother, so he quickly walked over to that side before hearing an excessive remark.

[Ziken] “How dare you commit such blasphemy!” 

Blasphemy? Did you even know that the woman standing next to you was a fake?

Linden recalled the fact that Ara had tried to ‘poison’ Saintess Olivia.

Was it really true? Could a woman who doesn’t even know how to be calculative and just gives it freely really try to poison someone? A woman who gives off such warm and tender divine power?

Linden was slightly sceptical of it. 

Ara had to be innocent. Wasn’t there a siutation where the fake was worshipped as a saintess in the first place anyway? Such a scheme was still likely to remain, even after additional attempts.

[Ara] “Whatever it is, just say it. I’ll listen to it all.”

There’s no way such a woman could hurt anyone.

People left one by one after the funeral ceremony that was overflowing with the blessing of Lunar. Everyone was busy talking about the authenticity of Ara being the saintess as well as Grand Duke Arvis. The political scene would’ve been reversed just from one event, but the fact that both incidents took place at his grandfather’s funeral ceremony caused the way they looked at Linden to change.

The first to feel this the most strongly after Linden was Ziken. He approached Linden, who was standing by himself at the burial site after everyone else had left.

[Ziken] “Princess of Darchez and Grand Duke Arvis? You’ve put in some effort, little brother.”

[Linden] “…”

[Ziken] “But don’t tell me you’ve forgotten… have you? Imperial Father’s words on how Grand Duke Arvis would only lead us all to destruction if he really showed an interest in politics, let alone help you.”

Linden remembered. To never provoke Grand Duke Arvis.

Ziken clicked his tongue as he observed Linden’s expression.

[Ziken] “How much were you driven into a corner for you to wake up a sleeping lion?”