I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - Chapter 39

Meliara had given her peppermint tea. Olivia collapsed after drinking chamomile tea. But the one who tried to poison Olivia was Meliara?

What sort of planting a green bean only for it to yield a red bean1 nonsense is this? Feeling dubious, I asked one more time for confirmation.

[Ara] “You’re saying you collapsed after drinking the chamomile tea I gave you?”

Ziken temper flared at my question.

[Ziken] “What exactly are you playing at now, Princess!? To even poke at other people’s trauma like that…!”

He hurriedly jumped to Olivia’s defence. Olivia fisted her temple robes with her small hands as her slender shoulders trembled violently. Although I felt a bit apologetic at her pitiful appearance, this was something that I needed to confirm.

[Olivia] “You even announced that you were going to send chamomile tea in front of everyone…”

Olivia said, her voice full of terror.

[Olivia] “You said that you’d know that I was rejecting your goodwill if I didn’t drink it, so I… hic…”

Hearing her say that she was forced to drink it under my coercion and threats, I felt dizzy, swiping a hand across my forehead. 

Although the original story had already changed drastically, this was part of a future that hadn’t happened yet. All the events before I came here were exactly the same as the original novel’s. I didn’t just trust the original novel blindly. 

But there hasn’t been anything wrong with what happened in the past so far. So if that was the case, then how was I meant to accept these two inconsistent facts?

‘Who made the switch in the middle…?’

If that was the case, then this was a serious situation. Although I had now left the Duke household, I was still a princess at that time, so it could be interpreted as an attempt to incite discord between the Darchez Duchy and the temple. Furthermore, even the Crown Prince, Princess, and the Saintess had all been deceived by it.

‘However…’

I had a strong gut feeling that this wasn’t done by a third party at all. 

I fixed my eyes onto Olivia. 

Contrary to her trembling shoulders and slender figure that was held in Ziken’s embrace, her shifty eyes that kept glancing at me were strange. It wasn’t a gaze that stemmed from fear or cautiousness, but a vigilance that came from envy and jealousy.

A phrase flashed in my mind.

{[Meliara] “It’s not me, Your Highness! No matter how jealous I am, I won’t do something so illogical or senseless!”}

At that time, I had brushed past that line with the thought ‘The villainess is speaking nonsense again’, but now it sounded a bit different.

 One after another, all the other ‘evil deeds’ that were commited by Meliara in the original novel suddenly came to my mind. Even the line that Meliara shot back every time.

{[Meliara] “Did such a thing happen? But what do you mean it’s my fault?”}

I had only thought that she was extremely shameless back then, but what if that was actually the truth devoid of lies…?

{[Meliara] “You know what the truth is, Saintess! So why are you saying something else instead?!”}

My head began to throb as if I had been hit hard in the back of my head by the line that was full of Meliara’s pent up anger. My heart began to pound. 

Olivia is…?

‘Since when did she…’

I didn’t know when or where it started. But at some point, everyone would single out Meliara and attack her ceaselessly whenever something happened to Olivia. They even sometimes swore at her without even considering the logistics of the situation, to the point where it even felt a bit excessive. 

I had thought it was natural since she was a ‘villainess’, but what if everything was actually someone else’s well-crafted scheme? And if Meliara had only been stuck in that framework…?

[Ara] “Ha.”

A bitter laugh escaped from my mouth. 

So this is how it felt to be played. It was the moment when everything in the original novel that I had believed in flew away in an instant and returned to being a blank canvas again.

It was already confirmed that the male lead was an absolute disgrace unlike the original novel, so it wasn’t exactly that strange for Meliara to not actually be a vicious villainess either.

But the fact that the female lead was blackened and was actually the secret mastermind behind it all hit me harder than I expected. The sense of betrayal was different to when I found out about the male lead’s true nature.

‘No, Ara Lee. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Nothing has been confirmed yet.’

I could feel my fury bubbling up inside, but I managed to correct my thoughts. I had a hunch, but not any actual evidence. The only thing that was telling me to find out the truth was just a ‘feeling’.

[Ziken] “This should be enough evidence, right? Don’t make things any bigger than they are and just come with us obediently!”

Coming to my senses at Ziken’s roar, I took a deep breath in.

[Ara] “I’m not going.”

[Ziken] “What?”

[Ara] “There’s still no solid evidence that I did it.”

I lifted my head up stiffly and started to act shamelessly.

[Ziken] “There isn’t any evidence that’s more solid than this medicine coming out of your bag!”

At Ziken’s protest, I began to speak, my eyes glued to Olivia.

[Ara] “I told you, that’s an unknown bottle I’m not aware of. Maybe someone put it in there to frame me.”

She avoided my eyes when we made eye contact, just as I expected. Although it was an action that could be interpreted in a variety of ways, my doubts continued to grow.

[Ziken] “Th-That immoral woman is making that sort of speculation again…!”

Ziken swore at me again, but I didn’t yield to him. 

I couldn’t help it. If I allowed myself to be arrested just like this, then I wouldn’t have enough time to investigate the truth as well as what was going on with Olivia. I couldn’t leave such an important matter to someone else, so all I could do was thoughtlessly refuse to cooperate with them.

[Ara] “I won’t go with you until you’ve finished your investigation.”

[Ziken] “Say something that makes sense!”

At my unreasonable stubbornness, he became so angry it seemed like he was about to collapse from high blood pressure at any moment now. 

There was a heavy tension that lingered over the confrontation between those who defended me and Ziken’s knights. There was a long bout of silence.

A long shadow suddenly drifted past Ziken and Olivia.

[Ziken] “Hic!”

[Olivia] “Kyaaa!”

At the appearance of the shadow of a person, Olivia screamed in surprise while Ziken also naturally jumped in shock.

[Ziken] “Wh-What?!”

Ziken, who had belatedly discovered the identity of the shadow, stumbled over his words before demanding.

Butler Tanma, who had appeared from who knows where, looked sharply at Olivia and Ziken, who had suddenly screamed and jumped in surprise. With an expression that seemed to think that they were ridiculous, he nodded perfunctorily at them before walking toward Lecht. All of his actions were so natural and normal that I wondered if this space was still the one that had been filled with tension until recently.

[Ziken] “What the hell were you guys doing until he came nearer to you!”

[Knight] “I-I couldn’t feel his presence at all.”

[Knight] “I couldn’t see him…”

[Ziken] “How could you have not seen such a tall man?!”

Ziken shouted at the knights behind him. They all looked extremely wronged. 

Truthfully speaking, I was extremely surprised as well. Even though I was looking toward the entrance, I hadn’t even seen the butler at all. Coming back to my senses, I noticed that the butler, like a ghost, had already passed Olivia and Ziken.

‘As expected of the second in command of the demon realm…’

When I looked at the butler with a look of admiration, the butler smiled at me before turning to Lecht.

[Tanma] “I’ve found the place where the false rumours of Miss spreading the disease started, just like you’ve ordered.”

His words drew the attention of everyone here. Ziken, who was scolding the knights, and the knights, who were being scolded unfairly, all looked to Tanma.

[Lecht] “And the result is?”

[Tanma] “All of the rumours lead back to a single man.”

At that moment, a quick glance was exchanged between Tanma and Lecht.

[Tanma] “He’s said to be a man with an appearance that is estimated to be in his late 20s and early 30s. He also has bizarrely pale skin.”

Everyone swallowed dryly at the description of the one who started the rumour.

[Tanma] “He’s said to have extremely charming sky blue eyes which resemble a winter lake. His hair is about this long, and…”

The more he explained, the deeper I frowned.

[Tanma] “Apparently, his hair is a rare style that is a mix of black and white hair. But most importantly of all… he’s apparently so charming that all who see him fall in love at first sight, regardless of their age and gender.”

This… is clearly Frody. No matter how many times I heard it, it was clearly Frody, with the only description missing being his ‘horns’.

[Ara] “Lecht, this is…”

I tugged at Lecht’s clothes slightly and whispered inaudibly to others to him. Lecht nodded slightly, as if he was saying that it was the person I thought it was.

It’s Frody? The source of that rumour…? I had definitely thought it’d be Olivia though…

I turned my head to check on Olivia. Sure enough, her face had turned a pasty white and her pupils were shaking violently. As if a big secret of hers had just been revealed. But why was Olivia so flustered when the source of the rumour is Frody…?

Ziken, who had no time to check on Olivia’s condition, interrupted Tanma.

[Ziken] “What you just said, are you sure?”

[Tanma] “Yes, I discovered it by contacting the majority of the people who were in the area who had heard of this rumour. I can call them over myself if you don’t believe me.”

Ziken didn’t question it, perhaps because the person speaking was an aide to Grand Duke Arvis.

[Ziken] “So where is that man now?”

[Tanma] “That’s what I’m talking about right now…”

Tanma let out a huff and rubbed his chins softly.

[Tanma] “I couldn’t get a hold of his whereabouts.”

[Ziken] “What did you say?”

[Tanma] “I don’t know if he’s able to freely use some sort of teleportation magic, but he can be at the 24th Street at one moment, then appear on the 7th Street 5 minutes later.”

[Ziken] “There’s no way that’s possible! Are you sure it’s the same person?”

[Tanma] “Everyone gave the exact same description.”

It was also quite unlikely for various people to have such a unique appearance. Unless several people had predetermined to do so and dressed up exactly the same.

[Tanma] “Oh, they all said that as well. When they were with him… he smelled strongly of flowers.”

[Olivia] “Oh.”

Olivia was the first to react to Tanma’s last comment. A shaky sigh escaped her lips. She seemed to be shocked that she had made a sound and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. But her erratic gaze and trembling hands couldn’t be covered.

[Ziken] “Livi? What’s wrong?”

[Olivia] “Oh, that’s…”

Olivia finally opened her mouth to speak after only repeating the words ‘uh’ and ‘um’ for a long time, her voice filled with fright.

[Olivia] “To think someone actually tried to frame the Princess… I can’t believe such a terrible thing has happened…”

Ziken looked at her ardently at her trembling words.

[Ziken] “You were so worried about the woman who tormented you to that extent? Haa, what should I do with you when you’re so full of kindness?”

I almost let out a jeering laugh at the sight of him hugging her tightly, as if he was going crazy due to his love for her. 

Do those actions really seem like she’s ‘worried’ about me? There should be a limit to how blinded by love you can be. 

She was no pushover. How would you react when you find out that the woman in your arms has, in fact, pushed all those false accusations onto that woman you thought was evil with her schemes and acting?

‘This situation should also be Olivia’s fault… so why is Frody appearing out of nowhere?’

Don’t tell me they’re working together…? If it wasn’t for that, there’s no way she would have reacted like that to Tanma’s explanation. To be fair, if I knew about Frody, then it was rather close minded for me to assume that Olivia didn’t know as well. What remained of my little doubt was only whether or not she knew Frody was a demon. 

Feeling another incoming headache at the thought of how to figure this out again, I opened my mouth.

[Ara] “You’ve cleared me of all suspicion and charges now, right? Then could you please step back? There are still many sick people waiting to be healed.”

[Ziken] “You haven’t been absolved of everything yet! How do you explain the bottle from your bag?!”

[Ara] “That’s obviously been planted by someone in order to frame me…”

[Ziken] “And the proof that that was the case.”

[Ara] “…”

[Ziken] “See. The charges against you haven’t been lifted yet.”

It was when I was feeling suffocated by the suspicion of the persistent Ziken.

[Ziken] “We can just catch that guy and ask him.”

Ziken made a wise choice but came to a stupid conclusion.

[Ziken] “If he’s the one who claims you spread the disease, then he’s one of the two. Either he’s trying to frame you, or he’s seen you use the bottle.”

Even while he was speaking of both possibilities, he was still putting more emphasis on the latter. Looking at me while raising one corner of his mouth sardonically, he commanded the knights.

[Ziken] “Go and bring the person who started the rumour.”

He looked arrogant, as if he were whispering, ‘I’ve got you now’.

But does he know? Just how pale Olivia, who was in his arms, is right now?

[1] The proper proverb is ‘planting green beans will yield green beans, planting red beans will yield red ones’ the meaning being ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ or ‘you reap what you sow’. But Meliara has mixed them together to show the inconsistency of the story line.