When the Villainess Became the Male Lead’s Obsession - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“I-I watered the garden… I watered it every day, but the flowers are dead again….”

Ariel said what she did wrong in a gloomy voice. Somehow, she made it sound unfair to her.

Maybe it was because she didn’t know why the flowers died after she over-watered them.

“The flowers in the garden are being watered by the gardener regularly on an adjusted timing. If you keep watering them, of course, the flowers will wither.”

“Is that so…? I didn’t know….”

Elysia smiled at Ariel, who dropped her head, saying she didn’t know. Then, in a short stride, she approached Ariel.

Elysia, sitting with Ariel on the bed, stroked her head and said.

“You should be careful next time. You learned new knowledge today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Elysia kissed Ariel’s forehead briefly.

It was quite a mistake, but Elysia had a significant influence on Ariel’s mistake.

It was because she was doting on Ariel so much.

“That’s fine since you have reflected on yourself. Today…”

As she comforted Ariel, Elysia sneakily checked the clock on the wall.

Lunch was long past.

“Did you eat?”

“Not yet!”

Ariel shook her head full of expectations to Elysia, who asked if she had eaten.

Since it was Elysia, she was sure that her big sister would ask her to eat together.

However, Ariel’s prediction was beautifully missed.

“I told you not to skip meals. Call Roa and eat first.”

“Huh? What about you?”

“I… I have something to do.”

According to Rachel, Elysia’s maid, this morning, the Duke of Valtine arrived at dawn.

If what she said was true, it must be today.

The day Duke Valtine brought Eden, the male protagonist.

“I see…”

Knowing that Elysia was always busy with her succession class, Ariel didn’t hold onto her sister.

Elysia kissed Ariel’s forehead shortly to show how she was as disappointed as her little sister was.

“….”

Looking at Ariel, who was disappointed, Elysia regained her composure and got out of bed.

Then she left Ariel’s room and walked through the bright hallway.

Around this time, the male protagonist was caught by the Duke of Valtine in the novel.

The year Ariel turned nine, the season when the leaves on the branches began to fall.

‘If my prediction were right, he would have brought Eden around this time.’

Eden who lost his memory.

To be exact, the Duke of Valtine commissioned the wizard tower to erase his memory.

Elysia looked over the window in the hallway.

As Ariel said, the flowers that should have bloomed in autumn drooped and withered because she overwatered them. Elysia watched as the leaves fell between the withered flowers.

Elysia, who moistened her dry lips with her tongue due to the dry air, hurried her steps.

* * * 

Elysia, who saw her death at the hand of Eden, the male protagonist in the future, had fallen into deep despair once.

That was why she treated Ariel nicer to change the future.

At first, it was only a simple effort out of courtesy.

Elysia, who was not originally the owner of this body, did not think of Ariel as her own blood-related sister.

Then, it was her and Ariel’s biological mother who made Elysia have a change of heart in an instant. Isabella, their mother, had to suffer from a chronic illness after giving birth to Elysia.

Since Ariel was born from such a weak body, it was natural for Isabella to pass away early.

Despite her shortness of breath, Isabella held Elysia’s hand tightly and forced herself to continue talking.

-I’m sorry I have to leave you two, but I’m glad you’re not alone.

Isabella, who cared and loved her daughters more than anyone else, worried about her children until she died.

-Ariel, listen to your big sister well…

She was worried about how her young children would have to endure a lot without her on their side.

-Elysia. Mother is not strong enough, so I can’t hold…. it anymore. Mother is… sorry.

Isabella closed her eyes after saying that.

It was all thanks to Isabella that Elysia maintained her least sanity after entering another person’s body.

Without knowing that her real daughter had disappeared, Isabella devoted herself to Elysia. Each time, Elysia felt deeply guilty for Isabella, even though she knew it wasn’t her fault.

That was why Elysia couldn’t pretend not to hear her last wish. At the same time, she couldn’t help but shower affection on Ariel, the daughter of a woman who loved Elysia generously.

Therefore, Elysia returned the love she received to Ariel entirely, or she could say more than she had received from Isabella.

So that Ariel wouldn’t be hungry for affection.

In the original work, Ariel was so thirsty for family affection that Elysia thought her deprivation of family’s love was too much.

Ariel wanted to be recognized by her father even after her father extorted her power under the pretext of training.

It was Elysia who laughed at the foolish Ariel.

Elysia treated Ariel, who struggles to be loved by the man who drove her mother to death, like a mentally ill person.

‘The most important thing to be careful about is Eden…’

If the wicked woman like Elysia didn’t bother Eden and Ariel, she wouldn’t be trapped in such a big mess.

Of course, the most fundamental problem was where the Duke of Valtine kept Eden captive.

In the original book, Duke Valtine left Eden with two types of restraints and left him unattended all the time.

With shackles that restricted his movement and restraints that suppressed his mana.

Judging from the mana restraints, it was clear that Duke Valtine was sure that Eden would bloom into a wizard.

It was great to have recognized Eden’s talent at such an early age, but kidnapping a child because of his greed was another thing.

On top of that, he wasn’t just any child; He was a prince from another country.

‘What if a war really breaks out?’

Although he wasn’t a prince with the right to inherit the throne, Eden was the second prince of the Seimond Royal Family.

In the original story, Elysia, along with the Duke of Valtine, was executed for attempting to kidnap the blood of the Seimond family and for trying to seek a reason to start a war.

Having read Elysia’s execution scene, it was evident that Eden was a Seimond Royal Family.

‘I think he has a real name, too.’

Though Elysia couldn’t remember Eden’s real name exactly after it came to her mind.

The Duke of Valtine was also concerned that Eden was a part of the royal family; therefore, he did his best to hide Eden’s identity.

His deliberate action was proved when the servants who were in charge of bringing Eden and the knights who guarded where Eden was held captive were dead.

All of them couldn’t hold back their itchy mouths and gave up their lives after spilling Eden’s whereabouts to others.

The more Elysia thought about it, the more problems could possibly arise.

“And then what? If they could have just waited, he would run away anyway.’

In contrast to the Duke’s waiting, Eden escaped a few years later.

He managed to escape because the wizard tower magically erased the Duke’s memory.

At first thought, they seemed to have helped Eden, but in reality, the goal of the wizard tower was no different from the Duke of Valtine.

To use the legacy left by the Great Wizard Meldion a long time ago, the wizard tower would need the blood and mana of Eden, who turned out to be a descendant of Meldion.

The hardships faced by Ariel began after Eden disappeared.

It was because he suddenly flourished Ariel into a wizard.

The Duke of Valtine, just like the Seimond family, was also one of the descendants who inherited Meldion’s blood.

Meldion’s blood and mana.

As Ariel blossomed into a wizard, the conditions needed for using Meldion’s legacy were obtained.

Contrary to his expectations, however, Ariel couldn’t use the legacy because she lacked the ability as a wizard.

The Duke of Valtine, who saw red because of Ariel, who could not use power, forced her into training that anyone would say how close it was to torture.

One day, when Ariel’s wounds were getting better, Eden, who became the owner of the wizard tower after defeating the previous owner, returned to the Duke of Valtine and tried to take her with him.

However, since the Duke of Valtine didn’t want to let Ariel go, Eden exposed his crime of trying to start a war, resulting in the Duke to be executed for what he did in the past.

In addition, he didn’t hesitate to take his revenge by taking the trouble of being the executioner of the Duke of Valtine and Elysia himself.

The original Elysia remained confident enough until the moment she died that it remained strong in the reader’s memory.

‘I don’t have such confidence.’

Let alone confidence, she already felt relieved if she didn’t feel distressed with her situation.

Elysia, who was recalling the contents of the original work, gradually felt sore on her legs.

The annex where Eden was quite far from the main building.

It was a difficult distance for Elysia, who practically lived sitting on a chair all day long.

“Phew….”

A small annex came into Elysia view as she sighed.

As she got closer, the exterior of the annex became clearer.

Then at one point, Elysia hid behind the tree because she saw a knight in front of the annex.

‘Right, there’s no way that the Duke doesn’t put a guard.’

Elysia had predicted it right.

She didn’t expect to see Eden right away.

Initially, Elysia came today not to see Eden but to look at the knight’s face who would be guarding in front of the annex.

Elysia persistently looked at the knight’s face for a while.

“….”

As she was sure that she memorized the knight’s face roughly, Elysia returned to the path she came from without regret.

With the thought of coming again at a different time tomorrow.

* * * 

Although Elysia seemed relaxed on the outside, the truth was she wasn’t inside.

It was because she knew that the more time she took, the more difficult it would be for Eden.

Elysia, the villainess of ‘Prison where Ariel was locked up’, was only able to meet Eden a year later.

This was because Duke Valtine hid Eden’s existence from his children.

“Get out of my way.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Elysia spoke in a stern tone to the maids who blocked the front gate of the main building.

The maids, who were sweeping fallen leaves and blooming amid the dead flowers, were surprised by the voice of her small master that came from below.

Elysia immediately passed between the two maids when the wall blocking her way made room for her to walk.

At a glance, to the maid who apologized, Elysia had a stern frown on her fine forehead.

She looked upset.

“Miss Elysia isn’t angry, right…?”

After all, finding a decent job in the Duke’s mansion, Cellendid’s estate, was as difficult as digging and discovering gold coins.

“They are going to write a letter of recommendation for us anyway. Why are you so scared?”

The maid snorted and said.

So far, all servants that Elysia didn’t seem to like had received at least a recommendation letter if they got laid off.

They had to move to another’s estate, but it wasn’t such a big problem since they didn’t lose their job at all.

‘She is still young, but she has that much power.’

When Elysia’s mother, Isabella, was alive, she couldn’t even make a sound and acted obediently.

At some point, Elysia caught the Duke’s attention and was appointed to be in charge of the overall management of the servants and maids.

All of the servants didn’t understand the Duke of Valtine at all.

It didn’t matter if she was the first daughter; Elysia was only 12 years old.

They couldn’t believe he gave his daughter the right to lead the house management while she still had a long way to become an adult.

As a result, all of the servants who ignored Isabella and her daughters in the past shivered when they met Elysia’s eyes.

“Really? Then, should I write one for you?”

“Eek!”

The maid, who felt their inside twisting, was surprised by the youthful voice and flinched instantly.

They were flustered because they didn’t know Elysia would hear what they were saying.

“N-No! No, Miss! We did wrong!”

Instead of the person who made fun of her with her mouth, the maid next to her hurriedly apologized. Elysia stared at the maid, who apologized to her.

When the child’s round eyes looked at her fiercely, the maid was greatly shaken.

“It hasn’t been long since you’ve worked here?”

“What? Yes, yes! That’s right. Since last year….”

“And you… worked here since my mother was alive.”

“….”

Knowing that Elysia was bringing out the topic of Isabella, the maid closed her mouth again this time.

“I think you should pack your things, right?”

That maid was the one she had been eyeing on, but today seemed to be the right opportunity.

Elysia smiled with a noble face and unilaterally notified the maid of her dismissal, who had missed Isabella’s bath preparation several times in the past.

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