A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 49
We had reached the point where parting ways was all that remained.
“Well then, Marquis, I’ll see you later….”
“Just a moment, Princess.”
Sezare gently grasped my wrist. Then he took a finger food from a passing attendant and placed it in my mouth. It was a refreshing, slightly tangy apple mint crêpe.
“Oh? It’s delicious!”
I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was.
“The mint flavor is quite pleasant, isn’t it? It’s the finest finger food served at Royal Court banquets.”
Sezare spoke as he gently wiped away a few crumbs from my lips.
“After dancing, you might grow hungry, so I wanted to offer you something delicious right away.”
His phrasing was oddly past-tense. I could only blink while chewing, and Sezare smiled softly.
“I used to frequently imagine dancing with a young woman I admired from afar at a banquet. And all the things I wanted to do afterward.”
Ah, I see. I nodded while swallowing the crêpe. A man as handsome as Sezare surely must have danced with the girl he admired at some point, so perhaps she was a commoner who couldn’t attend banquets, and he could only imagine it.
“Now, your throat might be dry, so have some soda water as well.”
After drinking the soda water Sezare offered, I felt wonderful.
When I was younger, even though I attended banquets, I would often sneak away to the Ducal Residence before dancing. So after dancing, I never even noticed if I was hungry or thirsty.
“Would you care to try this as well? It appears to be a caramel cookie, with salt added to enhance the flavor.”
“Oh, yes. Please.”
Sezare himself ate nothing, but watched me with a pleased expression as I consumed what he offered.
After enjoying some refreshments that way, I waved goodbye to Sezare first. I had somewhere I needed to be.
“Well then, Marquis, I’ll really see you later.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Sezare gave a light nod.
“It’s time for me to wake from this dream now.”
I ignored his cryptic words, turned around, and strode across the Banquet Hall with long steps.
By the time I had walked far enough that Sezare was no longer visible behind me, someone suddenly approached.
“Lady Kiana.”
The person who spoke to me gently as I walked was none other than Avian in his uniform.
“Would you perhaps care to dance the next dance with me?”
It was a polite and courteous dance request.
“Yes? Oh….”
Strange, Avian here?
I glanced at the clock. I hadn’t anticipated Avian’s dance request, so I felt slightly flustered. However, it would be impolite to refuse a dance request without good reason. So I answered respectfully.
“My stamina is rather weak, so I’d like to rest before dancing again. Would an hour from now work for you instead?”
“That sounds good. Where should we meet an hour from now?”
But before I could answer, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
“Well, well. So the Captain of the 5th Guard is now requesting dances from women.”
It was clearly sarcastic.
“How impressive, truly impressive.”
The man wore the same guard captain’s uniform as Avian. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties? His build was solid and his physique was excellent. Moreover… judging by his badge, he was the Captain of the 1st Guard—the guard unit with the most concentrated power. He had once been the Crown Prince’s personal guard and was also a member of the last hunting picnic.
A faint smell of alcohol already wafted from him. It seemed he’d drunk quite a bit of wine in this short time since the banquet began. He sneered mockingly.
“You ignore your superior’s orders and raid the Club House, and now you’re thinking of getting married?”
At those words, Avian stepped forward with a noticeably flustered expression.
“Captain Nix, what do you mean by that…?”
“What can’t you do? You come from high nobility, so you don’t care about the Guard’s discipline, do you?”
“I didn’t…”
“Didn’t you? You went to the Club House without even reporting to me.”
Nix, the Captain of the 1st Guard, swaggered forward and picked a quarrel.
Typically, the Guard maintains a hierarchy based on ability rather than status. Even commoners could hold higher positions than nobles within the Guard.
Nix, the Captain of the 1st Guard, came from a humble baronial family in the provinces, yet he treated Avian carelessly. As a result, there was now only one noble left within the Guard—and that one person was Avian himself.
Nix muttered quietly.
“To think a woman who abandons discipline and acts so brazenly is merely the shame of Prelai…”
I valued mutual interaction in all matters. So I immediately muttered back.
“I heard that, you fool.”
Silence fell around us in an instant.
Of course, it was Nix who should bow first. I didn’t belong to the Guard. He straightened up and immediately showed me courtesy with a greeting.
“Greetings. It is an honor to meet the beautiful Princess of Prelai.”
But even as he did, he staggered and stepped slightly on my foot. Since I was an elegant princess, I didn’t show displeasure at such a mistake and responded politely.
“Hello, Captain. I’m not particularly pleased to meet the Empire’s incompetent Guard Captain.”
And I added,
“If I’m not mistaken, there’s a rule in the Guard that one must never become drunk under any circumstances. If a criminal were to strike in this situation, you would become the shame of the Guard.”
Then I blinked and clapped my hands once.
“Or perhaps you’d be the shame of Prince Hitten, who appointed you as Captain of the 1st Guard?”
That’s why he’d conducted such a sloppy crackdown on the Club House. Despite Avian doing an excellent job of dismantling it, he still belittled her.
Just as Nix was about to say something with angry eyes, I stomped on his foot with my heel.
“Ahhh!”
He cried out in pain.
“P-Princess? Why on earth…?”
And I was the type to always answer sincerely and kindly when asked for a reason.
“Why does it hurt so much? Because the contact area is small, it hurts more. Pressure is force divided by the area it acts upon.”
Though no one seemed to understand my explanation, I continued while glaring at him with cold eyes.
“This isn’t the Guard barracks.”
And I pressed down harder with my heel on his foot.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
To be honest, I wanted to break his foot right then and there, but the timing wasn’t right. I couldn’t ruin the trap I’d so carefully set just because of this pyramid scheme fool.
‘He’s someone who’ll suffer greatly at the Crown Prince’s hands anyway.’
Nix, the last member of the picnic group, would become the Crown Prince’s first target after some time passes, according to the original story. And now that the Crown Prince had begun his activities far too early, this man could meet his end at any moment. So I graciously offered him just one piece of advice.
“A commoner shouldn’t dare speak of shame to Prelai’s Princess. Do you understand, you shameful Guard Captain?”
Nix cried out but was momentarily at a loss for words. And I cleanly removed my heel from his foot.
“Pathetic.”
My brief but forceful words caused the onlookers around us to stifle their laughter behind their hands.
“I, I….”
Nix stepped closer, and the scent of wine grew more pungent. My stomach suddenly began to churn.
“Ugh….”
I suddenly remembered downing drinks with Grand Cleric Mayer.
I had thought myself perfectly fine afterward, with no hangover to speak of, but the moment the wine’s aroma hit me, it became utterly repulsive. Yet there was nothing I could do about it here, so I swallowed down the nausea with great effort.
“In any case, as the sole Princess of Prelai, did you have something to say to me?”
“….”
“My Grandfather has been so fond of me lately, and oh yes, you wouldn’t know this, but Lea, the editor-in-chief of Lorelai, is also my very close friend.”
“….”
“Come to think of it, even if you had something to say, it would be wise to keep your mouth shut, wouldn’t it? Excellent judgment. I’ll give you praise for that.”
Instead, I tilted my chin upward and stared at Nix expressionlessly for a long moment, mocking him. Watching him merely seethe in silence felt rather satisfying.
“Well then, Avian.”
I spoke to Avian without letting my churning stomach show.
“I’ll see you at Tulip Hall in an hour. I have another appointment now.”
Then I adjusted the red flower ornament resting atop my head and turned to leave.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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