Celebrity Lady - Chapter 21

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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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Celebrity Lady
Chapter 21
“What, you have nothing to say?”
“Then why do you keep blocking my path?”
“I’m not blocking—I’m trying to move aside, but our steps keep overlapping.”
Speaking curtly seemed to make Cedric hesitate at last. I fixed him with a deliberate glare, eyes narrowed.
‘So I’m not that shy girl who blushes and fidgets every time we meet anymore, am I, boy?’
Cedric stared at my expressionless face and spoke.
“Did you apologize to Lilia? Do you have any idea how worried she’s been since you fell in the pond?”
“What? Why would I apologize to Lilia for falling in the pond?”
“You threw yourself in deliberately. The moment I showed interest in Lilia, you got upset. You wanted to make her feel guilty.”
“Huh?”
I was so dumbfounded I could hardly speak.
I let out a hollow laugh, making no effort to hide my disbelief, and replied.
“Listen, Cedric. Don’t you have an overblown sense of self-importance? I’m sorry, but you’re not charming enough for me to risk my life pulling a dramatic stunt like that.”
“…What?”
Cedric blinked slowly before breaking into a scoff.
“So after coming back from the dead you’ve gotten strange, and now you’ve decided to catch my eye using an even more childish method? It’s exactly like you, honestly.”
“…?”
What was he even talking about? When someone’s being this ridiculous, words just fail you.
“Pfft.”
Rather than anger, I found it so absurd that I burst out laughing, which made Cedric’s eyebrows twitch upward.
Well, he came from a good family and had a decent face, so maybe his arrogance was understandable.
‘This woman, boy, has lived a life where far better men than you plague her every hour of every day just to catch a glimpse of her.’
Rich men with ability and looks to match, their perfect builds—their endless messages of pursuit never gave my phone a moment’s rest.
Among them were actors, idols, social media stars, and conglomerate heirs…
Men of middling specs never even got to hand me their business cards, so naturally my standards had soared to the heavens.
‘In that other world, you’d probably be eating school lunches and hanging around PC rooms by now!’
I shook my head slowly and spoke.
“Hmm, I don’t know… After that cold shower, I started having second thoughts, actually. I’m beginning to wonder if you were really the decent guy worth following for seven years.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry to say this, but you’re lacking in every way. Your height is short, your shoulders are nar—”
I puckered my lips in a regretful expression and moved both hands in front of Cedric as if assessing him.
“—row, aren’t they?”
“You. What are you saying right now?”
“Truthfully, I can’t even say your face is strikingly handsome. Your good family background probably helped more than anything?”
Cedric’s mouth slowly fell open.
“Bottom line, there’s nothing worth keeping except your family name. And I’m not exactly falling behind them, so there’s no reason to feel sorry. Apparently your arrogance has shot through the roof just because I followed you around a bit.”
I leaned close to Cedric and whispered.
“Now snap out of it and face reality. If you want me to stay loyal and keep following you around, start exercising and build up your back.”
“Ha…”
Cedric laughed hollowly, clearly shocked by the unexpected insult.
“How dare you insult me? You’re fat, short, and unpopular, yet you—”
“Yeah, you made your point. You’re the one who’s been rudely teasing me about being fat and short all this time.”
The original Rubeteu would have been hurt by such criticism and unable to speak.
‘Right, I’m basically a corpse without self-esteem, so this doesn’t hurt at all~’
I smiled crookedly and added.
“So I was just returning the favor and critiquing your appearance. Why? Can’t you take it?”
Cedric trembled as he watched me mock him so calmly.
“Just get out of here.”
I stepped aside and gestured dismissively with an annoying smile, and Cedric clenched his teeth.
“I get that you want to catch my eye by any means necessary, but that was seriously the worst approach.”
“What are you talking about… How sad. If you need to convince yourself that way, go ahead.”
I let out a mocking laugh, and Cedric finally took a breath, then came down one step in an angry stride.
“Oh!”
That’s when it happened.
On the narrow staircase, Cedric’s shoulder brushed mine, and I lost my balance. My hands flailed as I instinctively reached out.
‘I’m falling!’
But unfortunately, Cedric did not display any chivalry to catch the lady.
“Ah, ah, ah…”
Even so, with my meager athletic ability I managed to catch a couple of steps with my feet as I tumbled backward.
“Ugh!”
Bang!
But the three remaining steps—I slid down them on my rear, smacking each one.
‘Ow, my butt hurts.’
At least I hadn’t gone down from very high. If I’d fallen from higher up, my head would’ve cracked for sure.
I rubbed my aching rear and quickly jerked my head up irritably.
Cedric stood above me, his face full of mockery.
“Wow, how clumsy can you be? Can’t even control your own body.”
“Oh my, Cedric? What’s wrong?”
Then, arriving a beat too late in full makeup and finery, Lilia appeared behind Cedric.
“Lilia, look at her pathetic display. She waddles around and can’t control her own body, then tumbles down the stairs.”
“What? Pfft!”
Cedric mocking, Lilia delighted.
It wasn’t the first time these two had been so perfectly in sync. Rubeteu’s memories held dozens, no, hundreds more scenes just like this.
‘This is annoying. Being mocked by these little brats—I hate this feeling every time.’
I clenched my teeth and was starting to get up.
‘…Huh?’
The Entrance Hall in the distance was opening, and someone was coming inside.
A man who naturally handed his coat to the maid at the entrance and was returning home…
‘What? It’s Victor?’
I quickly looked away from my second brother, Victor, who hadn’t noticed me yet, and turned my head.
‘Why would he come home at this hour out of nowhere?’
My mind raced.
Victor Diolous. My second brother.
As Commander of the Imperial Knight Order, he came home once or twice a year, if that. He lived in the barracks within the Imperial Palace.
He’d spent most of his youth in those barracks, and after marrying, he’d obtained his own residence and become independent.
In other words, in Rubeteu’s forty-five years of life, she had almost no memories of living with Victor.
But still.
‘He’s far better than my first brother.’
Though his manner was curt, Victor was a hundred times better than my eldest brother, Biego.
He never particularly favored the affectionate Lilia, and whenever he came home, he would always give his younger sister a small gift.
‘Plus, he’s a target I’ve been planning to approach!’
I’d already been planning to meet Victor to ask the Crown Prince to back off a little.
But to have just tumbled down the stairs and landed right on my rear—what perfect timing!
This was a gift from the gods themselves!
‘You two are about to witness the triple-award-winning performance of my lifetime—watch me die trying.’
Staring up at Cedric and Lilia, who were still giggling, I slowly pressed my lips together.
An expression like I’m about to cry but holding it back with all my strength. Fluttering eyelids and protruding lips—perfect.
“…It was an accident, wasn’t it, Cedric?”
My voice must have reached him; I felt Victor, who had been standing motionless at the edge of my vision, shift slightly.
“What? You threw yourself backward like an idiot on your own.”
“…”
I said nothing, kept my gaze downcast, and clenched my teeth before letting a single tear drop like a grain of rice fall—plip. Then another, and another, falling endlessly onto the fabric of my dress.
“What… what did I do wrong to deserve this from you? Is it because I was moody just now? You’ve been far worse to me all this time…”
“Stop whining. It’s ugly.”
“Do you hate me that much? Enough to push me down the stairs?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Even if something is wrong with me, Cedric, you… you don’t care at all?”
“You can’t even control your clumsy body and you fell on your own, yet you blame someone else? And listen well—whether something happens to you or not, I won’t bat an eye. So please, stop making a fuss in front of me.”
Excellent! Well done, Cedric! Keep going, more!
“Cedric, someone might hear. Lower your voice.”
Lilia’s voice chimed in with barely suppressed laughter. She seemed delighted by my whining.
“This is too much. I really don’t understand why you two are doing this to me…”
When I slowly lifted my tear-stained face, sure enough—
Victor was approaching me with a darkened expression, his strides purposeful.
I acted as though I’d only now noticed him, and flinched with wide, startled eyes.
“B-Brother?”
Victor stepped in front of me, gripped the stair railing, and spun to face Cedric and Lilia with a glare.
“What are you two doing?”

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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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