Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 19

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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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#19.

Dominic hastily tried to change the subject.
“That matter can wait until I’ve prepared further with my Aide.”
“I’m afraid not. I’m already in discussions with other potential sponsors. You should have responded more quickly.”
Watching her flash an innocent smile while her eyes gleamed with cunning, my irritation flared. So this was what they meant by shameless.
There had been a moment when I was briefly captivated by her beautiful face and advantageous position, but that was all it had ever been.
‘I should never have accepted such an absurd arrangement from the start.’
By indulging her presumptuous demand for an engagement, I’d left myself vulnerable to future complications. I’d allowed a commoner to believe herself equal to the Royal Family.
Finally losing patience, Dominic decided to teach her a lesson about knowing her place.
“You act as though something remarkable has happened simply because I’ve deigned to humor a commoner like you.”
“I do remember when your mood was injured.”
After promising a transactional engagement, he’d been too occupied with duties to ever truly make time for her, treating Octavia as though she were invisible.
At the ball, he’d asked another woman to dance instead of her, leaving her abandoned and humiliated throughout the evening.
In the novel’s telling, Dominic appeared a pitiable man ensnared by a villainess’s wealth, while Octavia seemed a fitting villain deserving her fate—but the reality for the person involved must have been utterly miserable.
The power of a skewed narrative is truly terrifying.
“You should have shown restraint. After going this far, do you expect me to believe this wasn’t emotional retaliation?”
At his accusation, she lifted her chin with aristocratic pride.
“No, I have absolutely no interest in you, Your Highness.”
“That sort of—”
“It’s not a strategy to feign disinterest either.”
How predictable. The lines that spill from male leads’ mouths are always so tiresome.
I stared at him with wide eyes.
“Surely you don’t think you’re more attractive than the Admiral? Your self-regard is quite remarkable.”
Dominic rose from his seat and seized Octavia’s shoulder as she continued to interrupt him.
“You demanded the unreasonable price of an engagement, yes, but because you’ve provided considerable assistance, I’ve tolerated your insolence.”
Octavia brushed his hand away lightly.
“You tolerate me out of gratitude for my help? No—you tolerate me because you need something from me.”
The reason he alternated between threats and honeyed words whenever they were alone was transparent.
“And your claim that I ‘demanded’ something is misleading. I elevated your position enough to change the line of succession itself. In comparison…”
Octavia lowered her voice and offered a gracious smile.
“An engagement is hardly a demand—it’s charity. Yet you haven’t even fulfilled that obligation faithfully, and you unilaterally announced our separation. By any measure of transaction, that’s breach of contract.”
The original Octavia wasn’t unintelligent.
She’d simply made foolish choices due to emotional immaturity.
In another light, she’d been naive enough to fall for his flattery and false hope.
But she was different now.
“Since it was always such a fragile arrangement, shouldn’t what was lent be returned?”
What Dominic feared most was descending back to his former position.
Just as she’d anticipated, his expression began to harden.
“Do you want me to truly despise you?”

Unfavorability increased [+130]

You think you can persuade me with such feeble hatred that doesn’t even reach four figures?
And you lack any utility compared to Kelsedny Admiral. She tilted her head, resting her hand against her cheek with a smile.
“You’re doing wonderfully. I’d be grateful if you continued.”
How contemptible—that he sought material support from her while demanding emotional support from Chloe, like some shameless opportunist.
I intended to strip everything from him, piece by piece.
If I took it all at once and drove him to the edge of the cliff, the losses would outweigh the gains for me as well.
“Then please return safely.”
She placed a gold button on the table and smiled shyly.
“Would you deliver this to the Admiral on my behalf? Since it’s a uniform button, it would be best to return it quickly.”
The button on the table was from Kelsedny Admiral’s uniform.
Dominic’s brow furrowed deeply as he grasped her deceptive intent.

***

As I was about to return to Uncle’s House, I encountered Father in the corridor.

♥Favorability increased♥ [+2,000]

Oh, how troublesome.
Seeing my distressed expression, Father rubbed the back of his neck and retrieved something from his pocket to hand to me.
“It’s a keepsake from your mother. I thought it was time to give it to you.”
It was an ornate bracelet made of pale violet mana stone, a shade similar to my eye color.
“It’s a mana stone that shares my magical power and knowledge. You should be able to use most of the equipment and items our family has created.”
Like abilities and alchemy, magitech equipment requires mana as an energy source to function, much like electronic devices.
Moreover, since the alchemical formations within equipment are crafted using formulas unique to the designer, usage rights were sometimes necessary. Otherwise, anyone could simply copy them.
To put it another way, I had just been granted partial usage rights to company property.
Father had created this bracelet for Mother after she lost her divine abilities, and during her lifetime, she used it to help those in need.
“What if I do something wicked with this? Summon a chaos demon or something…”
“I’m not worried. To someone without abilities, it’s merely a simple catalyst.”
He explained the facts in a calm tone.
Since receiving this bracelet was one of my objectives anyway, I didn’t refuse outright.
‘In the original story, Octavia secretly took that bracelet and family secrets to use for Prince Dominic.’
During her school days, Octavia had been clever enough to make the Prince top of his class.
Through this, one could see that academic intelligence and social intelligence were different things.
“Father, I’m truly grateful… wait.”

Current total disfavor [520]

I’d overdone the favor-gaining acts, and it seemed I’d stayed home too long.
“Don’t mistake this for thinking our relationship will improve because of something like this.”
I deliberately spoke harsh words and fled the room.
‘Father, I’ll gather enough disfavor to share a meal with you before I return.’
I’d need to accumulate at least fifty thousand disfavor…

***

A few days later, at the Acedia Royal Palace.
I arrived at the Acedia Royal Palace earlier than the scheduled tea time.
My purpose was to stop by Admiral Kelsedny’s Quarters and recharge my supply of his disdain.
“My lady, what brings you here?”
“I have an appointment with the Admiral.”
“I haven’t received any notice of that, but let me report to him first—”
Beyond the gatekeeper at the entrance, I could see the Admiral seated in the garden, dressed in a shirt with sleeve garters, sipping tea.
“Admiral, I’m here!”
I called out to him with a bright wave, and only then did he glance in my direction. His expressionless face paused mid-sip, and he gave a slight nod of his chin.
“Come in quickly, then.”
“Yes? Wait—”
Uncertain whether his ambiguous gesture meant to let me through or turn me away, I simply slipped past the bewildered gatekeeper and stepped inside.
“Hello.”
The Admiral, who sat cross-legged at the tea table, slowly lifted his gaze to regard me.
Beneath his slightly disheveled black hair, his murky eyes and the deep shadows beneath them suggested he’d spent last night drinking heavily as well.
“Did you arrive home safely that night?”
He set down his teacup, regarding my smile with an indifferent stare.
What filled the pristine porcelain cup was, unsurprisingly, alcohol.
A bottle of liquor sat on the table as well.
‘Is he an alcoholic lunatic who drinks spirits instead of morning tea at his age?’
What could possibly trouble him so deeply at such a young age?
“Yes.”
The alcohol-addled, decadent handsome man uttered that single indifferent word and rose from his seat.
As he headed toward his room, he glanced back at me following close behind.
“Aren’t you going?”
“I am going. To your room.”
I watched his brow furrow slightly as I added:
“I thought we could talk.”
“I have nothing to say.”
“Well, I have plenty to say, so that works out. You can just listen.”
He regarded me as one might look at a loach—not a spear that pierces all things, but a creature that ghostlike finds every crack and slips through.
Earnestly here to harvest his disdain, I stood confidently before his door.
“May I come in?”
“No.”
“Are you worried about what people will say? Everyone already knows about us—”
At that moment, the sound of someone’s voice and footsteps echoed from down the corridor. The Admiral abruptly opened the door and pushed me inside.
Thud.
The door closed with a heavy silence settling over everything.
I stood with my back pressed firmly against the shut door, my eyes darting cautiously about.
Directly ahead was an impressive chest, leaving nowhere for my gaze to rest.
As I turned my head, acutely aware of the difference in our builds, a firm arm came into view, nearly brushing against my cheek.
He stood with one hand braced against the door, gazing down at me in silence.
‘Is he genuinely embarrassed? He does seem like a conservative man, after all.’
Beneath his lowered eyelids, his eyes—dark as a night sky—grew even more shadowed.
After a long stretch of silence, exchanging only our breathing, he exhaled words like a sigh.
“So, what brings you here today?”
“You, Admiral. You said you’d accept my proposal—that you only want my body?”
My answer tumbled out like an automated response, and he lifted his gaze, looking somewhere past the wall beside us.
Then he fixed me with an expression as if confronting catastrophe itself.
“…In broad daylight?”
Of course, I hadn’t come seeking passionate hours in the middle of the day, yet Kelsedny Admiral’s lips had already drawn taut, as though he’d accepted exactly that.
“Are you perhaps fearless?”
“Why? Is there something to fear?”
“I thought you understood the Royal Family well.”
Indeed, nights with the Royal Family seemed to carry something extraordinary.
Along with corresponding risks, it appeared.

…▒▒, ▒▒ contact increases value

Target – Kelsedny Decart

I wonder if dragonflies are included among those garbled characters too. I’m genuinely curious.
The sexy man, who’d just delivered a sophisticated flirtation that stirred the mad scientist within me, suddenly seized my wrist.
His dark eyes, streaked with gold, bore into the violet bracelet encircling my wrist.
A sharp crackle.
As if resonating with something, golden light suddenly erupted from the violet magic stone of the bracelet.
“What is this?”
I looked up at the Admiral in surprise. The gold that had rimmed his pupils now completely consumed his irises.
His golden eyes, which had been staring blankly into empty space, turned toward me.
A gaze brimming with suppressed longing seemed to slowly tighten around my throat.

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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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