I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 3

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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 3

“Sigh…….”

I don’t even have the strength to pull my gaze down from the empty air.
Right now I’m sitting alone in the Imperial Carriage with a blank expression on my face.

―Take the Young Lady to the Marquis Household at once.

Baron said it casually, as though the weight he’d pressed on my shoulders meant nothing at all.
Like a man to whom nothing had just happened.

‘Could I have misheard? Maybe I was in shock and hallucinating.’

In five years of living in Bianca Bardencia’s body, I’d never seen anything like that from him.

‘No matter how much I insist I’m not Bianca, that kind of attitude is still too extreme.’

The killing intent I’d felt radiating from Baron just moments ago was so vicious it gave me goosebumps all over.
If I let slip something only the two of us know, I’d surely be accused of being some cunning Evil Noblewoman daring to impersonate a dead princess—and meet the same end.
I’d played through the Game before Transmigration and experienced every ending, but there wasn’t a single route where words like those ever came from Baron’s mouth.

‘Even when the Heroine Roselina Mesh escaped and he lost his mind, all that happened was his own destruction.’

Then suddenly the scenery outside the window grated on me.
The landscape shifted moment by moment at the edge of my vision, which had been fixed blankly on empty space.
I irritably reached out and yanked the carriage curtain shut.
Then a hand smaller and paler than a princess’s came into view.

‘I’m going to lose my mind.’

Even having escaped that suffocating scene, nothing becomes clear!
Why did I―
Bianca Bardencia
―die? Why did I become Roselina Mesh? Why do Older Brother and Baron oppose me―
Roselina Mesh
―so?”

I wrapped my aching head in both hands and curled my body into itself.

‘If there’s one reason Older Brother disapproves of Roselina, it’s just that.’

He often asked me why I kept company with a Young Lady from such a lowly house.
And truth be told, that was a question Father had raised too, along with other nobles—even Baron himself had mentioned it.

‘But how could something so trivial make him this angry?’

Baron’s reaction in particular was excessive.
It wasn’t the first or second time I’d encountered Baron while I was with Roselina.
Every time, Baron and Roselina exchanged not a single word.
Rather than seeming hostile, they simply appeared indifferent to each other—as though they had no interest in one another whatsoever.
I’d assumed it was just because Baron was the main love interest being pushed by the developers, and the Game hadn’t started yet.

‘But what did he mean about finding me once the situation settles?’

I raked my fingers through my hair with both small, delicate hands, mussing it up thoroughly.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

I was so furious I thought tears would burst out of me.
I’d dodged the engagement to the Crown Prince that could only end in catastrophe, avoided all the cruelty I’d been prone to since childhood, steered clear of conflict with everyone around me — and for what?

‘I was supposed to drop the hollow, stupid act and just live in leisure, so why in the hell is this happening?’

This was the future I’d spent five years building.
My future.
Not some default setting the Evil Noblewoman just happened to be handed.

‘But wait.’

Now that I thought about it, I’d been forgetting the most important thing all along.

‘If I became Roselina Mesh, then what about that person?’

All at once, I remembered that person who’d left this place a fortnight ago.

* * *

The scene shifts back two years — the third year of my Transmigration.
Everything had been going smoothly.
I was playing the role of a dutiful daughter, a beloved younger sister, a trustworthy friend — successfully training everyone around me to my hand.
And yet I couldn’t shake an underlying dread.

‘Usually in Transmigration stories, there’s some guy working his charm on the Heroine.’

Worse, in this Game, the Heroine was implicated in every single one of the Evil Noblewoman’s deaths.
Through the Crown Prince, through other nobles, through grand public accusation — the list went on.
Of course, if I just didn’t play the villain the way the Game wanted, none of it would matter.
But back then, I’d grown complacent in my smooth sailing life. I thought I could control every situation.
A year had passed since I’d found Roselina Mesh living alone in that Remote Forest Mansion and taken her under my care.
It was around the time when Roselina, who’d been terribly taciturn, began speaking to me of her own accord.
That quiet sense of triumph — finally befriending the Heroine who posed a real threat to my survival — was intoxicatingly sweet.
That day too, I smiled and offered her tea.

“You’ve undergone Transmigration too, haven’t you?”

The teacup in my hand clattered to the floor in spectacular fashion.
Crash.
Only then did I notice Roselina Mesh sitting with her legs splayed wide open.
And wearing the Miss Merry First Half Collection Dress I’d given her, no less.

“Don’t ask how I knew. The way you act — it’d be stranger if a Transmigrator didn’t see through you.”

Even as her vocabulary had expanded, this was the longest sentence I’d ever heard her speak.
I remained frozen in the exact posture I’d held when dropping the teacup, completely stunned.
And then it hit me. You too?
You’ve also undergone Transmigration?

“Roselina Mesh — you’ve been Transmigrated too?!”

How had I felt in that moment?
Yes, it was like finding an ally in enemy territory — I’d been delirious with joy.
The problem was that joy didn’t last long.

“What? Shit — you’re telling me I’m connected to that red-eyed bastard?”
“But I think the narrative can be changed. If we keep looking…….”
“Ugh! This is infuriating! Tell me—is there really no way to go back?”
“I’ve looked into it, but……”
“Of course you don’t know! That’s why we’re stuck like this! Damn it!”

Roselina—or rather, the transmigrated woman inhabiting her body—had stopped listening to me through to the end of my sentences ever since dropping her act.
She claimed she’d never played this Game before. She’d only stumbled upon it after her sister installed it; she’d never even logged in until now.
So I’d spent considerable effort explaining this Game’s world to her.
Though I’d been thorough in concealing that I was the evil noblewoman.

“Mmh.”

She’d listened to my explanation in silence, then casually hooked one leg up onto the table.

“And right now, the Game hasn’t even started yet.”
“So you’re saying you don’t know what’ll happen when it does?”

Her sharp gaze swept the room as she began bouncing the leg propped on the table with irritating restlessness.
The careless motion sent the desserts and teacup trembling across the surface.

“Everything you know right now is about what happens after the Game starts.”
“That’s true.”
“Which means it’s useless to me right now. So how do I get back?”
“Honestly, in the beginning I tried everything I could get my hands on without discrimination. But as you can see, it failed. There’s a spiritual practice called Litol here, similar to a good, and I tried that too.”
“Wow, and you actually believed in that? You’re not just ordinarily stupid!”

She pointed at me mockingly and burst into raucous laughter. After laughing for a long stretch, she choked on her own mirth and coughed.
Then she gulped down the now-cold tea like cheap rice wine before speaking with sudden gravity.

“But you.”

Her voice had dropped considerably lower than before.
I raised my left eyebrow, barely containing the fury bubbling up inside me.
She mirrored the gesture, raising her own left eyebrow, and laughed.

“You’re the villain, aren’t you?”
“……What?”
“Do you even own a mirror? The way your mouth moves, you look like you’d spit out dialogue like ‘Shall I have you killed this instant?'”

Saying this, she rose from her seat.
Her beautiful face twisted into a smile that was anything but kind.

“All this time, you’ve paid off the Marquis Household’s debts, retrieved a fortune from that uncle of mine, even funded my living expenses. And yet you’ve always seemed so desperate to keep me happy, fawning over me constantly. Always bringing gifts.”

With exaggerated gestures accompanying her words, she fixed her eyes on mine and spoke with force.

“You’re absolutely desperate to stay in my good graces, aren’t you?”

It was phrased as a question, but she wasn’t asking because she needed my answer.
She was certain of it.

“Now I get it. Why you tried so hard. If I’m the heroine and you’re the villain, the pieces fit perfectly, you know?”
“……”
“It’s too much to brush off as just meddling. Even kindness has its limits before it stops looking like virtue.”

Watching her chatter away with evident delight, I felt my head splitting with tension.

‘What kind of thug is this?’

The shock was justified.
In five years, not a single character had deviated from my expectations the way she just had.
But when the Evil Noblewoman in the Game was executed, I was the one who even restored my relationship with the Duke—who had said he felt relief despite her being his own child.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I answered with deliberate mockery, and her brow creased sharply.

“Unless you and I clash directly, I don’t even appear in the Game. Besides, even the worst punishment they dish out is nothing more than a fine.”

But every word that left my mouth was a lie, however bold my posture seemed.
No matter how much we shared the same predicament, there was no reason to reveal my weakness to such a volatile opponent.

“Oh, then what about this?”

The problem was her eyes—they gleamed without losing their brightness in response to my attitude.

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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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