I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 30

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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 30

The day of the final confrontation had arrived.
Though I’d predictably lost sleep the night before, thanks to having been unconscious for two days, my condition was mercifully not as bad as it might have been.
I inspected the Mansion’s ravaged state from early dawn onward.

“Ted, do we happen to have any thick curtains in the Storage Room?”
“We have the Velvet Curtains from winter, sir. There are three colors—black first, and then…….”
“Yes, hang those for me.”

The thin Silk Curtain hanging on the large window of the Reception Room was unsuitable for concealment.
The worn Carpet laid carelessly across the floor, and the barren landscape without a single decorative piece, had strayed a good ten paces from any semblance of luxury.
I glanced surreptitiously out the window.

‘As expected, people are gathering now that it’s past midday.’

Even the finest tea prepared on the table—everything was unfolding exactly according to my plan.
Everything except for one thing.

“Did you understand what I said?”
“That’s the fifth time you’ve said the same thing, Young Lady.”

Which also meant it was the fifth time he’d dodged giving a straight answer.
When I knitted my brow, the man who’d been standing at an angle straightened his posture.

“Except in cases where an unexpected situation demands a response, stay hidden and keep absolutely still—buried in this ridiculously thick curtain so you won’t even be visible from the Garden.”
“Yes.”
“Simple instructions like that only need to be given once for me to understand them.”

The man swept his gaze across my furrowed brow and broke into a grin.
Then he abruptly leaned forward to subtly close the distance, so I stepped back just slightly.

“But, Young Lady.”
“Mm?”

By now I couldn’t even be bothered to respond properly.
So I was about to brush it off with a vague murmur—a trick I’d found invaluable in navigating social situations—when he spoke.

“Looking at the desolate state of the Mansion and your current expression…… it seems you have some purpose beyond simply receiving a guest.”

His smile faded slightly, and the lines between my brows deepened.
Until yesterday, he’d made no show of such doubts; and now he chose to voice them right before the operation began.

‘He’s doing this deliberately to make me uncomfortable. The treacherous bastard.’

He’s always smiling, but I’ve learned to recognize how ominous those gleaming eyes can be.
Yet soon Baron would arrive, and I had no way of knowing what danger awaited me.
So for now, there was nothing to do but evade.

“That would simply be your imagination.”
“Ah, or perhaps the Crown Prince favors such gloomy aesthetics? Though, of course, you’d know him better than I would.”

No matter what I said, he kept steering the conversation back to Baron.
As my left eyebrow twitched, he winked with his right eye.

“Having been born and raised in the Empire, naturally I would know better than you.”

“I confess I’m not well versed in such customs, but is it the tradition of the Empire for an unmarried young lady to conduct Martial Arts Training with an assassin in the dead of night?”
“The women of Cargen certainly have spirit, don’t they?”

I filed away several of his remarks—the sort of thing that would come from a foreigner’s lips, not those of an Empire native.
Whether or not my effort was wasted, the man let out a soft laugh.

“That would be true. Compared to you, Young Lady, I’m rather ignorant about this place.”

He seemed to have recalled something amusing; a flicker of genuine pleasure crossed his face.

‘Now’s the moment.’

I couldn’t afford to squander this softened demeanor and the momentum that had loosened between us.
For a Possessor, everything hinged on timing when extracting information.

“Yet you slip out so often. I heard you went out even while I was asleep.”
“However ignorant I may be of Cargen’s ways, I know at least a face or two that’s worth showing.”
“So those outings are to meet those people?”
“Sometimes. Other times I simply wander about alone, trying to remain inconspicuous to prying eyes.”
“Do those people know about your situation?”
“That, I couldn’t say. If they did, wouldn’t they think me mad?”

For some reason, the man answered my questions with frank honesty.

‘Does he have no allies?’

If he did, it would only multiply the number of threats I’d need to reckon with.
I took some comfort in that thought, but I was already pushing forward, eager to extract whatever else I could in this moment of advantage.

“Have they arrived?”

The man turned his head toward the door as he spoke. The instant he did, heavy footsteps echoed from beyond the Reception Room door—multiple sets, measured and deliberate.
The thin veil of unease that had cloaked my heart suddenly tightened, crushing down like a vice.

“Quickly—hide!”

I lunged forward in panic, reaching out frantically.
I meant to push him behind the Velvet Curtain that lay neatly folded in the corner.

“Don’t worry.”

His cold hand closed gently around mine, slick with sweat.
Even since I’d woken, I’d noticed his hands were always cold.
Yet the smile he wore held the warmth of spring sunlight.

“Whatever your true purpose is, I’ll cooperate.”

He leaned close, murmuring the words so softly they barely reached my ear, then released my hand.
As that cool sensation receded, I felt an inexplicable flush of embarrassment and looked away.

‘He certainly knows how to talk.’

The moment he stepped back, a heavy knock sounded from behind me.

“The Crown Prince has arrived.”

I needed to turn before the Reception Room door opened, but my feet refused to move.
The face of Baron—as I’d seen him in the Funeral Hall, and in the dreams that followed.

‘Still…….’

I stared at the curtain, which didn’t look remotely thick enough to conceal a sturdy man.

‘Surely he won’t die from this.’

I clenched my fists as though gripping the lingering chill from my fingertips, then turned around.
And I came face to face with Baron, who stepped into the Reception Room without hesitation.
Behind him, moving with the steady, measured stride of someone following a predetermined path, I could see Ted with a tense expression and three knights.

―He can’t tear me to pieces, after all.

I’d momentarily forgotten in the midst of my clash with that man.
Forgotten why I’d applied pale powder this morning to make my complexion even whiter, why I’d had Mary spread word throughout the neighborhood of the Crown Prince’s visit, why I’d had that worn Carpet laid down for his eyes to pass over.
The moment Baron’s gaze began to rise, I hastily lowered my head.

“I greet the Empire’s little sun.”

My trembling hands gripping my skirts in a proper curtsy wasn’t calculation—it was the reflexive response my body had learned over five years.
But what overwhelmed that reflexive motion was fear.

‘I don’t have the courage to face him.’

It felt as though my empty throat was closing.
I couldn’t find the nerve to confront what expression Baron was wearing now, what words he might speak to me—to turn away from any of it.
Was it the moment I thought that far?

“Curious. All the formality, then.”

Even after slowly counting to five in my mind, I couldn’t straighten my back.
At that single careless remark from Baron, my body went rigid.

‘Ah.’

Suddenly, forgotten memories from the past surfaced.
Roselina and Baron, whom I’d thought were simply staring at each other like a cow and a chicken, waiting for the game to begin.

‘But she at least went through the motions of such courtesies when I was around.’

It meant that, at the very least, in my presence, the Possessor hadn’t openly committed such rudeness.
But if this display of propriety struck him as noteworthy…….

‘Then there’s a connection between these two people that I don’t know about?’

It would mean the Possessor behaved shamelessly regardless of whether the other party was the Empire’s Crown Prince or the true power behind the aristocracy.
I’d suspected as much, but having it confirmed now made the blood drain from my face.

“I heard your body was injured—you look so wretched I’m sorry to keep you standing. Sit.”

Had it not been for Baron’s following words, I would have forgotten to raise my head.
Even as I slowly found my seat and sat, my gaze remained fixed on the floor.

‘He stops caring the moment Roselina’s demeanor changes?’

And something, many things, felt deeply wrong.
It was good that my dark premonition had missed the mark, but this—this was wrong.

“The last time I saw her, that is, at the Funeral Hall.”

His voice was flat and measured.
A stable tone—one in which not even the slightest tremor could be detected beneath the firmly compressed anger.

“I lost my reason and committed a grave offense against the Young Lady.”

Naturally, it differed somewhat from how he used to address me, Bianca.
But I knew Baron’s public demeanor well enough. He never lost his composure, he refrained from blunt statements, and his tone remained invariably measured.
That was precisely what he was doing now.
And that was truly unsettling.

“Grief over losing a cherished friend so suddenly clouded my judgment. The rudeness I showed the Young Lady continues to weigh on my mind.”

In the atmosphere thick with self-reproach, I found myself frozen in place.

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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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