I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 5

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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 5

My mind had been elsewhere, so even that light touch sent my body swaying.

‘I’ve grown far too weak!’

This body bore no resemblance whatsoever to the baroness’s frame, so often described in the game as willowy and beautiful.
Staggering like a deflated balloon, I fluttered my arms before barely managing to steady myself.
The sight must have been amusing—a soft laugh drifted from somewhere nearby—while the knight who’d touched my shoulder regarded me with an expression of utter disbelief.

‘It was him?’

I recognized him at once.
Baud. A commoner-born gladiator who had risen to become the crown prince’s own bodyguard.
But setting aside his genuine skill, he was a textbook example of a tyrant to the weak and a coward to the strong—and his reputation for cruelty was well known.

‘The one who used to beat young knights under the guise of training them. He harassed Soldi regularly back then, too.’

And that was far from all.
He had more than once groped the maidservants or slapped their faces for the simple crime of displeasing him.

‘Yet the moment someone stronger appears, he wags his tail like he’d give them his very liver and heart.’

He showed no different courtesy to the Baroness Bardentia.

“Are you not hearing me?”

He never spoke to her with that contemptuous scorn, that dismissive smirk.

‘Right. In his mind, Roselina is equally unworthy of his respect.’

In truth, when I was Bianca, I hadn’t had time to spare worrying about Baud.
Improving relationships with those around me was all that mattered. To put it kindly, I had to play an angel; to be honest, I had to act the part of a guileless fool.
Even as a mere extra, I couldn’t afford to plant seeds of discord with Baud, who moved in Baron’s circle.

‘But now that I’m no longer a Doomed Villainess Baroness, things look rather different.’

I think it’s time I showed this man something.
Why I’d played through this game so many times.

“Listen.”

The baroness in the game had been a remarkably magnetic character.
Aside from her vicious temperament and her schemes against the heroine, whenever she appeared, the masses cried out for justice—a Cathartic Justice Party erupted around her every time.
And I was a doomed player who had chosen not the heroine, but the baroness as her favorite. Already so deeply enamored with her, I found even her minor flaws endearing.
I had skipped through the repetitive romance routes with an unmoved face, but those precious, rare scenes where my favorite appeared—I savored every single one.

“What are you doing?”

Which meant I had thoroughly studied the textbook of her misdeeds—the path that led to death in every single route.

* * *

Soldi Malbon had been in a daze all day since hearing the news that morning.
Baroness Bardentia had been like family to him. He had never flinched from her when she was gaunt from hunger or reeked from lack of bathing—he had only smiled at her.
And now she was dead.
He wept far more bitterly than he had when his father’s abuse drove him into the hands of slave traders.
Even long afterward, he listened to the knights murmuring among themselves and wiped his tears away.

“He didn’t have any chronic illness—for it to happen so suddenly…”
“The baroness’s situation is troubling enough, but if I’m being honest, I’m more concerned about His Highness.”
“It would be a miracle if he’s managing to hold himself together at all.”
“By the way, they say another gang was caught yesterday trying to break into the Imperial Treasury Vault?”
“They still believe that nonsense about gaining the empire if they can seize the vault?”
“Ah, surely nobody actually swallows those old folktales anymore. These days, the younger generation uses ‘cracking the vault’ as slang for grabbing the empire—but really, their aim is obvious enough. Anything that glitters and costs a fortune!”

Not long after, by the Crown Prince’s command, Roselina Mesh was brought to the Baron’s Estate.
Save for Soldi, the knights chattered ceaselessly.

“There’s surely no creature more vicious in this world. How does she not shed a single tear?”
“Vicious? She’s nothing but a beast.”
“We all know how much care the baroness showed her.”

Even as they headed toward the Baron’s Estate, isolated deep in a remote forest, Soldi remained morose.
So when the carriage halted because the road was too treacherous to proceed further, when the carriage door simply swung open, when Roselina descended without anyone’s escort, when she stumbled—he noticed none of it.

“Sir.”

Then, belatedly coming to his senses, he lifted his head.
Her voice was soft as the warm sunlight of spring.
Yet at the same time, there was a heaviness to it, as if something were being deliberately compressed inside.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

Roselina Mesh was glaring at Baud with a coldly rigid expression.
That Baud had a serious character flaw was nothing new.
Yet because an air of unmistakable authority emanated from him, few dared oppose him.

“Since you look baffled, let me explain.”

And now the outcast of high society was meeting that authority head-on.

“You just used physical force against me.”

At Roselina’s sharp accusation, Baud let out a scornful laugh, his tone dripping with mockery.

“Physical force? That’s quite an exaggeration. The baroness wasn’t answering, so I merely poked her to get her attention.”
“So if I’m slow to respond, you have the right to lay hands on me as you please?”

At that, Roselina’s eyes widened with feigned astonishment, and she even covered her mouth with her own hand with disarming grace.

“How ignorant of me. Do the knights of His Highness the Crown Prince also receive authorization to touch others’ bodies without restraint?”

At the mention of his master, Baud flinched, then gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath.

“…There’s no way that’s true. It was merely an accident—let’s not make a fuss and just go inside.”

Watching his jaw tighten, she shook her head slowly.

“You’ve always been this way, haven’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Changing your attitude depending on who you’re dealing with. Glossing over your actions with a simple excuse of ‘accident’—is that your knightly honor?”

Her tone suggested she knew the full measure of his conduct.

“Does the reckless behavior you display benefit your master, His Highness the Crown Prince, or does it harm him?”

Baud’s gaze faltered at her words. The coachmen and knights exchanged glances among themselves.
The baroness, gossip said, had a reckless streak—and beneath her bright, dimpled smile lay barbs sharp enough to draw blood.

“I… I apologize. That wasn’t my intent…”
“With words alone?”

Roselina Mesh cut through his stammering with a luminous laugh.

“I’d prefer something a bit more genuine.”

Baud’s face began to flush crimson.

“As a knight of the Crown Prince himself, you ought to mind your every gesture. Everything you do reflects on him in others’ eyes, after all.”

Roselina Mesh wore an affectionate smile, but her tone turned glacial. She looked him up and down, measuring him.
Baud slowly unclenched the fist he’d been holding white-knuckled.

“Though if you’d rather not, that’s fine too. Then I’ll simply assume your violence speaks for the Crown Prince’s own wishes.”

He could hold out no longer.
At last, he swallowed his humiliation and bowed.

“…I have shown disrespect to you, Miss Mesh. I beg your pardon.”

Roselina Mesh stared down at him with an expressionless face.
How long did the suffocating silence stretch?

“You beg my pardon?”

She scrunched her face and scratched her chin lightly, frowning.

“Hmm, I thought that might make me feel better, but if anything, it’s gotten more irritating.”

Then she turned away with casual indifference, as if nothing had occurred.

* * *

As I turned, feigning nonchalance, the corners of my mouth twitched with barely suppressed amusement.

‘At least now I can live saying what I actually think.’

If I’m being honest about myself, I’d say I’m neither terribly wicked nor exceptionally virtuous—just an ordinary person.
But suppressing every desire and living like a doormat carried considerable stress.

‘Ah, it feels like five years of accumulated resentment just dissolved.’

I was walking back toward the estate, my back turned to them, when it happened.

“Miss Mesh!”

Someone rushed toward me with an urgent cry.
The title still felt unfamiliar, so I didn’t turn around until I’d taken a few more steps.

‘Soldi?’

It was Soldi Malbon.
He came running up, breathless, his eyes wet as he looked at me.

“It’s certainly something that Miss Mesh has every right to take issue with.”

After steadying her breath, she continued in a tone that seemed almost desperate.

“It’s only that, as you well know, our learning is limited. We’ve been focused merely on earning our bread…… I don’t presume to think we deserve easy forgiveness. But I do beseech you, if you could find it in your heart to forgive us just this once…….”

Beyond Soldi’s rambling shoulders, she could still see the knight standing with his back bent in a bow.

‘Is he afraid I might tell Baron?’

Tragically, whatever I said now would fall on deaf ears where Baron was concerned.

‘But there’s nothing to gain from escalating this further.’

I regarded the trembling Soldi and opened my mouth as though bestowing a favor.

“I forgive you.”
“Y-yes? Truly?! Thank you, thank you so much!”

Soldi bowed repeatedly, lost in expressions of gratitude.
Keeping my gaze fixed on him, I took a step closer.
And in the smallest of voices, a whisper only he could hear, I spoke.
To discover what mattered most to me now.

“But would it be all right if I asked you just one thing?”

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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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