I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A height at least a span and a half taller than other young lords.

A face so beautiful you couldn’t look away, and a solid physique glimpsed beneath his white shirt.

He was a man so handsome that just looking at him made your face flush red.

As Meg stared blankly with parted lips, he strode toward Selene with long, confident steps.

“It seems everyone wants to dance.”

At the man’s words, Selene waved her hand dismissively as if annoyed. But then she suddenly brightened and asked him.

“Hey, would you like to try dancing with Estelin?”

Meg stiffened in shock. Her eyes blinked anxiously.

‘Who on earth is that man that she’s suggesting he dance with Estelin?’

If such a handsome man danced with Estelin, who was revered as a saint…

The two would surely become the highlight of the opening ceremony.

Meg bit her lip.

‘…Last year, I was the star of the opening ball.’

Lambert, the young lord famous for being the most handsome in the Empire, had been her partner, and other young lords were all eager to dance with her too.

But today, the suddenly appeared Tigris father and daughter had completely stolen the spotlight.

Meg couldn’t stand that the attention usually focused on her had been diverted.

After pondering briefly, she deliberately began walking toward where the man was.

‘Maybe he’ll ask me to dance instead of Estelin?’

Young Lord Lambert and several other young lords had said she was the prettiest in the Empire.

She deliberately swished the skirt the Empress had given her as she walked.

But the man hardly glanced in her direction. He kept his gaze fixed solely on Selene.

Meg, who had been stealing glances at him, let out an irritated sigh with a displeased expression.

‘Why won’t he look my way…!’

But at that moment, she finally sensed the man’s movement. Meg looked at him with a face full of anticipation.

However, she immediately crumpled her expression.

The man hadn’t approached her. He was simply bowing slightly to Selene from where he stood.

“I want to dance with you.”

The man said, gazing intently at Selene with slightly reddened ear tips.

Meg’s face grew even colder.

“You want to dance with me?”

I blinked blankly, then quickly came to my senses and waved my hands.

“What, no way. I can’t dance.”

Rubel’s eyes widened slightly. Soon he chuckled softly and muttered.

“Isn’t that rejection a bit too firm?”

“It can’t be helped. If you dance with me, one of your limbs will definitely end up broken.”

What I’d told Father and Anna before leaving about not being able to dance wasn’t a lie.

When I was Sebin Lee, I was seriously, even tragically clumsy.

How else would I have boldly joined a dance club as a freshman only to simultaneously fracture my left wrist and right leg in a fall?

The hospital bills were so expensive back then that I seriously considered taking a semester off, so what dancing?

Since then, my iron rule was ‘never dance, no matter what.’

Besides…

“Don’t you feel anything?”

I gestured toward a distant spot with my eyes.

There stood Father, leaning against a pillar and watching this way.

Father’s red eyes were bubbling and boiling like molten lava.

The problem seemed to be that Rubel and I were standing too close together.

‘He’s particularly wary of Rubel.’

When we first had dinner together, I never imagined Father would be so protective of my surroundings.

Thinking about it, he must have really liked Selene.

‘With that taciturn personality, he probably couldn’t show it.’

And until I possessed her, he must have thought Selene absolutely hated him.

I stopped shaking my head and said to Rubel.

“Do you think you could move your feet while receiving that stare on the back of your head?”

“It might be possible if I tried hard enough.”

“No, don’t do that, just…”

My eyes sparkled as I pushed his back toward Estelin.

“Try dancing with Estelin, I think you two would look really good together.”

My expression was probably soaked with anticipation.

‘But who knows? Maybe they’ll realize they’re destined for each other.’

Both Rubel and Oscar Tibon, whom I was currently investigating, were originally meant to be Estelin’s people.

But somehow, I had ended up intercepting them in the middle. So I’d been feeling awkward about it quite often.

‘I do feel sorry for Estelin, but…’

That didn’t mean I could just let House Tigris be destroyed.

In the end, the conclusion I reached after long deliberation was this.

‘At least with Rubel and Estelin, I’ll really put all my effort into pushing them together.’

In the original story, they went round and round through frustrating sweet potato sections before confirming each other’s feelings.

But if I earnestly pushed them together from now on, wouldn’t things be different?

‘If they get together quickly, that crazy pervert supporting character who kidnapped Estelin won’t appear, right?’

There wouldn’t be any awkwardness between them due to the misunderstanding that the assassin after Rubel came from House Laurent.

‘Right, Estelin suffered such severe trauma after being kidnapped by that pervert bastard.’

Besides this, there were quite a few sweet potato situations I could resolve without getting involved.

But the problem lay elsewhere.

‘What if they’re not interested in each other at all…’

I looked at Rubel and Estelin, who had only exchanged formal greetings before staring blankly in different directions.

The two really seemed to have absolutely no interest in each other.

‘Rather, the other young ladies are going crazy.’

Unlike Estelin, there were countless young ladies in the hall with flushed faces stealing glances this way.

‘Why is only Estelin not interested in Rubel when he’s so handsome?’

With a glimmer of hope, I asked Rubel one more time.

“You really have no intention of dancing?”

Then Rubel frowned and looked at me.

He took a short breath as if frustrated and said.

“Selene. Why do you think I came here?”

At his serious voice, I widened my eyes.

“…Huh?”

“I didn’t come here to dance with someone else. I just hoped that maybe you…”

But Rubel stopped mid-sentence and pressed his lips shut.

He stared down at me, then suddenly grabbed a wine glass from the table and downed it in one gulp.

‘…Why is he suddenly acting like this?’

I was tilting my head at his strange behavior when.

“Oh, Lady Tigris.”

Someone approached me through the bustling crowd.

“I’m Tom from Fold County. If it’s alright with you, would you dance one song with me?”

I looked at the young lord before me with wide eyes.

His neatly combed and styled hair was a striking bright orange color.

A single unruly curl stuck out rebelliously through the arrangement.

“You were looking for a dance partner, weren’t you?”

As the young lord smiled, his excessively white front teeth showed between his rather petty-looking lips.

“I noticed you seemed to be without a partner for a while and felt concerned. So I thought I might become your partner this time.”

My expression gradually grew stern. He came because he wanted to “be of service”?

Yeongshik took a step closer.

“Ah, don’t worry. Others might say the young lady is scary or vicious, but those types of ladies are exactly my taste.”

My eyes narrowed as I watched Yeongshik stretch his neck and laugh heartily.

Right. It was true that Selene had caused incidents at every social gathering she attended.

Picking fights with Estelin over every little thing, spoiling the atmosphere with her sullen expression.

When things didn’t go her way, she would scream loudly and threaten people.

Naturally, there had been almost no young men asking Selene to dance all this time.

‘He’s been ignoring me all along too.’

Today, since I had a good rapport with the Empress and seemed to get along well with people, was he trying to get in on the action?

I could feel just how much this young man was looking down on Selene.

I was about to furrow my brow and say something when suddenly someone strode purposefully toward us.

It was Father, his expression coldly hardened.

The orange-haired young man’s face froze in shock upon spotting Father.

“D-Duke Tigris.”

Father looked down at him quietly, then opened his mouth with his red eyes gleaming.

“Though I’m not sorry in the least, my daughter already has a partner.”

The young man looked at me in confusion, then muttered incoherently.

“Pardon? I-I’ve never seen Lady Selene dance before…”

Father’s brow furrowed strangely.

“What reason is there for you to need to see my daughter dance?”

“I-I was just trying to be her dance partner.”

“…Not only are you impudent and dim-witted looking, but you’re deaf as well.”

I widened my eyes at the cold and indifferent insult.

“I dislike those who make me repeat myself. And I said just seconds ago that my daughter already has a partner.”

The young man flinched and stepped back.

But Father continued speaking like a warning, openly displaying his displeasure.

“Yet now you’re making me say it a second time.”

Along with Father’s increasingly lower voice, the young man’s face grew paler.

Soon he hurriedly bowed his head.

“S-sorry!”

Then he disappeared at the speed of light with tears welling up.

I stared blankly at his retreating figure, then slowly turned my head.

And carefully asked Father, who was still frowning.

“I had a partner…?”

Father cleared his throat silently.

A long silence followed.

Finally, Father, who had been gauging my reaction, muttered quietly.

“…Estelin.”

“Yes?”

“You have Estelin, don’t you.”

My eyes widened as I doubted my ears.

“…Are you saying my partner is Estelin right now?”

Then Father averted his gaze and answered bluntly.

“Yes. That’s much better than dancing with dim-witted men.”

Father was glaring at Rubel as he said this.

As my mouth slowly fell open in shock, I heard an excited voice from beside me.

“I’m fine with it!”

Estelin, her face flushed red, was looking at me with a shy smile.

“Selene, I’ve even learned to dance properly! Don’t worry and come this way!”

I staggered and pressed my forehead.

Having just escaped the Great Hall, I turned my head to look back. The corridor was empty.

“Ah, now I feel like I can breathe.”

Then Rubel, who was beside me, stared at me.

“Why does Estelin keep wanting to dance with me? She could really get hurt. This is all Father’s fault.”

When I spoke in a sighing tone, Rubel quietly answered.

“She must like you.”

“Exactly. Why does she like me so much that it’s burdensome? You saw it too, right? The young men gathered in the hall glaring at me.”

I shook my head as if fed up.

“They were definitely jealous of me. Because Estelin kept asking only me to dance. But even so, why would they be jealous of me, another woman?”

Rubel burst into laughter.

“Maybe they were just looking at you.”

“At me? Why would young men look at me? Ah, wondering what kind of mischief I’d cause this time?”

“They might have wanted to ask you to dance.”

I widened my eyes, then soon laughed and shook my head.

“That can’t be. People hate me. Just today alone, how many nobles got caught talking badly about me? Didn’t you hear? They were saying I have no pretty features and look spiteful.”

But at those words, Rubel hesitated. Then he soon opened his mouth in a nonchalant tone.

“Who said that? You’re pretty.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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