Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 92

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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 92
‘Bringing a cup of beverage to a pop quiz… is that even allowed?’
‘Can she really do that?’
‘There’s no rule explicitly forbidding it, but…’
‘With takeout becoming a thing, people can do the strangest things now.’
Deborah Simour, willful as ever, sat by the window as she always did, resting her chin on her hand with her legs crossed. The power backing her made her appear considerably domineering. She looked as though she might belittle anyone and bark orders at a moment’s notice.
Regardless of what those behind her whispered about her conduct, Deborah Simour held a cup bearing the Armand seal, sipping her beverage while taking the exam.
And the result? First place.
It was a far cry from her past—when she either skipped entirely on pop quiz days or consistently found herself on the makeup exam roster.
‘How could she suddenly improve her grades like this? Did she sell her soul to a demon?’
Though her temperament still seemed terrible, the students couldn’t help but wonder about the princess whose grades had improved so dramatically. They were curious about the secret behind her thesis that even the genius Fifth Princess acknowledged, and her position as top of the Academy.
After that, whenever there was a pop quiz in her liberal arts classes, the princess appeared with a beverage and took the exam. Soon, students began to wonder why she only drank that particular beverage on exam days.
“She does it because the Teaching Assistant proctors the pop quizzes instead of the professor, so there’s no one to worry about.”
“You’re the one lacking perception. Would Deborah Simour care about a professor’s mood? She made a Magic Department professor disappear without a trace.”
“…Hmm. You have a point.”
“I think there’s something special about that beverage.”
“Maybe she’s just thirsty?”
Though uncertain, no one dared approach and question her, precisely because her target was Deborah Simour. Just as everyone felt subtly uneasy about it, an incident erupted.
“Get your head on straight!”
A sharp, piercing shout that cut like a blade echoed across the Academy Grounds. As Deborah Simour revealed her viper-like temperament for the first time in a while, students passing nearby instinctively stopped in their tracks.
‘S-so scary.’
‘She looks even more menacing when angry.’
At the sight of Deborah Simour’s murderous expression, all the students could only sympathize with Margaret Luxel, who attended to her.
“Why are you standing there like an idiot? Get rid of this!”
That was when the princess, unable to control her temper, roughly hurled the beverage Margaret had brought onto the ground.
“Kyaaah!”
The bright red tea splattered in all directions, and as if blood had sprayed, the princess’s pale purple skirt hem became stained crimson.
“I-I’m so sorry.”
“Is an apology all it takes? Huh? Is it?!”
As she began stamping on the paper cup relentlessly with the sharp heel of her high heels, crushing it, Young-sik and the others recalled the Western Region incident and instinctively straightened their posture respectfully.
“If you’ve been assisting me since the semester started, you should act on your own. Do I have to spell everything out for you?!”
It appeared the princess’s maid had ordered the wrong beverage. At Deborah Simour’s interrogation, Margaret, her maid, bowed her head with a face that looked ready to cry and faint at any moment.
“I sincerely apologize.”
“The exam is starting soon—if I don’t get first place because of this, will you take responsibility?”
Deborah Simour snapped irritably, seeming to care deeply about her grades.
“I need to show those who are dissatisfied with me being top of the class what I’m made of!”
A few students flinched and trembled. Margaret hurriedly wiped away her tears.
“Sob… I thought that rather than a sweet café mocha, tea would be better for calming your nerves, Your Highness…”
“How dare you make such a judgment on your own!”
The princess cut off Margaret’s words, her eyes growing even more venomous.
“Am I doing this for no reason?! That café mocha was what I drank when I was developing the formula…!”
Deborah Simour’s face flushed with rage as she thrashed about, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
‘What word was she about to say just now?’
‘Developing a formula?’
In that instant, curiosity rather than fear flickered across the onlookers’ eyes—a desperate hunger to know the secret behind improved grades. The princess’s lips trembled as she bit them, her brow furrowed in frustration, only deepening their intrigue at this carelessly revealed premium information.
“Fix it immediately!”
Deborah Simour kicked the paper cup toward Margaret with a vicious flick, then strode away with rapid steps. Margaret gasped for breath, picked up the crumpled cup, and rushed urgently toward the East Gate of the Academy.
Long after they disappeared, the students finally moved their rigidly clenched lips.
“Terrifying. I’d rather not get entangled with Deborah Simour at all.”
“She’s definitely venomous.”
They exchanged half-hearted remarks before parting ways.
The fact that the ill-tempered princess had thrown a tantrum was irrelevant now. They wanted to quickly verify the premium information they’d accidentally obtained.
‘She definitely said café… mocha, right?’
There was no doubt that something only Simour’s princess knew about was hidden within Armand’s new menu.
‘So that’s why she carries a drink during every quiz.’
Perhaps it was a beverage with special effects, like the super elixir that knights favored.
‘Let’s go check it out.’
* * *
‘Margaret may seem rigid, but she has unexpected talent for acting.’
Sweet café mocha. She’d inserted that commercial line so smoothly.
As the employer who devised this plan, I threw myself into the performance as well. A drill instructor from my past life whom I’d seen on television—one with the nickname “viper”—proved invaluable to my acting.
‘By now, the staff at Armand must be selling café mocha to the students flocking there.’
They would introduce it as containing “coffee,” the beverage of wisdom that the sages of the southern lands drink. Since the Ferdin Duchy, where coffee beans are produced, lies to the south, and some of the elites there do brew and drink coffee, it’s not entirely a lie.
And they would add that this was a secret method shared only among the sages.
‘Because that’s what I instructed them to say.’
Since I’d made it sound as though I’d been using this “secret method” since I began researching formulas, they’d be all the more enticed.
‘Sigh! I’m so tired.’
I’d been studying hard recently to do well on the liberal arts quiz, and the exhaustion was catching up with me.
‘Of course, compared to how desperately I worked for scholarships in my previous life, this is nothing.’
If the coffee business goes well, the income would be incomparable to a semester’s scholarship.
‘I should have glared more fiercely. I failed to maintain my expression while delivering the line. It wasn’t awkward, was it?’
As I sat on a bench deep within the forest near the Frat House, reflecting on my performance, someone extended a handkerchief. At the sight of those familiar white gloves, I lifted my head.
“Knight Isidore?”
When our eyes met, he smiled softly.
“Why the handkerchief….”
“You have something on you. Shall I do it?”
So caught up in my performance, I hadn’t even noticed the red tea splattered on my shoes. He suddenly bent down and wiped the pointed toe clean with the handkerchief.
The gentle touch on my foot sent a wave of heat rushing up my neck. His overly devoted chivalry left me reeling internally. My vision spun. I clenched my fists to steady myself, and before I knew it, Isidore was sitting beside me.
“Do you usually come here to rest?”
“This place is quiet and peaceful, so I like it. Though, of course, I prefer flashy things most.”
“Beneath all that brilliance, there’s usually quiet darkness.”
He spoke in cryptic terms, and I countered him.
“A brilliant swan thrashes about ceaselessly beneath the water. Can you really call that quiet?”
“But you can’t hear anything underwater anyway.”
‘That’s true. Sound waves have smaller amplitudes in water, so sound doesn’t travel well.’
His emerald eyes, watching me as I nodded in understanding, were remarkably tender—as if he comprehended everything. Strangely, his gaze seemed to brush against something deep within me.
“Ah, Your Highness. When would you like to check if my piano skills have improved?”
He changed the subject.
“In about two years?”
I threw out a joke as well.
“What? That makes me want to try even harder. But I can already play that piece you taught me.”
He chuckled softly.
After sitting side by side and exchanging idle banter for a while, Isidore stood up, saying he had a schedule. The more I mulled over our conversation, the more I felt its underlying weight, so I rubbed the back of my neck.
‘Does he know something about me?’
I tilted my head, staring at the shoes where his hand had touched.
* * *
“Margaret. Are you feeling alright?”
Margaret observed the young ladies approaching her with peculiar expressions. These were the same girls who had called her boring and tedious, dismissive of her blunt demeanor and her singular focus on law—girls who had never initiated conversation with her before.
“Not particularly.”
I deliberately lowered my gaze and murmured in a dejected tone, and the young ladies quickly gathered around me near the Fountain.
“My, that personality of yours is still the same, I see. I heard that a young lady I know, who served as Deborah Simour’s maid, even suffered unexplained hair loss.”
“Cheer up. I almost became the Princess’s maid last semester, so I can’t help but sympathize with your situation, Margaret.”
Their eyes glimmered with the intent to extract information. Margaret swallowed a silent sigh as she endured their scrutiny.
‘Your Highness Deborah Simour. Just how many moves ahead were you thinking?’
Margaret could only shake her head in awe at how these contemptible creatures deviated not an inch from her mistress’s predictions. The Princess’s grand design was truly remarkable.

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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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