She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 19

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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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I Am the Villainess’s Daughter in a Melodramatic Novel
Chapter 19
The carriage reached the square faster than expected.
Cafe Florang was still a bit farther on, but Idel stepped down from the carriage first to go fetch Sigmund.
Kailon and Diane, the knights the duke had assigned to her, naturally kept close behind her.
“Lady Idel, is this really the place where you arranged to meet your friend?”
“Mm.”
“Uh, Lady Idel. But this place is…”
“I’m telling you, it’s right. Do you want me to say it twice?”
The scenery looked nothing like a place where a noble lady’s friend would be waiting, and the expressions on Kailon and Diane’s faces grew uncertain.
They seemed to be wondering whether they ought to keep quiet and just go along with it.
Paying them no mind, Idel walked toward the Crow’s Den and carefully looked around.
She had seen the ring change color when she rubbed it, but she couldn’t be certain Sigmund had actually come.
As she turned her head this way and that, scanning the crowd, her eyes suddenly lit up.
“There he is!”
A boy with familiar black hair was clearly visible, leaning against a wall marked with the crow emblem.
Spotting the face full of irritation, Idel curled the corner of her mouth into a smile.
“You two wait right here. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Excuse me? What nonsense are you— this area is crowded and dangerous— Lady Idel!”
“Sigmund!”
Calling his name as if overjoyed, Idel dashed off before Kailon could even reach for her.
The moment she arrived at the wall, she threw her arms around Sigmund.
“Ugh, what kind of bird—!”
“Sigmund! It’s me, it’s me! Dell! I missed you so much!”
“You— hey, you, what is this supposed to—!”
Reflexively trying to push her away, Sigmund found Idel only clinging tighter, her eyes curved in a sweet, affectionate smile.
Squeezing with enough force to make her hands tremble, she kept the same smile on her face and whispered softly.
“Hey, get your act together and play the friend. See those kids running over behind us? They think you and I are the closest of friends.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? Why would I do something so damn ridiculous—!”
“Come on. You’re the one who recommended me, remember? The excuse about being friends. And in case you’ve forgotten, I’m your master’s client.”
“Hah…! Me, you… damn it. Hah.”
Sigmund glared at Idel with veins standing out on his neck, then clamped his mouth shut.
He had no argument to make. And if the knights behind them caught on and the contract fell through, that would be a problem of its own.
‘If the contract just breaks, that’s fine. In the worst case…’
He didn’t know the exact reason, but Sigmund was aware that his master, Bilead, lived hiding his true identity.
Everyone in the Crow’s Den had their own sorrows, so people simply pretended not to notice.
‘Ugh, what a pain. Of all things, I get tangled up with another lunatic, and now I’m making a fool of myself like a clown.’
Swallowing the irritation rising up to his throat, he gritted his teeth and hugged Idel back with a show of affection.
Then, curling his lips into a grin, he spoke warmly, just as she had done.
“I missed you too, Dell.”
“…Mm, I didn’t come, so you must have waited a long time, right?”
Within arm’s reach, the two of them saw each other’s lips twitching, and they quietly exchanged glances.
‘That look says, what on earth do you have to swallow to tell such smooth lies?’
‘And that look says, you’re the one who set this up, and now you’re making a face like you’re sick to your stomach?’
Idel and Sigmund could tell what the other was thinking without hearing a word. It was definitely cursing.
Idel counted to ten in her head, then quickly loosened her arms from around his neck.
She felt as though goosebumps would break out all over her body if she kept hugging Sigmund any longer.
‘Or my stomach might turn and I’d end up showing something nobody should have to see.’
Even so, Idel immediately took Sigmund’s hand.
That was the only way, she figured, to pass energy back and forth even a little faster.
Sigmund, every bit as quick-witted as Idel, didn’t pull his hand away either.
He even laced his fingers through hers, stretching the area of their joined hands as far as it would go.
‘Let’s finish this quickly.’
‘Ugh, if I’d known it would come to this, I should have gotten my master to teach me how to draw out energy.’
Holding hands with one heart and one mind, the two of them looked at each other and smiled brightly once more.
It was a smile so sweet that passersby would have smiled warmly at the sight.
“…Lady Idel!”
“You two don’t listen to a single word I say, do you?”
Hearing the steel beneath Idel’s words, the two of them froze for a moment, but soon Kailon cleared his throat and spoke with stern dignity.
“I cannot grant any request that might endanger the young lady’s safety. Is this… the friend you mentioned?”
Turning his gaze toward Sigmund, he furrowed his brow for a moment.
No wonder the meeting place had bothered him. Sigmund looked far too fierce to be keeping company with a noble house’s young lady.
Bracing himself in case the situation turned ugly, he raised his guard and spoke to Idel again.
“Excuse me, but who exactly is this friend of yours…?”
“Don’t go saying things that need an apology.”
“But I have to confirm every possible risk factor.”
“Then go on and run along to tattle, why don’t you.”
Idel cut off Kailon’s words without bothering to hide her irritation, then stole a glance at her hand clasped with Sigmund’s.
Warmth flowed through their joined palms, and it seemed there was no problem with her energy being passed along.
Feeling her body grow noticeably lighter, Idel was about to speak again when a thin voice beside her broke the stiff atmosphere.
It was Diane, who had been anxiously watching the expressions of Kailon and Idel.
“Um… shouldn’t we move to the cafe first? It’s just that keeping the young lady standing out here like this is a bit…”
“Fine, I had no intention of staying here long either. As for you… come or don’t, I don’t care.”
Idel snapped with a sullen look and then tugged Sigmund’s hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But he wouldn’t budge.
‘Why can’t he just follow along without a fuss? Why is he throwing a tantrum again?’
Sigmund, pretending nothing was wrong, planted his feet in place, pressed his body close to Idel, and growled low.
“Hey, who cares about Cafe Florang or whatever? Why go to some place like that? Weren’t you asking me to hang out here with you?”
“Honestly! Didn’t I tell you before that I’d treat you to a delicious cake? I’m just a little late keeping that promise, that’s all, right?”
Sigmund gritted his teeth at the sickeningly sweet expression on Idel’s face.
Her drooping eyes and the hand she’d placed over her chest were nothing like how she’d treated the two who had come with her.
‘Is she some kind of stage actress? No, why should I even care about all this nonsense in the first place?’
…Damn it. It does concern me. It’s the master’s job.
If the master had any conscience at all, he’d have to pay me a separate day’s wage for this.
This wasn’t part of the auxiliary conditions, was it? And it has nothing to do with the curse.
Pressing down the feeling that surged up inside him, he forced his trembling lips to stretch a little higher.
Honestly, at this point, he almost felt a stubborn urge to see it through.
‘Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep up this disgusting act, then.’
Just a moment ago, she looked like she had goosebumps and didn’t know what to do with herself.
Unaware that Sigmund had started a private wager of his own, Idel found that his attitude toward her had changed from that moment on.
He was not one to back away from a fight once it was thrown at him.
He not only pressed in close but even offered his hand when she climbed into the carriage, and Idel arched one eyebrow slightly.
It was because she had noticed he was deliberately being more aggressive about it.
Just as Idel squeezed his hand, as if to tell him to knock it off with such an infuriating display, Diane, who was sitting across from them, cautiously opened her mouth.
“Um, excuse me, but is there a reason you two won’t let go of each other’s hands? Oh, I don’t mean to meddle or anything like that, it’s just that I was worried the carriage is bumping so badly that you’re holding on to something…!”
“Oh, this?”
Sigmund, cutting in before Idel could answer, lightly shook their joined hands and smiled gently.
It was a smile he had put ten times more effort into than any smile Idel had ever prompted from him.
“Just because I want to hold on to it.”
“Ah…”
“We’re the only friends each other has, the kind who’d die without one another, right, Del?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Tightening the trembling corners of her lips, Idel smiled a little more deeply.
The eyes of the two smiling figures collided again in midair.
‘Are you going to stop it?’
‘Why don’t you stop first?’
Neither of them intended to give an inch, and their patience had nearly reached its limit.
If even one more word passed between them, whichever of them spoke it, it would be a repeat of their very first meeting.
But, mercifully, just before that happened, the carriage arrived at Cafe Florang, and their battle of wills was…
-Splash!
“You alley cat of a thing, how dare you set your sights on her!”
The standoff fizzled out in the face of a splash of water thrown at them the moment they arrived at the cafe.

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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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