She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 20

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

I Am the Villainess’s Daughter in a Melodramatic Novel
Chapter 20
“Huh! Idel… Ah, no, Del-nim! Are you all right?”
I am not all right.
I was drenched without warning the moment I stepped into the cafe. How could I possibly be all right?
Idel wrung out her soaked hair and sleeves with her hands, then turned her gaze to the side.
Sigmund, who had been holding her hand, was just as drenched, looking like a dog that had fallen into a pond.
“You’re… not fine, I suppose.”
“Yeah.”
He was already glaring at the direction the water had come from, as if he meant to kill someone, cursing with his eyes alone.
Idel told the flustered Diane to fetch some towels, then turned her head toward the spot Sigmund was glaring at.
‘I’m curious too. Who is the shameless bastard who dumped water on people right by the entrance like that?’
Following Sigmund’s glare with the same thought, they found two men seated at a table.
One of them was soaked through, so the blond man sitting across from him seemed to be the culprit…
“What, are you embarrassed? Humiliated? If you didn’t want this kind of treatment, you shouldn’t have flirted with someone else’s fiancée without knowing your place.”
“Lord Farrel. Those words are an insult to the Count. He has not formally entered into an engagement with anyone.”
“Formally? Hah, this is exactly why not all nobles are the same. The moment you told me you were some reporter who digs into other people’s business, I knew what you were. You have not a shred of nobility or dignity, you wretch.”
“Lord Farrel.”
“Even without formal documents changing hands, families as old and distinguished as ours have always settled marriage talks verbally from childhood. Do you understand now, Ivan Ernest? Vivian has been my woman since I was six years old!”
Regrettably, the man who had splashed water in a place everyone shared seemed too drunk on his own emotions to spare a thought for his surroundings.
‘Or maybe he’s just selfish enough not to care about the people around him at all.’
Judging by the pitcher lying overturned on the floor, the latter seemed far more likely.
It wasn’t as if he had flicked water from a cup. He had dumped the entire pitcher over them, and that was no ordinary malice.
Idel watched the scene, which looked like a single episode of a makjang drama, and tilted her head with narrowed eyes.
‘But Ivan Ernest? A reporter, did he say? That name sounds strangely familiar…’
As she dug through a memory that hovered just out of reach, Diane came running from across the cafe alongside someone who looked like the manager.
“Miss, here are the towels! Please, let me dry your clothes.”
“Never mind. Just hand over the towels, then go tell that man to apologize.”
At Idel’s words, which struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, Diane’s eyes went wide. An apology? Did she just say I should apologize?
“An apology? M-me?”
“Then should I go myself? The Head Maid assigned you to attend to me, didn’t she?”
“Ah, y-yes, of course! Yes! But, um, Lady Idel, I’m a maid, not a lady’s attendant. Will that be all right?”
That was the problem. Those who stand in for their master’s voice when dealing with other nobles are usually attendants rather than common maids.
Besides, this wasn’t simply delivering an item or a letter. They had to receive an apology.
Having caught the gist from Diane’s words, the master of Cafe Florang stepped forward and spoke carefully.
“Ah, if that’s the case, my lady, perhaps it would be better if I stepped in and received the apology on your behalf…”
“No thanks.”
Of course, it didn’t work on Idel.
With a stubborn expression, Idel raised one eyebrow, rested a hand on her hip, and spoke again.
“As if he’d listen to you.”
“Well, then, if he won’t listen to me, a mere maid, then…”
“Are you going or not?”
“I-I’m going now!”
Seeing Idel’s brow furrow, Diane swallowed hard and started toward the table.
She wanted to turn around right then and say she absolutely couldn’t do it, but it was already too late.
That was because the man, who had been berating his opponent in a grating voice, sensed someone approaching and shot a glare in their direction.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, hello, young master. I’m sorry if I interrupted your conversation. It’s nothing much, but my lady has been drawn into the matter between the two of you…”
“Your lady?”
He nodded toward Idel and Sigmund, who were holding towels, and a short, dry laugh escaped his lips.
He looked Diane up and down as if she were something beneath notice, then folded his arms and twisted his lips.
“Since you don’t even know how to introduce your own mistress properly, I doubt you’re an attendant either… Honestly, why are there so many nobles these days who aren’t even worthy of the title? Has Cafe Florang’s standard really dropped this far?”
“…Well, my lady is…”
“You dare interrupt me without permission? Did your master teach you that? Then again, I don’t know a single face from this noble house, so I can guess well enough. I’ll cover the cost of the clothes, so have the cafe staff pass along a note and then get lost.”
By raising his voice on purpose, he sank the already quiet atmosphere of the cafe even further.
“Hah.”
“Um… my lady.”
Idel glanced at the cafe master standing beside her, fidgeting uneasily, and lightly pulled up one corner of her mouth.
‘Good. He gave them the opening they wanted to interfere.’
If that Lord Farrel had apologized obediently, it would have been even more troublesome for her.
Normally she’d have no trouble barging in and flying into a rage, but today Idel was in a good mood, having finally run into a ‘very close friend’ after such a long time.
‘If he had apologized properly, I would have let it go, even if I grumbled about it.’
But if Lord Farrel is going to act this high and mighty, that changes things.
‘The Clementine’s second daughter from the rumors’ was not the type to let it slide after hearing something like that.
Idel had set her sights on being the troublemaker everyone whispered about, even outside the house.
In other words, she was the ‘rascal who was the same inside and out,’ and the ‘fierce mad dog who was a formidable ally when on her side.’
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, don’t you?”
…Now that I say it, I suppose she’s a bit like Sigmund.
Idel glanced at the original mad dog, Sigmund, who was cynically sneering at the man, then spoke up calmly.
“Hey, pick one. The towel? Or the drink?”
“Ah…”
Sigmund grasped her intention perfectly without her needing to spell it out, and drawled out the end of his words lazily.
“Guess it’s the towel, then.”
“The humiliation of being struck?”
“Yeah.”
Sigmund and Idel looked at each other and smirked at the same time, wearing identical sly expressions, as though they had never once been at odds.
Having settled on what she needed to do, Idel released Sigmund’s hand and strode briskly toward the scene of the incident.
At the sudden movement, she could feel not only “Lord Farrel” but the other guests watching her, and she liked it.
Idel savored the attention fixed on her and stepped up in front of the man.
Then, before he could even open his mouth, she hurled the towel she was holding right at him.
The towel, aimed squarely at his face, struck Farrel’s head and slid down with a soft rustle.
“What the—!”
“Throwing a fit over nothing more than a towel.”
“What an outrageous lack of decorum…!”
“And what about you, mister? You must have a ton of common sense, splashing water on people. I graduated from that kind of water-play when I was five.”
“Mister? Did she just call me mister?”
At Idel’s words, Farrel’s eyes widened to an almost unbelievable degree.
He looked like a man who had never once imagined he would be subjected to such an insult.
Pressure rising with the wave of humiliation, he clenched his jaw and jabbed a finger at Idel.
“You’re clearly too young to know any better, but you’ve made a grave mistake. Do you know who I am?”
“Mm-hm, I don’t really care.”
“Ha! I can’t believe this! Like that bastard Ivan, they say ignorance is bravery! Don’t think I’ll just sit here quietly…!”
Farrel, who had been spitting words with veins bulging in his neck, faltered for a moment.
It was because a faint giggle had reached his ears.
“…Are you laughing?”
“Miss, no matter what, please…”
“Oh, come on. It’s funny, Diane.”
Leaving Diane, who was trying to hold her back, behind her, Idel looked at Farrel and spoke again.
Her voice still carried a trace of laughter.
“And what if you don’t just sit quietly? You’re going to run and tell Daddy, are you?”
“What?”
“Tell him what, exactly? I’m dying to know. You got into a fight with a seven-year-old girl, and she laughed at you? Or that you told her to stop playing with water?”
Farrel’s lips moved soundlessly, at a loss for words, and Idel tilted her head slightly and beamed at him.
Thanks to all the practice she’d put in on the Ducal Household’s servants, she could wear a smirk more insufferable than ever before.
“Wow, so manly. Right?”

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