The Circumstances of Being Chosen as the Villainess’s Favorite - Chapter 8

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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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Chapter 8

It’s a proposal that kills two birds with one stone—not only changing Your Ladyship’s reputation positively, but also striking down Seraphina.

While desperately trying to persuade Her Ladyship with my words,

I quickly turned my mind.

The advantage I had at this point was that I hadn’t yet earned any particular disfavor from Her Ladyship.

Because this was still a time when there hadn’t been much contact between Seraphina and the Claudius ducal siblings.

Naturally, this was also the first time I was meeting Her Ladyship face to face today.

If things followed the original story’s flow, I would have clumsily tried to side with Seraphina and greatly disturbed Her Ladyship’s mood.

‘Yes, to the point of getting slapped, hearing harsh words, and even getting doused with water…’

I let out a deep sigh inwardly and continued speaking.

“Just having people make various speculations and adding their comments would be a great blow to Seraphina. Since Seraphina has such a kind image.”

Her Ladyship stared at me intently as if telling me to say more.

And I gladly met those expectations.

“Besides, if I become Your Ladyship’s friend, Seraphina’s insides will surely be turned upside down. Wouldn’t that alone be quite satisfying?”

“Hmm. And?”

“By gradually breaking down Seraphina like that, there will come a time when Seraphina makes a mistake too.”

I smiled wickedly like a little devil and drove the point home.

“Wouldn’t you like to see Seraphina’s mask fall away and her true face revealed?”

For a moment, Her Ladyship’s blue eyes sparkled.

A little later,

Her Ladyship nodded primly.

“Well, it’s not entirely unreasonable.”

Then she straightened her back and looked directly at me.

“It’s true that I need to recover my reputation first.”

At the same time, strength slowly entered her pretty hands gripping the teacup.

Her pale knuckles showed blue veins prominently.

Sc-scary!

“Why on earth did such rumors suddenly spread…”

Her Ladyship continued through gritted teeth.

“My brother was quite angry. He told me to quickly quell these rumors since the ducal house’s reputation is at stake.”

Having started like that, Her Ladyship let her shoulders droop and sighed softly.

“Well, it’s not entirely baseless rumors though.”

Hm?

“I know my personality is somewhat rough around the edges. I can be sensitive and prickly, that’s true.”

What? She told me not to put myself down,

But now Her Ladyship is doing it herself?

I stared at Her Ladyship’s dejected face, then suddenly replied.

“Not at all? I actually like that Your Ladyship has such a refreshingly straightforward personality.”

Her Ladyship, looking caught off guard for a moment, blinked her golden eyelashes prettily as she looked at me.

“What? What did you just say…”

“I said it’s good because you’re refreshingly straightforward.”

“Me?”

“Of course.”

At my answer, Her Ladyship bit her lip gently.

“But everyone tries to keep their distance from me. They flinch and get startled whenever I say anything…”

“That’s just because people misunderstand Your Ladyship a bit.”

I shrugged lightly.

And for good reason, since I knew.

That Seraphina had subtly guided people to avoid Her Ladyship!

Of course, Her Ladyship does have some slightly(?) rough edges, but from what I’ve experienced so far, it’s definitely not to the degree that deserves such criticism.

Her Ladyship, who had been moving only her lips for a while, asked carefully.

“L-Lady, do you really think so? That I… don’t have major personality problems…”

“Of course, I actually want to be like Your Ladyship. You’re very admirable.”

I nodded vigorously.

Her Ladyship’s cheeks turned a rosy red.

But that was only momentary.

Her Ladyship’s eyes suddenly shot up high as if they knew no limits.

“…Then indeed, our brother is being petty.”

Excuse me?

Suddenly Lord Claudius?

At the same time, Her Ladyship slammed both hands on the tea table with a bang!

“My brother, just because some rumors are going around, threatens to cut my dignity maintenance allowance? Isn’t that too petty?!”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise.

‘Oh, the dignity maintenance allowance issue… this part is really identical to the original work?’

Honestly, in high society there were only rumors that the princess was arrogant.

The intimate matter of cutting the dignity maintenance allowance wasn’t mentioned.

But the content matches completely?

Even if I don’t know the characters’ personalities, the direction and content of events might flow similarly.

‘This original work information might be quite helpful to me going forward?’

Meanwhile, Her Ladyship, who had been fuming for a while,

Only calmed down a bit after gulping down the half-cooled tea.

“Anyway, as Lady Ansi said directly… you’re Lady Lopez’s close friend.”

Her Ladyship leaned back leisurely in her chair and posed a question to me.

“How can I trust Lady Ansi?”

Her sapphire-like sparkling blue eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“You might have approached me under Lady Lopez’s orders, right?”

I felt an intense pressure.

The old me would have been unable to overcome that pressure and gotten swept up in Her Ladyship’s pace.

But.

‘It’s okay.’

I tried to calm my mind.

For nearly a full day, until Her Ladyship’s reply came,

I had simulated all kinds of situations in my head beforehand.

This means I had already anticipated receiving such questions.

“Of course, it’s natural that you find me untrustworthy.”

After taking a short deep breath, I smiled brightly.

“Then how about this plan? We have a period of being temporary friends for a certain time.”

“Temporary friends?”

A new emotion appeared over the blue eyes that had been full of suspicion.

That emotion was curiosity.

“What exactly do you mean by temporary friends?”

“Even when hiring employees at a store, they have a probationary period, right? I’m saying I’ll have that kind of period too.”

“…Hmm.”

Her Ladyship still pretended to have an indifferent expression, but I could tell.

Her Ladyship was clearly interested in my proposal.

Ah, how can I be so confident about this?

How many years do you think I’ve lived watching Seraphina and Gregory’s moods?

Naturally, I was sensitive to people’s emotions.

‘This isn’t even a positive function of being a doormat…’

Sighing deeply inside, I made a counter-proposal.

“How about we spend time together as temporary friends first, and if you’re satisfied with the results, we can proceed to write an official friendship contract?”

Honestly, from the Princess’s perspective, it would be uncomfortable to trust someone called ‘Larit Ansi’ blindly.

Since I had been openly volunteering to play Seraphina’s maid role, suddenly asking to become friends with the Princess…

‘Of course it would be suspicious.’

But completely rejecting my proposal would also be somewhat wasteful.

My position as ‘Seraphina’s best friend’ was, in a way, a double-edged sword.

If I truly showed that I was completely cutting ties with Seraphina and choosing the Princess instead.

It would deal that much damage to Seraphina.

‘So I’m giving a grace period called temporary friendship and offering the Princess the right to choose.’

Creating such a safety net would put the Princess’s mind at ease too.

I won’t deny that I got the idea from the romance fantasy novel cliché of ‘contract dating.’

Well, is there a law saying only dating can be contract dating?

These days, contract friendship is all the rage too.

And my calculation was exactly right.

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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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