The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 100

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

The Villainess Hides Her Identity, and Everyone Misunderstands
Chapter 100

“…You didn’t send anything?”
Ludwig tilted his head with a bewildered expression. Confusion was written plainly across his face.
I tilted my head as if I had no idea what he meant, then feigned sudden realization.
“Oh my!”
I clapped my palms together as if I’d just remembered.
“Could you be referring to the gifts from Your Highness that I returned yesterday?”
“…!”
He didn’t even recognize his own gifts, yet he mistook them for something I had sent. How typical.
It made sense. He probably hadn’t bothered to examine any of the things he’d sent me either—just ordered his subordinates to handle it all.
“You returned the gifts?”
He stammered in disbelief, searching his memory of yesterday.
But I continued with innocent cheerfulness.
“I simply returned the gifts as they were. I never expected you to be pleased by that! I had no idea you possessed such unique tastes!”
As Ludwig withdrew his hand from my cheek, his ears began to flush crimson from embarrassment. Being rejected and having his gifts returned was already a tremendous insult, and now this misunderstanding on top of it all.
‘Goodness, how mortifying that must be….’
Had I been in his position, I might have simply fled. In that sense, the fact that he remained in place without uttering a word was quite remarkable.
It seemed he’d been trained since childhood to bear responsibility for the actions he took as Crown Prince, but I had no intention of letting him off the hook further. After all, his ‘responsibility’ didn’t extend to murder or crime.
“But what am I to do about this?”
I furrowed my brow as if genuinely troubled.
“I’m already engaged to Prince Rakiel. No matter how much Your Highness pursues me, I can’t very well have two engagements. You understand, don’t you? I do have my reputation to consider.”
“….”
“Well, I’m aware that I’m said to be the most beautiful woman in the Empire.”
I covered my mouth with the back of my hand and laughed as if slightly embarrassed.
“But I can’t very well have two men chasing after me at once. I must make a choice.”
I paused as if considering, then my eyes sparkled as though I’d found a brilliant solution.
“Ah, how about this? Your Highness could add just one clause to the Imperial law yourself.”
I raised my index finger and spoke with deliberate precision.
“‘The Rosenthal Countess may simultaneously enter into two engagements.’ That way, Your Highness achieves the engagement you ‘so desperately desired,’ I preserve my reputation, and everyone is happy, aren’t they?”
I smiled brightly and tilted my head.
“What do you think, Your Highness?”
The air in the room grew cold.
Ludwig’s expression had been gradually hardening as I spoke. Until moments ago, he’d been visibly struggling to maintain his composure and salvage the situation, but that balance had now completely collapsed.
He remained silent and rigid for a long moment before finally opening his mouth.
“…Evelyn.”
His voice had dropped to a dangerous whisper.
I widened my eyes as though utterly innocent.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“Are you mocking me right now?”
His words trembled subtly at the edges—the barely restrained fury was unmistakable.
Ah, finally.
I suppressed a quiet laugh within myself.
“Mocking you? I’ve merely done my utmost to fulfill what you desired, as I always have.”
Ludwig’s lips twisted into a grimace.
I stepped forward, deliberately narrowing the distance between us.
This wasn’t enough. My resentment remained entirely unresolved. I needed to press him further. Just a bit more….
Mercifully, it was Ludwig himself who broke the silence first.
“…Don’t tell me you’ve genuinely agreed to join hands with Rakiel? That can’t be what you truly want?”
“What do you mean?”
“Splendor. Brilliance. That’s what you’ve always craved, isn’t it? That’s why you’ve lingered at my side.”
It was true. Ludwig saw through exactly what Evelyn desired.
I watched him for a moment as he swept back his lustrous golden hair with a gesture of arrogance.
“Your Highness, is this a threat, or are you trying to persuade me?”
“I’m simply showing you how foolish a choice you’re about to make.”
The words came out through gritted teeth. He loomed directly above me, his gaze bearing down.
“Of course, it’s true that I once yearned for the brilliance of the Royal Court. That’s precisely why I wished to earn your favor.”
“….”
“But seeing you act this way today….”
I continued in a tone dripping with mockery.
“I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth the effort.”
“…Watch your tongue.”
He growled low in warning.
“You should do the same. Do you still believe I’ll grovel before you as I once did? That luster of yours has already faded considerably.”
I smiled faintly as I continued.
“I’ve found a far superior choice. Something far more radiant and beautiful—a far more certain option.”
His lips twitched.
“Surely you don’t mean Rakiel.”
His younger brother—someone he’d always believed would remain beneath him, forever unable to climb higher.
So how deeply must this wound his pride now? I answered him with open derision.
“Yes. A choice incomparably more dazzling than you could ever be.”
A moment of silence followed.
Just as I sensed something snapping within him, Ludwig’s eyes rolled back completely—consumed by fury.
“How dare you—”
His hand rose sharply.
It seemed the comparison with Rakiel had been the trigger; his hand, brimming with fierce force, swung directly toward my cheek.
In the moment I braced myself for the sharp sting of pain.
Crack!
Before even a breeze could form, Ludwig’s hand froze mid-air.
Having prepared myself to face it boldly this time without even closing my eyes, his hand fell short—it never reached anywhere near my cheek.
He furrowed his brow and turned his gaze away irritably.
“I always notice it, but your habit of raising your hand is quite terrible, Older Brother.”
Black hair settled calmly into view. Rakiel’s crimson eyes held a faint contempt as he regarded Ludwig with a cold gaze.
I looked at him with a somewhat startled expression.
‘Strangely enough, whenever I’m about to get hurt, Rakiel appears.’
At the Estate, in the midst of the riot, and now too—whenever danger loomed, he always appeared and shielded me.
But why did he come here? And when exactly did he enter?
In that moment, Genie’s words flashed through my mind.

—Shall I send word to Prince Rakiel?

No way.
In any case, because I had been focused on my conversation with Ludwig, I hadn’t heard him open the Drawing Room door at all. Or perhaps he had entered deliberately and quietly.
‘…From where did he hear?’
The last words I had spoken to provoke Ludwig were somewhat embarrassing for Rakiel to have heard, so I flushed slightly, forgetting even the situation itself.
“You….”
Ludwig’s face crumpled.
“Why are you here?”
“Is there somewhere I’m not permitted to be? I….”
His gaze flickered toward me.
“…It is my fiancée’s home.”
A peculiar feeling stirred within me.
It wasn’t untrue, but hearing it directly from his lips felt entirely different.
Ludwig, noticing the exchange of glances between us, irritably brushed off his hands.
“Ha.”
Rakiel obediently released the hand he had been holding.
“Fiancée?”
He muttered with a displeased expression.
“Evelyn, are you serious? Did you really choose Rakiel over me?”
“…What?”
It was an official engagement.
“Come to your senses, Evelyn. You love me. Are you still acting? To provoke my jealousy?”
No… Why can’t he understand?
Ludwig had clearly shut his eyes and ears tight. Despite my telling him so plainly, he still asked so foolishly.
Though somewhat exasperated, I was about to open my mouth again to make him hear clearly this time.
“Eve, my fiancée! Good heavens, are you hurt anywhere?”
I heard a terrible word I’d never encountered before.
What, what? Me, what?
In the moment I snapped back to look at Rakiel in shock, he seized my wrist and pulled me gently forward. Caught off guard by his strength, I was drawn smoothly into his embrace and buried against his chest.
That wasn’t enough for him—he cupped both my cheeks and began examining my face while I stared at him in a daze.
It was around then that I noticed his crimson eyes brimming with mischief.
“Ah, I thought my heart would stop. My fiancée nearly got hurt.”
My mouth fell open. Rakiel began spouting saccharine words without hesitation.
“What would I have done if my precious fiancée—a national treasure in her own right—had gotten a scar on that beautiful face? The Empire’s greatest jewel nearly suffered a blemish.”
He laughed, brushing my cheek lightly with his fingertips.
“But your face is unusually flushed. Does something hurt? Or is it… because of me?”
“…!”
He chuckled.
It wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t meet his eyes when his face was right before mine.
As Evelyn, I’d rarely found myself in such proximity to him, and as Eve, I deliberately kept my gaze lowered for fear of exposure. In other words, this was the first time I’d seen his sharp, refined features from close enough to feel his breath.
I knew he had a playful nature, but to display it so openly in a moment like this.
I wanted nothing more than to push him away and snap at him in irritation, but I felt the shocked stares from those around us.
I could easily guess what Rakiel was thinking with this stunt…
So I decided to play along.
“Oh my, I don’t know, Your Highness! It’s so embarrassing!”
“…!”

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