I May Be A Villainess, But I Won't Live My Life That Way - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

“What’s this dress?”

After washing up in the morning, I asked Panya, looking at the extravagant dress hanging in the mirror. It was a dress I liked, but it was usually too fancy for everyday wear.

It was typically worn for receptions, dinners, or balls. Not the kind of dress you wear when asking to see the high-end imports customer list…

“Oh!”

Only then did I remember why this dress was here.

It was chosen in advance for the royal reception.

“I completely forgot yesterday, but when I came back, I saw that you asked me to check it.”

Probably afraid I’d get mad for not mentioning it earlier, Panya said, watching my reaction carefully.

I must have been preoccupied with Megi’s death all this time. I had never forgotten such an important event.

“Yeah. I remembered too.”

It seemed challenging to go to the high-end imports today.

Or could I go after the reception ends? The previous receptions used to end before sunset. Maybe today won’t continue into the evening, and I could finish early.

Then, I could go to the shop.

“Start dressing.”

Calculating quickly in my mind, I sat at the vanity. Since the dress, shoes, and jewelry were already chosen, preparation would be quick.

I could only hope the royal reception would end soon.

***

There were only four people invited to the reception.

Maria and I, a seventeen-year-old young lady from the familiar Laurent noble family, and Ricardo’s brother, Carlos, who seemed to be just for show, were seated at the table.

And externally, Asel, the host of this reception, sat at the head of the table.

The seating arrangement naturally placed the Laurent lady and Carlos closer to Asel. So I was sitting facing Maria.

‘I hope it ends quickly.’

That was the only thought in my mind.

I couldn’t help but notice the way Maria glared at me, the way the young princess seemed wary of me, and the way Carlos, my future brother-in-law, was watching me.

“Bianca, here’s the cookie you like.”

But most of all, Asel was annoying.

I could pass off his informal tone as his personality, but at least he could address me as Lady Croft. It was uncomfortable to have him call me that so casually in front of other potential candidates, especially when he seemed to pay attention only to me.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. But there are cookies here too. Please don’t worry about me and enjoy your time.”

“Can I really? As the host who invited you!”

Asel grinned, flipping his pink hair, and the Laurent lady looked at him as if enchanted.

To a seventeen-year-old innocent girl who knew nothing, Asel must look impressive.

The position of a prince of the Sprendo Empire, a face that pink suited frighteningly well, a fair and handsome face, albeit slightly pudgy, but positively speaking, it could be considered affectionate.

What? Doesn’t this make him a very attractive groom?

I look over at him, thinking about his new terms, and our eyes meet as he looks back at me.

“Thanks for coming, Bianca,” Asel said with a grin. He looked genuinely harmless like a prince.

“It’s Your Highness’s invitation. Of course, I should come.”

“Ah~ I’ve invited you many times, but you always avoided me.”

…But Asel was still Asel.

“Your Highness, the cookies are delicious. The skill of the royal pastry chef is truly remarkable,” a young lady who wanted to converse with Asel said after taking a tiny bite of the cookie he recommended to me. I couldn’t imagine what taste she could discern from such a small piece.

“Oh, that! I bought it.”

“Ah…”

The lady seemed flustered by Asel’s words and blinked.

“Well, royal receptions are indeed different. Even the cookies you bought have excellent taste,” the young lady gracefully redirected the situation, perhaps due to her good education in the Laurent family.

“No. I bought it because Bianca likes it. It’s from Angelica’s bakery. She’s been loving that bakery lately, right, Bianca?”

…But the other party was Asel.

Despite the lady’s efforts, Asel succeeded in steering the conversation back to ‘Bianca,’ and now I was under the scrutiny of both Maria and the lady.

And now, more than ever, I fervently wished for this reception to end quickly.

“Time flies, doesn’t it? Nowadays, the sun sets so quickly. I’m often surprised by how quickly darkness falls.”

After sipping my tea and a brief silence, I smiled and brought up a new topic. Of course, there was intent behind it.

I intended to guide the conversation towards the idea of going home before it was too late.

“That’s right, the last time we went hunting, it was a disaster on the way back because the sun quickly ran out.”

Carlos nodded, agreeing with me.

“Oh, hunting?”

“I’m practicing hard for the upcoming royal hunting competition,” Carlos said a bit shyly.

As far as I remembered, Carlos wasn’t particularly skilled in martial arts. On the contrary, when Ricardo showed talent and determination in martial arts, the Winkaiser family was quite nervous.

Producing an outstanding knight from the family was undoubtedly an honor, but if it was the heir of the family, it was a bit different.

For the heir of a noble family to be an exceptional knight meant a higher likelihood of the head of the family dying early.

So it seemed that Carlos, as the spare of the Winkaiser family, chose a different path from Ricardo. Moreover, Carlos might even know more about the business of the Winkiaser dukedom than Ricardo did.

“You’re diligent in your preparations. I should learn from you.”

“Oh, Bianca! I’m also practicing for the hunting competition!”

Suddenly, Asel intervened with a grin, pointing to his own face with his fingers.

“Yes, that’s right.”

I had no choice but to reply like that.

If the Empress, the hostess of this gathering, were present here, she would undoubtedly be boiling with anger at her foolish son.

In reality, the potential princess consort would likely be that young lady and Maria. As Ricardo’s fiancée, I didn’t belong to that category.

It was just my opinion, but the princess, though younger, seemed more likely than the illegitimate Maria.

Come to think of it, Maria was quiet. She smiled quietly, occasionally chiming in, but mostly sat quietly.

In a gathering like this, the host, Asel, should pay attention to the guests, but since Asel was solely focused on me, it was perhaps natural that Maria, attending her first royal reception, had little to say.

Seeing this, both the Empress and Lady Wensbury would likely be distraught. The man and woman who were hoping for a good match weren’t even talking to each other.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

I rose from my seat with the intention of fixing my makeup and bringing some fresh air to the atmosphere. I wanted to make Asel lose interest in me somehow.

Then, after this gathering ended, I could go to the upper floor and find the person who bought the tea that killed Megi.

“Always impressive, Bianca.”

Maria’s face appeared behind me in the mirror. I could feel the hatred towards me emanating from her cold gaze.

“It seems Your Highness is quite taken with Bianca as well.”

“Yes, it seems so.”

I agreed with Maria’s words.

Anyone could see that today Asel’s attention was solely on me. It was evident by how much Carlos, Ricardo’s brother, was observing from the sidelines as Asel showed interest in me, his brother’s fiancee.

Maybe today’s invitation wasn’t from the Empress but directly from Asel.

“What’s the secret? I should learn a thing or two. How do you manage to captivate men so well?”

The tone felt a bit odd. It sounded as if I had intentionally tried to charm Asel.

“It seems Ricardo wasn’t enough for you? One hand has Ricardo, and the other has His Highness? You’re quite greedy.”

It wasn’t as if I was implying anything. Maria just blatantly stated that I was trying to charm Asel.

It was quite refreshing to hear such a straightforward and mocking remark after always hearing the roundabout speech of the nobility.

“What’s the secret, you ask?”

But it wasn’t a pleasantly refreshing feeling; it was a rather unpleasant one.

“Just being there seems to do the trick. If I had to call it a secret, it would be just that I was breathing.”

I answered Maria’s question very calmly. And Maria looked utterly astonished at my response.

Then, almost instinctively, she seemed to scan me from head to toe and bit her lip as if she was annoyed.

It seemed like she had been too easily convinced by my words, and that’s why she was annoyed.

“Well, if you have such a secret, Maria, you should learn from it. You said you would steal Ricardo away from me, didn’t you?”

I said, as if recalling a fact I had forgotten.

“Smile Love”