The Tragedy of The Villainess

Chapter 6

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Like a female actress in a different world dimension, Lina showed off her simple and gentle charm throughout the whole story.  Perhaps because of that, she was unable to get used to the lavish and idle bathing services peculiar to the nobles. So, after refusing the maids who tried to wash her, Lina always washed herself. Therefore, she discovered the star-shaped mark on her body very late. However, wasn’t the mark placed on her inner thigh? It was in a very intimate place. It’s weird to think about. Anyway, how did Seria find out about the mark?

The original Seria had a strong belief that Lina couldn’t be Stern.  So she thought nothing would happen if Lina touched the Relic.  It wasn’t a good idea. No other person in the world would wish that Lina wasn’t Stern as much as Seria. She had to establish her position. She made Lina touch the Relic by having her place it at her heart.. And the result? Lina was a Stern. All kinds of precious things belonged to the original female protagonist. And Seria, who had been half crazy from that time, turned crazy completely. After committing all sorts of evil deeds for a while, she got her throat split and died. Since then, her name did not appear once in the original.

‘I have to be careful…. .’

She needed to go to Haneton estate quickly after the wedding and stayed put. She wouldn’t show her presence again until the original story had finished. Recalculating her life plan, she took steps to go to see the ladies who were waiting for her.

“Oh my gosh! The wedding hall is so pretty!”

“Stern’s wedding hall is indeed different, it’s so amazing!”

“Stern means star, right?” (*German/Yiddish word Stern means “Star”)

The noble ladies had a gleam in their eyes and looked around the wedding hall. They were the ladies of the Haneton estate, and they had just arrived yesterday. They just had a small tea party as hospitality by the hostess and upon hearing that the wedding preparations were over, they went to see the wedding hall together. It was beautiful. The high ceiling that reached the second floor had a vibrant crystal chandelier that looked like water droplets.  The marble columns covered in golden coils were elegant and there were sculptures of angels singing songs. The white muslin that hung on the ceiling looked like clouds. Above all those items, there were dozens of shiny metal insignia decorated as if they had been sprinkled with gold.

Seria saw the unique decorations that were in the original story, “A decoration with deep traditional value….that was only used at Stern’s wedding.” It didn’t look like this when she looked around the first day. It was a luxurious and profound atmosphere back then, but now…..It looked definitely for a Saintess? It was very colorful and dazzling enough for a Saintess to get married. The priests wouldn’t decorate it like this. Was this Kalis’s order?

They couldn’t have the tea party in the garden due to the winter cold. Still, the villa opened in the Berg Castle was nice, and they could enjoy a tea party with a good atmosphere. Besides, the skill of the patissier was excellent. In fact, the owner, Lesche, didn’t like sweets. but in the original story, he hired a talented patissier for a reason that was quite cute. Thanks to him, the ladies chatted happily while tasting the eclair sprinkled with chocolate.

“Lady Stern. Haneton Manor is really beautiful. There are also several large theaters.”

“The only thing missing is the hostess’ presence.”

“Now Lady Stern is the hostess of Haneton!”

The ladies were kind to her. This was the reason she wanted to buy their favor before officially becoming the Hostess of Haneton. Well, they treated her well in front of her face anyway, so there was no reason to hate it.

‘If I go to Haneton estate, it’s good to get along with the ladies there.’ Besides, it’s best to buy the housewives’ favor wherever you are. There’s nothing good going against them. The tea party was quite enjoyable. The music from the harp played by one of the ladies was quite catchy. She hummed and picked up a silver tree branch. It was these silver tree branches that were  indispensable for the glacier inspection.

Unlike ordinary laurel branches, these silver leaves sparkled silver. It was said that pure silver, salt, soft iron, and flame-burned sage herbs purified the space, these silver tree branches purified the glacier, the grave of the beast, and further binding the barrier.  Since it was not enough to reduce the temperature of the Star armor keystone, the knights in the absence of Stern used to carry silver branches as substitutes.

‘If Stern became a plant, it would be just like a silver tree.’

If she put a branch of a silver tree in the snow field of a glacier and came to see it after a while, it would be completely dead. Therefore, the probability of demons appearing significantly decreased the more often new silver branches were inserted during the inspection. Of course, this was a work that ordinary Sternes didn’t like very much. Winter’s glacier was very cold with the cold of the north. But Seria didn’t hate it. As long as she did her duty sincerely, her reputation had risen, so there was no reason to dislike it. It was a good thing that her miserable death could be prevented. She was in the midst of vigorously gathering the silver branches.

“You look happy, Lady Stern.”

Seria looked back in astonishment. Silver hair that shined like snow and bright red eyes. Unrealistically beautiful appearance.

“Your Highness.”

It was Lesche. His red eyes were looking straight at her, so she lowered her head lightly.

“It looks like your wedding is approaching. The castle is quite noisy.”

“Is it noisy? I will be careful.”

“I don’t mean that.”

“Yes ?”

As she lifted her head, she dropped the silk bag she had in her hand, and the silver branches fell to the floor. She immediately squatted down in panic. She felt like she could die from embarrassment because she was doing this in front of the man whose status was too high. She then quickly picked up the dirty bag, swept it, and tried to leave, but Lesche bent his long legs in front of her, and with his long fingers he picked up the silver branches. What was this situation?

“The bag?”

“Yes.”

Lesche took a silk bag from her and put in the silver branches.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Seria said thank you and as she turned away, she heard Lesche’s voice from behind.

“Are you going to the glacier today?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Sir Alliot decided to go.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes?”

Lesche looked at her with an expression like he was seeing a rare creature.

“I am aware that Linon took care of your wedding hall meticulously. Is it still lacking of some sorts?”

“What do you mean?”

“I doubt there’s any actual need to double check the glacier.”

She knew Linon. As Lesche’s chief aide, he was quite meddlesome in the original story. If he was the one that prepared all this, then….No, His Highness prepared it. Lesche had the wedding hall decorated in return for the favor of checking the glacier. The original male lead had a definite personality for reward and punishment. However, the decorations were more beautiful and luxurious than she thought. She had mistakenly thought that Kalis was the one who had prepared it.

“Didn’t you work hard in hopes of that? Whenever you came to the castle, if you didn’t like something, you would scream.”

Lesche said with an indifferent expression.

“You never did that in front of me, but more than 100 servants said they were sick serving you.”

A cold sweat running down her face. What did the original Seria do that caused more than 100 servants to suffer? All Seria currently knew was from the fragmentary memories that remained in Seria’s original body. Fortunately, the original’s learning skills, knowledge, and habits remained perfect. If it wasn’t for that, all the gestures peculiar to a noble lady would have evaporated. That’s why she was glad that she could make this awkward smile right away.

“I will check harder to compensate for the 100 people who suffered last time.”

Lesche laughed. ‘He laughed?’ He knew how to laugh?’ Seria stared at his smile and found it unfamiliar.

“It’s a shame that Lady Stern is leaving for Haneton then.”

She doubted her ears for a moment. Was he going to be sad? Him? Was this person really Lesche? All sorts of questions went through her mind and whether she looked at him strangely or not, he added.

“There is no way that a Stern like you will come next year, Lady Stern.”

“Ah.”

Indeed, no Stern would check the glacier every day for a week like her. But since she heard that from the male lead.. It was like a life saving security check. Seria laughed a little. She was filled with hope that when she came in the next year, if she worked hard, the real bad ending would be forever gone. Hope comes with motivation. That day, when she checked the glacier through the cold, she felt much better than usual. When she got back to the room, an unexpected gift was waiting for her.

“My Lady! You got a gift! Look!”

The two maids assigned to her were excited.

“Weren’t all the gifts organized yesterday?”

“This is a new one from Marquis Haneton!”

“From Kalis?”

“Yes. Look, this sapphire is really clear and very rich in color! Besides, silk ribbons made by a capital designer, and shabo (a lady’s hat with ribbon and lace hanging on a wide brim), with tail feathers of a precious bird  ..”

After picking out a few of the gifts to give out to the ladies of Haneton Estate tomorrow, she tilted her head a little. Based on her memory, she opened one of Seria’s travel boxes and saw a sparkling bracelet.

“Please wrap this up.”

“It’s an amethyst bracelet.”

“Isn’t this very valuable? You want to give it to Marquis Haneton?”

“Yes.”

“Okay! How about writing the name of the Marquis yourself here?”

“Yes!”

“Should I do that?”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if Marquis Haneton is happy with your gift?”

“That’s…That’s right.”

She followed the maid’s advice. The maids seemed to be touched, but the truth was…

‘That’s not it.’  Seria owned almost no money at all. ‘Not that I don’t actually have any.’ But to be exact, she had nothing in her name, no sort of wealth or savings whatsoever.