I felt relieved that, just like the world I used to live in, this place also had monsters, and that being attacked by them meant survival was impossible without elemental abilities or some other power.
Besides, my dark magic is the strongest in the world.
I was a recognized prodigy who had attained the youngest black magic certification thanks to my genius brain and inexhaustible mana.
I decided to use this power to twist the original story.
Project: Destroy the “grim death” ending where I get killed by my bias, and stand by her side so we can both live long, happy lives!
To do that, I first need to become friends with the villainess, my bias…….
The problem was that I had acted so strangely earlier that the villainess—who is proud and looks down on everyone—had recoiled from me.
I covered my face with both hands, remembering her back as she turned and fled.
……Even her back was beautiful.
She was exactly the person I had imagined.
A fierce, elegant, and beautiful red cat.
How can I get this sharp, cat-like villainess on my side?
I thought about trying to win her over by bringing her the things she liked in the original story.
Even though our villainess acts terribly mean because of her “villain” persona, she is actually infinitely kind to those on her side.
The reason she became a villainess was because Caroline and the hypocrites who coddled her kept upsetting her, just like today.
So, I just need to stick to her side like glue and clear away the people who upset her with my own hands.
I nodded and stretched my lips into a wide grin.
‘Alright, let the mission to win over the villainess who is supposed to kill me begin.’
* * *
The carriage arrived at the Brensia viscount’s mansion.
Seeing the mansion, which was even larger and more magnificent than the nameless count’s mansion from before, my jaw dropped.
‘My goodness, they said they were nouveau riche, but do they really have this much money?’
As I was escorted into the lobby by the guard at the door, I kept my mouth open at the beauty of the interior, which was even more stunning than the carriage and the exterior of the mansion.
“My daughter has arrived!”
Seeing the Viscount Brensia rushing toward me with his arms wide open, I put on a forced smile and stepped back.
There was no mention of him being a “daughter fool” in the book, but since it did say that Ellinea wanted to be a noble so badly that he bought a viscounty for a huge sum, I figured it was safe to assume the viscount doted on his daughter.
Seeing me step back, the viscount lowered his widely outstretched arms and said with a hurt look on his face.
“You used to hug and kiss me often until last year, my daughter.”
Thankfully, it seemed Ellinea had stopped doing that cringeworthy stuff before I possessed her body.
“I’m all grown up now, Father. I have my debutante coming up soon, too.”
The words flowed out of my mouth regardless of my will, and my eyes widened slightly.
“Oh, yes. The debutante. The day my daughter has been waiting for is finally coming.”
The debutante.
It was a coming-of-age party for nobles where young ladies established their position in high society—often by showing off their elemental abilities—and young men tried to secure a spot in the Knights Order.
“Don’t worry about your elemental ability. I’ve brought in a very strong wind elementalist to be your knight, so…”
In the original, Ellinea, who had no attributes, showed up with a young man from a fallen noble family who possessed an attribute—all thanks to her father’s help—and became even more of a laughingstock.
Although Caroline tried to intervene to protect Ellinea and the commoner-knight-turned-noble, it only caught the eye of Periose, leading to an even more disastrous debutante.
Come to think of it, she was someone who was uselessly nosy.
I suppose that’s why I disliked Caroline.
She tried to do things for others, but most of the time it was just a nuisance, and she ended up looking like the “good person” because of that nuisance.
If you stripped away the “heroine buff,” she was a very frustrating and annoying type of person.
“Father, instead of a knight, could you just give me some money?”
Thinking I couldn’t let the debutante go to ruin like in the original, I asked the viscount for money.
Of course, I didn’t have anywhere to spend it right now, but to make my dark magic look like an elemental ability, I needed a justification, and money was the most convenient and effective way.
“Money? Why money…”
“To buy an elemental ability.”
After all, there is nothing in the world you can’t do if you have money.
“Buy an elemental ability with money? Can that really be done?”
“This is a secret, though.”
I whispered the plan I had just thought of into my father’s ear.
My dark magic, in appearance, clearly resembles the darkness attribute of the Northern Grand Duke.
Even the kids in the dormitory often asked if the dark magic we studied was actually the Northern Grand Duke’s power.
So, I could just say that an unknown someone had developed the ability to extract a bit of the Northern Grand Duke’s darkness attribute and seal it inside an object.
I told him that this mysterious person demanded an astronomical amount of money to sell the object, but since it would make it look like I could use the darkness attribute, the investment would be well worth it.
The persuasion was instantaneous.
My “daughter-fool” father signed several blank checks and handed them to me without a moment’s hesitation.
‘Being a nouveau riche is truly a wonderful thing.’
* * *
With the blank checks I received from Father, I headed into town.
The most important thing now was to get close to the villainess and change our “grim death” ending into a “flower path” ending.
To do that, the first thing I had to do was win her favor.
I went to my bias’s favorite cafe—a place the villainess would never be able to refuse—reserved the entire second floor, and sent word to the ducal mansion.
The villainess loved the cakes and coffee here so much that she had her servants buy them every day.
She preferred drinking them here while looking down at the cityscape, but the reason she avoided coming in person was because of her reputation.
She couldn’t bring herself to use her money and rank to buy out a place loved by everyone just so she could have it to herself, fearing she would hear things like, “The Duchess did Duchess-like things again.”
Because right now, the most important thing to the villainess was the reputation she held in the eyes of the Crown Prince, Lloyd.
Since I, who knew such circumstances, had rented out the whole second floor, I figured the villainess would surely come, even if she was displeased about spending time with me.
As expected, the villainess arrived at the cafe after my first message.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Taking off her large-brimmed hat and sitting in the chair opposite me, the villainess was as phenomenally beautiful as ever.
“It’s been a while, Lady Duchess.”
At my greeting, the villainess’s brows furrowed deeply.
*Huff*, so pretty!
Even that furrowed face looked like a goddess, so I covered my cheeks with both hands before I knew it.
My face was burning and felt like it was going to burst.
“I don’t know what you’re plotting, Viscount’s daughter.”
“It’s Ellinea. Please feel free to call me Ellie, sister.”
“…….”
I gave a bright smile to the villainess, who was looking at me with an expression that said, ‘What in the world is this?’ and spoke to the staff member approaching the table.
“An iced latte, with plenty of syrup. Would you like the same, sister?”
“…….”
“What you usually drink is good, but on a day like today, you have to eat something sweet, don’t you? Have you tried the salt bread here with the latte? It’s so delicious you wouldn’t even know if someone died and left, so please, just trust me once and try it.”
After I spoke like a spoiled child, I turned to the employee before the villainess could say anything, making it seem like I was pushing through with my own desires.
“Hey, go quickly and bring two iced lattes with lots of syrup. Use the largest cup size they have. And bring two salt breads and an unsweetened cheese cake as well.”
They were all the villainess’s favorite menu items.
The villainess’s eyes began to twinkle.
But just then, the sound of people clamoring could be heard from the street below the window.
“Did you hear the rumors? They say a strange flower bloomed in the flowerbed over there.”
“A black flower? Isn’t that just burnt?”
Their conversation struck my ears clearly, and instinctively, I stood up and walked toward the window.
In one corner of the first-floor flowerbed, flowers were blooming, unnaturally wilting into a black hue.
Though invisible to the eye, a strange energy rose from those black flowers. It was just like when I encountered a monster in the world I used to live in.
*‘That doesn’t look like just a flower….’*
A chill ran down my spine, leaving me slightly breathless. In my previous world, there was a monster that gave me a similar feeling.
A variant.
With that thought, my instincts began to scream that it was dangerous.
At that moment, a child watching the scene reached a hand toward the flowers.
“Dangerous!”
I shouted without thinking and reached out toward the child.
*Ziiiing—*
My black magic unfolded in front of the child like a shield.
At the same time, the black flower bared hideous teeth and lunged. But those grotesque teeth slammed into the shield of black magic with a ‘clack’ and shattered.
The black flower withered and died in an instant.
“Waaaaah!”
Startled, the child fell backward and burst into tears.
I immediately retracted the shield as if absorbing it. The faint afterimage that had risen like a shadow vanished. Since I had intentionally deployed a shadow fog barrier that was less visually conspicuous, no one other than the child had clearly seen my black magic shield.
Still, just in case, I scanned the expressions of the people around and spoke to my villainess sister.
“Sister, wait a moment!”
I quickly headed down to the first floor and rushed to the child.
Perhaps because of the black flower that had suddenly tried to attack, no one dared to approach. Even the person who appeared to be the child’s mother was standing there, trembling.
“Are you okay?”
I went to the child and took their hand to help them up.
The child nodded, tears welling up in their eyes like grapes.