I Will Not Yield to Threats!
The fan signing event was in full swing when I started to feel drained. Signing books was one thing, but this was mentally exhausting. It was the pressure, I suppose. Besides, my original goal had been to observe those two idiots and pick up some rumors, but I hadn’t run into them at all. At the very least, I needed to see what kind of state they were in to feel at ease—actually, did I really need to see them? The king and queen had already said what they said, so they’d probably take care of things on their end. In that case, there was no reason for me to stick around here any longer.
Was I just enjoying the thought of those two suffering? Maybe some of Milene’s original instincts were still lurking inside me. Well, this seemed like a good time to wrap things up and—
“Are you Author K?”
Something annoying had just latched onto me. Yep. That damn Sophia. This girl had come looking for me.
The reason I wanted to see those two was simply to observe those morons from a distance for a bit. Actually meeting them meant having to deal with idiots who couldn’t even hold a proper conversation. Why on earth had she come to find me? The answer was obvious just by looking at her. Look at her huffing and puffing. Her washboard chest was even heaving with rage. And standing beside her was Schwald, who was also glaring at me with clear hostility.
The problem was… these two really didn’t recognize me. They were probably thinking the same thing—that Milene would never dress like this. There was no need to even disguise my voice. I could afford to be a little brazen and confident here. Milene might have bowed her head, but Author K doesn’t lower herself to idiots like these. Especially not to a prince with no future in sight.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
I answered boldly and stiffly. Since they didn’t recognize me anyway, I might as well—
“How could you write something like that?”
“Something like what?”
“How dare you write that and make me—!”
I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
“‘Make you’? I’m afraid I don’t understand at all.”
“Do you even know who I am?”
“Who are you?”
“I am Sophia! The fiancée of His Highness Prince Schwald, who will become the next king!”
She was blurting it out so openly. I guess since she’d already proven herself incompetent at the palace, she figured it didn’t matter anymore. She’d gotten what she wanted, and honestly, that arrogant attitude she was showing was something any other noble would do too. It was only natural, perhaps.
This might actually turn into a proper debate between me and Sophia. After all, this was the royal palace. And that pathetic couple couldn’t do anything to me.
“Oh, is that so?”
“What kind of reaction is that?”
“Let’s be honest here. His Majesty is still perfectly healthy and governing the kingdom. Prince Schwald isn’t even the crown prince yet, is he?”
“That’s only a matter of time—”
“And even if His Highness truly were the next king, I still couldn’t stop writing my novels.”
In a war of words, volume matters, but more important than anything is never relinquishing control. Milene had been too stupid. She was an idiot who had sacrificed herself for this pathetic prince, which was why she lost to someone like Sophia.
“What did you just say?”
“That’s quite rude. I am undeniably the firstborn son of this kingdom. His Majesty promised me the position of crown prince! For a mere author with no background to dare—!”
Promised? If you were going to use a villainess as the protagonist, at least pick one with a decent brain. Did he really believe a prince like him would become king? I had no idea where that baseless confidence came from, but that was the author’s fault too. The writer had made an idiot the protagonist. That wasn’t good. It was honestly pitiful.
By now, the palace servants must have heard every word. The staff here were the elite of the elite. There were surely people among them who were sick of the incompetent Sophia and the prince. And would anyone look favorably on someone telling their favorite author to stop writing?
“What’s so important about some scribbled letters anyway!”
“Threatening a novelist to stop writing without any legitimate reason is hardly admirable, don’t you think?”
“I am the daughter of House Holpert!”
Oho. Now she was pulling out her family’s authority. Her character was collapsing faster than I expected. She was already acting like she was the lady of the house. In that case, I had an idea. I was going to set the stage so thoroughly that her stiff neck would snap in two.
There were already plenty of spectators. The fans who had received my signatures during the event had been guiding me, after all. And this woman had just exploded in front of them. She was the perfect person to play the pitiful victim. Let her experience exactly what it felt like when they branded Milene as a villainess back at the academy.
“However, it was His Majesty who invited me here. And no matter how great House Holpert may be, I will absolutely not yield.”
“Yield…? What do you mean by that?”
Sophia’s eyebrows shot up. The prince, who had been trying to keep things from escalating just moments ago, must have noticed the shift in atmosphere too. In short, right now, I was the victim. I was simply a writer following her convictions, being unfairly threatened into abandoning her work. And she couldn’t even properly explain why.
Why? Because if she mentioned the rumors, the palace servants would start wondering if Milene really wasn’t innocent like Anastasia in the novel. The king and queen had asked me not to make a big scene, but that was a completely different matter from being suspected.
“I don’t know what exactly you’re trying to pressure me about, but since I’ve done nothing wrong, it must be an unjust demand. Even though I am merely a commoner-born author and not a noble, I will never stop writing because of such external coercion!”
“““Ooooooh!”””
At the servants’ cheers, Sophia finally seemed to realize things had gone terribly wrong. Schwald looked the same. But neither of them could stop me now. If they tried to silence me here, it would only make the novel’s plot feel even more real. With the king’s swift return having already ruined all their plans, they couldn’t step forward aggressively anymore.
Then they’d just have to take the beating. This was Milene’s passive revenge—and I was pushing the original plot forward.
“Today I have realized something! That there are so many people who passionately love my writing! Therefore, I will absolutely not yield!”
“What the hell are you—”
“You can never threaten me! Not even if you are a prince and his wife. Not even if you are from House Holpert. I will never bend! I will continue writing according to my convictions!”
That was enough. Sophia, who was quick on the uptake, ground her teeth and quickly dragged Schwald away. Her head was bad, but her instincts were sharp.
Now that things had come to this, it might cause some trouble for the publishing house. Of course, the publisher knew I was close with the king, so even if House Holpert applied pressure, they wouldn’t be able to do much. And given the duke’s personality, he probably wouldn’t act recklessly. The setting said he was politically shrewd, after all. He’d probably figure out the general situation soon enough.
It was still a mystery why such a politically savvy man had abandoned Milene, though. If something blew up… well, I could just go all-in then.
“Just you wait! Your Highness! Let’s go!”
“Ah, right!”
In the end, all Sophia could do was spit out some third-rate villain lines before dragging Schwald off. There was nothing else she could do.
“Wow, that was amazing!”
“But they’re royalty!”
“I knew there was something off about her attitude from the start.”
“I didn’t know her queen training was such a mess. Her personality is awful too.”
It really was a godsend that the king and queen had returned. The moment they came back, they tore into Schwald and immediately put Sophia through queen training, which must have provoked her badly. That idiot had apparently shown her true colors during the lessons. That was why the palace servants were reacting like this.
From someone who knew the original story, this was honestly ridiculous. That fool was twisting the original plot with her stupidity and exposing her own incompetence in the process. In the original, it only worked because Milene had taken all the hits for her. The gap was now being exploited not by the noble lady Milene, but by Author K.
“But still… they’re from House Holpert.”
“To be honest, I used to think of myself as nothing more than an amateur writer. But after seeing all of you here today, I thought to myself—ah, if even the people of the palace are my readers, how many must there be in the royal capital?”
I continued speaking. I would absolutely not stop here.
“Even if I’m threatened, it doesn’t matter. No matter what threats I face, I have all of you readers. I cannot disappoint you!”
“““Ooooooh!”””
At the audience’s cheers, I kept my pitiful expression firmly in place. I would never back down. That was what I wanted to show them.
“Truly the model of a genuine novelist!”
“Long live Author K!”
“We readers stand with you, Author-nim!”
I squeezed out some tears and continued the performance. Here, I needed to show more emotional range. As a writer who had been threatened by Sophia. Even though I was a commoner, I would fight against unjust pressure with everything I had.
“Thank you. Thank you so much! I will continue to write works that satisfy all of you readers.”
“Please keep writing, Author-nim!”
Good. Good. Yes. This was exactly it. Now Sophia was the one being criticized instead. This was what you called an author’s political maneuvering. If your brain is bad, your body suffers. So I would just have to use my head better than Sophia.
Once you set a concept, you have to stick with it to the end. I would push the self-destructing Sophia a little further into her own demise. That alone would be more than enough.
Holpert Ducal Estate
Having suffered all kinds of humiliation from K, Sophia immediately abandoned her queen training and returned to the estate. Naturally, it was to report this incident to her father, Duke Holpert. No matter how much he was the one forcing her into queen training, he surely wouldn’t sit still when the honor of House Holpert was at stake.
“Father, that woman called Author K dared to insult me!”
“What are you talking about?”
“That K woman is the author who wrote The Hero’s Party and the Villainess Also Have Circumstances, and when I told her not to write things that spread strange rumors, she… she hurled insults at me. Sob… sob…”
It was completely different from the truth, but Sophia exaggerated it in her usual way. Well, it wasn’t entirely wrong, was it? She had simply added a bit more seasoning. She was telling her beloved father—the man who had treated her like a princess—how unfairly she had been treated, begging him to deal with that wicked bitch K.
But Duke Holpert frowned at his daughter’s words. He had recently begun to suspect something was off because she wasn’t taking her queen training seriously, but now she was openly saying she disliked someone. This was getting out of hand.
“Why did you suddenly tell her to stop writing her novel?”
“Because that book is causing rumors to spread.”
Duke Holpert had been away from the capital and wasn’t fully aware of the situation in the royal city.
“Rumors?”
“Yes. There are rumors going around that Sister Milene wasn’t actually innocent, so I sincerely asked her not to write anything that would cause more of those rumors.”
Upon hearing that, Duke Holpert pressed hard on his temples.
‘Milene’s innocence… It would have been best to just ignore that. Why did she have to poke at it?’
The duke was also aware of that novel. This had become troublesome. He hadn’t expected Sophia to be this bad. If only she had at least properly learned queen etiquette… but it seemed she hadn’t even managed that. Maybe abandoning Milene really had been the wrong choice. He had let her be because she was so beautiful. He should have raised her properly instead of spoiling her. At the very least, he should have homeschooled her so she could learn noble etiquette.
‘But what on earth happened to Milene?’
Milene’s whereabouts were a mystery. The royal family was clearly involved, but they wouldn’t tell him anything. Even though he had provided Sophia as a daughter-in-law and given them plenty of support from House Holpert, why was the royal family protecting Milene? There must be some dissatisfaction on their end.
Honestly, there was no real need to find her now. She had been competent, yes. Competent, but a child he could never give his love to. But Sophia was different. Although she was the child of the woman he had met outside and loved, Duke Holpert had truly loved Sophia’s mother. He had met her before becoming the duke. Although she had been a courtesan, she was far more affectionate and comforting than the wife from his political marriage—Milene’s mother.
That marriage had been forced by the previous duke—his father. It was a union with the family of his father’s friend, who had been in difficult circumstances. There had been no love involved. Even after becoming duke, he had continued providing financial support to that family until Milene’s mother died. Naturally, it had already been decided which daughter was the beautiful one.
But Sophia, having grown up outside, was far too ignorant. If she had just let the author matter slide, nothing would have happened. If she had just kept quiet and completed her queen training, the king would have had no choice but to accept her. At this rate, she was only showing her ugly side, and the royal family might even begin to view House Holpert with suspicion.
House Holpert did have its reputation to uphold. Even if it was Sophia’s fault, to be insulted by a mere author… It seemed there had indeed been some friction, even if exaggerated.
“There’s no helping it.”
“Father?”
“I will look into it myself.”
“Thank you, Papa!”
Sophia threw her arms around the duke with all her strength. Yes. She was his beloved daughter. Even if she was immature, he could accept that. In the end, it was that child Milene who had been strange. A daughter was supposed to be like this. The author’s name was K, wasn’t it? A famous writer. It might be worth investigating.
Should he have Rion look into it? It was impossible to ban the novel entirely, but perhaps he could steer the story in a different direction. It was worth trying. If nothing else, he could offer her enough money to live comfortably for life, or find her a job elsewhere. If that didn’t work, it would become annoying, but surely she would accept. She had to.
And someone was listening to the father and daughter’s conversation from outside.
‘Lady Milene… is innocent?’
It was Rion, who had betrayed his master. He had heard there was a famous novel recently. Could it be that the novel contained Lady Milene’s story? The thought suddenly occurred to him. Maybe this was his chance to atone. If that person called Author K could help Lady Milene, then he had to do whatever it took.
And so, Rion decided to act.