A Declaration of War?
Was this a declaration of war?
Ruang’s expression twisted slightly, and Angela froze where she had been forcing a smile.
Not everyone who looks handsome is the same.
Ruang’s face was sharp, fierce, and dangerous.
Seeing a man like that openly display such an unpleasant expression made cold sweat trickle down Angela’s spine.
The worst part was that they were completely alone here.
No one to help.
Realizing this sent a flicker of fear through Angela.
Wait… was he really that angry?
Angela recalled the thought again.
Ruang was a crazy prince.
Until now, he had only seemed like a handsome, fit man.
But the memory of him strolling through the banquet hall with a sword in hand proved he was indeed a madman.
And right now, that sword still rested in his grip.
She had no idea why he hadn’t sheathed it.
Could he really be aiming to stab someone else?
Angela was the only other person in the entire hall besides Ruang.
If Ruang swung that blade, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself and would simply be stabbed.
Angela instinctively straightened her posture.
Her tone became cautious as well.
“What is it, Your Highness…?”
“You’re the strange one here,” Ruang said with a mocking smile.
“Where did that brazenness from a moment ago go?”
Angela wanted to retort, but the words stuck in her throat.
Anyone grows polite when facing a sword.
Yet that truth refused to leave her lips.
The chiseled abs gleaming in the moonlight and the sword flashing with the same light were threats of an entirely different kind.
“Whatever. It’s fine,” Ruang dismissed it carelessly.
“You’ll find out soon enough, but I have a fiancee.”
“Ah, the Rosefield family, yes?”
The moment the words slipped out, Angela thought she had said something perfectly obvious.
At the novel’s beginning, the two were already engaged.
Yet Ruang’s reaction was nothing like what she expected.
His eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
“E-Eh…?”
Angela instinctively decided he had completely ruined her.
Her guess was correct.
Even rumors that the imperial palace had made contact with the Rosefields were circulating.
But the fact that the engagement had actually been decided was an entirely different matter.
It was something that should not have reached the outside world until the emperor himself announced it.
Moreover, the imperial palace had already reached out to several other families.
He had simply informed Ruang of the side that would benefit him the most.
In other words, this was internal imperial information.
Was the Goldrun family truly a loyalist of the previous emperor?
So what?
The current emperor’s loyalist had nothing to do with it.
Unless the imperial palace itself leaked the information, Angela had no way of knowing.
Yet she did know.
A spy from the imperial palace might have infiltrated.
They might have caught her, tortured her, and extracted the source.
But Ruang did not particularly care about the empire itself, so he probably wouldn’t capture her.
What mattered more was Angela’s uniqueness.
Just as I thought.
She was not an ordinary noble daughter.
Ever since she had casually mentioned her first-rank status, he had already been acting strangely.
This time, she had even let slip that she knew future events.
It was fascinating.
Very, very fascinating.
That said, the reason Ruang had not told her his true identity was not because she was another transmigrator.
Transmigrators who told their own past lives usually died quickly.
By contrast, Angela was deathly pale.
What? What? What? The Rosefield engagement still hasn’t been announced? No, if we’re before that, then when exactly is the novel’s start supposed to be?
The novel began after the engagement.
Trying to calculate the timeline before that made her head spin.
Right as her thoughts were starting to tangle.
—DING
The banquet bell rang.
It was time to start leaving.
Ruang let out a long sigh.
“Hah… Do not tell anyone else about what we discussed. Understood?”
“Yes!”
Angela answered almost like a scream.
She wanted to escape this place and sort her thoughts as quickly as possible, so her voice was frantic.
“The same goes for your master.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You certainly know how to answer.”
Ruang’s lips curved upward in the slightest smile.
The next words left Angela completely frozen again.
“Either way, your master will send me a letter first, but you should also send me one personally.”
“N-No…?”
“I’ll need to explain in detail where you heard that information.”
Angela’s face drained of all color.
A letter.
She had no idea how to explain herself.
Was there any way to learn about the engagement beforehand, other than the fact that she had transmigrated after reading this novel?
Ruang looked at the panicked Angela with a faint smile in his heart.
What excuse would she come up with?
She certainly wouldn’t honestly admit she was a transmigrator.
…At least he hoped she wasn’t that foolish.
*****
After parting ways with Ruang, Angela fell into complete panic.
What? What? What? If I haven’t even met the villainess yet, then when exactly are we?
Her head spun wildly.
The maid who rode in the carriage with her kept glancing at her strangely, but she had no time to care.
At least I know I met the villainess before the saint.
The standard flow of a romance novel was pretty consistent.
The male lead got involved with the villainess first.
Then got tired of her.
Got hurt.
Only after that did the female lead appear to save him.
That was the only way the comparison worked.
That was the only way it felt rewarding to switch sides.
But right now?
The engagement news hasn’t even been announced yet.
Angela’s face paled.
This isn’t even the novel’s beginning!
This wasn’t even the meeting of the male and female leads.
This wasn’t even the villainess and male lead’s first real confrontation.
It was only the male lead hearing about the villainess.
Think of it like trying to make tonkatsu, but all they had bought so far were the meat, eggs, and breadcrumbs.
They hadn’t even started frying.
At this point.
What exactly did I do with Ruang just now?
Angela slowly began to realize her situation.
Ruang had seemed relatively sane.
Of course, the man who walked around the hall with a sword in his hand couldn’t be completely normal, but at least he didn’t look as wrecked as the version of Ruang from the original story after he had been tormented by the villainess.
Still.
He wasn’t exactly sane either.
After all, a sane person doesn’t normally walk around a banquet hall swinging a sword.
The escort knights carried swords, but didn’t usually wield them.
In a banquet hall, the host normally had them left behind.
Yet Ruang had been carrying his the whole time.
And swinging it no less.
That wasn’t something a normal person would do.
And I was the first one to approach him at the banquet.
Then…
I made him laugh.
Angela’s eyes grew wide.
The person who comforted a mentally tormented male lead,
Made him laugh,
Stayed by his side.
Who was that?
The female lead.
The saint.
But there was no saint.
In her place was the perfume workshop owner who had approached the male lead.
That was exactly Angela herself.
Kyaah?!
“Miss?! Calm down!”
Angela finally screamed.
Without the maid who had rushed over to grab her, she might have collapsed right there on the spot.
“How, how, how…?”
“What’s wrong, Miss?”
“I-I-I-It’s about Prince Ruang…!”
“Hah, you should tell your master about that first.”
The maid didn’t think Angela was acting strange.
After all, she had made too many mistakes today.
She had done so many bizarre things that rumors were bound to spread, and of course a big storm would follow.
But what Angela was truly afraid of had nothing to do with that.
Did I just declare war on the villainess?
A name flashed vividly in her mind.
Rachel Rosefield.
The eldest daughter of the Rosefield family.
Its only child.
Its only heir.
One of the five great dukes of the Human Empire.
And the Rosefields were the most powerful of them all.
They controlled the northern territories and possessed a formidable military force that the imperial palace had to watch closely.
Steadfast support from local nobles.
A power almost equivalent to a small kingdom.
So what kind of strength could the Rosefields’ heir, Rachel, wield?
The saint had survived.
Because she had the power of religion.
Poison? She endured with holy power.
The knight order? She faced them with a holy knight order.
But what about me?
Angela looked at herself.
She had money.
And that was it.
Would wrapping herself in magic armor let her survive an assassination?
But first, she had to worry that the armor would malfunction and blow up before she could.
If a knight order attacked?
She could only hire wandering knights or mercenaries who moved for money.
In short.
I’m going to die soon, aren’t I?
Angela’s lips trembled.
“I-I-I-I…”
“Please calm down. I’ll explain everything for you.”
“Hwaaaargh…”
Angela burst into tears.
The maid thought the young lady was crying because she was terrified her master would be very angry at her.
That interpretation was completely wrong.
Being scolded by her father was always terrifying.
So the maid sincerely tried to comfort her.
But Angela could not accept that comfort.
Being scolded by her father was not the problem.
This was.
Really.
Too high a difficulty level.