Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Why the Villainess's Name?
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Always wearing a mask, her smiles had never been genuine, but now a laugh bubbling up from the heart bloomed across her face. It was a sight to behold.
Tail couldn't wipe the smile off his own lips watching her.
'Okay. Coins keep climbing.'
This was how you invested.
With that thought, Tail brushed the dust off Chloe's shoulder.
Sensing the touch from the side, Chloe turned to look at him and flashed a bright smile.
"Did I have dust on me?"
Her speech had changed lately too.
Much lighter than usual.
Of course, it was only for Tail.
"Just a little. I got it off."
Chloe's eyebrows drooped slightly at Tail's polite response.
"Tail. I told you to drop the formalities."
He shook his head at her words.
"No. This feels more comfortable."
"It makes me uncomfortable..."
"Come on. A commoner like me can't just speak casually to someone of your station."
"We're all the same people, though..."
Tail gave a faint smile at her petulant tone but replied firmly.
"People have ranks, Chloe."
Chloe bit her lip at that.
Tail's sly grin met Chloe's pouty glare in midair.
It was spear versus shield.
"Why not compromise, Tail?"
"Sorry, but no."
Chloe's eyebrows sagged at his rock-solid refusal.
"Why won't you just use casual speech?!"
Tail gave an awkward laugh at her cry.
The people around burst into hearty chuckles.
Watching them, Tail sighed inwardly.
'Honestly, casual speech?'
He was tempted a bit.
It would mean they were even closer.
'But there's a limit.'
Cross invisible lines too freely, and eventually, all sense of hierarchy would vanish.
Relationships needed to run parallel.
A proper distance kept intimacy lasting.
But if those parallels collapsed and drew too close?
Closeness was nice, but heads-on collisions and fights would be constant.
Especially between noble and commoner.
'This distance is just right.'
He knew his place.
This was their line.
Just then, someone approached.
A woman in a hood—one of the nobles who'd come with Chloe.
The mood around where Tail sat instantly chilled.
'What's this?'
No one but Chloe had approached the commoners.
Not even her mother.
Then, the hooded noble lowered her hood.
A woman in her mid-thirties gave Tail an awkward smile.
Her deep purple hair and striking black eyes were impressive.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Grace shone in every word and gesture.
But Tail noticed something amid it all.
Her hands trembled faintly.
"I'd like a word with the young man here."
Her words barely landed before Chloe's gaze cooled.
Taking a commoner boy away suddenly seemed suspicious.
"What is it, Duchess Duvier?"
"It won't take long. I just need to ask the boy for a moment... Could you spare some time?"
Anxiety flickered in Duchess Duvier's piercing stare.
Tail sensed it like a doctor would.
She's here for a patient.
'Well, building connections like this isn't bad.'
With that in mind, Tail stood and replied.
"Of course."
Chloe pouted at his ready agreement, while the duchess's face lit up.
"Thank you. Come this way for a moment."
Tail followed Duchess Duvier to a tent.
Slightly different from Chloe's, it seemed to belong to another noble.
'Lady Duvier's tent?'
As Tail wondered inwardly, she hesitated, closed her eyes, sighed deeply, and spoke.
"This tent is where my daughter is staying."
Her gaze drifted to the tent with distant longing.
"She was always close to her father and brother, but since they both went to the war front, she's felt such loss that she won't come out at all."
She fell silent.
Worry for her child filled her eyes.
Then she fixed her gaze on Tail.
"I'll be direct."
Her tone was firm, but she wavered inside.
Anxiety, concern, fear.
Emotions flooded Tail's eyes.
And as if resolved, the duchess slowly opened her mouth.
"Please heal my daughter."
The duchess looked utterly desperate.
Worry for her daughter dripped from her eyes.
"If you could open Princess Chloe's heart, when she never let anyone near, then you can do it."
Tail hummed thoughtfully at her words.
A daughter shut away from the absence of dear family.
'I've handled similar cases, so maybe...'
That girl had sealed her heart after her sister's suicide.
He knew from experience.
'This won't be easy.'
And that wasn't the only issue.
There was a bigger problem.
Having to care for someone else when he needed to pour everything into Chloe's coins.
'Even if it's a noble's request, this is annoying.'
As Tail opened his mouth to politely decline, the perceptive marchioness cried out urgently.
"If you heal her, we'll never forget the favor."
Tail's eyes gleamed.
"Never forget... you say?"
He asked with subtle intent, and she crossed her arms.
"Once the war ends, we'll donate 100,000 crowns to this monastery."
'100,000 crowns!'
Tail's eyes widened.
'10,000 crowns is enough for a baron's household to live on for a month!'
100,000 crowns!
Tail immediately flashed a merchant's grin and rubbed his palms.
"Heh heh. Don't worry, ma'am. I'll fix her up perfectly. All the way."
Saying so, he smirked inwardly.
'Jackpot. Half of that's mine.'
Money rain incoming—Tail's lips curled greedily.
This was all his achievement, so taking half wouldn't raise eyebrows.
Of course, that was just Tail's thinking.
Seeing his eyes flash with what seemed like madness, Duchess Duvier stepped back.
"R-right. I'll trust you."
"By the way, what's the young lady's name?"
Tail asked casually, figuring he should at least know that.
"Cecilia Duvier."
"Ah, Lady Cecilia, you say... Wait, what?!"
Tail's eyes bulged.
'Cecilia Duvier?'
The name was all too familiar.
For good reason.
'Why does the villainess's name come up?'
His ears had blistered from hearing it so often.
The top villainess in Love to the Imperial Princess, who crossed every maid, lacked manners even to the princess heroine herself.
Seductive and lethally alluring, like a flamboyant peony.
Some called that flashiness poisonous mushroom-like.
She hid venomous thorns in her splendor.
That was Cecilia Duvier.
'No wonder the Duvier name rang a bell...!'
Tail paled.
Unaware, the duchess grabbed his hand.
"Then I'll leave her to you."
"W-wait, um...!"
Before Tail could speak, she hurried off.
Villainess Cecilia.
Heroine Chloe.
Seeing their names side by side recalled the novel's forgotten end.
"Argh! What kind of ending is this?"
He pictured Yerin fuming in frustration.
He'd been studying nearby and asked why.
"I thought it was a happy ending where the heroine marries the hero, but no? The author's insane!"
Yerin, usually bubbly, was rare in her anger, so he'd asked unusually.
"Why? How does it end?"
Seeing his interest, Yerin spilled the finale.
"The villainess kept crossing lines with the princess heroine, so the heroine tried to execute her. But she found out and flipped, starting a rebellion. So..."
She'd continued like this.
"Everyone dies."
Ruin.
The novel's end was ruin.
Tail swallowed hard against surging tension.
After sorting his thoughts, Tail reached a conclusion.
'I'm already all-in on Chloe's coins anyway.'
Pulling out now was impossible.
'And I've invested so much.'
Even now, he visited her room nightly, using skills to lull her to sleep.
'In that case...'
Tail snapped his head up with resolve.
'Double down on both, squeeze every profit, and bail!'
Invest in both, drain them dry, and bolt!
He clenched his fist.
'Perfect! Bail before the ruin flags trigger!'
Tail cleared his throat and turned to the tent.
"Cecilia Duvier..."
He knew little about her.
A violent villainess everyone feared, isolated loner.
Glamorous, extravagant, decadent beauty.
Yerin had said even ghosts and grim reapers fled her in fear.
'How do I woo a woman like that?'
The difficulty had spiked already.
'First, go in.'
Even a tiger's den was fine with a clear head.
Steeling himself, Tail approached the ornate tent's wooden door.
He took a simple deep breath, then lightly knocked on the magically reinforced door.