| 8. My Villainess, I Missed You

Daphne knew that Psyche biting her lip and lowering her eyes was a kind of protest.

If so, their eyes meeting just now wasn’t Daphne’s imagination, and it meant Psyche was looking for her. She seemed genuinely displeased about the lack of contact all this time.

‘We were going to run into each other like this anyway, why bother? What a waste of paper and manpower.’

Romeo, in a navy suit with light white stripes, adorned his tie with a sapphire pin that resembled the color of Psyche’s eye.

‘I’ll admit he’s a good clothes hanger.’

Hiding behind him, Psyche wore an off-shoulder dress made of the same fabric, simply adorned with a topaz necklace. Her fine blonde hair was half-tied with a large ribbon. The dress hem swished elegantly with every move, giving an even more sophisticated impression.

‘Who would think she’s from some rural backwater?’

When her village and family were wiped out, Psyche shook off her despair in two days, tracked down the hotel where Romeo was staying, and barged in to propose engagement out of the blue.

The contract condition was bedding. Anytime, as much as he wanted!

Also, if he wished, marriage was possible and she’d bear an heir, but with the sly option that she’d never love him as much as he did.

Since she didn’t plan to love him, she wouldn’t be hurt no matter what the crown prince did with whom or where. Just protect her from the mad prince, she said.

‘It’s still incredibly bold, thinking about it again.’

Of course, that mad prince is the same person as the Lord Stirrup in Daphne’s room.

Anyway, Psyche was as proud as Daphne. She never yields on things she hasn’t done wrong. She’s not the type to beg to be noticed; she’d rather run away.

Daphne deliberately didn’t avert her gaze. She kept watching Psyche, resting her elbow on the railing and cupping her chin.

‘Let’s see how long you can avoid looking at me.’

Romeo left with the distinguished guests. Psyche, finally back in Daphne’s view, was already wearing her crown princess mask.

She beautifully smiled at the groups greeting her, diligently fulfilling her role as the night’s protagonist, and then left the hall with Stella after a while.

“Why isn’t Misha coming?”

She didn’t turn around till the end. After clicking her tongue lightly, she straightened her bent back.

‘Leaving his boss, who’s known for getting lonely easily, alone for so long. Should I make him work overtime without pay?’

It was a thought that would make Misha grind his teeth, calling her a crazy boss if he heard it. Daphne stepped back to sit down. She also planned to make an excuse about feeling unwell and return home quickly.

“Whoa, f*ck!”

Startled by the hard sensation of a shoe under her heel, she let out a curse. Not having sensed anyone coming behind her at all, she thought she might have stepped on a tall ghost’s foot.

“What, f*ck? What kind of curse is that? Where on earth do you learn such things?”

Just as Daphne was about to turn around and apologize, the ghost grabbed her waist and easily lifted her onto his thigh.

“Let go.”

Daphne frowned, facing the rude pervert properly.

“It’s been a while, my villainess.”

It was Romeo Rodriguez.

“Your what? Are you crazy?”

“I missed you.”

It had been a long time since she’d seen him this close, since their staged act. But she wasn’t happy at all to see him.

His piercing yellow eyes, contrasting with his jet-black hair, were truly something she wanted to pluck out and sell.

“Did you get shot in the head?”

“Cousin, are you distancing yourself now? How disappointing.”

Again, Romeo was ‘frighteningly’ handsome. No matter how much he lowered the corners of his mouth and made a disappointed expression, the coldness emanating from his entire face couldn’t be hidden.

“Romeo Alexio Ishuin…… de Rodriguez, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Please let me go. There are a f*cking lot of eyes watching.”

There were probably two more names in the middle, but it had been too long and she’d forgotten. Daphne looked around front, side, and back just in case, making Romeo chuckle.

“This is a tucked-away corner, no one will see unless they look closely.”

“Why are you doing this? Didn’t we agree to not meet until we die, if possible?”

“I wanted that too, if possible.”

Daphne, not wanting to touch any man’s chest other than Celestian’s, pushed his collarbone with her fingertip. She also lowered one leg to the floor.

When she raised her hips to escape his embrace, her cousin smirked and pulled her waist tightly, hugging her.

“Are you insane?”

While Daphne was flustered, he whispered in a very low voice near her ear.

“I heard you’ve been up to some interesting things while I was away, Daphne Serenade Beaucater.”

Although she was sure she hadn’t done anything wrong, a chill ran down her spine, just like when she was caught red-handed stealing the land ownership documents from her father’s safe as a child.

* * *

Daphne ended up having an uncomfortable interview time with her cousin on the terrace. She deliberately put on a nonchalant expression, sitting on the white stone railing with her arms crossed.

Romeo sat to her left, brushing off his disheveled suit jacket. He looked displeased about having touched Daphne, even though he was the one who hugged her first.

“When did you buy the duchy’s newspaper company?”

‘Look at him, getting straight to the point. This bastard.’

Daphne suppressed her sour expression.

“What can’t be done with money? I even bought off the B-grade gossip ladies. How’s the public opinion there? Are they saying they’d accept asylum seekers?”

Hervon was a generous duchy that often accepted asylum for those unjustly expelled from neighboring countries.

‘Besides, a crime in this country is only a crime in this country.’

And moreover, because the newspapers were filled with words that evoked sympathy like ‘poor’, ‘falsely accused’, ‘abandoned’, and so on, the public opinion in the duchy would surely be sympathetic towards Celestian.

Now Celestian could settle somewhere using the title ‘Grand Duke of Teriosa’ once he boarded a ship and left.

“Beaucater of Secradion, ‘loved’ and saved a traitor?”

Romeo turned his head, let out a hollow laugh, and looked straight at Daphne.

He had been smiling pleasantly inside, but now he was looking down at her with an expressionless face, making Daphne feel all messed up.

“It’s not like you didn’t know, why are you acting like this?”

“I didn’t know you were serious.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you were that serious about Psyche either?”

Romeo reached out and grabbed Daphne’s chin with his index finger and thumb.

“And our plan included keeping Celestian alive, right?”

“That was before Brother committed treason.”

Daphne slapped away the prince’s rude hand that was turning her chin this way and that, and made an unpleasant expression.

“What are you worried about? I cut off all his limbs.”

In the courtroom, Celestian readily confessed the families involved in the treason. Besides the executed knights and soldiers, he found and published all the names of those involved in the kingdom’s newspaper. And some names were erased from the records.

‘Isn’t that enough?’

The only remaining unstable element was Teriosa alone, but even he was sold to the villainess and under 24-hour surveillance. As long as Daphne guaranteed it, it meant he couldn’t escape.

“Ah, that kind of taste.”

“What taste?”

“What did you cut them with? Can I go see?”

“Not literally arms and legs. You Rodriguez weirdo. You’re banned from within a hundred kilometers of our house.”

Romeo consistently treated the half-blooded illegitimate child as an older brother. After starting the deal with Daphne, they enjoyed polo or squash every week at a set time, and also enjoyed gambling.

“You still call Cele ‘brother’.”

Being a guy full of bad taste to the bone, it was clearly some kind of mockery.

Talking about Celestian made her miss that golden-haired fool again, so Daphne tapped her cheek with her index fingernail.

“It’s too much of a waste to call him a traitor. Ah, should I call him a stupid bastard?”

Daphne flinched when her cousin pronounced ‘stupid bastard’ accurately.

Celestian, who had fallen asleep reluctantly in a room with a huge window, practically outdoors, caught a bad cold and collapsed in the corridor on his way to lunch with his nose and cheeks flushed red. He would now be occupying the second bedroom, groaning.

“I can’t argue with that. There’s no one around him now, anyway, so don’t worry.”

Daphne scratched her cheek and smiled.

“No one around Brother?”

“Yeah.”

Romeo, stroking his chin with his white-gloved hand, thought for a moment and then laughed with a deflating sound.

“Why are you laughing?”

“My dear cousin always acts like she knows the ending, but every time, you take the long way around, leaving the easy path.”

Daphne was puzzled.

“Is that really something you should say?”

Since #RegretfulMan was Romeo’s keyword.

“That’s why we’re blood relatives, cousin. We’re especially alike in these aspects.”

As Romeo approached, pretending to be profound with shining eyes, Daphne quickly backed up against the terrace window, flapping her arms. He was still staring intently at Daphne. Even though it was late at night, his golden eyes were sparkling brightly.

“What nonsense. I really hate it. Look away. I hate your eyes the most.”

“It’s like looking in a mirror, Sister.”

She got goosebumps and was at a loss for words.

“That’s too much praise. I hate your red hair just as much as the size of that heart.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Romeo slightly raised the corner of his mouth and shrugged.

“Now leave the prince alone. He’s mine.”

“When did you see Brother to like him so much? I couldn’t understand from the moment you started sneaking around.”

Romeo really thought she only liked him moderately. He didn’t know Daphne would go as far as selling mines, buying foreign newspapers, hiring people for extermination, and even fabricating evidence.

“Cousin, these were things that needed to be done anyway, so I won’t say much. But when are you going to reconcile with my wife?”

“My wife? Who? Psyche?”

Daphne frowned, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her at the disgustingly affectionate term.

“Hey. Did you say ‘my wife’? My goodness, you’re not married yet. Who calls her that? Seriously. Oh, it’s creepy.”

Daphne wondered when he had become such a character who couldn’t resist his wife’s mood.

“Would you crawl on all fours now if Psyche told you to?”

If he really did, she wanted to record it on video and pass it down to three generations of Rodriguez. Daphne suddenly missed the modern technology of her past life.

“I’ve never fought with her. But I think I might fight today. She pushed my seat to the second floor.”

“Don’t misunderstand, I asked Stella to do that.”

“What?”

“I said I missed you.”

Romeo’s yellow eyes disappeared between his narrowing eyelids.