How to Survive as That Villainess - Chapter 31

Chapter 4: A Party, or Rather, a Chaotic Mess (8)

As the student council president and the person in charge of hosting the party, Eden quickly left to attend to his duties. Left alone in the vast party hall, I wandered around, waiting for my partner to arrive. Honestly, I hoped Huan wouldn’t show up. After forcing him to sing and then running away, he was probably furious by now. If I saw him again, I might not live to tell the tale…

“I already apologized!”

Huh? Where was that desperate voice coming from? I quickly scanned the area and noticed a large crowd gathered on one side of the party hall. On such a festive day, could a fight have broken out? Feeling a tinge of excitement—because there’s nothing quite like the thrill of watching a fight—I made my way over.

“Excuse me, let me through, please.”

As I pushed my way through the crowd, I spotted two familiar figures: Lady Rachel and her fiancé, Giles. Are they fighting again?

“What’s going on here?”

I asked a prim-looking woman beside me, but she responded indifferently.

“What do you think? They’re fighting again.”

Seeing that I wasn’t going to get any more information, I turned my attention back to the scene.

“I’m tired of this! Let’s call off the engagement!”

“…Do you think you can just say that so easily?”

Whoa, this fight is getting intense.

Lady Rachel, on the verge of tears, shook off Giles’s hand. He glared at her with a menacing expression, clearly pressing her further. With talk of breaking off the engagement, it seemed like things were more serious than usual.

“Isn’t anyone going to stop this?” I asked.

“They’re always fighting like this. Do you really think anything serious will happen?”

The woman beside me said dismissively, before turning back to gossip with the other young ladies nearby. The whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth. It seemed like the people here weren’t really concerned with Rachel and Giles—they were just here for the spectacle. What a cold world…

“All you have is money, and you think you’ll find someone like me again?”

Wow, listen to that mouth. My face scrunched up just hearing him. From the looks of it, after getting rejected by Seria, he must have crawled back to Lady Rachel. His att*tude is unbelievably arrogant. I’ve seen people like him before—those who keep a woman as a backup plan while playing the field. Giles definitely fits that category, no doubt about it.

“Think carefully about who stands to lose more if we break off the engagement.”

As I watched Giles tap Lady Rachel’s shoulder with his finger, the thin thread of self-control I was holding onto snapped.

“Who stands to lose more? Obviously, it’s you, isn’t it?”

I strode over to where they were, placing myself protectively in front of Lady Rachel, who looked on the verge of tears. Giles’s eyes widened in surprise at my sudden intervention.

“You again?”

“Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but I can’t just stand by without saying something.”

I took a deep breath. I’m not exactly a smooth talker, but seeing Lady Rachel trembling as she clung to my arm, I found the courage to speak up.

“I’ve been watching for a while now. Your behavior towards Lady Rachel is extremely unpleasant and insulting.”

“And what business is that of yours?”

“You’re right, it’s not my business. But after hearing your conversation, there’s something I just have to say.”

I stood up straight, looking Giles directly in the eyes, making sure to project strength so he wouldn’t underestimate me.

“Giles, from what I hear, you’re deeply in debt.”

“How…how did you know that?”

The source of my information? Huan, of course. I had asked him to look into the two of them after becoming concerned for Lady Rachel. With his deep connections in society and the ability to uncover even the most hidden secrets, Huan easily provided me with everything I needed to know.

Lady Rachel’s information was fairly typical—nothing too surprising, except that she was extraordinarily wealthy. Giles, on the other hand, had a shocking secret: his business had failed, leaving him with ma$sive debts. Specifically, it was Giles’s father, Count Irivan, who had incurred the debt, but regardless, the family was buried in financial ruin. And Lady Rachel knew nothing about it. In other words, this was a fraudulent engagement!

“What, debt?” 

Lady Rachel’s expression shifted from shock to disgust as she glared at Giles. Realizing the true reason for his cold treatment of her, Lady Rachel trembled with rage. 

Giles had only been after her wealth. He had deceived Lady Rachel into an engagement, solely to pay off his own debts with her fortune. 

“You’ve been deceiving me all this time! Do you really think you can get away with this?” 

“You’re the fool who fell for it. You should be grateful that a man like me even bothered with you.”

Giles spat back, desperate now that he was backed into a corner. His words were so outrageous that I couldn’t stay silent any longer. Crossing my arms, I approached him with firm steps. 

“Do you even know your place? Do you understand who should be trying to impress whom here?” 

“What!” 

“Who in their right mind would want to stay engaged to a man with debts, a foul temper, and who commits fraud? You have nowhere to go if Lady Rachel breaks off the engagement, so what makes you think you can run your mouth like this? You’re pathetic.”

I let the words flow freely. I knew I was a third party and that it wasn’t my place to interfere, but I was too furious to care about noble etiquette. I could hear murmurs of approval and perhaps even cheers from those around us.

“Lady Rachel, say everything you’ve been holding back. Are you just going to let him walk all over you?” 

“…No.”

There was a dangerous glint in Lady Rachel’s eyes. Suddenly, she pulled out a stack of bills from her purse. Then, she strode over to Giles and began to smack him across the face with the wad of cash… Was that a money slap?

“If you love money so much, go get engaged to it, you bastard! We’re done! We’re over!”  

“S-stop it!”  

It must hurt to be hit with a stack of bills. This is a move only the wealthy can pull off. I knew I’d never forget this moment.  

“You’ll regret this!”  

Finally, Giles fled, sprinting out of the party hall after throwing out a line that sounded straight out of a B-list villain’s script. Lady Rachel watched him go with a satisfied smile.  

“Thank you, Lady Radel… I knew Giles was pathetic, but I didn’t realize he was such a scoundrel.”  

“There’s no need to thank me. Take this chance to break things off and start fresh!”  

As we clasped hands and exchanged words, the crowd that had been watching us began to cheer. It seemed that many other nobles had shared poor feelings toward Giles.  

“I suppose I’ll have to prepare for a trial. He did deceive me, after all.”  

“Good luck with that.”  

Giles would surely face consequences for deceiving Lady Rachel about his debts. On top of that, all the verbal abuse he had inflicted on her would likely come to light in court as well. I felt a bit sorry for Lady Rachel for having to end her engagement on a night meant for celebration, but I hoped this would clear the way for someone better to come into her life.  

“That was amazing, Radel. You were really cool.”  

Aren suddenly appeared out of nowhere, clapping with a bright smile. Had he seen the whole thing? I felt a bit embarrassed. Now that the heat of the moment had passed, I realized that what I had done might have serious consequences… consequences I would have to deal with later. If my father found out I caused a scene at a party, he wouldn’t let it slide. Even though I didn’t regret what I did—since it helped Lady Rachel—I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.  

“Are you Lady Radel Karel?”

Suddenly, a man appeared in front of me out of nowhere. He seemed like a noble, but judging by his butler’s uniform, that didn’t seem to be the case. Most likely, he was a servant hired by the academy. The man informed me that I had a visitor and guided me out of the party hall. I followed him without resistance, with Aren accompanying me.

“Miss!”  

“Oh, Vivian.”

Once outside the party hall, I saw Vivian. She was drenched in sweat, likely from running around trying to find my coat and invitation. I felt immensely grateful for the effort she had put in for me.

“You made it into the party safely.”  

“Yeah, somehow. But what’s that?”

In Vivian’s arms were what looked like rags. The fabric was shredded as if it had been cut with scissors, and for some reason, it looked very familiar.

“It’s clothing…”  

Aren, who was standing beside me, picked up one of the rags and looked confused.

“Yes, it was your coat, Miss.” 

“What? My coat?”

How did my perfectly fine coat end up in such a tattered state? Someone must have deliberately cut it up, but I couldn’t immediately think of who it could have been. After all, Radel had committed so many misdeeds in the past that there were just too many suspects. Why couldn’t she have just lived a more virtuous life?

“There were also pieces of what seemed to be your invitation, but they were too finely shredded to bring back.”  

“It’s okay, you did great. I’ll give you a day off next time.”

Vivian had done so much today, and she was clearly exhausted. I told her to go home and rest, but she insisted on staying until the end. In the end, I asked Aren to teleport her home, giving her no choice but to take a well-deserved break.

“Someone really put a lot of effort into cutting this.”  

“It wasn’t cut.”  

“…Huh, what do you mean?”  

“It wasn’t cut with scissors or a knife. Magic was used.”

Aren gently touched the tattered pieces that were once my coat.

“There’s a faint trace of magic.”  

“Wow, you can actually feel the magic?”  

As expected, he’s impressive.

Curious if I could do the same, I tried feeling the remnants of my coat, but all I could sense was its rough texture—no trace of magic. This unfair world…

“…I think I know who did this.”  

Aren’s face had taken on a more serious expression than usual.

“Aren?”  

“It seems I should go find my partner now.”  

“Oh… right, take care.”

Aren waved to me before disappearing with a “whoosh.” He seemed to have a lot on his mind; maybe something was troubling him.

I tossed what was left of my coat into the trash and headed back towards the party hall.

“…Can I go in?”  

“…Yes, go ahead.”

Reuniting with the gatekeeper I had encountered earlier was a painfully awkward experience. I silently cheered him on, realizing that the trauma of wielding power had left him unable to meet my gaze. With that, I gracefully re-entered the ballroom.