The Villainess Has No Regrets in this Life - Chapter 12

“Ah, and those sentences flickering before your eyes, they are the comments of the gods reading your lives as a book.”

“…What are comments?”

Hearing my words, the woman made an ‘oops!’ expression.

“…Like leaving impressions after reading a book?”

“Ah, book reviews…?”

“Book… well, let’s say it’s something like that. It’s similar to that.”

Somehow.

It seemed like it was hinting at the future.

“Right now, they can see everything happening in your world, from simple futures to all events, but as time goes on, even they won’t be able to see the future. Now… we have to sell your story according to His orders, so we’re inevitably selling predicted futures as previews at the end. We’re predicting the story afterwards based on your actions in your past life.”

…Preview?

…Sell?

I decided to give up on understanding what she was saying now as my head was getting more and more complicated.

If I kept racking my brain any further, it felt like my head would explode.

“The day will come when even we can’t predict your future depending on your actions. Until then, hang in there, you’re the child chosen by me. Your sister was chosen by another god, but if we’re just comparing ranks, I’m stronger. Take good care of the spirit next to you too.”

So I opened my mouth towards her to ask questions to resolve the curiosities filling my head, but no voice came out of my throat.

And she, looking at me like that, seemed to wave her hand and then gradually disappeared.

“Who knows, if you entertain the gods in this life, you might be born as the youngest son of a sparkling rich family in your next life~”

Rich family?

What’s that?

No, are you just saying what you want to say and disappearing like this?

So I stomped my foot once in frustration, and at the same time, I felt my eyes open wide, and then I could see the faces looking at me.

“She’s awake! Rowenloa, are you okay?”

Grace saw that I had opened my eyes and called Mylene, and Mylene carefully raised my body.

“Miss, did you get hurt somewhere when you were horseback riding on the hill today? Everyone was so surprised when you suddenly collapsed!”

I heard Mylene’s words and shook my head.

“I wasn’t hurt…”

As I came to my senses a little and looked around, all the people from the Posilia ducal family and Masipacius marquis family were looking at me.

Not all of them had worried faces, though.

“Rowenloa, are you okay?”

Bershua’s voice pierced my ears.

I smiled and looked at him.

“Yes, I’m fine. Brother. Thank you for your concern.”

Do you know what emotion a person feels when they realize that the main culprits who ruined their life were around them?

Sadness?

Betrayal?

Resentment?

No.

None of these.

Anger.

This emotion I’m feeling is clear anger.

So I looked around me, suppressing the anger rising from within.

…People from the Duke of Posilia family.

If the likability towards Leila and me really can’t coexist, then these are the people who absolutely can’t side with Leila now due to their likability towards me.

I need to capture them.

Now is not the time to focus on anger.

It’s the time to focus on opportunities.

So I jumped out of bed and moved my body around to prove to those looking at me with worried faces that I was fine.

Mylene tried to stop me with a face like she was about to die, but seeing my body moving so well, she soon sighed in relief, seemingly reassured.

“I’m really fine. I think it’s because my body was tense from riding a horse after a long time today.”

People seemed to understand my words but didn’t erase their worried expressions.

Ah, of course, Brother Bershua… no, that bastard Bershua had a face like someone who had ruined some huge event.

He must be a bit upset since I collapsed right before the announcement of Leila’s official adoption.

That being called a god… I didn’t understand what they were saying at all, but it was a very good choice to make me lose consciousness at that timing.

So only after the doctor, who was called from Duke Posilia’s mansion, arrived at the room, examined my body for a long time, and officially proved that there was nothing wrong with my body, could we head back to the dining room.

In fact, right now, putting aside revenge and opportunities, I was most hungry for food.

I’m hungry…

* * *

When we arrived at the dining room, we could eat the food that the servants had reheated.

Looking outside through the large window of the dining room, I could see an enormous amount of snow piled up.

So we finished our meal without incident and were about to have dessert time when the mansion’s butler opened the door and entered the dining room, then opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“Excuse me for interrupting your meal. We just received a call from the main mansion… It seems that the road from this villa to the main mansion is currently buried in snow and it’s impossible to move.”

Indeed, looking at the speed at which snow was piling up outside the window, it didn’t seem like an amount that could be cleared even if a few people came out to clear the road.

“We’ve prepared guest rooms. It seems you’ll have to stay in this mansion until tomorrow morning.”

I nodded as if it couldn’t be helped, and the others didn’t seem to have much complaint either.

So I ate the dessert brought by the servants and pondered what to do to pass the time until bedtime.

But then, Grace tapped my shoulder.

“There’s a huge fireplace in the villa’s reception room! Let’s go there and chat… I mean, would you like to have a conversation, Lady Rowenloa?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Grace, who was changing her way of speaking to me, conscious of people’s gazes.

“Sure, let’s chat in front of the fireplace!”

At my words, Grace shook her body, excited, and told the servants to bring some simple finger food and hot chocolate to the reception room in an hour.

“Ah… I’m sorry. Chocolate was missing from our villa’s purchase list this time…”

Grace was visibly disappointed at those words. Mylene, who was standing behind me watching the situation, opened her mouth.

“Don’t worry. Lady Rowenloa brought some.”

…I don’t remember bringing such a thing?

As I was blankly looking at Mylene, she urged me by tapping my back as if telling me to say something quickly.

“Ah… um… I heard it was going to snow today… I brought a few things in case a situation like this might occur. There should be chocolate too.”

Hearing those words, Grace’s face brightened again, and the villa’s servants expressed their gratitude to us, saying they would serve delicious finger food.

As I was talking with Grace like that, I turned around for a moment and sent a grateful look to Mylene.

Mylene just nodded and smiled as if she understood my gaze.

* * *

After finishing our meal, we changed into comfortable clothes and watched the snowy scenery outside from the second-floor veranda before heading to the large fireplace in the reception room.

Thanks to the fireplace, we could enjoy a very warm and cozy night, in contrast to the snowy outside.

As we were chatting for a while, everyone started gathering in the reception room, seeking the warm fireplace.

Starting with Young Duke Posilia, Bershua and Leila also came to the reception room.

In the end, we’re gathering in one place again…

But perhaps thanks to the heavily falling snow and the warm fireplace, there didn’t seem to be any sharp words exchanged.

Everyone seemed to have become a bit more flexible in their personalities as they were wearing comfortable clothes and wrapped in thick blankets.

We exchanged useless stories for a long time.

How the food we ate last time was, how the dress was, how the academy teachers were…

Such stories that had no nutritional value but were interesting.

The night deepened as the conversation lengthened, and Mylene and Butler Basil started urging us to go to our rooms, saying we should go to sleep soon.

As we were about to return to our rooms, Bershua clapped his hands once with a ‘clap!’ and focused our attention.

As we looked at him in surprise, he put Leila beside him with a determined expression.

Then he opened his mouth towards us.

“I’m sorry to say this so suddenly. I wanted to convey this during dinner, but unexpected things happened…”

Ah, it’s now.

The first moment Leila is named as a member of the Masipacius marquis family.

Looking to the side, Grace and Young Duke Posilia were looking at him and Leila with puzzled expressions.

Then Brother Bershua embraced Leila’s shoulders and opened his mouth again.

“We, the Masipacius marquis family, want to accept Leila as our family.”

I covered my mouth in surprise.

Not because I was surprised by the fact that they were adopting Leila, but because I was very surprised by Brother Bershua’s attitude, who was speaking exactly as I had predicted.

Looking at the faces of Grace and Young Duke Posilia standing next to me, they really had faces saying ‘…What are we supposed to do with this?’

Only Leila was covering her mouth in surprise at Brother’s words and had an expression of utter disbelief.

“What do you mean…”

“Father has been saying it all along. That he would like you, Leila, to become our family. Originally, we were planning to ask for your opinion along with a grand dinner at our marquis mansion today, but due to unexpected schedule changes, we’re talking like this.”

Hearing Brother’s detailed explanation, Leila seemed to stagger for a while as if her legs had lost strength, and then she plopped down on the sofa.

The people from the Posilia ducal family were still looking at her and Brother’s appearance soullessly.

Feeling awkward just standing still and watching this emotional family bonding situation, I quietly whispered to Grace standing next to me.

“Should we… applaud?”

“…It does feel a bit awkward just standing here and watching.”

Young Duke Posilia seemed to have heard our words too, and soon nodded in agreement.

“Oh my… Congratulations, Miss Leila… We’re going to be family now…”

“Wow…”

“Wow…”