My Ex-Fiancée Is the Female Lead in the Romance Novel

18 – Villain?

Befitting a family that appeared in the founding history of the empire, which was founded by the emperor, the first Duke of Rosemary, and the first Duke of Flair, it was a ducal family that still reigned at the center of the empire without wavering.

“Youngsik Lombardi, do you know why I am coming here?”

“Yes, I know roughly.”

Lady Rosemary visited our mansion the next day as well. The reason she visits our mansion is obvious.

It must have been to stimulate Seria. There was no room for any other reason, and no reason for her to have one.

I don’t know if Lady Rosemary asked for a different type of tea from the one she drank yesterday, or it was her maid’s arbitrary judgment, but the tea the maid brought was a different type from yesterday’s.

“The tea smells good. Can you guess what kind of car it is?”

I’m not very interested in cars. No matter how much tea is brought in from our guild, I do not inspect it individually.

So I have no idea what this car is. I glanced at her maid. She said he would know because he rode it.

But the maid betrayed my expectations. There was no change in her expression at all, but it was clear to me that she was perplexed after seeing her for a long time.

“Don’t you know? Did you really buy anything?”

Lady Rosemary looked at me with unusual eyes.

“Could it contain poison? It’s an item brought in from the Bereng Merchant, so you buy it with confidence.”

It may seem unnatural for me to praise my Caravan, but the Bereng Merchant has built up considerable trust in the Empire over the years, so compliments to the Bereng Merchant are commonplace.

I put a steel plate on my face as I complimented our top.

“Let me check to see if there is any poison in it.”

Items containing poison are usually filtered out locally, and after being imported, they are tested once again on the people of the Empire. It was because the constitution of the imperial people and the local people of the East might be different. That’s why I watched her sip her tea without thinking about it, since there’s no chance of an adverse reaction unless I’m allergic to it.

“Mmm! Is it delicious? Try drinking Yeongsik too!”

With her moderation, I had no choice but to hold the teacup in my hand. Thanks to the etiquette education I received from a young age, my hands naturally wrapped around the teacup.

“It’s okay.”

“Isn’t it?”

Honestly, I wouldn’t feel that great taste, but out of etiquette, when I said it was okay, Lady Rosemary smiled happily. Her purple hair blended with her smile to create a refreshing atmosphere.

As I was about to finish her cup of tea, she suddenly asked me.

“So? Why do you think I am coming here?”

“That’s it…”

As I hesitated to speak, Lady Rosemary spoke first, as if she couldn’t wait for my mouth to open.

“No way, you don’t think you’re here simply to harass Seria, do you?”

‘Wasn’t it like that?’

Muttering in my heart, I couldn’t find anything to say, so I kept my mouth shut. Because she didn’t have to take out her words that were only in her mind and let her know that my prediction was wrong.

“You don’t know.”

Lady Rosemary looked at me with mischievous eyes.

“Then I can’t help it. Please find out until I come next time.”

“Yes?”

What is this woman saying? There was no room for such useless thoughts in my head.

“I will stop here for today. Youngsik-nim, you have a lot of work to do, right?”

“Yes. What is it?”

She looked at me meaningfully and then stood up.

“I’ll be back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to come.”

Lady Rosemary ignored my words and walked out of the drawing room.

“Ah! I don’t need to see you off.”

“I had no intention of doing it.”

Actually, she didn’t stay long, but I felt like I was caught up in her for hours.

* * *

4 Princess Elysia felt bored with the ongoing negotiations.

She came as the person in charge, but the meeting was centered around the Arit chief and the Duke of Flare because Duke Flair was too active than Elysia.

“We don’t have a lot of greed. I just want the Empire to stop its atrocities. We will not stop as long as the empire’s ugly behavior continues.”

“So, you have to tell us what the ugly behavior is so we can come up with countermeasures and meet each other’s demands.”

“You did it, so why don’t you know?”

Perhaps it’s only been two days, but the talks haven’t progressed at all yet. The princess sighed inwardly when she saw the current situation where she was repeating the same words over and over again without much gain. The Arit side continues to not reveal what the empire did wrong that they invaded the empire.

As long as you know, you can even try to solve it, but if you don’t know, there’s nothing you can do.

“Then let’s stop here for today.”

“Yes. All right. Thanks for your efforts.”

At the words of the chief of the Arit tribe, Elysia habitually brought up the words of her hard work.

Obviously Duke Flair said that even if he led the meeting, he would give all the credit to Elysia.

However, as Elysia produced results in this meeting in that way, she later felt that she might not be able to do anything when it was really important to her. Elysia remembered the words her mother had told her in the past, saying that she was afraid, that she couldn’t do anything, and that if she didn’t try anything, she would just become that kind of person.

So, Elysia started to walk her streets. Her anticipation that if she looked at the lives of the people who lived here, she might find her clue that she could do something of her own, made her that way.

But she couldn’t find anything. All she could tell was that they were more active than expected in commerce and industry, and that they were living with bright smiles.

“How much is this?”

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No one recognized Elysia because she was wearing her cloak. Naturally, she tasted various street foods that were difficult to eat in the imperial palace, and went deep into her market.

“The Princess. No more…”

“I see. Let’s go back here.”

A lot of time has already passed. Thinking that she would be here any longer and that the sun would set before she could go into the quarters, she slowly turned her body around.

You never know what will happen in a foreign country. Even more so, the lodging where Elysia is staying now is the enemy’s stronghold. Elysia was a non-existent royal family who didn’t deserve her death, but she was dangerous.

For those in charge of escorting her, it becomes difficult to protect the princess when it starts to get dark.

But she couldn’t help but stop her body, startled by the sound of her voice coming from somewhere.

Princess, be careful.”

I thought there was no one around, but it seems there was someone. Soon, Elysia was able to confirm the identity of the voice.

“Hey…”

She was a child less than half her height.

“Why?”

Elysia moved closer to her child. Although the escort knight stopped him midway, she restrained him with her hand and brought her child to eye level.

“Are you really… The princess?”

Elysia felt something uneasy in her child’s eyes. She was a visceral sense.

As soon as Elysia hurriedly retreated, her knight saw her retreat and reflexively subdued her child.

“There was a knife. She cleverly hides it in her clothes, seemingly out of sight.”

In Elisia’s opinion, she was just the princess of the empire for no reason, so she probably didn’t want to kill herself. So Elysia questioned her child.

“Did you stab me with that knife?”

“Uh. Because of you, her mother and brother are gone!”

In principle, the Empire prefers not to kill children and women, and in practice it is quite well done. Of course, there are many cases where this is not the case, so Elysia must have been the child of someone who suffered such exceptional damage, she thought.

But she couldn’t help but change her mind when she heard her child’s next words.

“You guys took my mother! My mom didn’t do anything…”

“What?”

“The other kids’ moms and dads are gone…”

The child strained her body as if she had given up now.

But on the contrary, Elysia’s voice was strong.

“Who came and took it?”

“It’s obvious! You guys took us as slaves!”

Hearing her child’s words, Elysia felt that the question within her was unraveling like a thread.