Revenge of Reborn Villainess

As Lesvan concluded the meeting in the hideout located in the shadowy district and turned to head back to the palace, he felt a peculiar sensation and turned around.

A maid with her silver hair elegantly tied high was entering a weapons store.

With a round forehead, a cute nose, slightly flushed cheeks, and a vibrant expression, she captivated Lesvan involuntarily.

Lesvan’s fingertips moved involuntarily without him realizing it.

Even without being close, the scent from that time vividly came back to him.

The shape of the white neckline and the clear and vivid blue eyes.

It was her.

“…”

With lethal poison and thorns.

Yet irresistibly captivating.

The woman who was the owner of his long-forgotten dream, born from a past connection.

“Your Highness.”

Phanix, his henchman behind him, stopped and turned to Lesvan with a questioning glance.

“Is there business to attend to?”

“Go ahead inside. I… have someone to meet.”

Following Lesvan’s command, Phanix stepped back.

Lesvan’s gaze was fixed on the weapons store where the maid had entered.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

**

“A Lover?”

Lesvan unconsciously frowned.

The maid spoke with her blue eyes coldly lit.

“Aye. I commissioned it to be made as a gift for him.”

“…”

“Did the knight also come to buy a sword?”

Lesvan’s eyebrows twitched at the awkward smile on the maid’s face.

He hadn’t considered it, but he wanted to play some mind games with her at this reaction.

Some urge to narrow the space between her delicate eyebrows.

Like any other boy.

“No, I just stopped when I saw you.”

Eshika’s pupils shook slightly at Lesvan’s words.

An extended silence lingered between them.

As a cool breeze blew, Lesvan’s black hair swayed.

Eshika couldn’t guess what was on his mind within his golden eyes.

After a while, Lesvan, with a slight frown, spoke again.

“If it’s not too much trouble… I’d like to have a cup of tea.”

“Uh… yes?”

Eshika asked back, a slightly puzzled gleam in her eyes.

The surface of Resvan’s dark eyes reflected Eshika’s face.

His smirk was unnerving.

“Gifting a sword to your lover. Sounds like an interesting story.”

Eshika responded with a slightly puzzled look.

Lesvan’s intense gaze had Eshika’s face reflected on its surface.

***

“I’ve noticed that you’re not a maid.”

Following Lesvan, Eshika entered the tea house, partly against her will.

“I’m curious why you told such a cute lie, Klaus… Duchess.”

He asked, leaning slightly closer to her face.

It was the price of a mistake made in confusion, not thinking properly.

In the martial world, it was common for a master to give a sword to a disciple, for family members to exchange swords, and for lovers in the martial world to give and receive swords.

But giving a sword in this context meant ‘enmity’ or ‘severance of ties’.

And giving a sword to a lover… What an absurd story.

Moreover, the Crown Prince knew Eshika’s identity.

I don’t know how he found out, but he did.

“…I have personal reasons, Your Highness.”

Having engaged in infiltration and concealment countless times, acting was not difficult.

But there was no need to act in front of someone who already knew her identity.

Eshika’s words made Lesvan raise the corner of his lips.

“Even in the maid’s attire you wear?”

His gold eyes focused on the frills near her collarbone.

It was an overt and potentially rude gaze, but no one would think that the noble Crown Prince had different intentions.

Eshika, too, no longer tried to hide what had already been revealed.

“Yes.”

“Klaus’s household must be more complicated than it seems, with a duchess dressed as a maid.”

He leisurely lifted his teacup and sipped from it.

Looking at the rim of his cup, Eshika thought,

‘Today is an unlucky day.’

There are days when luck doesn’t favor you.

“In that case…”

Lesvan’s lips curled.

“Did you go into the lake in the middle of the night because of those circumstances?”

Eshika’s eyebrows twitched at his words.

Indeed, Lesvan remembered the events of that day.

And it was a situation that could no longer be blurred with lies.

“Your Highness seems to be quite interested in Duke Klaus.”

Masters usually have sharp instincts.