“Bravo!”
As the performance ended, I screamed like a madwoman.
The ladies, startled by my cheers, covered their mouths with their fans and stepped back, but who cares.
I’m destined to die in two weeks anyway.
“Come on, everyone, let’s not be so formal and just have fun. Here’s another drink!”
Everyone seemed to know who I was, so I considered taking off my mask, but decided against it.
I quite liked the mask decorated with finch tail feathers.
My name is Liberata Bernadette.
I’m the young lady of the Bernadette Marquis family, who just turned twenty.
With well-curled brown hair and flawless skin, I have a beauty that anyone would admire, but in truth, I’m a notorious villainess.
Well, it’s not that I’m actually a villainess.
I just fell asleep while reading the novel The Tumultuous Life of Leonie. I read diligently until late at night. It was interesting, and the male protagonist was quite handsome—
I read up to the scene where the villainess dies and thought, “Ah, that’s satisfying!”
But when I woke up, I found myself inside the novel.
Sometimes the story progresses differently from the novel, so I had a slight hope.
Maybe some amazing side characters would follow me around, or the cold male protagonist would cling to me.
But what do you know, just like in the original story, I was thoroughly just a villainess.
A supporting character who commits evil deeds and disappears in the dew of the execution ground.
Yes, the romantic events I had briefly hoped for did not happen to me.
Anyway, that’s how I became a real, damned villainess.
I couldn’t even fully understand this absurd situation, but the story progressed frantically.
And then, before I could do anything, I received all sorts of misunderstandings and criticisms, and on the day of St. Obenry’s Day, I died helplessly.
In fact, I was scared right before dying, but on the other hand, I thought it was fortunate that the story was ending.
I thought I could go back to my original world when I closed my eyes.
It was short but annoying, and I happily died thinking I would never read even a glance at such stories again— feeling quite pleased as I died!
But to my surprise, when I opened my eyes, I was still in The Tumultuous Life of Leonie.
I’ve died about nineteen times like this, and today is the twentieth return.
I’ve come back, again and again, to the day when the female lead, Leonie, meets the male protagonist.
Perhaps because it’s an important day for Leonie, I always return to the masked ball held at the Grand Duke’s mansion.
“Libe, stop drinking now.”
This kind woman who just took away my glass is the female lead, Leonie Almaz.
She’s kind, lovely, and loved by everyone.
“Ah, just one more drink. Please!”
“Oh, come on. You’ve already had enough.”
My role is to torment this kind and innocent woman as much as possible.
In the novel, Liberata and Leonie were close since childhood.
But as they grew up, Liberata became jealous and hateful towards Leonie.
Eventually, harboring resentment when her own talkative fiancé proposed to Leonie, she becomes a vicious character who even goes as far as to trap and kill Leonie’s cat to hurt her.
Ugh, for heaven’s sake. I can’t even kill a single bug, let alone a cat.
At first, I thought I could just live quietly in the mansion, thinking that would be enough.
But I ended up being falsely accused of all sorts of things… and eventually died.
I tried to avoid false accusations (to create an alibi) by inviting friends for a tea party, but of all things, the tea I prepared had poison in it, and all my friends were killed.
Wow, this was truly unfair.
And the result? Execution by hanging.
And that too, recorded as a notorious villainess, on the last day of the festival commemorating St. Obenry’s Day—
I died.
Only after repeating this nineteen times did I realize that, one way or another, I was destined to commit crimes and die.
I wasn’t allowed to live a normal life in the novel— my hope of returning to reality after seeing the ending was also frustrated— I only came to know that there was only one path laid out before me.
Repeating a fortnight of life like a hamster wheel.
So, what am I going to do now?
I’m just going to live recklessly.
I’m going to die in two weeks anyway, so let whatever happens, happen.
Ah, perhaps, is this novel trying to make me a villainess in this way?
“Libe, I’m about to leave now. Want to share a carriage?”
Leonie will leave the ballroom first like this, and the male lead will follow her out.
I don’t know what happened after that.
Whether they play pat-a-cake or engage in some other romantic activity.
Anyway, they fall in love like that, and I meet the man who will become engaged to me here.
But when that guy proposes to Leonie, the catastrophe begins.
Ugh, whatever. Whether he proposes or not, I have no intention of killing a cat or getting married!
There’s only one thing I want.
To get out of this novel somehow.
But I haven’t figured out how to escape yet.
Moreover, nothing goes as I intend no matter what I do, so now I’m in a state of “whatever happens, happens.”
I was drinking like there was no tomorrow when—
“Oops, I’m sorry.”
I stumbled and accidentally bumped into a woman standing behind me.
“Watch where you’re going!”
“I’m sorry, really sorry.”
While I was bowing my head, the red-haired woman snorted once and went somewhere else.
“Libe, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go now. I’m about to leave too.”
“No, I want to stay and have more fun. I’ll go back on my own.”
As I gulped down champagne again, Leonie looked at me with a somewhat surprised face.
“Libe, are you sure you’ll be alright?”
“Yeah, I told you I’m fine.”
After sending off the worried Leonie, I really had a blast.
Well, even a ghost who died while having fun would look pretty, right?
I mixed and drank all sorts of cocktails, shook and drank, roughly folded up my dress, and even did a lively tap dance.
Feeling a bit tired, I was about to go to a corner seat when the ground seemed to rise up towards me.
“Oh!”
I thought I’d regain my balance after stumbling, but I must have had too much to drink.
Ah, if I collapse here, it wouldn’t look good for a so-called villainess.
Just as I was about to fall to the floor, someone supported my back.
Surprised by the touch on my back and shoulders, I tried to get up, but my limbs wouldn’t listen.
“Sorry…”
I can’t see the face clearly because of the mask.
Moreover, my vision was getting blurrier. Was it just my imagination?
Anyway, I barely managed to stand up and free myself from the man’s embrace.
My face felt hot, perhaps due to the warmth still lingering on my back.
I almost threw off my mask and started fanning myself with my hands.
As I staggered forward, this time my shoes were the problem.
Just as I was about to fall again, the man grabbed my wrist.
“You seem quite drunk.”
“I’m fine.”
I brushed off his hand and took a step forward.
Then I heard something like a thud.
Unfortunately, that’s where my memory ends.
*** *** *** *** ***
When I opened my eyes again, I felt drowsy and relaxed against a soft surface…
Wait.
I clearly remember collapsing at the ballroom.
As I came to my senses and opened my eyes wide, I saw a cozy bedroom at a glance.
‘What, where is this?’
But there was something more important and surprising than where this was or why I was lying in bed.
“Are you awake?”
The bed tilted slightly to the right, and I felt some weight. I hoped and hoped it was just my imagination.
A voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, playfully came over.
Although I couldn’t see his face clearly because of the mask, his smiling lips were distinct.
It was clearly the man I had encountered before losing consciousness.
“Y-you. What’s going on?”
I mumbled like a mosquito as I slowly raised my body.
But immediately, my voice came out completely distorted.
“What the… What’s this?”
Why am I undressed?
I was definitely wearing a voluminous green dress at the ballroom, but now I’m in a very sheer slip!
I almost screamed.
Maybe I was already screaming with my eyes!
Just as the alcohol that had filled me to the top of my head was about to evaporate in an instant.
As I pulled the blanket to cover my body in panic, the man said dryly.
“You don’t remember anything at all, do you?”
“W-what? Don’t tell me you…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say, ‘Did you undress me?’
What if he comes closer while saying yes?
Ah, I said I’d live recklessly, but this is a bit scary!
Rather than the cat… No, never mind.
“Your dress was ruined.”
“What?”
“You walked into the fountain saying you were hot.”
The man replied dryly as he brushed back his hair that had fallen forward.
“?”
“It was completely soaked, so I couldn’t leave it as it was.”
“……”
“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t do it myself.”
And unfortunately, as he spoke, incomplete but certain memories of my actions started to come back one by one.
It was the first time in my life I had drunk so much alcohol and danced while drinking.
I started with the intention of just enjoying myself carelessly, but as I drank, my reason was pickled in alcohol and my body didn’t feel like my own.
If I had lost consciousness, it would have been better to just pass out.
I’m not particularly sensitive, but it seems I came to my senses when someone held me to support me.
<Ah, let go. Who are you?>
<…you?>
<Yes, you. Why are you so tall like a beanpole? Put me down!>
That last man I encountered had picked me up in a princess carry.
I had collapsed in the middle of the ballroom, and he had held me, so I should actually be bowing so low my nose touches the ground in gratitude…
<What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it wrong to call a beanpole a beanpole? If you don’t like that, should I call you a tall guy?>
<You’re terribly drunk.>
<Ah, why is the ground shaking so much? Hey? Who did the construction here? This is shoddy construction.>
<You seem very drunk. Where’s your carriage…>
<I said it’s shoddy construction!>
<……>
<This is going to be a disaster, everyone. Evacuate quickly! The ground keeps shaking!>
<It would be better if you stop struggling.>
<The ground is shaking, I tell you. We need to get out! It’s shoddy construction!>
So he carried me out himself…
“When we got outside, you said it was hot and walked straight into the fountain.”
That’s where my memory came back.
I couldn’t bear the shame that filled me to the tips of my hair.
I wanted to pull the blanket over my head, but all I could do was grip the blanket tightly until it almost tore.
Even in this situation, the man sitting on the right side of the bed was staring at me with an expressionless face.
“I’m sorry.”
“There was no time to stop you. I thought you were too drunk to even walk properly.”
“I’m really sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
Of course, these words alone won’t be enough to completely appease him.
‘This life is the worst from the start.’
Even when I tried to live properly, it always ended in a mess, and when I decided to live carelessly, it’s a mess from the beginning.
What am I supposed to do!
How am I supposed to get out of this damn novel!
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