“Uuugh!”
With a loud splashing sound, green dye was quickly sprayed all over their bodies. Looking like green monsters, they stood there trembling, mouths agape, unable to utter a single word.
Wot leaned in close to their ears and snickered. “Wooow, maybe you should try bathing once in a while. So filthy.”
It was the exact same insult they used to hurl at commoners, now thrown right back at them. But they didn’t even realize it. All they could think about was how a mere commoner had dared to humiliate them, and that was something they simply couldn’t tolerate.
“H-How dare you treat nobles like this and think your neck will be safe!”
“Mmm, I’ll be fine.”
“A commoner like you, so damn insolent…!”
Even as they roared like thunder, Wot just wore a sly smile, completely unfazed. “Yes, next green monster.”
The men, grinding their teeth, quickly scanned their surroundings. Wot was alone, and even if there were other commoners around, none of them could possibly stand up to the nobles’ strength.
“You must be pretty stupid if you don’t know divine power can be used for attack as well as healing.” He sneered, raising his hand to slap Wot across the face.
But right at that moment, she moved lightning-fast, like someone who’d trained her body to the limit, and tore a teleport scroll from her pocket.
“Mmm, keep running your mouths!”
Chwaak! With a crisp, tearing sound, divine power surged and sliced through the air, hitting nothing.
As the teleport scroll activated and Wot’s body began to fade from view, they spat curses through clenched teeth. “Ha… What a crazy b*tch!”
“Not the problem if I don’t hear it! Go ahead and badmouth me behind my back~!” Even at the very end, she stuck out her tongue and taunted them. With those infuriating parting words, she left behind the ones now stained and splotched with dye, looking like a bunch of green algae monsters!
* * *
“Just who do you think you are, daring to block the path of Duke Reshaniel?”
“I-It’s us. It’s us, Your Grace!”
Looking closely, they were relatives of the family, their whole bodies covered in stains. They even seemed to be giving off a stench, so the duke’s aide pinched his nose as he spoke.
“What on earth are you doing? Didn’t I tell you to go volunteer in the village?”
“Y-Yes, that’s right. But—!”
“Something must have happened.” Duke Reshaniel, who had been watching them with complete indifference, finally spoke up.
They poured out every detail of the vicious things that had happened until now.
“A commoner woman, you say.”
Yet there was not a shred of interest on Duke Reshaniel’s face. Failing to read his expression, his blood relatives babbled on in a rush.
“Ah, yes. Her healing power seemed quite formidable.”
“Are you seriously telling me, in a roundabout way, that you lost to a mere commoner woman and came running to me?” He tilted his head slightly as he looked at them without emotion. It was a signal to leave.
“I-I apologize…” After gauging his mood, they hastily tucked their tails between their legs and left.
Sending away even his aide, Duke Reshaniel, now alone, walked toward the bookshelf in his room. Having just witnessed those useless fools, he suddenly felt an urgent need for peace and solace.
If one pulled out the second book from the left on the third shelf, there was a mechanism inside that led to a secret prison. Pressing the switch firmly, Duke Reshaniel opened the door and stepped inside. There was nothing but a desk and a bed. It was a small, miserable underground cell, strewn with worn-out clothes, almost pitiful. He had prepared this place with the intention of keeping Giselle here.
“She’s probably crying right now, unable to see me. Poor thing.”
Sitting on the bed, he gazed down at Giselle’s portrait placed beside him. Imagining Giselle crying made a dull heat rise through his body. Letting out a breathy, excited moan, he ran his hand over her portrait.
Unfortunately, Giselle had left his arms due to a forced marriage with Duke Kalinos, but… She’s mine anyway. The thought of her plummeting endlessly, her wings broken, made his heart race with such twisted delight that he broke into a manic grin.
On the side table lay a single document titled <Marriage Annulment Act>. If things were according to plan, there would be a way to annul Giselle’s marriage. I need to heal the empress and obtain what I need.
Since things were unfolding differently from his expectations, there was a need to move up the schedule.
* * *
“Hmm… As expected, that damn male-lead buff really can’t be helped.”
I had done a bit of lobbying with various newspaper offices, asking them to write about the Reshaniel family scandals, but the response was worse than expected. Everyone seemed to think, ‘Surely that great house of Duke Reshaniel wouldn’t do something so rotten,’ and brush it off. And to make matters worse…
“There’s news that Her Majesty has awakened thanks to Duke Reshaniel! Apparently, she can even move her fingers now.”
I curled my lips into a cold, unsettling smile as I thought.
In the original story, Duke Reshaniel healed the empress not once, but three separate times. Instead of curing her all at once, he met her steadily over three occasions, strengthening his control over her. Since there was an interval between those healings, that meant I still had a chance.
Chuckling darkly to myself, I stared at Hennessy, the self-help author who’d just arrived. Amazingly, true to his Kalinos family roots, he’d already declared that his next book would be about ‘Lady Wot’s Life.’
“If you’re going to promote Lady Wot, you should really make her shine properly. Write this down: <Divine Power, Completely Beaten by Lady Wot!> That’s the first subheading.”
Hennessy, who had never once courted controversy in his life, looked completely baffled. “But, i-is it really okay to write something like that in a book?”
“Yes. We’ll use a red background with yellow letters, in a super clean font.”
I grinned wickedly. Time to move on to the next bit of bait.
“Now, this next part is even more important. Who do you think is the most handsome person in our family?”
“T-The most handsome person would be…” Gulp. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
* * *
“…So all I have to do is sit here in front of this window?”
“Yup!”
“And I’ll be on the cover of your friend’s book?”
“Exactly!”
Seeing the corners of his lips lift in satisfaction, I nodded.
Following the words of Hennessy, who had somehow become ‘my friend,’ I had brought in the most handsome man in the family: Duke Kalinos. With an expressionless yet elegant face, he sat by the window and looked straight at me. And then,
“Riwes has to be held too!”
“…Open your arms.”
Receiving Riwes’s sparkling gaze, he awkwardly scooped the boy into his embrace. At the same time, an unfamiliar puppy sat at his feet and went, Woof!
I looked at the scene with satisfaction. In advertising, what catches the eye most is the 3Bs. Baby, Beauty, Beast. Those three. No matter how impressive Duke Reshaniel might be, he could never compete with the appeal of these three. So I did bring the most handsome man right up front, but… Unfortunately, the portrait artist looked as if he were about to wet himself, shaking all over.
“Ah, Mr. Painter! Please make him look as gentle as possible.”
“Y-Yes. I-I-I understand!”
Watching the artist tasked with painting this handsome man’s portrait, I stroked my chin in thought. “Make him look even kinder. With a smile.”
“A gentle, smiling expression… T-That’s practically recreating heaven and earth…”
But perhaps because he was indeed a remarkable artist, the portrait artist began diligently painting Duke Kalinos’s gentle yet handsome face. After dozens, maybe hundreds, of brushstrokes swept across the canvas…
“This… is supposed to be me?”
The artist’s trembling hand fell to the floor with a thud. At that moment, every eye in the room was glued to the portrait.
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