A Villainess pulled out the Sword instead of the Hero.

 

Kellive caught her hand quickly. 

 

Gently squeezing her fluttering hand, he stretched his lips to kiss the back of her hand and said.

 “May I speak with you for a moment?” 

Judging by how surprised she was by the greeting alone, she was not yet familiar with social etiquette.

 

‘You must be from the provinces.’

 

That’s why she’s acting like she doesn’t recognize him.

 

Surely there’s no one in Avalon with eyes that doesn’t know him.

 

The crown prince’s position was one where all was known to the people.

 

A few words and they would recognize him immediately.

 

By all appearances, she was related to the Fay family.

 

To have such a woman hidden in such a place, I doubt the Duke of Fay would want to divulge her.

 

As long as she remains powerful, she could soon become Avalon’s hope and the Fay family’s weakness.

 

The Duke must have found her a bit of a bargain to keep her in such a shabby place.

 

I’m sure she deserves a much better life than this, and I’m going to ask her to lend her full support to me.

 

In a sense, Duke Fay would be a puppet in name only.

  

As the Duke of Fay said, no good could come of being found out to be illegitimate, neither does Morgana.

 

‘I’m going to Britain!’

 

The future unfolded in her mind like a beacon.

 

A future where rumors of her illegitimacy would be spread everywhere, and her face would be on a wanted list for running away with power as soon as she fled to Britain.

 

Morgana had planned to stay in the cabin and wait for the guests to leave.

 

Until someone knocked on the door.

 

Morgana freaked out when she saw the man kissing her hand.

 

‘No, I asked for the bottle, why are you giving me something weird?!’

 

Instead, the man pressed his lips to hers and released her hand with an unexpected snap.

 “Are you a resident of this place?” 

The voice was firm, but soft and well-learned, with a familiarity of manner.

 

Morgana strained to see him through the gap in the cabin’s wooden door.

 

It wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped, though, seeing the man directly in front of her through the narrow slit.

 

Still, there was something about him, like the bridge of his nose, his long, clear eyes, and the gentle slant of his lips.

 

As far as features go, it was great.

 

‘Wow, that’s how recognizable it is from a distance.’

 

Of course, one must see the forest for the trees, but it didn’t matter because the wooden door didn’t show the forest.

 

The Duke of Fay also said that it was Confucius, so I guess he must come from a good family.

 

There are only three possible reasons for such a man to come to her cabin and ask.

 

The first was that he saw her as a homeless beggar trespassing on the Duke’s property and had a strong sense of justice.

 

Well, certainly when the original Morgana arrived, but not when I left.

 

The second was that I came to the Duke of Fay for tea leaves, and tracking down the source led to this point.

 

The Duke was ostensibly the one selling them, but where the hell did he leave them, and how did he get here, deserves some thought.

 

The third was simply the vastness of the countryside.

 

Either way, it didn’t matter.

 

Morgana was a stranger here, unrelated to the Duke of Fay, not the one who made the tea leaves, but she had to look like she wasn’t a beggar who had snuck in.

 

So she acted as if she owned the place.

 

For some reason, Confucius, who had grown up in a noble family, didn’t seem to mind.

 

A crack in the door revealed a man.

 

One look at his gorgeous, almost holy appearance, and Morgana realized the truth.

 

Yeah. It doesn’t matter how you present yourself, as long as the presentation was perfect.

 

‘It’s like the chocolate and milk combination can’t fail.’

 

And that’s even with that narrow doorway that looks so cramped.

 

Even if his lopsided grin makes me feel like a loan shark looking for a job.

 

Morgana turned her head away, hiding her face as best she could.

 “Yeah, I’ve been here a while.” 

Bluntly and coldly. She answered back in a similarly indifferent manner.

 

For some reason, Confucius was still smiling at her.

 

‘What is it, do I look too classy to live here?’

 

Morgana’s eyes darted around, examining her appearance.

 

Compared to the luxurious garments he wore, she paled in comparison.

 

After a short silence, Confucius spoke again,

“Since you live alone, and your home seems quite small, did you have a family living here?” “Family? I don’t have any!” 

Morgana replied firmly, leaving no room for further questions.

 

‘So please leave!’

 

Confucius crawled through the door, barely able to show his face.

 

All of his figures were fully visible. He was even more beautiful than some had thought.

 

His modest smile, which could have been cold in the worst way, seemed to sculpt him.

 

His lips were smiling, but his eyes were narrowed as if he was a little embarrassed.

 

Normally, the absence of a family would be met with sadness.

 

But Morgana had been without parents since she was a child.

 

Growing up, I didn’t have one, and the mother I had as an adult wasn’t a parent.

 

Throughout adulthood, at work, people would ask about her family out of habit.

 

Each time, Morgana had to give the same answer.

 

After a lifetime, it gets old.

 

‘You have to have good memories to be sad.’

 

Of course, when I was younger, I was curious about my parents.

 

But I no longer had any longing for the man who saw me only as money, not a true child.

 

‘Well, from the looks of the Duke of Fay, I think it’s better to live alone than with a family.’

 

Morgans answered the almost grueling question more firmly.

 “There isn’t, I assure you there isn’t!” 

Her confident answer made Kellive feel a twinge of embarrassment.

 

It wasn’t the kind of statement that would have mattered if she’d had actual family, or even if she hadn’t.

 

More than that, she didn’t recognize him at all. 

 

Look at those innocent eyes, so unquestioning when given enough time to see, appreciate, and analyze himself to conclude that he was, indeed, Kellive.

 

Those violet eyes seemed to be asking me why I was still standing there instead of leaving.

 

‘Have you been locked up in some remote mountain village somewhere?’

Kellive asks inwardly.

 

Otherwise, his behavior and speech were no different from that of a king.

 

Perhaps she was just clueless.

 

Kellive decided to give her a few more hints.

 

Hopefully, she would catch on and reveal her power.

 

If she was having trouble with the Duke of Fay, she would ask for help.

 

Then he would use that excuse to protect her.

 “My father died not long ago, too.” 

‘Hmph.’

Morgana sucked in a deep breath.

 

She didn’t have any fond memories of her parents, but he was referring to the family she was staying with now.

 

‘Did I just dig up another person’s heart?’

 

How do I even begin to describe this? I wanted to go back five seconds and slap myself on the lips.

 

The way I saw it, even the man’s smile looked forced.

 

Morgana knows that sadness.

 

How she cried when she realized that her mother, the only family she thought she had, thought of her as nothing more than money.

 

She remembers those moments when she had to realize that she was truly alone in the world.

 

I thought to myself

, ‘No way, did he come to the Duke of Fay for a funeral.’

 

If Confucius himself came from the countryside, it would be something significant.

 

Perhaps for the nobility in the capital, but for the nobles on the fringes of the countryside, it was a matter of course.

 

If they were acquainted with the Duke of Fay, they might have come to ask for his help.

 

Although he seems to have grown up without much in the way of privilege, there’s living proof that you could be mistaken.

 

‘I always said that when borrowing money and going to the bank, you wear your best clothes so you look presentable.’

 

Whether it was the obituary or not, Morgans’s brow furrowed as much as she could muster.

 “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that’s what you meant,”

said Morgana.

 

The more they talked, the more Kellive’s lips curled into a grim, mechanic smile.

 “…No. It’s okay, lots of people grieved for him anyway.” 

‘After all this, she still doesn’t know?’

 

It was just a little hint, he thought.

 

Morgana was looking up at him like a rabbit that’d been robbed of its carrot.

 

He could see how surprised she was, and the way her eyes fluttered made him feel needlessly guilty.