The Villainess’s Guide to Winning the Male Lead

When Selena went to the duke’s mansion, the person who wouldn’t even come out to meet her had now come to pick her up. Considering Kabir’s extreme reluctance to go out, it was quite unexpected.

“Can’t I just tell him to go back?”

“Probably not…”

If I refused, it would only make Shailo uncomfortable for no reason.

Enjoying teatime once was difficult enough. I sighed and stood up from my seat.

“Sorry, Davi. I should go now.”

“Take care!”

Davi sent me off with a bright smile I hadn’t seen before. It was disappointingly sweet.

I followed Shailo, and we arrived at the entrance of the temple.

There, stood Kabir in front of a carriage bearing the Heyward family crest.

Kabir looked at me with a face full of displeasure.

“Taking quite a long time for a treatment.”

“Is that why you came to get me?”

“If my fiancée is getting picked up by me, is there a problem with that?”

[Woongcha: Leeol―]

[NyamNyamoo: He’s taking care of his fiancée, lol]

[Heo: It’s obvious that Kabir likes Anais]

[Isaac: For real, lol]

I couldn’t understand why the chat was so excited amongst themselves.

I was just worried about how to break off this engagement.

Since Kabir personally came to pick me up, I decided to go back with him.

Soon, the carriage started moving.

“Why did you have to go all the way to the temple for just a bruise treatment? It doesn’t make sense that it took two days for that.”

He’s really giving me a hard time.

He’s so discontent about me being away for two days. I wonder why he’s so obsessed with me being in the mansion. It’s not like my presence benefits the family in any way.

“I thought I’d enjoy myself a bit while I was there.”

“You never keep the promise to always have dinner together.”

“It was just a joke of a promise.”

“A promise is still a promise.”

Ugh, such a stickler. That’s why I never got along with principled people.

I didn’t want to get scolded by the manager again, so I just turned my gaze out of the window.

Kabir, watching me, finally spoke.

“…Are you feeling better now?”

When was he so concerned, after hinting that I was overreacting over just a bruise? Still, it wasn’t too bad being worried over by Kabir. I smirked and answered.

“I’m totally fine, so don’t worry. How about you? Did you get the railing fixed?”

“Yeah, actually, I wanted to ask you something about that.”

“What is it?”

Kabir’s purple eyes fixed on me.

“Did you really fall from the second floor?”

I flinched at his question.

Did he notice something? My mind was filled with various thoughts, but I tried to remain calm.

I asked with an innocent expression.

“Of course. Why?”

“The condition of the broken railing on the second floor is strange.”

Kabir, with his chin resting on his hand, fell into thought.

“It’s like someone deliberately broke it…”

“Cough!”

I made a loud coughing sound.

Kabir widened his eyes and looked at me.

“Are you okay?”

“Cough, cough. Yeah. I think I might have a bit of a cold.”

“You received treatment from the priest, didn’t you?”

“I must have caught it just now.”

“…Alright.”

Fortunately, Kabir didn’t press on it too much.

The manager must have taken care of the real fifth-floor railing I fell from. The second-floor railing must have been deliberately broken to make it seem like I fell from there. Kabir, with his keen observation, seemed to have noticed that.

‘I won’t be able to keep this up for long.’

I was worried that the people around me would soon find out.

Sweating internally, I turned my gaze to Kabir. His eyes were fixed on me. More precisely, on my hand.

“…Why?”

“Never mind.”

Kabir averted his gaze.

I looked at my hand that Kabir had been observing just now.

As expected, there was a ring on my left ring finger.

“……”

Sneaking a glance at Kabir’s hand, it was the same. He too was wearing an identical ring on his left hand.

‘This feels strange.’

Was it because it was the first time I matched something with someone else?

A newfound sentimentality came over me.

* * *

We arrived at the duke’s mansion.

“Sister!”

Selena greeted me as she came out to meet us. Eric and Finley were there too. They must have known I was coming and came out in advance.

It wasn’t as chaotic as usual, probably because it was just a bruise. Finley seemed to be looking at me with a bit of pity.

“Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt badly, did you?”

“I went all the way to the temple for treatment, what do you think? I’m perfectly fine.”

After reassuring Selena, I turned my gaze to Finley.

[OnlyFinley has donated 1,000 points!]

– Long time no see, Finleyㅠㅠ

As expected, the first to react was OnlyFinley. Just showing his face was enough to receive that many points.

“Hello, Finley.”

I greeted Finley, having received the points.

Finley, with a look as if he had much to say, sighed.

“…Be more careful in the future.”

“I’ll try.”

I couldn’t honestly confess that I was enchanted by magic and targeted by an assassin, so I had no choice but to be seen as a clumsy person. It wasn’t entirely wrong, either.

I naturally looked at Eric, but he just kept his mouth shut and avoided my gaze.

‘Won’t you confess?’

It would be nice to do it while the broadcast is on.

‘But then again, it might be a bit awkward to do it in front of so many people.’

I didn’t know anything about unrequited love, but I decided to understand Eric’s feelings.

After briefly greeting everyone, I entered my room. Selena suggested having tea together, but I promised her another time and headed to my room.

There was a reason for my haste.

It was time to sort things out.

Sitting in the chair, I spoke with a serious expression.

“I have an important announcement to make.”

[FlowerFlute: What is it?]

[Isaac: Setting the mood, huh]

[Stress: Hey, someone set up a greenscreen behind her]

Unlike me, the chat was anything but serious. It was an expected result.

After taking a deep breath, I spoke.

“I’ve discovered the identity of the assassin.”

[PleaseShakeACarrot: ?]

[Something: What?]

[Ian: ㅋㅋ]

[Gold2: ???]

As expected, the chat window filled with question marks. The angels were quite united in their curiosity at times like this.

I didn’t want to drag it out and get scolded, so I revealed it right away.

“It’s Irmin.”

[Isaac: Really?]

[Gold2: I thought something was fishy]

[FlowerFlute: He did approach Lord Underground quite a bit, suspiciously…]

[PleaseShakeACarrot: Wow…]

[Poppopo has donated 1,000 points!]

– So what are you going to do now?

“We see each other every day, so he’ll probably come today as well.”

That person, who is unusually quick with news, must have heard that I arrived at the duke’s mansion.

[Gold2: Wonder how he’ll look today]

[Stress: I’m starting to look forward to it, lol]

[Woongcha: I thought it was just me, lol]

Huh? Surprisingly, this guy has quite a demand?

Irmin was a character shrouded in mystery, so it made sense to pique curiosity.

‘But what’s the point? He’s an assassin.’

Now that I was convinced Irmin was the culprit, my liking for him had hit rock bottom.

[PleaseShakeACarrot: So he’s been doing bad things to you all this time?]

[OnlyFinley: Won’t let this guy off the hook]

[Manager: Why are you all making a fuss?]

[LLoading: There’s only one fan of Lord Underground!]

[Manager: Who decided that?]

[MadelineTastesGood has donated 500 points!]

– But what about the twelve hundred thousand points?

[AsparagusCharm: Ah, I was curious about that]

[OnlyFinley: They seemed to have gotten closer―]

The topic in the chat window changed in an instant, and the manager went eerily quiet. It seemed that for these people, romance was a more exciting topic than assassination.

[AaMae: My points are at stake here!!]

[Gold2: Right, I want to see some heart-fluttering moments]

[Stress: Heart-fluttering now would be bad, lol. She’s already engaged, lol]

[Ian: Right. So does that mean automatic failure?]

“No.”

Automatic failure? As if I would let the twelve hundred thousand points slip away so easily.

I said with a determined look in my eyes.

“I’ll give it a try.”

[Manager: What are you trying to do?]

[PleaseShakeACarrot: That’s our Nuna!]

[AsparagusCharm: I knew I could trust you―]

The twelve hundred thousand points were too precious to lose. Of course, the manager’s opinion wasn’t important.

[LLoading: But what about Kabir?ㅠ]

“I have to break off the engagement, obviously.”

[FlowerFlute: That’s so sad…]

[Gold2: Poor Kabir]

“Don’t expect too much from me…”

Maintaining an engagement while expecting to be pampered was just unreasonable. I had to give up on someone.

The conversation started with Irmin but naturally shifted as we talked about this and that.

The angels then started discussing Selena and Finley.

[Ian: They seemed closer than before]

[OnlyFinley: They were sticking together♡]

[MadelineTastesGood: It wasn’t quite like that]

[Poppopo: Leave them be, they’re happy…]

I also thought that Selena and Finley seemed to have gotten closer recently.

‘Now that there’s no engagement, perhaps Finley will be more proactive.’

After all, until now, he might have been holding back, thinking that she would be someone else’s fiancée.

[OnlyFinley: Now that we’re talking about Finley, I want to see him]

[OnlyFinley: Can we go see Finley?]

“Then, I’ll go see Finley.”

[Gold2: Why are you listening to her?]

“Because she donated a thousand points earlier.”

[Stress: That’s a good reason]

[MadelineTastesGood: Okay]

Indeed, in this broadcast, the person who donated the most points was king.

Finley’s room was on a completely different floor. The future duke couldn’t just stay in a guest room.

That was the same for me as a duke’s daughter, but at the time the rooms were assigned, it wasn’t certain if I was the duke’s daughter, so I just got a guest room. I continued to use it out of convenience. Selena insisted on staying in the room next to mine, so she was using a guest room as well.

While moving quickly to go downstairs, something caught my foot.

“……!”

There were stairs below.

‘Did someone trip me?’

I couldn’t see anyone, but I was sure of it.

If nothing changed, I would tumble down the stairs. Just when I was about to wrap my arms around my head for protection, a hand reached out from the side and wrapped around my body.

“Whoops.”

Someone behind me caught my body. Thanks to them, I didn’t fall but ended up in their arms instead.

“You need to be careful.”

Their voice was as calm as a still lakeside. The faceless person whispered in my ear.

“You almost died falling down the stairs this time, Lady.”