|| ɪ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠɪʟʟᴀɪɴᴇꜱꜱ ɪɴ ᴀɴ ᴀɴᴛɪᴄʟɪᴍᴀᴄᴛɪᴄ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ||

Chapter 39

Ch 39 — The Moment Everything in the Original Novel Flew Away

Meliara had given her peppermint tea. Olivia collapsed after drinking chamomile tea. But the one who tried to poison Olivia was Meliara?

What sort of planting a green bean only for it to yield a red bean[1] nonsense is this? Feeling dubious, I asked one more time for confirmation.

[Ara] "You're saying you collapsed after drinking the chamomile tea I gave you?"

Ziken temper flared at my question.

[Ziken] "What exactly are you playing at now, Princess!? To even poke at other people's trauma like that...!"

He hurriedly jumped to Olivia's defence. Olivia fisted her temple robes with her small hands as her slender shoulders trembled violently. Although I felt a bit apologetic at her pitiful appearance, this was something that I needed to confirm.

[Olivia] "You even announced that you were going to send chamomile tea in front of everyone..."

Olivia said, her voice full of terror.

[Olivia] "You said that you'd know that I was rejecting your goodwill if I didn't drink it, so I... hic..."

Hearing her say that she was forced to drink it under my coercion and threats, I felt dizzy, swiping a hand across my forehead.

Although the original story had already changed drastically, this was part of a future that hadn't happened yet. All the events before I came here were exactly the same as the original novel's. I didn't just trust the original novel blindly.

But there hasn't been anything wrong with what happened in the past so far. So if that was the case, then how was I meant to accept these two inconsistent facts?

'Who made the switch in the middle...?'

If that was the case, then this was a serious situation. Although I had now left the Duke household, I was still a princess at that time, so it could be interpreted as an attempt to incite discord between the Darchez Duchy and the temple. Furthermore, even the Crown Prince, Princess, and the Saintess had all been deceived by it.

'However...'

I had a strong gut feeling that this wasn't done by a third party at all.

I fixed my eyes onto Olivia.

Contrary to her trembling shoulders and slender figure that was held in Ziken's embrace, her shifty eyes that kept glancing at me were strange. It wasn't a gaze that stemmed from fear or cautiousness, but a vigilance that came from envy and jealousy.

A phrase flashed in my mind.

<[Meliara] "It's not me, Your Highness! No matter how jealous I am, I won't do something so illogical or senseless!">

At that time, I had brushed past that line with the thought 'The villainess is speaking nonsense again', but now it sounded a bit different.

One after another, all the other 'evil deeds' that were commited by Meliara in the original novel suddenly came to my mind. Even the line that Meliara shot back every time.

<[Meliara] "Did such a thing happen? But what do you mean it's my fault?">

I had only thought that she was extremely shameless back then, but what if that was actually the truth devoid of lies...?

<[Meliara] "You know what the truth is, Saintess! So why are you saying something else instead?!">

My head began to throb as if I had been hit hard in the back of my head by the line that was full of Meliara's pent up anger. My heart began to pound.