THE VILLAINESS TURNS THE HOURGLASS

Chapter 12. A New Meeting, Part IV

“Ah… That is…”

Mielle, unable to say anything, bit her lip. If she had grown a little older, she wouldn’t have fallen for such a trick, but since she was only thirteen years old, she was simply at a loss.

On the inside, she despised and hated Aria, but on the outside, she was the only benevolent daughter of the count. Although Aria was not the count’s biological daughter, and she was of low birth, she was still a daughter of the count. Mielle wasn’t the only one like everyone else thought.

Therefore, even if Aria had to indulge in vulgar actions, people would overlook them since that would be understandable because of her low origins, but Mielle was different. Everyone should know that she was always benevolent and kind. That was the image that she had built of herself.

‘Funny enough, it seems that I am unable to part with that very image.’

Silence permeated the dressing room. The longer Mielle went without saying anything, the more questions arose in people’s minds.

‘You said that you would lend anything, so why aren’t you permitting it?’

The white dress was folded so that it didn’t look like it was a present from Oscar, which Aria was doing on purpose.

In the end, Mielle was unable to refuse directly and had no choice but to allow Aria to borrow the dress.

“Thank you so much. I’ll make sure to wear it clean and return it to you.”

“… Yes,” Mielle replied, a dark expression on her face.

She looked like a young lily that would wilt at any moment. ‘How could you resemble our family’s seal so well?’ Aria exclaimed in her thoughts.

If she was a lily, Aria was willing to be a poison-spraying flower. She would be a flower that would kill with just a small quantity of her strong poison; a flower as beautiful as a rose. But, she would be a flower that never forgave those that dared touch it.

The lovely image of the two girls hiding their venom with pretense was sufficient enough to keep the hearts of the audience warm.

***

Aria wore the dress that she had borrowed from Mielle, which was simple but extremely luxurious, and went downtown in a carriage with two guard knights and her maid, Jessie.

It was unusual for an aristocratic child to go out without her parents, but Aria was different. She had wandered the streets alone when she was younger than Mielle, and the countess hadn’t felt that there had been much danger to a small child acting independently.

That had been because there were few stupid kidnappers who would kidnap a slum girl. It was hard to identify a dirty, mangled girl’s face and sell her to the brothel, and there were little incentives for selling and buying slaves, so there had been no reason to kidnap her.

Moreover, now that her status had risen, she had two knights guarding her, so the countess was even less worried. If one knight were to die, the other would still be able to protect Aria.

On the other hand, Mielle never went out alone. She always went out with the count and, in the past, her mother, so unless an unlikely event, she would surely refrain from going out. At times, Cain and Mielle would go out together, but that was when their destination was clear. For example, a possible destination would be a residence of another nobleman or a gathering of a small number of acquaintances. She would never visit places where an unspecified number of people attended. Concern and worries about her surroundings also played a major part in that.

Aria recalled the scene and laughed that Mielle was the lovely child of the count and too precious to move alone, unlike her.

Jessie became anxious and restless when she heard her giggles leak out and raised her eyes. Aria, pretending that she did not see her, looked outside the window.

The fresh grass, trees, flowers and the busy movement of the people…

The scenery outside the window of the carriage passing fast was no different from before, so it was a bit annoying. There were days when she spent nights screaming from the nightmares of her head being severed, but the world was very peaceful in comparison.

Aria touched her soft, clean neck. The thought of death coiled with dread around her slender neck, but her neck stretched cleanly and unmarred. Yet, she even had hallucinations where her head would fall down just like that and roll in the dirt.

‘… It’s OK. Nothing will happen.’

Her faintly trembling hand continued to feel her neck. The scene of a yellow leaf falling to the ground after reaching the end of its life came into view. It looked like her neck rolling miserably along the ground in front of the onlookers.

‘I will never let it go. The experience of my head being cut, I will make my brother and sister experience the same outcome.’