Originally, you thought Claire was going to lead you all the way to town, arm in arm as you two skipped side by side without a single care in the world — maybe even humming a nice tune on the way.
Sadly, your expectations were destroyed when she instead led you both to the front gate, where a pristine, perfect, shiny carriage was awaiting both of you. Technically Claire was supposed to sit next to the driver, and she was about to board on next to him when you rolled your eyes and tugged her inside the carriage.
Locking eyes with her, the corner of your lips twitched up when she blinked and then bashfully looked out the window. How cute. In every villainess isekai webtoon, there's always the loyal maid sub-trope. Claire was the living embodiment of it, and you found teasing her to be very entertaining.
But looking back on your first day here, you recalled her saying something about how she served Lady Corella for over seven years. Right now, the only memories you had were of your past life, and those hours you wasted on Transcendental Savior. Or maybe it wasn't a waste? Honestly, your situation could've been worse. Being thrown into a game or webtoon world you never seen before would've been way more detrimental.
Also, that brought up another important question.
Why this world, in particular?
Kody had been isekai'd here because he wished upon a star or some BS at the same time the summoning ritual was going on, but what about you?
You were summoned one year before he even arrives! Maybe Goddess Elnea made some kind of typo? Not gonna lie, you were tempted to invite her to a 1v1 and give her the ol' one-two to relieve some stress. Or maybe not. Goddess Elnea would sometimes pop up in Kody's dreams in order to speak to him, and she had some pretty nice sprite art. Her hair was akin to threads of white silk, and she had warm, emerald eyes. Her entire body was wrapped in white robes, a small kite-shaped gold jewel directly in the center of her forehead. Overall, she radiated goddess energy.
And honestly, you had a soft spot for pretty women. Women in general. You were a woman liker, maybe even going as far as saying lover?
Wait. Obviously you're a woman lover. You're gay, after all.
Chuckling quietly to yourself, you rest your cheek on top of your hand. Claire shoots a 'what in tarnation is she thinking about now?' look to you, trying her best to hide her judgy-ness. She doesn't do a very good job though.
Your chuckles only grow in amusement.
Located in a not-so-busy part of town, Runa's Remedies specialized in selling freshly-made tea brews and harvested herbs, despite its plain apprarance. For some reason, your nose twitches upon seeing this home-y little place. It looks familiar, but why? Did you ever visit this place in Transcendental Savior before?
"My lady? Is everything alright?"
Whoops. Snap out of it, [Name].
"Oh yeah, sorry. Just got caught up in my thoughts, let's go in." Tugging Claire's arm inside, the moment you step into the shop, a cute little jingle! goes off.
You then spot a small figure crouched down behind the cashier counter, a head of hazelnut-colored hair peeking over it.
"Just a moment please!" the owner of the voice says in a sing-song, chirpy manner. After a few more seconds pass, she startles both you and Claire by suddenly bouncing up, a pair of short braids resting on either sides of her shoulders. 'Runa' is engraved in black embroidery on the name tag just above her right breast. There are little embroidery flowers of different colors around her name. How cute. Freckles are sprawled across her cheeks like stars in the night sky. Once again, a sense of deja vu flashes through your mind. "Hello my dear customers! What can I do for you?"
Her eyes, which sparkle like two copper coins, widen when she catches sight of your face. It's an honestly very adorable expression, but considering your identity, you're certain it doesn't come from a place of happiness.
"L-Lady Corella!" A look of shock flickers across her face. Although Runa only has a simple commoner dress on, her manners are refined enough to immediately bow her head at the sight of you. "Pardon me, my lady, how may I be of service?"
You raise an brow at her reaction before it clicks in your head. Was Lady Corella's reputation that bad that even the townsfolk had heard of her before? Yikes...
Well, you suppose you could start cleaning up your name one step at a time.
"Howdy! I'm here to pick up a prescription I was prescribed." You wave at her, earning a surprised look and a side-eye. You can instantly tell who the side-eye belongs to. Next to you, Claire reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out the prescription paper, handing it to the shop keeper. She takes it and inspects it carefully.
"Oh! It's written on here that you need a lavender tea-brew to help sleep better at night." Her eyes dart up to make contact with yours. Suddenly, she's squinting to get a better look at your face. "Your skin looks flawless though! You haven't been sleeping well, my lady?"
"Yeah, I could use a couple more hours of sleep every night not gonna lie. Thanks for the kind words, but Claire helped me apply three layers of concealer to hide my eyebags."
Said maid throws you another side glance, as if saying "My lady... please mind your words!". Of course, you're only guessing that she's trying to say that. You don't have any actual proof, thus you don't really give a shit.
"Is that right?" Runa's eyes are wide once again, looking back and forth between you and Claire. "She did a wonderful job of blending, it looks completely natural!"
This time, Claire bows her head.
"Thank you for the compliment, Miss Runa. Though, could you go fetch my lady's prescription? I'm afraid we're on a tight schedule."
Runa puts her hands over her mouth, mimicking the surprised monkey emoji.
"Oh! Surely, of course! Pardon me, I'll be right back. In the meanwhile feel free to look around the shop! Maybe something might catch your eye, hehe." She hurries over to the shop's backroom, leaving you alone with Claire. Once she's gone, you glance at your maid with an amused expression.
"Did you just lie out of your ass?"
"Pardon?!" her eyes bulge out, ready to pop out of their sockets. You quickly push them back in before they can.
"I mean, did you lie about our schedule? I don't think we're doing anything today besides picking up my prescription."
Claire blinks, readjusting her hair after messing it up due to her shock from the vulgar phrase you uttered.
"I thought that we can explore the town after this. Oh, um, only if that's what my lady wishes for, of course. Though, um," her eyes dart in a different direction, "this has been the first time in years that I've accompanied you outside, thus I'm not too familiar with the places my lady favors."
Huh? But didn't Claire say she had been serving Lady Corella for over seven years?
When passing out on your first day here, you recalled regaining memories of your past life and Transcendental Savior. However, you had received little to none memories of the villainess herself. But obviously, whoever transported you into this world wasn't going to let you play on easy mode. Nope. They were gonna make you suffer as much as possible, but jokes on them, you had every intention of enjoying your stay in this poorly-made PC visual novel.
First step was to rekindle the bond between master and servant. Aka, between you and Claire.
"I would love to walk around with you!" you grin, earning a wide-eyed stare from your maid. "It's probably due to the fainting, but I don't have any recollection of this town, so it'll kinda be like seeing it for the first time with my best friend."
"...Best friend?"
"Yeah, I'm looking at her right now."
A splash of pink erupts across her cheeks.
"M-my lady, are you referring to... me?!"
"Who else? I mean you said it yourself. You've been with me for over seven years, who else could I have to consider a 'bestie'." Slinging an arm over Claire's shoulder, you find satisfaction in watching her try to process everything you said, then rebooting when she's at risk of going into overdrive mode.
You can't stop the shit-eating grin on your face afterwards.
Jeez, why did Lady Corella go after all those f-boys when Claire was right in front of her this entire time?
After poking on her cheek and still not getting a response, you figure it was better to leave Claire to herself for a bit, so she could sort out her thoughts. You can practically still see the smoke coming from her fried brain.
Okay, let's be real, it was very obvious that Lady Corella's maid either adored her like she was family, or had a thing for her. You were betting on the latter. The cheek blushes were quite hard to miss, and so was her shyness whenever you two made direct eye or physical contact. Yeah... super, duper, obvious.
But you didn't actually harbor any feelings for Claire, at least not yet. Or maybe ever. The fact that she was a love interest in a shitty visual novel, meaning she only came to life via the power of coding and sprite arts. Would it not be fair to say that everything she thought or felt was just merely programmed? You couldn't view her as an actual, sentient person no matter how hard you tried.
At least it was certainly amusing to talk with her. You were content with that.
In the meantime, Runa said you two were free to look around the shop incase anything caught your eye. There were a bunch of shelves leaning against the wall, stacked with containers filled with different tea brews, baskets full of herbs, and even some packaged cookies (which apparently went wonders with the tea).
Taking a closer look at the tea-brews, you observe the names.
"Pumpkins, Spice, and Ice"
"Blue Lagoon"
"Midnight Starry Sky"
"Lover's Kiss"
All of these sounded exactly like generic perfume names from your local Body & Bath Works in your previous life. When playing Transcendental Savior, there were definitely a lot more interesting and even eccentric brew names on display during her route.
Wait.
During whose's route?
Your eyes widen.
Smack!
You must've smacked your forehead pretty hard because Claire finally snaps out of her daze thanks to the sound.
"M-my lady! Are you alright? What was that sound (and why do you have a red hand-print on your forehead?)"
"Oh... erm, nah, it's nothing. Just ignore it. Glad to see you're back though!"
Her cheeks flush, most likely from embarrassment.
"I... apologize, Lady [Name]. I promise it won't happen again." She comments in a serious tone. Meanwhile, you just grin.
"There's no need to apologize for every single thing, y'know. You gotta have a backbone, Claire. Besides your spacing out was pretty cute, and that's all I really need." Shrugging your shoulders, you walk past a bedazzled maid and back over to the counter. There, Runa packs a jar of the lavender tea brew inside a bag. Next, she reaches from underneath and places a bunch of freebies inside: stickers, little candies, and a bunch of other colorful stuff you can't quite pinpoint.
"Say, are you just dumping your trash on me?" you grin. Runa immediately stops, shaking her head at max speed.
"Wah—of course not! I'd never do that towards a customer, and especially not to you, my lady."
"Oh really? Whaddya give me then?"
"I only included a handful of candies, stickers, and a few samples from my herb baskets so they entice you to buy— I mean visit my shop again!" She sheepishly grins. "Do you, um, mind? Business hasn't been doing that well lately if I'm honest. You're the first customer I've had in hours." Runa gingerly takes your hands in hers. "Thank you very much for visiting Runa's Remedies today, Lady Corella. It was a pleasant to meet you."
"Call me Lady [Name], no need for the formalities between us." You smiled, squeezing her hands back. "And I enjoyed your shop, it's very cozy here. The pretty woman in front of me is a plus as well." You winked, throwing Runa completely off guard. In the back, you hear Claire almost drop one of the tea jars.
"Oh my..." Due to her bronze-colored skin, Runa's blush isn't as noticeable as Claire's, but it's certainly there in the form of a darker, warmer tone. "Say, Lady [Name], you're quite different from what the rumors say..." she mutters absentmindedly. Realizing she just fucked up, Runa snaps back to reality. "Oh no! Please disregard what I just said, my lady. I have a bad habit of speaking without thinking. That was extremely rude of me!"
You just chuckle. You weren't too sure what the rumors about Lady Corella entailed, but it makes sense for Runa to be surprised.
At her core, Lady Corella was a woman bound to a tragic fate rather than a villainess. The game had briefly mentioned that her mother passed when she was around fourteen. From there, she apparently had a personality change — going from being bubbly and outgoing to shutting herself in her room all day. When she was forced to make her debutante, she found herself surrounded by men due to her pretty looks. From there, she no longer lived as a pitiful and lonely girl, instead as a woman who was adept at seducing men.
Y'know those villainesses who poison the heroine's tea or trip them at parties? Lady Corella wasn't one of those, but more so of a predator. She would send the love interest of whatever route the player was on a nasty glare that could scare anyone shitless. Of course, that only applied to those who were of a lower-class. She could never touch one of the most popular love interests in the fandom, Maribelle, who was also the crown princess of Elnea. The most she could do is send her a jealous look, which is why in Maribelle's route, the villain/cockblock is actually her younger brother.
Dismissing Runa's comment with a wave of your hand, you only grin.
"Rumors aren't as credible as they seem sometimes. Would you do me a favor and help clear my name a bit? In exchange, I'll spread the news about a wonderful shop selling remedies that knock you out to sleep in under five minutes."
Her eyes sparkle, then she clasps her hands together in delight.
"Yes! That'd be amazing if you could do that for my shop, my lady! I'll make sure to clear your name in the meanwhile! Leave it up to me~"
"Perfect," you shoot her a million-dollar smile. You were determined to get rid of your boy-crazy reputation, and replace it with something more flattering: like a noble lady who effortlessly seduces the women around her. "I can't wait for my next visit then, Runa."
With that, you exit the shop while Claire trails behind you, prescription bag in hand.
Though if you had turned around one last time, you would've spotted the enamored gaze the shopkeeper had behind you.
"My lady... did something happen? You seem to be in a particularly good mood." Claire says as you lead the way, whistling while holding your chest high.
"Huh? Oh! Nah, nothing happened." You come to a halt. "Say Claire, that shopkeeper was pretty cute though, don't you think?"
"Wha—!" your maid starts, before clearing her throat. "...In my eyes, she only appeared to be a simple commoner. I'm not sure what my lady saw in her that piqued your interest."
Turning around, you give Claire a cheeky smirk — similar to that one Roblox chad male face.
"My, my, our Claire is as clueless as ever it seems." You can hardly stop your smirk from growing bigger upon seeing the flabbergasted look on her face. "Don't worry about it. Let's just say that I look forward to visiting that shop in the future~"
After all, Runa's Remedies was run by Runa Wingate, one of Kody's love interests and a dedicated business-woman who will soon be swimming in riches thanks to her encountering the protagonist. It's a bit of a funny story, so you'd explain more later.
Though, you couldn't believe you were this dense and slow when it came to recognizing of the love interest. To be fair, you didn't exactly ship Runa and Kody together that much, thus most of her route text went in one ear and out the other. In the game, they had more of a 'bestie' relationship, although Runa held very strong feelings of admiration and gratefulness towards the MC, which would easily lead to a romance route if the player wanted.
Personally, you shipped the crown princess of Elnea with Kody much more than Runa. Why? She was hot.
But remember, you were on a mission to recruit all the pretty girls of this world to your harem before Kody could. And in order to win Runa's heart, you had to help her business first. After all, you were going to keep your promise about spreading news about her shop.
How though? Lady Corella never had any actual true lady friends, since she was obsessed with flirting with men all the time at parties.
Wait. Parties! That's it! You could hold a tea party, invite all the ladies, and promote Runa's tea as well. You would send a servant to buy a shit-ton of her tea stock, which wouldn't be a problem since Count Corella was pretty loaded.
Among the guests, you could also invite a very special one as well.
Chuckling to yourself, Claire stares at you with a worried expression. However, the gears in your brain can't stop turning as ideas flood your mind.
"Gosh, I'm a genius." Taking her hand in yours, you pull the maid back in the direction of the carriage. "C'mon Claire! We got a tea party to host!" confident about your plan, you start full on sprinting in your lavish high heels. Somehow, you don't trip and sprain your ankle.
Finally, Claire seems to realize the absurdity of what you just said.
"Wait — my lady?! What do you mean by that?!"
You can only grin.
-
and that's a wrap for chapter 4! thanks so much for reading up to now! TBH, I can't believe three weeks have already passed by since my last update on this book.
Summer vaca is ending for me quite soon and I do NOT want to go back to school, thank you very much. I'm more than content about summer never ending than going back to high school
anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It's a bit longer than the other ones since it's over 3k words and around 9 pages. I'm not sure about when the next update will come out since I also have to work on my Quotev halloween collab one-shot, but hopefully it won't take until next summer LOL stay hydrated everyone! - steph