Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

42. You’ve been deceived, Your Highnesses!

Delia, who had never expected Valentina to adopt such an attitude, was left stunned.

Though she was indeed slandering, she hadn’t even had time to prepare any evidence. But this wild child dared to resist her?!

She had clearly wanted to show mercy for the sake of their father, yet this girl had the audacity to defy her!?

“You, you!”

The first princess, so enraged that she momentarily lost her words, had completely lost the elegance she had been trying to maintain. Her expression twisted slightly in anger, and her hand, which was holding the fan, trembled uncontrollably as she pointed at Valentina.

“Hey, Your Highness, don’t be so worked up. Just let her be arrogant; it would be a shame to waste such a pretty face. Though I do enjoy seeing you in a frenzy~”

At that moment, Noah, who had been standing behind Delia, suddenly stepped beside her, speaking in a tone so gentle it made Valentina feel nauseous as he tried to soothe Delia.

Moreover, Noah’s smile was even slightly softer than when he looked at Valentina.

Though it was still a malicious, wicked grin, there was a hint of indulgence in it that Valentina had never felt before.

This nearly made Valentina, who had just calmed herself and resolved to give Noah a piece of her mind, lose her smile again.

What was with that indulgent, spoiled-child attitude?!

He had never spoken to her like that!

Aren’t they all princesses? What was so good about that selfish, jealous woman? Was it that bad women were more popular?!

In terms of results, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Noah was a master at inciting emotions and sowing discord; with just one sentence, he had turned the tables, leaving Valentina with a rather unpleasant expression.

Delia, on the other hand, seemed to relax, quickly opening her beautiful fan to cover her mouth, as if in self-reflection, and said:

“…Hah, I almost took a wild child seriously.”

Seemingly back in her element, Delia then acted as if she had suddenly lost interest in her toy, ignoring Valentina and turning to ascend the stairs deeper into the second floor.

As her blood-red high heels clicked on the carpet, Delia’s leisurely voice, seemingly influenced by someone, echoed:

“Alright then, Valentina, go ahead and prove your innocence, while I will prove your guilt. Don’t blame your sister for not giving you a chance; when you’re disgraced and kneeling before me, crying and holding onto my legs, it won’t do you any good.”

“…Thank you for the reminder, dear sister, though that will never happen.”

After giving a fierce glare at Noah, who stood above her with a not-so-kind smile, Valentina adopted a relaxed demeanor, smiling as she elegantly tossed her long hair and turned to leave.

Though both princesses appeared at ease, they each exuded a terrifying aura that brooked no denial as they departed in two completely opposite directions.

Only a group of young nobles, frightened into silence by the two princesses, stood dumbly in place, wide-eyed and staring at one another.

They dared not approach Delia to ask why she had given Valentina a chance.

Nor did they have the courage to confront Valentina, demanding a forced apology or reparation.

In the end, this pitiful group of young nobles could only look to their leader, Leonard, the son of the Marquis Clemens.

Yet even the marquis’s eldest son felt bewildered by how assertive the second princess, Valentina, had suddenly become.

All he could do was offer a wry smile and suggest that everyone retreat to their rooms to rest and calm down.

After all, once they had adjusted their mindset, they would go to meet their true leader among them—Princess Delia.

At that moment, Princess Delia, regarded as the true leader by this group of young nobles, was walking along the corridor floor of the marquis’s residence, having just descended the staircase covered in luxurious red carpet.

The crisp sound of her high heels striking the floor echoed conspicuously in the empty corridor.

However, contrary to the nobles’ expectations below,

it was not the sound of graceful and confident footsteps, but rather a slightly neurotic, increasingly impatient rhythm.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! She’s just a Valentina! How dare she openly defy me!”

As Princess Delia quickened her pace, she completely lost the composure and elegance she had moments before. Her beautiful face was etched with resentment, resembling a villain radiating negative emotions.

Rationality? What rationality did she possess?

She was just a wild b*stard; how dare she disobey her orders!

All Delia wanted was to ruin Valentina’s reputation!

To think she would dare to resist her in front of others—she could no longer hold back!

“Oh, I understand, I understand. Those who usually don’t take things seriously, who dare to talk back and even resist, thinking they are the center of the world, will definitely break down.”

Seeing Delia express her thoughts, Noah, floating not far in front of her, immediately nodded in understanding.

“It’s not over! This is definitely not over! I need to find a way to make Valentina regret defying me completely! I want to utterly defeat her! No! I want to crush her! I want to crush everything about her! Everything, including her reputation and glory! All of it!”

However, Delia, feeling understood by Noah, suddenly halted her rapid advance, turning to bite her thumbnail in the middle of the corridor.

This was her personal quirk, a behavior she could not control when she was extremely anxious and irritated.

Clearly, she was truly on edge now.

The lingering gloom had taken over her lovely face, making her look like an entirely different person.

“Yes, that’s necessary. After all, you did it this way in the original story.”

As Noah, having descended from his floating state, turned to look at Delia, he continued to express his agreement.

“By the way, have those fools found any stupid commoners who are close to Valentina? They’re so slow! These idiots should have been dismissed long ago! They’re just hindrances to me! Useless trash!”

Suddenly recalling that she still had a card to play, Princess Delia continued to curse her subordinates for their slow progress.

Though her appearance remained that of an astonishing golden-haired beauty, her current demeanor was indeed hard to like.

It was as if she were a once-glorious apple, now rotten inside, desperately trying to maintain the facade of its golden skin.

Princess Delia was somewhat excessively malicious.

Yet for some reason, even though Noah’s remarks had become increasingly extreme, clearly surpassing the limits of what Delia could tolerate, she did not react to him at all.

So much so that Noah bent over and deliberately raised his voice to shout:

“Hey! Your Highness, can you not see me? Well, of course not, since I only made Valentina think that I was your support. In fact, I intended for you to notice me from the very beginning.”

Yes, the answer to why Delia did not react to Noah was simple.

It was that Delia actually had no idea of Noah’s existence.

The thought of how he had been pretending to converse with Delia in front of Valentina made Noah want to laugh.

From Valentina’s reaction, she absolutely believed that Delia was just another of Noah’s “toys,” and thought they had a good relationship.

But in reality, that was not the case; Delia had not noticed Noah’s presence at all.

Upon reflection, Delia had never initiated a conversation with Noah, had she?

It was always Noah speaking to Delia unilaterally, wasn’t it?

As for what had just happened, Delia was not calm because she had heard Noah’s comforting words.

She simply suppressed her anger and did not explode immediately.

The reason she appeared to be influenced by Noah was merely because Noah’s villainous performance had referenced her.

In other words, all of Delia’s previous behavior was simply what she would have done on her own, unrelated to Noah.

Noah had merely seen through her character completely and was performing in front of Valentina, pretending that they were in cahoots.

At first, he was a bit worried about whether he would be exposed quickly, but the results proved to be quite successful; Valentina had completely come to believe they were allies.

Valentina would not know that, regardless of whether she could defeat Delia, Noah would never feel humiliated.

And by the time Valentina realized this, it would be too late; Noah had already successfully deepened Valentina’s descent into darkness through the incident triggered by Lydia.

After Delia, the most crucial characters for her, Allen and Clyde, would follow.

When they all fell as sacrifices before Valentina, the still inexperienced Valentina would surely become an outstanding villain.

Perhaps she would directly fall into the role of a domineering dragon queen.

“Heh, don’t blame me, okay? After all, I’m the hidden BOSS. If I see something I don’t like, I have to intervene.”

Facing the golden-haired princess, who was still muttering curses incessantly, Noah shook his head with a heartless smile, indicating that he had no intention of taking any responsibility.

Yet while he spoke lightly, his expression was somewhat subtly complex.

He felt a twinge of guilt for toying with Valentina like this.

But could he really be blamed?

After all, this was the only way he could help Valentina.

If anyone were to resent him, it should be him, for he simply could not accept any other outcome for Valentina.

Ah, but Delia had no right to resent him; after all, she was a villain just like him.

—

Let these villains become the stumbling blocks on the female protagonist’s path to dark transformation, hand in hand, falling into hell together!

Though Noah could just win the resurrection match and run back immediately!