Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

“Sign here, please.”

“Hm.”

Wait… Excuse me?

“Brother, what are you doing?”

In response to my question, Miller smiled as prettily as a flower.

“Signing, why? Did you prefer a different dress shop? I thought you seemed to really like this one.”

At his words, the shop owner who had been fawning over me with the contract thrust my way looked at me pitifully with tears in his eyes.

* * *

It all started with Garnett’s remark that despite my already overflowing wardrobe, I should acquire more dresses in preparation for the upcoming social gatherings.

The Rayes crest emblazoned on our carriage drew considerable attention, and this was the dress shop we entered to avoid the people who recognized me as the rumored Princess Rayes.

The eccentrically dressed shop owner approached us with grandiose gestures, showering me with praises for about 10 minutes.

-May I have the honor of creating the glorious debut dress for your social debut, Miss? Please?

In the end, it was just a sales pitch.

However, Miller seemed to get along exceptionally well with the owner.

-Well, our Ria does look like a doll.

-You and I are of the same mind, sir! Aren’t her eyes just too pretty?

He started praising me as well.

Before I knew it, Sister Serine was dabbing the cold sweat from my forehead, asking if I was alright.

The owner was truly a professional.

I was led by him to have my measurements taken, after which he kept piling on not red or blue fabric swatches, but entire red and blue dress materials.

The owner kept grasping at his thinning hair, spouting things like:

-But they’d both suit her so well! What do I do?!

-Why not just make both dresses then?

Those words were interjected by Miller.

I had heard the joke somewhere that a noble lady’s debutante dress often costs as much as a villa, and the invoice the affable owner presented did indeed list such an exorbitant price.

Just as I was about to carefully ask if a zero had been mistakenly added, Miller said with a serious expression:

-Come to think of it, didn’t you say you liked our Ria’s emerald eyes? Then why didn’t you mention a green dress?

With an ‘Ah!’ look, the owner added a thirty-second dress material for me, saying it was an insightful observation.

As a result, I ended up standing on the platform for 30 minutes, watching their back-and-forth banter.

At some point, even Garnett and Sister Serine joined in, intermittently bringing jewelry from around the shop to consider how I would look adorned with them, getting carried away with excitement.

‘Well, this isn’t so bad. My legs are wobbling a bit, but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, so it’s fine.’

Unsurprisingly, the owner was the most thrilled among them all.

And it was Miller, noticing my wobbling legs, who ultimately caused a storm.

“Ria looks tired. It might be better to just buy this whole shop instead.”

…Huh?

“What… What are you…? Oh, nevermind! I’m not tired at all!”

In my previous life as an ordinary citizen of South Korea, I could buy what I wanted by saving up money, but real estate was something I could never afford until death.

In this current life, I was born into captivity at the orphanage ruled by that tyrannical, hysterical director for 12 years without ever owning or buying anything.

Yet to me, Miller flashed a sly smile.

“Today, big brother will buy it for you. It’s our little sister’s first outing, after all.”

He’s not just joking around, is he?!

But Miller’s expression was the most serious I had ever seen.

“You there, owner. How much for this shop?”

The owner opened his eyes wide as if it was the first time in his 10 years of business he had heard such a question, and quoted the price.

My gaze was suddenly drawn to the shop owner’s tattered, scribble-filled notebook lying open nearby.

[I can’t… I want to quit.]

…?!

[I’ll sell this shop and live my own life…]

So today was his lucky day…!

I whipped my head to look at Miller.

Miller offered to purchase the shop by adding 20 gold on top of the quoted price.

That’s when it happened. The owner fluttered into the back room like a butterfly and returned with a contract, who knows how long he had been preparing it.

“Now, sign here… Laveria, Jenne Rayes. Done!”

Miller smiled brightly as he spoke. To me, his expression seemed almost angelic.

“This building and shop now belong to you.”

What’s this, am I a property owner now?

In my previous life, I had wished to somehow become a wealthy bachelor. My friends had said to start by becoming a property owner first.

To which I had replied that with my lousy luck, such a thing would never happen, so I had already given up on it long ago.

I never could have dreamed in a million years that this sort of ludicrous situation would occur.

I truly felt the weight behind Rayes being called a prestigious noble house.

The other nobles passing by outside could never have imagined we were in the process of acquiring the most famous dress shop on this very street.

As I stood dumbfounded, Miller smiled and asked if I preferred a different dress shop, saying he could just buy that one too.

“Don’t worry, Ria. I got a big allowance increase after my recent knight promotion.”

Just how big of an allowance are you receiving?!

He even stamped his seal and shook hands with the owner. The owner suggested changing the shop’s name to ‘Laveria Shop’, and Miller complimented him, saying it was a great idea, patting the owner’s back.

That’s how I ended up making reservations for three debutante dresses at the newly christened ‘Laveria Shop’, utterly exhausted.

When I finally stepped outside to savor my liberation, the murmuring of the street crowd gradually grew louder as a golden carriage came racing in from beyond the horizon.

Unmistakably an Imperial carriage. Surely not…?

The golden carriage elegantly slowed to a stop right in front of us.

The crowd encircled us in a tight ring.

With the rumored Crown Prince and fabled Princess assembled in one place, they had unintentionally come out for a stroll only to witness the most entertaining spectacle imaginable.

The one who emerged from the opened door was Luka, even more handsome than I remembered.

“Luka, so it was you after all!”

Impeccably dressed, he looked every inch the perfect noble from every angle – the dignified black hair, crimson eyes like the sun itself, possessing all the qualities a noble should have, yet with outstanding beauty that made the crowd’s excited whispers unsurprising.

[I’m seeing the Crown Prince for the first time, but isn’t he insanely handsome…?]

[Who cares about age? I’ll marry the Crown Prince.]

[Everyone move aside. I’ll just take him for myself.]

I can hear it all, every word!

At the girls’ frenzied murmurs, I let out an inward sigh and looked around for any sign of Senia.

True to her character of rarely leaving the Kablos estate, her lovely purple hair was nowhere to be seen.

The moment I thought that, Luka approached me.

“Ria, I really missed you.”

Then, naturally, just like any other time, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

Brother Miller was so startled beside us that he tried with all his might to pry Luka’s arms off me, but Luka wouldn’t budge an inch.

Seeing the girls’ terrifying expressions over Luka’s shoulder, I gently set aside my ‘debut into high society as inconspicuously as possible’ project.

Yes, to Luka, I’m still just an attachment doll for now.

Thinking about how difficult these past few days must have been for this child in the unfamiliar palace, my eyes stung with tears. Though only two years had passed, I felt like I had raised him myself.

Moreover, Luka exuded a unique aura that stirred even maternal love in me.

Before I knew it, I was hugging Luka back, now slightly taller than me.

“What brings you all the way here? I had Dad pass along that you could visit the Ducal estate anytime.”

“The Duke is… No, he’is Ria’s father now.”

Luka smiled, looking at my bewildered expression.

“Your Highness, if you have no intention of obstructing my sister’s marriage prospects, please stop now. Not that such a marriage will ever occur, of course.”

When I asked Miller what he had just muttered quietly afterwards, he pretended not to hear and continued addressing Luka.

“We request that you do not disturb us, as Ria and I are out together for the first time in a long while.”

Taking a step back from me, Luka spoke to Miller.

“Yes, I simply wished to go out together with Ria.”

“Do you think that makes any sense? Just look at how many eyes are on us right now!”

“Rest assured, Ria, I’ll have you safely back before six o’clock.”

“What is that supposed to…! Wait, Ria!”

Luka cut off Miller’s words and snapped his fingers. In that instant, the faint smoke enveloping Luka and me vanished in a fleeting moment, transporting us from the front of Laveria Shop to the back alley behind the building.

“Aargh! That brat, Crown Prince or not, I won’t let him off the hook!”

Miller’s anguished cry could be clearly heard from the other side of the building.

I just hope no one reports this for Crown Prince desecration…

“Ria’s brother has quite the foul mouth, doesn’t he?”

Forcing an awkward laugh as Luka grinned slyly at me.

“How could you enjoy your first outing surrounded by people like animals at a zoo?”

Luka extended his hand towards me and snapped his fingers once more.

My green dress transformed into a comfortable mint one-piece, the ribbons binding my hair came undone, shifting my hair color to brown.

‘Wow, Cinderella’s fairy grandmother, don’t you?’

According to the original story, Luka was well-versed in basic magic.

Not quite skilled enough to become a mage, but his firm grasp of fundamentals added to his prodigious talents as a genius swordsman.

He was already renowned as a sword genius, truly a cheat among cheats.

Lost in these thoughts, I was startled back to my senses by another finger snap.

Luka’s hair had changed to the same shade as mine, and his clothes had transfigured into a merchant’s son attire.

With that truly handsome face, he took my hand and led me out of the back alley behind the building, emerging onto a different street.

Unlike the previous avenue dominated by dress shops, this new street had all the things I had imagined of this world – delicious dessert cafes, quaint jewelry stores, and more.

“Shall we go, Ria?”

Luka smiled faintly as he extended his hand to me.