The Villainous Family Loves Me Too Much!

I was once again astounded by the Archduke’s methods.

“Where he found so many, it’s remarkable.”

“Meeting you, it seems like I’ve caused quite the inconvenience to my grandmother and grandfather. I am really sorry.”

“Don’t say such regretful things, my child. We are just happy that our precious granddaughter found such a remarkable husband.”

I couldn’t disappoint the two elderly, whose eyes welled up with emotion, so I swallowed my words.

It seemed like the Archduke hadn’t told them the whole truth.

‘Um… Grandma, Grandpa. The truth is, it wasn’t me who chose my husband. To be exact, I was sold like a slave, without my consent.’

Well, I didn’t plan on ruining their peace and happiness.

While having a warm conversation with the Count and Countess, an unexpected guest came looking for me.

“Your Highness.”

“Not long ago you received a knight title, right? Sir Conrad.”

Without saying a word, Conrad nodded, but didn’t express any gratitude, and immediately relayed his message.

“The Archduke has called for you. There’s an urgent matter, so it seems we need to go to the Count’s estate right away, is that alright?”

“What’s the matter…?”

“There’s no time to explain, Your Highness.”

It was the first time meeting Conrad since our accidental encounter at the knights’ training ground.

He was all smiles then, but now in his formal attire and business-like demeanor, it felt somewhat awkward.

I sought the Count and Countess Kenoch’s understanding, and followed Conrad to the Count’s estate.

He would look back at me, struggling with each step, but didn’t offer any help.

‘What the… even as a knight, he lost his manners, really.’

Upon arrival at the Count’s estate, I naturally assumed the Archduke would be in the reception room, so I headed there.

“This way, Your Highness.”

The place where the Archduke was waiting was peculiarly not the reception room, but the restaurant.

‘What’s this, was the urgent matter about having a meal?’

As I opened the door to the restaurant, the Archduke was seated crookedly, tapping on the table, lost in thought.

“Lucian.”

At my call, Lucian lifted his head. It may be just my imagination, but he looked haggard as if he hadn’t slept for days.

He said he was busy solving the incident that day. Come to think of it, it seemed like it was the first time I saw the Archduke since he got injured.

“Thank you.”

“Thankful, for what.”

Still cranky. Nothing much had changed while I hadn’t seen him.

“It’s the cows. Thanks to them, there shouldn’t be any problem preparing for the wedding.”

“Thanking me for something obvious…”

I smiled brightly with a sincere heart, but the Archduke ignored it and abruptly turned his head away.

‘What’s this, it’s embarrassing.’

The original villain’s personality. Should have kept my expectations.

“Why are we meeting in the restaurant instead of the reception room?”

“You eat first. You’ll need the energy.”

“Eh? No, why all of a sudden…”

At the Archduke’s gesture, the chef, Phil, and the servants brought loads of food and set it on the table.

It was just before mealtime, so I didn’t refuse and sat down to eat, but I felt suspicious.

He came all the way here to have a meal with me, and it doesn’t make sense that it was an urgent matter.

“If you feed me like this and I get chubby, you aren’t planning to sell me off somewhere, right?”

The Archduke uncomfortably washed his dry hands, then approached and handed me a note.

“Can you recognize this handwriting?”

The note handed over by the Archduke was written in a handwriting very familiar to me.

“This is… Colin’s handwriting.”

The peculiar way the characters’ ends were turned, a unique shape created by Colin frequently lifting the pen while writing.

“But Colin couldn’t have written something like this.”

Who on earth would…

My hands started trembling before I knew it.

The note contained the denial of a friend whom I had trusted and relied on until now.

It couldn’t be Colin. Until the moment when everyone in the palace was blaming me, she was the last and only one on my side.

Someone definitely framed her to pin the blame.

“Give Colin a chance to testify.”

“Now that the handwriting has been confirmed, there’s no need for Lady Piaget to testify.”

Suddenly, my blood boiled at the Archduke’s dismissive attitude as if it wasn’t worth listening to.

“How can there be such a law! It could be a setup!”

Perhaps because my emotions were running high, I yelled out without realizing.

“…Bring Colin at once.”

At that moment, the air felt heavy.

Maybe I had already anticipated the kind of answer I would receive.

Still, I didn’t want to give up till the end.

“Right away!”

“Lady Piaget has already left Felosite territory, Your Highness.”

Conrad, who had been quietly watching, carefully opened his mouth.

Suddenly, everything seemed to go dark. We were together until this morning.

She said she would briefly return to Felosite palace to take care of my luggage.

Don’t worry, Prince Liam. The foolish princess is just planning her wedding well. Colin wants to finish her mission quickly and return to the palace where Prince Liam is.

Were they exchanging such notes while monitoring me secretly?

It seems this place isn’t different from my previous life either. Despite all the efforts… there was really no one on my side in the palace.

The thought that life had changed in the second round seems to be nothing different.

“Ha… hahaha…”

I kept bursting into hollow laughter. The strength drained out of my body, and the note in my hand dropped to the floor.

“So this is why you fed me… to prevent me from fainting?”

Neither of them answered.

Instead, at the Archduke’s gesture, Conrad placed a fist-sized pink magic stone in the middle of the table.

“Take a look at this, Your Highness.”

“What is this?”

“This is what we call a Record Stone. It is uniquely handled only by the knights in Felosite, so nobody knows about its existence.”

The Record Stone started spinning, emitting light, and gradually rose into the air. The light it emitted brightened up, creating a large screen.

It felt like watching a modern CCTV screen.

The screen showed a dark prison and a man confined within.

Soon, the iron door opened and a woman in a cloak approached the slouched man.

As a woman touched a man, he sparked a competition and his body twisted bizarrely before he transformed into a hawk.

“It happened just this morning. The one named Mackeon, trapped over there, is a humanoid monster who transformed into a hawk and attacked Her Royal Highness the Princess and Sir Jonathan.

“Why tell me this…?”

Conrad, heaving a deep sigh, continued looking me straight in the eyes.

“The woman on the screen is Lady Piaget. She’s suspected to be a witch controlling the monster directly.”

* * *

On the day of the audience, a fever boiled over my body.

I fainted and woke up dozens of times, passing the night like that.

“Colin…”

Even Sylonne, who would’ve usually ran out to fetch Colin whilst making a fuss, silently held my hand.

“Stupid big brother. I told you not to speak out.”

Sylonne spewed out breaths of agitation, seeming ready to destroy a mountain.

“Sylonne, it’s not because of the Archduke. I’m fine.”

I forced a smile with all the strength I had.

That’s right. This wasn’t the fault of the Archduke or Conrad. If I had known later, I might have despaired more.

Even in my previous life, I was fooled and yet fooled again. The anger towards Colin who betrayed me thoroughly, boiled up within me.

– From the moment Lady Piaget arrived, I had been detecting and investigating a new type of magical energy in the territory.

– Couldn’t exactly trace whose it was but, they were using ancient magic that’s not used nowadays and they’re highly skilled. Perhaps it was Colin Piaget who created a wormhole in the palace.

– So, the one who killed my brother…

– Yes, it might have been her who controlled you. On the day of the Crown Prince’s wedding, and on the day of your trial. If what I felt was accurate, I sensed a similar magical energy in the palace. You would’ve thought it was me.

– The ancient magic occurs in a way very similar to the power of light, but it is definitely different. The chancellor said that the occurrence of the wormhole was because of the power of light, probably because it’s not easy to distinguish between similar types of magical energy and powers with holy power.

Colin killed Gabriel?

I couldn’t believe it. It was too big a piece of news to accept in such a short amount of time.