The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

His eyes glazed in front of Aria, who returned to her place after leaving words of significance. Aria, who took a sip of a cold tea, hit the last wedge.

“But I’m still nervous, so what should I do?”

‘Please let Cain punish Emma himself.’ She announced the end of their tea time, hoping to run down Mielle.

“I wish I could drink tea with my brother from time to time… I don’t have much time left until I become an adult.”

Like his father, Cain, who was so easily charmed by beauty, immediately became Aria’s ardent ally. He suggested doubling the number of people looking for Berry at the dining room, where she had just gone down in the case.

“If we drag this any longer, even the family’s credibility will be questioned.”

The Count readily agreed. It was thanks to the fact that he had become quite useful to her. It was only Mielle who had a negative opinion.

“There’s already a lot of people looking for her, so what difference will it make if we add more people?”

When Aria, who had heard her, agreed with a very lonely face, Cain, who frowned at her, responded to Mielle.

“So, Mielle, I think Emma’s name is mentioned as someone involved in this case.”

Mielle was surprised by what her brother said, so she raised her voice.

“Brother, do you even suspect Emma?”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In fact, Berry has been working for Emma for a long time.”

“Never! She’s not the kind of person who would be involved in such a terrible thing!”

It was unfamiliar to see her face blush, and she was screaming and denying. With that ugly figure she had never seen before, she could see how much Mielle wanted to protect Emma.

‘So, I have to make sure that Emma is the main driver of this. Maybe I’ll see Mielle wailing and fainting. Why didn’t I realize that Emma was a very good prey?’

Aria said soothingly to Mielle, “If she’s not really guilty, it’s a rumor that’s going to go away soon, Mielle. Don’t worry. Isn’t that right, Cain?”

“… Yes.”

But Emma was guilty and would be subjected to terrible punishment. Mielle’s face turned white as she watched Aria exchange answers with her brother more friendlier than herself. Intuitively, she must have felt that something was wrong.

* * *

Cain was overly aggressive in trying to solve this incident, doubling the number of people looking for Berry and asking the servants and maids about Berry. And occasionally he made progress, threatening Mielle unintentionally.

“Miss, Emma is out again!”

Aria smiled a sour smile as she listened to Annie’s report. She had been close to Mielle’s side so far, but she went out alone as soon as Cain put his energy into the investigation.

Now that the time had come to finish this tedious task, Aria had also sent out men, and they found some traces of Berry. She had commissioned most of the mercenaries waiting in the capital, and it was only a matter of time before she was caught.

She didn’t know what would happen, and she had talked to Berry’s family. She might show up in the near future on her feet. As the night fell, Aria yawned, and Annie sorted out the place and asked, “Do you want to go to bed now?”

“No. I have a lot of letters arriving every day, so I think I’ll have to read them all and sleep. Won’t they come this far again tomorrow?”

“That’s true, but… why don’t you have someone else do it? Your reputation has been elevated, but it’s too much.”

Annie was astonished as she looked at the stack of letters on the table. But when she couldn’t do so, Aria replied briefly, “I’ll just think about it.”

“Well, shall I wait here?”

“No, go get some rest. I’ll just flip through the letters and go to sleep.”

“Yes, miss. Good night, then.”

Aria, who glanced around Annie as she left the room, was immersed in her work of leafing through the letters again. She didn’t know much about what happened outside the empire, but proposals poured in from businessmen in other countries.

They were giving Aria a headache because they had to be judged purely by her knowledge and insight, not by knowing the future. Nevertheless, she looked carefully at each one. It had been several days, and she kept yawning as she went on.

‘… Oh my god. My eyes are hurting a lot today, and now it’s already late.’

Was it because she was so engrossed with what she was doing? Without even knowing it, a new day was just around the corner. She still had some more letters left, but if she kept reading, then it would be morning soon, so she hurriedly arranged the letters and laid herself on the bed.

‘Why can’t I sleep…?’

Sometimes she could not fall asleep when she was too exhausted or tired, but even though she closed her eyes, she couldn’t sleep easily. So she lay still in her bed for a long time, and suddenly, she felt a strange sense of deja vu.

‘I don’t think I’m asleep. No, am I dreaming?’

But suddenly, without worrying about it, she could hear a very small step, and she could feel someone else’s temperature on her neck.

‘… It’s not a dream!’

Aria opened her eyes.

“… Ah.”

“…!”

The intruder in the middle of the night was none other than Asher. She could clearly see him backing away, bewildered by the bright moonlight that permeated through the window. His dark blue eyes’ color slowly blurred.

“I didn’t mean to surprise you… I’m sorry.”

He apologized in a hurry. But at the sudden visit in the middle of the night, Aria was stupefied and couldn’t give any response, and she just stared at Asher. Due to the tulips that he left, she knew that he was visiting her sometimes, but as she faced him in person, she was embarrassed.

“Lady Aria…?”

As she looked up to him silently in amazement, he was worried about her and carefully called Aria’s name. After Aria’s name was called twice, she blinked slowly. She nodded and tried to elicit a reaction.

“… Are you okay? You look pale, and you’ve lost too much weight.”

She was quite different from the usual, and he was worried about Aria, so he put his hand on her forehead. Asher measured her temperature for a while. He then frowned and covered Aria with a blanket.

“You have a fever.”

Asher’s voice had worry and regret mixed together. He talked to himself, saying that it was good to eat any fever reducer, and Aria then realized that she was not having a dream. She opened her tightly closed mouth.

“What the hell is this… What is happening? I’m sure it’s my room, and… it is dawn now, and I think I was about to sleep…”

Asher realized that he was probably worrying about Aria too much. He also realized how big of a discourtesy he committed. He then stepped back and avoided eye contact.

“Mr. Asher?”

When she called his name, he did not answer. He just made eye contact with Aria instead.

“That’s … I became worried. I heard you had a big incident. I have absolutely no intention of doing bad things to you. It’s hard to believe… but I’m innocent.”

She didn’t doubt it, but Asher made a poor excuse. Knowing that there was no reason, her heart was too full for words when she heard that he was worried. The time, place, and situation were very strange, but she was glad that he just came to see her.

So if she told him that she was purely thankful and showed him that she was okay, it would be over. However, she decided to make fun of him after seeing his ears that were red despite the bluish moonlight.

“So, do you frequently come here at dawn like this, in a woman’s room who’s not even married?”

As she asked softly, Asher turned his head while covering his mouth. It was a little joke, but he was ashamed of it.

Rather, it was Aria that really should be ashamed of seeing him who came to an unmarried girl’s room at dawn. But as funny as it was, he was ashamed of his sudden visit.

At Aria’s little snubbing, Asher hurried to make an excuse. “Well, it was hard to visit during the day because people might see me here. So I stopped by at dawn instead to make sure you’re all right, and then I… I couldn’t just go back because your complexion wasn’t good today and the last time.”

“… Why?”

Aria still asked him even though she was expecting a straightforward response.