The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

With her mouth wide open and eyes fixed on Emma, she trembled as if she was about to fall. Therefore, it was not the Countess, but the Count that read her expression.

“… I’ll go first.”

She was displeased to her, but she was his biological daughter, so the Count rose up and said it would be better for him to go first. The Countess, without even giving a glance, replaced the answer by simply nodding her head quietly.

“Are you all right, Aria?”

Aria nodded, feeling the warm hand her mother was holding. Cain, who did not follow his father, also gave a worried look to Aria.

The Count was also about to say something comforting, but he soon closed his mouth. He seemed to have decided it would be better to take Mielle and leave in a hurry. Emma was looking this way, and Mielle was staring at her.

“… Mielle!”

“My God…”

It was then. Suddenly Mielle fell to the floor. The astonished Count hastened to support her, and the Countess, who had been ignoring her all the time, rushed to Mielle. With Cain’s voice calling for a doctor, the audience seat became a mess in no time.

“You bitch! You wicked woman! It’s all because of you! If it wasn’t for you! Worthy of death… Aaargh!”

Emma, who was watching this, cursed Aria, and was struck by a guard’s fist, she also lost consciousness and was dragged out. What a pity that she would no longer be able to do evil for her master. Aria rushed to Mielle, who had fallen, and whispered in a very small voice, pretending to check her complexion,

“Mielle… a poor girl. Did you think I didn’t know you’d get Emma and Berry to poison my tea?”

Then she did not completely lose her senses, and Mielle’s eyes opened in a flash. She stared at Aria, trembling and wondering what that meant. Her eyes were bloodshot and there was no beauty of an aristocratic lady, like when she had shed her own tears of blood from her own eyes, when she had been forced to just cry out in the face of her ridicule!

‘How long have I been waiting for this?’

She had been waiting for this moment when she was going to give it all back to Mielle. The revenge against her was only beginning, but Aria’s whole body was filled with great satisfaction.

‘Now, why don’t you cry like I did in the past and do your frantic attempts?’

In the comfort of others, Mielle came to her senses, and Aria also spoke with a disturbed face,

“Fortunately, Mielle woke up. But you’d better hurry up and let her see a doctor.”

Mielle held on her chest, breathing heavily in the chaos that she had never imagined that the foolish wicked woman would result.

Aria was hoping Mielle would scream and spit out some cursing. Even in this situation where Emma, who she had been following like her mother, would be executed, she did not show that much. In a way, Mielle must be a stronger woman than herself.

“The Count of Roscent!”

Lane appeared out of nowhere through the uproar. Then he urged the Count to hurry to the hospital he knew, saying it was nearby.

Lane was a trustee of all the Count family, and they moved in perfect order at his words. Meanwhile, Lane whispered his original purpose in a voice small enough to be heard only by Aria,

“There’s someone waiting for you.”

Aria, realizing who Lane meant, nodded slowly. She wondered if he had been here since the beginning. ‘Because he was worried? Or by realizing another true color of herself doing things this big?’

Cain, who watched Aria quietly leave her seat soon after taking advantage of the uproar, followed her with a strange look.

Asher was waiting for Aria not too far away. Aria’s steps to the place Lane told her were heavy. ‘I wish he’d been worried, but… what if it’s not.’

As if she had been well versed in the court geography, fortunately there was no one in contact throughout the journey to the place Lane had informed. When there was not much left to the destination, someone suddenly called Aria’s name,

“Aria!”

“… Cain?”

Surprised, Aria looked around for nothing. ‘Why on earth did he follow her so far, leaving his poor sister alone?’

Cain also looked around once and said strangely, “I don’t think this is a way out.”

“Ah…”

As she continued to move to places where there was no reason for the general public to look, Cain seemed to be following her and talking. She thought she had sneaked out alone, but Lane didn’t stop Cain. Aria blamed Lane for the situation and changed the topic.

“What about Mielle? Is she all right? She didn’t seem to be breathing very well…”

Cain frowned that he had read Aria’s words about what he was doing here without caring for his younger sister. He seemed to think only now that he had just thrown out his sick sister and followed Aria. Unexpectedly, he stammered out an excuse,

“They said she’s going to the hospital, so I’m sure she’ll be okay. I don’t think it’s temporary because she’s not even a child with a chronic disease. And my father went with her, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

However, this could not be the reason to follow Aria. Whoever was next to Mielle, it was true that he followed his fake sister, who had moved away from the eyes of others rather than her own sick sister.

“I think it will be a big deal because it’s not a chronic disease. She couldn’t breathe well, so maybe she’s got a dire illness. You have to stand by her.”

When she said, “Why don’t you go to your sister because everything you have to do today is over?” Cain couldn’t answer for a moment and stared on the floor, because he realized what she meant.

But Cain continued, “That’s true, but… I don’t think she’d get well if I go there, so I think I’d better go back with you in case I don’t know.”

‘Asher will be waiting.’

He never stopped asking where she was going with useless excuses. She was unable to proudly say, “I’m going to meet the Crown Prince,” so when Aria delayed her answer and made an excuse for Mielle, he was even more determined to go back with her, as if his doubts had deepened.

Cain, who glanced at something over Aria’s shoulder, stiffened his face, as she was worried that Asher might just go back when the time was delayed.

‘Don’t tell me…?’

As soon as he tried to look back on the idea that passed through his head, he heard the voice of Asher calling Aria’s name earlier than the act,

“Lady Aria.”

His voice calling for the name was quite cold. It was like the first time she had met him in the general store, and for an instant her whole body was nervous.

“… Who is it?”

Cain expressed strong hostility and vigilance at the sudden appearance of a mysterious man. Aria was also perplexed because she did not think about the situation the two were facing.

“And you?”

Asher’s inquiring tone was very sharp. Cain was asking Aria, but she did not answer in difficulty, so Asher took it for her.

“I asked first.”

Cain answered, scanning up and down the appearance of Asher. Perhaps it was because he did not look like the Crown Prince, but as Cain was showing signs of discomfort as he retorted, Aria’s face turned white.

“You don’t even know how polite it is to introduce yourself first before asking about others.”

“I know I don’t have to be polite to the intruder.”

Suddenly, the two were in a war of nerves, so Aria rushed in. It was a very bad situation.

“Brother, I have an appointment with this man, so please go back to Mielle.”

“… you have an appointment with him?”

Cain asked again with disbelief when he heard that Aria had an appointment with a strange man.

As soon as Asher saw him, he took a step closer to Aria’s side and said, “Now it’s clear who’s the intruder.”

Asher triumphantly said as if it was not a big thing… It looked so childish and she was about to say that he should leave now, but Cain suddenly grabbed Aria by her wrist and pulled her towards him.

“No, I can’t have Aria, who’s not yet an adult, alone with a man who I don’t even know who he is.”

“…?!”

Aria was quickly dragged to Cain’s side. He hid Aria behind him as if she belonged to him. The pain was so severe that her eyebrows were frowned upon by the harsh movements and the strong force that vigorously pulled her.