/
Was it just that she’s trying to bully the people around her?
‘Ha. I don’t think hiding would be of any use. But I’m too thick to go to a party.’
She should have cared for Jeremy a little more, but the intimacy that seemingly passed between them was a bit futile.
If you were the knight leader, you could hide somewhere with an escort as an excuse.
Charlize stared at the full moon and thought about the future.
‘When will the female lead, Tia, come back?’
Charlize pondered. Then, when will she die?
She stopped biting the soft flesh between her teeth and remembered when she was going to die. Her lips parted.
“…There are 3 years left. Damn it.”
In this game, out of nowhere, it just said ‘3 years later.’ And the villain, Charlize, is immediately eliminated by the female protagonist.
So, what does she have to do now?
“I have to leave somehow. Don’t act like a villain. But how do you seduce the male characters already into the female lead? Besides, my family is like a beggar.”
The space between Charlize’s eyebrows narrowed. There was nothing that she liked about this game.
She didn’t expect to come into the game that she played with her friends for fun!
Charlize put a hand on her forehead and tapped a few times.
No matter how much she thought about it, she was afraid of death.
What if she died before she returned, did she really have to die? If she dies, will she return to the real world?
Oh, she didn’t know anything.
Moreover, from the point of view of the female protagonist inside the game, there were such things such as likeability, obsession, and emotion. But from the point of the villain, there were no such hints. Instead of the system window appearing mid-air, only dust could be seen in the room.
It seems like you’re just a real villain for the female protagonist.
“Haha.”
Her breathing became heavy as a feeling of suffocation pressed down on Charlize’s body.
The dark night was receding, and dawn broke.
***
Many high-ranking nobles attended Tia Rebecca’s birthday party. The men who loved her – the male protagonists – were also looking for her earlier.
John Titars.
“I can’t see Tia.”
Johan Titus, with his gorgeous blonde hair and red eyes, was looking around.
“Maybe you’re avoiding me because I keep sending you weird letters. But, Jude?”
Brushing back his navy blue hair, Louis looked into his black eyes and asked Jude.
“I don’t know.”
Jude and Elliot. He, who looked calm with neat long brown hair and golden amber eyes, subtly hardened his face as he looked at the men around him.
‘Men for Tia.’
Jude glanced at them looking pathetic and his lips twitched. But funnily enough, he was also looking for Tia.
It would be easy to find Tia, in this fancy banquet hall, with her brilliant gold hair and a sister like a wall. With her light blonde hair and striking beauty that looked as soft as cotton candy, she was always in the right view.
But strangely enough, Tia wasn’t visible. When there was a party like this, she would always come first and welcome them.
If not, then Tia, as the main character of the party of course, should be waving her hand from a high position. But no one could be seen in that high position.
Not even those older brothers who cared for Tia.
“… hmm.”
Harrison Reese Ivickney, spinning a glass of wine in a corner, had concealed his identity and attended this party as an ordinary count and not an emperor of the Ivickney Empire. Even though he saw familiar faces, he was waiting for Tia and didn’t pay them attention.
They drank wine and waited for the party to begin.
Tuk tuk.
Tia’s brothers proceeded up the higher floors. Eugene came to the front, licking his lips for a moment before he spoke.
“Tia is gone.”
Eugene’s shocking words caused sounds of glass shattering from various places.
He went on regardless.
“The star of today’s party isn’t coming. It’s probably the first party without its main character; this is my first time seeing it too. But we can’t close a party that’s already been held. So I hope that you’ll just think of this as a party and enjoy.”
Eugene’s words were full of thorns. He had tried to bring Charlize in place of Tia, but only dust and not one human had welcomed him in her room.
‘“I’m glad to see you,” I had expected you to say. I didn’t expect you to run away. Where are you hiding?’
As he spoke, thoughts of Charlize continued annoying him.
She would never escape from this mansion.
For her, the Duchy of Ribecca is her entire life.
It was the Duchy of Ribecca where a family, a doll, and life were based.
Eugene’s heart couldn’t take it; but without any expression on his face, he continued to the end of his words.
Jeremy, who was next to him, showed nervousness on his face.
‘Charlize! I didn’t know you wouldn’t be at the party! If you bullied Tia, wouldn’t you be the substitute?’
Jeremy’s eyes were tainted with rage.
And the four men, who were told that Tia had disappeared, couldn’t move or breathe.
He just licked his lips at Eugene’s blunt look.
That bitch, no, girl, had kicked Tia out.
They all felt the same way and tried to calm their anger toward Charlize.
She didn’t attend the party, but their resentment towards Charlize inflated like a balloon and looked like it was about to burst.
Meanwhile, Charlize, who they were so anxious about, was now in the background.
“… This place will be fine, since no one would come here after the Duchess’s death.”
In fact, in the game, Tia and her brothers never entered this place, saying that it reminded them of the dead Duchess.
Charlize vigorously rubbed her arms with her palms for warmth, squealing from the cold temperature around her.
After that, even if she exhaled a small breath, a large fog would fly through the air.
“Charlize, of all things.” Of all things…
Charlize’s dark golden eyes lost focus.
Cold, hungry, and tired.
Can she really say that this is a dream?
Can she say that this is a dream in which she could both feel and taste vividly?
Yesterday, Charlize tried to commit suicide but failed.
‘This is reality.’
It was reality, even when she looked at it again and again.
If it was a dream, she shouldn’t have felt the pain that slapped her on the cheek.
Charlize’s eyelids lowered slightly.
‘I’m tired.’
While hiding in an obscure corner of Duke Rebecca’s residence, in an uninviting place that nobody visited, Charlize waited for the party to finish and fell asleep.
***
The party, which would have been ruined by the word of Tia’s disappearance, fortunately dissolved its awkwardness due to the colorful performances. It eventually became a normal party, rather than a birthday party.
While Eugene was busy talking to the other nobles, Jeremy was busy looking for Charlize, who had suddenly disappeared.
“Jeremy, pretend you don’t care.”
Eugene casually approached Jeremy and whispered.
“… doesn’t it matter? Charlize is gone.”
“Her disappearance doesn’t have anything to do with what’s happening now. Don’t whine like a lost dog, shut up and treat your guests.”
Eugene, as Duke of Rebecca, wouldn’t do anything to tarnish the family’s reputation even if a sword was held up against his neck.
He was the kind of person who would give everything to the family. But his youngest sister disappeared. It was even on the day before her birthday party.
With a bitter heart, he couldn’t help but fake a smile on his lips at Tia’s party, which had become an ‘ordinary’ party.
Jeremy looked uneasy and ignored his brother’s orders with a low voice.
“… Then I’ll be patrolling the mansion.”
“Why are you patrolling? This is not the Imperial Palace. It’s your home.”
“Still!”
“Lord Ribecca, it’s been a long time since I saw you.”
While the two brothers were having a heated conversation with friendly faces, a young girl called Eugene.
His stiff face brightened up again.
“Oh, it’s Young Lady Liberia. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
She was one of the many young girls who chased after Eugene. He had no intention of getting married yet, so he had a history of returning their letters, which were written with passionate courtship and love poems.
Eugene did things that hurt other peoples’ hearts without hesitation, but he treated them unusually kindly.
That was the character he created to live in society. Don’t go behind the scenes. He suddenly remembered the words of his deceased mother.
[I want you to give Charlize unsparing love. Tia is your sister, and Charlize is your sister. Eugene, strangely, I like Charlize more than Tia. Why do I want to see, cherish, and do everything for someone else’s child, more than the child who was in my belly?]
It’s a disease, mother.