2

Juyeon, who had become Nelisa, finally seemed to have found a ray of light.

There was no need to forcibly act like a villainess. She could abandon the villain role that didn’t suit her personality and show that even this hopeless ‘Nelisa’ deserved to be happy!

She would turn around the life of a villainess steeped in inferiority and jealousy, become a kind and diligent supporting character, and assist the male and female protagonists until they happily married.

She muttered, trying to convince herself.

“Even without a villain, the female lead will end up with the male lead in a happy ending anyway. That’s how all romance fantasy novels work, right?”

What more is there for a villain in romance fantasy novels than receiving comments filled with curses just for appearing? The villainess character is merely a seasoning to make the predetermined happy ending more flavorful.

So what if the seasoning is missing? Even tasteless food is still food, and flat soda is still soda.

Her goal wasn’t to create a ‘delicious’ story but to save her dying real life.

Just as she made this decision.

“Huh……?”

Nelisa suddenly stopped walking. An important question had occurred to her.

What time period is this exactly?

If it was before the female lead’s regression, she could completely hide the original villainess’s sinister intentions and live as the female lead’s good friend until the end.

But if it was after the female lead had regressed, the story would be different. The female lead, having learned of Nelisa’s duplicity through her regression, would come seeking revenge, ready to kill her!

At that moment, as if on cue, there was another knock. Nelisa’s shoulders jumped.

Nelisa reflexively asked.

“Who, who is it……?”

Instead of an answer, the door opened. The room instantly brightened.

Thick golden hair like flowing honey. Ruby red eyes that seemed otherworldly.

Any avid reader of the original novel would instantly recognize who this was.

“Adelaide!”

“Why are you so surprised, Nel?”

Adelaide wore a bright yet cool smile.

“I came to tell you that I’m having tea with the ladies tomorrow. It’s tomorrow already, but there’s nothing special you need to prepare.”

Nelisa asked with a trembling voice.

“Um, Adele……?”

“?”

Adelaide, the female protagonist of this novel, widened her eyes.

Nelisa felt like her chest would burst from tension.

“What happened to the new horse that arrived at the stable?”

She anxiously waited for the answer. Everything depended on this question.

If she was the Adelaide from before the regression, she would answer ‘I haven’t ridden it yet,’ and if it was after the regression, a different kind of answer would come.

Then she smiled slyly.

“Hmm, it didn’t become as docile as you thought it would?”

Nelisa unconsciously swallowed. Adelaide snorted and disappeared.

Alone again. A stunned groan escaped Nelisa’s lips.

“Ugh……”

It was over. Adelaide had clearly said ‘as you thought.’ That meant Nelisa had already suggested that problematic horse. Moreover, the ‘tea party’ the female protagonist mentioned.

Nelisa quickly recalled the development of the original novel.

After regressing, Adelaide planned a tea party with noble ladies and began her revenge by spectacularly humiliating Nelisa there.

The tea party Adelaide had just mentioned was probably this very scene.

The original villainess had thoroughly built her image in high society. She was a ‘mature’ lady in the pitiful position of having to serve the immature lady without complaint. Therefore, when Adelaide attacked, the villainess counterattacked by using her ‘mature and thoughtful’ image to play the victim.

Of course, she eventually crumbled before Adelaide, who followed the classic satisfying revenge romance fantasy formula and teamed up with the male lead.

Denial was no longer possible. The original villainess Nelisa had done many things before Adelaide regressed.

Nelisa diligently calculated the current timeline. If the novel’s progression was correct, today would be the second day after Adelaide’s regression.

That meant the female protagonist already harbored revenge against Nelisa’s evil deeds.

‘Why am I always so unlucky!’

Nelisa grew anxious. At this rate, her path to ruin was certain.

Finally, she made a decision.

‘Let’s run away!’

If she didn’t escape immediately, her life would continue to spiral. The only option left was to run away from home!

Nelisa hurriedly began to search every corner of the room. Her expectation that there would be something valuable in a duke’s mansion was not wrong.

Jewelry and cash were scattered throughout the drawers and dressing room. Nelisa carefully collected all of the not insignificant amount of valuables.

Since the tea party Adelaide mentioned was the next day, tonight was her only chance to run away.

Nelisa stayed in her room all day without taking a single step outside, waiting for nightfall.

Finally, when everyone in the mansion had fallen asleep.

“Ha, my fate. I’ve never ran away from home in my life, and now I’m doing it after transmigrating.”

She grumbled quietly, then tiptoed into the corridor, muffling her footsteps.

Like any noble family’s mansion, there was a small back door used by the servants.

Nelisa, utilizing her experience as a long-time romance fantasy reader, easily found the servants’ entrance.

“……”

Holding her breath, she carefully opened the door to avoid making any sound. When she saw the path beyond the door, Nelisa almost fell to her knees and spread her arms toward the sky right there.

However, her escape attempt was not easy. Unfortunately, the geography outside the Wiesbaden mansion was not described in detail in the original novel.

She somehow managed to get outside, but she had to fumble along the carriage wheel tracks on the path to find her way.

Nelisa whimpered softly.

“This is getting worse. I’ve always been bad with directions……”

Wondering how far she could go like this all night, Nelisa took uncertain steps forward.

⁕⁕⁕

The next morning, the Wiesbaden mansion was turned upside down.

“Nelisa has disappeared?”

Adelaide was beyond bewildered; she was dumbfounded.

Nelisa had always been very proud of the fact that her guardian was Duke Wiesbaden. Although they weren’t related by blood, she took great pride in growing up in the Wiesbaden family, the most noble bloodline in the Empire.

And such a person had left home!

Adelaide tried to calmly pinpoint the reason why Nelisa would suddenly disappear. But no matter how much she thought about it, only one special reason came to mind.

That Nelisa had learned that her plot to kill Adelaide by staging a horseback riding accident had been exposed.

But this truth was something no one knew yet except Adelaide herself, who had experienced a regression. To be honest, even she hadn’t realized it until after she died from falling off the cliff after the horseback accident.

To solve this mystery, she first needed to find Nelisa.

She came to a conclusion. Adelaide hurriedly headed to Duke Wiesbaden’s room.

“Father! Nel is nowhere in the mansion!”

The Duke nodded gravely.

“Yes, it seems so. I also instructed the butler to look for her, but she couldn’t be found inside the house.”

“We need to send search parties outside. If she left the house on foot without taking a horse, she couldn’t have gone far.”

Adelaide’s eyes showed her determination to find Nelisa no matter what.

Duke Wiesbaden immediately summoned the butler.

“Deploy all the servants in the mansion to find Nelisa.”

“Yes, master.”

The butler accepted the order and immediately turned to leave.

Adelaide gave the butler’s retreating figure a meaningful look.

“……”

Before capturing Nelisa and making her kneel before Duke Wiesbaden, Adelaide needed to meet her first. She had to confirm, without her father knowing, whether Nelisa truly knew the truth that only she, who had regressed, had realized.

She quickly withdrew from the Duke’s presence and stopped the hurrying butler.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The butler obediently stopped. Adelaide instructed in a quiet but rapid tone.

“If you find Nelisa, take her to the empty house near the mansion before bringing her home.”

“Understood, Miss.”

The butler accepted Adelaide’s instructions without objection, as if she were no different from the master.

Adelaide let out a deep sigh. The tea party scheduled for today was completely canceled.

⁕⁕⁕

After walking diligently on two feet all night without sleep, Nelisa finally reached a small inn on the outskirts of the imperial capital.

It happened to be a place that also served as a restaurant. She sat down and rested her tired legs.

“Ugh……”

She felt anxious, hungry, and tired. But she needed to eat something first to be able to walk more vigorously.

She ordered from the approaching server.

“Give me whatever dish comes out fastest.”

“It’s vegetable soup, is that okay?”

“Yes, yes.”

Nelisa nodded vaguely.

The food came out soon. Thinking she needed to eat quickly and leave again, Nelisa hastily spooned the steaming soup into her mouth.

But before she had eaten even half, the area outside the restaurant suddenly became noisy.

“?”

Nelisa, in the position of a fugitive, felt her heart sink. At that moment, a group of people burst into the inn.

“……!”

Nelisa froze with the spoon in her hand.