5

⁕⁕⁕

The day Duke Wiesbaden and his daughter visited the imperial palace.

Adelaide made a special decision that day. She decided to bring Nelisa, who usually stayed at home on such occasions, along for the outing.

True to her decisive nature, she headed to her father’s room as soon as she made up her mind.

“Father!”

“Hmm? Adele?”

The Duke, dressed in comfortable indoor clothes, was just about to pick up his teacup when he greeted Adelaide. She pleaded with a deliberately earnest voice.

“Father, could Nelisa come with us to the imperial palace today? I feel quite sorry about our big argument that led to her running away. I thought I might give her the opportunity to meet His Highness the Crown Prince for the first time.”

In truth, Adelaide had a different motive. She wanted to test whether Nelisa had truly reformed.

Adelaide didn’t believe Nelisa’s vow at face value. Though she had explicitly stated she would never covet what belonged to Adelaide again, wasn’t she always skilled at deceiving others?

Therefore, she could properly assess Nelisa’s attitude when facing Roberto at the imperial palace.

Duke Wiesbaden tilted his head curiously but readily agreed.

“Hmm, I see no harm in it.”

Adelaide felt relieved inside. Apart from the running away incident, things worked out easily thanks to Nelisa having earned good favor with the Duke over time.

Duke Wiesbaden, like Adelaide, had been completely fooled by Nelisa’s high-level acting. He regarded Nelisa as an intelligent subordinate who knew her place well.

Adelaide lightly kissed her father’s forehead.

“Thank you, Father! For showing kindness to Nel.”

“It’s not my kindness. It’s because you’ve forgiven her.”

The Duke smiled gently.

Having obtained permission, Adelaide headed straight to Nelisa’s room.

⁕⁕⁕

Nelisa was leisurely passing time in her room when she suddenly encountered Adelaide barging in.

“……?”

Adelaide’s clear voice rang in her ears as she stared blankly.

“Nel! Prepare to go out right now!”

“Huh?”

Nelisa opened her eyes wide in surprise. Going out? Her schedule for today consisted solely of lounging around the house!

But Adelaide was insistent.

“We’re going to the imperial palace together. So hurry up and get dressed first.”

“W-what?”

For a born homebody, an unplanned outing was literally a disaster.

‘What kind of unreasonable demand is this……’

However, Nelisa had no power to refuse. Perhaps the ambitious villainess from the original work might have, but now she was simply a timid person whose primary concern was desperately trying to save her own life.

Nelisa was truly struck by this bolt from the blue. Even as Adelaide’s maids swarmed around her to help her prepare, she kept her lips sealed with a heavy expression throughout.

“……”

She finally understood the hidden struggles of the original villainess.

⁕⁕⁕

Thanks to the maids buzzing around like bees, Nelisa was able to complete her preparations on time.

Adelaide, Duke Wiesbaden, and Nelisa boarded the same carriage and departed for the imperial palace.

Adelaide pretended not to know while asking Nelisa:

“Nel, you haven’t met His Highness Roberto yet, have you?”

“Huh? Ah, n-no……”

Nelisa answered with a glum expression.

Adelaide understood the meaning behind that expression. With her pre-regression experience, this couldn’t truly be considered her first meeting with Roberto.

Still, Adelaide felt tension rise in her neck.

Strictly speaking, just because Duke Wiesbaden raised Nelisa didn’t mean her bloodline became Wiesbaden. Nelisa was still merely a descendant of fallen nobility. Therefore, someone of such status couldn’t casually meet the imperial family, who were as lofty as the heavens.

At best, she might get a chance to greet them at a banquet attended by the imperial family. However, the current Nelisa had just come of age and hadn’t yet experienced large banquets where the imperial family appeared.

Adelaide deliberately made a show of her generosity.

“Opportunities to meet His Highness the Crown Prince don’t come often, so don’t miss this stroke of luck.”

“Right….. Thank you……”

Nelisa nodded with the same glum expression. But what she said next was remarkable.

“But, Adele. To be honest, I’m not particularly keen on meeting His Highness without mental preparation.”

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. Mental preparation? What absurd excuse was this now? Since when did Nelisa, a social butterfly, need mental preparation to greet people?

Naturally, her response wasn’t pleasant.

“What are you saying? Don’t tell me you hate meeting His Highness?”

“That’s not it, but……”

Nelisa trailed off as if troubled.

Adelaide was dumbfounded. Do people become this passive after regression? Well, Adelaide herself had changed a bit too. She developed distrust in people after being greatly betrayed.

At that moment, Duke Wiesbaden, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, casually interjected.

“Adele. How could meeting His Highness the Crown Prince be the same as dealing with other nobles? It’s not unreasonable for Nelisa to be nervous.”

“Hmm……”

Adelaide frowned but kept her mouth shut for now.

“……”

She glanced at Nelisa. Nelisa kept her gaze downward the entire time.

⁕⁕⁕

The carriage passed through the imperial palace’s main gate and only stopped in front of Roberto’s palace.

The atmosphere of the palace where the Crown Prince resided was quite weighty. The personality of Roberto, the palace’s master, was evident throughout.

Duke Wiesbaden instructed Adelaide and Nelisa as they alighted first.

“I’m going to see His Majesty. When you leave the Crown Prince’s palace, you may return home first.”

“Understood, Father.”

Adelaide answered as if already accustomed to this.

The carriage dropped off Nelisa and Adelaide, then departed again toward the Emperor’s palace.

“……”

Nelisa was in a half-dazed state. Who was Crown Prince Roberto? None other than the male protagonist of the original novel and the most handsome man in this world. Not only his face but also his intelligence and physique were excellent!

Whether aware of her mental state or not, Adelaide pulled Nelisa’s arm.

“Let’s go, Nel.”

But Nelisa stood firmly in place.

“Adele, let me ask one thing clearly. What’s your real purpose in dragging me here? You don’t usually do this.”

Adelaide turned to look at her sharply.

“It would be troublesome if you ran away again while Father and I are away from the mansion.”

Now that they were alone, Adelaide’s voice was quite rigid and cold. The lively tone from inside the carriage had completely disappeared.

Nelisa let out a long sigh.

“Ha, Adele. You said you trusted me?”

“How can I trust your words?”

Adelaide retorted with a snort.

‘Now I see she’s become completely twisted in character.’

This was truly serious—things could go very wrong if she wasn’t careful.

So even while walking down the corridor, Nelisa stubbornly held back.

“Adele, I’m really just going to greet His Highness the Crown Prince and leave immediately.”

“Hah, fine. Do that.”

With Nelisa constantly refusing, even Adelaide threw up her hands in surrender.

Previously, Nelisa had looked at her with such envious eyes, but now that she’d been brought along, she was only trying to find ways to escape.

How could someone change like this? And she’d changed into a frustratingly timid character at that. Adelaide shook her head repeatedly.

A maid who had been notified in advance was waiting in front of the reception room.

“Welcome, Lady Wiesbaden. Lady Nelisa.”

Adelaide gracefully smiled in gratitude, then firmly grabbed Nelisa, who was hesitantly trying to bow to the maid. Fortunately, Nelisa straightened up again quickly.

They finally managed to sit safely in Roberto’s reception room.

“Nel. You know we don’t show courtesy to maids in the imperial palace. Why are you acting like this?”

“Ah, sorry. I must have forgotten everything because I’m so nervous.”

Nelisa apologized readily.

Adelaide clutched her chest in frustration. They had nearly been disgraced because of Nelisa!

“Pull yourself together! Where did that strong heart go that spread malicious rumors behind my back?”

Adelaide delivered a sharp rebuke.

Yet Nelisa retorted as if she were the wronged one.

“That’s why I told you earlier. That I needed mental preparation.”

“Hah……”

Adelaide finally closed her mouth. What was the use of pressing her now? All she could do was hope that Nelisa would complete her wretched “mental preparation” before Roberto arrived.

⁕⁕⁕

Shortly after, Roberto strode into the reception room without any attendants.

“!”

Nelisa sprang up from her seat. Right beside her, Adelaide rose elegantly and paid her respects.

“I behold the Empire’s great little sun.”

“……I behold the sun.”

Nelisa hurriedly followed Adelaide’s example and bowed. Her heart pounded heavily.

His appearance didn’t waste a bit of the original setting as the man with the highest specs in the story. Tall stature, sleek physique, jet-black silky hair, sculptured jawline, and piercing ice-blue eyes that seemed to fly in and strike in an instant.

Nelisa’s head rang the moment she saw Roberto. He was shockingly handsome.

‘The protagonist buff is no joke……’

As she stared at him blankly, Roberto’s eyes narrowed.

“You have company today.”

The cold voice pierced Nelisa’s ears sharply. She even felt displeasure, as if he were addressing an unwelcome guest.

Only then did she realize. Originally, this meeting was arranged for the female and male protagonists to spend intimate time together.

Now it was time to keep her promise. Nelisa steeled her resolve. She needed to finish greeting Roberto and disappear quickly.