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by rosalieNelisa understood that silence as tacit agreement. A somewhat bitter smile formed on her lips.
“I don’t expect to be accepted as a friend again. Still, I’ll keep my promise.”
This much was sincere. Nelisa truly intended to abandon the villainess life and not interfere with Adelaide’s life at all.
She wanted to declare that she would never marry and spend her whole life in the workshop, but she wasn’t sure how such words might be conveyed between that well-communicating father and daughter.
For now, the important thing was to successfully establish the workshop.
Nelisa tried to change the subject.
“Um, would you like to see this? I’ve been thinking about the internal structure of the workshop I’m going to build……”
However, Adelaide turned her back without listening to the end of Nelisa’s words. Then, as if offended by something, she left the room, creating a cold draft.
Nelisa stared at her retreating figure in bewilderment.
“What the……”
It seemed the female protagonist wasn’t a scheming villain but just an extremely arrogant princess.
⁕⁕⁕
Adelaide stormed out of Nelisa’s room. Her steps down the corridor were uncharacteristically rough.
A persistent feeling of displeasure kept enveloping her.
To be honest, she still felt betrayed by Nelisa. Although she had received an apology, nothing could restore Adelaide’s pure childhood that had been tainted.
Those memories had been truly joyful. They laughed together, learned together, and ran around together. When they were young, Nelisa would hold Adelaide’s hand and take her to festival markets.
⟨Adele! Do you see that glass that person is holding? It’s cream beer, and they say it’s incredibly smooth! Isn’t it fascinating that a drink can be smooth?⟩
⟨When I grow up, I’ll proudly walk around holding a beer glass and drinking. It looks so cool.⟩
But it had all been a lie. The affection she always showed, her kind consideration, her gentle smile—all of it was just an act.
Adelaide couldn’t forgive Nelisa for trampling those memories to the point where recalling them was painful.
Nelisa smiled in front of Adelaide while behind her back, she called her an arrogant, inconsiderate person. She spread false rumors that she received unfair treatment from the Wiesbaden family. She also didn’t miss the opportunity to subtly raise her own reputation while belittling Adelaide as immature.
⟨A well-cut small gem is far more valuable than a large uncut stone. The same applies to people. Just like, hehe, myself and her.⟩
After experiencing death, Adelaide realized that Nelisa’s inner self was full of inferiority and jealousy. She was never satisfied with what she already had. She always coveted things she couldn’t reach, things that weren’t her share.
It resulted in her plotting to murder Adelaide.
Emotions welled up.
“Ugh…!”
Adelaide violently flung open her bedroom door. Then she jumped straight onto the bed, curled up like a child, and pulled the blanket over herself.
She hated Nelisa. Even though she had apologized for her wrongdoings, Adelaide still hated her.
But why was Nelisa the first to declare their “friendship over”? Adelaide was the one who had been wronged, so why was Nelisa the first to speak of the end of their friendship?
How shameless. How impudent. After doing wrong first, instead of crying and begging, she calmly opened her mouth to say they were no longer friends.
And then, as if she herself had put everything behind her, she said, “I’ll go my own way.” Without considering Adelaide’s feelings, she tried to end everything with just one apology.
Nelisa was still extremely selfish.
⁕⁕⁕
A few days later, Duke Wiesbaden summoned Nelisa to his study.
“Now, as I mentioned before, I’ve looked into several buildings suitable for a workshop. Is there one among these that you like?”
Nelisa quickly scanned the documents the Duke handed her, her eyes shining. The specifications on paper were all impeccable.
She put the documents down for now.
“But this isn’t something I can decide carelessly without checking the sites in person.”
“Haha, I knew you would say that, Nelisa.”
The Duke nodded with a smiling face. Then he immediately summoned the Wiesbaden family butler.
“You called, master?”
“Show Nelisa each of the buildings listed in these documents. She will make the decision.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The butler respectfully accepted the order.
Nelisa left the Duke’s study with the butler. Just then, Adelaide was approaching them.
The butler immediately bowed to Adelaide as if paying respects to his master. In contrast, Nelisa stood blankly to greet Adelaide.
“Adele.”
“……”
Adelaide stared at Nelisa with cold eyes, without responding. Nelisa involuntarily felt intimidated by the hostility emanating from those eyes.
“W-well, go ahead……”
This feeling of shrinking back despite having done nothing wrong wasn’t particularly pleasant. Nelisa resolved to set up her living quarters in the workshop once it was established.
“Shall we go, Miss Nelisa?”
“Ah, yes.”
Nelisa snapped back to attention at the butler’s call. At that moment, Adelaide’s clear voice rang out.
“Going out?”
Nelisa turned her gaze back to Adelaide.
“Yes. I’m going to look at potential workshop sites now.”
As soon as she heard the answer, Adelaide frowned deeply. Then, as if uninterested, she turned her head abruptly and entered the study.
“……”
Nelisa felt somewhat annoyed. Adelaide seemed angry for some reason, but how could she know when she wouldn’t say anything?
She vaguely understood why the original villainess had wanted to trample on the female protagonist so badly.
⁕⁕⁕
Nelisa toured the candidate buildings one by one with the Wiesbaden family butler. Among them was the empty house where she had met Adelaide separately right after running away.
Meeting again like this. Considering it a connection of fate, Nelisa was quite pleased with this building.
“Ahaha…… This place is really……”
The butler asked in a businesslike tone.
“How do you find this place?”
“Hmm, with a little repair, it’s the best among what I’ve seen so far.”
Nelisa looked around the empty house and imagined in her mind. Work tables could go here, and finished products could be placed over there.
After examining various parts of the building for quite some time, she finally decided.
“I’ll choose this one. Please proceed with the purchase.”
“Understood, Miss Nelisa.”
The butler silently respected her decision.
Naturally, the actual buyer of the workshop was not Nelisa but Duke Wiesbaden. The butler immediately found the nominal owner of the empty house and, representing Duke Wiesbaden, completed the building purchase procedure in an instant.
Nelisa was able to witness a real estate transaction in the romance fantasy world for the first time in her life, standing beside the butler.
“Does it always happen this quickly?”
To her question, the butler kindly replied.
“It’s possible because the Duke purchased it in a lump sum payment.”
“Ah……”
She understood immediately.
Now that the workshop building had been secured, the rest was up to Nelisa. While she was busy mentally calculating how to clean and repair it, the butler casually added.
“I will speak to the Duke about mobilizing mansion staff for building repairs and cleaning.”
“Oh, that would be greatly appreciated!”
The Wiesbaden family butler was quite favorable toward Nelisa. In a way, this too was thanks to the original villainess who had buttered up those around her, so Nelisa decided to accept it with gratitude.
⁕⁕⁕
The Duke accepted the butler’s suggestion and sent mansion staff to the workshop.
Nelisa felt dizzy. It was surprising enough that they purchased the workshop building in a day, but to complete the cleaning and repairs in less than two days!
However, before officially moving into the workshop, Nelisa had something else to resolve first. She needed to appease Adelaide, who was angry about something.
She knocked on Adelaide’s door with nervousness.
“Adele? It’s me. I need to talk to you.”
Fortunately, the door opened. Adelaide looked at her with an expressionless face.
“What is it?”
“Um, can I come in and talk? What I have to say is too long to discuss standing here like this……”
Nelisa’s hands were trembling. She barely managed to speak without stuttering.
Having a serious conversation with such a hostile person was something that required great determination from Nelisa, who hated confrontation.
Adelaide gestured toward the sofa with her chin.
“Come in.”
“Thank you, Adele.”
Nelisa carefully entered. This was her first time in Adelaide’s room since her transmigration.
Adelaide spoke in a cold voice.
“Keep it brief. I’m busy too.”
“Y-yes……”
Nelisa began hesitantly.
“You seem angry with me about my decision to set up a workshop. If I made a mistake, please tell me. Whatever it is, it wasn’t my intention.”
She chose her words carefully. She spoke each word cautiously, just as she had practiced before meeting Adelaide.
Adelaide sat on the sofa and crossed her slender legs.
“A mistake? That’s unlikely.”
The response was much colder than expected. Nelisa felt as if her heart would freeze.
She regretted cheering enthusiastically for the female protagonist who treated the original villainess coldly in the novel, calling it satisfying. Now that she had become that villainess herself, she couldn’t help but realize what great virtues tolerance and magnanimity were.
She needed to know exactly what she had done wrong in order to apologize.
This was a different issue from paying for the original villainess’s sins. The reason for Adelaide’s current anger was related to the present Nelisa, not the past.
Nelisa tried to remain calm and patiently lowered her posture again.
“I’m truly sorry to say this, but I really don’t know. Please tell me what I did wrong.”
“My, you really don’t know? And here I thought you were just pretending not to know.”
Adelaide responded with merciless sarcasm.
Nelisa felt a chill in her heart.
‘Is it really worth lowering myself like this?’
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