She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 128

It didn’t take long for the carriage to arrive at the temple. Because she had come straight from Marquis Grant’s funeral, Idel was still dressed in a black dress and veil, but no one paid her any mind.

After all, three out of every ten people visiting the temple were bereaved families who had entrusted their loved ones to this place.

‘It’s a perfectly fitting outfit for visiting a cemetery rumored to be haunted by a ghost.’

Following a familiar path, Idel passed the temple entrance and headed toward the hallway where she had first seen the phantom of Sigmund.

She hadn’t gone there to see if a “ghost” would actually appear; rather, she wanted to see just how many people were visiting the site after hearing the rumors.

Unfortunately, upon arriving near the cemetery, Idel couldn’t see what she had hoped for.

There wasn’t a single onlooker in sight—only a lone, familiar figure standing there.

“…What are you doing here, Sigmund?”

…It is him, right?

Idel narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched him staring blankly at a tombstone without the slightest movement. For all she knew, that could be the ghost.

After a moment of wary observation, she finally relaxed when he turned his head immediately at the sound of her voice.

Exhaling a soft sigh, she approached Sigmund and struck up a conversation.

“What are you doing standing there? And looking like a ‘ghost’ at that?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Sigmund crossed his arms and stared intently at her. Seeing a hint of dissatisfaction in his gaze, Idel pulled back her veil and arched an eyebrow.

“What’s with that look? Do you have some kind of grievance?”

“A grievance? I do. Not with you, but with Dante Knightley. It was him, wasn’t it?”

“What?”

“The person who blabbed to you about the ghost commotion. The culprit who made you come all the way here.”

Was “culprit” really necessary?

‘It was something I needed to know anyway.’

Idel looked at Sigmund with eyes that seemed to argue, ‘Did you plan on leaving me out of this?’

“Dante did tell me, but even without him, the rumors are everywhere. At this rate, you’ll end up taking the fall for whatever Nox has done.”

“It’s not something for you to worry about, especially when you have fatigue piling up under your eyes. Besides, I don’t think that will happen.”

“What do you mean?”

Without hesitation, Sigmund handed Idel a slip of paper.

Receiving the mysterious note, she slowly unfolded the paper.

[Do not worry about the rumors circulating. They will subside.]

Reading the contents, Idel knit her brows slightly. Setting aside the prophetic nature of the message, the handwriting on the paper was strikingly familiar.

‘This is Patrick’s handwriting.’

He had even written his initials at the bottom, as if daring her to recognize them. Idel stared hard at the emphatically written initials before looking back at Sigmund.

“Does this mean Nox is taking responsibility and handling the aftermath?”

“Most likely.”

Uncrossing his arms, he brushed back his bangs and flashed a fierce, crooked smile.

“I suppose they decided he’s still too valuable to throw away just yet.”

“……I expected as much. But then the picture gets a bit strange. If it wasn’t Nox, then who on earth is behind such a crafty scheme?”

“Well, a ghost?”

At Sigmund’s flippant remark, Idel narrowed her eyes.

‘A ghost. A ghost, huh.’

A long time ago—specifically, when she first saw Sigmund’s phantom here—Idel had considered a few possibilities.

* Sigmund’s twin is alive.

* The ghost of Sigmund’s twin has come seeking revenge.

* She saw a hallucination because she was tired.

‘I hadn’t seen it since, so I wrote it off as the third option and moved on, but it seems like it’s time to consider other possibilities.’

Especially if Nox is removed from the list of suspects for this particular incident.

‘No, I can’t rule them out entirely. They could be playing the “giving the disease and then the medicine” routine.’

Regardless of the situation, there was no harm in digging for more information regarding the “ghost.”

‘Besides, if I use the method I planned to quiet the rumors, I might be able to solve some other lingering questions too.’

In truth, there was one thing she had been curious about for a long time.

‘Why does Nox just stand by and watch me associate with Sigmund?’

What if she—having already broken her own curse—tried to break Sigmund’s “brainwashing curse,” or what if she “testified” that he had been cursed?

Furthermore, Idel was close enough to him that people considered them to be in a “special” relationship.

‘The fact that they haven’t made a move despite all that has actually been making me uneasy.’

Perhaps this incident could be used to provoke Nox and catch a glimpse of their reaction.

Having organized her thoughts, Idel took half a step closer to Sigmund.

As he twitched an eyebrow as if asking what she was doing, Idel curled the corners of her mouth into a smirk and spoke softly. A voice so quiet only the two of them could hear leaked from her lips.

“I’ve thought of something.”

“……”

“While we’re investigating the Grant Marquisate, let’s put on a little act.”

An act?

Sigmund’s brow furrowed immediately upon hearing Idel’s words. It wasn’t just the suggestion; the way her eyes were shimmering with a faint light worried him.

‘Whenever her eyes sparkle like that, a normal answer never follows.’

Her eyes had looked exactly like that when she suggested they chase after the black mage at Count Bright’s wedding.

‘Well… it’s not like the results were ever bad, though.’

Sigmund nodded slowly, his expression saturated with distrust and suspicion. Idel, however, remained completely unfazed by his reluctant attitude.

Shrugging as if it were no big deal, she spoke again with a deep smile.

“Pretend that you’ve been meeting me in secret here at the temple all this time.”

She wanted to make it seem as though the ghost commotion was actually just a rumor blown out of proportion because of Sigmund and Idel’s clandestine meetings at the temple.

“Well… now that I say it out loud, it’s not entirely a lie.”

“…What?”

“I mean, you did sneak into the prayer room not too long ago.”

“Do you really think that’s what I’m asking about right now?”

Sigmund let out a hollow laugh of disbelief. He arched an eyebrow and continued.

“Have you actually lost your mind? Do you not realize what kind of rumors will spread this time if we do that?”

“Rumors will spread that you and I are seeing each other. It’ll basically hammer the final nail into the ‘special relationship’ coffin.”

“You…”

Sigmund’s frown deepened. From his perspective, he had no choice but to react seriously to her words.

‘Does she even realize what she’s saying?’

There was a massive difference between “pretending to be in a special relationship” and “rumors spreading that they were dating.”

While the former left various avenues for escape, the latter did not. And naturally, that was far more disadvantageous for Idel than for him, the Crown Prince.

Though, to someone like him—who until a few years ago was a commoner and wouldn’t have even been considered in such a comparison—it felt somewhat ridiculous to weigh advantages and disadvantages this way.

‘Sometimes it seems like Idel just throws herself away.’

She spoke as if she were only looking out for her own “profit,” but in critical moments, she habitually used herself as a chess piece. Just like the way Melisa used to move her.

‘She didn’t hesitate to scar her own body when Melisa tried to imprint the brainwashing curse on me, and even at her debut, she eventually set aside her long-held personal desires.’

Look at her even now.

“Efficiency is higher this way. Not only will it silence the rumors about you instantly, but we can also gauge Nox’s reaction. Since Nox was already trying to resolve your issue, the result remains the same, but in the end, it means I interfered with Nox’s work. And I did it by becoming very close to you—their precious puppet.”

“……”

“Oh, and while we’re at it, we should look into the truth behind the ghost. If Nox staged this, it’ll be easier to uncover, and if a third party is involved… the ghost might actually be a ‘person,’ right?”

Sigmund listened silently to the “rational” reasons Idel laid out before abruptly cutting her off.

“And what about you in the meantime?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t like it. I don’t want your name being dragged through the mud by people’s gossip just because of my problems.”

Standing with a slanted posture, Sigmund looked down at Idel, his lips twisting into a slow, crooked smirk.