She is the Daughter of the Villainess in a Ridiculous Novel - Chapter 130

The day of the promised meeting with Idel.

For the first time in a while, Sigmund recalled his childhood days spent waiting for Idel in the Raven’s Nest as he headed toward the temple.

This was because Idel had sent a note saying she might be late, as her meeting with Marquis Grant was running longer than expected.

‘No, even so, could it possibly compare to back then? Back then, I leaned against a wall and waited without any promise of when she’d arrive.’

He vividly remembered the beating sun, the texture of the rough wall against his back, and the sound of Idel’s voice calling his name with an uncharacteristically gentle tone.

‘Was that the first time I met Ivan at the cafe?’

Right, she had definitely threatened him to act friendly if he didn’t want to lose a customer.

‘Thinking about it now, it’s actually funny.’

Recalling how he had smiled brightly while gritting his teeth, determined to see who would win, put him in a strange mood. Back then, he never imagined he would become this entangled with Idel.

‘…To think that even that wasn’t enough, and now I’m hearing her suggest we pretend to be in a special relationship.’

Shaking his head lightly to clear his mind of yesterday’s events, he moved calmly toward the inner sanctum of the temple.

Night had already fallen, making the temple quieter than usual. However, quiet did not mean unobserved; with every step Sigmund took, he could feel eyes trailing him.

“Oh my, His Highness the Crown Prince at this hour…?”

“Ah, is it because of that ghost commotion…?”

“He seems quite familiar with the temple. Perhaps His Highness has always visited this place frequently? If so, it’s possible people just misunderstood what they saw.”

Sigmund ignored the topics being discussed naturally among the onlookers. In fact, he went as far as to make it obvious through his actions that his destination was his brother’s grave. Only then would the situation he and Idel hoped for be created.

‘Still, once we meet in front of the grave, I should suggest moving inside the temple after pretending to pray for a bit.’

It would be difficult to have a conversation under these circumstances.

With that thought, he approached the cemetery and narrowed his eyes. He felt as if a human figure was standing beneath a tree shrouded in darkness.

Sigmund knit his brows at the indistinct silhouette and moved further inside.

‘What is that? There’s no reason for someone to be standing in this place at this hour. Is it Idel?’

At the moment, that was the most logical thought. Although she had sent a note saying she might be late, her business could have finished earlier than expected.

‘I did take my time getting here after receiving the note.’

Sigmund’s conviction grew stronger as the distance closed. The figure standing under the tree was draped in the robes typically worn by priests or temple officials.

Having identified the person, Sigmund walked forward without hesitation. He gripped the person’s shoulder and spoke casually.

“You got here earlier than I thought. Didn’t you say you’d be late?”

The strangeness began then. Even though he spoke, there was absolutely no reaction from the other person.

“What is it? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“……”

“You aren’t angry or something, are you?”

“……”

Even when he deliberately threw out a teasing remark, ‘Idel’ did not open her mouth.

The behavior was so completely different from her usual self that Sigmund’s brow furrowed sharply, and he tightened his grip on the shoulder beneath his hand.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“……”

This wasn’t right.

Just as Sigmund was about to pull back the hood of the robe, convinced that something was wrong, a very familiar voice called out to him from behind.

“Sigmund, what are you doing there?”

Yes—from behind him, not in front of him.

Reflexively turning his head, Sigmund quickly realized that the person speaking to him from the rear was indeed Idel. The crimson hair and blue eyes glimpsed beneath the hood of her robe were proof enough.

‘Then this person is….’

In that split second, as he realized the person he was holding was not Idel and his expression darkened, the mysterious figure—who had been standing with their head bowed in silence until now—snapped their head up to face Sigmund.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Before he could even question the mysterious individual, Sigmund found himself face-to-face with them, and the moment he saw the face, he lost his words.

It was only natural. What appeared from beneath the hood was the very same face he encountered every day in the mirror.

‘……A ghost?’

No, that wasn’t it.

Sigmund quickly erased the word that had reflexively surfaced in his mind. A ghost wouldn’t be solid enough to hold like this.

‘In that case….’

Even in a situation that should have been purely confusing, Sigmund’s mind rapidly produced the answer.

That the person standing before his eyes was his brother.

“What? What’s going on? Who is that? A priest?”

Idel, finally noticing something was amiss, called out to him, but he couldn’t find the breath to speak.

In his head, he knew. He knew Idel needed an explanation. He knew that now was not the time to be standing around like an idiot.

Yet, despite knowing all of that, Sigmund could do nothing but stare silently into the eyes of the person who looked exactly like him.

The one who broke the strange and awkward confrontation first was his twin, draped in the robe.

“Oh, um… hello…?”

“……”

“Uh, well. This is bad. The first meeting in my imagination definitely wasn’t this awkward…….”

The way the other person bit their lower lip in embarrassment was both familiar and foreign.

The face he was looking at was the face he saw every day, but the expression, the gestures, and even the manner of speech—everything was different from his own.

“Uh, so, you’re really surprised, right? I’m also surprised to be greeting you so suddenly like thi— Ack!”

Without saying a word, Sigmund watched his twin awkwardly babble on before suddenly reaching out and shoving the other man’s head down.

Then, he immediately grabbed him by the arm, started walking, and spoke.

“Idel, which direction was that prayer room where we met before?”

“Ah, there. It’s hard to explain, so let’s just move. Go straight for now.”

Though his question was brusque and lacked any explanation of the situation, Idel understood Sigmund’s actions instantly.

‘He means this isn’t a conversation to be had out here.’

Idel’s gaze fell upon the “someone” being held by Sigmund. Although she hadn’t officially heard the identity of the person in the robe yet, she had an inkling.

‘So, the Crown Prince was alive.’

That solved several questions she had been harboring. For example, why the Imperial Family—who had already lost Sigmund to Nox once before—had let the Crown Prince go so easily this time, or the hidden reason behind a Saint attending a mere funeral for a Crown Prince….

‘So this is why the Emperor and Empress were so cold toward Sigmund.’

In other words, Sigmund was being exploited by both the Imperial Family and Nox.

To the Imperial Family, he was a placeholder to be used until the living Crown Prince Ulan could safely inherit the throne; to Nox, he was a brainwashed puppet candidate for the emperorship.

‘……How cruel.’

Was it said that the Sigmund in the original story became the final villain after losing control during a specific incident?

‘It would actually be stranger if he didn’t turn out that way.’

In fact, Sigmund’s situation in the original story was incomparable to his current one.

His mentor, Vilred, had died without a trace; he was subjected to that wretched brainwashing curse; and until he reached adulthood, he was unable to form any proper human relationships.

‘And then, the moment he’s about to inherit the throne, a twin brother with a more “legitimate” claim appears.’

This was essentially an open invitation to turn to the dark side.

What annoyed Idel the most was that there was no way the Imperial Family or Nox was unaware of this fact.

‘They probably didn’t care or just didn’t want to deal with it. Whether Sigmund turned evil or fell into despair.’

The cause of their downfall in the original story likely lay in their failure to properly gauge the sheer magnitude of Sigmund’s power.

Having quickly assessed the situation, Idel glanced at the man walking beside her.

There was no way Sigmund didn’t know the truth she had just realized.

Even though it wasn’t her own burden, her heart ached for some reason, and she bit her lip. At that moment, a large, familiar hand gripped hers briefly and firmly before letting go.

“……”

Reflexively turning her head, she saw Sigmund still staring straight ahead.

However, unlike his expression, which seemed devoid of emotion, the meaning conveyed by the warmth that had touched her hand was intensely clear and incredibly kind.

So much so that a surge of emotion caught in her throat before she could stop it.