STVWDTD Chapter 40

She Doesn't Smile Seductively

Helly looked at Diana quietly through his bangs. Information was money. Only fools gave it away easily.

"The Kitchen at Vanquin. Three days. As soon as we arrive."

The Kitchen at Vanquin was the name of the most famous restaurant in the capital square. To make a reservation, you had to join the waiting list a month in advance.

Three days of that? You couldn't buy it even with extra money. Not without connections.

Hmmm. Diana slowly straightened her leaning body back against the seat and crossed her legs beneath her skirt.

Throughout their stay at Schwartz castle, Helly had visited Carol's tavern daily as if planning to bankrupt it, devouring every item on the menu.

Still not enough. Should she call it impressive? She'd underestimated Helly's stomach capacity. Fine, she'd be generous.

"The Kitchen at Vanquin. Five days, all courses."

"Deal."

Helly, who was serious about food, accepted without hesitation.

She'd have to contact the restaurant as soon as they returned.

It wasn't hers, but an acquaintance operated it—someone who prioritized her requests first.

Helly had shrewdly mentioned it as a bargaining condition knowing this.

"So, who is it?"

"Count Gordon Bruisjer."

Ha. Diana let out a hollow laugh. She'd hoped it might be someone else.

"And my brothers and sister just let him?"

"Everyone's busy."

Right. They must be busy. Villains weren't villains for nothing. To work beneath the surface, you had to move diligently.

She didn't know what they were plotting now, though.

"Uncle is quite greedy."

Count Gordon Bruisjer was one of Duke Beatus's younger brothers.

Among the seven-plus siblings, if anyone coveted the Beatus duchy the most, he could definitely be named.

Always trapped in the first-born's shadow, never seeing the light—second in line.

In the end, it was the eldest who claimed the ducal title. Even after marrying out and receiving a count title from the Beatus family's holdings, Gordon never gave up and schemed in the shadows for the duchy.

That too had ended in failure when Devir Beatus became the heir.

The attempted rebellion was suppressed early. But the embers were left smoldering. Things that wouldn't be permitted in other families happened frequently in this one.

From the start, the Beatus method was to throw even branch family members into the fierce succession war along with the direct line, leaving the strong standing.

This family determined succession not by primogeniture but by strength.

Why else would these family members be so cruel? They'd struggled desperately to survive. Father's many siblings had perished in the succession war.

But the children they'd left behind were numerous, and succession wars between siblings and cousins erupted endlessly.

At least the eldest son's children—the four siblings including Diana—hadn't raised blades against each other.

Though they seemed distant, they got along reasonably well.

That's why she trusted her siblings among the family. When Devir Beatus became heir, they'd all been pleased that they wouldn't have to deal with the annoying succession war.

'Those were good times.'

Since Devir handled the family's annoying matters, Vanessa went out into high society, Nathan trained his own sword style, and Diana rolled around in bed, each enjoying their own lives.

Devir Beatus, the original story's mastermind and main villain, had been exceptional from the start.

He was so outstanding that he surpassed not only Count Gordon but even their father the duke.

By his teens, he'd already built forces strong enough to sweep away the annoying cousins who kept challenging him.

That had become today's underworld. There wasn't a dark alley in the capital or anywhere in the empire that his reach hadn't touched.

"Not everyone who sits on an empty throne becomes the same kind of king."

I don't know why he keeps being greedy. Diana swallowed the words.

"……."

"……."

The surroundings were quiet. Diana and Helly exchanged glances. The carriage had stopped at some point, and Diana flung the door open.

"Oh."

Berzh, who'd been holding up his fist awkwardly, looked flustered.

"My apologies, my lady. Did I disturb you?"

"Not at all. What's the matter? It's quiet around here."

Helly quietly retracted the spider-web-like transparent threads he'd been spreading in his palm.

"With so many people, we separated some carriages. We won't reach the next village before sunset. We'll need to camp, so I came to inform you."

No wonder it was so quiet—half the knight order had gone to deal with monsters that appeared nearby. The servants were exhausted from the difficult road and lying about.

"Thank you."

"I'll come get you again once the tents are set up."

Thunk. The door closed, and Diana stretched her stiff neck.

Her whole body ached from sitting still in the carriage for over half a day. Moreover, she'd dealt with his body until morning before departure, so her stamina was bottomed out.

"Want to stretch your body?"

"Too much trouble."

Right. I figured you'd say that. She briefly considered joining the monster cleanup to stretch her stiff body but decided against it. Better save her strength.

"Uncle coveting the duchy isn't new, so fine. What about my political marriage?"

Helly, who'd been lying down to sleep, jerked upright mid-recline.

"Miss, you're getting married?"

At his rare display of surprise, Diana frowned.

"You didn't listen properly when you came, did you?"

"Don't know. Too much trouble, so I only half-heard the order to check on you. It's not my jurisdiction anyway."

Helly had a tendency to selectively hear only what he wanted and act accordingly.

Then that meant he didn't know what Uncle was doing now either.

"Who were my close attendants at the residence?"

"Probably Jane and Jamie. The rest got fired and all came back."

Jane and Jamie. Diana felt a cold sweat at the names she'd forgotten.

"Mm. If we're late, there'll be trouble."

Would they quietly obey Uncle's orders? No, she could definitively say absolutely not.

One wrong move and lives could be in danger. The political marriage partner's, that is.

"Helly, what exactly was the order given to you?"

"……."

Helly showed a guarded look, but Diana smiled and spoke as if dangling a piece of well-cooked meat temptingly before his eyes.

"I'll reduce it to three days of course meals."

"Dispose of the personnel going to the young lady. Those bearing the family name. Those bearing Lady Vanessa's name."

"You disposed of my sister's people too?"

Helly nodded.

"Did my brother and sister have a falling out?"

At her muttered words, Helly replied dryly.

"Lady Vanessa's condition is strange. The system's a mess."

Taking advantage of that opening, Gordon had pulled in all sorts of riffraff under Vanessa's direct command.

"What do you mean?"

Helly flopped down on the carriage seat as if annoyed.

"She's so fixated on the Crown Prince she's not paying attention to anything else."

"Not even managing her forces?"

"Yeah."

What happened? In the original story, she was the villainess who even assassinated the emperor at the Crown Prince's word, but her emotional depth had already grown this deep?

"Don't tell me the Crown Prince has another woman?"

"How'd you know? I heard he changes women daily, summoning them to his bedchamber?"

She'd been about to ask about the original story's female lead, the Saintess. But—changing women daily?

What is this? The Crown Prince felt like an even more irredeemable piece of trash than she'd thought.

No wonder Sister's stomach must be churning.

As Diana's expression darkened, Helly spoke as if in passing and closed his eyes.

"Everyone else seems oblivious. But I think the Crown Prince is searching for someone."

"Who?"

"Don't know."

I'm sleeping, so don't talk to me—Helly crossed his arms. Feeling stifled, Diana exited the carriage.

Whiiing— A cool, desolate wind swept past her as she stepped down from the carriage.

A moon had risen at some point, taking its place in the dark night sky. Diana pulled her clothes tighter as she looked up at the moon.

Please, let Sister not commit something irreversible.

She prayed while looking at the moon.

"Move."

At the woman's savage voice, the maid maintained an expressionless face.

"This is Lady Diana's room. If you have business, get permission from the owner before entering."

"That owner's not here, is she? And this residence is in my father's hands now anyway."

Diana's uncle—Count Gordon Bruisjer's youngest daughter. Geloni Bruisjer was making a scene in front of Diana's room.

"She will return."

"Waiting for someone when you don't even know where she went? Your loyalty is impressive. Even though you're about to be sold to another family instead of that bitch."

The maid's eyes glinted viciously. But Geloni was no pushover either.

Smack! The hand that struck her cheek turned the maid's face.

"What are you going to do, glaring like that?"

A sneer settled over the maid's turned face.

"Marrying a high noble instead of your mistress—you think you're something special?"

"……."

"Just watch. She won't even survive the wedding night to consummate it."

Geloni grabbed the maid's collar and whispered in her ear.

"If Diana comes back, that's even better. This time I'll mess up that annoying face completely and make her crawl on the floor. When she begs for her life, it'll be quite a sight. Right?"

Geloni released the maid's collar with a shove and turned away, laughing loudly as if pleased by the imagination alone.

Click. The maid who entered the room leaned against the door and clenched her fist tight.

She felt like she needed to smash something right now to feel better.

"Did she leave?"

The maid's gaze turned toward the bed. There lay Diana.

No—her younger sibling disguised as Diana lay on their side.

When talk of Diana's political marriage began, Gordon had tried to set up one of the maids as Diana's substitute.

Jamie had stepped forward.

Having already lived disguised as Diana and various other roles, it wasn't difficult.

"Wow, you even got slapped. Good thing I'm not disguised as you this time."

Glad I was bored enough to stay disguised as Diana.

"Don't speak crudely with the young lady's face. You'll die."

"Heh. What are you going to do about it."

The maid who strode over grabbed her sibling's collar and raised her fist. Her sibling said in alarm:

"That's the young lady's face!"

He wore a wig of curling deep violet hair and used special potions to produce pink eyes.

It was closer to transformation than disguise.

The completed beautiful face with lifted eye corners perfectly recreated their mistress's appearance.

The trembling fist quietly descended, swallowing its anger.

Phew— Jamie, who breathed a sigh of relief, looked up at his sibling with one cheek starting to swell.

That's about to burst.

"A maid from Geloni's side has been snooping around our people."

A target for venting appeared. At those words, Jane immediately turned.

"I'll be back."

"Hey, but will the young lady really come back?"

Jane stopped her steps and glared at Jamie.

"Doesn't matter if she doesn't. We can go find her."

Jamie thought for a moment and nodded.

"True. The young lady hates moving anyway. It's better if we go."

"But the political marriage will proceed."

If they didn't carry out the political marriage in her stead, they didn't know what adverse effects it might have on Diana.

"Then let's dispose of that guy on the wedding night and go to the young lady."

At Jamie's mischievous words, Jane turned her steps again.

"You enter the bridal chamber."

"Eck. I mean I was going to, but. Isn't dealing with a man a bit much for me? Gives me the creeps."

"Says the one who even cross-dresses."

The fraternal twins Jane and Jamie both worked as Diana's close attendants.

Except for a select few, no one knew Jamie was male.

He was that good at disguising himself, and he enjoyed it too.

"Hmm, should I try seducing a man with the young lady's face?"

Watching her younger brother smile seductively with Diana's face, Jane left the room.