Chapter 13 The Villainess's Friend
A few days after the tea party.
Rhiannon was staring blankly out the window in her room when she suddenly propped her chin on her hand and sighed.
The romance novel in her hands hadn't progressed at all.
Normally, her sharp-eyed butler Kaine would be right there, asking, "What's wrong?" at the first sign of her sigh, but today he was unfortunately nowhere to be found.
Lately, Kaine had been going out more often, claiming he had errands to run.
Since he hardly paid her any attention, Rhiannon felt like she wanted to throw a little shade his way, but the truth was, everything around her was still perfectly managed, and she had no complaints.
Rhiannon sighed again.
(Surely, he's gone to see Sarah and is on a date with her.)
Ever since she saw Sarah and Kaine chatting happily at the tea party, Rhiannon's heart had been in turmoil.
Yet, she didn't have the courage to ask Kaine, "What kind of relationship do you two have?"
On top of that, a rather self-deprecating hypothesis had popped up in Rhiannon's mind.
"It seems that in my past life, I bullied Sarah as a villainess, right? Maybe Kaine is keeping me away from Sarah to protect his beloved from the villainess that I was..."
Once she thought that, the overly imaginative Rhiannon couldn't see it as anything but the truth.
She started pacing around her room, holding her head.
"Because those 2 looked so good together and seemed really close... Well, that makes sense. If my hypothesis is correct, they've been in love since our past lives, right? That's fate! They must be behind the palace right now, saying, 'I'll keep that Rhiannon at bay' and 'No, that's dangerous. Let's run away from this country together!' while holding hands...! Ugh, it's really starting to annoy me..."
After muttering a long monologue in one breath, Rhiannon let out a dramatic sigh.
Her imagination was running wild, but unfortunately, no one was there to stop her.
"He probably doesn't want to wear the ribbon tie I gave him because he doesn't want to wear anything I gave him... I went out of my way to gift it to him!"
With a light shriek of frustration, Rhiannon started punching the cushions.
Eventually, tired of sulking alone, she decided to visit Halesia, a friend she made at the tea party.
They had become quite the tea buddies, living in the palace's annex.
Halesia was overjoyed to see Rhiannon unexpectedly drop by.
"Lady Rhiannon! I was just thinking you might come today, so I've already prepared the tea! It's your day off from your part-time job, right?"
"Halesia, good day. I won't ask how you know it's my day off, but I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced."
"Oh, it's no problem at all! You're always welcome, Lady Rhiannon! You could even move in with me if you wanted! This place is unnecessarily big, and there are plenty of extra rooms!"
Saying that, Halesia tossed her long bangs around and excitedly inched closer to Rhiannon.
Though Halesia was acting a bit strange from her excitement, Rhiannon brushed it off as usual.
Having a quirky butler around had made her oddly accustomed to dealing with eccentricities.
By the way, Halesia was the same age as Rhiannon but stubbornly insisted on calling her "Lady Rhiannon."
Rhiannon had tried to convince her to drop the honorific to sound more like friends, but eventually gave up.
Once Halesia seemed to regain her composure, she led Rhiannon to her usual room.
As Halesia prepared tea for her guest, she wore a rather plain dress today.
Rhiannon tilted her head in confusion.
"Halesia, you have such a cute face, so why not cut your bangs and dress up a bit? You'd surely be the belle of the social scene!"
"It's fine! If I cut my bangs, I'd stand out too much..."
"Well, if Halesia keeps her hair neat, she's a beauty, you know. ...Oh, wait, are you growing your bangs out to stay low-key?"
"Of course! It's my duty as Halesia Jouteau to subtly admire Lady Rhiannon from afar and firmly imprint her beautiful figure in my mind!"
Saying that, Halesia puffed her chest out proudly for some reason.
Rhiannon could only smile wryly.
Halesia Jouteau was, simply put, an enthusiastic fan of Rhiannon.
Five years ago, at a palace party where Rhiannon made her social debut, Halesia fell in love at first sight and had been watching over Rhiannon from the shadows ever since.
It seemed that Halesia had attended every party Rhiannon went to, but Rhiannon had never once seen Halesia.
Halesia's disguise was that perfect.
Halesia fidgeted a bit, looking shy.
"At the last tea party, I accidentally let my guard down and got spotted by Lady Rhiannon, but now I think it was a good thing. Lady Rhiannon has this aura that's just too beautiful to approach, but once you talk to her, she's kind and easygoing, even to someone like me..."
"I would've preferred if you just came up to me instead of watching from the shadows. It's a bit creepy being watched like that, and I wanted to be friends with you, Halesia, sooner."
"Oufu."
"Huh, what was that sound just now...?"
"Oh, that was just my heart being overwhelmed with joy. Lady Rhiannon is just too precious, too precious..."
Halesia pressed her chest and wobbled, leaning over the table.
Rhiannon looked at her with concern.
It felt like every time they met, Halesia was becoming more emotionally unstable.
For now, Halesia seemed to have calmed down and lifted her face.
"By the way, where's Mr. Kaine?"
"I haven't seen him all day. He's been out a lot lately."
"Oh, it's strange since you two were always together until now."
"I think Kaine's gone to see Sarah..."
Rhiannon said with a sigh, but surprisingly, Halesia firmly denied it.
"No way, that's impossible. Today, I happened to see Ms. Sarah with Prince Werner the Third in the palace library."
"What, Sarah and His Highness!?"
Rhiannon was taken aback by the unexpected pairing.
Halesia sighed.
"Honestly, is Ms. Sarah not satisfied with the First and Second Princes and now trying to get involved with the Third Prince too...? As a member of the royal family, I really wish she'd stop this..."
"Right?"
"When the princes start fighting, it causes trouble for everyone..."
Halesia made a bitter face.
She was a cousin to the princes and technically one of the royals.
If, by any chance, the 3 princes ended up killing each other over a love triangle, the throne could very well fall to Halesia Jouteau.
For Halesia, who was busy chasing after her crush Rhiannon, that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.
"Well, even putting my personal situation aside, Ms. Sarah's recent behavior has been hard to ignore... By the way, Lady Rhiannon, what's got you so fidgety over there?"
"Huh, you noticed I was fidgeting? ...Um, changing the subject, I've actually been wanting to visit the palace library just once. I bet there are tons of romance novels, and I heard they even have out-of-print ones there, right?"
"Oh, I see. In that case, how about we go together next time?"
"Really!? I heard it's a place only for royals and some nobles, is that okay!?"
"Of course. If I go with you, it should be fine."
"Yay! Thank you, Halesia!"
Rhiannon exclaimed joyfully.
After promising to go to the library together soon, the two wrapped up their tea party for the day.
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