Chapter 2 — The Project to Win Over My Favorite Villainess

Just like in the world I had originally lived in, monsters existed here too. Since people were regularly attacked by monsters, it was difficult to survive without an elemental ability or some other kind of power.

So, fortunately, I had something to rely on.

On top of that, my dark magic was the strongest in the world.

With my genius-level intellect and seemingly endless magical power, I had become the youngest person ever to obtain a certification in dark magic. I was an undeniably gifted prodigy.

And now, I had decided to use that power to twist the original story.

I called it—

The Project to Destroy My Gruesome Death at the Hands of My Favorite Character, Side With My Favorite Villainess, Survive, and Live Happily Ever After!

To accomplish that, I first had to become close to my favorite—the villainess unni.

But…

There was one problem.

I had acted so strangely earlier that the proud villainess, who usually looked down on the entire world, had actually backed away from me.

I covered my face with both hands as I remembered the sight of the villainess unni backing away from me before practically fleeing.

…Even her back was beautiful.

She really looked exactly like I had imagined.

A beautiful, elegant red cat with sharp claws.

How am I supposed to get this prickly cat of a villainess unni to join my side?

I began thinking about all the things the villainess unni had liked in the original novel. Maybe I could use those things to win her over.

Our villainess unni acted horribly because she had cultivated this whole villainess persona, but in truth, she was incredibly kind to the people she considered her own.

The reason she became a villainess in the first place was because people like Caroline and the hypocrites who constantly defended her kept getting on her nerves, just like today.

So all I had to do was stick to my unni like glue and personally get rid of anyone who annoyed her from now on.

I nodded and stretched my lips into a long grin.

All right. From this moment on, the conquest of the villainess unni who is destined to kill me begins.

The carriage arrived at the mansion of the Brencia Viscounty.

My mouth fell open when I saw the viscount’s residence. It was even larger and more extravagant than the unnamed count’s estate I’d seen earlier.

Good heavens. They said this was a nouveau riche family, but are they really this rich?

A knight stationed at the entrance escorted me inside, and I continued gaping at the breathtaking interior, which was even more impressive than the carriage and exterior of the mansion.

“My daughter is home!”

When I saw Viscount Brencia rushing toward me with both arms wide open, I took a step backward with an awkward smile.

There hadn’t been anything in the original novel specifically saying that he was a doting father, but I did remember that Elenea had desperately wanted to become a noble and that her family had spent a huge fortune purchasing their viscountcy.

So it wasn’t hard to figure out that the viscount treated his daughter like the most precious thing in the world.

The viscount lowered his outstretched arms when he saw me step backward and said with a wounded expression,

“Just last year, you used to let me hug and kiss you all the time, my daughter.”

Thankfully, it seemed Elenea had stopped doing those embarrassing things before I transmigrated into her body.

“I’m all grown up now, Dad. Besides, my debutante ball is coming up soon.”

The words flowed naturally from my mouth without any conscious effort on my part, making my eyes widen slightly.

“Oh, that’s right. Your debutante. The day my daughter has been waiting for so eagerly is almost here.”

The debutante ball.

It was essentially the coming-of-age celebration for nobles. Young ladies showed off their elemental abilities and established their positions in high society, while young men tried to secure prestigious positions in the knights’ order.

“Don’t worry about your elemental ability. I’ll recruit a powerful wind-attribute user as your knight and—”

In the original novel, Elenea had no attribute, so with her father’s help, she appeared at the debutante ball alongside a young nobleman from a fallen family who possessed an elemental ability.

Naturally, that only made her an even bigger laughingstock.

Caroline had tried to intervene and protect Elenea and the fallen noble who had become her knight, but that ended up attracting Perioje’s attention and resulted in Elenea having an even more miserable debutante ball.

Come to think of it, Caroline really had been unnecessarily meddlesome.

That was probably why I disliked her.

She always thought she was helping people, but most of the time, she ended up causing trouble for them—and somehow became the only person who looked good because of the trouble she’d caused.

If you stripped away the protagonist’s halo, she was honestly an incredibly frustrating and annoying type of person.

“Dad, instead of a knight, could you give me some money?”

I didn’t want to ruin my debutante ball the way Elenea had in the original novel, so I asked the viscount for money.

Of course, I didn’t have anything to spend it on right now.

But if I wanted to make my dark magic look like an elemental ability, I needed a convincing explanation.

And for that purpose, money was the easiest and most convenient solution.

“Money? Why would you need money…?”

“I want to buy an elemental ability.”

Because when you have enough money in this world, apparently there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.

“Buy an elemental ability with money? Is such a thing even possible?”

“This is a secret.”

I leaned toward my viscount father and whispered my entire plan into his ear.

My dark magic, at least in appearance, was clearly similar to the Northern Grand Duke’s darkness attribute.

It was similar enough that even the kids in my dormitory had joked that the dark magic we were studying might actually be the Northern Grand Duke’s power.

So I told him that some mysterious person had supposedly developed a technique for extracting a small amount of the Northern Grand Duke’s darkness attribute and sealing it inside an object.

I said this mysterious person was demanding an astronomical amount of money for an object containing the darkness attribute.

But as long as I had that object, I could make it appear as though I were someone capable of using the darkness attribute.

Therefore, the ridiculous price wouldn’t actually be a waste of money.

My father was convinced almost instantly.

The doting father signed several blank checks without even the slightest hesitation and handed them to me.

Being a nouveau riche family really is wonderful.

With the blank checks Dad had given me in hand, I headed into the city.

The most important thing right now was to become close to the villainess unni and turn both my and her gruesome endings into a happy ending.

And the first thing I needed to do was win her heart.

I went to my unni’s favorite café—the one she absolutely couldn’t refuse—and rented out the entire second floor.

Then I sent word to the ducal residence.

My unni absolutely loved the cakes and coffee from this café and had servants purchase them for her every day.

She preferred drinking them here while looking down at the bustling streets rather than having them at home.

But she avoided coming here herself because of her reputation.

The café was beloved by everyone, and if a duchess used her money and authority to purchase the entire place and prevent other people from enjoying it, everyone would say things like,

“The duchess is acting like a duchess again.”

She couldn’t afford that.

After all, the most important thing to the villainess unni right now was the reputation she had in the eyes of Lloyd, the Crown Prince.

Knowing all this, I had rented out the entire second floor.

Even if my unni didn’t particularly want to spend time with me, I was certain she would come.

And just as expected, she arrived at the café after receiving my very first invitation.

“What are you plotting?”

The villainess unni took off her wide-brimmed hat and sat down across from me.

She was breathtakingly beautiful today as well.

“It has been a while, Lady Perioje unni.”

Her brows immediately furrowed at my greeting.

Gasp. She’s so beautiful!

Even her frown looked goddess-like, so I instinctively covered my cheeks with both hands.

Seriously, my cheeks were burning so hot from her beauty that I thought they were going to explode.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, young lady of the viscount’s family, but—”

“I’m Elenea. Please just call me Ellie, unni.”

“…”

The villainess unni stared at me with an expression that clearly said,

What in the world is wrong with this girl?

I gave her a sweet smile and turned to the employee who had just approached our table.

“Two iced lattes with lots of syrup. Would you like the same, unni?”

“…”

“The usual is good too, but on a day like today, you have to eat something sweet, you know? Have you ever tried the salt bread with a latte here? It’s so delicious that you’d never realize one of you had died while the other was eating it! So please, just trust me and try it once.”

After pleading with her like a spoiled child, I immediately turned to the employee before my unni could say anything, making it seem as though I was simply forcing my own preferences on her.

“Please hurry and bring us two iced lattes with lots of syrup. The largest size this café has. And two salt breads and a cheesecake that isn’t too sweet.”

They were all things my unni loved.

The villainess unni’s eyes began to sparkle noticeably.

But then—

Voices murmuring from below the window caught my attention.

“Have you heard the rumor? Apparently some strange flowers have bloomed in that flower bed.”

“Black flowers? Aren’t they just burnt?”

Their conversation reached my ears clearly, and I instinctively got up and walked toward the window.

In one corner of the flower bed on the first floor, strange black flowers were blooming, already beginning to wither.

I couldn’t see anything unusual with my eyes, but a strange energy seemed to emanate from the flowers.

It felt just like when I encountered monsters in the world I originally lived in.

Those aren’t ordinary flowers…

A chill ran down my spine, and my breath caught slightly.

There had been a monster in my original world that gave me this exact same feeling.

A mutant species.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, my instincts began screaming that this was dangerous.

And then—

A child who had been watching the flowers reached out a hand toward them.

“It’s dangerous!”

I shouted without thinking and stretched my hand toward the child.

Vzzzz—

My dark magic unfolded in front of the child like a shield.

At the same time, the black flower lunged toward the child, revealing a horrifying set of teeth.

But its grotesque teeth slammed into my dark-magic shield with a sharp click and shattered.

The black flower withered and died in an instant.

“WAAAAAH!”

The startled child fell backward and burst into tears.

I immediately withdrew the shield, absorbing it back into myself.

The faint, shadow-like remnants disappeared.

I had deliberately used a shadow-mist barrier that was difficult to notice visually, so aside from the child, no one had gotten a clear look at my dark-magic shield.

Still, just to be safe, I scanned everyone’s expressions before turning to the villainess unni.

“Unni, just wait here for a moment!”

Then I hurried downstairs and ran toward the child.

Perhaps because the black flower had suddenly attacked the child, nobody dared approach.

Even the person who appeared to be the child’s mother stood frozen in place, trembling.

“Are you all right?”

I went over to the child, took their hand, and helped them to their feet.

The child nodded, tears like little grapes rolling down their cheeks