Chapter 15: 15

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“Demand their gratitude….?” Eric-Sama quietly repeats my words, making a face like he doesn’t understand what I mean by that.

Albert-Oniisama, Gayle-Sama, Duke-Sama, and the king, however, all look thoughtful as if they know exactly what I’m trying to say.

As expected, clever people catch on fast.

“Calverra’s main tax source is gold. So if Calverra is indebted to us, that means that we should be able to enter into an advantageous agreement regarding their lucrative gold trade. And with that influx of gold, we’ll be able to stimulate our economy and help lessen the economic gap between the upper and lower classes.”

Simple, but effective! Plus, you’d never see a saint offering up a solution that leverages support for political or monetary gain.

And since the heroine is also a saint, if I can continue to express these sorts of political opinions and stratagems, I’ll surely be put at odds against her in the future.

As of now, I am right on track for becoming the best villainess ever~!

“I see.”

For some reason the king is giving me a look as if I had surpassed all of his expectations. But why is he looking at me like that?

“So then, your suggestion to support Calverra’s bid for independence was not made out of any sort of compassion…. Or benevolence–“

“None at all,” I promptly¹ assure His Majesty.

I smile brightly as I say this, happy that I was able to emphasize this point. A villainess has no use for compassion, benevolence, charity…. We only make a move when it would benefit us in some way or another.

“It’s been fun being able to talk with you,” the king says giving me a kind smile and standing up from the couch.

“I also had a pleasure conversing with you, Your Majesty,” I reply, giving him a small bow.

Incidentally, I’m quite pride of my bowing abilities, if I do say so myself. Up until not very long ago, I had only the bare minimum of etiquette instilled in me, but I thought that such a lack would lead to unbefitting behavior for a villainess, so I have been desperately studying and practicing my manners in the mean time.

I figured that if I can’t bow beautifully and gracefully, people would surely look down on me for it. A villainess’s every move and gesture is bound to reflect on her character and reputation after all.

And I can’t stand when villainesses let themselves be looked down upon.

Once the king had left the room, I let out a sigh of relief.

Phew, that was bad for my heart.

But at least with that performance, I think I should have well surpassed the requirements for acting as a high class villainess, right?

“Were you nervous?” Duke-Sama, who had been watching me with a gentle expression on his face, asks after seeing me sigh.

They truly are father and son; now that I look at him closely, I can see many of the king’s features reflected in Duke-Sama’s handsome face. What a good looking family they make.

But now that I think about it, didn’t Duke-Sama from the game actually hate Alicia quite a lot…..?

If I recall, every kind word he said, every gentle expression he showed, they had all been aimed at the heroine…

I wonder if there’s going to be some sort of development in the future that ends up causing his current treatment of me to change…?

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“Yes,” I reply with a slightly wry smile, but I instantly regret having given such an answer.

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A true villainess would never let herself become agitated, let alone admit to such emotions. Which means that I shouldn’t have been feeling something like nervousness in the first place.

Plus, I shouldn’t have given him a wry smile either. When a villainess smiles, she does so with all her heart, none of this half smile nonsense.

Looks like I’ve done it again. Why do I keep letting my guard down at the very last moment!? I keep ruining my image right at the end.

I guess that means today also can’t be considered a complete success. Once again all that great stuff that I did ended up being just enough to make up for my mistakes. I guess the road to becoming a villainess really will be a long one.

That being said, it seems as if the king really did come here just to ask me a couple of questions.

But why did it have to be at Finn-Sama’s house I wonder? ….Welp, I guess that doesn’t really matter.

“Aren’t you tired~? Come on, let’s go have some tea in the back garden!” Finn-Sama says, throwing me another glittering smile as he grabs my hand, pulling me out of the room.

He leads me in that manner all the way to the back garden where….

……..No way. He’s got platters of my favorite sweets all lined up on the table, waiting for us. Just looking at them makes me feel like I might start drooling.

Ahh, their sugary fragrance is so enticing. Are these out here for me? Is it okay for me to have some?

Finn-Sama gives me a knowing smile as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Feel free to eat whatever you’d like,” he tells me.

Once I’m given the okay from him, I happily start helping myself.

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I grab a plate and proceed to fill it with an assortment of cookies and little cakes…. I mean, how else will I remedy the fact that my blood sugar levels have fallen from all the brain power that I was forced to use earlier?

Plus, everything in front of me is jaw-droppingly delicious. I feel like I could eat any amount of such yummy confections.

I’m well aware that I must be presenting quite the improper sight right now, but I’m just no match for the allure of all these desserts.

And so I continue to munch happily, paying no heed to any onlookers.

Ahh, this is bliss. So this was actually the main event for today, huh? That chat with the king was just an added bonus, wasn’t it?

Plus, if I eat all of these sweets, then if there is anyone watching me, they might start thinking I’m a greedy, desirous woman… Which is exactly what a villainess is! Villainesses should be covetous and take what they want just like this.

Ahh, this tea party is the best. So this is what you’d call killing two birds with one stone.

As I enjoy myself, without even realizing it, my expression starts to slacken into a content, relaxed smile.

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T/N: Yup. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of a villainess is definitely her gorging herself on sweets XD

Also…. I’m not entirely sure how getting in on Calverra’s gold trade is supposed to help the commoners…. The merchants, sure, but the lower class laborers? Is it because transporting gold would take a lot of manpower? Any economics buffs out there that understand her reasoning? (Please tell me if my translation didn’t make sense XD I really did my best, but since I don’t fully understand that situation…. it’s bound to be a bit confusing… )

Name Change Notice: I was planning to use the same names as HaruParty’s translated manga version of this story for solidarity’s sake (and because sometimes spelling differences can just get confusing), so I will be changing the Dulcis kingdom’s name to Duelkis and Calvera to Calverra (a huge change, I know XD). I personally really liked Ravaal though (I think it looks cool haha), so I’m considering leaving only that one the same instead of changing it to Laverl… but I might regret that decision and change that one too, depending on how important of a role it ends up playing in the story.

¹Because of the way that Japanese works, in the original Alicia was basically saying “None” at the same time, or just before, the king says it. I couldn’t figure out a way to phrase this naturally in English, and I thought if I made it sound any more like she was cutting him off than it possibly already does, then that would probably stray from the original intent and make her sound too impertinent. So I settled with using the word promptly instead. It wasn’t a big change, but I just thought I would mention it!↩

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