I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Editor : Aru

‘Oh, my God……’

Only then did I notice.

Eugene didn’t take my words as a joke.

An awkward silence fell for a while.

I was wondering how to fix this.

And somehow, not only Eugene but my face also seemed to have a fever.

“……why ask such a thing like a fool?”

It was Eugene who broke the silence first.

After he uttered the word, he rose from his chair and stood against me.

I sighed with relief at the sight.

‘I’m saved.’

I was worried that it would put on a love flag because the atmosphere was weird again, but fortunately, Eugene passed it in moderation.

“Oh, you’re going? Yeah, you must be tired, so go to bed.”

That’s how I got up from my desk.

It was at that moment that the voice of the subdued Eugene rang out.

“I missed you.”

His low voice caught my ear.

“What?”

I heard it clearly, but I thought I heard it wrong.

No, I hope I misheard it.

However, Eugene slowly turned back and looked straight at me with his clear eyes without any lies.

“I missed you. Just like you said.”

I gulped down my saliva unknowingly.

It might be because it’s not long after he took a shower, his wet silver hair glowed softly.

His blue sapphire eyes looked a little dim somehow.

‘That’s a joke right?’’

Those words ran to the end of my throat.

I have to laugh blatantly and tell him not to play around, or not to lie, like that.

I had to move on like that, but seeing Eugene’s face, I couldn’t bring up anything.

Eugene, who looked down at me quietly, said.

“And I didn’t miss you because I wanted to nag you.”

I bowed my head unconsciously.

Instinctively, I knew I shouldn’t make eye contact with Eugene now.

Eugene asked again after I hadn’t said anything for a while.

“You don’t ask me why I missed you?”

I bit my lips at his words.

It was hot. My face was running a fever.

But it wasn’t because of the heat in the fireplace.

“……why did you miss me?”

I barely squeezed my voice and shook slightly.

“Spade, don’t you know?”

His eyes shook as if they were capturing the ice sea in the north.

“Yes.”

It was a simple answer.

And that was the only thing I could say.

A slight sigh came.

With the sound of footsteps moving around.

“Then think for yourself, Spade. You’re quick-witted.”

When I looked up, Eugene was one step closer.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Somehow his voice sounded bitter.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much about us, we’ll only be here for a day or so, and tomorrow we’ll be going. So just don’t pay us attention too much. I’m sorry for taking care of me without prior notice.”

“Huh? No.”

I came to my senses at Eugene’s words and waved my hands.

But Eugene didn’t see it and turned his back on me and headed for the door.

“Goo, good night. Eugene.”

I said in a slightly cracked voice to Eugene, who put his hand on the doorknob.

Eugene, who stood still without turning the doorknob, looked back only then and said.

“Good night, Duke.”

His mouth, which he said so, had a subtle smile.

A hazy, warm smile, that seemed to disappear like a fog.

Even after the door was completely closed, I stared blankly at the place where he had disappeared.

After standing like that for a long time, I flopped down on the chair.

‘Crazy, crazy.’

Eugene looked like a man with a crush on me.

‘Really? No, no way. Eugene Ace likes me?’

I wouldn’t get sleep today.

“Ha…….”

A sigh flowed out of the complex mind, and I stayed up all night white.

***

“So, the accident happened near the territory of the Duke of Spade?”

Erica looked at Eugene with a suspicious look and talked.

Eugene answered Erica without even looking at her.

“The accident was caused by a horseman, not me. And you think I’m crazy, think that I’m the one who caused the accident?”

“It could have been the idea of staying in Yerine’s castle under that pretext.”

Erica countered with still suspicious eyes.

Cassius added with a nod to Erica’s rebuttal.

“It’s a possible story.”

“You shouldn’t mistake everyone for thinking like you.”

Eugene gave a concise rebuttal and then drank the black tea, and Cassius spoke, looking up and down at him with his sharp eyes.

“By the way, there aren’t only one or two strange things.”

Eugene put the teacup down and turned his head away at Cassius’s words.

“What’s weird about it?”

“It’s not enough that the ‘majestic’ Eugene Ace was involved in a carriage accident, so he stayed in the Duke of Spades and then moved to the training ground?”

And he said, clasping his fingers in his hands with a serious look on his face.

“If it were you, you wouldn’t blame the horseman nor the accident and would train anywhere, so why go to a far-off training ground?”

“I can’t disobey my father’s orders.”

Eugene answered in a rambling voice.

“And using a dedicated training ground as an excuse, you look like those women who came in and bother–”

“What? You’re done talking.”

“Erica.”

Erica sat back in her seat with a look of regret in my voice.

When I saw her, I said with a business smile.

“Erica, we were all supposed to be friends, right?”

“Yeah……..”

Erica reluctantly agreed.

“I’ve told you that too, Cassius, didn’t I? I think it’d be so nice to see us get along.”

“Yes, you said it…….”

“Then you can’t pick a fight at the breakfast table right now, can you?”

Both Erika and Cassius nodded at my words, and only then could I sigh at the table in a gruesome atmosphere.

‘What if they fight like this in the morning?’

I’ve already had a headache.

***

“Spade.”

I was on my way back to my office after finishing my meal.

I was going to spend time with Erica and Cassius after finishing with a few urgent official papers.

Then Eugene called my name.

‘No way! Is it because of yesterday?’

I didn’t forget to smile even though I felt anxious inside.

“Yes, why?”

“I’m so sorry, but can I ask you for one more thing?”

However, Eugene’s expression looked serious and didn’t even turn red.

“Yes, of course. Don’t mind and tell me.”

“How many decent training grounds do you have?”

“Training ground? Well.”

When I answered with a curious look, Eugene asked, scratching his cheek awkwardly.

“Can I borrow one? To a place where the noisy prince and the woman wouldn’t come.”

Perhaps he was looking for a place to train.

‘Where could he train his attack magic….’

While thinking about which training ground would be best with the index finger around my mouth, Eugene added.

“It doesn’t have to be big. And if lending a training ground is a sensitive issue, I won’t ask you any more, so it’s okay to pass it.”

I answered Eugene, shaking my head.

“No, there’s a suitable place. Come with me.”

I led him to the training ground on the east side of the mansion.

For Eugene, who is specialized in attack magic, the choice was made because the target in the training ground was good.

“There, you can train here.”

“Thank you, Spade.”

Eugene looked around the training ground and said,

“But is it really okay if you lend me this place? Isn’t it something like not supposed to be known to other families?”

“We’re fine. Our family vision is here.”

I patted my head with my fingers and answered Eugene’s words.

“And I’ve told Erica and Cassius that you’re training here, so no one’s going to disturb you.”

“That’s very nice.”

Eugene smiled.

I also said in response to his smile.

“I’m going to stay in the Oval Office for a while and go to the garden by the front gate. It’s too far from there to here, so if you need anything, pull the line in the corner over there. Then the butler will come.”

Eugene looked slightly sorry after hearing my explanation.

“You don’t have to do this, I’m sorry.”

“Never mind. Maybe you should invite me to the Dukedom of Ace next time, or I’d like to be treated as a guest, too.”

It was a joke, but Eugene had a serious face.

“Well, will my father ever allow you to be invited?”

“No, of course, it was a joke. Don’t take it seriously.”

I covered my mouth and said with a big grin.

“Well, by the way, we have a carriage to lend you, so train with confidence.”

“I’m sorry. Thank you.”

“It’s all right. It was inevitable that there was a carriage accident.”

Though he talked with a smile, Eugene hesitated and put on a firm look as if something had come to his mind at the moment.

“Spade, by the way, I have something to say. It’s about the carriage accident.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Eugene’s mood changed.

His blue eyes had a worried glow and his hard-stained lips looked serious.

“Do you remember the monster which attacked us before? Something that looks like a black cape and has teeth and arms.”

Eugene’s words chilled my mind.

How can I forget?

Before I went to bed, I would suddenly recall the sensation when it had touched the edge of my left eye.

Whenever that happened, I shuddered and covered myself with a blanket to the tip of my head.

“How can I forget that? Of course, I remember.”

“I’m not sure, but I think the horseman saw it just before the accident.”

“What?”

Eugene’s words struck me.

“You think the horseman saw it?”

Eugene answered with a nod.

“The monster that the horseman said was exactly what we saw, and he said something flew in like an arm in a black cape.”

After pausing for a moment, Eugene cleared his voice with a hoarse cough and continued the story.

“The horseman said that the horses were surprised to see it so he couldn’t control them.”

That’s why he got into an accident.

“Where did the accident happen?”

“Dainard, the horseman said it was at Dainard’”

“Dainard.”

If Eugene and the horseman’s words were true, the monster had so far appeared in Academy, the Wiltern Prison, the territories of the Duke of Spades and the Duke of Ace, and even in Dainard.

‘How can the place be this diverse?’

I thought I should talk about this problem again at the next Housekeepers meeting.

At this rate, the monster might have spread to more diverse places or the entire continent.

“Eugene, can you tell me more about the accident?”

Eugene nodded at my words, and I listened to him.

***

“When will Yerine come?”

“Well, she’ll come for sure. She knows that we’re waiting, so she’ll be right back.”

Cassius said, taking out his watch in his arms.

“Look, time’s up already. She’ll be right back.”

Looking at Cassius’s watch, Erica turned around, nodding her head slowly.

“But that person is funny, too. If I were him, I would try to stay with Yerine somehow, but I can’t believe he’s training here.”

“Well, that’s how diligent and sincere he is—”

But Cassius did not finish what he had said.

Erica, who was turning her head, turned to ask Cassius, looking strange.

“What, what’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

Cassius’s gaze was fixed in the air.

And from his lips came an unknown word.

“Why is that here…!”

“What?”

When she saw Cassius pulling straight back and posing for the battle state, Erica, surprised, looked into the air.

Her two eyes resembling tourmaline hardened in shock.

Something creepy, wearing a black cape and a few pairs of skinny limbs, was flying towards them.

—————