Chapter 3

“Who are you?”

Oh.

Sitting on the sofa was a woman dressed entirely in shades of red.

A red dress, a red hat, red lips.

Perfectly groomed and exuding an intimidating presence, she glared at me.

Now that the person she had been trying to impress was gone, her true personality was showing through.

This woman was none other than Melisandra Bellas.

In the original novel, she was the second wife of Duke Bellas. Desperate to win the love of a husband she had married for political reasons, she eventually went so far off the rails that she became a criminal.

No matter what she did, she could never earn her husband's affection, and so Melisandra redirected that desire elsewhere.

If she couldn't be loved by the Duke, then perhaps she could find comfort by becoming close to Adrian, the son who looked exactly like him.

But Adrian was Adrian.

His response was even colder than the Duke's.

When those blue eyes—identical to his father's—stared at her with icy disdain, Melisandra began to hate him instead.

On top of that, Adrian was still young. He might have been the young duke, but he was still just a child.

And Melisandra was an adult.

She had all the power.

The moment she found herself in a position of superiority, she poured all the resentment she had accumulated from being rejected by her husband onto that small boy.

Thus began the unspeakable bullying.

She even locked Adrian in the mansion's basement while the Duke was away subjugating monsters.

Of course, the day Adrian escaped that basement would become her funeral day.

But at this moment, while he was still imprisoned, she remained very much alive.

“Wow!”

I let out an exclamation.

Then, after blinking twice, I added another one.

“You’re such a pretty lady!”

“…?”

I had merely paused while recalling the contents of the novel.

But from her perspective, it probably looked as though I had been left speechless by her beauty.

“Who are you, ma’am?”

“What an annoying little—”

Melisandra, who had been about to push away the child who had boldly sat right beside her, suddenly stopped.

The voice that reached my ears next was far softer and sweeter.

“By any chance, what’s your name?”

“My name is Rohesia Utel!”

“Oh my! You're the daughter of Marquis Utel! How can you be this adorable?”

Wow.

Both Erden and I looked almost identical to our father.

Anyone with functioning eyesight could immediately guess our relationship.

Still, what an incredible change in attitude.

Her personality was really showing.

“That’s right. Marquis Utel is my father.”

But I needed something from her, so I pretended not to notice and clung to her waist.

“You smell nice, ma’am.”

She absolutely did not.

“This is the first time I've ever seen someone so pretty. Let's be friends.”

Actually, my late mother had been prettier.

Granted, I'd only ever seen her in portraits.

The only reason I was flattering this woman was because I'd die if I failed to meet her legal son within twenty-four hours.

No.

Now it was twenty-three hours, forty minutes, and eighteen seconds.

“You're much prettier, little lady of House Utel.”

The reply came back dripping with sweetness.

It seemed Melisandra had quickly revised her strategy from:

If I can't win over the Marquis...

to:

Then I'll win over his daughter.

From what little I'd overheard, she had been asking my father for something.

And he had firmly refused.

Since I knew the original story, I had a pretty good idea what it was.

While quietly constructing a quest-clearing scenario in my head and testing it against the skill I'd just obtained, Melisandra finally said the words I'd been waiting for.

“It would be wonderful if we became close. Would you like to visit my home sometime?”

Hallelujah!

“I'd love to!”

“Such a cute child visiting my house would make me so happy. Why, even tomorrow—”

“N-No! Tomorrow won't work! It has to be today!”

“Rosha...?”

A deep voice suddenly interrupted.

It came from behind me.

Apparently my father, Marquis Utel, had finished his urgent business and returned.

Stepping through the doorway, he had the same red hair and vivid green eyes as Erden and me.

I might have been a minor villain in the original novel, but Erden was one of the male leads who would eventually become obsessively attached to Lexia.

As if to announce that he belonged to the family of such an important character, his appearance was extraordinary.

I'd never thought much about it before, but after recovering memories of my previous life, I realized how astonishingly young he looked despite being well into middle age.

“Rosha, why are you in here? You're troubling our guest.”

"Rosha" was a nickname for Rohesia.

“I suddenly collapsed earlier, and I got scared. I wanted to see you, Father.”

“I know.”

It seemed he had already been informed about what had happened to me.

As far as I remembered, Father cherished me deeply.

Even more than he cherished Erden.

The frown that had been on his face from discussing serious matters softened considerably when he saw me.

But the moment he noticed me glued to Melisandra's side, the frown returned.

“Come here, Rosha. You shouldn't bother our guest.”

Father extended his arms as though to pick me up.

Habits were terrifying.

My body almost automatically moved to leap into his embrace, but Melisandra grabbed me firmly.

“Troubling me, Marquis? Not at all.”

She smiled kindly once more.

“Your daughter is simply too adorable. If I could bring her to the ducal estate for tea, I think all my stress would disappear.”

“No. That won't be—”

“Miss Rohesia wants to come too, doesn't she?”

At those words, Father alternated suspicious glances between me and Melisandra.

“Yes! Father, I want to play at this lady's house!”

I answered with a bright smile.

Meanwhile, my gaze remained fixed on the quest timer floating beside him.

[TIME LIMIT 23 : 35 : 58]

Please, Father.

One wrong answer right now and your daughter might die a horrible death.

He had probably already seen through Melisandra's intentions.

Since she couldn't get what she wanted from me, she's retreating for now.

But using my daughter as an excuse, she'll be able to visit again and ask later.

That was likely exactly what he was thinking.

Which was why he repeatedly checked whether this was truly what I wanted.

And every single time, I had to suffer through acting like I absolutely adored Melisandra.

Fortunately, my efforts paid off.

Because now I was standing inside the Bellas Estate.

“Wow, it's so beautiful.”

“Hehe. If there's anything else you need, just tell me.”

A lavish tea spread sat between Melisandra and me.

I mechanically picked up one of the colorful desserts and put it into my mouth.

Only when sweet juice burst across my tongue did I realize it contained strawberries.

More than an hour had already passed.

I'd somehow succeeded in entering the Bellas Estate, but anxiety was eating away at me.

Would I really get to meet Adrian before the time limit expired?

Still, moments like this were exactly when I needed to stay focused.

Melisandra was currently looking at me with warm eyes.

As though her earlier irritation had never happened.

But that gentle expression wouldn't last.

She was only using me as a means to obtain what she wanted.

Father loved me, yes.

But he wasn't the type to grant impossible requests simply because someone happened to be close friends with his daughter.

Once Melisandra realized being nice to me wasn't going to help her, her attitude would revert right back to its original annoyance.

But I needed to keep visiting the ducal estate.

The immediate quest was to meet Adrian within twenty-four hours.

Yet when I thought about it, that was only natural.

What had the Administrator said?

[Only Miss Rohesia can save this world. Complete quests, prevent the characters from descending into darkness, and earn rewards!]

[Experiences from childhood carry immense power. Meet the characters and lower their corruption levels.]

The characters.

The three men destined to become complete lunatics in the future.

I needed to meet them and reduce their corruption rates.

But I wasn't some miraculous hero riding in on a white horse.

There was no way a single meeting could save someone.

Just as I constantly nagged Erden, I'd have to build a relationship with Adrian over time and guide him little by little.

With my life on the line.

Damn system! Damn Administrator!

Which meant I needed a long-term excuse to keep coming to the Bellas Estate.

Thankfully, I knew exactly what Melisandra wanted.

“Lady Bellas, look at this!”

As though the thought had only just occurred to me, I pulled out the mysterious potion Erden had given me.

“What is that?”

The moment she saw the bottle, Melisandra's eyes lit up.

The false kindness vanished, revealing greed and longing.

There it is.

Her true self.

Maintaining the most innocent expression I could manage, I whispered the answer she desperately wanted to hear.

“My father said it's a love potion.”

Ding!

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of Skill 'Fraud Lv.3,' the passive ability 'I Lied, But That Doesn't Mean I Scammed Anyone' has activated.]

[Your lies become more natural.]

I nearly burst out laughing.

So that's how the skill works?

I'd invested in the Fraud skill specifically because I needed to deceive Melisandra.

But since no instructions had been provided, I'd just been improvising until now.

This was perfect.

Melisandra's attention was now completely focused on me.

Her previously relaxed posture straightened immediately, teacup still in hand.

According to ancient alchemical secrets, there supposedly existed a method capable of turning someone into a slave of love.

The legendary love potion.

In the original story, Erden would later attempt to brew one himself to give to Lexia.

As for the disturbing things he did to gather the ingredients...

Ugh.

Let's not think about that.

In any case, as the original story made clear, what the Duchess wanted most was her husband's affection.

She wasn't explored in much detail because her primary role was making Adrian miserable.

Still, she was the mistress of House Bellas, the greatest swordsmanship family in the Empire and home of the Empire's Sword.

She lacked nothing else.

In this Empire, the only thing I don't possess...

When I entered the drawing room earlier, the next words she'd been about to say were probably:

"...is his love."

Though I would never understand the thought process of tormenting the son of the man whose love you wanted.

Regardless, there was little else she could possibly want from my father, the Empire's greatest alchemist.

Even if what she'd requested wasn't specifically a love potion, it didn't matter.

There was no doubt she needed something like it.

“A love potion?”

Leaning closer to her, I lowered my voice conspiratorially.

Maybe it was the skill's effect, but my tongue felt noticeably smoother.

“Our family has a secret recipe passed down through generations.”

I whispered innocently.

“They say it's a special medicine that can make the person you love fall in love with you too!”

And just like that, the mysterious potion Erden had painstakingly mashed together with his tiny hands for his mentally questionable little sister was reborn as a treasured secret of House Utel.