I, the Female Lead, Ruined the Original

* * *

“Was there anything unusual today?”

“There was nothing unusual. No one came looking for me, and there were no sudden misfortunes.”

Oh, maybe there was… Remembering the letter from Prince Erenst delivered by Theonis earlier, Selleana frowned.

“Seems like something happened?”

“Well…” Just as she was about to grumble, Selleana first smiled brightly. “Can you sit down here first? My neck hurts.”

, Rakrensius tried to swallow his troubled feelings as he looked at Selleana’s smile again today.

It had been a week since Selleana woke up. Rakrensius had been visiting the east wing of the Elard mansion almost every other day, using teleportation magic so the other Elard wouldn’t notice. Since Michi arrived, the east wing had become Selleana’s space alone, and thanks to the maids who understood the situation from her runaway days, they turned a blind eye.

His excuse for coming here was…

With a clink, Rakrensius put down a small glass bottle on the coffee table and sat on the same sofa as Selleana, still sitting as far away as possible, as if maintaining distance.

“This potion has a different color?”

“…”

Even that was soon nullified as Selleana quickly sat close to him.

“Yes, since Lady seems almost recovered, I thought the healing effect wasn’t necessary.”

“Then this is something like a supplement?”

Selleana picked up the glass bottle on the table. The light pink liquid swayed inside the octagonal bottle.

“You even made up such a cute excuse just to come see me, even though I’ve been fully recovered for a long time….”

“Cu-Cute…

.”

“Anyway, thank you for the gift, Master of Tower!”

Holding the glass bottle with both hands, Selleana smiled brightly as if nothing could make her happier. Seeing this from the corner of his eye, Rakrensius’s ears turned unmistakably red. Unlike her usual sly smile that only curled at the edges of her lips, her carefree, teeth-baring smile was immensely harmful to Rakrensius.

“I absolutely must not drink this.”

“I gave it to Lady to drink.”

“It’s a gift. How could I drink it when it’s so precious?”

“You should drink it because…”

Rakrensius almost said he would bring more next time but managed to hold his tongue. Selleana, of course, noticed. She chuckled quietly and lightly scratched his knee with her fingertip.

“Why? Do you always need an excuse to come see me?”

“…”

“You don’t even pretend not to like me anymore, Master of Tower.”

“Please, things like this… just…” Rakrensius really had a hard time removing Selleana’s thin fingers, which were slowly climbing up his thigh.

Selleana laughed quietly, feeling good about the man’s sensitive reaction to everything about her.

“Master of Tower, why don’t you stop sneaking around and make an official visit instead? Didn’t you come last time at my father’s invitation?”

“I’ll decline.”

“My mother also wants to thank you. She’s very grateful that I woke up when you came last time.”

“…”

Rakrensius’s lips pressed into a straight line. Leaning forward to get as far from Selleana as possible, his conflicted expression was barely visible from the side.

Watching his firm nose and stubborn mouth, Selleana sighed inwardly.

Contrary to his self-reproach, Rakrensius’s reputation within the Duchy Elard had become quite favorable recently. The first impression was his wet rat appearance, proving he had jumped into the water to save Selleana. The second was his genuine remorse for Selleana’s illness. Lastly, his material devotion, such as providing not only the precious potion but also the scroll Selleana wrote to Viscount Miniel, was evident.

Even the most skeptical Peredo had to admit it.

“I prepared this just in case.”

, Selleana handed him an envelope that was on the tray on the table. It was sealed with the Elard emblem.

“What is this?”

“See for yourself.”

She handed him the letter knife that was also on the tray. Inside the envelope was an invitation.

“A banquet… in three days?”

“Yes, I’d like to hold it right away, but because of that wretched prince…” Selleana mumbled, recalling her eventual meeting with Prince Erenst. “Normally, we don’t hold separate banquets during the harvest festival out of respect for the imperial family, but something unfortunate happened this time. So my father decided to make a statement.”

“A statement….”

“Since the beloved daughter of Elard was injured and bedridden during an imperial event… the official reason is a recovery celebration for me.”

A faint guilt crossed his face as the man slowly nodded. Again, he saved her yet continued to feel guilty.

Selleana wrinkled her nose and lightly scratched his knee. “If it weren’t for a certain dashing young man, it would’ve been a funeral instead of a recovery banquet. Right?”

“

, please, don’t say things like that…”

Whether the odd sensation on his knee or her words were more shocking, the man forgot to turn away and looked at Selleana in surprise. In his heart, the memory of the moment when her eyelids didn’t even twitch was still vividly imprinted.

Selleana could see the dark cloud over his heart. She propped her chin on his shoulder and smiled. “Everything turned out fine, so I can joke about it, right?”

“Even so…”

Her lips were so close that they nearly touched his cheek, making Rakrensius’s eyes lose focus.

“My father also said it was a good opportunity to weed out anyone not fully on our side.”

Although the duke had never said such a thing to Selleana, the list of invited families made the intent clear.

“So, the empress’s faction won’t receive an invitation?”

Selleana smiled as if confirming his assumption. “Anyway, you must come, Master of Tower. How can we miss the main character?”

“Isn’t Lady the main character of your own recovery banquet?”

“The hero of my recovery is well-known to be you, Master of Tower.”

“

, that… I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t handle the aftermath perfectly that day.” Rakrensius frowned, recalling the rumors his friend read to him from a yellow tabloid a few days ago.

“Hey, that handsome forehead will get wrinkled.” Selleana reached out and pressed his frown. “It was all spread by me.”

“What?”

“Of course, someone else started it… But we were the ones who exaggerated it.”

We. Meaning Selleana and her friends. No further explanation was needed for Rakrensius, who trusted in their capabilities. There was no need to mention that Doloret was running the yellow press.

Recalling what Di had read to him, it made sense. Everything ended with ‘the loyal fifth prince.’

Seeing the acceptance on his face, Selleana leaned back on the sofa with a satisfied smile.

“By the way, the prince you mentioned earlier is the third prince of Laten, right?”

“…Yes, that’s correct. He seems to be trying to foster harmony between families by including Rondel.”

“I was also quite taken aback by making Lady Branto the queen of the hunting festival.”

It was such a remarkable event to Rakrensius that even in his distracted state of worrying about Selleana, he remembered it.

“Isn’t that practically a public proposal? Lady Branto couldn’t have refused.”

“Yes, if Michi had been there, she would have become Prince Erenst’s lover, regardless of her own will. So, my accident turned out to be a good thing in many ways.”

“Lady.”

Seeing Rakrensius’s eyebrows draw together again, Selleana chuckled and rubbed his frown. “So I decided to go on an outing instead.”

“An outing?”

“If we stay at the mansion, he will somehow try to run into Michi. So, I’ll take her outside. Do you remember the lake near our stables? I seduced them to go boating there.”

“Seduced…” Rakrensius’s voice echoed somberly as he repeated Selleana’s words.

“

? Why? Do you want to go boating too, Master of Tower?”

“No, that, seduced… Ne-Never mind.”