Episode 7: I Infiltrated My Fiancé’s Mansion.
Ati went to the Andreu Estate, the home of her fiancé (who would later break off the engagement) in the Otome Game.
It was a pre-engagement acquaintance meeting. Well, it’s like an informal decision.
Before that, when I visited her room, Ati, who had been beautifully dolled up by the maids, was sitting alone on a chair, at a loss for what to do.
But that figure was truly a miracle, as if crafted by a doll maker with transcendent genius skills.
A miracle. A miracle is happening on Earth right now! It’s happening right here and now! It’s divine! My eyes are going to be blinded! It’s so pure that my eyes might evaporate!!
Her silky, fluffy platinum blonde hair was styled in a half-up braid. Violet lace ribbons, the same color as her eyes, were woven into the braid and fastened with a beautiful bright blue jeweled hair clip.
The dress was a slightly bluish purple, but the color was restrained enough to not be garish, and it sparkled with generous drapes and the luster of silk. But because lace and mesh fabric were layered over it, the sparkle was subdued, giving it a childlike quality.
So cute. Perfectly cute. Even the word “angel” is cliché. I don’t know how to express it. I need to develop a new word!!
However, in contrast, her expression was clouded.
She was probably anxious because she didn’t know what she was going to be doing or how she should act.
Why don’t the people in this house tell her in a way she can understand?
Certainly, she’s still young, so she probably can’t understand difficult things like engagements.
But if they choose their words carefully, they should be able to tell her where she’s going and what she should do.
I went to Ati, who was anxiously sitting on the chair in the middle of the room, knelt down, and met her gaze at the same level.
Then, I gently placed my hand over her small hand, which was clutching the hem of her skirt tightly.
I can’t go with her.
I can’t stay by her side and hold her hand forever.
So, at the very least, I have to make sure she can do her best alone for a while.
“Ati. It’s okay. I’ll be here, waiting for you.
And I’ll teach you everything properly: why you’re dressed so beautifully, what’s going to happen, and what you should do.”
I looked straight into Ati’s anxious eyes and slowly conveyed my words to her.
I saw off the carriage carrying Ati, along with the housefolk lined up in front of the mansion.
The Marquis would meet her at the Andreu Estate, her destination.
Ati was accompanied by her tutor, Samuel, and the Head Nanny, Maggie.
Come to think of it, the tutor, Samuel, was trying hard not to look at me. Did I intimidate him a little too much?
Well, I don’t really care.
I’m happy enough as long as Ati is there!!
Now then.
Ati’s gone, so—
I’ll tail her.
See?
I’m worried, after all.
Isn’t it standard practice to secretly follow and watch over your child when they run their first errand?
It’s okay. I’ll disguise myself.
When I cross-dress, no one but my family recognizes me! Yeah, my cross-dressing is perfect. No one suspects I’m a woman! Haha!
…Is it just my imagination, or is there a lingering doubt?
I hurried back to my room and cross-dressed. I brought my cross-dressing set from my family home. Secretly. If my family found out, they’d confiscate it.
Then, I secretly went to the stables and stole the horse I borrowed when we went on a picnic the other day.
It’s okay. I’ll return it soon.
And then, I spurred the horse on and followed after Ati and the others.
It took quite a while because I was on horseback, but I managed to reach the Andreu Estate.
It’s not because I got lost along the way. No way. It’s not because I asked a mature woman for directions, and she gave me a heated look, grabbed my hand, and pressed me about which noble family I belonged to. Definitely not.
Even so. The grounds were so vast that it made me laugh. You couldn’t see where the mansion was from the outside. …The world is unfair. They have such a huge estate with a super luxurious mansion.
My family home is large, but it’s just old, and most of the grounds are fields.
I couldn’t exactly enter from the front, so I tied the horse to a suitable place and infiltrated the grounds.
I passed through a beautiful garden that was meticulously maintained and walked for a while until I saw a huge, luxurious mansion.
This is the Andreu Estate. I’ve actually seen the exterior before. In the Otome Game.
It was on the other side of the screen, so I didn’t really feel the awesomeness at the time, but the mansion I saw with my own eyes had a kind of pressure that made me wonder, “How much money did they spend to make it like this?”
Here, Ati will have a pre-engagement acquaintance meeting with Eric Statis Andreu, the Capture Target of the Otome Game.
I wonder if Ati is okay. I wonder if she’s scared, surrounded by strangers. I wonder if someone is holding her hand.
The Marquis and the tutor (Samuel) here are probably useless. I hope at least the Head Nanny (Maggie) is doing something.
—Hmm?
Tutor—Samuel.
Head Nanny—Maggie.
When I thought about these two names together, I suddenly had a sense of déjà vu.
I feel like I’ve seen these two names in the Otome Game.
I saw them. I definitely saw them.
If I remember correctly, these two were the ones who were manipulating the Villainess Ati from behind! They’re the ones who get judged or executed along with Ati, depending on the ending!!
The tutor, Samuel, was the one who schemed to have Ati infiltrate the Duke’s family as a puppet, and then, on the surface, he would seize unfavorable information and manipulate politics from behind. I just realized that now.
The Head Nanny, Maggie, was a wicked woman who tried to trap Ati in a codependency with her twisted affection, so that she could enter the Duke’s family as a caretaker and live a life of luxury!!
…Well, I don’t really care if these two are judged or executed, and I don’t give a damn what kind of miserable end they meet.
I don’t like the fact that they turned the angelic Ati into a Villainess in order to manipulate her. Rather, they deserve to die ten thousand deaths. When I was playing the game, I felt frustrated that I couldn’t lay my hands on them directly. Yeah.
If I could, I’d leave these guys alone.
But if I do that, it will have a bad influence on Ati.
Moreover. The fact that these two are together at this pre-engagement meeting means that bad things are likely to start happening from here!
That’s because the two of them have to make things go well here and create a solid foundation so that Ati can safely become Eric’s (the future Duke) fiancée, and so that the promise won’t be broken later.
—Ah, I see.
The original reason why Ati and Eric’s engagement couldn’t be dissolved.
A scar.
I read that the Villainess Ati had a large scar on her back, and the reason for it was Eric. The setting was that the engagement couldn’t be dissolved as compensation for Eric injuring Ati (a physical wound in this case).
Ugh! It’s really a template for Villainess settings!!!
Couldn’t the scriptwriter think of anything else!!!
Could it be.
If the cause of that “scar” was something that those two schemed—
Ati is in danger!!!
To put an indelible scar on a treasured angel is unforgivable!
Those bastards! I won’t let them return alive!!
I’ll make them beg for their lives by licking the soles of my shoes and then mince them into pieces!!!
I ran off to find the place where the pre-engagement meeting, which must have already started, was being held.