The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

“It’s really… it’s a ground-breaking item.”

But that’s all Mielle could say. To her who did not know the details, the conversation that the wives and Aria were talking about sounded like the language of the other world.

But even so, she always had a strong ally, Emma. At Mielle’s eye signal, Emma brought out something she had prepared. It was a crystal artifact that everyone would like, regardless of the aristocracy and the common people.

At Emma’s instructions, Mielle’s maids handed them out to the ladies. This broke the friendly atmosphere of Aria and the wives, and the initiative went back to Mielle.

“Oh, my God, what is this?”

The ladies’ eyes were wide open on the rose-shaped crystal brooch. At a glance, it was not an ordinary thing. What was more, it was the shape of a rose. Without knowing the reason, they asked carefully what it was for.

“Oh, it’s nothing special but a small gift. I should have given you that earlier, but it’s a little late.”

“… you’re giving us this brooch?”

“You can think of it as a celebration of your visit.”

The gifts were too much for the occasion of the visit. Crystal! Though small in size, its presence was no match for any jewelry. The wives glanced at Mielle with trembling faces. Because they vaguely felt that it was not just a gift to celebrate their visit.

And Aria, reading their faces, swallowed a laugh. What a trick to give a sense of unity with a brooch! Since this had not happened in the past, she thought it might be her influence.

‘What’s more, it’s the shape of a rose. Why does the count family’s lady play with the shape of a rose already?’ No matter how much he promised, she still had three years to get married to Oscar. She was not even the owner of the Frederick family yet.

‘Do you really think that’s going to work?’

They were already the ones who had said they would not hold hands. Rather than showing off the connections and becoming a social flower, they said they would help their husband’s business by hand. It was impossible for them to fall for a crystal brooch.

That was all Mielle could think about, and everyone in the world seemed to think so. A frog in a well would be wiser than this.

“Thank you for your heart, but I think it’s too much for me. How dare I intrude among the nobles as a commoner?” Then, the woman in the corner said, putting the crystal down on the table.

Then another woman sitting next to her put down her crystal on the table. “I’m sorry, but so am I. I think it would be a great insult to the noble lady Mielle.”

When the wives put down the brooches one after another, Mielle’s face turned pale. Some of them secretly took care of the crystal, but most of them indicated that they could not receive it.

‘That’s why you should have let them go when they first refused, Mielle.’

Too much regret was ugly. It was such a funny thing. But soon after, Mielle, who would become a Duchess, did not even have the heart of a commoner woman.

‘Yes, this may be all Mielle’s original ability. A child who can’t do anything without the background of Roscent family.’ All she could do was put on a mask and pretend to be high-handed.

Actually, Aria was so angry that Mielle was nothing but this. ‘How foolish I was in the past, I would have been killed by a woman of this caliber?’ Of course, from now on, all the humiliation she had suffered would come to Mielle.

Aria, the winner of the day, folded up her fan and handed it to Annie. A triumphant look seemed to express the joy she had gained. “Mielle, I think you’d better end the meeting now. It’s a long way off. Isn’t it rude to hold wives who are just beginning to step up their business for so long?”

As if they had waited for Aria’s words, the wives pretended to check the time for nothing, and looked embarrassed.

There would be no reason to drink tea with them anymore, given that neither the offer to lead nor the offer to join the same group was rejected.

“… that’d be a good idea.”

As soon as Mielle’s words fell, the wives hurried ready to return. And as if waiting for the word to come out, the wives were busy, too.

But Mielle, insulted in front of countless women, did not send them with a smile as bright as she had just smiled. Mielle, with a cold look on her face, added advice to the wives who were about to return.

“The meeting will end today. It’s been fun. The next time we see each other, we may not be able to sit face to face and talk about.” It was more like a warning to the humble who despised her. It was a threat that she would not let go.

Mielle was telling them what she really wanted. Wasn’t she the one who always had a smile on her face?

Aria had no idea what Mielle had been like until she had been decapitated. It was because she’d been hiding completely. But now she expressed her heart to this extent.

Maybe, unlike the past, when she always did what she wanted to do, things that didn’t work out of her control exploded. Maybe it wasn’t enough to hide the rotten inside out.

‘Now that you’ve taken off the mask of a saint, I’ll welcome it.’

At Mielle’s warning, the wives showed signs of uneasiness. It was because they didn’t know Mielle, who was rumored to be benevolent, would take such an attitude. They might be regretting being too open-minded, as she treated them with a gentle smile.

It was Aria who would resolve such wives’ anxieties. Even if she were hiding her identity, they were her people she had collected. As if to steal the missing soft expression from Mielle’s face, Aria said goodbye to the ladies with a benevolent, tender smile.

“Can I host the next tea party, then? We can’t end our precious relationships so easily.”

Aria spoke of the nuances that she would bear them threatened by Mielle. On the surface, it was Aria that was no match for Mielle in all respects, but still was the eldest daughter of the count family, so the wives seemed quite relieved.

“… well, I’ll have to go back now. Thank you for inviting me.”

“I hope the future of lady Mielle will be full of happiness.”

Mielle, who answered with a cold smile to the wives who said goodbye, was the first to disappear from the garden. It was a cold-hearted figure with no regrets. Emma, who followed her, vanished with a fierce look on her face, so that Aria wouldn’t notice.

“Then, may you go home safely.”

So Aria rose from her seat, because she had accomplished what she had hoped. She thought she should be careful not to have any more high-ranking aristocrats coveting them.

“Lady Aria!”

As she was about to leave, Mrs. Clean called her name. When she looked at her eyes, she spoke with a very excited face.

“If you’re free, why don’t you join our next meeting? It’s not exactly our meeting, it’s a meeting of the people invested by the investor A, but… I hope you will come to the meeting and give them some advice.”

Seeing the wives sitting around her nodding their heads with bright faces, it seemed that they seemed to have finished their discussion in that short time. Aria answered her with a very satisfied smile.

“Oh, I don’t know if I can attend.”

“What do you mean? You’re more knowledgeable than anyone else here! You also have the same viewpoint as the investor A, so I’m sure they’ll all benefit from your advice.”

“That’s right. The investor told us to accept a new person at any time.”

How surprised would they be to know that the investor was her? With such a funny imagination Aria nodded.

In fact, she had wanted to attend, but she had delayed it because she didn’t think it was time to reveal her identity. It didn’t seem bad to come in naturally and see how they were doing.

“Thank you for speaking about it. Then I will do it.”

Aria said goodbye politely to the lightly clapping wives, delighted with Aria’s positive response, and went out of the garden. Baron Burboom and Andrew, who had been struggling to hide her identity, might faint with foam, but her imaginative mouth painted a good line.

* * *

“Mr. Asher, the new power group that I talked about last time, centered on the Baron Burboom.”