Chapter 26…
“It’s here!”
At the letter that had arrived from the imperial palace early that morning, Clarissa tore open the golden envelope without hesitation, practically bouncing with excitement.
When she unfolded the stiff, luxurious paper that had been neatly folded in half, elegant handwriting immediately caught her eye.
‘Invitation’
The content beneath it was just as simple.
‘Fulfillment of the wager, tomorrow at 3 p.m.’
Even a single invitation revealed his personality—Clarissa smiled in satisfaction.
Soon after, she felt a shiver run through her body and began hopping around in place.
‘I did it!’
Only now did it truly sink in that she was rewriting the original story.
‘Sorry, Author Park! But you understand, right?’
She quietly sent her regards to her former colleague who had worked so hard, but she didn’t feel particularly guilty.
There is no story that never changes.
From the author’s hand to the reader’s eyes, every story changes its shape thousands—no, hundreds of times.
Clarissa decided to think of the story she was changing as simply one of those countless variations.
‘Parodies exist too, don’t they?’
Having sincerely soothed someone she could no longer meet or reach, Clarissa allowed herself to enjoy the moment without restraint.
Completely unaware of how she looked to those around her.
“My goodness, is she really that happy?”
“That letter earlier—it was from the imperial palace, right? Then that means…”
“Didn’t you hear the rumor that Lady Clarissa met the Crown Prince when she went to the palace?”
“Then don’t tell me—?”
The maids’ whispering never quite reached Clarissa’s ears.
Seeing how excited she was—far too excited to stop them—they passed another story from mouth to mouth, their faces flushed.
Watching the entire scene, Marie felt all of her efforts flashing before her eyes like a montage.
‘Then what about everything Clarissa did for Lord Aryan—what about my blood, sweat, and tears?!’
Marie bit her lip, holding back her frustration, but eventually words she couldn’t swallow slipped out.
“Lady Clarissa… are you switching to the Crown Prince now?”
In an instant, the air froze solid.
Looks that said, So the rumor that serving Lady Clarissa for over three years makes you go insane was true, stuck to Marie’s cheeks.
Clarissa, who had been hopping around clutching the invitation, slowly turned her head toward Marie with a creaking sound.
Her neck twisted oddly, moving like a doll that had lost its strings.
Sharp golden eyes were revealed without mercy.
Her red lips released a voice devoid of warmth.
“Marie, I did think you were worth less than a dog—but if you start barking actual nonsense, how exactly am I supposed to deal with you?”
“Th-that’s too cruel!”
Marie whimpered, even though Clarissa looked like someone who could have just buried a body and returned.
“Switching? What am I switching—do you think the Crown Prince is a carriage?”
“But you looked so happy… and you already have a fiancé…”
“Marie, you’ve been talking back a lot lately, haven’t you?”
Only after Clarissa dropped words that sounded dangerously close to a threat did Marie’s outburst finally come to a halt.
Marie hastily clamped her hands over her mouth, belatedly realizing what she had done.
Seeing her face turn deathly pale, Clarissa felt some of her anger subside.
Getting less angry when I see someone frightened… When you look at it that way, even if I’m just a fledgling villainess, I really do have proper villain traits. Clarissa.
Leaving that dry assessment of herself behind, Clarissa casually threatened Marie, having shaken off the rest of her irritation.
“Anyway, it’s not what you’re thinking. Not any of it. Keep your mouth shut—and your head too.”
Marie wondered how on earth one was supposed to “shut their head,” but fortunately, she was smart enough not to ask.
Just as Clarissa was watching Marie—still nodding vigorously with both hands clamped over her mouth, barely breathing—with considerable satisfaction—
“Um…”
A man’s cautious voice called out to Clarissa.
When she turned around, a stiff-looking servant was peeking his head in nervously.
It was a fairly familiar face.
After rummaging through her memory, Clarissa finally found his name.
“Tom, was it?”
“Yes, Lady Clarissa.”
“What is it?”
The sharp, oppressive tone unique to high-ranking nobles burst forth.
Tom’s eyes rolled once before he hesitantly spoke.
“There’s a commoner child who insists she must see you, my lady… She says she won’t leave until she meets you.”
“A commoner child?”
“Yes.”
Clarissa stared at Tom as if to ask why he hadn’t handled it himself and instead brought it to her.
Tom rolled his eyes again and carefully continued.
“I thought perhaps it might be someone you know…”
But the more Tom explained, the less she understood his intentions.
She even began to suspect—quite reasonably—that he might be deliberately trying to get himself fired.
As she looked around, wondering what to do with this situation, she noticed that the maids—including Marie—were all looking at her with strangely pleased expressions.
Only then did she realize.
‘Ah. Is it that kid from the orphanage I donated to back then?’
It had been an impulsive act, done purely to gain Aryan’s favor.
She had no desire to receive gratitude for something she hadn’t done out of genuine goodwill.
And yet, unable to withstand the expectant gazes, she twisted the words everyone was waiting for and let them fall.
“Bring her in. I’m curious to see the face of someone bold enough to step into the Marquisate of Lisette.”
Contrary to Clarissa’s expectation that it would be a completely unfamiliar face, the red-brown-haired girl who appeared before her was quite recognizable.
“You are…?”
“Ah… hello, Lady Clarissa.”
Clothes that could generously be called rags, a thin, emaciated body. A small girl Clarissa—back when she was the original Clarissa—would never have associated with in her lifetime.
“Do you… remember me, by any chance?”
At the girl’s rather bold question, Clarissa replied without even pretending to think.
“The bread?”
Her way of remembering people was atrocious.
Still, the girl nodded eagerly, as though simply being remembered was enough.
“Y-yes, the bread. You bought bread for my starving brother and me.”
As Clarissa quietly watched the girl’s trembling lips ramble on, her hand moved to rest beneath her chin.
Her golden eyes cooled as they fixed on the frightened child.
“Mm. Right. I did.”
“Yes, at that time, I was truly grate—”
“That’s enough. It was just a whim.”
The image of herself putting on a show to look good in front of Aryan flickered through her mind.
Clarissa’s lips twisted upward.
But the real problem wasn’t whether her actions back then had been sincere or not.
‘I never told her who I was.’
How did a mere beggar child figure out my identity? It left a bad taste in her mouth.
Clarissa spoke coldly to the girl, who couldn’t even lift her head properly.
“Well then, it doesn’t seem like you came just to get more bread… You must have some business, so let’s hear it.”
A slender finger tapped her cheek once.
Her low voice bared its fangs.
“You dared to come here without knowing your place and waste my time, so I hope what you have to say is worth it.”
“Th-that is…”
The girl’s body now bent as if in convulsions.
Pressing herself flat against the floor, she shut her eyes tightly and shouted,
“P-please let me work here! I’ll do anything for you, Lady Clarissa!”
Despite the girl’s desperate plea, Clarissa didn’t move.
Unable to stand it any longer, Marie called out cautiously.
“Lady Clarissa…”
“What.”
Clarissa merely shrugged, as if asking what the problem was.
Any carefully built image reverting back to its original state wasn’t something worth worrying about.
“That’s your business?”
The girl was suspicious.
That—and only that—was what Clarissa needed to focus on.
“Yes… yes, it is.”
“Well, that’s quite the impressive request.”
Clarissa deliberately twisted her words with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
Yet the child remained where she was, silently waiting.
If she were merely scared, she would have had more than enough time to run away by now.
Clarissa’s mind raced.
She began calculating gains and losses.
If she chased her away now, there would be neither loss nor gain. But—
“Anything, you say…”
“Y-yes!”
Clarissa didn’t keep the girl waiting any longer.
Bringing both hands neatly together before her lips, she smiled brightly, as if she were having the time of her life.
“That promise.”
The girl swallowed hard and waited for the next words to fall, feeling as though a starving snake were coiling around her.
“I hope it isn’t a lie.”
