The time for the festival had finally come.
Su Wan was apprehensive this time because this was the day the story truly started.
The female lead would be introduced, then the villainess would cause trouble to highlight her kind nature.
After that, the love of the crown prince and the help of the mercenary guild would let her slap all the cannon fodder.
Honestly, I thought it was a good read at the time, but now it just feels stupid.
I even have threats from dark mages—not to mention the mysterious person who showed up last time at the black market.
This novel really is so bothersome to deal with.
"Miss, you okay?" Louis asked as he came in.
"Didn't I tell you to rest?" This boy I brought from the black market really loves to move about.
"I prefer to stay with you, my benefactor," he said with a sweet smile.
"I agree, it's nice to see a beautiful face early in the morning," Mari said, holding the magic animal while smiling at Louis.
"Good morning to you too," I greeted my ever-boisterous maid.
"At this point, you're going to pluck all of the fur off," I said as she squeezed the fur ball, then gave it back to me.
I watched as she moved close to Louis and ruffled his hair roughly.
He turned around and removed her hand, but she was persistent.
I laughed on the side because they always ended up fighting every day—since she kept looking for ways to vex him.
"Alright, it's time to dress up," Susie said, dragging Mari away.
She turned to me with her eyes burning, and I remembered that this girl loved dressing me up the most.
The next few hours were rigorous with bathing, then changing into my clothes, and finally, everything was done.
Just in time to meet the Duke downstairs.
I nodded politely to him and entered the carriage.
"You look beautiful," he said, his cheeks a little flushed.
My heart sped up. I turned red in the face and reciprocated the compliment.
We got to the ball, and I continued my work on fixing my image to the public.
My efforts were not in vain, as the other nobles now approached me normally.
In fact, I was always meant to be surrounded by people due to my high status, but my aggressive behavior had chased them away.
"The royal family has arrived," the servant announced.
We all bowed to the king and his children, but gasps followed as the prince brought in a pink-haired girl as his guest.
"I am using this occasion to announce the dissolution of my engagement," the crown prince said once we were settled.
The hall erupted in whispers as they glanced at me, but I just smiled and accepted gracefully.
"Even though I had no prior notice of this, I humbly accept your decree," I said fluently.
Translation: he cheated on me.
The nobles turned to the girl beside the prince with disdainful eyes.
At this point, my reputation was good due to my efforts.
Besides, the crown princess was not a position people allowed to go to just anyone.
The original body was right in that aspect—everyone was after her man because everyone truly was.
They had just been scared away by her violence and powerful backing.
The crown prince snorted at me while I cursed his stupid love brain and rolled my eyes.
"I would like to request the approval of my engagement to her," the Duke suddenly said to the king.
I looked at him, surprised, because he wasn't planning to say it today.
The king accepted after we pretended to be passionately in love.
We used the same excuse as the crown prince, so he couldn't reject us.
"I would like to introduce the future crown princess," the crown prince said, gesturing to the pink-haired girl.
Just as she came forward, the hall was attacked. Masked men suddenly appeared, using dark magic.
---
Zephyrine's POV
I was enjoying my time messing with Louis.
He was one of those black lotuses with a black heart who pretended to be innocent.
I still remember the first time we met. He glared at me with his red eyes and refused to speak.
Then the miss came in, and he gave her an innocent smile.
I was amazed at the speed of switching faces, so I tried to annoy him.
Since then, I've made it a hobby to annoy him to death.
Of course, he just threatened me, but who am I? I would just blink innocently at him.
Besides, he's very handsome too—and obviously the second male lead. Poor guy.
He looked so angry when they announced the engagement of the miss to the Duke.
I was feeling quite sad, so I offered him the most delicious snack on the table, saying that sweets might help.
When the attack happened, he rushed in to defend the miss, and I was cheering him on.
He might amaze her with flashy moves so she could change it to a harem of the two of them—the crown prince is still undecided.
There was a gunshot sound, but Ash rushed in dressed in a cloak and disguise to shield the miss from the bullet.
The rest of the team sprang into action, attacking the people with guns.
I put on my cloak and teleported to the highest floor, putting up an invincible shield in front of the ML and FL.
I watched the face of the white lotus contort.
She must have sent the attack to show her prowess, but then our enemies used it as cover to charge in full force.
Now the situation was out of control, and she just decided to kill the FL out of rage, attributing it to her fault.
I watched the battle with intrigue, munching on some snacks while a floating orb hovered beside me.
I specially made it for all my little brothers and sisters to watch the show too.
"Aren't you meant to be down there?" I asked as Derrick leaned on the wall beside me.
"There's no need for my help," he said, glancing at the orb.
Too bad, because I really wanted to see him fight.
I turned back to the fight and saw that the black mages wanted to retreat, but our enemies did something.
They threw a black goo at some servants.
The servants then transformed into zombies and started attacking the nobles, which made the hall chaotic again.
Wow, they totally changed the genre. I should take notes from them on how to cause trouble.
"Are you going to join in now?" I asked him again, my eyes shining.
"You knew?" he asked, looking at me.
"I only saw them dragging a bag. How was I meant to know it would contain this?" I shrugged.
The place I was sitting had the best view, so I could see what everyone was doing.
I saw them bring the sack, and I could have stopped them, but I wanted to see whether they could get through it.
"Then I don't need to step in," he said.
Since he made me babysit, he actually replied to my words.
I opened the teleportation point so that twenty kids dressed in cloaks appeared in the hall behind me.
"Well, let's see what you've learned," I told them while tossing disguise potions.
They glanced at Derrick, who ignored them.
The swordsmen jumped down and started attacking, while the mages didn't have much mana to begin with, so they attacked from afar.
The tide suddenly shifted with the addition of the new guys, who dealt with the zombies.
Those kids fought well for being at the beginner stage—and they were equally reckless too, so they sustained injuries.
I suddenly felt like teaching them to use guns, so I went around picking up all the guns the bad guys had.
In the chaos, no one noticed my weird actions except for Ashley and the Duke.
But they were too busy to care, and I wasn't interrupting anyone's fight.
I sent the guns back to the cottage while the fight reached its peak.
The bad guys were vanquished with no deaths but a lot of injuries.
Ashley and her team retreated immediately, but not before she glanced at me.
After they left, the kids jumped up to meet me.
I tossed them recovery potions, instructed them not to play with the guns, then sent them back.
"I thought the Duke would use this occasion to bring you into the light since you're already a swordmaster," I asked.
"It's better to have a hidden weapon," he said.
I noticed he was about to leave, so I pouted that he couldn't stay longer. After all, there's no face as handsome as his.
I really missed his frozen face, so I looked at it once more as he disappeared into the dark.
I looked at the damage, then went back to my maid status to watch the rest close up.