Mistaken for a Wicked Woman!

“Who did you say was here?”

“Her excellency, Countess Olette, wishes to see you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I told her to make an appointment and come back, but she insisted on seeing Miss Iris so…”

The butler said with a rare air of discomfort. He was one of the people who knew why Archie’s engagement was broken off.

As far as the Bright family was concerned, the countess Olette was an ironclad enemy.

Even so, a mere butler couldn’t just throw the Countess out of the mansion.

He was also unable to overcome the stubbornness of Countess Olette, and after letting her in, he came to ask me what he should do.

“I brought her over to the parlor for now…”

“Hmmm.”

I don’t really know what to do. Part of me thinks I’d love to kick her ass for coming here thinking what she did was nothing, but I don’t know what she’s up to, so I’m not sure what to do….

I don’t like it, but I can’t help it.

“I’ll come over and meet her.”

⚘

“Young Viscountess Sabrina!”

As I entered the parlor, Countess Olette, who was sitting on the couch, jumped to her feet.

“Hello, Countess Olette.”

“It’s been a long time! How are you?”

‘Why are you pretending to be so friendly with me? We’re not close.’

I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary for her to show up at the Marquis’ Mansion, but it was uncomfortable to have her smiling and pretending in front of me after all that had happened.

“Miss, would you like me to prepare some tea?”

The butler who followed asked me politely. He was standing in front of Countess Olette.

I suddenly admired the butler’s self-control.

“Don’t you have any cool drinks?”

“Would you like me to bring you some fruit juice, then?”

“That sounds good. Do we have any oranges?”

(T/N: Lol Oranges?)

“Yes, we do.”

“Then that will do.”

Countess Olette flinched at the mention of oranges. I looked at her, clenching and unclenching her fist in disbelief.

Our eyes locked, and the Countess Olette quickly looked away.

“I’m pretty good at squeezing the juice out of an orange… What do you think? Countess Olette, don’t you like orange juice too?”

“I– I…”

Countess Olette replied in a creeping voice.

“What’s with the look on your face, anyone would think I was bullying you.”

“I—I prefer tea.”

“Okay, then. Butler, please prepare some tea for the young countess.”

“I’ll get it right away.”

The butler went out, and we were finally left alone in the parlor.

I put as much distance between me and the young Countess of Olette as I could.

She looked uncomfortable and a heavy silence gradually loomed over the parlor.

She was also fidgeting nervously with her hands.

I just sat in silence, pretending to be oblivious to her uncomfortable appearance.

I didn’t want to speak to her anyway.

In the meantime, the butler finally brought over the orange juice and black tea.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be in the hallway if you need me.”

The butler set the teacup in front of Countess Olette and withdrew quietly.

As I quietly drank the juice he brought over for me, I finally felt a strange gaze falling on me.

“…Why do you look at me like that?”

“I thought about it the other day, but you really do look like Young Lady Bright…”

Countess Olette muttered in an admiring tone.

She then took a sip of the Black tea. The tension in her stomach seemed to have relaxed a little.

Her amber eyes were fixed on my face, and were moving in a searching manner.

I felt my mood turn sour and my impression changed immediately.

“What brings you here?”

I decided to wait until the conversation was over before I could kick her out.

I put down my glass and plopped down on the overstuffed couch.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

I gave countess Olette a look that told her to go ahead and say it, and she immediately gave me an apologetic look.

“Uh, well… I came to apologize for what happened last time.”

“Apologize?”

“Yep. You know, when I mistook Young Viscountess Sabrina for someone else and committed some…”

Countess Olette looked around and spoke in a low, raspy voice.

She pursed her lips a few times, as if to say something, then closed her eyes tightly and shouted.

“I’m so sorry!”

“Sorry for what?”

“What?”

Countess Olette blinked as she repeated my question with a blank expression.

She had an innocent look as if she didn’t know what was wrong.

“For mistaking me as the Young Lady Bright and mocking me, harassing and framing my sister, or committing adultery with my sister’s fiancé?”

As I kindly pointed out her faults one by one, Countess Olette’s face grew paler and paler.

“That, that….. No, it’s all a misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding? Which one of those is a misunderstanding?”

I tilted my head with a puzzled expression, Countess Olette then said in a panic,

“It’s just a mistake…”

The Countess stammered.

“I– I never framed you for anything… And adultery is such a dreadful….”

“Oh. I’m sorry. So It’s not adultery, then did you have an affair with someone who’s not married yet? No, no. If you’re engaged, you’re pretty much spouses, so doesn’t the word adultery fit?”

It’s always the most offensive thing to insult someone while smiling, so when I shot back with a wide grin, Countess Olette became contemplative.

“I will not accept your apology.”

I stood up, as if I could hear nothing more. She also stood up, trying to stop me.

But it was useless.

“I’d like you to leave now.”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

The Countess of Olette exclaimed urgently.

“I saw in the papers that you were going to have a debutante?”

“Ah, yes,” I said, “Thanks to someone you know.”

‘Isn’t this all because of your father?’

I’m pissed off again at the thought.

If it weren’t for Countess Olette’s foolishness at the Empress’s behest, I’d be studying hard for my exams right now.

“I can help!”

“You mean you can help me with my debutante?”

“Yes!”

What the hell, what’s she up to?

As I sent her a wary glance, Countess Olette approached me with an urgent look on her face.

“I don’t know about you, Young Viscountess Sabrina, but, uh, before the debutante. I usually attend tea parties and salons to get to know people beforehand, and since you don’t know anyone in the capital, I’d like to help.”

‘Help? Me? What is she talking about?’

For a moment, I thought I’d misheard her.

“You know, society’s inner circle is a tough place, and with what Young Lady Bright did, it’s going to be hard to integrate into it. So… let me help you.”

‘What? Is she trying to convince me that she actually has influence over the social circles?’

Come to think of it, she seems to be the only “Crab in a Flower Society“, the type who loves to attract and pull down her peers to push herself up.

Oh well, How can an orange without a personality become a flower?

“Who are you?”

“Uh.. I—”

“We’re not supposed to be friends, are we?”

When I asked why she had come, I had a vague idea.

The Countess Olette must have been disturbed by the news of my debutante.

After all, I knew about her and the second Prince’s adultery.

If I were to make my way into society and become acquainted with people, the word about it might get out.

Now she’s here to find a way to cover it up.

I want to praise her spirit of running around immediately to solve the problem, but she picked the wrong opponent.

“I’d rather take care of my own business.”

“Young Viscountess, don’t do that—”

“You’re so persistent.”

My irritation quickly rose, and just as I was about to speak up, I remembered what the crown prince had said a few days earlier.

‘Pavel is on probation at the palace right now.’

‘Probation?’

‘Yes. The Empress has placed him on probation. He’s not allowed to leave the palace until the imperial ball, so he won’t be able to bother you.’

‘That’s good to know.’

‘And the young Countess of Olette has also been banned from entering the palace.’

‘What? Really?’

‘Yes. That’s why Countess Olette came forward this time. Pavel and Countess Olette aren’t officially engaged yet, and she needs to look good in front of the Empress.’

If what the crown prince said is true, then…

“Why? Is it because you’re scared that the Empress might be thinking of abandoning you?”

After hearing my words, Countess Olette sucked in her breath as if I’d just hit the bullseye.

“Wh–what do you mean?”

“Well, she abandoned my sister, the granddaughter of a duke, and a daughter of a marquis, so wouldn’t it be easier to abandon you, a mere daughter of a count?”

The Empress covered up the misdeeds of the two of them for her own son’s sake, not for Countess Olette’s sake.

She aligned herself with the Countess’ family for political reasons.

If it wasn’t for that, she would never have taken a liking to her.

Perhaps Countess Olette knew that the Empress did not like her. She was even banned from entering the palace, and her only ally, the Second Prince, was also prohibited from seeing her.

Engagements are hard to break, but relationships are easy to end.

The fact that she was not formally engaged to the second prince and could be abandoned at any moment must have increased her anxiety.

Even so, the courage to come to me in person was either too courageous or too shameless isn’t it?

“Isn’t that a little harsh?”

Countess Olette trembled while holding onto the hem of her skirt like someone who had been grossly insulted.

Her face, which had seemed so gentle a moment ago, became as venomous as a rotten orange.

“You think Her Majesty the Empress will leave you alone?!”

‘The Empress will try to appease me, or eliminate me, or both, as you have done to my sister, but so what? I will not be silenced so easily.’

“Have I offended you by chance, your excellency, Countess Olette?”

I smiled wickedly and reached out my hand.

Her amber eyes widened as I grabbed her shoulders.

“What– ah gak!”

I squeezed the hand that was holding her shoulders, and Countess Olette’s screams were immediately heard around the parlor.

“What, what, what are you doing?!” She screamed again.

“Oh, your reaction is too exaggerated, I was doing nothing more than catching a fish.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from running away, and brought her face closer to mine.

“Hey Orange Hair, open your ears and listen to me.”

I purposely lowered my voice, and Countess Olette’s ears perked up immediately.

Her frightened amber eyes shook vigorously.

“There’s something about the way you’ve been looking down on my sister that makes me think you’re a fool, but here’s the thing. You’ve been looking down on the wrong person for a long time.”

“What, what?”

“You may have gotten the better of Archie, but not me.”

A Villainess whose grandfather was a duke and a marquis as a father.

Oh What fun it must have been for them, to call her a witch, ignore her, and mock her..

Rather than being restrained they were praised for their sublime behavior, hailed as the flower of society, having their noses raised all the way up.

But too bad for them their tricks will never work on me.