A Third-Rate Villain Tries Her Best Today 172

Chapter 172: Woo Acrea Ire’s Story

For a moment, he wondered if she was faking it. But seeing her flushed face, her left cheek swollen, he immediately dismissed that foolish thought.

“I’m okay, I’m really okay.”

She was trembling, her body as fragile as glass, barely able to hold herself together, yet she kept insisting that she was fine and told him not to call for help.

“I’m… okay. I’m okay, so please don’t call anyone else. I’ll… I’ll take care of this…”

Sue Byron was pleading with him, for the second time.

He had lost to her again. There was no reason for him to listen to Sue Byron, but he had asked her what she wanted and granted her wish.

No one paid any attention to the young lady who had suddenly collapsed to the floor while he was looking for Byron’s maid. Everyone acted as if there had been nothing there from the beginning.

He brushed aside the accumulating dust in his mind and found Byron’s maid.

Sue Byron, who had been moved to the lounge by her maid, looked at him with an unreadable expression, a mix of laughter, tears, and anger, and said,

“I’m really fine. I’ll be better after some rest. I have a… chronic illness, you see, from when I was young. So, Master Acrea, would you please leave me alone for a while? I apologize for not being able to properly thank you.”

She was gasping for breath, yet she was rejecting him.

He heard the sound of a latch clicking as he left the lounge. He stood outside the door for a moment, thinking about Sue Byron.

Why she had suddenly collapsed, why she had rejected him.

‘Ignore Byron. She’ll be kicked out in less than 10 years.’

He reminded himself that she wasn’t worth his time and left.

He was relieved to see her back at the academy, seemingly fine.

But his relief didn’t last long.

Many things were happening at once.

Shina still hadn’t reconciled with Enzhe, Reeves and Melaine Vava’s marriage talks were in progress, and the search for the “intruders” who had infiltrated the capital had begun in earnest.

And on another front, Sue Byron, who had proposed the “masquerade ball,” was being rejected by the student council members.

“I object to appointing Lady Sue Byron as a temporary committee member.”

“Master Fritz, I also object to having Byron on the committee.”

Granhut, Silent.

And all the other representatives objected to adding her name to the temporary committee list.

‘Karma.’

He could summarize the exhausting situation in a single word.

The things Sue Byron had done in the basement of the glass garden were coming back to haunt her like a boomerang.

He understood, emotionally. But he didn’t understand, logically.

Even Shina wasn’t noticing the problem, and they had to get on with the meeting.

It wasn’t productive. He had to intervene. Sue Byron would definitely make a fuss.

“As Lady Granhut said, I also think it would be presumptuous of me to take on the role of a temporary committee member. So I’ll withdraw.”

But she gave up. On such a prestigious position, just because she had been criticized by the children she had bullied.

“As Lady Granhut said, a masquerade ball is something anyone could have thought of. Someone else would have definitely suggested it, even if it hadn’t been me.”

Really?

Do you really think so?

Her smiling face was unreadable.

“I’ll definitely attend the party. I’m really looking forward to it.”

After she left, he tried to salvage the meeting, which had become awkwardly silent, and he felt a faint sense of certainty.

Sue Byron had been lying.

But he didn’t have to care about it. Really.

“Want to eat here together?”

“Master Acrea.”

Wasn’t it worth hearing her out?

She was Enzhe’s lackey. He might be able to get some useful information from her. Maybe even some secrets about the Lopetrefer family.

He came up with an excuse to tell Reeves as he sat her down across from him in the cafeteria.

“Byron, your reputation is really bad.”

She tried to hide her shock at his blunt words. She must have been wondering how much he knew.

He had actually stopped paying attention to Enzhe’s schemes shortly after entering the academy, so he didn’t know much.

He had thought about gathering information this time, but it seemed like she was more loyal than he had expected.

“Haha… Sorry, Byron, I didn’t mean to offend you or scold you. I don’t really care. I apologize if I overstepped.”

He smiled and changed the subject, seeing her stiffen. Sue Byron, seizing the opportunity, said,

“Master Acrea, Lady Enzhe and Master Fritz are still in a cold war, right?”

Enzhe and Shina were their only common topic. He told Sue Byron, who was worried about their cold war, that he had a plan.

He was actually trying to come up with a way to force Shina and Enzhe to reconcile, as Reeves had ordered him to “make them make up.”

But he only had a vague idea in mind, nothing concrete.

And then, Sue Byron, her eyes sparkling, suddenly said,

“If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know! I’ll do anything!”

“Huh? You?”

“Y-yes…”

He almost chuckled at her eagerness, then her trailing off.

But Sue Byron’s clumsy intervention had started to add color to his vague plan.

‘…Maybe I should use her.’

She had offered to help, so he should accept her help.

***

The day before the September Festival, he found Sue Byron alone again.

He had been stuck with Reeves during the Founding Festival, meeting allied nobles one after another, and he had been taking care of Evan that day, so he had only managed to find her after a series of coincidences.

Shina would come here around the time the Light Fairy Ceremony ended. He had planned to talk to her then. But Raines Noel had entered the park as the Light Fairy Ceremony was ending, and he hadn’t been able to tell her about what would happen the next day.

So he had looked for Sue Byron again the next day. He was able to recognize her immediately, despite the mask, by her height, hair color, and voice.

The masked she wasn’t alone. She was chatting happily with a group of unknown young ladies.

“There you are.”

He picked up a mask that had fallen on the floor and handed it to her. She quickly took it, her body stiffening. He didn’t know why she was so obsessed with the mask back then. Back then, he hadn’t.

Sue Byron had carried out the task he had given her flawlessly. Everyone in the ballroom had praised the performance, but there was one person who wasn’t smiling. Shina.

“Woo, you did this, didn’t you?”

He had found him in a small room, writing a report, his voice filled with displeasure.

“Well, it’s up to you to decide.”

“You… Sigh, forget it.”

“Shina, you…”

“We’ve made up, so I’m fine for now.”

Shina cut him off and left the ballroom, his shoulders squared.

Why Shina Fritz rejected Enzhe Lopetrefer.

Even he, who knew so much, couldn’t fathom his friend’s heart.

Enzhe was a good woman, on the surface. She had a family, ability, and most importantly, she was beautiful. Except for her violent tendencies. And even those tendencies disappeared in front of Shina. Shina probably didn’t even know about what she was doing in the glass garden.

‘Then why?’

He had to know the reason so that Reeves could plan for the future.

But it was Reeves who was in charge of planning, and he hadn’t been ordered to find out why Shina Fritz was rejecting Enzhe Lopetrefer.

He gave up on thinking and, after finishing the report, went to the terrace at the edge of the ballroom for some fresh air.

The terrace, located in a corner of the ballroom, was the darkest and coldest place in the dazzlingly lit ballroom. He would sometimes come here when there were parties at the academy.

He was enjoying the sound of insects chirping in the cool autumn breeze when an uninvited guest entered the terrace.

*‘…Sue Byron Chiqmefriar.’*

He leaned back against the wall, watching her stumble in, her face hidden in the darkness.

She kicked off her shoes and tossed her gloves onto the floor. She even took off her mask and leaned against the door.

“What are you doing?”

He finally spoke, unable to pretend he hadn’t seen her.

Her face was hidden in the darkness and her hair, but she stiffened, as if startled.

“If you took it off because you were feeling suffocated, you can leave it off. No one can see you here anyway.”

He deliberately pretended not to recognize her, as she tried to put her mask back on. He was glad he was wearing a mask. No, maybe it was because of the mask. For some reason, he didn’t feel like revealing his identity and being polite to her.

“Why are you here?”

“….”

“I’m here to take a break. It’s my first time on the back terrace of the ballroom.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s quiet.”

She was chattering away, even using informal speech. It was unfamiliar. So unfamiliar that he wanted to hear more.

“Not many people come here.”

“Huh?”

“I said, not many people come here. Except for people like you.”

He tried to change his speech pattern to hide his identity. She didn’t recognize him, of course.

“You’re annoyed that I came in, aren’t you?”

“Of course not.”

He wasn’t annoyed, and he wasn’t happy either. It wasn’t his terrace, so he didn’t have the right to feel either way.

“The Founding Festival, the September Festival… They were fun. Really.”

She leaned against the railing and smiled a smile he had never seen before. Not a fake smile for flattery, but a genuine smile filled with joy.

“I’ll be able to be happy without a mask someday… At least like now.”

Her hair swayed in the wind, and he couldn’t see her face. But even though he couldn’t see her, he saw her eyes.

Eyes that were as bright as the sun, illuminating the night with a happy glow.

That girl was Sue Byron.