I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 27 - Enough to build two castles

When we arrived at Count Alcott’s mansion, the tension that had been blown away naturally came back to me.

After the coachman opened the carriage door, Claude sama was the first to step out. He gave me a reassuring smile and held out his white-gloved hand to me.

“Don’t worry”

I take his hand and timidly step down to the ground. Count Alcott’s mansion is bustling with activity, and I look around to see a crowd of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen making their way to the open entrance hall.

A larger crowd than I had expected.

What’s more, the moment I got off the carriage, all the eyes of that huge crowd were on me.

When Claude sama turned his sharp gaze around, they all averted their gazes. However, I could clearly sense that they were looking at me with curiosity.

But, well, I guess that’s only natural.

A duchess who publicly slapped the chosen fiancee and made her get down on her knees at the crown prince’s engagement announcement itself, was imprisoned, and then attended a ball on the same day she was released from prison. It’s no wonder that they can’t help but look at her unparalleled boldness.

Since it’s not like they are going to kneel down to me anyways, let’s leave them alone. I gave a smile to Claude sama who looked a little worried, and entered the mansion of Count Alcott for the first time in three months.

~~~~~

When people are surprised too often, they tend to go around in circles and become calm.

Count Alcott House is fairly wealthy, and the house is well appointed. But what in the world is this? I wonder if the crane they saved somewhere brought them a gold ingot that was bigger than a person in return.

The dance hall ahead was so shiny that it looked like I was in some kind of castle.

Looking at the sparkling chandelier, a lady nearby said in astonishment, “Oh my, that is definitely made with real gold and diamonds..!”.

And a well-dressed gentleman, looking at the paintings displayed here and there, said, “T-This is that phantom…!” “And this here is that master’s work…!”. A delicate young man with glasses who saw a conductor of a musical band playing light music, was astonished, “T-That’s the famous person who refuses even the royal commissions sometimes…!”.

Not only that, the table on which the refreshments are served is over embellished with jewelries to the extent one would wonder if it isn’t gaudy, and from the reactions around, it seems that even the food is extravagant and impressive.

To be honest, even my ignorant eyes can see that the food must be so abnormally expensive.

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Even though the family is fairly wealthy, we could probably go bankrupt if she spent this much.

“Just to be sure, was your house originally like this…?”

I shook my head at Claude sama’s words. I’ve never been in the dance hall, but my stepmother and Julia said that my father is a very stingy man. He would have never spent money like this.

“What the hell is Violet…”

As we were both stunned and exclaimed, we heard the gossips of the ladies nearby.

“Hey, I just heard this earlier. They apparently spent enough money to build two castles for this occasion”

“Oh my…I was a little skeptical, but it turns out the rumors of her extravagant spending habits were true”

Two castles. I hope it’s not true.

I know it’s not good, but I can’t help but listen carefully.

“The other day, she had a tea party with her sister, Julia, and she was proudly ordering her around”

“I heard that she had her stepmother, the second wife, behaving like a servant”

“The head of the house is miserable too. I wonder if he plans to let the house crumble at the mercy of one of his daughters”

It was more than what I had imagined.

“Eh, wai-, oh no, Claude sama, w-w-what should I do…!?”

“S-Sophia. It’s all right. When the swap is resolved, you’ll be able to tell… that this is all Violet’s doing, not yours”

Claude sama calmed me who was panicking at the conversation of the ladies.

Since the body swap was discovered, Claude sama had checked on the state of Alcott family often, but he apparently didn’t seem to think the situation was this bad.

“Damn it. Let’s get this over with. Where’s Violet?”

Claude sama gave a small click of his tongue. ‘Now that you mention it’ I thought and looked around to find a familiar but different purple hair at the end of the hall.

Gently wavy purple hair, shinier than I’ve ever seen. With her back straight and dressed in a pure white dress, Violet sama (me) was a completely different person from the one in my head.

No one would think she was plain when they saw her.

It may be that her pure white dress, modeled after a debutante’s, reflected the light and shone in an unusual way, but there was a nobility about her that was almost radiant.

“That’s Violet…your appearance”

Claude sama looked straight at Violet sama (me). Violet sama, who had been looking around with somewhat bored eyes, perhaps noticing our gaze—turned her attention to us.

The moment she noticed, the edge of Violet sama’s lips lifted.

Then she looked at our hands, which were stacked on top of each other for escorting, and after a bit of a surprised look, she raised her eyebrows in slight displeasure.

‘You took the fun out of it’, I feel like I heard a voice from her heart.

Huh…? I tilted my head, then remembered that Claude sama was Violet sama’s fiance and hastily withdrew my hand. That would certainly be unpleasant.

“Claude sama, let’s head over there right away”

“Ah, yeah..”

I was about to go to Violet sama when I heard a soft voice behind me calling out, “Violet sama”.

When I turned around in surprise, I saw that the voice belonged to Lily sama. Besides her is His Highness, Johannes, who looks uncomfortable.

“Your Highness… . Greetings, Your Highness. I didn’t know you were here too”

“Yeah. Lily was also invited, you see. Invited guests are invited guests. I can’t let her go unaccompanied”

At Claude sama’s surprised words, His Highness looked at me sarcastically.

“The Arbuthnot family’s young lady is finally making her social debut, so I thought I should make an appearance. The head of the Arbuthnot family is stubborn, but she is the only one left to carry on his bloodline”

I wonder if the head of the Arbuthnot family means my grandfather. Is he stubborn? I thought, but I was anxious to get to Violet sama as soon as possible.

Lily sama smiled at me like a saint and opened her mouth.

“Violet sama, congratulations on your release from prison. Since you have atoned for your sins in this way, there is no conflict between us…For now, why don’t you and I go have a talk and make up?”

“Eh?”

Lily sama’s surprising suggestion made His Highness look at her sternly and said, “No”. Claude sama also looked alarmed and casually stood in front of me.

“Your Highness, I want to be friends with your cousin. Okay? Please”

“…”

“It’s okay. Your Lily will not be hurt by Violet sama”

The moment Lily sama uttered the word ‘please’, His Highness stopped talking. He seemed conflicted, but with slightly cloudy eyes, he nodded, “Okay”.

“Claude. You must not follow. Stay by my side until they’ve finished talking”

“Your Highness. I’m here today as Violet’s companion. …please pardon me”

“Claude. What’s the matter? Can’t you hear my command?”

What should I do? If I don’t do something, Claude sama is going to disobey His Highness’s order.

I’m going to talk with her for a while! I want to say that and leave with Lily sama, but this body belongs to Violet sama. If something happens, there’s no going back.

When I looked at Violet sama, feeling troubled, she was looking at me with a strange expression, somewhat amused and somewhat angry.

Then, when our eyes met, she smiled at me.

She turned to me and said, “Go” with the motions of the mouth.

Translator’s Notes:

I have been tired after various events and I haven’t rested enough actually although I took a little over a week. I don’t know if I can release many Chapters, but for the minimum, I’ll try to update a Chapter once every two days like before. Please tell me if there are any mistakes~