This Three Year Old Is a Villainess-Chapter 251
“‘I already knew you were approaching Masa.’”
Earlier, Mari had found Masa’s behavior suspicious.
The moment I heard that, I acted immediately.
I’ve been through every hardship imaginable.
I’ve been stabbed in the back countless times.
“Thanks to that, I never let even the smallest thing slip by easily.”
I immediately summoned the informant I had planted on Masa.
“Are you talking about the person Masa met recently?”
“Yes.”
“A few days ago, Blossom Rochefain brought Masa to meet my mother.”
“What did they talk about during the meeting?”
“The meeting was at Rochefain’s villa, so I couldn’t eavesdrop. But there was something suspicious.”
“What was it?”
“When leaving, Masa’s hair was shorter. It seemed she had it trimmed inside.”
When I heard she had cut her hair, I knew right away.
“That mother and daughter must be mistaking Masa for Beltree’s daughter.”
So I quietly expanded my plans.
“Let them suffer properly.”
I smiled slightly as I watched the flustered Blossom.
At Astra’s Second Mansion, the reception room.
Blossom nervously bit her nails, her face pale as a sheet.
“To think she believed Masa was Beltree’s daughter...!”
How did that brat find out that I knew?
No, more than that...
“Masa is not Beltree’s daughter?”
Impossible.
Then why treat a commoner so well?
Why provide a house and care so attentively?
“Blossom?”
“......”
Impossible.
It must be a bluff, just trying to unsettle herself...
“Blossom.”
“Yes, what?!”
Bella looked at her daughter with a puzzled expression.
Lost in thought, she hadn’t noticed everyone was staring at her.
The reception room was packed.
Duke Astra, Daymond, Erilot, and Daymond’s men.
Bella spoke to her daughter.
“What are you doing? I brought tea, yet you don’t even lift the cup.”
“Ah... yes.”
Blossom awkwardly raised her teacup.
Meanwhile, Bella turned to Daymond with a pitiful look.
“I think there’s some misunderstanding. You know our situation, right?”
“......”
“This child was truly lonely over this. She must have felt affection knowing she has an older brother closely connected to her birth mother.”
“......”
“Since her family disappeared, she must have desperately needed a new family.”
No one answered, but Bella kept speaking.
“Especially Daymond, who was unusually close to her sister. Isn’t that right, Blossom?”
“Yes? Ah... yes.”
“So please, don’t misunderstand—”
Blossom clenched the teacup handle tightly.
Erilot was staring intently at her.
“What is it? Why is she looking at me like that?” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
Could it be that Masa really isn’t Beltree’s blood?
Should I run now?
“If I tell Mother... but then she’ll be furious that I ruined the plan...”
“But listen.”
Erilot smiled faintly.
“What if she’s not?”
“She’s the child you entrusted to me. That can’t be—”
“So if that’s the case.”
Erilot clicked her teacup down on the saucer.
“I know that Beltree once saved Father’s life. Uncle also received great help.”
Bella smiled arrogantly.
“Yes, well...”
It was a look that said, “Do you even know?”
“But clearly, Beltree, Father, and the uncles are just friends.”
At Erilot’s words, Bella’s expression hardened.
“That brat.”
Bella’s face turned uncomfortable, but Erilot didn’t care and continued.
“I mean that you two mother and daughter don’t get to behave as if you had a secured position.”
“You’re talking about Devon’s admission—”
“Even so, since you pushed the situation this far, there must be consequences, right?”
“My lady, how could you say such harsh words! As I said, it all stems from misunderstanding—!”
“Is that so, Grandfather?”
Erilot tilted her head and looked at the Duke.
Duke Astra glanced at Bella, then nodded.
“Of course, there must be a price for mocking Astra.”
“What kind of price?”
“Of course, the revocation of the minor dukedom, plus additional punishment.”
Revoking Mother’s title?
Blossom’s face turned ghostly pale.
That minor dukedom was the only thing the mother and daughter could rely on.
If they didn’t have money, they could sell the title to a nouveau riche for capital.
“If they lose the title too... then...”
Blossom’s hands trembled uncontrollably.
Even the teacup in her hands shook, spilling tea onto the table.
“Oh, Blossom.”
“......”
“Be careful. Someone bring something to clean that up.”
Blossom gripped the teacup tighter.
“And punishment on top of that...”
The punishment from Duke Astra would be unimaginable.
Blossom looked at her mother with trembling eyes.
“Um, Mother, I’m not feeling well, so I should go back now...”
“What? The results aren’t even out yet.”
“B-but I feel so unwell...”
At that moment.
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded on the door, which opened, and a tall man entered.
He carried a bundle of hair and a stand holding crystals — it was Cainrod.
“The results are in.”
Blossom froze stiff.
Meanwhile, Bella stood up with a joyful face.
“The results have finally come!”
Cainrod passed Bella with an indifferent look.
He approached the Duke, and Bella hurriedly followed.
“Please tell us quickly. Is Blossom the blood relative of her sister—”
“No.”
Silence fell instantly.
Blossom, pale as a corpse, twisted the hem of her skirt.
Everyone but Bella wore sharp, harsh expressions.
Daymond, who had been tapping the sofa armrest, slowly raised his head.
Bella’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.
“That can’t be, that, that can’t be... that can’t be...!”
Erilot’s attitude towards the girl named Masa was definitely strange.
She even bought her a house and had people watch over her.
That “older sister” girl kept her close and living luxuriously.
“It was clear from the circumstances... but how could this be...!”
“This must be some mistake... Yes! The verification must be wrong. Otherwise...!”
“My elite mages and I personally verified it.”
“No! That’s impossible... right, Blossom?”
But Blossom said Masa was definitely Beltree’s daughter!
Bella shook her daughter’s shoulders.
Yet strangely, the daughter trembled as if she had guessed something.
“Blossom?”
“I-I don’t know. I really...”
Suddenly, it dawned on me.
The plan was ruined.
“She wasn’t it. That maid girl wasn’t Beltree’s daughter after all.”
Pale Bella quickly looked at the men.
“Could it be that the verification target was wrong? The target wasn’t the blood relative of the sister?”
Devon looked coldly at Bella.
“When verifying, I used a tooth from Beltree I had. That girl was definitely Beltree’s blood.”
She had something like that?
Bella grabbed her head with trembling hands.
“A-ah! So the sister didn’t entrust her own daughter to me! Oh, I only trusted my sister’s words...!”
“......”
“I’m sorry. I only believed what was written in the letter from my sister and raised this child as a pawn.”
“......”
“Oh, sister. Why did you deceive me—”
Then Leo Taloff asked.
“Is that letter real?”
“Of course! Everyone said it was my sister’s handwriting.”
“Well, now that I see it, I can’t believe it.”
“I’m really hurt! Then where did that letter come from?”
At that moment.
“Forger.”
Erilot’s voice was cold.
“Father, investigate every forger in the empire.”
“......!”
“If they had contact with that mother and daughter, they couldn’t have left the capital.”
“What do you mean...!”
“Bring in every forger!”
Erilot shouted, then smiled faintly.
“Let’s check one by one whether anyone received money from that woman.”
“My lady—!!”
“If so, we’ll find out if she deliberately deceived us.”
Bella and Blossom paled further.
Bella clung to Daymond.
“Brother, you trust me, right? I’m Beltree’s sister and was her closest friend. For my sister’s sake—”
Daymond looked coldly at Bella and declared.
“Release all the agents in the capital and arrest all forgers.”
“Brother!”
“You have one day.”
The Astra knights guarding the reception room simultaneously slammed their scabbards on the floor.
“Order acknowledged.”
Bella collapsed silently, and Blossom covered her mouth.
With all Astra’s capital agents mobilized, the investigation took less than a day.
The third forger they brought confessed.
“Yes... yes... I wrote that letter for money from that woman...”
“Lies—!!”
Bella shouted in a fit.
“No, brother! That forger is lying out of fear...!”
“Do you have proof?”
At Devon’s icy voice, the forger fumbled and took out something.
“In payment for forging, I received this brooch...”
“How dare you lie! Brother, you’re not trusting that criminal over me?”
Then Leo Taloff laughed.
“Just ask Rochefain’s family to check if this is theirs.”
“......!”
“Looks like the truth is settled judging by their faces.”
Leo Taloff glanced at his men and asked, “Isn’t that right?”
Daymond stood.
“Inform Father, who has gone to the First Mansion.”
“No, no, brother!”
Bella grabbed Daymond’s pants leg and clung desperately.
“If the Duke finds out, I’ll die. You know that!”
“Do you think I won’t kill you?”
“......What?”
Daymond lowered his head and stared intently /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ at Bella.
“I’m holding back with all my strength even now.”
Bella swallowed hard and looked around for help.
But no one wore a sympathetic face.
Leo Taloff chuckled.
“What should we do with you, trying to deceive us?”
Bella realized.
She could no longer pretend ignorance.
“It’s not that, um, it’s just that the situation is too hard... The mother can’t raise the child alone...”
At that, Devon answered sharply.
“Not every single mother acts like a beast like you.”
Daymond coldly withdrew his hand from Bella’s.
“Go wait. Until you pay your dues.”
“Wait! Please hear me out, brother...!”
As Daymond and the men left, Bella hurriedly followed.
Blossom, left alone in the reception hall, clasped her trembling hands.
“What to do? What should I do now?”
Mother will lose her minor dukedom.
If Rochefain files a complaint, they’ll demand compensation from her and Mother.
They’ll become penniless commoners.
“Then the other ladies...!”
Blossom gritted her teeth and glared at Erilot, who remained behind.
“This is all your fault!”
“Suddenly?”
Blossom stormed at Erilot.
“You deceived me, right? You deliberately kept Masa close to fool me!”
“You laid the groundwork for fooling just you from the start?”
“You kept watching me, right? From the very beginning! Wasn’t it jealousy that I was the pawn of your father’s first love?”
Blossom completely lost her reason.
The commoner she so despised, and now thinking she’ll be penniless, her mind went blank.
“Ah, that’s right. You’re the daughter of a prostitute.”
“......What?”
Blossom’s lips curled in disgust.
“You’re the child of a prostitute who follows the army. Not just a commoner, a prostitute’s child!”
“......”
“So you were jealous, huh? Right?”
“......”
“How could you do such a thing! You’re worse than a beast...!”
Smack—!!
Blossom’s head snapped sharply to the side.
Her cheek burned as if aflame.
“You... you...”
“Say that again.”
“You hit me... me...!”
“Say it again about my mother.”
“I’ll tell everything! I’ll tell the uncles you’re really like this!!”
Erilot grabbed Blossom’s chin tightly.
“We knew from the start. That you and your mother were lying.”
“What did you say?”
“But we gave you a chance, just in case.”
Wondering if you really were Beltree’s daughter.
If so, Erilot and Blossom would be stepsisters.
“But you couldn’t tell right from wrong and kept acting up, like you were the Astra heiress.”
“Th-that’s...”
“Who will the uncles believe? Me, who knew everything but stayed silent? Or you, who lied and strutted around?”
Erilot’s grip tightened on Blossom’s chin.
“Ugh...!”
“I’m fairly lenient with children.”
“L-let go! Let go of me...!”
“At least three chances.”
“Let go—”
“But you lost all your chances.”
Erilot released Blossom’s chin like throwing it away, then spoke to the servants watching.
“Bring all the young ladies waiting outside inside!”
Blossom flinched, looking at Erilot.
“W-why them...?”
“They’re dying of curiosity, so I’ll explain the situation myself.”
Blossom’s face turned greenish-blue.
The price of lies was beginning.
That evening, Ishiron Mansion.
Masa, done with her work, headed to the kitchen.
She carried carefully chosen clean dishes.
“Masa? What’s going on?”
The kitchen maid asked, and Masa smiled softly.
“Alexis, the young master, said the Duke would be visiting. So I’m preparing some snacks...”
The maid nodded.
Masa hesitated for a long moment in front of the bread prepared as a snack for the Ishiron household.
“She doesn’t like sweets much... but she likes meat, so maybe something with ham?”
It had been a long time since she’d seen the young master.
As she pondered which bread to pick, she overheard the maids’ voices.
“Blossom and Bella Rochefain from Astra?”
“Yeah, the shame they suffered was unbelievable.”
“Oh my, is that what all the noise was about this afternoon?”
“Yeah, that was gutsy.”
Rumors of the Blossom mother and daughter had spread across the capital.
They were even growing bolder.
“The daughter of Astra’s Second Viscountess pretending to be her?”
“No way! That’s different from what I heard.”
“They said she deceived everyone. So she was flaunting that she’d soon be admitted.”
“There’s also talk she had a delusional disorder. She got caught up in the delusion and believed it was true. That’s why they even tested the bloodline.”
“They said it was fake. The magic in her hair didn’t match that of the Astra heiress.”
“No, I heard she begged for another test. This time they said the hair they brought was real.”
Hair?
Masa glanced at the maids.
“Madam Rochefain suddenly insisted on trimming my hair...”
She remembered being startled by that sudden demand.
The maids continued chattering.
“Anyway, it seems they must have had some reason to believe her.”
“Yeah, otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered testing again.”
“Could it be they wanted to take my hair?”
If so, maybe that means...
Masa murmured.
Come to think of it, Blossom said,
“The young lady treats me so well for some hidden reason.”
So... maybe...
