TLFKCT 04

Chapter 4

The Male Lead Went Crazy for the Incompetent Villainess

On the twenty-fifth day of being locked in the attic, I was finally released.

After returning to my room, I took a bath and changed into a fresh set of clothes. It was finally time to say goodbye to the clothes I had been sweating through and washing every single day.

For the past twenty-five days, I had done nothing but exercise.

Thanks to that, my muscles were still far from perfect, but they had become quite firm. As I ran my hand over them, I found myself thinking that I might actually miss this place a little.

“Can I at least run now?”

There was no way I could handle the sword or firearms I used in my old body with this one. Besides, this world only had swords and bows.

Tsk.

If I had come here with my old body, I might have been able to beat the monsters to a pulp.

What a shame.

I’d have to keep training and building my strength from now on.

Still, I felt like I should at least carry a dagger.

“Lady Rosana, His Grace the Duke wishes to see you.”

I nodded.

The long, flowing dress I was wearing for the first time in ages felt incredibly awkward. It was obviously styled according to the duke’s taste.

From Rosana’s memories that had seeped into me, I knew the duke was a terrible control freak.

He forced his tastes onto his daughters and tried to control them however he pleased.

Rosana’s insistence on wearing dresses and making a fuss throughout the entire expedition must have come from that obsession.

The moment I leave, I’m throwing every one of these dresses away.

“Can I go in now?”

“Yes, Lady Rosana.”

Let’s see what he has to say this time.

I entered the duke’s office.

The scene was no different from the one I had seen right before being locked in the attic.

“You seem to have been doing well, Rosana. You look like you’ve put on some weight.”

The duke pointed it out sharply.

It wasn’t fat.

It was muscle.

But there was no reason to provoke the duke right now.

“I’ll make sure to control my weight from now on, Father.”

I gave him the answer he wanted, and the duke nodded.

“Good. That is only proper when you consider the future. Tomorrow, you will attend the founding ceremony of the Golden Lily. Do not hesitate to use any means necessary to secure a place beside the Crown Prince. Who knows? He might actually succeed and return alive.”

The duke smiled unpleasantly.

“Stay by his side throughout the expedition. Do whatever it takes to attract his attention. Well, having a child would be good, too.”

What a disgusting bastard.

No.

How could someone like that even be a father?

I really felt sorry for Rosana.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, Father. I’ll dress up beautifully as you said and stay by the Crown Prince’s side without leaving him.”

I answered without emotion.

The duke nodded, looking pleased.

“Good, Rosana. I’ll put my trust in you.”

The duke continued lecturing me about various things, but not a single word was actually useful.

He told me everything from how to seduce the Crown Prince, what kind of clothes men liked, and how I shouldn’t neglect maintaining my figure even during the expedition, to warnings not to associate with low-class people.

I endured the torture while singing the national anthem in my head.

‘Listen here, old man. You’re the most low-class and vulgar person of them all.’

The Imperial Palace’s grand square was packed with people.

It was quite a sight.

It seemed people had come from all over the Empire to watch the founding ceremony of the Golden Lily Expedition.

And it made sense.

The fate of the Empire rested on the Golden Lily Expedition.

If the expedition succeeded and safely returned with the sacred relic, they would be able to defeat the monsters.

If they failed, however, the chances of becoming food for the giant wyvern would only increase.

Even now, the southern regions were suffering because monsters were attacking residential areas.

The Emperor stood on a huge platform, with the nobles lined up below him.

In front of them stood the expedition party that would be setting out today.

There looked to be at least a hundred people.

There were knights and mercenaries among them, but quite a few nobles had also been dragged here as representatives of their families, just like me.

The sky was gray, and a cold wind was blowing fiercely.

Well, it was the perfect weather for the end-of-the-world atmosphere.

I stood at one side of the square wearing a dress embroidered with both the Ardena family crest and the Imperial crest.

Among all the people wearing armor, I stood out like a sore thumb.

That crazy old duke had made such a fuss about making me wear a dress the Crown Prince would definitely like that this was the result.

At least the dress was so voluminous that I could hide the leather pouches I had prepared.

They were filled with jewels I had secretly taken from the estate.

I regretted not being able to take more.

I had cleaned out both my own dressing room and the duke’s, but it was a shame I hadn’t managed to raid the wardrobes of my other two siblings.

I wasn’t afraid of getting caught.

I was leaving anyway.

“Ah, this thing is so heavy. How am I supposed to fight in this? It’s practically begging a monster to tear me apart with its teeth.”

I muttered while fiddling with my dress.

With all the lace and frills covering it, I looked like a walking wedding cake.

I still couldn’t believe people actually wore things like this every day.

I wanted to make the duke wear one.

The noble lady standing beside me looked at me with a pale face.

“M-M-Monster teeth?”

She was trembling from head to toe.

But she wasn’t the only one.

There were plenty of people like her.

They wore armor and clutched swords, but most of them had probably never properly held a sword in their entire lives.

Some of the noble ladies even looked like children.

That was hardly surprising.

Most of the people the nobles had sent as representatives of their families were nothing more than sacrifices to save face.

They were being treated as spare lives for the heirs.

The trembling young lady in front of me was probably one of those sacrifices, too.

At least it was better when a family sent a mercenary or someone who had actually trained with a sword after adopting them into the family.

“Ah, don’t worry. You won’t die. Our expedition will succeed.”

I was being completely sincere.

According to the novel, we were guaranteed to succeed.

I clenched my fist and said,

“So be brave! Fighting!”

“H-How can you be so, so sure? Lady Rosana, did you h-hear something? D-Did someone tell you?”

I hadn’t heard anything.

I had read it myself.

Of course, I couldn’t exactly explain that.

I quietly shook my head.

“Not exactly… But we have to believe we’ll succeed. We’re not going there to die, are we? Oh, by the way, I should check the price of iron ore when we pass through the northern region.”

Our first destination was the north.

If I remembered correctly, the north was rich in iron ore.

If I could get my hands on just a few mines, I could make a fortune.

The problem was that I didn’t have nearly enough money to buy them outright.

Fortunately, though, this was around the time when mines and land would start appearing on the market for dirt-cheap prices.

Actually, buying a gemstone mine would be even better than an iron mine.

The farther south we went, the more gemstone mines there were.

“Perfect.”

I nodded happily, pleased with my flawless plan.

The noble lady beside me looked at me blankly.

“…What? What did you just say?”

Bwoooooo—

Just then, the sound of a trumpet rang out.

It was the signal announcing the Emperor’s arrival.

A moment later, the Crown Prince and commander of the expedition, Kael, stepped onto the platform in black armor.

Sunlight broke through the clouds and flashed brilliantly against his armor.

Wow.

He really looked exactly like a male lead.

The square fell silent in an instant.

Everyone stared at him without even daring to breathe too loudly.

Kael looked around the square from the platform.

Then I felt his gaze stop on me.

What?

Why is he looking at me?

No.

If I were him, I’d look too.

Just look at what I’m wearing.

For some reason, I felt like Kael was looking at me with pity.

“People of the Empire!”

The Emperor’s booming voice echoed across the square.

At least his voice was impressive.

But this was still the corrupt Emperor.

“Today, we set out carrying the fate of the Empire on our shoulders! To protect this land from the threat of monsters! To protect the dignity of humanity! To protect our families!”

Cries broke out among the crowd.

They were probably the families sending their loved ones off to the battlefield.

Seeing them made my heart feel even heavier.

‘Let’s survive somehow and come back alive!’

My chest tightened with emotion.

I had been sent into countless operations before, but I had never felt this kind of tension.

Back then, I had faced humans and disasters.

This time, I was facing monsters.

One wrong move could mean getting my entire body torn apart.

My palms grew sweaty.

I kept wondering if I had prepared enough, what else I needed to do, and what might happen from here on out.

Just thinking about it made my head feel like it was going to explode.

No.

All I had to do was take care of myself.

The male lead and female lead would handle everything else.

In the end, I pictured myself surviving and living a rich, carefree life.