20 years had passed when I woke up! ~ The villain's daughter’s thereafter and after that ~ - Chapter 22

Translator: Darling | Editor: Nebosuke

Most Regalian aristocrats had already gathered at the ballroom hall of the palace.

They were celebrating for the pacification after the coup. On top of that, they had an interest in something else. 

Fioria de Florence.

The leading aristocrat of the Tristan Kingdom… A daughter of the Duke of Florence clan. People called her the “Blizzard Empress”.

The territorial reforms she carried out 20 years ago had been analyzed by political scholars in various countries. These studies were well-known in the Regalia Empire too.

She was also the founder of the Granford Company and Franz Bank, whose assets were comparable to those of a medium-sized kingdom.

……Since most Regalian aristocrats were in a financial deficit, they all wanted to build a rapport with Fioria.

“Okay, let’s go, Tiara.”

“…Yes, sister.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yes, a little……”

“I understand that. This is the country you were born and grew up in and got exiled from… But Tiara, don’t worry and think twice. You have the honor of escorting me. Compared to that, what these people think about you is too little and too late.”

“You’re so right! Phew, I’m fine now. Let’s roll!”

“I’m counting on you, Tiara.”

This party was sponsored by the Regalian Monarch.

It was at the highest level in the form. Thus, a female had to be escorted by her male partner.

Many Regalian aristocrats asked Fioria to be their partner, but she declined all of them.

So, whom did she entrust her escort? It was her sister-in-law, Tiara.

She was dressed as a man, so nobody knew who she really was. 

She pretended to be “a young man adopted by the Duke of Florence”.

His (her) appearance was so attractive by which all women passing by would be fascinated. 

……… A gorgeous couple of a young noblewoman with golden hair and a young nobleman with his silvery hair. 

This was how their appearance was described and told among the public for a long time.

As Tiara and Fioria showed up, the atmosphere of the party dramatically changed.

First, there was silence.

The people at the venue, regardless of their gender or age, were wordlessly mesmerized by them.  

A Regalian nobleman wrote in his diary that “they were dazzling as if the moon and the sun had set in.”

“…How boring,” Fioria whispered.

The participants at the party just looked at them from a distance.

No one actively approached and talked to them.

If Tiara and Fioria looked at them, they looked away. 

Hey guys, are you scared of us? Aren’t you all the Regalian nobles? You all disappoint me.

Fioria couldn’t help it, so she decided to approach them. 

Thanks to Lex’s research in advance, Fioria already knew their faces and names. 

The first person she talked to was Duke Barren, an old man with a thick gray beard.

He was the head of the Duke’s family, which had the second-largest territory in the Empire, and he managed his territory wisely. Wealthy territories like his own were rare in the Regalia Empire.

After greeting each other, Fioria was about to initiate a chat… But, Duke Barren interruptingly shoved his hand into an inner pocket and took out a book. 

It was a novel.

Released just recently, it was the latest issue of a series in which women just like Fioria was the main character.

“I’m a big fan of this series. Would you mind if I ask you to sign in it?”

“… Sure, why not.”

His act was unexpected for her. Fioria reviewed the Duke of Barren. 

You give me a nice surprise. You are a good territory manager too. You may be the last one to be demolished… Alternatively, you should stay in.

After the autograph, they enjoyed a little talk.

Apparently, Duke Barren integrated Fioria’s reforms into the governance over his territory. 

It interested her, and she wanted to find out more about his management, but then…

The ballroom hall got so silent yet again….

This time, however, the air was somewhat like wet blankets. 

At the far back of the hall, a woman and a man appeared on top of the stairs that were connected to the royal-family-only upstairs. 

They were Prince Darc and Annerose.

Some of Annerose’s evil deeds were already well known.

Even though she was the fiancée of Prince Darc, she had intimate relationships with a number of young male aristocrats and knights.

When the ship sank, she pushed Prince Darc off and boarded a lifeboat herself alone.

Annerose apparently kept making excuses for what she did in order to defend her position. 

“I’ll change my mind from now on, and I’ll be only yours.” “Don’t leave me.” “I didn’t mean to do that, but I was forced to.” And so on…

Prince Darc and Annerose linked arms and slowly walked down the stairs.

Annerose looked proud and worriless as if she had won a victory. 

Did Prince Darc accept her apology?

….. It happened while everyone in the hall was confused.

“Annerose! I’m breaking the engagement with you!” Prince Darc suddenly shouted. 

He abruptly and rudely shook his arm loose. 

“What…………?”

Annerose was frozen in shock. 

Prince Darc’s arms extended and grabbed her shoulders.

Then he pushed her off.

Despite being covered by the red carpet, the stairs were quite high and long.

Annerose rolled down.

She hit her head, arms, and legs….. and plunged onto the floor at last.

“You swindled me back then! You lied that Tiara pushed you down the stairs… It’s bad karma to you! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Prince Darc laughed out loud.

He walked down the stairs satisfactorily, trampled upon Annerose’s hair who was laying on the floor and headed to Fioria.

“Fioria, you like unexpected events, right? Did I surprise you? This is my present.”

“…I see.”

Fioria hadn’t heard even half of Prince Darc’s words.

She was more worried about Tiara.

She was indeed once pushed down the stairs by Prince Darc. That still haunted and traumatized Tiara.

“Ahhhhh!”

Tiara was quivering.

She was upset and about to collapse.

“I have found my true love. I love you.”

Prince Darc kept telling her how much he idolized her right then and there.

He was annoying.

He was very annoying.

“Fioria, please marry me.” 

“Shut up, you son of a bitch!”

Smack!

A sharp explosive sound echoed throughout the ballroom.

With her palm, Fioria struck Darc‘s cheek. 

It was not just a slap.

Basically, Fioria’s strength far exceeded that of the average man.

“Ahhh…..Gwww….!”

Darc was beaten down onto the floor.

Her one smack knocked him out. 

Fioria didn’t care about him at all though.

“Are you alright, Tiara?”

“I don’t feel well, sister……”

She made Tiara sit on a chair nearby and stroked her back.

Tiara seemed to get her calmness back a little, but she needed to rest properly.

“Do you want to go back to the room?”

“No, I don’t. I’d like to see everything. Annerose is my unforgivable foe.”

Despite Tiara’s face being so pale, her eyes looked determined. 

Then, her intention had to be respected. 

Fioria walked up to Annerose.

“It’s been a long time. Do you remember me?”

“Fioria…! I won’t forgive you! I will never forgive you…!”

Annerose stood up fragilely and her entire body displayed her hatred. 

She had hit her head badly, and her forehead was bleeding. 

“I wonder if I did something wrong to make you have a grudge against me.”

“Always, always you disturbed me…! It was just one more step forward to get what I wanted. I should have married the prince, and many men should have loved and revered me. I was about to get a happy ending! I was almost there!”

“Selfish happiness. That’s what it is.”

In short, Annerose wanted to create her reversed harem or something of that sort…

If it is a maiden game, maybe you can. But it’s impossible in reality….. Fioria was about to say so, but she didn’t.  

Speaking of which, this was a world of maiden games.

“Hold on, you shot yourself in the foot. I didn’t do anything.”

Annerose’s adulterous behavior was disclosed due to a group of her lovers that revolted on a ship. Fioria was completely irrelevant.

“Also, what did I do 20 years ago?”

It was a mystery for Fioria.

She practically had no relation with Annerose. 

She was poisoned on the first day she met Annerose and fell into a coma. She had no idea why Annerose madly hated her.

“Jake wasn’t happy with me because of you!”

“Is Jake the Orlecian?”

“Yeah! He was one of my targets. Why did you snatch my important springboard away? You ruined my plans to capture them all together!”

Jake de Orlecia was Fioria’s classmate.

He married Katya, the leader of the 4th Knights Regiment. Fioria got them to get to know each other. They were now enjoying their happy family. 

Actually, Jake was one of the targets in “Deep Sleep Amnesia”.

……. It was true that Fioria eliminated Jake’s route way before this story began.

“I don’t understand this! I’m the heroine of this world, right? Why are you behaving like the main character even though you are playing just one of the supporting roles?”

“…Aha.”

Fioria squinted her eyes.

Through this short conversation, she was discovering who Annerose really was.

Annerose was probably a reincarnated person like Fioria.

She probably regained the memory of her previous life at an early stage.

She seemed to be seriously aiming for her reverse harem, but it was fair to say that she had a happy-go-lucky brain. 

Her plot might do well in the short run, but it would all turn bitter in the end. 

There was no doubt that she would be inevitably trapped in a boggy love-hate drama, and that was exactly why Annerose was in big trouble now.

“I didn’t like you when we were in the game in the first place! How many times do you think I got unhappy endings because of you?”

“It’s not fair to accuse me of that.”

In fact, the Oswald route of “Deep Sleep Amnesia” was well known for its extreme difficulty.

Fioria herself gave up being his fiancée for the happy ending, but she would repeatedly testify to Annerose before reaching her final goal.

Etiquette, dancing, knowledge…etc.

In the game, Fioria recognized Annerose’s potential early, and she was trying to educate Annerose as a suitable individual to be the next queen…, but this reincarnated Annerose in front of her probably didn’t read the descriptions through.

“Why are you such a popular character?! You just didn’t want to get your fiancé taken away, and so you harassed me. You are such a pain in the butt!”

Annerose shook her hair, grabbed and pulled her dress as if she was tearing it off, and hysterically screamed. 

Fioria was speechless apart from saying, “Please distinguish the game from reality…”

You are just taking it out on me…

I don’t know what to do when you throw a tantrum, which you got in the game, at me in reality. 

“I finally got reborn. Why is it all the same as before?! What’s wrong with stealing men from other women? These women who lose their men are dumb. What’s wrong with having many men? If men are seduced by a woman like me, all these men are fools. Despite that, they resent me…!”

Annerose bit her teeth.

Her hands were strongly pressing her flanks.

…….. Maybe it had something to do with the cause of death in her previous life.

“I’m not wrong at all! God thinks so too. That’s why he reincarnated me to be Annerose! But all you do is to get in my way! Die! You just die! You are a mere underdog! Not only you. Everybody, Darc, the old fart of Sylberia, and all the guys here! Everyone should be dead!”

Her arrogance and anger burst out.

Annerose had a demon-like face.

Her hair was messy, and her forehead was bleeding profusely.

She looked horrific. 

The aristocrats in the hall were appalled, frightened, and trembling.

However, there was a single exception.

“In that case, kill me right away.”

Blizzard Empress.

A saint who couldn’t be a saint.

Golden Goddess of destruction and compassion.

Fioria de Florence.

She was holding an apple in her left hand.

She picked it from a table nearby.

“What are you doing, Annerose?

Aren’t you the heroine of this world?

Doesn’t God love you?

If so, you can do whatever you want.

…………or, are you all talk and no action.”

She raised the apple high, which was ripe red and looked juicy. 

And she easily squashed it with one hand.

It broke into pieces.

The apple fell apart and dropped on the floor. 

“This will be you in 5 minutes, Annerose.”