TVBDP 2

Chapter 2

That day, just like any other, I finished working late and returned home well into the night.

The moment I opened the front door, I froze.

My home was a complete mess.

Someone had broken in.

Realizing that my house had been robbed, I panicked, thinking the burglar might still be nearby, and hurriedly fled outside.

Then, the driver of a car failed to see me as I suddenly ran into the dark street and hit me.

And just like that, I died a completely senseless death.

And then I was given a second life as the villainess in this novel.

‘I like it. No, honestly, this is more than I could ever ask for.’

The spacious and luxurious room was so wealthy that it couldn’t even be compared to the tiny two-room officetel I had lived in.

And then there was this dazzling appearance—so gorgeous that even my own eyes hurt just looking at it.

I had always preferred celebrities with striking features and charisma like this over the delicate, innocent-looking type.

The real-life Yvonne Argenthoz, whom I’d only ever imagined through the author’s descriptions, was exactly my ideal type.

172 centimeters tall, with a model-like figure, those firm thighs, and an eleven-line six-pack.

Not an ounce of unnecessary fat anywhere.

Sis, take me.

‘This is an opportunity!’

I had no particular attachment to my previous life, so I clenched my fists and steeled myself to live my new life to the fullest.

No matter what happened, I would avoid causing trouble and live a quiet, comfortable life!

“Um, umm… Lady Yvonne.”

While I was making my resolution in front of the mirror, a maid who had been nervously fidgeting at a distance cautiously approached me and bowed deeply.

“Hmm?”

“Th-that is…!”

I had merely looked at her, but apparently Yvonne’s personality had been so terrible that the maid began trembling.

I felt a little sorry for her.

I was about to open my mouth to say something—anything—when the bedroom door suddenly flew open with a violent bang.

“Yvonne!”

The voice directed at me wasn’t particularly loud, but its sharpness sent chills down my spine.

“Did you throw another bomb into the Nasiel District? Why?! I simply cannot understand you. Why would you do such a thing?!”

‘A bomb… into the Nasiel District?’

As I listened to the charismatic man angrily shouting at me, I searched through Yvonne’s memories.

An image surfaced of someone throwing something toward a huge building.

Yvonne had thrown a bomb into a place called the Nasiel District.

No.

I had thrown a bomb there.

Before I could properly recall the details and piece together what had happened, a middle-aged man strode into the room and stopped directly in front of me.

‘Oh my goodness.’

Was the man standing before me really middle-aged?

Dazzled, I stared at him blankly.

The same beautiful silver hair as Yvonne’s, and vivid violet eyes.

The middle-aged man was tall and dressed in an extremely stylish black frock coat, giving him an overwhelming presence.

His handsome features and sharply upturned eyes were strikingly similar to Yvonne’s.

But because he was furious, he was absolutely terrifying.

This had to be…… the Duke of Argenthoz, Yvonne’s father.

“Why aren’t you answering me?! Are you planning to make excuses?! Or are you already thinking of running away again?!”

BANG!

The duke slammed the cane in his hand against the floor, and a sharp boom echoed throughout the room.

W-wow.

He was really scary.

Yvonne had a father this terrifying?

I hadn’t expected the villainess to have a happy family, but this was way too frightening.

I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t even open my mouth, let alone answer him.

“If you run away this time, I will remove your name from the Argenthoz ducal family register!”

“Y-Your Grace!”

A man’s voice came from behind him, trying to stop the duke.

I had no idea who he was, but thank you, sob.

‘I’m not going to run away.’

The duke pressed a hand to his forehead at the man’s intervention and continued speaking while suppressing his anger.

“This time, I truly cannot forgive you. You will be confined to the house. You are not to leave for the next month. Remember my words!”

Meeting the duke’s blazing eyes, I gathered all my strength and answered loudly.

“Yes!!!”

“……What?”

“Yes, Your Grace! I won’t move an inch from this room!”

Overwhelmed by the duke’s sheer charisma, I instinctively answered in a loud and spirited voice.

“What?”

The duke blinked in surprise at my attitude, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

‘Is he suspicious because I’m acting so differently from usual? But……!’

In my previous life, I had worked with a nasty senior coworker who insisted on speaking to me in a rigid, military-style manner.

Whenever I found myself in frightening or difficult situations, that stiff way of speaking came out of me automatically.

Even if he became suspicious, I just wanted to escape this terrifying atmosphere first.

With a determined expression, I instinctively moved my tongue.

“I’m very good at being confined.”

“……What kind of trick are you trying to pull now?”

“Pardon?”

The duke rubbed his temple with a complicated expression filled with both confusion and suspicion, then sternly warned me again.

“No matter how much you mock me, I will never let you off. Stay quietly at home as if you were dead! If you step even one foot outside this house, know that I will strike your name from the family register! I mean it!”

After shouting fiercely, the duke left together with the man who appeared to be his aide.

Silence settled over the room after the storm had swept through.

“Ah……”

Being scolded the moment I possessed this body left me completely bewildered and wronged.

Well, it wasn’t as though this was anything new.

In my previous life, my senior coworker had chewed me out constantly for the most ridiculous reasons.

‘This much is nothing…….’

As I stared blankly at the bedroom door, my personal maid nervously tried to comfort me.

“L-Lady Yvonne. His Grace is only like this because he was upset. He’ll surely lift your confinement soon, so please calm down.”

“……”

“Please.”

Seeing the maid’s pale face, another fragment of Yvonne’s memories faintly surfaced.

Whenever Yvonne was reprimanded by her father, the duke, she would use magic to destroy the furniture in her room and injure not only innocent maids but other servants as well.

As they say, a rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Even in this mansion, she had been an extremely violent and unruly young lady.

Remembering Yvonne’s terrifying behavior, I fell silent.

The maid, who had been standing far away, blinked and cautiously approached me.

“Lady Yvonne? Are you feeling ill?”

Apparently, she found it strange that I wasn’t doing anything despite being scolded by the duke.

Afraid that she might become suspicious, I flinched and tried to make my expression as arrogant as possible.

Yvonne had beautiful features, but when she wore a blank expression, she looked cold and intimidating.

Simply lifting my chin slightly was enough to make the maid start trembling again.

I recalled how Yvonne normally spoke and issued a short command.

“Now.”

“Yes, Lady Yvonne!”

“Bring me something sweet.”

“Pardon…?”

“A lot of it.”

The maid widened her eyes and tilted her head in confusion.

But when I gestured once more, she hurriedly left the room.

I promptly collapsed onto the spot.

The truth was, my first encounter with the duke had been so terrifying that my blood sugar had dropped.

It was wonderful to have possessed such an overpowered villainess, but I hadn’t expected her to have a father this frightening.

I was beginning to worry about my future.

A week passed.

I had expected the duke to come every day and lecture me, but the Duke of Argenthoz was also the Master of the Magic Tower and was extremely busy, so he didn’t even come looking for me.

And as for being confined to the house……

‘What the hell? This is heaven!’

It was an absolutely wonderful and comfortable life.

If this was what being confined meant, I wanted to beg them to keep me confined forever.

For an entire week, I lounged around my room as if I had become a newborn baby.

The meals delivered directly to my room through room service were so magnificent that they couldn’t even be compared to anything I had eaten in my previous life.

A spacious bathroom, massages from Yvonne’s personal aesthetician, beautiful jewelry and clothes filling the dressing room……

There wasn’t even a chance to get bored.

I had never experienced such a relaxed and comfortable period in my entire life, so every day I shed tears of gratitude.

Because I was happy.

Because I was grateful to have become Yvonne, a wealthy and fabulous villainess.

‘What if I had possessed the heroine Cordelia instead?’

Ugh.

Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

Looking at the current timeline, the heroine Cordelia Mare had just returned from defeating monsters alongside the male lead and was beginning a busy life surrounded by people as a hero.

I don’t want the heroine’s busy life.

I want to live lazily.

“Ah…… What wonderful weather for being a villainess.”

I muttered unconsciously as I gazed at the clear blue sky outside the window.

The maids waiting nearby trembled.

“Ahem.”

“I’ll bring you some fruit juice!”

“All right.”

Afraid that my personality might suddenly change and expose my true identity, I deliberately kept my words to a minimum even when speaking to my personal maid.

And so I enjoyed my wise and delightful self-isolation at the Argenthoz Resort.

‘Please keep me confined forever. I’m already doing nothing, but I want to do even less.’

But.

My dream of living happily while lounging around was mercilessly crushed when the butler came to find me.

“Lady Yvonne, His Grace is calling for you. Please proceed to his study.”

‘Damn it.’

I had been sprawled across the bed like a corpse, but I immediately sprang to my feet.

It was the exact same ominous feeling I used to get whenever my senior coworker returned from vacation and called me over as if he were about to take his frustration out on me.

‘Don’t call me……’

That was all I could complain about internally.

I couldn’t refuse the duke, so I quickly got ready and left.

‘Wow.’

Just as the terrifying Duke of Argenthoz had sternly ordered, I had obediently stayed inside my room the entire time.

Which meant this was the first time I’d stepped out of it.

Even though I’d spent all my time in my room, I hadn’t been inconvenienced in the slightest.

Yvonne’s room was so enormous that it couldn’t even be compared to the two-room officetel on the outskirts of the city that I’d struggled so hard to save up for.

It had everything I could possibly need.

I already thought I was living an incredibly luxurious life just from that alone.

But then……

‘Long live the villainess. Long live the villainess!’

As I walked through the corridors of the Argenthoz ducal residence, my eyes widened in wonder and I silently cheered with overwhelming emotion.

‘This is amazing.’

High ceilings, wide corridors, countless glass windows gently filled with sunlight, and intricate, beautiful decorations covering the floors and walls.

Magical stones of incredible value had been embedded into the walls, causing the corridors themselves to glow.

How much could this mansion possibly be worth?

The mansion alone must have represented an enormous fortune.

There were even magnificent statues and paintings displayed throughout the residence, making it practically a giant art museum.

‘I love this. It’s incredible. I want to keep exploring. I think I’d be happy just studying the mansion itself.’

The duke had told me to remain confined at home, so surely that meant I could at least walk around the mansion instead of staying locked in my room.

Thinking that, I continued walking toward the duke’s study.

Banners bearing the Argenthoz ducal family’s crest hung throughout the corridors.

A silver rose wrapped around a wand.

The Argenthoz family was one of the founding families of the Vervent Empire, having helped establish the empire by defeating the monsters that had run rampant throughout the continent.

Exceptional children with extraordinary magical abilities had always been born into this family.

Yvonne was one of them.

She wasn’t merely exceptional.

She was too exceptional.

So much so that she eventually became the final mastermind behind the entire story.

As I gazed at the family crest, something I hadn’t thought much about until now suddenly occurred to me.

‘Come to think of it…… I’m a mage, aren’t I?’

‘How exactly do I use magic?’

After spending all this time leisurely enjoying myself at the comfortable Argenthoz Resort, I hadn’t felt the slightest need to use magic.