Transmigrated as the Villainess Fake Young Lady, Please Spare Me, Female Lead Sister - Volume 1 Chapter 21

Chapter 21: What’s Wrong With Me Folding a Rose?

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“Thank you sister, sister is so understanding~”

This was the last sentence spoken during breakfast.

Silence.

Quiet.

Heavy atmosphere.

The villainess aura duration had ended.

At the same time, Claire felt that her transmigrated life might also be coming to an end.

『It just started not long ago, right?』

“System, shut up…”

Claire sadly ate Lavendia’s portion of pudding.

Unfortunately, even the rich sweet milky flavor couldn’t ease her heartache now.

How could she not be heartbroken? Lavendia’s favorability rating was stuck at -55!

5 points lower than when she first started, back to square one.

『But host’s last line was very good, keep it up, keep going!』

Perhaps because the system realized Claire’s timid personality meant being harsh wouldn’t work, it started trying encouragement and education now.

That last line… was also what caused the current dead silence in the dining room.

What Claire actually wanted to say was—

“Sister is so sincere and understanding of human nature and social graces, she must understand my true feelings! Thank you sister for giving me your pudding to eat, this is truly the happiest thing today—!”

…Simplified, it became “sister is so understanding.”

Ha ha, who would simplify it like that!

It was all the system’s fault, okay? It just came out in the heat of the moment.

Very sorry for not being able to satisfy System-sama!

『It’s fine, I’m very satisfied! I think you performed exceptionally well, host!』

The system very annoyingly yet enthusiastically set off fireworks in Claire’s mind.

『Keep up this momentum and it’ll be great! Although just saying irritating things gives a slightly poor villainess impression…』

『It would be better to directly flip the table, splash tea in her face, stab her palm with a fork, that’s more straightforward.』

『But host being able to do this much is already very good!』

『Time waits for no one, after this trial run we’ll start the next mission—』

Claire’s eyes went dead.

She put down her fork and placed the silk napkin back on the table.

Suddenly remembering that when dining at high-end restaurants before, people would fold napkins into heart shapes, rose shapes, pinwheel shapes…

Lavendia hadn’t finished eating yet, so she didn’t dare leave early.

She could only pretend to suddenly be very interested in napkin folding, clumsily folding once, then again based on her memories.

Diagonal fold, center fold… rolling up layer by layer…

Claire tried hard to make her gaze innocent and pure, changing her aura back to that of a harmless little rabbit.

However, in Lavendia’s eyes, it wasn’t that way at all.

Although Claire seemed to be in a better mood after eating the new portion of milk pudding.

The malicious gaze and overbearing aura also seemed to have disappeared.

But what did she say just now? “Sister is so understanding”… did she hear wrong?

Understanding?

Lavendia’s fingers holding the fork turned slightly white.

What excellent sarcasm from a superior to an inferior.

A condescending tone of “you know your place, that’s very helpful”, as if Lavendia had paid her some protection money.

She couldn’t be certain before, but this line was definitely mockery without doubt.

Sure enough, the previous performance, the tentative probing, and that fleeting sensation on the terrace were all illusions.

Claire must harbor malicious intentions toward her, or else is plotting some bigger conspiracy.

“Heave-ho…”

A tiny sound like a small animal.

Lavendia looked up to see Claire carefully using her delicate pink fingers to smooth out the wrinkles in the napkin bit by bit.

Sensing her gaze, she didn’t raise her head to make eye contact. Just her fingertips trembled slightly as she pressed her lips together nervously.

That smear of strawberry jam was still on her lips, a bright warm red, not looking as creepy now.

Lavendia lowered her eyelashes.

However, she felt even more irritated than before.

This girl, clearly couldn’t suppress her malice toward me just now, why pretend to be pitiful and delicate now?

Is she toying with me? Trying to cover up and hide her schemes? Or putting on another show of sisterly affection?

How ridiculous…

That I myself would be affected by this level of provocation shows I’m still far from mature enough…

She recalled Sophia’s worried yet cautious reminder at the door earlier:

“Young Lady Lavendia, please be careful.”

Silently raising her guard level against Claire in her heart.

But, merely being defensive would also mean continuing to fall into her trap, being led by her pace.

Occasionally she should launch appropriate counterattacks.

Thinking this, Lavendia put down her teacup, gracefully stood up, walked around the dining table, and came to Claire’s side.

Claire had just finished folding the napkin layer by layer into an arc shape and placed it in an empty glass.

Then she carefully, effortfully pulled the napkin out bit by bit.

The white fabric flipped outward, barely showing the shape of layered petals.

『…Host, what are you doing?』

“I’m trying to please the female lead… no, of course I’m showing off my superior manual skills and exquisite artistic cultivation, using what’s at hand to make her feel inferior!”

『Uh, she might just think you’re childish…』

“Don’t worry about it, the next mission hasn’t started yet anyway, what’s wrong with me entertaining myself?”

『→_→』

Claire raised a cute smile: “Sister, are you finished eating? Shall we go to etiquette class now?”

Lavendia’s expression was faint as she looked at the rose folded from the napkin in the glass.

She’d never seen this elsewhere, unexpectedly not knowing that noble young ladies had such clever ideas.

No, she shouldn’t praise her. Should think, what kind of small trick is this to distract people’s attention.

Lavendia curved her lips coldly, yet her deep purple eyes showed no trace of warmth.

She said softly: “Alright, Young Lady Claire.”

At the same time she bent slightly closer, a strand of silver hair falling onto Claire’s shoulder.

“However, before that…”

She raised her hand and pulled out the white rose Claire had just folded from the glass.

Then without even looking at it, mercilessly unfolded it, her fingers carefully smoothing out the creases—

Lavendia kept staring straight into Claire’s eyes.

It was intimidation, probing, and observation, in any case, containing no tender feelings.

Claire instinctively wanted to back away, but had nowhere to retreat to, and was frozen in place by that gaze.

Lavendia held the napkin that was a rose shape just seconds ago, letting it return from decoration to its original purpose.

Her touch was gentle yet thorough as she used it to wipe Claire’s lip corner.

Through the thin silk, Claire seemed to feel the temperature of Lavendia’s fingertips.

Soft, warm… fragrant.

It was the scent from her hair.

The young lady froze in place, her cheeks turning a dawn-like rosy red.

She lowered her head dumbly, looking at the napkin Lavendia showed her.

Against the snow-white soft silk, a tender sweet red color was particularly eye-catching.

Lavendia straightened up, tucking that disobedient strand of hair behind her ear again.

She said softly: “If you don’t wipe it off, the etiquette teacher will say you don’t meet noble etiquette standards, right?”