Transmigrated as the Villainess Fake Young Lady, Please Spare Me, Female Lead Sister - Volume 1 Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Interlocking Fingers with My Enemy

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Lavendia’s body temperature was lower than Claire, with slightly cool fingertips and a thin layer of calluses covering her palm.

It was a sign of the hardships she had experienced in life.

Claire’s hands were different. As a noble young lady who never touched water for chores, her fingers were soft and smooth, delicate and fair, as if they could break at the slightest touch.

Even through a layer of thin silk gloves, Lavendia could feel this tofu-like softness.

Moreover, Claire’s hands were much smaller than Lavendia, able to be completely enclosed in her palm.

Holding hands like this naturally aroused a desire to protect from the bottom of one’s heart…

…It seemed some other desires were also quietly growing.

『Host.』

“(Humming)”

『I said, Host.』

“(Humming) (Whistling internally) (Ignoring the system)”

『As a diligent villainess, shouldn’t you avoid holding hands and pretending to be good friends with the female protagonist?』

Not listening, not listening, nonsense.

『…Host, you haven’t forgotten that not cooperating with tasks will result in punishment, right?』

Damn it, always threatening me!

Claire reluctantly argued: “How am I not cooperating with the task? When we get to the Aldrich house, I’ll definitely cooperate!”

“As for holding hands, this, this was Mother’s request, and the female protagonist initiated it, I had no choice.”

『As a villainess, you shouldn’t be reacting like this.』

“Reacting? What reaction am I— ah, I got it.”

Claire had a flash of inspiration and suddenly let go of Lavendia’s hand, changing to a new position.

Her slender fingers squeezed into the gaps between Lavendia’s fingers, gripping tightly, becoming interlocked.

Feeling Claire’s movement, Lavendia was slightly stunned.

The system added a question mark: 『?』

“Hehe, don’t understand now, do you?”

“This is a tactic of showing my determination by gripping Lavendia’s hand tightly to make her feel pain, giving her a strong warning!”

“It’s like arm wrestling to determine victory, even if you can’t win, you still have to grip your opponent’s hand with all your strength! How about that, isn’t that very villainess-like?”

“I’m interlocking fingers with my enemy, how terrifyingly fierce!”

『…Host, your understanding of being a villainess…』

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with my understanding of being a villainess, please display ‘genius’ on the public screen.”

Claire was absorbed in arguing with the system.

She didn’t notice that Lavendia, whose hand was suddenly held so tightly, was biting her lip with slightly reddened ears.

The way she looked at Claire had also subtly darkened…

At the side entrance of the mansion, Sophia had already prepared the carriage.

The journey to the Aldrich house was quite far, and the two young ladies would inevitably be tired on the way.

The maids had prepared cushions, cloaks, packed lunches for the two, and even several bottles of raspberry juice in the basket…

Claire said: “We’re going to attend a banquet, not going on a picnic, we don’t need all these, right?”

The maid Lily lowered her head and reported softly: “Madam Rosalyn asked us to prepare these, she was worried the two young ladies might get hungry on the way…”

“The master and madam’s gifts have already been placed in the carriage. The two of you can head to the side entrance to prepare for departure at any time.”

Gifts?

Claire suddenly fell into thought.

Oh right.

Come to think of it, this was going to someone’s birthday banquet.

Her parents as elders had prepared gifts, shouldn’t Claire herself also prepare something out of courtesy?

She completely forgot, and it wasn’t mentioned in the original story either.

Now that they were about to leave, where could she conjure up a gift… should she make do with the raspberry juice?

Lavendia had been slightly tilting her head and observing Claire’s expressions ever since they held hands.

Seeing Claire’s furrowed brows, she asked softly: “What are you thinking about?”

“Ah, thinking about Perin. Sister hasn’t met him yet, so it should be fine not having prepared a gift. But I can’t do that, I need to… ow?”

Claire responded without thinking, and the next second, a piercing pain suddenly transmitted from her hand.

It was Lavendia unconsciously tightening her grip on Claire’s hand.

The pain and fear of feeling like her fingers were about to be broken made Claire’s whole body shudder as she cried out:

“Ouch… Sister, it hurts, it hurts!”

Lavendia came to her senses and quickly loosened her grip. “…Sorry.”

The pain disappeared.

But Claire belatedly felt fear.

After several days without stake warnings, she had almost forgotten. Could this be the female protagonist using her impressive grip strength to intimidate her?

Wuwu, so scary.

Is Sister angry? Why? Everything was fine just now!

The favorability rating hadn’t decreased either, still at -20.

Speaking of which, is this favorability system really bug-free? Always feels like this number is just for reference, like the picture on instant noodle packaging, not very related to reality…!

Claire tried hard to cover her fear, adjusted her expression, and pretended to fiercely question:

“Why did you grip my hand so hard! Do you want to pain me to death? You really don’t know your own strength!”

Lavendia obediently lowered her head and accepted it, saying “Sorry” again.

She paused for a few seconds, as if hesitating to speak.

Her voice was hoarse as she asked softly: “…This Perin, are you close to him?”

When Lavendia was practicing dancing in the garden, she had accidentally overheard the maids gossiping.

They said that young master Perin of the Aldrich family was Claire’s childhood playmate, her childhood sweetheart.

They said that the Aldrich family trained swordsmen, making them a suitable match for our Grendel magic family…

They also said that Claire harbored secret feelings for this Perin, but Perin looked down on her.

After hearing this, Lavendia actually had no thoughts about it.

It was just baseless gossip, she had always despised the behavior of people talking behind others’ backs.

If she was the subject of discussion, she would just laugh it off, not taking it to heart at all…

But, they were discussing Claire.

Although rationality was trying hard to restrain it, certain imaginings still inevitably appeared before her eyes.

A man with an unclear face standing there, while Claire looked at him with those bright, sparkling eyes, with that adorable puppy-like gaze…

Looking at someone other than herself.

Just imagining it made her heart feel uncomfortable, as if covered by a layer of gloomy mist.

Irritation, unease, displeasure… unable to maintain rationality.

Even the familiar dance moves kept going wrong.

Lavendia had to stop and adjust her state with deep breaths before she could continue training.

So, back to the present.

Lavendia was still holding Claire’s hand, looking directly into the young lady’s warm orange eyes.

Although there was no reason, she vaguely hoped she would deny these rumors herself.

“…Perin?”

Claire blinked her eyes, using her wise little brain to understand the situation.

Perin was one of the male protagonists Lavendia would capture in the future, but everyone knew Claire and Perin were childhood sweethearts…

Could it be that Sister thinks I’m going to compete with her for her capture target, that’s why she’s so nervous?

How should she answer to both fit her villainess identity and let Sister feel she’s not a threat, that she won’t steal the male protagonist…