Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

71. The Princess is Really Easy to Handle

The moment Valentina saw that line of black text, the color and vitality returned to her pale face.

She didn’t have time to react to the provocative words; she quickly opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, reading it intently.

[Since you’ve read this far, it means I’m no longer around, right… Haha! Just kidding, I just wanted to say that!]

[What I really want to say isn’t any different from what I told you before. Since you don’t like the power of the dragon, I’ll take it back. You can continue to live as an ordinary human.]

[But I see you’ll eventually crave the power of the dragon again, so I won’t disappear from your sight, because I want to see how long you can hold out.]

[As for why I suddenly left back then, it was simply to see your reaction. I bet you were quite unwilling to be played by me until the end, looking like a pitiful defeated dog who couldn’t even get revenge!]

Upon reading this, Valentina’s previously heavy heart was instantly lifted, replaced by a familiar sense of gritted teeth.

“Hmph! I thought it would be something outrageous! But it’s the same annoying old routine! How utterly dreadful!”

At that moment, Valentina’s feelings could be described as a mix of joy and anger.

The anger, of course, was because she had been played again.

The joy stemmed from the fact that she still had a chance for revenge and could continue to be watched by Noah.

Thus, while the princess verbally expressed her disdain, her expression told a different story, clearly filled with a gentle joy.

However, that expression quickly froze.

—

Eh? Is it possible that this is also a trick of the Evil God? Perhaps the Evil God has truly left, merely pretending not to?

There wouldn’t be any messages on the back of the letter, would there?

Having been deceived so many times, the princess, now understandably suspicious, quickly flipped the letter over, and sure enough, she saw three lines of bold, enlarged black text.

【PS. You must be thinking, am I still lying to you, right? A commendable sense of caution, but unfortunately, this time it’s not a lie. However, since you’ve made it this far, in a sense, you’ve been toyed with by me once again.】

“……”

Although the message dispelled Valentina’s doubts about Noah’s lies, those few sentences left her feeling utterly defeated; her thoughts had been completely seen through by Noah.

Thus, the expression on the princess’s face was… well, not very pleasant.

After finally managing to be suspicious once more, she ended up losing so thoroughly!

“Ha, ha, ha… yes, it’s indeed a crushing defeat.”

Yet that unpleasant expression didn’t last long; Valentina seemed to come to terms with it, letting out a light laugh. She pulled out a chair and sat down, reading the letter Noah had left her over and over again with renewed seriousness.

Of course, she felt unwilling to accept it, but now she found that the feeling of being toyed with wasn’t so bad after all.

And as for her defeat, she just needed to keep a mental note of the debt to be repaid; there was no need to dwell on it. She should mature a bit.

In this incident, she had indeed been played around by Noah, but thanks to this experience, her mindset had grown once more.

She no longer complained or flew into a rage like before; if she felt unwilling and humiliated, she could just jot it down for now and wait for an opportunity to take her revenge later.

Didn’t the Evil God say she would eventually still covet the power of the dragon?

Hmph, then she would persist in showing him.

So what if he predicted her thoughts?

She knew she was being seen through, yet she still chose to act this way.

That way, it wouldn’t count as being seen through! (A twisted logic)

Though it made no sense at all, the princess had managed to convince herself.

“Ha, ha, ha… alright, I’ll hold on a little longer for you to see.”

Looking at the letter filled with black text in her hands, Valentina seemed to envision that arrogant and frivolous face, but she merely lifted the corners of her mouth into a competitive smile.

It was somewhat embarrassing to admit, but she didn’t really know how long she could hold out. Still, she decided to persist for as long as she could.

For instance, setting a small goal… how about a week?

“…Speaking of which, I thought I’d see his handwritten words, but it turns out these are cut-out letters from discarded documents of the Adventurers’ Guild, pieced together and magically engraved. I can see over thirty different fonts.”

Now that her mood had relaxed, even more naturally than before, the princess couldn’t help but shift her focus from the content of the text to the text itself.

She gently traced the letters on the paper with the tip of her index finger, convinced that this letter had been created using some magic to transfer someone else’s handwriting, not written by the Evil God himself.

This left her feeling a bit regretful; she had hoped to learn more about the Evil God.

That said, she was ready to treasure this letter properly.

—

Even if the words in the letter were penned by someone else, the arrangement and combination of those words—its very content—still reflected the thoughts of the dark god.

This was a challenge letter deliberately left for her by the divine being, and of course, she had to treasure it well.

After reading the words one last time, Valentina carefully placed the letter back into the envelope and tucked the entire envelope into her favorite adventure novel like a bookmark.

“…Heh heh.”

From noble mtl dot com

The princess, whose mood had completely recovered, even found herself grinning foolishly at the adventure novel that held the envelope for quite a while.

“Hmm~ Right, I should take a bath to change my mood.”

Stretching lazily, Valentina stood up from her chair, pushed it back under the table, and with a smile on her face, walked towards the door, intending to take a nice bath to refresh herself.

By coincidence.

On her way to the royal bathing area reserved for the royal family, Valentina encountered her sister, Delia, who seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.

“Oh, isn’t that Lady Delia? Did you just finish your bath? If not, would you like to join me? It’s a rare chance for us to strengthen our sisterly bond.”

In her cheerful mood, Valentina did something she usually wouldn’t—she actively invited her estranged sister to bathe together.

“Uh!? N-No, it’s fine, I’ve already finished. You go ahead, Valentina.”

“Is that so? Then I’m sorry to excuse myself first♪~”

Not caring about Delia’s sour expression, Valentina hummed a tune and cheerfully brushed past her, gradually walking away.

“…What do you mean Valentina is in a bad state, lost in thought! Doesn’t she look happy enough to be humming a song? How infuriating! I almost fell for it!”

Left behind, Delia turned her back to Valentina, revealing an annoyed expression.

She had heard many people say that Valentina seemed to be feeling down after a battle loss and was planning to take advantage of that to kick her while she was down!

But honestly, how could she look anything but victorious?

“Ha ha, I must say, as the wicked princess, Delia is quite amusing. I didn’t realize she had a talent for comedy.”

Noah, watching all of this from the ruined temple, couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Delia’s current expression.

To him, it was a great emotional distraction, as there was always one princess whose mood would be quite terrible.

—