"Hah! Even the Villainess can look sad?" Cressida slurred, her laughter sharp and bitter.
Agrona's expression didn't waver. Her emotions vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by that cold, composed elegance only she could wear.
Her sapphire eyes held a silent command as she regarded the drunken girl before her.
"And it seems," Agrona said softly, "my little mouse has lost her way in the maze."
╔═══════════════════════════╗
║ [SYSTEM] — NEW EVENT TRIGGERED ║
║ "The Villainess and the Drunk Mouse." ║
║ Every action taken here will alter the novel's fate. ║
║ Progression to LEVEL 2 will be available. ║
╚═══════════════════════════╝
'W. T. F? They even took her stupid nickname for me as the event name?!'
"I'm not in the mood for any of your games right now, little mouse," Agrona's tone dropped like frost, her voice sharp enough to cut through the silence. For a second, her eyes flashed from cold sapphire to burning crimson, a fracture in her carefully constructed poise.
She was trying to stay composed, but the cracks were obvious.
After all, how could anyone stay calm after watching their husband crown another woman in front of the entire empire?
She may not have loved the man, but humiliation was still humiliation, and it stung like venom.
"It's not my fault you have horrible taste in men," Cressida muttered, crouching down to rummage for another bottle of wine.
Agrona's gaze hardened. "It was never about taste," she said, her voice heavier. "It was about duty."
"Ah, right. Duty," Cressida muttered, exhaling through her nose as she pawed through the table for another bottle and found nothing again. She groaned, pushing herself up, only to lose balance and crash ungracefully onto her rear. "Well… that was embarrassing."
Agrona's gaze sharpened, her irises burning crimson like a blade pulled from the forge. Without hesitation, she strode forward and seized Cressida by the arm, her grip iron-tight, enough to bruise.
"First of all," Agrona said, voice trembling with fury she could barely contain, "how did you even get here?"
"Why, of course," Cressida slurred lightly, flashing a crooked grin, "I bribed a servant. With my blood."
"You what? You cannot just offer your blood to anyone," she hissed. "It's mine to savor. If others drink from my blood slave, it taints the very value of what's mine."
Cressida laughed faintly, not because it was funny, but because it hurt less that way. "Isn't it ironic?" she interrupted, her tone soft but piercing. "Cressida spent so long trying to please you, only to realize… You're not that different. "
"I don't know what you're trying to do, but there's no future for you beyond these walls. You'll die nameless. Worthless."
But the girl interrupted her once again. "You keep trying to please him, but no matter what you do-" her gaze flicked toward the distant hall where the party had been- "he never looks your way either."
║[SYSTEM] −10 Negative EXP — Provoked the Main Villainess During Emotional Instability.║
However, the woman was right. There really was nothing waiting for her beyond this point.
What you were born into was where you'd rot.
Her parents had sold her off, her name was a stain, and inside the body of this pathetic mean girl was a sinner wearing borrowed skin.
Even the idea of redemption felt like a cruel joke.
In this room stood two women, each abandoned by the world, each surviving on nothing but the remains of themselves.
Then, through the haze of alcohol and despair, a ridiculous thought formed in Cressida's spinning head.
"Marry… me…"
Agrona blinked. "What?"
"I said," Cressida grabbed the woman by the nape, pulling her close until their breaths mingled, "Marry me."
Agrona could see it clearly, those weren't the eyes of a woman in love. They were the eyes of someone making a desperate bargain with fate itself.
"You want to marry me?…"
The curtains fluttered like startled birds as the moonlight divided between the two figures that stood. One tipsy and reckless, the other utterly unprepared.
Agrona, statuesque and elegant, blinked down at the girl before her. Her diamond-cut eyes searched Cressida's face for a clue, anything at all, to prove this wasn't what it sounded like.
But the silence stretched. And Cressida didn't blink.
"Yes, let's marry," the younger girl declared, her words slurring with the warmth of too much wine.
She didn't care how unladylike she looked or perhaps she was blissfully unaware she was even swaying.
Agrona's brow arched. "And… the reason is?"
"I'm so tired of this tired old script!" Cressida burst out, throwing her hands everywhere. "The villainess regresses, acts a little nicer, and suddenly, boom, all the male leads come crawling back. Is everyone here addicted to being chased by people who treated them like garbage?!"
Agrona's eyes widened, her mouth parting. "…How do you know that—"
"That's not the point!" Cressida jabbed a finger at her. "The point is: why don't you just marry me instead?!"
"I…" Agrona faltered. "I have no understanding of what's gotten into you, but…"
"But what?!"
"You do realize I'm hundreds of years older than you, right?"