I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

“……”

After the visiting director left, Choi Na-kyung sat in her chair for a while, sipping tea.

The other person’s teacup on the table had already been cleared by the secretary. He hadn’t taken a single sip before leaving.

The secretary, looking terrified as she watched Choi Na-kyung blankly sip her tea, cautiously took away the teacup. It was clear she was trying to suppress a sigh of relief, seeing that Choi Na-kyung hadn’t said a word.

But Choi Na-kyung remained silent. Whatever she might say wouldn’t be well received anyway.

Where had it all gone wrong?

…No, she knew all too well that it had been wrong from the very beginning.

Not being able to embrace her who trembled in loneliness.

Not stopping her from following others.

…Being here now because she had asked for it.

Still, there was just one thing. Just one thing she had been holding on to.

“I thought I’d be able to meet her soon.”

Still holding the empty teacup in her hand, she murmured. Her gaze wandered absentmindedly in the air.

“……Have I made her late again?”

This time, she thought she had thoroughly prevented that from happening. Without giving Sara a moment to think, she completely blocked off her surroundings, cautious of outside influences.

The only one who could influence Sara was Choi Na-kyung.

The only one who could give love to Sara was Choi Na-kyung.

And finally, the only one who should be loved by her had to be Choi Na-kyung.

“……”

But again, this time too.

With trembling hands, she quietly placed the teacup down on the table. She knew all too well that throwing something around based on her emotions would only leave a bad impression on people.

There was nothing around her.

She needed nothing. That was why she had tried to leave only her.

Money, or anything like that, couldn’t make her hers.

But before she could even meet her—

“I see.”

Once again, she was foolish.

“……I made the same mistake.”

She muttered quietly.

Yes, the last time, she had cautiously approached but ended up not being able to have her.

This time she was careful in a different sense, and now she found herself in this situation.

“What should I do?”

Although she muttered that, she already knew there was only one way.

In the end, she would have to accept what the director said.

She had to properly show to others that Sara was Choi Na-kyung’s daughter.

For those who lacked faith.

*

“What?”

I couldn’t help but react that way upon hearing Yang Hye-in’s words.

“The Chairwoman said she would visit as soon as possible.”

Yang Hye-in replied with an expression that showed she felt very sorry.

Yeah, this wasn’t entirely Yang Hye-in’s fault.

Yang Hye-in’s fault was ultimately having to receive my mother’s contact that I ordered her to ‘reject.’

Still, even if I had given that order, I couldn’t just ignore it outright. A lot of the staff here were planted here by my mother, and she knew the ‘location’ of this place well.

No matter how much Yang Hye-in tried to control this mansion perfectly, there were bound to be people linked to my mother, and if that presence received her call, there was no arguing it.

They had left those people as they were in order to avoid stimulating my mother more than necessary, but I hadn’t expected her to move like this.

No, maybe I was thinking too loosely. I already had quite a few people in the mansion that my mother would be jealous of.

…Jealousy.

The thought of a mother being jealous of her daughter’s relationships was quite amusing.

In fact, even if we started to refuse communication with her, I couldn’t prevent her from visiting directly. Even if I blocked her from entering the mansion… if she came every day or waited at the door, we would inevitably run into each other.

To tidy things up, we would have to see each other at least once, but—

Not yet.

Not yet should I see my mother’s face.

If we did meet, my heart would surely be unsettled once again.

…And if that happened, it would be the person inside me who would face my mother, not me.

My mother would recklessly touch the body of the person who couldn’t even gather her wits—

No.

I didn’t want that.

Above all, that person hated meeting my mother.

I wanted to respect that person’s feelings as much as possible. If that person hated me leaning on my mother, I wanted to follow that wish. If that person hated me leaning on my mother—

If they hated it—

Thinking of that made my heart skip a beat.

The feelings that person had for me,

And the underlying desire, which was just my personal wish… the feeling of jealousy…

I didn’t dislike it.

Suppressing the smile that was about to rise on my lips, I asked Yang Hye-in.

“Of course, you didn’t mention when this ‘soon’ is, right?”

“……Yes, that’s correct. I’m sorry.”

Seeing her bow her head in apology, I fell into thought.

Thinking extremely pessimistically, it meant she might come tonight. My mother wasn’t overseas, and she was eventually in Seoul, whether at the company or the mansion.

Depending on the time of departure, it wouldn’t take more than 30 minutes by car.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm….”

I crossed my arms, pondering for a moment.

Next to me, Sohee and Sua looked at me with worried expressions.

“……”

Ah.

I see.

There was a way.

I probably hadn’t thought of that way because being here felt ‘so natural.’

So—

“Shall we escape for a bit?”

I must have completely missed that simple idea.

“……Escape…?”

Sohee, hearing my answer, repeated it with a dazed look.

“Yeah, escape. We run away to somewhere my mother doesn’t know about and stay there for a while before coming back.”

“Uh… Ah, that’s true.”

Sohee seemed to quickly understand and nodded.

“I see……”

And now, Sua, who was officially ‘missing’ at home, also nodded.

It might seem a bit off to call it ‘missing’ since she often returned home and had proper contact with her parents.

“The problem is the place—”

“Me!”

Before I could even bring up the place, there was a girl shouting loudly while raising her hand.

It was Sohee, who was taller and more mature-looking than me, and even though she usually wore her buttons undone and had a tanned complexion, she appeared quite innocent and naïve in such moments.

No, maybe it was precisely because of that that she looked even more innocent.

“I have an extra room at my house!”

“……Really?”

I totally didn’t believe it.

Of course, I didn’t think Sohee would be lying.

But I felt that if I really thought there was ‘one room left’ and went, something would turn out different than I expected.

In fact, we could scout a venue if needed. Just booking a spacious hotel room would suffice. Of course, there would be some hotels that might refuse us since we were all minors.

“Really! There’s an extra room, so we could stay for a few days!”

“……But it might be an inconvenience.”

It was obvious that Yang Hye-in and Sua couldn’t join us. Since it was ‘one’ room left. Three people couldn’t stay together there.

It would depend on whether the room was as big as the room I stayed in, but looking through that person’s memories, it actually seemed like the size of the mansion I lived in was abnormal. If Sohee grew up in an ordinary household, then the room size would likely be less than a quarter of this place.

“It’s okay, I’m a maid, I’ll go with you!”

No, that wasn’t what I was talking about.

I frowned slightly.

I didn’t know how it would be in this situation, but if she was working as a maid even in her own home, I couldn’t know how her family would see me.

Though things might’ve been different back in the day, I knew that such conduct shouldn’t happen in the current era.

“……It’s just a friend sleeping over, so it’s really okay…”

As I remained silent, Sohee spoke while intertwining her fingers. She might be taller than me, but she lowered her head slightly and looked up at me.

“……”

If I refused, she’d probably get incredibly depressed.

“……Okay, I understand. Then, let’s stay at your house tonight.”

I answered with a sigh mixed in my voice.

Well, if she was okay with it, it should be fine.

“Wow, really? For real?”

“Ugh.”

Sohee gleefully pounced on me, overly excited.

Her weight, which was hard to compare to mine, was felt right on my face.

…Should I feel jealous? Or should I feel embarrassed?

“……”

Knowing there was no way I could escape from this, I just held on until Sohee calmed down.

Honestly speaking, that warmth felt somewhat nice.

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