I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 268

Chapter 134.2

As I looked at her silently, she covered her mouth and laughed loudly as though she didn’t need my answer anyway.

“You’re quite strange. Going all the way there just to play with cat shapeshifters. That’s why they said habits are incorrigible.”

“….”

“So, did you really start the cat shapeshifters circus or something? It wouldn’t surprise me. It seems like you’re being treated poorly by the Duke of Blois to the point that you’ll be in trouble if you don’t make money.”

As if she had thought of a fun idea, she turned to her friends and made a suggestion.

“Shouldn’t we hold a charity event to help the poor Duchess of Blois?”

Kelly was a person who was surprisingly good at talking to herself.

‘…How can she recite lines like she had memorized from a script?’

I marveled at how she talked without stopping, almost entranced, until the announcement from the entrance snapped me back to reality.

“Her Majesty, Empress Iris de Astor, enters!”

The murmurs of the crowd subsided slightly. As young Iris, with a beautiful smile, entered and looked around the audience, people she made eye contact with bowed their knees in courtesy.

Then, the gaze of the Empress fell on me.

As Kelly had mentioned, Rowaine had been flamboyant ever since acquiring the title of Emperor’s consort. So, Iris’s scrutiny might have felt stinging, but…

‘She’s smiling.’

She looked at me and gave me a favorable smile that no one else could see.

She was welcoming Rowaine’s return.

I admired inwardly.

Not Iris, but Elaine.

‘You’re completely fooling everyone by pretending to be innocent, Elaine.’

The relationship between the Empress, Rowaine, and Elaine was a tangled one.

While Iris was engaging in conversation with people and leading the atmosphere in the hall, the announcer belatedly announced the Emperor’s arrival.

“His Majesty, Emperor William de Astor, enters!”

The couple went separately, even on official occasions, and didn’t bother to hide the fact that they weren’t on good terms with each other. I secretly wondered if the Emperor would insist on bringing Renée with him wherever he went, as Rowiane always did, but he entered the banquet hall alone.

‘It looks like Renée’s refusal is firm, right?’

What on earth was she going through here?

‘I’m worried.’

I glanced at William, who entered with an indifferent expression.

William, who looked like a middle-aged Westerner in his fifties, had a slightly more chubby and ordinary appearance than I had imagined. His brown hair was peppered with gray, and the wrinkles around his forehead and eyes clearly showed his age.

He looked timid as he rolled his large, round eyes with heavy double eyelids as he scanned the audience.

The feared person who grabbed the hearts of countless dog shapeshifters, trained them as combat weapons, and sent them to the battlefield was, in fact, such a person.

It seemed he would collapse if Cadis attacked him.

‘He expelled the former Empress, who lived so peacefully, and even took his young niece, even if it was for political purposes. And now, he has been making women his daughter’s age one after another as mistresses. Ugh.’

He was even excessively obsessed and pathetic.

I shuddered as I recalled the verbose love letters I had received from Count Herman Heres before.

Then, all of a sudden, William and I locked eyes.

People’s eyes lit up when they saw that his gaze was on me.

Their expressions were expectant as if anticipating another amusing drama to unfold. They seemed to believe that Rowaine, who had a fierce and vicious personality, wouldn’t stay quiet for long. However, I refrained from any action.

To my surprise, William also just stared at me and looked away without any significant change in expression.

“Oh my.”

Kelly didn’t miss this and teased me with a sneer.

“What should we do? His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t even spare you a glance now. He was wearing such a cold expression. Did you come here to endure this? You might as well have stayed quietly in the estate.”

She looked very excited.

And she appeared to be even more confident than before, with a gaze that looked down on the weak. It was as if she had received unspoken permission to torment me as much as she wanted through the Emperor’s disregard a moment ago.

‘It’s ominous.’

I thought to myself at that moment.

Sure enough, I saw Kelly’s group exchanging glances with each other. Even though I didn’t know what it was about, I thought it would be best to avoid them…

“Oh, my!”

Before I could move, a servant passing by suddenly stumbled. Someone had tripped him.

I watched as glasses full of wine tumbled from the tray he was holding toward me in slow motion.

‘D*mn it!’

It was too late to avoid it. Ah, I never thought that after being transported into a novel, I would directly experience something that would only happen in a novel, like ‘getting drowned with wine at a party.’

I closed my eyes tightly.

But then.

“Rowaine!”

Someone grabbed me suddenly, calling my name.