The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End

a cold, and you’re working here! Why don’t you go home and take care of her?”

The King is very fond of his youngest daughter, whose existence he has not known for fourteen years.

He has nothing to prove that Sophia is really his child, but he insists that she is his.

As a vassal and a nephew, Randall couldn’t let a disagreeable person get close to his uncle, but with his uncle like this, he couldn’t help but wonder what the future held.

He was pissed off when the king asked him to marry Sophia, but later thought it would be a good idea if he could get her out of the castle.
It would be safer to bind her in marriage and keep her under surveillance at the duchy than to keep her in the castle.

Randall did not intend to become a real couple with Sophia, nor did he intend to be kind to her.  There was no way he could love someone who would make his cousin Keira, whom he loved like his own sister, cry.

When he was told that Sophia had a fever, he naturally had no intention of visiting her.
But when the king kicked him out of the castle, Randall reluctantly returned to the mansion in his carriage.

“What?”

When he returned to the Duchy, he asked Johannes, the butler who greeted him, about Sophia’s condition.

“She is currently resting, sir.”

Johannes, who has been the butler of the mansion since Randall was a child, smiled a little, his eyes wrinkling.

“She’s a funny lady.
The Lady is easygoing.
I was surprised to see her playing in the water.”

For Johannes, who will soon be sixty, Sofia is like a grandchild.
For Johannes, a little bit of eccentricity can be dismissed as naughtiness.
But this is not the case with Randall.

“It would be a disgrace to the duke’s family if she were to do as she pleased!”

“The Lady doesn’t go outside of the mansion, and the only thing she’s done unusual is playing in the water yesterday.
You usually spend your time quietly, right?”

“I’m just playing with a cat.
She’ll come out soon.”

“Oh my, what kind of cat does the young master think of his wife?”

“…Don’t call me young master.”

When Randall looked like he had bitten a worm, Johannes suddenly turned serious.

“I’m sure you can understand.
The wife of the master is now his wife, the mistress of the house.
I don’t know what your suspicions are, but she is your Duchess, you need to pay the appropriate amount of respect.
Even if it is as your husband.
Because Lady Sophia is your wife.”

“…She is a fake princess.”

“Even if that’s true, she’s not a princess anymore, she’s the Master’s wife.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Randall slipped past Johannes and began to climb the grand staircase.

Johannes called quietly to Randall’s back.

“You’ll regret it if you make assumptions before you’ve faced them properly, young master.”

Randall did not answer.