From the start, I always knew this relationship would not work. But to think that...

"I'm in love with Paisley. And there's nothing you can do!"

'Ha...so that's how it is? '

I looked at my scumbag fiance who was shouting at me while holding another lady protectively.

This lady that he was holding, went by the name of Paisley.

This lady that went by the name of Paisley was my half sister who was the daughter of my father's mistress.

This lady that went by the name of Paisley was the person who I had protected when the whole society was against her.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sister... I-I didn't know when I fell in love with Ronald! It just happened. You don't need to be mad! After all, he never really loved you..."

Paisley stuttered as she spoke to me. Tears forming inside her eyes with a guilt ridden expression.

She looked like a pitiful and innocent creature.

Paisley was good with this look. Of course it was a given for the heroine of this novel I had reincarnated into.

[I Shall Save My Knight] was a story centered around Paisley, the illegitimate daughter of Marquis Deor. She had been raised as a commoner until the age of ten were she was brought into the Deor household.

Upon discovering about Paisley's existence, the Marquis' wife and daughter began to bully and torment Paisley.

Six years passed with the endless torture at the Deor mansion and Paisley officially turned sixteen. It was then that the plot of the story began.

It was the really cliché trope of the innocent Protagonist catching the eye of a prestigious young man.

Paisley and the Crown Prince of the Empire fell in love at first sight.

Paisley's half sister who was a crazy admirer of the Crown Prince could not stand for this and began to scheme Paisley's doom.

Thus Paisley's half sister plaid the role of the villainess in the story.

Meaning I am the villainess of the novel - Adrianna Deor.

After reading the novel and dying in my first life, I somehow got reincarnated into it with all my memories intact.

I woke up as baby Adrianna in the arms of my mother, Marchioness Deor, and from that moment onward every action I took was to enable me to have a stable future.

When Paisley was brought into the Doer mansion, I cared for her and protected her from the fangs of bad people.

I looked out for her at tea parties and events, making sure she did not make a mistake and tarnish her image.

I acted like the kind sister, far different from the original villainess yet in the end, this is how I am repaid?

"You don't need to explain yourself to her! She's not worth it!"

My scumbag fiance, named Ronald, held Paisley lovingly and cleaned the tears away from her eyes.

It looked like the perfect scene between two lovers. But in reality it was plain disgusting.

Just imagine the feeling of disgust when you come back from an outing in a good mood, going to show your sister a lovely necklace she had asked you to purchase for her, and you walk into your sister and your lover making out, in your room!

"Ronald... "

Their clothes were strewn all over the floor while Paisley looked up at Ronald with eyes full of love.

'Utterly disgusting'

Crash.

I threw the necklace I was holding to the ground, its shards shattering around on the floor.

'Glad I didn't buy it with my own money'

I put out my foot, stepping on the broken necklace, further crushing it.

"Pfft"

I suddenly broke into hysterical laughter.

Ronald and Paisley stopped their show of love and looked at me alerted, seeing me suddenly laughing like a lunatic.

They didn't seem to get how funny this situation is.

"I sometimes hear when people say they were bitten by their own dog.

I always wondered how that was possible. Like, how can a dog that I trained, turn on me? But now I understand"

I covered my mouth with my hand and gazed at Ronald and Paisley that were confused.

The look on my face seemed to pity them.

"Ronald I always knew you were a scumbag, but.. Paisley, my dear sister?"

Paisley flinched under my condescending gaze.

I smiled and spoke to her. "You've made your decision and now there's no turning back"

I turned around with those words and exited from the room, but with one last sentence.

"I'm sending some servants in to clean this place...so better wear your clothes in order not be embarrassed"

Clk. I closed the door shut behind me.

.

.

.

Adrianna Deor had been the villainess of the novel [I Shall Save My Knight] that was fated to be executed due to her crimes of endlessly torturing and scheming against the heroine.

But after being reborn as her, I of course did not sit back and wait for this horrible fate.

In order to get favour and opportunities, I took care of Paisley the heroine, like a loving sister.

My plan before had been simple:

When Paisley meets the Crown Prince and they fall in love, I'll be carried along as the sister of the Crown Princess, living a luxurious life given to me by wealthy brother in law.

I'll be given a simple life as I move to the country side after the plot has ended.

At the country side I would make various wines and try different blends. Open a new wine business under a different company name, from the one I already own.

Maybe I'd even take my mother, Marchioness Deor with me. Though I doubt she'll want to leave behind her splendid life of the Marchioness of the South.

But now, all these plans had been disrupted by my fiancé who I had helped and my sister who I cared for her.

Many ways on how to deal with them, went through my mind. But none seemed possible.

My scumbag fiancé, named Ronald, is the young lord and heir to the Belv Duchy of the South.

He's known as the most excellent bachelor in the South due to his fine looks and powerful family background.

I, a mere daughter of Marquis Deor could not take him down and punish him severely. Well...that would have been the case if I were the original Adrianna from the novel.

Currently, I, Adrianna Deor, owned and managed many businesses. Each being known around the South as very influential brands thus forming a business Empire.

The name of this business Empire is 'Wine'. Which is notably my favorite drink.

Though my identity as the owner of 'Wine' is unknown to many, I have a very popular image here in the South.

Adrianna Deor - the innocent butterfly. My reputation was that of an innocent and kind lady who donated to the poor and treated those of lesser status kindly.

I was known to be weak willed and a pushover.

Of course this was all just an act to gain the love of many people and be able to unexpectedly attack my enemies who underestimate my capabilities.

Who am I really? Well, I'm barely no different from the original cruel and evil Adrianna.

It's just that I don't go around bullying others who have not done anything to me.

"But when you do something to me, I'm afraid things would end up being so pretty... "

From this moment onward, I threw away my plan of living a peaceful life at the country side.

It was time to deal with all these trouble makers and take what's rightfully mine.

"This story needs its villainess back"

_______

"What?! How dare they?!"

Harper shouted after hearing the story about my discovery about the relationship between Ronald and Paisley.

"My Lady, we need to kill them!" Harper once again shouted.

Harper was my personal maid who I had grown up with.

Her mother was my mother's closest maid so I and Harper grew up to be close to each other.

"No need for such extreme measures... " Henry spoke up, trying to calm down his twin sisters fired up spirit.

Henry was Harper's twin brother who had also been my play mate. He was completely different from her.

"Extreme measures? Killing them is a blessing!"

Henry was bewildered about Harper's reasoning and could barely think of what to say.

"What if it's all a misunderstanding? Lady Paisley has been really helped by our Lady and they are really close? "

"A misunderstanding? Are you that much of an idiot Henry?

How can you misunderstand seeing your lover and your sister in your room, half ***** while making out?!"

Henry was silenced by Harper's rebuff and turned to me to deal with her vigor.

"Now, now Harper. Calm down. I might not kill them physically but will instead destroy their reputation and lives. Making it so bad, that they'd want to commit suicide"

I ended my sentence with a cruel smile and Harper smiled back to.

Harper clapped her hands joyfully and said. "Yay! It's been up to a month since the lady last destroyed someone's life! Oh, how long it's been!"

"You know me far better than that"

"I thought the lady was becoming... good"

I and Harper both laughed at her joke, while Henry stood by the side, pitying the souls of Paisley and Ronald.

He muttered under his breath. "The Deor household...is really...a scary place"

***

"What?! How dare they?!"

My mother's reaction was similar to Harper's, after listening to my explanation of Ronald's infidelity with Paisley.

"Adria, where's my sword?"

Mother stood up, walking too her closet were she kept her sword.

I quickly held her hand, stopping her from completing her actions.

"Adria?"

Mother called me by my nickname, meaning that she was very concerned about me.

I flashed her a bright smile and brought her back to her seat behind her desk.

"Mother, you know I can handle this"

Marchioness Jessica Deor had married into the Deor family and gave birth to me as her only child.

The Marchioness, my mother, had been a daughter from a wealthy Viscount in the capital.

Before getting married into the Deor family, she had been a knight of the imperial family.

Being among, the very few strong and notable female knights that had gone into war, my mother had earned herself respect and recognition here in the South and was respected as Marchioness Deor.

She had quite a high self esteem and loved Adrianna and could obviously not stand the fact that the mistress' daughter ousted her own daughter and stole her fiancé.

Mother stretched out her gloved hand and traced the ends of my cheek with her fingers.

"Oh my baby... are you hurt?"

I shook my head and raised the ends of my lips, showing her my evil smirk.

"Of course not mother. You know the real reason why I proposed to be engaged to Ronald is because of the stability between the Belv Duchy as they help your knight program.

Besides, I've told you before that I knew that he's cheating on me. The only thing that comes as a surprise is that he was cheating on me with Paisley"

It was the truth. The only reason why I proposed an engagement to Ronald was because of the knight program that my mother had started.

Many migrants and homeless people wander around the outskirts of the Belv territory.

Our people couldn't just barge into their territory and take away the people.

We had no relationship with the Belv Duchy, thus my engagement to Ronald opened up many business prospectives which I wanted mother to take advantage of.

I had no feelings for Ronald and only saw him as a means to rise in status and door to opportunities.

I knew about his womanizing habits very well but didn't mind.

Even if we got married I still wouldn't care. To me, marriage was just an official means of take-and-give.

But seeing Paisley who I had trained, snatching what had belonged to me... I can't just help but feel pissed off!

Mother patted my head and flashed her own wicked smile.

"I'm glad you're okay. Since you want to handle them yourself, make sure to deal with them so that they'll regret betraying and messing with you!"

"Alright"

Mother then changed the topic to something else.

"The war between our Empire and neighboring kingdom has quickly come to an end, after only a month!

It's probably owed to the Crown Prince's involvement with it. I heard he was fighting at the front lines and was able to slaughter a hundred men at a time. Such an exaggeration"

Mother doubted that he could single handedly kill over a hundred people, however, I held different thoughts.

Crown Prince Nathan was the male lead of [I Shall Save My Knight]. He had supposedly fallen in love with Paisley at first sight during his debut Ball.

However, unlike in the novel were he would be revealed to the world at the age of eighteen, his debut had not yet happened despite him already possibly being twenty two, since he was said to have been older than Paisley with two years.

Paisley was already twenty years yet the Crown Prince Nathan had not ever shown his face to the world.

His identity and look was unknown by everybody.

In the novel he was referred to as a monster who could only be calmed by Paisley's innocence.

There was a part in the novel were he had destroyed a whole kingdom by himself.

Since this was a fantasy novel, I wouldn't be surprised if the male lead could do that much.

"There's a rumor that the Crown Prince will have his debut once the army comes back to the capital after clearing up the carnage and claiming the treasures.

That will take at least two months so I'm already preparing dresses we'll wear to the event"

I had a nice chat about business and some personal matters with mother and finally stood up to leave as she continued sorting some paper work.

As I was leaving through the door she said. "But if you change your mind about dealing with Ronald and Paisley yourself, my sword is always ready to shed blood!"

'Such loyal people... I'm lucky to have become the villainess of this novel'

***

Night time had finally arrived and I went to my balcony and stood, staring up at the moon.

Many thoughts on how to deal with my newly gained enemies went through my mind.

I turned around and went back into my room. Walking over to my bed, I sat at the side of it and patted the space beside me.

"There's no use in hiding. I already know you're here" I said.

Out of a corner near my wardrobe, a dark figure came up to me.

The person was dressed in black. With a strong and tall build. His hair was dark purple in color, falling to the sides of a very gorgeous face with good proportions of all the features.

His broad shoulders and piercing silver eyes gave him a domineering presence as he loomed over me.

But I wasn't afraid in the slightest. This wasn't the first time he had come into my room in such a way.

"You're back so early. I heard that the war just ended" I said.

The man laughed and sat beside me on the bed. He leaned in close to me and smiled seductively.

"I had to be quick and come back. Before someone steals your heart away from me"

I pushed away his face that leaned in too close to mine.

"You don't own my heart"

"That's how it is for now, but very soon you'll give it to me yourself"

I smiled and decided to change the topic.

"What happened that the war ended so quickly?"

"I happened. Those little rats just had to attack my Empire when I wasn't in a good mood"

"Haha. Very funny"

The room was silent for a second. The silence wasn't awkward but instead felt natural.

Finally the man spoke up.

"You're obviously attracted to me, so why still insist on not cheating on that Ronald bastard? He cheats on you, so why remain so loyal, Adrianna"

I shrugged my shoulders.

It's not that I don't want to cheat on Ronald, it's more of the fact that I had been afraid. Afraid to get involved with the male lead and jeopardize my peaceful life.

'But now things are different'

"Nathan. I'm breaking up with Ronald"

For the first time, surprise appeared on the face of the usually cold Crown Prince.

Surprise then turned into a sincere smile.

Only I could currently make the male lead express such colorful emotion.

Unlike in the original story, the vicious and cold Crown Prince Nathan had fallen in love with me.