Please Fall in Love with Me! – A Villainess on Her Second Loop, using 'Seduction' to Avoid Ruin! - Chapter 1.8

“N-No! It’s not that I can’t, but… boiling such high-grade tea leaves… is that really acceptable?”

“Ah, B.G. tea will do just fine. That’s the one you usually drink, isn’t it, Sheska?”

“Wha—!? But that’s just cheap commoners’ tea! Are you sure? And… how do you even know that…?”

Of course, I knew.

B.G. tea was made from the lowest-grade dust leaves, which meant its flavor was bold and strong—perfect for steeping in milk and sweetening with honey.

While its ranking was the lowest, that only referred to leaf size and appearance, not quality.

Still, nobles avoided it because of its price, and some even looked down on it, mocking it as a peasant’s drink.

And the original Adelaide? She had been exactly that type of aristocrat.

“Yes, that’s what I’d like. Please prepare it for me.”

“U-Understood…”

“Oh, one last thing.”

I spoke before Sheska could leave, causing her to pause in confusion.

“What year, month, and day is it today?”

“Huh…? It’s the 20th of May, Year 873 of the New Calendar.”

“I see.”

So it was the same as my first life.

In Knights of the White Lily, the prologue began on this exact day.

The day the heroine awakened as the Saintess.

“Thank you. You may go now.”

“Y-Yes, my lady…”

The door closed behind her, and I took a sip of the tea she had prepared.

“…It’s good.”

The tea was wonderful.

And yet…

Something about it felt wrong.

This wasn’t the tea I truly wanted.

I wanted Sheska’s milk tea.

I knew it wasn’t fair to compare this Sheska to the one from my first life.

But right now…

I missed her so much.

“…!”

Tears welled up before I could stop them.

I shook my head furiously, forcing myself to snap out of it.

There was no time for sentimentality.

No point mourning the past.

Crying wouldn’t change my fate.

Wouldn’t save my family.

Wouldn’t bring back Siegvard.

“I need to think. How can I change my fate?”

In my first life, I had changed my destiny.

For the worse.

“But… not everything was bad.”

My father, my brother, the servants—they had believed in me.

And—

Siegvard had protected me.

Of course, that protection led to all of their deaths.

The worst possible outcome.

But…

In the game, Adelaide had always been abandoned—disowned by her family, reviled by the entire kingdom.

That hadn’t happened in my first life.

There were people who had stood by me, people who had mourned my death.

Sheska. The head chef. They must have cried for me.

Even though the final outcome was tragic, something had changed for the better.

That meant… there was hope.

I stood up.

Pacing the room, I let my thoughts race.

“I changed my fate once… and though the ending was horrible, some things changed for the better.”

Which meant—

Rather than doing something entirely different, I needed to build upon what I had already done.

Keep the good changes.

Fix the fatal mistakes.

“That means… first, I’ll continue building good relationships with my family and the household staff.”

I needed allies.

People who knew me, trusted me, and would fight for me.

“I’ll continue developing magic tools and commercializing new products.”

My inventions had earned me wealth.

They had also changed the way people viewed me.

This time, instead of hiding my identity, I would be open about it.

It might cause trouble, but it would also force people to see me differently.

“And then… there’s Siegvard.”

I still didn’t know why he had chosen to protect me.

But my father and brother had believed in me because I had forged bonds with them.

What if I had done the same with more people?

What if, back then, not just my family—but many others—believed in me?

If there had been enough voices saying:

“Lady Kishtaria would never attempt to assassinate the Saintess!”

Would they have executed me without trial?

Would Siegvard still be alive?

I clenched my jaw.

In my first life, I hadn’t cared about my public image.

I had focused only on avoiding trouble.

By isolating myself, I had left myself vulnerable.

So when they accused me of trying to kill the Saintess, everyone believed it.

Because in their eyes, I was still the same villainess.

And villains were always guilty.

“That was my mistake.”

If more people had defended me, a trial would have been inevitable.

And if there had been a trial, the evidence against me might have fallen apart.

The real culprit might have been exposed.

And none of us—

Not Father.
Not Brother.
Not Siegvard.

Would have died.

This time—

I would make them believe in me.