Unfortunately, I'm an Evil Villainess

Chapter 79 - Hunting Competition (II)

We had tea brought to us outside and more of our friends joined us. It was great fun, and as the afternoon waned, we started heading back. I halted as I glimpsed someone I knew and had been waiting for an opportunity to approach.

"You ladies go ahead without me. I'll see you after dinner for cards?"

"All right. See you later."

Annalise and Delilah herded the ladies to not focus on my absence. I nodded to Zoe, who I'd brought with me to the competition because of its greater importance than the average social affair, and she departed at once on the mission I had informed her of beforehand. The gentleman I targeted had noticed my advance and stopped politely while I strode towards him, purposefully slow to buy time for Zoe.

"Good evening, Lord Kyle. How are you?"

"Good, thank you, Lady Valentina. It's very lively here, as usual!"

I agreed and successfully made small talk with my brother's best friend, until in the corner of my eye I saw Zoe return. A safe distance away so as to not be detected by Kyle, she gave a firm nod before she turned and took off. I smiled.

"Shall we take a walk, Lord Kyle?"

He assented, and we followed Zoe at an unsuspicious gap just close enough to see where she was leading us through the small clusters of people around the palace. A certain female lead and her parents soon came into sight. Zoe shifted to make brief eye contact with me, and after receiving my affirming gaze, she left to inconspicuously rejoin us later.

"Look, Lord Kyle, it's Lady Catherine. Let us go greet her and her family."

Giving him no time to protest, though I was fairly sure he wouldn't have, I walked up to the members of House Bryant.

"Lady Bryant and Lady Catherine! How wonderful to see you!"

"Good afternoon, Lady Valentina. It's excellent to see you as well."

"Hello, Lady Valentina!"

Catherine's bubbliness was only mildly subdued by our last encounter, and my cheerful countenance gave her the audacity to brighten back to her usual self. My attention moved to the man with them, about forty-five years of age and of average height and appearance. Ah, so this was Baron Bryant.

I couldn't say I'd never met him before. In fact, I'd met countless men like him, which was part of the problem. Before the beginning of the novel, often when I visited Lady Bryant, we'd see each other and exchange polite greetings. With brown hair, green eyes, a plump figure, and nothing remarkable, he'd faded into the background, and I'd paid no special attention to him. After all, it'd be too risky and quite rude of a guest to try to murder her host's husband in their own house.

Back then, I'd thought he was merely smarter than appeared and a good father that wanted to protect his daughter. Clearly, with Catherine's current mental state and the advances towards my fiance, it was not so. I studied him with new interest and a courteous smile, noticing for the first time a glint in his eyes, faint but dangerously ambitious.

"It's been a while, Baron Bryant. How are you doing?"

"I'm great. Thank you, Lady Valentina, for asking, but more for being such a dear friend to my Catherine. Like my wife, she speaks most highly of you."

"Truly? I'm very glad."

Did he know that I knew he was trying to destroy my relationship? For the first time, I was aware of how hard he was to read. This was the real opponent I was up again, the puppet master holding Catherine's strings. If I could eliminate him directly, I could spare the poor girl, but alas, it would be far more difficult, and I simply didn't want to risk myself. Presently, I'd remind him who he was dealing with, to give him a warning and a way out before it was too late.