I Altered the Villainess' Fate by being a Hero!

| Chapter 42 | Caricature

"You accepted their suggestion, but why do you look like you regret it?"

"..."

Thomas stares out his large window, glancing at the rising sun every few seconds. His stance is stiff and it's quite obvious he's in stress. Devere has been observing him for quite a while now, even though he knows of Thomas' little habits since they were kids. His foot tapping, antsy hands, and a sweaty face. It's not the best thing to look at but there's no need to worry.

Thomas doesn't look like that if there are any other guests around.

"They're only surveying. In a month, you'll get the report." Devere says honestly, trying to assure Thomas. He grabs his long grey hair and starts to bite on it.

'It's getting quite bad..' Devere thinks, taking a mental note to cut his hair sometime in the future.

"Is it not the mission you're worried about?" Devere questions, moving towards Thomas and pulling his hair out of his mouth.

"..."

The man sighs, glancing at him." It's very unlike you to be quiet, and very unlike me to be speaking so much." He smiles. Grabbing Thomas by the shoulder to show assurance.

Devere could himself sweat at the contact, to which Thomas didn't refuse. Their height is almost the same, a jest that Thomas is only slightly taller than him.

"Will Rina be alright?"

His breathing died down at the gentle voice. He tightens his jaw, looking down at his old friend who gently rests his eyes.

Thomas has never slept last night, so this is expected.

'Always so worried over nothing.'

"Dear..." Anita's heavy voice drops the mood of her husband's study, making the man glance up at the sudden entrance of his wife.

"Raoul has been gone for quite a while now.." she fumbles with her dress.

Anita has done her own investigation. She's not the type to stand by and wait for something good to happen. In this case, she's placed eyes and ears around the royal palace using bribes. It's technically illegal, but no one could say no to a large amount of money.

In any case, she's not happy about the current situation at all, nor does she know how to break it to her husband who is desperately trying to use their daughter.

"Yes, it has been quite a while." Gideon replies non-chalantly. Anita hides her anger, looking away and not wanting to meet his gaze.

'How dare he..!' She grinds her teeth. She asked for a daughter since she was unable to birth another child. Her health is already quite weak and birthing another child could've had the chance of killing her. She believed that Gideon was treating their daughter well; now it's everything but that.

And it all started three years ago when Gideon attempted to suffocate Rina because she attempted to annul the engagement to Caesar. It was a shock, but now she truly sees what he's doing. She has never seen this side of her husband before.

When they met all those years ago, they were very in love. So much in fact that despite Anita's ranking as a daughter of a baron noble, he decided to marry her instead of finding a better candidate. She never regretted that choice until this very moment.

She stands in the room tense, the sound of Gideon's quill scratching on the parchment.

There, her husband stands uncaring about their son and daughter and the current situation.