The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!
Chapter 250: A Petty Villainess

Chapter 250: A Petty Villainess

Adeline still needed a few minutes to calm down. Her chest felt tight. Why was she so rattled? Was it because there was a constant thought that loomed over her- What if she could never get them back?

What would her fate be? Will she still die miserably at the hands of Benedict? What about her family?

Edward, for some reason, had decided to stay by her side. She didn’t understand why.

She had expected him to mock her, to take some kind of twisted pleasure in seeing her like this. But he didn’t.

Instead, he silently handed her a glass of cold lemonade.

Adeline hesitated before taking it. The chill of the glass against her fingers was grounding, and when she finally took a sip, the coldness spread through her, cooling the heat in her chest.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

Why was he doing this?

This was Edward—the same Edward who had caused so much pain, who had manipulated people and used them like pieces on a chessboard. And yet, in this moment, he was the only one standing beside her.

Her trusted allies, the ones she had once held dear, had turned away from her.

And now, the person offering her even the smallest bit of comfort was Edward.

The twist of fate made her feel like the world was upside down. She glanced at him before focusing on the glass in front of her.

Her eyes looked down, she could see the hem of her skirt touching the ground, and next to it were his boots. His boots matched his robe. That was... Amusing.

She did not question why Edward was here. It would have been weird if he was not. The head priest must be here to bless the victorious prince, of course.

She regretted not talking to Cassian... He avoided her and she avoided him, if she could have just met him once... Before he left, before the spell was cast over him.

Would it have made a difference?

She looked at Benedict and Cassian again. Was the spell really so powerful that it could make them forget their friendship? All the feelings? All the memories? No, she was simply expecting a miracle.

They see her, and suddenly they remember everything. Unfortunately for her, she was not in a fairytale.

Adeline wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

She didn’t say anything. Not yet.

For now, she would simply accept it. They will not look at her or talk to her the same way again. She could not think of facing Dimitri. His forgetting about her hurt the most. She just... She could not take it.

Taking another sip of her drink, she let her gaze drift over the grand banquet hall. The room was filled with nobles, their conversations blending into a dull hum in the background. Laughter, clinking glasses, the occasional burst of applause—it all felt distant to her.

Her world was shattering but everything went on as normal.

"Are you drowning in self-pity?" Edward taunted.

"Hah. I’m allowed to do that. I was targeted." Adeline scoffed. They did not start their investigation, she did not get a chance to meet them alone to even assess the magic cast over them.

She undid the plague magic Edward cast, did she not? Her holy powers could achieve this, but she never got the chance to even try. They hated her. They looked at her coldly.

"Aww, poor you, Adeline. They just got their autonomy taken away from them, are they not more pitiful?" Edward said thoughtfully. Adeline looked up at him with a look full of disgust.

"YOU are talking about this... You..." She could not believe what he was saying. The audacity...

"Yep. I am a hypocrite, and I’m proud of it." Edward smirked.

She was right, he was not the one to be lecturing about taking away one’s autonomy. Did he not do the same? Still, those words left his mouth faster than he thought. He wanted to get a rise out of her.

Sitting there drowning in self-pity was not like her. She was stupidly brave, and he needed more of that. Not this.

Edward stood to her side, his posture relaxed.

She was too aware of his presence.

Too close.

The space between them felt smaller than it should have been, and she wasn’t sure if that was because of him or because of the way her own thoughts were spiralling.

She forced herself to focus on the people before her.

Adeline took a slow breath, steadying herself.

She was still their ’best friend’ in name, wasn’t she? So what if they refused to take an audience with her? She would force them.

She wasn’t just anyone.

She was the pampered daughter of the Western Marquess.

The villainess of the story.

And if Annora wanted everything to play out the same way as before, then Adeline would give her exactly that.

Let her have it.

Adeline pushed back her lingering emotions and got up from her seat. Her movements were slow, deliberate. As she passed by the long banquet table, her fingers brushed over the glasses until she picked up one filled with red wine.

She eyed Annora’s spotless, pure white saintess robes.

A bitter smirk played on her lips.

In the original story, Adeline had been nothing but a petty villainess. A nuisance.

If Annora wanted that version of her, then fine. She would be exactly that.

Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she made her way toward them.

Cassian and Annora stood together, looking as if they were in their own world. Annora had a soft smile on her face, her gaze fixed on Cassian, and he... He seemed completely at ease beside her.

It was suffocating.

Adeline’s grip tightened on the glass.

They hadn’t even noticed her approaching.

She stopped just a step away from them.

Then, with the most innocent voice she could muster, she said—

"Oops. Sorry."

The glass tilted.