I am not the Villainess

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 

Tatiana and Aaron went home shortly after that. Princess Nathalia was reluctant to let Tatiana go that if it wasn’t for Tatiana's promise to come back again, she would have cried.  

Noah didn’t say anything even when Tatiana and Aaron bid their goodbyes. He just nodded at them and turned his attention on Princess Nathalia. 

Back at the Cromello’s Residence, Aaron checked on Tatiana again if she was feeling ill. When he confirmed that Tatiana is fine, he left her alone to rest. 

Tatiana sighed and sat on her bed. It was a long day, but it was a fruitful one.  

She secured a deal with His Majesty that gives her a chance to fulfill her plans. Soon, her engagement with Noah will be broken off and she’ll officially cut ties with him. Although it is still in 6 months and a lot may happen during that time, Tatiana is confident that she will win the bet. 

She can finally relax now that she had taken care of the most important matter. However, it doesn’t mean her job is done. There are still other matters that she has to look into if she wants to secure her future. 

In the novel, Tatiana is not the main villain. Her role was just a petty villainess, who existed to bully the heroine and give opportunities to the couple for their love to grow. Later on, she will be used as a puppet by the great villain of the story and will be sentenced to inevitable gruesome death. 

That’s the other thing Tatiana is preparing for. Even after breaking off her engagement to Noah, it is uncertain that the main villain will not use her for his schemes. With her bad reputation to the public, it is easy and justifiable to blame her. Not to mention, Tatiana is the only daughter of the Great Duke Cromello. Tatiana’s downfall would also be the downfall of the House Cromello. Anyone who had common sense would think that using Tatiana would be like hitting two birds with one stone. 

However, Tatiana wouldn’t allow that. Her only promise to herself after coming to this world was to protect the people around her and to change her awful destiny.  

In order to do that, she needs her own power that could protect her in the future. She can’t just rely on the name Cromello. She needs to have a trump card. 

The first thing she has to do is contact the important people who could help her with her plan. The people she’s referring to are those minor characters that have great contributions to the novel, which are Alfred Rogers and Cali Williams. However, what Tatiana is worried about is how she could convince them to help her. Tatiana is known to have a bad reputation. People call her the ‘evil brat’, or the ‘foolish villainess', so it’s just understandable that she will be having a hard time earning their trust.   

The first person is Alfred Rogers. In the novel, he became acquainted with the heroine when Beatrice got lost and entered his shop to ask for help. Alfred is a talented inventor and businessman. However, before he met Beatrice, he was on the verge of bankruptcy. With Beatrice and Noah’s help, his inventions became widely known that he became the empire’s most treasured inventor, overnight.  

Alfred Rogers will become an influential person according to the novel. And Tatiana needs his help to accumulate her own wealth and power. 

The second person is Cali Williams. What’s unique about this world is that magic and magical creatures such as dragons, dwarves, fairies, etc. exist. And Cali Williams is one of the few powerful mages in the history of this world. He is also the head mage of the only magic tower in the whole Alvania Empire. 

The magic tower gave big contributions to the empire, but they are not under the Imperial Family. They have their own power and influence. That means the royal family can’t interfere with them as long as they do not damage or harm the empire in any way. 

However, in the novel, the magic tower, specifically, Cali Williams, offered his help to Noah during a time of crisis. It was also Cali who testified against Tatiana during her trial, causing her to be found guilty and was executed. 

Cali Williams is a powerful individual. With his influence and capabilities, it would be beneficial for Tatiana to have him by her side.  

More importantly, it was briefly mentioned in the novel that the original Tatiana ‘has yet to be awakened’. However, she didn’t know what this awakening means. She could remember, back as Jane, how curious she was when she read that detail, and how disappointed she was when Tatiana was killed off in the story without even explaining what that awakening is.  

Now, Tatiana is suspecting that the original Tatiana must have possessed something. If that is the case, then she needs Cali to find out what it is and use whatever that is to her advantage. 

Alfred and Cali are the two important people that Tatiana needs for now. If only she could have their trust, then it would surely advantage her. 

Anyhow, she had already sent them letters together with the letter she sent to His Majesty, but they have yet to reply. So, the only thing Tatiana could do was to wait and prepare.

- 

The next morning, Tatiana planned to go back to training again.  

Her body is extremely weak, for some reason, that she easily got sick. However, after her continuous training for a year with Kai, she noticed that her stamina is improving. Although it’s not entirely better, just like how she easily got sick three days ago. 

So today, she planned to visit the knight’s training grounds and train again. If she’s lucky and the knights are not training, she might be able to train her swordsmanship. But otherwise, she would just focus on her stamina first by running around the field. 

She could have just trained in her room, but the space is not enough and she would also need a few pieces of equipment. Besides, Tatiana wants to take this opportunity to improve her relationship with the knights. This could benefit her later on. 

On her way towards the training grounds, Tatiana is thinking hard about what reason should she give the knights. They will surely find it strange that Tatiana suddenly wants to train. Also, she’s wondering if she has to act all weak in front of them to make it believable that she had just started training or not.

As Tatiana pondered over her excuse, she have arrived at the training grounds. 

As expected, the knights were having their daily training.  

Tatiana slowly approached where the knights are, and it was only when she was close enough that the knights noticed her. 

They all stopped training and bowed to greet her. 

“Tatiana?” a voice called her. Tatiana looked and saw Aaron in front of the other knights. Beside him is sir Charles, her personal knight and also the vice-captain of the knights. 

Right. I forgot Aaron is the commander here.  

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