Lady Catherine Bryant had gentle waves of golden hair and bright green eyes shining with naivety. Her features were perfectly innocent, like a pure angel, untainted by the sins of humanity. A true female lead. 

Yet something was off. Her outfit and makeup were too mature, an elegant dark blue dress that dampened the childlike liveliness that would’ve suited her best. It wasn’t as awful as what Annalise described to me about the debutante, and I knew it was only a matter of time before she found her style and unlocked her full potential, but I enjoyed knowing she was currently no match for me at all. I smiled, disguising a smirk. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Lady Catherine. I’m friends with Lady Bryant, and she speaks most highly of you.”

I could see why she was noticeable and ‘not like other girls’. With her lack of training, she possessed none of the usual grace expected of high society, but I supposed it could be argued that it enhanced her cuteness. The distinctly unrefined way she held herself plainly made her stand out, though that was both good and bad. 

I instinctively looked down on her, like my brain recognized her posture as that of a commoner. She obviously didn’t belong here, and I intended to correct that. My preliminary assessments today would tell me exactly what strategy to use. 

“Lady Bryant is so kind! I really appreciate everything she's done for me!”

Her smile was blindingly sweet, almost stunning me for a moment despite my mental preparations. Ah, such was the power of the heroine. My intuition informed me that this was the most guileless girl in the world, but after my initial reaction, I needed logic to make sure. 

However, first, I needed to get rid of Kyle. Lady Bryant’s lack of affection was no secret to the rest of the world, and he was raising an eyebrow in question. My stage wasn’t a place for any side characters I couldn’t completely control, though I did see an opportunity I could pursue in the future. 

“She is wonderful, indeed. Lord Kyle, Damian said you were near an important discovery?”

Smiling, I gently glared at him. My brother just couldn’t stay away, but at least this was better than him coming in person. Kyle scratched his head guiltily, knowing me well enough to understand my message. 

“He wanted to see what Lady Catherine was like, that’s all. Now that I know how lovely she is, I can go tell him, so I’ll be on my way.”

While I did not appreciate him saying anything of the sort to my brother, I nodded. It would be a problem for another time. 

“Tell him I’ll be sad if he doesn’t focus on his work. Good night.”

After saying goodbye to Catherine, Kyle departed, and I was left with the girl that could be my mortal enemy. This was going to be fun. 

“Please excuse my brother and his friends. He likes playing around too much when he could be changing the world, so it’s best if you just ignore it.”

“Oh, all right. Your brother is so lucky to have you!”

I noted that she didn’t seem to mind in the slightest that I was advising her to stay away from an extremely powerful possible ally. I decided to probe more. 

“You flatter me. So, how are you settling in? It must be hard, coming back to your family after so long.”

“It is, kind of! Everyone is so kind to me though, so I can’t disappoint them.”

“Disappoint who? Surely they all understand?”

“Unc- Father. He brought me back, so I have to prove I’m worth it!”

She had been about to say Uncle, but a sudden look of terror flashed across her face, so unexpected of such a lively girl that I almost missed it. The baron likely instructed her to not talk about ‘Uncle’ much, since it wouldn’t look good for her to be very attached to a peasant, and his real identity as the supposedly dead valet may come out.

But there was more. The haunted determination in her eyes, the tenseness of her body, the quickly hidden fear of messing up, the little signs, were all so oddly familiar. In a previous life, I saw them within my tortured reflection in the mirror. 

My nails dug into my palm. No, it couldn’t be. I needed more to confirm this ridiculous idea. 

“What about the man that raised you before?”

“Uncle? H-he taught me to be good, and I will be.”

New anxiety and nervousness infiltrated her eyes, easily readable. A memory came to me, my mom from my past life squeezing my shoulder when I was a child at a dinner to make sure I would be ‘good’, and that same look in my eyes. I wanted to laugh at the irony. 

What could I do about it? I wasn’t certain, there was no proof, and she would never admit it. It was probably merely psychological, the baron too smart to leave physical evidence. Like what my old parents had done to me, but worse, since she didn’t have hope or a way out like I did, with university. She might not even realize. In the end, even I couldn't call it what it was.

How did this affect my plans? She was likely totally under their control, a loyal puppet to act out a beautiful love story for her father to obtain power. It made more sense, in a twisted way, that she wasn’t as perfect as the novel portrayed. On the other hand, she would be extremely easy to manipulate, if I played my cards right. 

“I think you’ll definitely make your family proud, Lady Catherine. By the way, have you made any friends yet?”

“Um, not really. I-if you don’t mind, Lady Valentina, can we be friends?”

“Of course! I must invite you to a tea party sometime, and we can chat properly.”

This would be the best decision for now, to keep her close. I had shipped off Sophia, her sole friend in the novel, and the rest of the aristocracy would presumably stay away due to her lack of sophistication. In public, I would arrange for unimportant ladies under my control to accompany her on rotation, never letting her get to know anyone closely. She would rely on my warmth alone, and depend wholly on me. 

Catherine’s smile was so bubbly and pure that I was forced to conclude it wasn’t an act, or at least not a conscious one, especially given how clearly readable she was. I had wished she was a white lotus, so I could simply reveal that to the male leads and be done, but fate wasn’t on my side here. If I wanted to paint her as a villainess, I would need to do that from scratch. 

I was satisfied with the results of my evaluation today, but I had one last test to do. Arguably the most important one, and one that irritated me endlessly, because it was a reminder I wasn’t able to guarantee that her actions would be useless like I had first planned so long ago. Nevertheless, I glanced affectionately at the crown prince, still safely surrounded, and she followed my gaze. 

“Say, have you met Prince Oscar yet?”

“I saw him at my debutante! Do you know His Highness?”

“Yes. He’s my fiance, after all.”

Catherine’s eyes widened and she tilted her head. I saw with amusement and disdain that she was very frankly surprised, but also confused. The fact held some additional meaning to her, and I ought to do my best to find out. But if the baron had ordered her to keep it quiet, I doubted I could get past that without much work. I could guess that it wasn’t good. 

Perhaps it was time to be more straightforward. Her curiosity was obvious, so I should make it clear exactly who he belonged to. 

- - -

“Huh?”

Catherine blinked, trying to process this information. She failed, so she decided not to think about it too much. 

What? How? When? Why? 

‘Fiance’ meant that he would marry her in the future. That was, Prince Oscar, the man Father said would marry her, would marry Lady Valentina, the beautiful girl in front of her and her first friend in forever. 

Lady Valentina was the sweetest in the world, and Catherine was sure she was very smart too. Did she make some mistake? Father couldn’t have, he was Father, and Uncle trusted him. Maybe there was a misunderstanding? 

“We’ve been betrothed since we were children, and we’re going to get married when I come of age.”

Lady Valentina laughed happily, a pretty sound, and Catherine was once again reminded of how right she and Prince Oscar were together. They were both perfect, for the world and for each other. Lady Valentina had stood unflinchingly next to his coldness, making him seem gentler, while she had wanted to run away. 

“That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

Lady Valentina was so nice to her, Catherine would be glad to see her happy. She would like for everyone to be happy, actually, because Uncle and Father would also be happy, but that didn’t seem to happen often. 

“But you seemed surprised?”

“E-eh? No, it’s just because I didn’t know.”

Catherine hated lying, but she hated disobeying Father more, and he had been stern in making sure she knew not to tell anyone. 

“Are you sure? You can tell me anything, you know.”

Lady Valentina was really a saint! In fact, Catherine had heard she was literally a saint for the temple. No wonder! Regardless, Catherine couldn’t tell her. 

“Yes! But I really just didn’t know. I’m sorry, I don’t know much about anything!”

Catherine smiled, comforting herself with the truth. Lady Valentina, thankfully, dropped the subject. They talked a bit more, and Lady Valentina left to dance. Prince Oscar did as well, every time finding new partners before Catherine could approach him. She herself danced with a few different gentlemen, but shamefully, she couldn’t focus on them. 

Catherine didn’t know if Father or her new friend was making a mistake, but she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to marry the prince, but that didn’t matter if Father wanted her to. She didn’t want to upset Lady Valentina either, but if it was a consequence of something Father wanted… she would do anything he asked without a moment of hesitation. 

She needed to be good enough to make everyone happy! That had been what she told herself her whole life, and it was more true than ever. She must. 

Catherine would ask Father about the prince, but whether he decided to tell her was his choice. There were many things about her he kept from her, but she was fine with that, because of the one principle Uncle taught her to live by: what she wanted didn’t matter, all she had to do was follow what Uncle’s demands, because he always wanted the best for her and she must repay him for raising her. All she had to do was obey.