I Never Wanted To Be A Villainess!!! Chapter 7: Surprise

“Mother, what’s going on?” Rosa asked her mother a few days later after she was poisoned. Luckily thanks to the system and her parents, she was fine, but for the first two days, she was bedridden. During this time, Rosa tried to figure out why she was poisoned, but she couldn’t think of the answer. Today her mother had come to her room and had the maids prepare her with a dark dress that covered her arms, hands, and neck for a reason that she couldn’t understand. It was quite warm out. Did she really have to cover herself like this?

“Sweetie, do you know why you were in bed for the past two days?” Relena asked her precious daughter, kneeling down to face her while making sure that none of her skin was showing.

“No?” Rosa knew that it was because she was poisoned, but she didn’t know how her mother would react if she told her that. She liked her current relationship with her mother and didn’t want it to change.

“Sweetie, you were poisoned.” Relena had hoped to hide this side of their family from their daughter as long as possible, but after recent events, there was no other choice. “When that maid spilled that tea on you, you were afflicted with poison.”

“I was?” Rosa asked.

“Yes, that poison was non-lethal, but it can affect you with skin contact as well. That’s why you weren’t feeling too good. It’s lucky that we have already begun putting poison in your food since your last near-death experience~.”

“…What?” Rosa couldn’t believe what she just heard. Her family was poisoning her this entire time! Why would they do something like that!?

“Rosa, there is nothing to fear,” Relena said, concerned that her daughter was frightened by this. They really did coddle her too much. “Everyone in the family eats food with poison in it, so that we can build our tolerance. Food poisoning is a very common method of murder in high society, so having even a small amount of poison immunity could mean life or death. We do this to protect you. Do you understand?”

“…Yes,” Rosa didn’t feel comfortable that her family was poisoning her meals to increase her immunity without telling her. However, she knew that this was what her family really was like, thanks to the game.

“That’s my girl,” Relena said, proud to see Rosa not backing away from her. She remembered what a hard time they had when they told Roland. He only changed after people started targeting Rosa’s life. “Now let me ask you this, do you think that the person that poisoned you should be punished?”

“…Yes?” Rosa didn’t understand. Didn’t they already imprison the maid that spilled the tea on her? What more did they expect to do?”

“Perfect, I’m glad that you agree~. Come along. There is much that we have to do,” Relena said, taking Rosa’s hand.

“Mother, where are we going?” Rosa asked as her mother led her out of the room.

“Sweetie, I have a surprise for you. Do you want to see it?” Relena said, happy to see Rosa’s face brighten up when she heard about the “surprise.” At home, Rosa didn’t need to wear the mask, as everyone that worked for the Dawn family was practically family. They made sure to deal with the servants that dared to insult Rosa and replace them with those that they knew would be completely loyal to them.

“Surprise? What is it?” Rosa asked though she assumed that it would just be another dress or snacks. Despite formerly being a male, Rosa never felt off about wearing female clothes. It was natural for her.

“If I tell you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?” Relena didn’t want to scare Rosa, so it was best for her to be vague for now.

“Hmph! That’s not fair.” Rosa was upset. Usually, her mother would tell her what surprise she had planned for her. She really wanted to know. Last time it was tea with her grandparents. Was she going to see them again?

“Sweetie, there at times you need to be patient. You don’t want to turn out like that spoiled brat prince now, do you?”

“No! I’ll never be like him!” Rosa yelled, embarrassed to even think that people would compare her to him. He was an obnoxious brat that would eventually try to kill her. There was no way that she could ever be like him.”

“I was only kidding,” Relena said as they entered her office. “Here, let me show you the first part of the surprise~.” Relena went over to the bookshelf and pulled out a thin red book, causing the bookshelf to slide open and reveal a secret passageway.

“Wow~! This is amazing!” Rosa couldn’t believe that there was something like this in her mother's office. “Where does it lead?”

“Fufufu~. To a very special place, but first, you must wear this.” Relena said, placing Rosa’s mask on her face before leading her down the steps. The air became cold, and a strange smell that she wasn’t familiar with began to fill the air. “Don’t be scared, sweetie. I’m here~.”

“O-okay,” Rosa said, clinging to her mother, starting to understand where they were going. The game only describes her family's actions in a passing note, saying that they commit dark deeds. Though one thing that she was certain of was that it expressed how her family tortured those that stood against them.

Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, Rosa saw rows of cages and prison cells. All of them were covered to keep her from seeing what was inside except for one—the one on the very end, where a woman’s staggering wheezing could be heard from.

“M-mother, what is… what is this place?” Rosa asked, terrified of what she was seeing.

“This is a special place for you and me~,” Relena said to her. “Your father and brother have their ways of dealing with things, and I have mine. Rosa, this is something that you should not fear. Many people hate our family, and we must do everything in our power to protect the ones we love. You wouldn’t want to see your father, brother or even me hurt or dead, now would you~?”

“N-no.” Rosa was terrified. She understood that her family cared deeply for her, but this was too much to bear all at once.

“Exactly, and we wouldn’t want to see you hurt either.” Relena could tell that Rosa was scared, but she knew that her daughter could handle this. “To be honest, we don’t want to hurt people either, but they give us no choice. Rosa, can you guess what is inside all these cages and cells?”

“Th-the people that hurt the f-family?” Rosa said, thinking that the cages were filled with thieves and assassins.

“Almost,” Relena said, happy to see that her daughter was catching on fast. “The people here are all the people that have ever tried and have hurt you. Rosa, do you understand that you have no mana in our body?”

“Yes, the teacher told me.” For the past month, Rosa was given a tutor to help her understand the core things that she couldn’t remember. One of those things was the lack of mana. All nobles have the ability to use magic, but Rosa was born with mana, making her unable to do anything, even after getting the skill for Rose Magic.

“Other people see you as weak and not pure. They see you as our weakness.”

“Am… am I a nuisance?” Rosa never knew about this. The game never went into it. Rosa was always causing trouble for her family in the game. Was she going to cause trouble for them now since she couldn’t use magic?”

“Sweetie, perish the thought. You could never be a nuisance to us,” Relena said, affirming her love for Rosa. It’s the people that try to harm you that are the problem. We have done everything we can to protect you, but the world is a very scary place. Your father, brother, and I want to make sure that you know how to defend yourself if we aren’t around.”

“I guess…” Rosa was starting to feel strange, almost as if she was compelled to listen to her mother's words.

“You need to understand how these people try to hurt you,” Relena knew that the way she was using to get Rosa to listen to her was horrible, but her mother did the same to them when they were younger, and they turned out fine. There should be little problems using the nightshade incense on her daughter.

Relena led Rosa over to the only cell that wasn’t covered. The same cell that Rosa could hear the wheezing from. Inside that cell was the same maid that tripped and spilled the poisoned tea on Rosa.

“Mother?”

“Rosa, this is the maid that poisoned you the other day. Go on, tell her what really happened.” Relena needed to make sure that Rosa heard this, knowing that it was what she needed to hear.

“I… wheeze… didn’t trip… I… wheeze… d-did it on purpose... wheeze… the queen ordered me…” The maid passed out before finishing, but this was more than enough to show Rosa the truth.

“Rosa, the queen tried using this on you,” Relena said, holding a vial with a muddy green liquid in it.

[Passive ability of Poison Mastery has been activated. Analyzing poison… … identified …]

[Ugly Moth]

“Small amounts of this poison can make you fatigued and sick and can cause severe rashes across your body,” Relena said to Rosa. Luckily you were able to resist the rashes thanks to the small poison immunity that you have been building up. If you hadn’t, your skin would be covered in rashes. A larger dose could make your skin start to peel off!”

What? No… no way that was possible. The queen wanted to use that on her? She’s done nothing wrong. Is this because she didn’t accept the prince’s feelings? That wasn’t fair!

“Rosa, she is the one that hurt you, so you get to be the one to decide her fate.” Relena knew that giving this decision to a ten-year-old girl was a lot, and she wouldn’t blame her for backing out, but she knew that this was something that Rosa needed to learn sooner rather than later.

[Special Villainous Event Unlock!]

[You have begun to stare into the darkness surrounding your family. Learn their ways and become an even greater villainess.]

[First Tsk: Punish The Would-Be Assassin. They poisoned you, and now it is your turn to make them suffer.]

[Reward: Covered Frozen Heart Lv.1]

[Failure to complete this task will have you shunned away from the dark side of your family, and they will continue to shelter you, and you will lose all rewards related to this event and will never be able to acquire them again.]