The Villainess Lives Twice: Butterfly's Dream (IF Story) - Chapter 54

Lysia slowly trudged into the house, completely drained.  

‘Why is Lord Lawrence acting this way toward me?’  

She couldn’t possibly believe that he had any genuine affection for her. Lysia wasn’t stupid. He still saw her as insignificant. His words about caring how she thought about him were probably a lie.  

‘What a bad person.’  

Whether he cared or not didn’t matter to her. After all, he was someone she’d never have to deal with again unless it was with Artizea.  

It would have been nice to simply admire him from a distance, like the other girls she met today, thinking he was handsome and pretty.  

She sighed and was about to head up to the second floor when she bumped into Pavel at the stairs.  

“Oh, Lysia. It’s been a while.”  

“Lord Pavel?”  

Lysia looked up in surprise.  

Pavel quickly bounded down the stairs and stood next to her. He wasn’t as tall as Cedric, but he had grown a lot.  

He used to visit the Grand Duke’s residence often, almost like it was his playground, but as he grew older, that changed. There had been more things to do, and at some point, it had felt strange to play with younger girls.  

It wasn’t that he had drifted apart from Cedric. But visiting during the day like this was rare for him.  

“You look tired.”  

He casually reached out and ruffled Lysia’s hair. Her neatly tied hair got a little messy, but Lysia didn’t mind and smiled. It didn’t matter since the outing was over.  

“What brings you here?”  

“What’s this, talking to me like I’m a guest?”  

“You haven’t been coming around much lately. I heard you’ve been busy.”  

“Yes, there’s more to learn these days.”  

Pavel sighed.  

Now that he was eighteen, the education for inheriting the title of Duke Riagan had begun in earnest. He no longer complained about learning things like, ‘What’s the point of this?’ But his nature hadn’t changed—he still found it hard to sit still at a desk for long.  

“You look down. Where have you been?”  

“I was at a friend’s tea party. I think I’m just a little tired.”  

“You don’t just look tired. You seem off.”  

“But seeing Lord Pavel made me feel better.”  

Lysia looked up at Pavel, who was patting her head again, and giggled.  

“Want to go somewhere to cheer up?”  

“Where to?”  

“The shooting range.”  

Lysia pursed her lips in surprise.  

“The shooting range?”  

“Yes. It’s a place Brother asked Father to make recently. It’s for hunting practice, not something used by the military. I came to invite Cedric to go with me, but he’s too busy. Want to go?”  

“I’ve never shot a gun before.”  

“Well, today will be your first time.”

“Can you wait for a moment? I need to change clothes.”  

“Sure. I’ll wait in the lobby, so hurry up and come out.”  

“I’ll really be a moment!”  

Lysia lifted her full skirt and quickly ran up the stairs. Her gloomy mood quickly faded away.  

She had a great time at the shooting range.  

It was her first time holding a gun, but since she had been on a few hunting trips, she wasn’t scared of the gunshots.  

She spent some time learning the stance and getting used to the recoil, and soon, she was hitting the target pretty well.  

“Wow, seriously… I knew you were strong, but…”  

Pavel said, remembering when he first tried shooting at fifteen. He had expected to just give her a weak handgun and let her try shooting as a mock attempt.  

She had enough strength to handle the recoil and great balance.  

“It’s more fun than a crossbow!”  

Lysia exclaimed happily. She loved any game where she could hit the target, and today the sound of the gunshots seemed to clear her frustrating heart.  

Pavel shook his head.  

“You’d win a hunting contest.”  

“Aren’t there no hunting contests in the capital?”  

“Well, that’s just a figure of speech.”  

“There’s still one in Evron. My mom once won by hunting a bear.”  

“Impressive.”  

Pavel answered with a smile, not a sarcasm. Lysia replied seriously.  

“I want to do that too.”  

“Hunt a bear?”  

“No! I’ll become a ranger who can hunt wild animals!”  

And then she would protect the mountain paths and villages safely.  

Thinking about that, Pavel chuckled and patted her back.  

“You’re already more than capable of doing that.”  

“Hehe.”  

By the time the sun began to set, Pavel took Lysia back home.  

She fell asleep in the carriage on the way back. After being so tense from earlier because of Lawrence, and then getting overly excited at the noisy shooting range, she was completely exhausted and didn’t wake up until they arrived.  

By the time the carriage reached the Grand Duke’s residence, the sun had already fully set.  

“Wake up, Lysia.”  

“Ung…”  

“Wake up. We’re home.”  

After Pavel shook her awake a few times, Lysia slowly opened her eyes, grumbling in her sleepy voice.  

“You drooled.”  

“Uwah!”  

Lysia jumped in surprise and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Pavel laughed.  

“I’ve seen you drool in your sleep before, no need to act surprised.”  

“Uh…”  

“Come on, wipe it off.”  

Lysia took the handkerchief offered to her and wiped her face and mouth. Her face turned bright red in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Pavel got out of the carriage first and extended his hand to Lysia. She held the handkerchief in one hand and took Pavel’s hand with the other, jumping out of the carriage.

“Are you going to stay for dinner?”  

“I don’t think Cedric will kick me out of the dining room. It’s been a while, so I should visit Tia too.”  

Pavel replied in a light tone as he hummed, leading the way into the mansion. Lysia followed him, feeling cheerful.  

Spending time with good people was always enjoyable.

* * *

Just before falling asleep, Artizea knocked on Lysia’s door.

“Lysia, are you asleep?”  

Artizea peeked her head in with a pale face.  

Lysia, who had been sitting on her bed arranging her pillow, turned and smiled brightly. It had been a very tiring day, and she had planned to sleep early, but Artizea was always welcome.

“Come in.”  

Artizea quickly entered with a big smile, looking almost worried that Lysia might change her mind about letting her in. She sat down on Lysia’s bed next to her.  

Lysia beamed as she looked at Artizea.  

“What did you do today?”  

“I went to the university and met with Professor Nivea.”  

When they were younger, they always played and fell asleep together. But once Artizea started her education, they couldn’t do that anymore. They did study together when they could, but soon their teachers were different, and they couldn’t do homework together either.  

As a result, their daily lives had become quite different. They still spent their free time together, but they often found themselves doing separate things since they had different interests.  

But their hearts hadn’t changed. Artizea often snuck into Lysia’s bedroom, and they would talk late into the night, sometimes even sleeping in.

“Did you get a lot of praise for your assignment?”  

“Yes. Professor asked me to come into his lab.”  

Lysia laughed. She probably understood how amazing that was more than Artizea herself did.  

“That’s amazing. It’s not easy to even get into university.”  

“I haven’t given an answer yet. I’m not sure if it’s really helpful for me to become a useful person.”  

“Becoming a scholar is a big deal. It’s really important.”  

“What about you, Lysia? You said you were going to a tea party.”  

“It was Lady Swaro’s tea party. Nothing much happened. The cookies were delicious, though.”  

“Sounds fun.”  

Lysia was about to say it wasn’t very fun, but she stopped herself. She thought the story about her visit to the shooting range with Pavel might be more interesting to Artizea. However, Artizea studied her with a cautious look.