A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

Prologue.
The woman who requested for her own imprisonment

Translated by Yonnee

 

The woman stared blankly at the ceiling above her and blinked slowly.

 

Out of the blue, Violet S.
Everett recalled her previous life.

 

Truthfully, the term ‘out of the blue’ didn’t truly encapsulate her experience of remembrance.
There was an incident that served as a trigger to her memories, and that trigger was a near-death experience.

 

At the expense of having to go through a deathly crisis, she was given the chance to recall her previous life and could now calmly reflect on her actions.
Could this perhaps be called a blessing in disguise?

 

As she slowly regained consciousness, Violet thought.

 

What is happiness? She wished to experience that, even if it was something from a distant place that she couldn’t dare reach.

 

And so, after three days and nights of teetering between life and death, the very moment she woke up, the first thing that the ducal princess did was to visit her father.

 

She asked Duke Everett,

 

—Please confine me to the annex.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

There was a tendency for human beings to pursue happiness in their lives.
However, such happiness was abstract, like a mirage that one could not easily touch with one’s own hands—something that one would yearn for during an entire lifetime, but could not easily reach.

 

It was near, and yet so impossible to catch…

 

“What are you even thinking, Violet?”

 

As she had been lost in thought, the low voice brought her back to reality.
His tone sounded as if there was a surging anger threatening to burst through.

 

“……”

 

Violet did not answer his question.
The reason why she came here was apparent.

 

Three days and nights had passed since the eldest daughter of the Everett Duchy had almost drowned in a lake.

 

So many people had come to visit the ducal princess after she rose again.
A doctor came to examine the ducal princess’ condition, a priest came to pray for her and wish her peace, and various servants also came to tend to the ducal princess.
It seemed like there was no end to them.

 

And amongst all those people, there was one person she wished hadn’t come.
It was Mikhail, the eldest son of the household, Violet’s older brother.

 

“I asked you—what were you thinking?!”

 

As the loud voice growled out again, Violet grimaced.
She did not answer because she didn’t want to deal with him, however Mikhail continued to pressure her.

 

This was how he was treating his younger sister, who