Really, really love your thoughtful comments! It seems the comment section split into two factions, but maybe this chapter will clear some things. Enjoy the chapter!
TL: clover
ED: clover
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“I know I have no room to talk as I was also outrageous, and I can’t interfere in other people’s affair, but……Yugo-niisama, this is too over-the-top.”
“Milady……”
Luke was looking at me with eyes as if looking at something pitiful.
I pretended not to notice it and observed the appearance of Yugo-niisama once again. Nii-sama seems to be having a lot of fun. Surely, the previous me also had the same expression.
Prepare new dresses, teaware, confectionery, and invite only those who will praise me.
Only those who I acknowledged was allowed to attend, and I was the center of every tea party. It was terribly pleasant.
As I am watching from the distance and as a third party, I realized. Everyone follows Yugo-niisama dispassionately, pointing meaningless smiles made for Nii-sama.
Nii-sama is a son of the Ducal House. Even if he is a shut-in son, if seen from the lower-rank aristocrats, they probably would want to make a connection with him. They praise my older brother with insincere words and promote themselves.
Seeing that, I understood.
—My own tea party was also the same.
Right now I am busy working hard to not become a 『villainess』 so I haven’t organized any tea party, but previously it was organized once a week. I recalled the members I invited.
—Everyone praised me with a similar smile.
And, for the first time, I noticed that I am not close with any of the members.
There is no one whom I can call a friend.
There is no one whom I can ask for advice.
They are just people who praise me, they are not friends.
I couldn’t show any weakness to them.
—Aah, I see.
Once I realized it, it turns out that it was a terribly hollow event.
An insincere tea party only for superficial relationships. It was not productive. It was only made for praising me.
And I used to host that kind of event every week.
If I think about it, none of the tea party members objected the fact that the usual tea party was canceled. Everyone was all “I see. I understand. Please invite me again.” and said that it was regretful, but I guess they actually felt relieved. Now I know.
“Yugo-niisama……”
It’s a bad thing to notice after seeing my older brother’s tea party, nevertheless, the sight that I am seeing now is the same as what the previous me experienced. Nobody laughs from the bottom of their heart. Only the organizer, my older brother, is having fun.
“Milady, let’s go.”
Luke broke the ice while I was staring fixedly at Yugo-niisama. I nodded at him.
“Yes, alright.”
“……surely, Yugo-sama will also realize it someday. Like Milady.”
“Then I think it will surely be too late. Next time, I will talk to Yugo-niisama about this.”
This has nothing to do with being a 『villainess』, but still, I feel like my older brother will head towards the wrong path if this continues as is. However, Luke shook his head.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“Why?”
“……when Milady was having a tea party, for example, if I had said the same thing, would you listen to me?”
“That’s……”
He hit my weak spot.
Probably, no, I definitely wouldn’t listen to him.
Luke said to me who fell silent.
“He has to realize this kind of thing by himself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t think of changing in the real sense……like Milady.”
“I didn’t notice it by myself.”
Even if I tried to change myself, surely I wouldn’t be able to change. Everything was thanks to Al. Because he gave me a hint and showed me the way, I could move forward willingly.
“It would be great if someone like that appears for Nii-sama too.”
“They will surely show up, someday. That’s why Milady, first of all, you should think about yourself, alright? About the 『villainess』. Isn’t that your primary goal?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
I nodded to his reasonable words. Luke who noticed that I managed to come to terms with my older brother’s situation said, “If so, Milady, why don’t we go out for a bit right now for a change of pace?”
It’s obvious that he’s concerned about me, but I’m happy with his feelings.
I haven’t been to the town for about a year, so it certainly will be a change of pace.
“Alright. It might be good to do something like this occasionally.”
A better idea to not become a 『villainess』 may come up if I go out rather than staying inside the mansion.
When I nodded, Luke looked like he was relieved and took me out of that location with “If so, let’s get ready.”
So yeah, all three siblings are proud in their own ways. And unless they realized their faults themselves, they probably won’t change no matter what people say. Lily only changed herself because of Al (whose beauty is top notch and is also a prince and her fiancé, and she doesn’t want to be hated by him) and because of her pride which doesn’t allow her being looked down upon by Prince Wilfred (she wants to prove him wrong).
Lily and Luke will go to the town for the next couple of chapters! What do you think will happen there?
Starry Night Translation 
Luke’s taking lily out for a date! !!
Many thanks
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Thanks for the new chapter!
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Thank you for the chapter. I think i got a revelation. The author is just a lousy writer and wants to make it as if the love of ones life will manage to make their partner better.
Probably the MC will see the poor and will get sentimental and will try to work for the poor or something.
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Lolol no no. This is all tied up to Lily’s personality. It’s not about the love of ones life (although coincidently he is Lily’s). Lily is prideful. She won’t listen to just anyone unless they are someone she acknowledges and has the same status as hers or higher. Luke (in her mind) is just her servant and automatically is not someone the previous her would listen to. Al, on the other hand, is someone she acknowledges because of his status and his beauty. Remember, Lily only likes beautiful things. And, as someone who surpasses her standard (both in beauty and status), furthermore her fiance, she listens to him.
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I hope not. Character development/growth does not mean a complete change of character. That would be bad writing.
Unless the author completely flips up her core character (which is basically her pride), and turns her straight “Nadeshiko” (god forbid) for no other reason than the author thinking that kind of person = good, then this will still be some good character development. Her core character should still be her pride. Its literally her motivation for character growth. I mean, it would be bad if she suddenly started liking ugly things (since her core personality should be that she still only likes pretty things) because that’s super bad writing.
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Eh, I’d rather like someone to try to do something even if it’s futile and the chances are slim, instead of giving up right off the bat X’DDD Or maybe I just wanted some more siblings interaction between the three of them XDD It would be the prideful & stubborn siblings trio XD
Anyways, thanks for the translation! I love this series XD
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More siblings interactions would be in the next arc: Family. So expect that!
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I used to be just like the two siblings are when I was younger. When anyone, especially my own family tried to tell me what I’m doing is wrong, I just ignore them or get angry. Fights do occur because of my stubbornness and ego. In the end, getting out of my comfort zone was what matured me..
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Thanks for updatingg
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This is a great chapter and showing her development. She used to be the flat prideful character. But since she came to the self realization of her own actions, she has become more observant and has been trying to expand her horizon’s, and no longer sees the world in rose colored glasses. Basically, she is becoming a more complex character.
Except for one part in this chapter which was really bad part. Consider this first. Why would the first thing she think of is going to go barge into his meeting? She should, first and foremost, probably retain her noble etiquette training (even if she was a villain). She showed that she has it, especially in the first few chapters when meeting with the prince. So why would she suddenly lose all those years of training and need Luke to remind her? She is a developing character, but it doesn’t mean her old personality or everything she learned before was gone.
I know its a small part of this chapter, but this part is very bad. It shows that the author doesn’t have a good grasp of what character development is. The beginning part is fine, but just because she notices it, doesn’t mean and abrupt change in her mannerisms and training (which is what I liked about the chapter were she tried to talk to Luke). It was like I was reading a completely different character with the name Lily, instead of the Lily character that she should be in moment in time.
Basically it was a totally out of character moment for that took me out of the story.
Rant over.
Too many villainess novels are triggering me these days.
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She never said that she wants to barge in the tea party, she said she wants to tell Yugo about this next time. When is this ‘next time’? It doesn’t say, but it’s probably not that moment. Luke just made an example of her having tea party, but it doesn’t mean that Lily was going to barge in. And the point Luke was trying to make is not to warn Lily not to barge in (that’s just a matter of course), but that Yugo won’t listen to what Lily says.
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I think it would be cool if Yugo notices Lily’s changing, asks her about it, and her reasoning makes hime think. He doesn’t have to change immediately- just have a chink in his perceptions.
Anyway, I wonder if they’ll be going into town incognito~ Suddenly realizing you can’t spend money super frivolously might make some hijinks ensue~
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The way they said someone will come into his life and help him realize makes me ship him with the yet to be seen heroine.
I think Lily could use a friend after realizing she has none this chapter but I can’t imagine her making friends with a normal commoner in their outing.
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Hmmm… I do think that she’s starting to acknowledge Luke a little more. Their respective social statuses mean that they cannot possibly be equals, but they’re… closer? Almost companions if not truly friends.
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>What do you think will happen there?
I don’t think there will be any event/flag. I really hope Luke will stay as her loyal butler and not as her love interest
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of course not. AlxLily forever!
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So glad Luke is by her side now!
Thanks so much for the translation ❤️
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Honestly, I think ANYONE would be too prideful to fully admit being a “villain” when being told so by other people, and trying to prove them wrong is kinda natural.
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Thanks for the chapter!
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Am I the only one who ship lily x luke?
But well I know LilyxLuke won’t happen tho
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I actually totally disagree with the reasoning not to tell her other brother about the hollowness of his relationships. Just like my only real problem with the older brother, who’s supposedly so nice, is that he never even bothered to try talking to his siblings about their faults and encourage them to change. It’s a total crock. Someone that truly cared, would at least try.
If you care about people, you need to communicate with them and tell them if you have a problem. If they don’t listen, well, at least you tried before you gave up on them. They aren’t even trying.
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I really wanna like this novel, it’s premise is so amazing but… Every character in here is flat. It’s prepared like they have depth, but they straight up just don’t. We get told about all of the horrible shit Lily has done but we get no evidence of it for the most part. And the evidence we do get isn’t even that bad. Victor is just a terrible brother. He’s this virtuous and aware yet he hasn’t figured out his own fatal flaw, he doesn’t try. He never tried to talk to his siblings, never tried leading them to the right path- it’s no wonder they ended up the way they didn’t. They only had their parents to look up to and admire. Their brother was clearly completely absent in their lives yet he has the audacity to look down on them? Their actions may be wrong but you can’t deny Victor’s lack of actions is just as wrong. Everyone here is one dimensional, they have no character- it’s all surface level and I can’t stand it anymore. It’s like they’re not even breaking out of their mold, you can say they are but it’s so clear that they aren’t. I’m going to keep reading, as fuel for my own motivation to write, but Im still gonna cry in pain.
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I think you’re being a little nitpicky.
Yugo is, you know, by his nature, supposed to be shallow. He’s not supposed to have a lot going for them.
I also don’t think you can really accuse Lily of not having personality. If anything, I’m surprised at how much the novel doesn’t pull its punches about how awful she actually is.A lot of other otome stories sort of gloss over how spoilt their villainess was or even rewrites the narrative to frame the villainess as misunderstood.
But Lily was actually genuinely awful. She would’ve left Luke to die if he were average-looking or ugly. Simple as that. But you can see that her pride and desire for affection is a large motivator for her to change herself. And you’re explicitly told she bought dresses every weak for a party and held tea parties much like her brother’s. And you can tell that early on she just genuinely never thought about her actions before.
Not a low of novels explicitly spell out specific villainess actions like that. I sort of cringed for Lily.
Can’t accuse Victor of being flat. Especially since you’re calling him flawed. But I’m putting that down to you siding too much with Lily, as I find readers get really irrational and unforgiving of people mistreating protagonists. Viewed objectively, I would do the same thing as Victor. I probably wouldn’t want to spend time around Lily either. And most of his character traits are only informed traits because Lily never actually go to know him — remember he’s been avoiding her and he doesn’t really express his personality except when he’s away at work. So only Alan really knows who he is.
It’s not reasonable to expect Victor to associate with people he doesn’t like. I wouldn’t impose that standard on anybody period. And we both know nothing good would’ve come of him hanging around her then,
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I know the chapters are already out but my guess is that Lily has a chance encounter with the heroine.
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