In an otome game I'm a villainess!? I can't accept this!

Chapter 26 - memento

One day, after I had moved to the castle, I was walking alone along the path facing the courtyard when I saw a lone figure I recognized coming from the courtyard.

Oh, it's Lady Lateia! Come to think of it... I haven't seen her since I saw her at Nina's ordination ceremony...

I was about to raise my hand to call out to Lady Lateia, but she stopped moving.

The reason for this is that Lady Lateia was acting strangely.

I'm not sure if she was aware of the fact that she was smiling and laughing by himself.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of discomfort at the sight of Lady Lateia and hid in the shadows.

Then, without noticing me, Lady Lateia arrived at the corridor and walked straight past me.

But just then, I heard a word of concern from Lady Lateia.

"Huh, that's a good sign."

And so Lateia-sama left with an inappropriate smile on her face, while I was still hiding in the shadows, thinking about the meaning of her words.

What the hell was that... Huh? The direction that Lady Lateia came from, I think there was a large pond in the courtyard... Ah! No way!!!!

An idea came to me and I rushed out of the shadows and ran towards the pond.

When I came to the pond, as I had expected, I saw a blonde girl standing by the pond.

"Nina!"

"Lady Cecilia!"

Nina, whose shoulders trembled at the sound of my voice, turned to me with a startled look on her face, and there were tears in her eyes.

"Nina, what is wrong with you?"

"What? No... it's nothing."

Nina wiped away her tears with her hand and gave me a fake smile.

But even as she did so, I noticed that she was glancing towards the pond, and I was convinced that I had been right.

"Hey Nina, what happened to that pendant you always wore around your neck?"

"I mean, that's..."

Nina stuttered at my point and clearly became upset.

"I...I...just passed the Marquise's daughter, Lateia-sama...could it have something to do with Lateia-sama?"

"No, no! Nothing!"

I let out a deep sigh at his obvious attitude of saying something was wrong.

"As I thought, something was done to you by Lateia-sama. And also... if you were looking at the pond without the pendant, then... Lady Lateia-sama must have thrown Nina's pendant into this pond, right?"

"..."

"Nina, could you please talk to me?"

"...Lady Cecilia is right."

When I asked Nina with a serious face, she affirmed in a small voice as if she had given up on it.

"I... I... It seems that Lateia-sama doesn't like me, and sometimes Lateia-sama has been harsh on me. But... I believed that if I talked to her, we would be able to get along someday, but... when I was talking to her... she suddenly took my pendant and threw it into the pond."

She looked very sad when she told me this.

"Could it be that pendant...?"

"...Yes. My late parents gave it to me as a birthday present before they died. And in it was a picture of my parents and me together..."