i became the villainess twin sister

Part 21

Cale tapped the envelope irately against her desk.

She should ignore the damn thing.

She meant to ignore the damn thing.

She'd only ever gotten involved to begin with because the children begged her to. And a certain agitation with the density of certain individuals that were apparently closely related to her.

Roksu certainly took after her fathers side considering what a doofus she was.

It was true that she was curious when the black dragon whispered to her that the crown prince was hiding his true appearance. Who wouldn't want to know more? It was valuable leverage over one of the most powerful people in the kingdom and even moreso, such scandals tended to attract curiosity like moths to a flame.

It would take a truly strange person to deny that natural curiosity and decide that they didn't want to know any of it. Cale was strange but not that strange.

And the prince had been surprisingly amusing to spend time with. He had the facile charisma that made him senselessly popular with those too dimwitted to see through it but beyond that, there was a sharp intellect that she found intriguing.

He was also the first person that she'd met who cast doubt on her facade. Considering he'd only met her briefly on a few scarce occasions, that was an interestingly impressive observational skill.

Although she supposed in his case, it might be because they were cut from the same mold.

He was just as fake as she was, only his energy was in the opposing direction.

Of course, all of that would only inspire a cursory curiosity. A momentary intrigue that ought to have been sated after that evening spent together at the festival.

She hadn't learned much about him then, other than he was as evasive to honesty as she was. But it wasn't as though she was legitimately invested in uncovering all of his secrets. They were intriguing but her priorities remained elsewhere.

She had no intention of meeting with or speaking to the prince after the festival.

So why was it that in her hand, she held the seventh letter in an exchange between the pair?

It started the day after the festival. Alver sent a letter asking about her well-being and other miscellaneous nonsense. She wrote a scathing reply, using it as the perfect opportunity to pen down everything she found obnoxious about him.

And then it just continued.

There wasn't anything meaningful to it. Cale was sure she hadn't learned any of the prince's dark hidden secrets, although she was now aware of his favorite foods and his preference for spears above swords. They simply engaged in conversation.

Cale couldn't quite stop herself from replying either.

Each time she thought that it would be the last letter. She'd read it and toss it in the fire, leaving the stupid prince to wait for a letter that would never come. But he always managed to fit something in the letter that she just had to respond to.

Something that made her fingers itch for a quill and the temptation to just board a carriage for the palace to give the bastard a piece of her mind.

It wasn't even as though he said anything particularly annoying.

The last time he'd written, he'd made some specific comments about the latest trends in the capital. Cale couldn't help it. One of her many vices was a certain flair for fashion. She had rather intense opinions about it too, so whether it was agreeing or disagreeing with his statements, she couldn't help but reply.

It was starting to dawn on her that this compulsion might be because she actually enjoyed communicating with him.

Thus her current frustration.

She tapped the letter irately once more.

Cale knew that if she read it, she would be doomed to write a reply. Then the whole cycle would begin anew. He would write and then she would write and she would even find herself smiling while reading his damn letters.

The real problem was that she couldn't find anything wrong with the situation.

Sure, there was Roksu's strange obsession with matchmaking her not-girlfriend with the prince but that fixation was clearly too stupid to put any serious consideration into.

While it was apparent that Alver had seen through her facade, he also hadn't shown any signs of revealing her true nature to the world and thus he didn't pose any legitimate threat to her goals.

And Cale didn't hate interacting with him at all.

There were quite a few positive aspects and nothing negative to be found.

Yet, she still found herself apprehensive about the whole thing.

Cale still didn't understand why the crazy bastard had invited her to the ball to begin with. What possible reason could he have to seek out her company before they had ever even met? It made her suspicious that he might have some other motives for befriending her.

Although, if that were the case, it would benefit him just as much to seek out Roksu's company. Politically speaking, Roksu held the same value as Cale. Possibly more because while she was known as the 'dumb and lazy' sister, that was considered much more acceptable than 'violent and drunk'.

Alver didn't seem remotely interested in developing a connection with Roksu though. They certainly had an obnoxious chemistry, the pair of them able to fire off their glib tongues like weapons of mass destruction, but Roksu's interest in Alver was transparently about Choi Han and Alver's interest in Roksu was transparently about Cale.

That thought made her feel strange.

What the hell could the stupid bastard want from her?

With a grunt, she took a swig of wine and opened the envelope, glaring at the contents.

"Fucking shit, goddammit, I fucking knew it." Cale grumbled, clicking her tongue as she poured over the letter.

There really wasn't anything special about it.

It was merely Alver talking about a few current events, some minor amusements from his day, and an observation that Cale's taste in clothing was as expensive as her taste in wine.

There wasn't anything special about it.

It was stupid and pointless and she ought to toss the damn thing into the fire.

Her fingers twitched and she snatched a blank parchment with a strange exhilaration growing inside of her.

She hadn't had a friend she could be so open with since all the way back when she'd been close to Eric oraboni. This felt different though.

Cale couldn't put her finger on why, but there was something about Alver that was drawing her in and she couldn't find a good reason to resist the tide.