CHAPTER 42

TITLE: I was only an EXTRA but the Villain and Male Lead tries to pursue ME?!

WRITTEN BY: B_A_DG_R

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY: B_A_DG_R

...

CHAPTER 42

"What is it, Anne?"

We are now sitting on the chair of the table where me, Valerie and Kayle were studying inside the library earlier. We didn't start our conversation until all of our friends are already here, they seem to already know that Anne has a foreigner as a fiancé.

Maybe Anne already told them about it but what confuse us is the help she is talking about. The ASAP.

"You see...you all know that the Match-up event is soon! and I'll meet my fiancé, and... and... we'll be sitting at the top of the academy's arena! There is also the parade!"

She told us looking down while poking both of her index finger into each other.

"Yes...? What about it?"

Lianne asked Anne who sighed before replying.

"I don't want to be awkward with him...I'm afraid that I might offend him if I didn't behave properly"

"Ohhh..."

Phia nodded understanding what Anne was talking about.

"Just ditch him! Hahahaha!"

Kayle who was supposed to be solving the problems suddenly interrupt our conversation.

"Solve the equation"

Valerie told him with a stoic face.

"Tsk! whatever"

Kayle rolled his eyes and tries solving the problems, he is obviously struggling.

"And what do you want us to do?"

Phia tilted her head as she asked Anne.

"Help me! I don't know what to do! I don't know what I should behave infront of Aidel's prince!"

"Help you? But we also don't know anything about Aidel..."

I told her.

"But! But! Come on just help me~"

Anne sniffs.

"Don't worry Anne, I know you can do it! You can just pretend like how you pretend to other people"

Lianne laughs.

Anne looks like she was shot by a large arrow on her head after hearing Lianne's words.

"If it that was easy, I didn't ask for help...but you see like I said, I know nothing about Aidel! Their etiquette, the type of foods they prefer, their interests...something like those!"

I see, so since she is used in pretending here in the Bogdan empire it doesn't mean she can also do it to other foreign lands.

"How do you want us to help?"

Phia asked.

"Simple, practice with me!"

Anne's eyes sparkle.

Then me and my other friends think for a moment until I had an idea.

"Come here for a second"

I told them to sit near me. Anne was about to sit next to us too but I stop her.

"Not you, Anne"

"Alright...?"

Then we all gathered and I whispered something to them.

"Can I join?"

Kayle asked us with puppy eyes.

"No!"

The four of us said at the same time to Kayle which made Kayle pout.

"Fine, then"

"Shhh!"

The student librarian gestured us to be quiet.

"Sorry..."

The four of us said again at the same time.

...

"Where are you taking me?"

Anne asked us as we guide her to my room.

"Just let us guide you..."

Lianne whispered to Anne's ear.

"Why do I have a blindfold?"

Anne asked.

"Just what are you all doing?"

We look at my roommate who is obviously surprise to see us as we enter our room.

"Nothing!"

We gently pushed Anne inside my room and I gave Daphne a grin.

"What..."

She looks at me with a 'really' expression.

"Sit Anne"

Phia puts her hands on Anne's shoulders to make her sit on a chair.

"We'll remove your blindfold now"

Valerie told Anne before removing her blindfold.

"Ahh! Wha--!"

As soon as her blindfold was off, she instantly closed her eyes when I put the magical lamp infront of her face. My whole room is dark since I closed all the curtains and even put blankets in it.

"Why did you even do this?"

Anne asked me using both of her hands to cover the light from the lamp.

"We want it to look suspenseful"

I told Anne with a giggle.

"Are we in a mystery story? This is definitely not"

Valerie commented.

I nodded.

"You're right, let's just open the lights!"

I open the lights with some magic crystals above my room. You see, these lights are just the new inventions. It is like the electricity in my past life.

We don't really use much candles here now. Another example is the hologram messenger! The stuffs here improve faster than in my real world.

"Why are we here in your room, Delie?"

Anne asked me looking confused.

"We will be thinking of a plan on how to help you..."

Lianne told Anne.

"Can't we just do it in the library?"

Anne suggested.

"We need to be more private"

I told her opening the magic lamp infront of her face again.

"Delie!"

"Hahaha"

I laughed at her surprised expression.

"I'm just really nervous on how should I approach the prince..."

Anne looks down trying to hide her nervousness from us but I can see her fidgeting hands.

"How about this?!"

Phia took a book from her bag and show us.

"'All about Aidel Empire'?"

We read the tile of the book that Phia is holding.

"Let's read it!"

We open the book to see the history of the Aidel empire. Pretty similar to the book I read when I'm in the library with Valerie before the fair.

It was when I knew that the original crown princess was the late Duchess Elainne El Blanc, the mother of Cain. She should have been the one sitting on the throne right now as Empress Elainne De Abel.

Wait! But when an empress ascends to the throne, she can marry any noble lower than her status. It means that she can marry her baron lover but why does the previous emperor hates her lover so much to the point of stripping her off her crown princess title and even forcing her to marry a son of a duke?

Is there something about her previous lover? If it is true that it was indeed Cordelia's, the heroine's father then something must be off! In the novel, the emperor this time...Luther De Abel immediately agreed when the male lead or the crown prince ask permission from him to marry a poor baron's daughter.

"Look! Look! The emperor in the Aidel empire has many wives!"

I remove my thoughts when I heard Phia pointing into a page from the book. I peek too and saw that polygamy is a norm there especially for emperors.

I'm glad that I'm in Bogdan where monogamy is the norm although when you are a high-ranking noble, you can have concubines.

Womanizing nobles like the Duke El Blanc doesn't have any concubines but those women he is bringing are just flings or from hidden brothels.

"And it seems that the next emperor can be anyone...either a child of a concubine...or a child of a slave..."

It's not like here where only legitimate children can inherit the properties. Our current emperor himself is an illegitimate child but he has many supporters. I'm glad that the current emperor only has one wife but I guess when the male lead becomes the emperor, he might take concubines or consorts knowing how flirty he is.

Like when Daphne was told to be the second consort rather than the future empress. It must be a shock for Daphne, I think I understand why is she so angry but she should blame the prince too!

"How many children does the current emperor of Aidel have?"

I asked Phia who was scanning the book.

"He has...whoa! Sixteen children?!"

Our jaws dropped when we heard the number of children he has. I know that Aidel can have many children and wives before but I didn't know that they have so many! So that's why their population is almost more than half the size of our population here.

The current crown prince has already married the first princess of our empire, Princess Lavinia. The eldest sister of the male lead.

She can't become an empress there in case the current crown prince is replaced by a new crown prince or princess. The crown prince of Aidel is the empress's child there anyway. Even though every child has rights there, the empress's children are still the first in-line to the throne.

"It seems that the seventh prince has many supporters! He is musically inclined and is very smart! He is really loved by the people there!"

Lianne commented when he saw Khalil Ra Satish's name. He has the potential to be the next emperor but he is look down by everyone for being a child of a female slave. Maybe that's why he fell for the heroine.

He saw how simple she is and that she's confident despite being a poor noble's daughter. Not only that, she is also very pretty!

But Anne is not falling behind the heroine, she's also pretty!

I just remember how the novel describe how Anne felt when saw the Khalil and Cordelia together talking casually.

Anne already saw the prince in the first year of the novel when she saw him sitting on the top of arena with the other princes and princesses.

She has no friends at that time too and is continuously pretending to be a very discipline girl hiding her love for fun things.

I want to know the reason why she gains a huge crush on him when she saw him for the first time. Their engagement was announced in the third year, she was really happy that she dressed very fancy on that day but the prince didn't attend the opening day that year so Anne just wrote a letter to the prince while he is still staying in Bogdan until the last day of the Match-Up to meet her in the back of the arena

But...

When she went there, she saw him with the heroine...

"Anne--where are you going?!"

I was about to call Anne when I saw that she is already sneaking outside my room.

"Errrr...I need to go to the restroom?"

Stop pretending Anne!

"Don't you want to know a thing about your fiancé since you're worried about your first impression to him?"

I narrowed my eyes to her.

"After hearing those, no way! I'd rather find a guy like Zyton!!"

Wait, she doesn't care anymore?? Is it because of the polygamy thing?

If I remember correctly, Zyton is the character from the recent novel of our favorite BL author. He was described as a man with shiny hair, gold eyes and smooth dark skin.

...Now I know...

Anne began to have a crush on him since he looks like the character Zyton from the BL novel!

"But you still need to be friendly with him and respect him as a foreign prince..."

Valerie told Anne who sighed and nodded.

"Alright"

She looks disappointed. I didn't expect Anne to be the first one to say no though.

...

We spent the next days helping Anne to practice proper etiquette for the Aidel prince even going far to tie up her for trying to escape.

Of course, I also studied hard this time. I want to have good grades for job assessments and build my own business to make money!!

The midterm exams passed quickly and I'm really confident that I will have high grades! All of the questions from the exams are similar to Valerie's questions. What can I expect from the Ul Katerinn family who produces the most scholar nobles in the empire?

Today is finally the opening day of the Match-up event. I peek down from the window of my room to see the people preparing for the event. There will be a lot of foreigners here later! Ohhh, I'm so excited!

I want to see the famous potential fifth and sixth love interests! Khalil Ra Satish and Bingwen Su Wang! Both are foreign princes who develops a crush on the heroine!

I need to get prepared so I can go to Anne's room. I heard the Aidel empire even sent foreign maids to dress Anne up.

I finished putting my uniform and immediately went outside my room. I saw Daphne on the living room looking down and is wearing a red robe. She even has one of her leg crossed in the sofa she just bought.

"Ummm..."

"What do you want?"

She glared at me when she saw me staring at her.

"Nothing...I'm just wondering why you are not dressed up yet"

Since she's the fiancée of the crown prince. She needs to attend the opening ceremony, the parade and sit on the top of the arena with a dress.

Ordinary students like me should only wear uniforms.

"You got a problem with that?"

Jeez. I'm only asking why does she have to be angry?

"No... just wondering"

"Even though your family is well-off, you're still from a count family so you won't understand"

She crossed her arms and smirk at me.

"I know"

I'm pissed right now. I quickly open the door but I still can't help but look at Daphne one last time.

She is obviously trying to hide her sadness right now.

I sighed.

"Are you just going to be like this? Are you really going to accept that you're being treated this way?"

I can't help open my mouth and say something. I can feel her stare back at me not saying anything.

"I..."

"Didn't you always say you are the daughter of the prime minister? A daughter of a duke? Why not give pride to yourself more?"

"....."

I'm not looking at her by saying all these things to her but she became silent.

"Who cares if the crown prince is not there? You are not only going there as the crown prince's fiancée but also the daughter of a duke and the future empress! Aren't you Daphne Il Viva?"

I finally look at her and gave her a large grin. She seems really shocked by what I said.

I didn't say anything more and just leave. I'm hoping that Daphne will make Daphne wake up from what I just said and how she is more worth it.

Really, she likes to be confident with others but when it is about the crown prince, her confidence will suddenly fall down to zero.

"Miss! Can you stay still a bit?"

I can already hear a voice of an unknown woman inside Anne's room. They must the maids that were sent.

"I'm sorry..."

Then it was Anne's voice. Her voice is a bit softer than usual.

I went inside and see that it is unlocked. I saw my friends there too and Anne sitting on a chair with two Aidel maids preparing her.

She feels uncomfortable right now especially because of her dress where half of her tummy is exposed but she tries not to say anything because she thinks she might offend them.

But Anne looks more stunning today! She looks a bit exotic!

"Delie! You're here"

Anne gently smiled trying to hide her 'help me!' face.

"It's done, miss"

The two maids told Anne.

"Alright...thank you! Can you leave us for a moment?"

Anne told the two maids with a gentle voice.

"Yes, miss...we'll be back when you need to leave"

They bowed their heads before leaving.

Anne let out a deep breath after the she sneakily sticks her ears in the door to see if they already left.

"Finally! My clothes are so cold...!"

She told us almost forming a tear from her eyes and hugging her body.

"My clothes are a bit exposed..."

She looks at her half-exposed tummy.

"Anne! You look gorgeous!"

Phia commented as she hugs Anne.

"The prince will surely like you!"

Lianne nudged her elbow to Anne.

"Tsk"

Did I just hear Anne 'tsk'? It seems she is not really interested in meeting the prince.

"Why do you need this?"

Valerie saw a book near where Anne was sitting. It was a book titled 'How to be a cutie girl'.

"I was studying to be one, alright?"

Anne explained.

We heard a knock from the door and saw a tan girl with freckles on her face.

"Hilary! Meet my roommate, Hilary!"

Hilary...? Did I hear that name right?

Hilary is the name of Beatrice Anne's younger sister in the real world! So now she's, her roommate?

"Nice to meet you all! I'm Hilary Ju Remps, the youngest daughter of the Ju Remps baron family"

Ju Remps? Aren't they the family who recently became a noble? They don't have much land but they are wealthy so they were immediately promoted to a noble.

"Did you bring it?"

Anne asked her.

Hilary nodded and she took a slice of an egg pie inside the paper bag she is holding.

"Apple pie-!"

She almost took the egg pie but Phia stops her.

"Anne, half your tummy is exposed...you don't want to be bloated at the parade, right?"

Phia took the pie from Hilary and we shared it together.

"No, my pie!!"

Anne tries to get the pie from Phia. Hilary in the other hand is giggling at Anne.

I think she already knows Anne's true self. I'm glad she's not the same Anne as in the novel who likes to hide her true self.

We took a bit of each and gave Anne the last bite piece.

"How mean..."

Anne is the last piece from Phia's hand. The maids earlier knock before opening the door to inform Anne.

"Miss, let's get ready...the parade is about to start"

It's finally the start of the opening ceremony!!