The Villainess, Cecilia Silvy, Doesn't Want to Die, so She Decided to Crossdress

Still wearing her pyjamas, Cecilia put her wig and walked while hiding herself in the shadows.

She could see three shadows moving in front of her. They were all uniformly dressed in black clothing, and their faces were covered with black cloth, making them unrecognizable.

"Please sto--Mmmff..."

Someone screamed while surrounded by those shadows. However, the voice soon became muffled. Surely the mouth was covered with a cloth or something alike.

She saw the person who screamed earlier through a gap between the moving shadows.

Cecilia covered her own mouth.

(Is that...Leanne!?)

Leanne was close to being kidnapped by the people wearing black. Her mouth was shut firmly and she was about to be throw in a large hemp bag.

That was one of the scenes from Dante's route.

(Why!? I thought we definitely avoided that route...!!)

Leanne learned Dante's secret, and he decided to leave the organization, which in turn, caused her to be kidnapped by them. It was their retaliation against Dante.

But she shouldn't have witnessed the actual scene.

The one who saw it...

(It was me--!!)

Cecilia didn't completely understand what happened, but it was entirely possible that since she played the same role as Leanne, this might have triggered the kidnapping event. In other words, Cecilia has done something that made Dante decide to leave the organization. And for some reason, it ended up being Leanne's fault. This could actually make some sense.

Leanne was covered with the hemp bag while Cecilia was busy thinking about those things.

(What should I do? ...For now, I need to warn Gil!)

Gilbert told Cecilia more than a million times, "Don't go running into stuff by yourself". If she headed out there alone at this moment, surely a hearty scolding would be waiting for her later.

(But...)

"Gyaaah!!"

Leanne fell down. She was desperately resisting.

"Wait!"

Cecilia raised her voice.

The men wearing black and Leanne looked in her direction.

(I cannot let this happen before my eyes!!)

Cecilia approached the four of them. Then she showed her face clearly.

The shadows looked clearly bothered.

(In the end, if Leanne is taken away like this, Cecilia [myself] will be incriminated and killed.)

That was the one thing she wanted to avoid the most.

"Who are you?!"

They shouted showing off their impatience.

Cecilia took a step further.

(They only have two purposes: one is retaliation against Dante, the other--)

She bit her lower lip firmly so her voice wouldn't tremble.

(A request for a ransom!)

Cecilia took off the wig.

The long hair that looked like transparent gold threads reflected the moonlight and fluttered in the wind.

Cecilia showed a calm smile, in a standoffish way.

She couldn't let her fear be acknowledged. It was time to make them sway towards her viewpoint. They only had to choose her instead.

"I'm Cecilia Silvy, daughter of the Duke of Silvy. And that girl is an important friend of mine. Won't you let her go?" 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

The men growled after hearing her dignified voice. Leanne widened her eyes in surprise.

While they were distracted, Cecilia helped Leanne out of the sack and pushed her shoulders. Leanne nodded when Cecilia gave a signal with her eyes for her to escape and then she started running.

"Hah!"

Cecilia stood in front of the men who wanted to pursue Leanne.

Most likely, they were apprentices of the organization that Dante belonged to, Heimat. Because they were greenhorns, it was somewhat easy to let Leanne escape from them. If an expert like Dante was involved, both Leanne and Cecilia would end up captured together.

Cecilia placed a hand on her chest.

"Isn't ransom one of your goals? A daughter of a Duke's family is more valuable than some Baronet. After all, my parents dote on me a lot."

There was no one following the vanishing shadow of Leanne.

Cecilia perked up her quivering body and laughed daringly.

"Well, please make a decision. Which one will you take, me or her? Which one will make your boss rejoice the most?"

The next moment, one of them punched her stomach.

The negotiations were successful.

Far off inside her dwindling consciousness, Cecilia yearned for Leanne's safety.