Aderi arrived at the town, it was crowded and people were noisy. But it was full of happy people.

"M'lady, if you wanna buy new dresses I can recommend a shop, my wife loves to shop there," the driver of her carriage said with a smile.

"It's alright, I wanna go look around. I'm not planning on dress shopping" Aderi replied with a smile.

"Alright, M'lady. I'll park the carriage there, come back when you're done" the driver said pointing in a direction.

"Alright" Aderi smiled, the driver then drives off leaving her alone there.

Aderi then started looking around, she was more interested in food rather than jewelry or dresses.

"Miss! You're so pretty! I bet this necklace will go well with your hair color and eyes" the vendor of a jewelry store said calling out to Aderi while she was walking around.

"Uhm it's okay" Aderi smiled warmly.

"No, no I insist!" The vendor smiled warmly at the girl.

"Try it on miss," the vendor said handing Aderi a piece of red necklace shaped like a butterfly. Aderi took the necklace and put it on herself, the vendor held out a mirror so Aderi could check out the necklace on her neck.

"Oh my! It is indeed beautiful!" Aderi said wowed, the jewel was well crafted and it was shining.

"I'll take it!" Aderi said smiling as she took out her pouch and gave the vendor one gold coin, the vendor was shocked.

"A-a gold coin!?" The vendor said shocked.

"Is it not enough?" Aderi asked questioning the vendor with worry in her voice, she didn't want to be embarrassed here right now, especially since it was her first time here.

"No miss, it's too much! The necklace is only worth 4 bronze coins!" The vendor answered.

"Uhm...keep the change then," Aderi replied with an awkward smile not knowing the value of currency here.

"Young miss this is too much!" the vendor answered.

"Uhm...give me the necessary amount of jewelry to be the worth of 1 gold coin then" Aderi answered with an awkward smile.

°

In the end, the vendor gave Aderi all of the jewelry he was selling.

"This is not enough...I'm sorry all of this jewelry is not enough for the gold coin!" The vendor said with an awkward smile, Aderi also gave an awkward smile now that she was holding a bag full of jewelry.

"Keep the change, no need to worry" Aderi smiled, the vendor smiled happily.

"Thank you, young miss!" The vendor smiled happily.

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Aderi kept walking around more, she then saw a vendor selling weapons.

"Ah hello there miss, looking for weapons?" The vendor asked, aderi shook her head slowly.

"No, I'm just taking a look" Aderi smiled at the vendor as she now scanned the weapons with her eyes.

"Feel free to look around, miss," the vendor said happily since no one at her age and a girl ever looked at weapons.

A weapon then caught her attention, she wanted to grab it but someone's hand grabbed it before she could.

Aderi looked at the person who grabbed it. It was a boy with black hair and blue eyes. The boy looked at her too.

"You want this weapon?" The boy asked, the boy was holding the weapon in his hands. She scanned the boy, he was about her age. Aderi nodded slowly and the boy let out a scoff.

"this isn't a toy missy if you're looking for a toy, pick a new store," the boy said annoyed at Aderi, Aderi frowned at the boy's remark.

"I know it's not a toy! I know the difference between a toy and a weapon, don't treat me like a child when you look about my age" Aderi said with a frown, the boy raised one of his eyebrows.

"Take it then," the boy said handing it to Aderi. The weapon was a golden dagger with a red jewel in the center in the middle.

"How much is it?" Aderi asked the vendor. The boy looked at Aderi.

"she looks frail, could she be buying one for self-defense?" the boy asked himself looking at aderi.

"But she's dressed fancy...could she be...a noble, I don't know any noble that had a child that has the appearance of her...reddish red hair and eyes...If she is a daughter of a noble, why is she alone" The boy thought to himself looking at Aderi trying to figure out who this young lady is.

"8 silver coins" the vendor answered Aderi, she took out her pouch and pulled out one gold coin, the boy's eyes widen when he looked at the pouch. It was full of gold coins.

"Young miss...this is too much!" The vendor answered.

"Keep the change, sir" Aderi smiled. The boy then grabbed aderi's wrist that was holding the pouch.

The boy looked at the coins, he took out one, and examined the gold coin.

"Hey! That's stealing!" Aderi yelled out to the boy.

"This looks real," the boy said as he dropped the coin back into Aderi's coin pouch before letting go of her wrist.

"Are you a high-ranking noble?" The boy finally asked the question he was trying to answer. Aderi was shocked at the boy's question.

"So what if I am?" Aderi asked, the boy shook his head.

"Why would you need a dagger if you're a high-ranking noble when you have a bodyguard?" The boy asked with a frown.

"Are you planning on killing someone?" The boy asked, Aderi's jaw dropped.

"Are you crazy!? Kill!?" Aderi was shocked at the theory of the boy about her.

"Then why would you need that?" The boy asked suspiciously.

"To protect me! Even if my father is a high-ranking noble he never gave me a bodyguard or something nice in general!" Aderi answered frustrated at the boy.

"You have a lot of gold coins, did you perhaps, steal it?" The boy asked eyeing the pouch.

"no! This is given by my grandparents" Aderi answered.

"I'll get going now" Aderi replied as she walked away. The boy just looked at the girl.

"I think you made her upset buddy...perhaps her family is a sensitive topic," the vendor told the boy. The boy's eyes just followed Aderi's figure.

"She indeed looks like a noble...perhaps she is a secret daughter of a noble" the vendor suggested while also looking at the walking Aderi from a distance.

"Perhaps..." The boy answered.

"Are you still gonna buy weapons?" The vendor asked the boy. The boy shook his head.

"Maybe next time" the boy answered as he went in the direction where Aderi walked.

"Young love these days" the vendor sighed as he watched the boy walk to where Aderi walked to.

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----

Aderi was walking around from store to store buying things she wants. Little did she knows the boy was following her.

The boy didn't have a motive to follow her, he just did. The boy also thinks this behavior of his was weird. He just followed Aderi without a reason.

----

"This is the 5ft food store she went to" the boy mumbled to himself as he saw Aderi going to a food store. He was leaning on a wall of an alleyway. To him this girl was interesting.

"Could she have bought the dagger to cut the food she is buying?" The boy mumbled to himself still looking at the store where Aderi walked inside.

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Aderi finally got tired and walked back to her carriage. She was holding a lot of things and she was tired from walking around. Her shoes have heels, it wasn't high but it's not suitable to be walking around for a long period.

The sun was already setting. She looked at the sky as the driver of the carriage helped to put Aderi's stuff in the carriage. She bought a lot today, mostly food. Her money was still so many, 1 gold coin really can buy a lot.

She bought a lot of jewelry from that one vendor, a dagger, and a lot of food and she bought a few headwear, accessories, and ribbons.

Once Aderi was inside the carriage she let out a sigh.

"It's fun spending money when you are rich" she mumbled to herself as she did a little stretching with her arms.

She looked out the window, the color of the sun setting was indeed beautiful. She leaned her head on the window of the carriage.

"The life of a daughter of a high-ranking noble is fun...minus the parents of Aderi," Aderi mumbled as she let out another sigh.

"In the novel, her grandparents died who provided her with everything...although the money she obtained after her grandparents died will only go to Aderi's villainess actions" Aderi sighed again still looking at the sky.

----

At the age of 18 Aderi's grandparents will die, and she will obtain a lot of money. But due to her parent's teachings and her obedient personality, she has. She turned into a villainess. Her money was spent on her villainess acts. Like hiring people to mess with the female lead and hiring to kill the female lead, which leads to her death.

Her motive behind those actions is her parent's teachings. She was obedient to them. She doesn't want to be hit when she didn't follow their orders.

The people in society supported her for her villainess acts--why? Because aderi was a stunning girl, she can catch your attention from a mile away. If she had to have the crown prince's attention the queen's position will be secured for her.

They hated that idea, they wanted to be the queen, and they want their daughters to be the queen. So the more Aderi's reputation fell, the further away she is from getting the crown prince's attention.

Aderi was just a girl who wanted love, and attention. She obtained these from the maids but...she wanted the love and attention from someone who she can call "parents" and "friends"

She was too blind to see that the maids loved and adored her. The same goes for her grandparents. But...she was busy chasing the love and attention of these humans called "parents"

She respected her stepmother like her own mother. But that woman was the reason for Aderi's villainess acts. Her stepmother was the one who picked the target.

Her stepmother hated the female lead hence because of the female lead's beauty. The stepmother planned to ruin Aderi who has her mother's beauty which her husband left her for back then, to destroy another girl who is also beautiful.

----

"The carriage is going to the Callista's estate...could she be a Callista?" The boy asked himself as he jumped from tree to tree following Aderi's carriage.

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Finally, Aderi arrived home.

"M'lady!" The maids greeted her but they had a worried look.

"what is it?" Aderi asked confused why the maids looked so worried.

"Your father...he's angry and he is calling for you," one of the maids said in a worried tone, Aderi looked up at the sky.

"Take all the things I brought to my room, I'll have a word with my father," Aderi said, the maids nodded. Aderi walked inside the mansion. Her father's butler guided her to her father's office.

"so... I'll be meeting the bastard who blamed his daughter for the death of his wife? Calm down Aria--no calm down Aderi! Give him a piece of your mind when you are reading Aderi's background story in the novel!" Aderi thought trying to calm down herself.

The butler knocked on the door.

"She's here, your grace" the butler announced.

"Let her in" Aderi's father's voice can be heard from the other side of the door.

The butler opened the door revealing Aderi's father's office.

"it's time to meet you, Duke Callista!" Aderi thought to herself as she stepped foot into the office.