Marek's eyes remained fixed on the translucent screen floating in front of him, completely ignoring the girl's struggles beneath his grip.
Although Marek's expression hadn't changed in the slightest, his mind was working at high speed, processing the implications of what he was reading.
'What the hell does transmigration completed mean? And what about this thing about world of destiny and host?'
At that moment, an even more intense moan than the previous ones escaped from Seraphine's throat, prompting Marek to finally lower his gaze toward her.
The girl still had her face pressed against the ground, her arm twisted in a lock that was clearly causing her considerable pain.
Her eyes burned with fury and humiliation as she continued trying to break free uselessly, only making her rear move in a tempting way to Marek's eyes.
Which he once again ignored before releasing his grip, stepping away from her with a swift motion as he stood up.
He offered her no help to get up, nor did he show the slightest remorse for the roughness of the restraint.
He simply stopped paying attention to her as if he had lost every trace of interest in her existence.
Marek's eyes calmly scanned his surroundings, and it was then that he noticed the two figures approaching quickly from the mansion.
The first figure was an older man, probably in his sixties, with grey hair perfectly combed back and an impeccable black suit that clearly identified him as a butler.
The second figure was a young girl with red hair tied in a bun, dressed in the characteristic uniform of a noble household maid.
The man passed by Marek without even looking at him, heading straight toward Seraphine with a genuinely concerned expression.
"Miss Blackwell! Are you alright?" the old man asked as he carefully helped her up, examining her reddened wrist.
The maid, on the other hand, stopped in front of Marek with a clear mix of concern and surprise on her face.
She was a girl with soft features, around twenty years old, with honey-colored eyes.
"Young Master! Are you alright? What you did just now… I've never seen you do something like that before…"
'Young Master?'
Marek looked at her in silence for a couple of seconds, before finally recognizing her all at once.
That red hair, those honey-colored eyes, and the maid uniform… along with that particular way of addressing him…
'Nylara…' he finally identified.
She was a secondary character who had barely appeared a couple of times throughout the entire novel.
A personal maid of the Nighthollow family, if he remembered correctly.
'Then this means that…'
His eyes briefly moved toward the system screen still floating in his field of vision, and then to the girl who was anxiously waiting for his response.
"I'm fine." Marek replied in a flat tone.
The maid seemed relieved by his answer, although the confusion on her face remained intact. Clearly, what she had just witnessed didn't match what she knew of the young master she had served for years.
Marek took advantage of that moment of silence to organize his thoughts, connecting all the dots his mind had been gathering since he opened his eyes in this place.
'This girl called me Young Master with a high level of familiarity, which means I'm part of the Nighthollow family…'
Then he glanced sideways at the butler who had completely ignored him, which meant he belonged to the Blackwell family.
'Two noble families in a training courtyard…'
At that moment, memories of his previous life, specifically those boring afternoons when he had been reading web novels to kill time, began to surface with great clarity.
'Destined to End the Villainesses…' was a medieval fantasy novel about a generic protagonist who kept gathering heroines while defeating the villainesses who threatened the kingdom.
He had read it years ago, when he still had time for that kind of useless pastime.
His eyes settled once more on Seraphine, who was now standing, glaring at him with a look that promised revenge.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, making her cleavage bounce slightly with each breath.
'The first main villainess to appear… a combat genius with pride as great as her talent.' Marek recognized.
In the novel, she was engaged to a second-rate noble from the Nighthollow family.
Who was a complete useless man, despite belonging to one of the richest and most powerful houses in the country.
The engagement had been arranged for political purposes, but she despised him to the point of demanding a duel to break it.
The situation was starting to make more and more sense.
If the useless one lost, the engagement would be annulled just like that. But if he won, which everyone considered impossible, she would have to marry him.
'Apparently, I just won the duel…'
Marek had understood that, after dying for some reason, he had been transmigrated into a novel he used to read.
'What a ridiculous situation.'
At that moment, Seraphine abruptly broke free from the butler's grip, walking toward Marek with firm steps, stopping just a few inches away from him.
Her eyes burned with an intensity that would intimidate any normal person, but Marek was anything but normal…
"You!" she exclaimed angrily. "Did you hide your true power all this time?! Was that your plan from the beginning?! To humiliate me in front of everyone?!"
Marek didn't even blink at her outburst; instead, he directed his attention toward the mansion's balconies, from where several figures had been watching the duel.
He distinguished two pairs emanating an aura of authority, probably his parents and Seraphine's parents.
The patriarchs of both families.
'No wonder she's so agitated… her entire family witnessed her crushing defeat.'
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she demanded upon being ignored, taking another step forward with her fists clenched.
Marek finally gave her his attention, but not in the way she expected.
His eyes ran over her from top to bottom, evaluating her. Examining her as if she were an interesting specimen rather than a person.
He had observed her combat stance, the way she distributed her weight, and how her curves tensed under the pressure of the moment.
'So I really am inside the novel…' he confirmed to himself as he studied her.
The girl in front of him, Seraphine Blackwell, was one of the five main villainesses of the work.
In the original canon, after the engagement was broken, her family forced her into another arranged marriage with the kingdom's prince.
That, combined with the restrictions imposed on her for rejecting the engagement, drove her into a state of anger that eventually turned her into an antagonist.
While he examined her, Seraphine had interpreted his scrutiny in a completely different way.
Her face flushed a furious red as she crossed her arms over her chest, involuntarily pushing her breasts upward.
Making them look larger than they already were, as she instinctively tried to cover herself.
"You disgusting pig!" she hissed, venom dripping from her words. "Now you're enjoying your prize? Do you think that just because you won a duel you have the right to look at me like that?"
Marek blinked several times in response, confused by the girl's reaction. Then he let out a sound that could have been a laugh if it had carried more emotion.
"If you consider yourself a prize, that's your problem." he said simply, in a flat and cutting tone.
Seraphine was about to respond, but he continued before she could.
"It was a fair duel, in front of our families. And you lost in less than three seconds." His eyes pierced through her like knives.
"If you have time to come up with excuses, you should use it to get stronger. Though… considering what I just saw, I doubt that would change anything."
Seraphine's face became one of complete fury. Her lips moved as if she wanted to spit out a dozen insults, but her words seemed to get stuck in her throat.
In the end, she simply clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and without another word, turned on her heels and walked away.
'Proud to the very end…' Marek thought as he watched her leave, 'at least she has enough intelligence not to humiliate herself more than necessary.'
After that, he shifted his attention to the system screen, which had remained motionless throughout the entire conversation.
Neither Seraphine, nor the butler, nor Nylara had reacted to its presence, confirming his initial suspicions.
'It seems only I can see it.'
"Young Master!" Nylara's voice interrupted his thoughts.
The young maid had remained by his side with a straight posture, waiting for his instructions.
Marek looked at her for a moment, evaluating her with the same coldness as before.
'She clearly didn't expect the useless master she served to do something like this.'
"Let's go to the duke." he ordered, beginning to walk toward the mansion without waiting for her response.
"Y-Yes, Young Master!" she hurried to follow him, positioning herself half a step behind him.
As they both approached the main entrance, Marek noticed how the figures who had been on the balconies had already descended and were waiting for them in the foyer.
The four individuals had expressions ranging from surprise to suspicion.
Before Marek entered, he cast one last glance over his shoulder toward the training courtyard.
Seraphine remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest and her fists clenched.
Her silver hair shone under the sunlight, and although her face was partially obscured by the distance, he could feel the tension in her shoulders.
At that moment, her violet eyes met his for a brief instant, before she looked away, covering her chest even more.
As if Marek's mere gaze were an unforgivable offense that made her body tremble.
'How ironic, that I just arrived and I already have one of the villainesses as my fiancée…' Marek thought as he turned his attention forward again.
'This is going to be troublesome.'