Lyan's eyes remained fixed on the translucent screen floating in front of him, completely ignoring the girl's struggles beneath his grip.
Although Lyan's expression had not changed in the slightest, his mind was working at great speed, processing the implications of what he was reading.
'What the hell does transmigration completed mean? And what about this thing about a world of destiny and a host?'
At that moment, an even more intense moan than the previous ones escaped from Seraphine's throat, prompting Lyan to finally lower his gaze toward her.
The girl still had her face pressed against the ground, her arm still 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 hips move in a way that was tempting to Lyan's eyes.
Which he ignored once again before releasing his grip, stepping away from her with a quick 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 all interest in her existence.
Lyan's eyes calmly scanned the 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 marked 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 house maid.
The man passed by Lyan 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 Lyan with a mix of concern and surprise evident on her face.
She was a girl with soft features, around twenty years old, with honey-coloured eyes.
"Young master! Are you alright? What you did earlier… I've never seen you do something like that…"
'Young master?'
Lyan looked at her in silence for a couple of seconds, before finally recognising her in an instant.
That red hair, those honey-coloured eyes, and the maid uniform… along with that particular way of addressing him…
'Nylara…' he finally identified.
She was a secondary character who had only appeared a couple of times throughout the entire novel.
A personal maid of the Nighthollow family, if he remembered correctly.
'So, this means that…'
His eyes briefly shifted to the system screen that still floated within his field of vision, and then to the girl who was anxiously waiting for his response.
"I'm fine." Lyan 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 did not match what she knew of the young master she had served for years.
Lyan took advantage of that moment of silence to organise his thoughts, connecting all the points his mind had been gathering since he opened his eyes in that 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, the memories of his previous life, specifically those boring afternoons in which he had been reading web novels to kill time, began to surface with great clarity.
'Destined to End the Villainesses…'
It 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 again on Seraphine, who was now standing, glaring at him with a gaze 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.' Lyan recognised.
In the novel, she was engaged to a second-rate noble from the Nighthollow family.
Who was completely useless, 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 off.
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…'
Lyan 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 pulled away from the butler's grip, walking toward Lyan with firm steps, stopping just a few centimetres away.
Her eyes burned with an intensity that would intimidate any normal person, but Lyan was anything but normal…
"You!" she exclaimed in anger. "Did you hide your true power all this time?! Was that your plan from the beginning?! To humiliate me in front of everyone?!"
Lyan did not even blink at her outburst; instead, he directed his attention toward the mansion's balconies, from where several figures had been observing the duel.
He made out two couples emanating an aura of authority, probably his parents and Seraphine's parents.
The patriarchs of both families.
'No wonder she's so upset… the entire family witnessed her crushing defeat.'
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she demanded upon feeling ignored, taking another step forward with her fists clenched.
Lyan finally granted her his attention, but not in the way she expected.
His eyes travelled 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.
'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 that 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, unintentionally pushing her breasts upward.
Making them look larger than they already were, as she instinctively tried to cover herself.
"You disgusting pig!" she hissed venomously. "Now you're enjoying your reward? Do you think that just because you won a duel you have the right to look at me like that?"
Lyan 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 reward, that's your problem." he said simply, his tone flat and cutting.
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 her like knives.
"If you have time to come up with excuses, you should use it to become stronger. Although… considering what I just saw, I doubt that will change anything."
Seraphine's face turned into one of complete fury. Her lips moved as if she wanted to spit out a dozen insults, but her words seemed to have gotten stuck in her throat.
In the end, she simply clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and without another word she turned on her heels and walked away.
'Proud until the very end…' Lyan thought as he watched her leave, 'at least she has enough sense not to humiliate herself more than necessary.'
After that, he shifted his attention to the system screen, which had remained unmoving throughout the entire conversation.
Neither Seraphine, nor the butler or Nylara had reacted to its presence, confirming his initial suspicions.
'It seems I'm the only one who 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.
Lyan 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 the two of them approached the main entrance, Lyan noticed that the figures who had been on the balconies had already descended and were waiting for them in the hall.
The four people had expressions ranging from surprise to suspicion.
Before Lyan 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 sun, 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 Lyan's mere gaze were an unforgivable offence that made her body shudder.
'How ironic, that I've just arrived and I already have one of the villainesses as my fiancée…' Lyan thought as he turned his attention forward.
'This is going to be troublesome.'