I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 25

I wanted to abandon everything and start from the beginning.
Walking the night streets under the flicker of streetlamps, that thought had crossed my mind.

―I know it’s impossible in reality, but fantasies are free. No debt, but I’d need a family. Money would be the cherry on top. And I definitely wouldn’t need someone like Manager Kim.

Even so, I’d deliberately left out any setup like being a villainous noblewoman or a heroine ruined by someone else’s hand, but my luck really was atrocious.
It was truly strange.

“It’s strange…….”
“Pardon? Is something wrong with the carriage, miss?”

My eyes snapped open in an instant.
Kate looked at me with confusion, her fawn-like eyes blinking.

“Perhaps the temperature isn’t to your liking?”

Bianca Bardenshia’s dedicated lady’s maid, Kate.
She examined me with concern and asked again, carefully.

“Or perhaps the dessert isn’t to your taste? Young miss, you’ve looked tired since this morning…….”

I sprang from my seat and looked around.
The room’s interior wasn’t ostentatious in anyone’s particular taste, yet it was sufficiently luxurious.
Each piece of furniture held the preferences and great and small stories I had come to know during my five years living as Bianca.

‘This is Bianca’s room?’

The white lace ribbon tied to the canopy posts.

―How old are you, moping all day over some bad dream? Look at this.

Leonardo had tied it himself when I said I’d had a nightmare.

“Miss? Where are you going?”

I left Kate’s voice behind and walked toward the door as if in a trance, then stopped.
A red-haired woman trapped in the mirror stared back at me with a startled expression.

“……Bianca.”

I remained frozen for a few seconds, then came to my senses and bolted from the room.

“Miss!”

Kate’s cry from behind didn’t slow my feet. I clutched the full folds of my dress and ran through the familiar hallway. My heart raced ahead of me; my ankle twisted and I stumbled, one shoe slipping off, but I didn’t care.
I had to confirm it.

“Father? Brother?”
“Both are in the study…….”

“Bianca? What’s with that look on your face?”

Leonardo, standing with his back to the door, turned to face me, his expression darkening.
The Duke’s hand, which had been rifling through documents at his desk, stilled.
Click.
He set down the fountain pen he’d been holding and rose from his chair, then approached me with quick strides.

“What’s the matter? You look terrified.”
“What is it? Why are you acting like this? What happened? And where are your shoes—did you lose them somewhere again?”

Both of them asked with such tender concern that it was almost unbearable.
Ah, that’s right.

“…It was just a dream.”

That absurd funeral, or the body ruined by a stranger threatening me from the very first day of my Transmigration—

“A dream? Did you have a nightmare?”

Yes, a nightmare. That must be it. It couldn’t be real. It was logically impossible.

‘Then is my Transmigration into Bianca real?’

But faced with this familiar scenery, this painfully familiar tenderness, such questions became meaningless.
The fantasy I’d chewed over countless times on nights when I felt abandoned came rushing back.
A family that loves me, an environment wealthy enough to indulge my preferences, a position where no one would dismiss me.

“I asked what’s wrong, didn’t I? Come on, tell me, Bianca. Why won’t you say anything?”
“You’re scaring the girl, Leonardo.”
“It’s frustrating, Father!”

During my years as a lady-in-waiting, there had been countless anxious moments. Each time, I had lamented my circumstances and resented my lot.
And for that, I was punished.
I, Bianca Bardensia, had recovered my reputation, was no longer a Villainess, and had drawn far from a Dead End.
I had been granted the life I’d dreamed of.

‘But I didn’t understand then.’

The nightmare was a punishment meant to make me realize that everything had come true according to my wishes.

“No, I’m fine.”
“How can you be fine? This girl just keeps saying she’s fine all the time.”

Leonardo grumbled as he led me to a sofa and examined my ankle.

“Father, I think we should call for a doctor. It’s already starting to swell.”
“Right then. We’ll hear the details later—for now, let’s get it treated. Rest here for a while.”

The Duke, who had drawn near, couldn’t quite hide his exasperation, yet he asked nothing more. He simply smiled gently and left the Study.
After examining my ankle for some time, Leonardo excused himself to fetch a cold compress.
The Study around me, the Garden visible through the window—both were achingly familiar.

‘They’re all in full bloom.’

I gazed at the crimson roses spilling across the beds and exhaled slowly.

‘Then this must be late spring?’

I was trying to gauge the time of year when—

“Bianca.”

I hadn’t heard the door open, hadn’t sensed a single footstep, yet a familiar voice reached me from inches away.
It was Baron.
Tenderness melted into the sharpness of his elongated eyes as he looked between my face and my ankle in turn.
As always, he approached with an impeccable gait unmarred by a single misstep, then bent one knee.

“The Duke mentioned you’d injured your ankle.”

His gaze, fraught with concern, warmed away the unease I’d been holding since earlier.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Until he spoke those inexplicable words, I might have said yes.
Baron pressed one hand against the sheet beside him and slowly pushed himself upright.
Then he leaned toward me, closer still, his torso bending near.

“I said I’d come for you once matters were settled, didn’t I?”

Cold embers fell across the warmth that had begun to thaw my fear.
His red eyes, which had been so quiet and still, flashed with a grotesque light.

―I can’t very well tear the young lady to shreds right here.

A scene I’d forgotten in the rush of unfolding events struck my mind with brutal force.
But something heavier bore down from beneath my chin, a suffocating pressure that blocked all other thought.

“I’ve been waiting. Waiting for this moment to tear you to shreds.”
“Gasp——!”

His hands closed around my throat in a single motion, yet they didn’t feel harsh. But the grip of those warm palms was growing steadily stronger.
Now he looked down at my face as I choked, my airway crushed.

“Does it hurt?”

His eyes blazed with a cold, piercing killing intent, as if burning this moment into his memory.
I thrashed and clawed at the tightening grip, but it was useless. My breath came in desperate, gasping heaves, and my vision began to darken.
Even without my eyes closing, the world before me went black and my consciousness slipped away.

“Agh——!”

But that wasn’t the end.
Just as my slender thread of breath was being cut off entirely, a flash—and my vision flooded with light.
The gray ceiling that filled my wide-open eyes was one I’d grown accustomed to in only four days.
Not the pristine white ceiling of the young lady’s bedroom.

“My lady! You’ve opened your eyes!”

With hurried footsteps, a woman approached and removed the damp cloth from my forehead.

“Masa……?”

She quickly checked my pulse, intent on assessing my condition.

“Heavens, I never thought the Lord would answer my prayers…… In all my years, I’ve never had an experience like this, my lady!”

Despite her first impression of composure and severity, her voice trembled uncontrollably.

“It’s been a full two days, my lady. Two days of you not waking, and everyone in the Mansion has lived through hell…… No, falling into hell’s flames couldn’t be worse than this. The agony of burning alive couldn’t surpass what we’ve endured!”
“……Two days?”
“Yes, ma’am. As you’ve always instructed, I did not call for any outside physicians. Please rest assured.”

Watching Masa wipe away her streaming tears, I swallowed hard. My throat felt parched, almost raw.

‘I was unconscious for two days?’

Now that I thought about it, my last memory was of taking breakfast in the Dining Room.
That was when strength suddenly drained from my entire body, and I collapsed to the sound of a sharp, splitting ringing in my ears.

‘Just a little lost sleep, and I collapse like that? What a wretched body.’

I let Masa’s tearful speech go in one ear and out the other, flexing my fingers slightly.

‘Hm?’

But something cool and solid was gripping my hand tightly.
As I managed to put strength in my neck and tilted my head up slightly, a tender voice came from below.

“Miss……”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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