Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 95

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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 95
“As you can see, I’ve been struggling. All because of the lady before me who described this body as spoiled food.”
Philaf Montes gazed down at me with his reddish-brown eyes and continued speaking.
“During my entire confinement, I could only think of your cold, departing figure.”
‘So that’s why he’s been holed up all this time.’
As I stared at him, suddenly appearing and spouting nonsense without preamble, I shifted my weight onto one leg and glared at him with a crooked expression. He looked down at me with confident, domineering eyes. Watching his attitude, something suddenly came to mind.
‘Did he take the bait? Did that news reach Philaf’s ears?’
Thinking it worth confirming, I decided to engage him in conversation for now.
…Using the tone of my younger brother from my previous life.
“You’re getting more hurt because you’re petty enough to hold onto trivial things. At this point, you’ve gone past hurt—you’re rotting away, withering and twisting.”
At least preserve the face that was barely worth looking at. When I openly clicked my tongue at his haggard appearance, as if he’d been up for days, Philaf let out a hollow laugh as though unbothered.
“Rotting? Your word choice is still exquisite. Your posture is exactly like a back-alley thug. But the tactic of acting like a street ruffian while scratching at pride won’t work this time. I’ve developed immunity by pondering your words all this while.”
“What kind of self-consciousness is this?”
I tapped the back of my stiff neck several times with my fan as I continued speaking.
“Philaf, if I were a thug, I would’ve thrown a punch at your face first. You’re the one who approached me like a street ruffian and started the quarrel.”
“A quarrel…. I’m sorry it appeared that way. I came to have a productive conversation with you.”
“I’m already engaged in various productive activities, so I can’t fit you in.”
Philaf narrowed his fiercely slanted eyes as he listened to my words.
“Various productive activities? You seem quite proud of your recent High Society activities and achievements at the Academy, but that’s all limited to the magical realm. We spirit mages don’t even sniff at such things.”
“Why would you sniff? It smells.”
“Playing with words while putting on airs.”
He gazed down at me with a bitter smile playing at his lips.
“There are countless people like you who act arrogantly and then fade away in a flash. Do you think it’s easy to continue drawing attention like this, without any faction or reputation in High Society after all your past misdeeds? You’ve simply poked the wrong hornet’s nest.”
I merely shrugged my shoulders.
“Reputation? What are you talking about? I’m the daughter of the Magic Tower Master. If you know anyone with better backing than me, bring them here. I’d like to see.”
“You’re even teaching lectures these days, so why are you pretending not to understand what I’m saying? The Magic Tower alone can’t cover everything for you. If you apologize for speaking rudely to me and behave obediently, I can exercise my influence on your behalf.”
“Influence? Your breath smells bad, so no thanks.”
Continuing to provoke him with the tone of my younger brother from my past life, veins began to bulge on Philaf’s forehead.
“You want to keep acting like that? I’m also the leader of Aracron! You should be begging me on your knees right now!”
Just when I thought he was being patient, he quickly revealed his fiery temperament, his fists trembling slightly.
As I continued to needle Philaf, I simultaneously grasped his true purpose in seeking me out today.
He had come to find me to recover from the humiliation he felt when I rejected his request for the final dance during the Spring Flower Festival.
Deborah, who had pursued him so persistently that it was embarrassing to watch, had suddenly changed her attitude and wounded his pride, which infuriated him.
‘Just as I thought—he’s trying to intimidate me with a sense of crisis, as if something’s up, to make me submit. Given Philaf’s nature, he’s not just testing me.’
After assessing the situation, I looked at him.
“Beg on my knees? Why would I? I have no intention of including you in my future life plans, so let’s each go our own way.”
“Ha! I came all this way to look after you out of old affection, and you’re still acting willfully. You used to put on airs at least in front of me.”
“Airs? When exactly are you talking about?”
When he suddenly started reminiscing, I feigned a yawn. At my blatant expression of boredom, his eyes twisted.
“Why do you speak of it as if it were ancient history? It was only last year. When you told me you wanted to go to the Ball together.”
“Do you understand how repulsive it is when you keep dredging up expired matters? It’s like touching spoiled food—sticky and revolting. I explained it clearly back then. You’ve already exceeded your time limit. It’s over.”
At my cold gaze, he pressed his lips together firmly before releasing them.
“Fine, I’ll concede a hundred times over that you’re upset because I’ve been accompanying Miya Binoshu. I’ve hurt your feelings, I know. But that young lady is my benefactor—my savior, so….”
“Your premise is flawed, so your conclusion is absurd.”
“What?”
“I’m not upset. This is simply my nature, and besides, I have no interest in you anymore. By now, I trust you understand. I’m leaving.”
I spun around sharply and walked toward the escort knight and coachman who were hesitating because of Philaf Montes.
“You tormented Miya! Because of me!”
He bellowed at my back. I turned to look at him, utterly astounded.
“When was that? And when a man as handsome as Knight Isidore takes my side, do you really think you’d even be visible? Philaf, you’re vastly overestimating your own charm. Get a grip on yourself.”
“You’re the one who needs to get a grip. That man is nothing but a hypocrite masquerading as a gentleman.”
Philaf harbored considerable ill will toward Knight Isidore. Something must have happened between them in the past.
‘Oh. Then this will be even more fun to provoke.’
“Hypocrisy? I judge only by objective facts I can see with my own eyes. And Knight Isidore is far more handsome than you.”
“So you’re acting like this because you’re dazzled by that bastard’s pretty face?! Do you think Knight Isidore is really so special and remarkable?”
“His face is special and remarkable. Why else would he have surpassed all the young ladies and been chosen as this year’s flower by universal acclaim? Please stop meddling in this matter and focus on your princess—Miya Binoshu.”
With nothing left to say, I climbed into the carriage, and Philaf shouted frantically from outside the window.
“You’ll definitely regret what you did today!”
His voice was so loud my ears rang.
“You’ll come crawling at my feet begging for my help, Deborah!”
‘How could he say something so absurd out loud.’
“Please save your delusions for when you’re home!”
I shouted back at the top of my voice and reclined into the plush carriage seat. Philaf’s flushed, grimacing figure rapidly receded into the distance.
I repeatedly opened and closed the fan in my hand at regular intervals, lost in thought.
‘He doesn’t even realize what he let slip. It seems Aracron is unfolding exactly as I predicted.’
Indeed, the worker ants move swiftly with their provisions, all to catch the queen’s eye.
‘Now I simply need to be patient and wait slowly.’
I rubbed my stiff neck, which ached from being held rigid the entire time. I wished I had a massage device.
* * *
Crash—!
Philaf returned to the Mansion with his face flushed crimson and purple, hurling everything within reach. A mirror hanging on the wall shattered into fragments, and a candlestick he’d thrown clattered across the floor.
As he spewed vicious curses, the servants trembled, carefully gauging his mood.
‘Damn it all!’
As the only son of the third generation in a prestigious family, Philaf had held the upper hand in every relationship except with his father, the family patriarch. Particularly in his dealings with Deborah, the power dynamic had been so overwhelmingly in his favor that he could neither accept nor tolerate this complete reversal of positions.
Every time he recalled that something he’d held in his grasp for so long had slipped away, his insides twisted and his chest tightened with suffocation. He roared aloud.
“Who does she think she is, going her own way like that?!”
I humbled my pride and approached her first, yet she dares reject my proposal?
As he trampled the mirror shards into powder, a servant delivered news.
“M-Master Philaf. M-Miya has come to the Reception Room. She requests a brief audience.”
“Miya?”
Philaf Montes swept back his red hair roughly, his face still flushed with irritation.
“What business brings you here without so much as a word of notice? I told you to wait.”
“Yes, Philaf Montes.”
In another time, I might have felt a secret thrill at being sought out first. But those days had grown tedious. What consumed me now was the burning desire to do something about Deborah Simour, who turned my insides upside down at every turn. Those bold crimson eyes of hers clawed relentlessly at my composure—a sensation I had grown intimately familiar with during my confinement.
‘Let’s see how long you can keep that up.’
Philaf took a cigarette between his lips and swallowed his frustration, gazing out the window shrouded in bluish darkness. Only when the servant reminded him once more that Miya had arrived did he finally make his way down to the Reception Room.
“What is it?”
At Philaf Montes’s question, Miya hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Please give me the opportunity to showcase my healing abilities at the upcoming Aracron Academic Conference.”
“That’s something you should discuss with Emmanuelle, the heart of the Sorority. I oversee the Fraternity only.”
Philaf Montes spoke coldly.
“Emmanuelle refused to give me that chance. But I will astonish everyone instead. I’ll make the Aracron Academic Conference the most talked-about event.”
“You’re always asking me for opportunities.”
Yet the one person truly capable of offering them treated me like refuse.
“I… I apologize.”
“This is the last chance I’m giving you, my benefactor.”
Philaf Montes spoke coldly before leaving his seat.

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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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