That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 14

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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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Episode 14

A few days later, Isaac heard that an exhibition had opened among the nobility.
Each house submitted works by the sculptors they patronized, and apparently there were so many magnificent pieces that an entire large park was converted into an exhibition venue.
The Capital was abuzz with the news. The Winston Mansion was no exception.
Though here, the commotion took on a different character entirely.
“You didn’t receive an invitation?”
Isaac’s cold voice cut toward Bridget.
Bridget kept her eyes downcast and said nothing.
“Every nobleman in the Capital received one. Even my former wife got an invitation, I hear. Why didn’t you receive one?”
Josh, Bridget’s brother, seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
Isaac couldn’t fathom why he hadn’t received an invitation—why Bridget hadn’t—when even her impoverished birth family had been invited. He paced back and forth in visible agitation.
“Since that party, no one’s invited you anywhere, have they? Am I wrong?”
……
“What in heaven’s name did you do when I wasn’t looking? What could you possibly have done to fail to secure a single invitation?”
Isaac, who had been stalking back and forth before Bridget in sharp irritation, suddenly wheeled around to face her.
“Was it that day at the party?”
“……What do you mean?”
“At the party that night. Did you cause trouble while my back was turned? Did you do something severe enough to get yourself blacklisted from noble society?”
Penelope, who had been watching from the side as Bridget received this tirade from Isaac, stepped forward.
“Oh, surely Bridget wouldn’t do such a thing. She simply doesn’t have the nerve to offend anyone. Isn’t that right, Bridget?”
Though she spoke in gentle tones as if to soothe him, she was in fact stoking Isaac’s suspicion.
Isaac, hearing Penelope’s words, found them reasonable and turned on Bridget with renewed accusation.
“Did you somehow offend the Marquise Cavendish, who sent us the invitation?”
“I never did anything like that.”
“We’ll see soon enough.”
Isaac stepped close enough to Bridget’s face to deliver his final warning.
“You did receive something, remember?”
He meant the matter of paying off her birth family’s debts in exchange for marriage.
“If you received such a sum, you need to prove your worth. Either bring back an invitation, or give me heirs, one after another.”
Having left those words behind, Isaac swept past Bridget and strode out of the study.
Bridget’s eyes squeezed shut. Along with the cold wind he stirred came the horrific memories of her past life, flashing across her mind.
The words “prove your worth.” Isaac had been fond of saying them in her past life too.
Those words had weighed Bridget down with a terrible sense of debt.
After being mired in gossip as “Bridget the Liar” and subsequently abandoned while playing the fool before the noblewomen, all she’d been capable of was bearing Isaac’s child.
At that time, she’d thought she had to do even that. So she’d clung to Isaac with pathetic desperation.
“Would you come to my chamber tonight? Darling…….”
She’d begged and begged her husband—besotted with his mistress—for just one night in his arms.
Rejected until her pride was wounded, she’d persisted until she’d worn him down, and each time she finally found herself in Isaac’s bed, she’d had to endure every conceivable humiliation.
She’d suffered degrading, shameful nights bereft of any courtesy or respect, listening to complaints thinly veiled as critique—her body too stiff, lacking charm so she didn’t even feel like a woman, her figure inadequate.
Once, shortly after he’d finished with an act as contemptuous as defecation, Isaac had looked down at her and muttered these words.
“It’s like watering a dead tree. There’s nothing to it at all, is there?”
She’d endured the degradation and tried her best, but no child came; and until the divorce, she’d withstood each day crushed under the weight of psychological torment.
The humiliation and wretchedness of those times rose up in Bridget now, and she shuddered.
Revulsion clung to her entire body like mud, viscous and thorough. It wasn’t merely a feeling.
As her emotions grew fragile, Demonic Energy swarmed from somewhere and clung to Bridget’s body, writhing.
‘Shake it off, Bridget. It’s not happening this time.’
Bridget tried hard to steady her mind.
Penelope, who had lingered until now, pressed close to Bridget with apparent tenderness.
The sensation felt not so different from Demonic Energy clinging to her, and a chill raced across her arms.
“Are you alright, Bridget? Your face has gone pale. You’re upset, aren’t you…….”
Penelope assumed Bridget’s distress came from the harsh words she’d received from Isaac.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk him around.”
Penelope, who had grown cold toward Bridget after the day she’d ruined her Marriage Gift, had in recent days begun to treat her with calculated warmth again.
Whether she sought reconciliation or merely to needle her was hard to discern.
Being consoled by her husband’s mistress after a quarrel with her husband was hardly a pleasant thing.
“Isaac does flare up like that sometimes, but you know he’s really a warm person at heart, don’t you? Why don’t you be a little more straightforward with him? They say Isaac just adores a woman with charm. Isn’t that endearing?”
Bridget forced a smile.
Penelope went on at length about how wonderful Isaac was when he was with her, how perfectly suited they were for each other, before finally saying, “If you make an effort, you’ll be able to restore your relationship with him,” and then she left.

* * *

That night, Penelope lay on her bed counting the colorful invitation envelopes.
“Ten invitations—what’s her secret?”
Many nobles who had learned of Bridget’s private meeting with Milea at the last party were now sending her invitations.
Unaware of this, Penelope could only feel jealous at why the nobles were showing such interest in Bridget.
“But no matter what tricks you pull, Bridget, it won’t matter.”
Penelope smiled with satisfaction as she hid the envelopes beneath her mattress.
As she did, Isaac knocked and entered.
Coming to spend time with Penelope, he let out a delighted cry at the sight of her reclining on the bed with a smile.
“Penelope, you’re absolutely radiant.”
In her thin, sheer silk slip, through which her silhouette was visible, Penelope was sensual.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Isaac. Come here.”
Penelope’s voice turned sultry as she beckoned him.
Isaac hastily shed his outer coat and buried his face in her embrace.
Penelope let out a sharp cry and whispered softly as she caressed his body.
“Shall we do this somewhere else tonight?”
“Somewhere else?”
“Everyone’s asleep. It’s a time when no one would notice, no matter where we spend our time together.”
Penelope smiled with her eyes as she led Isaac by the hand.
Isaac smacked his lips eagerly and followed her out of the room.

* * *

Bridget lay in bed performing Purification. The Demonic Energy that had clung to her earlier seemed likely to bring nightmares.
A suspicious sound reached her ears. Someone was whispering outside her door.
Bridget froze in shock, holding her breath as she strained to hear what was happening outside.
“Shh, Isaac. If Bridget finds out we’re doing this here, she won’t be pleased.”
“Oh, the thought of Bridget hearing us only excites me more.”
“Ah……!”
“You really do…… make me burn.”
The sounds of her husband and his lover carried clearly into Bridget’s room.
At first they had tried to keep their voices down, but as they sank deeper into their own world, all caution vanished.
‘In the hallway…….’
It had to be intentional. Isaac’s room was down the opposite hallway—they couldn’t have run out of patience on the way. They were doing this deliberately.
Bridget pressed a pillow over her ears.
But the breathless laughter of the two lovers pierced through the pillow.
‘Don’t think about it, Bridget. Just go to sleep.’
Had her heart trembled and her eyes filled with tears at such a thing, she never would have sworn to take revenge.
But sleeping through those sounds was another matter entirely.
Even after purifying the Demonic Energy, she knew nightmares would follow.

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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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