That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 23

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

23

If the Earl of Kensington had fallen from the King’s favor and been torn out by the roots, Isaac fretted that the sparks might land on him too—a man who’d thrust his wife into that very pit without so much as a second glance.
“I grabbed a rotten rope…….”
Oblivious to who had rotted that rope in the first place, Isaac shifted his weight from foot to foot in agitation.
‘Everyone’s dead, they said. So Bridget is dead too?’
He pressed his clasped hands beneath his chin as though in prayer.
“God help me…….”
Isaac hadn’t the nerve to send someone into that Mansion to dig up Bridget’s corpse.
He had to play ignorant. Completely.
As though he had nothing to do with the Earl of Kensington.
‘Nothing to do—it’s the truth, isn’t it? I’ve never once dined with the man. I never even laid eyes on him!’
But how, then, was he to explain that Bridget had been there last night?
And if her body turned up in that place……
Isaac’s eyes darted about in search of some way out, and suddenly he snatched up pen and paper.
[To the Earl Josh of Florence. My wife and your sister, Bridget, has run away from home. It has now been two days since any trace of her has been seen……]
He had chosen to trample on the honor of the dead and survive.

* * *

“Mother, look at this!”
Josh, Bridget’s brother, burst in fuming and thrust a letter at his mother Lauren.
“Josh, what is it?”
“Bridget has run away!”
“What?”
Lauren took the letter and read through it quickly.
“Good heavens.”
“She’s not a child. How can this be?”
“Could it be because of Penelope?”
Lauren looked at Josh, at a loss.
They knew that Isaac had taken Penelope as his mistress.
When they heard that Bridget had allowed Penelope to stay in the Mansion, they were initially shocked, but reasoned that since they’d known each other for so long, it must be acceptable.
“I thought things had settled down. I assumed she was managing well enough.”
She hadn’t come running home to pour out her grievances; they’d thought she was simply mature enough to accept the situation with grace.
But then came this disaster.
“Her husband takes a mistress and she runs away from home? It’s a disgrace to the family! How can she be so irresponsible?”
Josh paced frantically, fury radiating from every step.
“Mother, what if Isaac uses this to demand a divorce? What if he asks us to return the marriage settlement?”
“Ah…….”
Lauren pressed her fingers to her forehead as though the very thought brought a headache.
“I can’t understand it. She was always such a good, gentle child. Not a word to you, not a word to me. She’s not the sort to cause this kind of trouble.”
From her earliest years, Bridget had been a dutiful and obedient daughter to Lauren.
A daughter more motherly than mother herself. A daughter to lean on.
After her father’s death, Lauren had relied on Bridget far more than on her eldest son Josh, at least for emotional support.
Bridget was the dependable pillar of the family—someone who would do anything for those she loved.
“First we need to find Bridget. Where could she be staying?”
“I’ve already sent servants to all the places Bridget might go. She can’t have gone far—she’ll turn up in the palm of my hand.”
“When you find Bridget, don’t scold her too harshly.”
“Mother, it’s precisely because you’ve been too lenient that Bridget has come to this.”
Josh turned his anger on Lauren.
He bore down on her, voice sharp.
“You give in to everything she wants, so she thinks the world of herself and stands on ceremony. She doesn’t know how to be pleasing to her husband. Isaac’s infidelity is her own fault, for not being sweet enough!”
“You’re blaming me, Josh? Do you think it was easy, raising you alone without your father? I did my best. I don’t deserve this from you.”
Seeing tears spill from Lauren’s eyes, Josh released a heavy sigh.
“When you find Bridget, she needs to throw herself on Isaac’s mercy and beg his forgiveness however she can. We have no money to return to him.”
Lauren wanted no part of defending Isaac’s actions.
Bridget had every right to be hurt.
How could anyone remain composed when their spouse had taken a lover—and with their wife’s closest friend, no less?
Had Bridget come to him in tears, pouring out her grievances, he would have sided with his daughter and shared her anger.
That would have been the end of it, a matter settled and put to rest.
But running away without regard for the family’s interests and obligations—that crossed a line. It was selfish.
Lauren believed her daughter’s marital troubles must not spread to become a crisis that dragged her blood family into ruin.
The Florence family owed the Winston family far too much for Bridget to indulge in pride.
“She may have fled in the heat of emotion, but she’s sensible enough. She won’t stand idle while her family suffers.”
Lauren was just as angry with Bridget for this stunt as Josh was.
Or rather, she was terrified—terrified that a family barely clinging to life would crumble entirely because of this.
“This cannot happen. Divorce is absolutely, absolutely out of the question…….”

* * *

By the time Bridget had become a dead woman to Isaac and a reckless runaway to her birth family, she was purifying Milea’s chamber.
The servants of the inner quarters were curious about her—who she was, how she had come to be in Julian’s arms, and why she was dressed as she was.
Though she’d instructed them to hold their tongues, gossip had a way of slipping out from the most unexpected quarters.
Cautious Milea, wary of idle rumors spreading unnecessarily, kept Bridget in her own room.
Milea watched the industrious Bridget with eyes full of suspicion.
‘What did those two talk about?’
What could they have discussed that would leave such suspicious traces of blood around Bridget’s mouth when she emerged from the inner chamber?
Could such marks be signs of violence? Absolutely not.
‘His fingers had brushed across them. That’s all the mark was.’
Whether he’d stroked, wiped, or merely touched—it was clear that Julian had made contact with Bridget’s face.
‘Her face. Around her lips especially. They must have been close.’
Milea watched Bridget’s profile as she worked earnestly to purify the Magical Aura, her gaze falling on the wound at her lips—now freshly cleaned.
‘A young man and woman, in a closed room, a touch without violence.’
Just as the servants wondered about Bridget’s identity, Milea found herself curious about the nature of Julian and Bridget’s connection.
Yet she asked nothing in the end.
Though she regarded Julian as a son, he was not truly her son.
Julian was a king, and Milea was a handmaid.
“The Royal Palace is absolutely saturated with Magical Aura,” Bridget observed, either unaware of or deliberately ignoring Milea’s searching gaze.
“I’ve purified this room completely, but the outdoors are so thick with it that it will surely be tainted again soon.”
She moved restlessly to the window, her face uneasy as if she’d just stepped out of a dust-laden place.
“That’s simply the way of the Royal Palace. Don’t overexert yourself—leave it be. A palace is more perfect a place for the gathering of corruption than any graveyard. I won’t be affected by such things.”
Bridget stopped what she was doing and settled into a chair at the table.
“How is His Highness managing?”
“Eric has improved greatly. Thanks to that, I can finally breathe easier.”
Milea said that since Eric had begun to compose himself, only Julian remained in need of her care.
Bridget was heartened by this news.
‘In her past life, Milea had fallen into despair by the end of this season, losing Eric, and entered the Convent by her own hand.’
Milea had said that, half-mad with grief over Eric’s death, she’d felt useless everywhere and couldn’t bear it anymore—so she’d shut herself away in the Convent.
From that point forward, there would have been no one by Julian’s side.
The only person who nagged him, showed him care, prepared his meals, dressed him, and brought him warmth would have vanished, and he would have been utterly alone in that cold palace.
The thought of a lonely Julian filled her with sorrow.
Fortunately, this time it would not come to pass.
Eric would be well, and Milea would remain at Julian’s side as she always had been.
“Next time I meet Sir Eric, I’ll purify his Magical Aura once more for him.”
“He’s been curious about you, actually. He’ll be delighted to hear it.”
Milea shifted the conversation to Julian, now the greater concern.
“I wish you’d use that ability to look after His Highness too. Didn’t you sense something when you saw him?”

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