That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 31

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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 31

“My lady!”
“You’re unharmed!”
“You’re alive—thank heavens, you’re alive!”
The servants buzzed with joy, their voices overlapping in relief.
Isaac and Penelope, by contrast, had turned deathly pale, as though they’d witnessed something unspeakable.
“You… you…!”
“Ahhh!”
Isaac pointed an accusing finger while Penelope let out a shriek and collapsed to the floor.
Their reaction was as though they’d seen a ghost.
Bridget paid them no mind and turned to Cedric and Anna with orders. “Cedric, take Anna and dismiss everyone. We’ll discuss what just happened—later, in private.”

“Yes, my lady.”
Cedric, who’d been on the verge of abandoning his post, obediently set about scattering the gathered crowd.
Anna cast a triumphant glance at Penelope before slipping away among the others, her expression one of smug satisfaction.
Bridget turned her gaze to Isaac.
“Look at me.”

* * *

Once they were alone in the Study, Isaac, having barely collected himself, spoke. “How… how is this possible? You were alive? How?”
“That almost sounds as though you were hoping I’d died.”
Isaac noticed the shift in Bridget’s manner and regarded her with suspicion.
The woman before him was unmistakably Bridget, and yet she was not the Bridget he knew.
It was as if someone else were wearing her skin like a mask.
Gripped by thoughts of corpses wearing borrowed faces and vengeful ghosts returning to settle scores, Isaac pressed himself against the door frame. “Why… why are you suddenly speaking so casually? That’s not like you.”

“Have you ever noticed how politely people speak to cattle? Or pigs?”
“What are you talking about? What courtesy does one owe to beasts?”
“Precisely my point.”
Bridget smiled thinly.
Isaac found her smile unsettling and could only glare, unable to muster a retort.
“Is it really you? You’re… you’re actually alive?”
Bridget, watching Isaac tremble, let out a disappointed sigh.
“I’m astonished you had the nerve to do what you did to me when you’re such a coward. What if I’d been dead and had cursed you from beyond the grave?”
Only then did Isaac convince himself that the person before him was truly the living, breathing Bridget, and he sank onto the sofa.
“It seems you were planning to file for a divorce. Or have you already done so? Using my absence as an excuse, no doubt.”
“That was… unavoidable, I’m afraid. But must you keep speaking this way?”
“Unavoidable isn’t the right word. Contemptible is more accurate.”
Bridget delivered the correction in a measured tone.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Now that I’m back, you’ll withdraw the divorce petition.”
“You don’t want a divorce from me?”
It was unexpected. When he’d sold Bridget to Earl Kensington, he’d assumed she would demand the divorce herself.
He’d been prepared to threaten her with forfeiting the dowry he’d received at their wedding if she pushed too hard.
“I didn’t expect you to put up a fight. Is it the dowry? Would half of it suffice?”
“You know better than anyone that I didn’t run away. I won’t accept a divorce tainted by such humiliation.”
“So it’s mere pride, then.”
Isaac, who’d been testing her mettle like a merchant haggling over wares, snorted when he realized the true reason was so trivial.
“There’s more to it than that. While you were gone, things became rather complicated. I’ve already promised Penelope that I’d marry again, and I’ve even received consent from her father.”
His expression shifted in rapid succession—bewilderment, irritation, regret.
“I never wanted to divorce you in the first place! You know why I married you. Penelope… she won’t set foot in High Society.”
Penelope had been mocked and despised by the nobility at the few High Society gatherings she’d attended as the wife of Earl Bellingham, a memory that had left her fearful of that world.
In the Lucel Kingdom, where she was unknown, she could masquerade as an ordinary countess and attend casual parties like masquerade balls, but here in the Baltac Kingdom, it was entirely out of the question.
Isaac was well aware that marriage to Penelope would grant him no access to High Society whatsoever.

Because he had believed Bridget was dead, he’d made the rash decision to remarry Penelope—already carrying his child—in a state of despair.
Isaac blamed Bridget for his hasty choice and lashed out at her.
“If you were alive, you should have found some way to let me know! What have you been doing all this time before showing up now? You should have contacted me before things came to this!”
Bridget, who had heard the same words from Josh today, felt no anger at all.
It was remarkable how similar these people were in temperament.
He hadn’t bothered with even a perfunctory question about whether she was injured or in danger—he only wanted to devour her with his words.
Bridget spoke calmly.
“You’re angry because you regret divorcing me, aren’t you? There’s no need for that, Isaac.”
“Are you really going to keep speaking to me that way?”
“If you regret it, simply reverse the decision. I’ve returned, so I’ll reconsider the divorce. Don’t worry about appearances. Besides, the Aristocratic Council doesn’t care about your divorce. What do they care about the divorce of a viscount who bought his title? Nothing at all.”
“What are you talking about? Have you finished?”
“Some will mock you for being reckless. But before lunch that day is even over, they’ll have forgotten your name.”
“That much is…”
“Surely you don’t think the representatives gathered at the Aristocratic Council would seriously discuss your divorce while deliberating over war, taxation, and the present chaos?”
Bridget broke into laughter.
“Surely not. You’re a businessman, after all. I wouldn’t think you’d be that naive.”
“No. No, I wouldn’t. I wasn’t thinking that.”
Isaac loosened his necktie, perspiration beading on his forehead.
Had Bridget always been so eloquent?
Her tone and the mockery in her expression suffocated him.
Was it because she was unfamiliar to him now, or because everything she said was true?
He found himself unable to muster even a proper rebuttal.
“I’ve already received permission from Penelope’s biological father…! What am I supposed to do about that? I have my pride too.”
Isaac was startled to hear that what he’d barely managed to say sounded not like a counterargument but like a complaint.
It was as if he were whining to Bridget, asking her to help him find a solution.
‘Pride indeed.’
Though Bridget inwardly scoffed, she readily provided him with the answer he sought.
“Only you think the Hudson County Family is genuinely noble. They’re a foreigner who held a title abroad and played the count here too. Both the previous and current count have avoided High Society out of fear that inquiries into their family would begin. Why would you concern yourself with such a family?”
Isaac’s ears perked up at her words.
“As for Penelope, you can simply persuade her. She listens to you well enough.”
Bridget simply repeated what Penelope had often said to her, changing only the word from ‘friend’ to ‘beloved.’
“Wouldn’t she understand that much for the sake of someone she loves?”
Isaac had heard those very words from Penelope more than once.
“It’s something I’m doing for my husband, so Bridget will understand. I’m certain she would.”
Yes, a Penelope who spoke like that would surely understand.
Bridget drove the wedge deeper into Isaac’s wavering heart.
“By the way, I’ve arranged to visit the Spencer County Family in a few days. I was asked to purify a Magi that has attached itself to their eldest son since his return from the battlefield.”
Isaac’s eyes widened.
“When? When did that conversation happen? Was it at the Duchess of Cavendish’s party? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“It wasn’t that long ago.”
“Don’t tell me… you’ve been relying on the Countess of Spencer all this time? How?”
Bridget shrugged and rose from her seat.
“Do I need to tell you about something that may not even concern you once we’re divorced? Think what you like. After all, it will have nothing to do with you.”
“…!”
With a confused expression, Isaac stood as well.
“Is it really from the Spencer County Family? What? How did this happen? How did you end up going there? Tell me, Bridget! Bridget!”
Isaac called out desperately after her retreating figure.
But Bridget never answered, and simply left the study.
Isaac’s eyes darted rapidly.
Penelope, who couldn’t even set foot in High Society.
Bridget, who had cultivated a connection with the Countess of Spencer, the King’s closest confidante.
The scales had tipped.
“No, I’m canceling the divorce, canceling it…!”

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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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