That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 5

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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 5

Until early this year, when her husband died and she left alone for the Rucel Kingdom, Penelope had visited the Winston Estate frequently to see Bridget.
So it had been merely nine months since she returned.
Three years ago, right after the wedding, Isaac had left Bridget alone in this estate and gone abroad.
Thanks to that, Penelope could visit the empty estate as if it were her own home, comforting her lonely friend under the pretense of offering solace—without answering to anyone’s gaze.
Penelope loved this estate.
It was a property the wealthy Winston Family had purchased to display their riches, so wealthy they had bought a baron’s title with gold.
The garden with its grand fountain was beautiful year-round, and the ornate stone building was magnificent and resplendent.
Among all the rooms, Penelope’s favorite was the Tea Room on the first floor.
Beyond the corridor laid with vivid patterned tiles imported from the Eastern Continent, the Tea Room had walls adorned with pristine panels embellished with gilt—truly an elegant space that best displayed the Winston Family’s wealth.
‘I always dreamed of living in a place like this.’
How she had envied it every time she came to see Bridget.
And now she herself would live here.
When Isaac had said he would arrange lodging for her but then simply told her to stay in this estate, Penelope had been thrilled beyond measure.
For Penelope, who kept herself separate from this circle of society, there was no shame in taking her friend’s husband and settling into his home.
Ever since becoming a laughingstock because of her elderly husband, she had no reputation or honor left to protect.
‘How easy this is.’
No matter how innocent Bridget was—giving up her husband, giving up her house, everything came so easily.
Penelope adored Bridget. She always had, but now she adored her even more.
‘My dear Bridget. I never expected such generosity.’
As Penelope habitually sat in the guest’s seat and surveyed the Tea Room, she quietly shifted to the head seat—the one Bridget always occupied when receiving her.
‘From here, I can see the entire garden at once.’
So this was the view from the head seat.
‘When I was trapped in that disgusting marriage with that old man, Bridget was enjoying all these wonderful things alone.’
The expression on Penelope’s face as she thought this was curious indeed.
Just then, Bridget entered the Tea Room.
“There you are, Penelope.”
“You came, Bridget.”
Penelope smiled, mirroring exactly how Bridget had greeted her guests from that head seat.
Bridget glanced at her sitting in the head seat, said nothing, and took the guest’s chair instead.
The seats had been reversed.
Acutely aware of this fact, Penelope’s mood brightened, and she asked with utmost graciousness.
“Were you looking for me? Why?”
“Since you’re no longer a guest, I thought I’d ask—how would you feel about moving your belongings here to the estate? With only what you brought for the journey, things must be inconvenient. You hardly have more than a few dresses, do you?”
“That’s true.”
Penelope nodded with a dejected air.
At the same time, she glanced sideways, comparing her dresses with Bridget’s.
Bridget’s dress, adorned with lustrous silk and elegant lace, was truly beautiful.
What of her own dress, by comparison?
‘Mine is something I’ve worn until I was sick of it for two years now.’
Ever since Baron Bellingham took to his sickbed and could barely move, Penelope had not been able to purchase a single luxury—no dresses, no jewelry.
A stepson twenty years her senior, fearing his wandering-minded father might lose the family fortune to his new wife’s extravagance, had kept a watchful eye.
The only thing he had permitted was mourning clothes for his father’s funeral.
This dress, a reminder of her unhappy marriage, had become unbearable.
Penelope lamented.
“All the dresses I own are shabby. Even if I retrieve the things I sent to my family home after my husband’s death, there’s nothing better than what I’m wearing now.”
As she spoke, she gazed at Bridget’s dress with unmistakable envy.
Then Bridget made a proposal.
“Would you like to have a few of my dresses?”
Penelope’s eyes went wide.
“You’re serious?”
“Having new ones made by the dressmaker will take time, so in the meantime, if you’d like, choose a few of the dresses I’ve worn.”
Penelope jumped with delight.
“Can I choose anything?”
“Yes, anything.”
Bridget didn’t begrudge a few dresses.
They were things Isaac had ordered his butler to purchase to display his wealth.
Even while abroad, Isaac had his butler commission Bridget’s dresses from the most fashionable atelier among the noblewomen.
The dresses were as ornate as a doll’s wardrobe.
None of them were what Bridget would have chosen for herself.
They were simply expensive creations designed to maintain the dignity of the Winston Family.
Even at home, Bridget had to dress herself beautifully in cumbersome, elaborate gowns fit only for parties.
With her fine, delicate features and composed temperament, such gaudy dresses seemed far too extravagant on her.
So whenever she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she found herself sighing.
Yet watching Penelope covet such things struck her as amusing.
‘They truly suit each other, the two of them.’
In her past life, consumed by stormy emotions she couldn’t manage, she’d been too muddled to notice; but now, with feelings subdued and living through it all again, she perceived things she’d never felt before.
Now Bridget understood why Penelope had met Isaac, and what about her Isaac had loved.
The dresses Isaac had purchased seemed to suit Penelope, brilliant and beautiful as she was, perfectly.

* * *

Penelope swept through Bridget’s Dressing Room.
The servants moved the dresses she’d selected at her command, and Penelope appeared thoroughly delighted.
Bridget knew this wouldn’t end after just one visit.
Perhaps self-conscious about taking everything at once, Penelope had chosen only a few for now, yet her eyes lingered longingly over several dresses she couldn’t bear to leave behind.
Bridget watched Anna, who stood regarding Penelope’s brazen collection of the mistress’s garments with barely concealed shock, and made a request.
“Anna, would you fetch my Wedding Gifts for me?”
“Your Wedding Gifts, ma’am?”
Since the wedding ceremony, Bridget had never once worn the jewelry she’d received as gifts.
Three years ago, when Bridget had resented Isaac’s silent departure, she’d ordered Anna to put them away where they wouldn’t be seen.
Anna looked puzzled by Bridget’s sudden request for them, but retrieved the boxes nonetheless.
The jewels remained buried deep in the Dressing Room, still in their gift boxes.
Once Anna had brought out all the boxes and set them on the table, she dusted away the accumulated grime and asked, “What are these for all of a sudden?”

Anna regarded Bridget with suspicion.
“Surely you’re not planning to give these to Lady Bellingham as well? They’re far too fine to part with, if you ask me…….”
Anna had already disapproved of Bridget giving the dresses to Penelope.
Of course, since they were Bridget’s, she had every right to do as she pleased, but Anna found her honest feelings difficult to conceal—and all the more so when the recipient was Penelope.
Seeing Anna’s expression, Bridget let out a soft laugh.
“Who gives away their Wedding Gifts to another?”
“Then why……?”
Bridget gazed down at the jewels with a dry expression.
The bracelet, adorned with three strands of pearls and large diamonds, was extraordinarily luminous.
The soft-gleaming pearls trembled faintly beneath her hand.
“It would be wasteful to leave something this beautiful gathering dust in a corner.”
“That’s true!”
Anna, who had long thought the same, nodded emphatically.
No matter how much one might hate the giver, the jewels themselves bore no fault.
“Would you set them on my vanity so I remember to wear them on special occasions?”
“Of course, ma’am.”
Anna arranged the beautiful set of ornaments gracefully upon the vanity.
The jewels that Penelope had so envied gleamed brilliantly beneath the light.

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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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