That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 55

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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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55

“Hic! Th-that! The standard is, I mean…….”
Isaac gasped for breath.
“Do you mean through your eyes, or do you mean through your brain’s judgment?”
“I m-mean, th-that is…….”
“But isn’t it strange? Why should she go to such lengths for your eyes and your brain?”
Isaac trembled too violently to answer anything, but it made no difference.
Not every question sought an answer.
Slip.
Julian drew a short dagger from inside his coat.
His crimson eyes flickered with madness.
“If I just pluck out your eyes or carve out your brain, the problem’s solved, isn’t it?”
“Ah!”
Julian seized Isaac by the collar and lifted him into the air.
“I’ll help you become capable of trying on your own.”
Dragged upward by that terrible strength until his eyes were level with Julian’s, Isaac went white as death.
“N-no! Hic! It’s a misunderstanding! Ugh! I, I m-meant, g-! I didn’t mean that at all……!”
Bridget looked toward Mildea and Count Nicholas, who had followed behind her, hoping one of them might step in and stop this.
But the two of them only kept their eyes downcast and silent, as though Julian’s rampage was beyond their reach.
No one was going to intervene.
Bridget realized that whenever Julian was like this, there truly was no one who could stop him.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t — it was that they couldn’t.
Bridget had no choice but to step forward herself.
“Your Highness. If he dies, he won’t be able to sign the documents.”
“He won’t die from having his eyes gouged out.”
“Ah! Aaaah!”
Julian raised the dagger high.
Mildea and Count Nicholas turned their heads away, closing their eyes in preparation for what came next.
“The government contract will be delayed!”
Bridget cried out hastily.
Julian’s dagger froze just before it pierced Isaac’s eyes.
…….
Bridget exhaled a breath of relief she hadn’t known she was holding.
She spoke firmly before Julian could move again.
“Then Your Highness won’t be able to call me ‘my woman’ anymore. Without the government contract, I’ll be that man’s wife instead.”
Count Nicholas, who had been watching the situation with his eyes half-closed, started in surprise.
What she said was true, but in all this time, not a single person had dared speak truth to Julian so boldly and directly.
He looked toward Mildea with worry, unsure whether this was even permissible.
“Surely this won’t end in some disaster?”
He’d thought they’d only need to remove Isaac’s corpse, but now he worried they’d have to remove Bridget’s as well.
Mildea didn’t answer, but she too was uneasy.
Julian was like a time bomb.
The truth was, Mildea herself was always gauging when he might explode.
‘When he’s this angry, there’s nothing I can do about it either.’
Whether Bridget knew the concern of those around her or not, she pushed Julian harder.
“Forgive my boldness, but I am his woman now, so what Your Highness is doing right now makes no sense. Think it through carefully.”
The words “his woman” that fell from Bridget’s lips clawed at Julian.
His Murderous Intent surged more violently than ever.
‘It’s hard to breathe.’
Bridget gasped, yet held Julian’s gaze steady.
A cutting tension hung taut, as though reality itself might split.
Then, in an instant, it all vanished.
The Murderous Intent pressing down on everyone, the tension—all of it.
Thud.
“Ugh!”
As Julian released the collar he’d been gripping, Isaac fell to the ground.
Count Nicholas and Mildea both started in surprise.
‘It worked.’
Julian, who moments before had looked ready to tear Isaac to shreds in a fury, composed himself and let his anger subside.
What sorcery was this.
Julian extended the hand that had been gripping Isaac toward Count Nicholas.
“The contract.”
“Yes, yes, of course!”
Count Nicholas hastily produced the contract he’d been holding and handed it to Julian.
Julian signed it with an indifferent expression, passed it back to Count Nicholas, who then carried the document to Bridget.
The moment Bridget signed, Julian himself retrieved the papers and thrust them before Isaac, who still trembled on the ground.
“You heard her? Bridget says she’ll save your life.”
Somewhere along the way, Isaac’s form of address had been elevated from “you wretch” to “you.”
“Thanks to that, I’ve had quite the thought.”
“W-what…”
“That if it’s what she wants, I might just grant it. Even these absurd requests of hers. Do you follow?”
Isaac’s eyes rolled about as his body convulsed with sobs.
His mind, frozen by terror, didn’t function well, but he attempted to think nonetheless.
‘So he’s saying he won’t punish me and will let me live because Bridget took my side?’
He bowed his head sharply.
“Thank you!”
But he had answered incorrectly. His gratitude was directed at the wrong person.
Julian sighed as though disappointed.
“You understand nothing.”
“…!”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Bridget can understand for you.”
Julian placed a pen in Isaac’s hand.
Isaac trembled so violently he nearly dropped it, but Julian grasped his hand and pressed down.
“Hold it properly. We’re short on time. Do I look like a patient man to you?”
“N-no, no, I’m not!”
Julian let out an incredulous laugh.
“So you say.”
“Ah, th-that’s not what I meant… Ugh!”
As though instructing Isaac to forget any other excuses and simply sign, Julian increased the pressure of his grip.
“Nnngh…”
Isaac signed through tears, desperate to escape the pain.
“Now, witnesses, you’ve both clearly seen that this contract was executed by mutual agreement, free of coercion or threat, yes?”
For all Julian’s shameless words, neither Mildea nor Count Nicholas dared contradict him, and both bowed respectfully in assent.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Julian, satisfied, handed one of the three identical documents to Bridget.
Even as she took it, he didn’t release his grip, holding it with her.
“Your Highness?”
“Now say it yourself. Tell me whose woman you are.”
Bridget looked up at Julian.
Julian tilted his head slightly, as though urging her forward.
She wondered if he knew how that gesture and expression appeared to others.
It was a face of arrogance that suited him far too well.
Bridget felt more apprehensive now than when she’d claimed to be Isaac’s woman.
As she swallowed dryly and lowered her gaze, her lips parting, Julian seized her chin and tilted her face toward his.
Bridget could not escape his eyes.
Her heart felt as though it were tightening in her chest.
Not from fear or dislike.
Meeting his crimson gaze, she spoke each word with precision.
“I am Your Highness’s woman.”
Julian gazed down at Bridget in silence.
Her soft voice tickled at his ears.
The fine hairs on his arms rose slightly.
A tremor ran through him.
“Say it once more.”
“Julian. I’m your woman.”
Julian’s gaze was drawn to the movement of Bridget’s lips.
He felt the urge to continue the kiss from before, and ran his tongue across his own lips.
That remark about Isaac giving him a good idea—it was no idle comment.
Until now, he had wrestled with how to treat Bridget, but watching her plead for Isaac’s life had crystallized it for him.
The way to possess this woman completely.
“From now on, you must worship me not as a king, but as a god.”
Bridget looked up at Julian with eyes as beautiful and clear as an autumn sky.
His reflection filled them entirely.
“I will be your god. From this moment forward, everything you smile at, everything you weep for—it will all be because of me.”
A god is one who answers the prayers of the lamb he has chosen.
No matter how foolish the lamb’s transgressions.
If Bridget became wholly his, he could accept her.
He meant that even if he could not forgive, even if anger sometimes rose, he would embrace her nonetheless.
“Then I will hold you with a mercy as boundless as the sea, and care for you with a love deeper than any parent’s.”
Bridget felt the sincerity flooding from Julian.
His hands were stained with blood because of her betrayal, and he had been brought to this ruin.
His anguish was, in truth, her doing.
The Shadow Curse that had originally been planted in him was merely a seed.
But after she betrayed him, he became a monster.
Awakening the Shadow Curse to pull his power to its limit, ravaging the battlefield like a madman unable to overcome his rage, and then being consumed and tormented by the curse itself—Bridget knew it was all her fault.
Yet still, he had searched tirelessly for a way to embrace her and was now offering it.
That all your failings are part of you, and with a god’s heart, I will hold them.
“I will.”
How could she possibly refuse after such a confession?
“I’ll do that.”

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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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