That’s How I Became a Villainess - Chapter 6

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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 6

The next day, Penelope looked truly beautiful in Bridget’s dress.
The olive silk gown suited her auburn hair perfectly.
Along the neckline, a large floral ornament fashioned from delicate fabric made her striking features all the more radiant.
It seemed the dress had been tailored for her all along.
Penelope gathered the skirts wide and turned before the mirror, admiring herself from every angle.
“How is it? Don’t I look wonderful?”
The maid attending her obliged with praise, though reluctant.
“It suits you beautifully, Miss.”
“Doesn’t it? It’s Bridget’s dress, but it looks better on me than on her, wouldn’t you say?”
“Y-yes, it does.”
Though Penelope’s constant comparison to Bridget was grating, the maid couldn’t deny she was right.
When Bridget wore it, the dress overwhelmed her, but now, draped on Penelope, both woman and gown shone equally.
Penelope applied a deep shade of lipstick to her full lips and hurried to find Isaac.
Isaac sat before the hearth in the Reception Room, conversing with the Butler.
“How do I look?”
Watching Penelope twirl before him, Isaac chuckled softly.
“You’re looking especially lovely today. Is that a new dress?”
“Bridget gave it to me as a gift.”
“Did she now?”
Penelope smiled coquettishly and settled herself gracefully onto Isaac’s lap.
“Since you’re the one who bought it for Bridget, it’s as though I’m receiving it from you. Thank you, Isaac. I truly adore it.”
She pressed a light kiss to his cheek, leaving a vivid lipstick mark.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry!”
Penelope laughed merrily, rubbing his cheek to wipe away the stain.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
The Butler, who had lingered awkwardly, unable to find the right moment to excuse himself, hastily withdrew.
‘Thank goodness the Mistress is away—she needn’t witness this.’
The more the servants saw Penelope and Isaac together in Bridget’s own domain, displaying such intimacy, the more their sympathies shifted toward Bridget.
After all, having the master so openly neglect his marital duties set a poor example for those beneath him.
Isaac gave no thought whatsoever to how the servants perceived him.
His predecessor, who had purchased his Peerage with money, had taught Isaac nothing of a nobleman’s duties or the bearing expected of the Aristocracy.
One cannot teach what one does not know.
All Isaac had learned from his father was how to buy people with gold.
The Butler sighed quietly, careful not to be noticed by the two absorbed in each other, and stepped out, closing the Reception Room door behind him.
Isaac felt the once-silent room fill with Penelope’s animated laughter, and he drew her close by the waist.
“Are you comfortable staying here? Is everything to your liking?”
“It’s wonderful. I get to see you whenever I wish, and Bridget treats me so well.”
“I’m glad you’re pleased.”
Isaac relaxed, seeing Penelope smile.
In truth, when Bridget had first proposed the three of them live together, he’d wondered if she harbored some ulterior motive.
But seeing her hand over her own clothes to Penelope convinced him it was simply genuine kindness.
‘Perhaps, since they were close friends before our marriage, she truly does wish to spend this time with her.’
It was a convenient, if naive, rationalization.
Certainly, the world might think it peculiar to keep two women under the same roof.
Yet Isaac felt no need to disturb this peace.
‘Don’t all the Nobility keep a mistress or two? The Mansion has plenty of rooms—why not house the ladies together? No one would consider it improper.’
Isaac, unfamiliar with Aristocratic society’s true expectations, assumed Bridget would never willingly invite scandal upon herself.
“You’re not thinking of someone else while I’m right here, are you?”
Penelope pouted and gently tugged his chin toward her.
“I’m jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what could I possibly be thinking?”
“Of anything. Anything at all that draws your attention away from me.”
As she spoke, leaning against Isaac with artless affection, Penelope looked utterly endearing.
“Don’t be jealous.”
“But I want your heart entirely for myself.”
“And yet she already has everything.”
“Is that so?”
Penelope laughed loudly, her voice ringing out with artificial delight.
The sound of her laughter carried beyond the Reception Room door and struck the ears of the maids passing by in the hall.
“Tsk, tsk. Could she be any happier?”
“Anna, do keep an eye out in case the mistress comes this way. If I were her husband and saw him carrying on like that with a concubine, I’d be tempted to burn the house down.”
Anna, standing among the other maids, lifted her shoulders in a shrug.
“Lucky for us, the mistress is out. She won’t have to come running to extinguish any fires. She said she’d return around lunch, so hopefully they’ll have finished their… performance by then.”
The gazes of the maids fixed on the Reception Room door were anything but kind.

* * *

After taking a morning walk with Isaac and returning to her room, Penelope spent a good while studying her reflection in the mirror.
“Bridget had far prettier dresses than this one.”
She found herself constantly wishing for the gowns she’d left in Bridget’s Dressing Room.
“Besides, those dresses don’t suit Bridget anyway. Wouldn’t the maker and the giver both be pleased to see them on someone they actually flatter?”
Penelope set off toward Bridget’s room, intending to borrow a few more dresses.
The memory of Isaac’s gaze never leaving her stirred her confidence further.
After all, everything Bridget possessed had come from Isaac in the first place.
“Bridget.”
Penelope knocked, and when there was no answer from within, she quietly pushed the door open.
“Bridget? Are you here?”
The room was utterly silent.
“Well, no matter.”
Penelope thought it rather convenient.
With Bridget away, she could take whatever caught her fancy without hesitation.
“With so many things, she’ll never notice what’s missing.”
Penelope made straight for the Dressing Room.
But then something caught her eye—a jewelry set gleaming luminously on the Vanity Table.
Penelope’s eyes widened.
“Wait… is that…?”
It was Bridget’s bridal gifts.
Though she hadn’t seen them in years, she recognized them at once.
She remembered how envious she’d felt when she learned that Bridget had received these magnificent jewels from Isaac—so envious that she’d gone home and wept beneath her bedding.
‘I married an old man, yet Bridget got such a splendid husband!’
Bridget had married the young, handsome, and wealthy Isaac Winston and received such expensive gems as gifts, while what did Penelope have?
It was a reality too cruel for Penelope to bear.
‘What am I lacking compared to Bridget? All she has is that pathetic Purification Ability, and it’s barely useful at all.’
The fact that a friend in similar circumstances seemed to be thriving better made her own situation feel all the more wretched.
That was when it began—when Isaac suddenly seemed so magnificent and extraordinary to her.
If she were being honest, she had been thrilled when he abandoned Bridget right after the wedding ceremony.
Knowing that Bridget was unhappy gave her comfort.
‘I like you, Bridget, but I hope you’re not happier than me.’
Penelope touched Bridget’s bridal gifts with envious fingers.
She slipped the bracelet onto her own wrist and held it up to catch the light streaming through the window.
The large diamond on the bracelet sparkled like starlight.
The soft touch of the pearls felt wonderful against her skin.
It was then that Anna, who had come to replace the bedding with fresh linens, entered the room without knocking.
Mistaking Penelope for Bridget for a moment, Anna startled visibly.
“Oh…? I’m terribly sorry, madam. I thought you were out… Wait, aren’t you Mrs. Bellingham?”
Penelope was startled as well and instinctively hid her bracelet-adorned wrist behind her back.
“Ah, I was just… doing something for a moment…”
Penelope glanced around nervously, searching for words.
Lost in old memories upon seeing the bridal gifts, she had forgotten why she’d come in the first place, and her stammering made the whole scene look exceedingly suspicious.
Anna’s eyes narrowed.
“But why are you hiding something?”
“H-hiding? I’m not hiding anything.”
“You put something behind your back as soon as I came in.”
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“Then show me your hands.”
Anna set the bedding down on the bed and stepped toward Penelope, reaching out her hands behind the woman’s back.
Penelope shoved Anna away roughly.
“How dare you presume such liberties with me!”
In that instant, pearls scattered from Penelope’s wrist, tumbling across the floor.

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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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