The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 123

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 123

Milaire only left the dress shop after turning the entire place upside down and confirming there were no new fabrics.

Fortunately, no more employees were injured.

Emily had experienced this kind of thing more than once or twice. So as soon as she realized it was impossible to calm Milaire down, she gave in to everything she wanted.

Milaire overturned everything from fabric drawers to boxes storing miscellaneous items.

When the storm finally passed and Milaire left the shop, it looked as if a gang of thieves had ransacked the place.

“Hah, really, the Grand Duchess is terrible.”

One employee said in an exhausted voice. They wondered when they would ever clean all this up.

Emily said wearily.

“Still, we should be grateful that not many people were hurt. It’s not like this is our first time experiencing this.”

“It’s really too much. What are we, slaves? Her daughter, the Duchess Evron, is such a dignified person.”

“The Grand Duchess can’t help herself either.”

Emily didn’t want to sympathize with Milaire, but she had no choice but to say that.

The head seamstress under Emily sighed.

“This reminds me of the old days. The Grand Duchess once humiliated the Empress with clothing.”

“How?”

A young employee asked with wide eyes.

“That was about 25 years ago. Before Lord Lawrence was born. At a ball the Empress attended, she brought in five courtesans dressed in identical outfits, treating them like maids.”

“Wow. How bold.”

“And she herself wore clothes similar to the Empress’s but much more expensive and luxurious.”

“Given the Marquess Rosan’s Grand Duchess’s appearance, if she stood in the same space wearing clothes similar to the Empress’s…”

The employee gasped. Emily sighed.

“The Empress wasn’t ordinary either, so she stripped the courtesans down to their undergarments and threw them out right there.”

“What about the Marquess Rosan’s Grand Duchess? The Emperor must not have been there.”

“Even if the Emperor wasn’t there, she was still the Marquess Rosan’s wife, so doing that would have caused problems with the House of Rosan. Instead, Countess Pesheur brought a knife and tore her skirt.”

“My goodness.”

The employees gasped.

Emily said wistfully.

“They say beauty doesn’t last forever. Who could have imagined it would come to this just last year?”

“That’s right. It feels like yesterday when we first went to fit clothes for the Duchess Evron.”

“You reap what you sow. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. How terrible of a mother must she have been for both her son and daughter to abandon her?”

One employee said with a hiss.

“When are we going to clean all this up?”

“You’d better get used to that.”

The head seamstress lamented.

“The Marquess Rosan’s Grand Duchess is particularly difficult, but she’s not the only one like this.”

“Let’s rest a bit before cleaning up.”

Emily sighed and lowered her head.

Milaire sat in the carriage with her eyes closed.

After pouring out her resentment and exploding with anger, she now felt chilly and empty inside.

Milaire lowered her head. Then tears began to fall drop by drop.

She repeatedly fell into states of extreme anger or excitement, then became depressed.

However, in the past few decades, tears had never flowed this frequently at any time of day.

More often than not, Milaire wasn’t even conscious of her tears flowing. She thought her tears had dried up long ago.

She was terribly tired. And she could no longer understand why she had gotten so angry.

If the Kingdom of Ients wouldn’t supply fabric, there was no way Emily could obtain it no matter how skilled she was.

Even if she spoke directly with the owner of a major textile merchant, she definitely wouldn’t be able to get it.

And what meaning would there be in obtaining that fabric and making the most beautiful dress in the world to wear?

Milaire knew this too. Even if she held a more splendid and magnificent banquet at the main palace on the same day as the Empress’s birthday celebration and became its protagonist, it would have no particular meaning.

Milaire hadn’t received a proper birthday gift even once since Lawrence grew up.

He only brought her things like flowers when he was very young. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there was nothing after his tutor stopped helping him with such things.

Did he even know her birthday? He probably only knew when the Emperor gave birthday gifts or threw parties for her.

‘That bad boy.’

Lawrence was the only thing Milaire had brought into this world that was praised as valuable.

But because she felt ashamed, she was always sorry to Lawrence.

She was sorry for giving birth to him as the Emperor’s son but not as a prince. She was sorry for giving birth to him in an improper state.

She was sorry that he, who should naturally have become crown prince, couldn’t do so because of the flaw caused by her.

She wanted to raise him well. She loved him.

So she did everything.

She never made him do anything he disliked, and let him do whatever he wanted.

She could have given her own life for him. Milaire could have done anything to restore Lawrence’s rightful privileges.

She thought Lawrence would understand such feelings.

‘They say there’s no use raising sons.’

But she thought Lawrence would be different.

Milaire leaned back tiredly.

A frightened maid fidgeted restlessly, watching her mood. Then she asked in a voice as small as a mosquito’s.

“My lady.”

“What?”

“Where… should we go?”

The coachman was also too cautious to ask. So the carriage had been standing still for quite a while.

Milaire thought with her empty head. Should she go to the Imperial Palace? But there was nothing to do there anyway.

The powerful people who had been by Milaire’s side naturally moved to Lawrence’s circle through a natural process.

And now that Lawrence had turned his back on her, they maintained an appropriate distance from Milaire and became courteous ministers and court ladies.

Thinking about it now, they had never been on Milaire’s side. They were just forces trying to support the son favored by the Emperor.

The Emperor would welcome her, but meeting him wouldn’t change much. Even if she was mistreated at the dress shop, the Emperor would only offer empty consolation or talk about punishing that dress shop.

The Emperor was well aware of the petty power struggles conducted through clothing and accessories.

But after establishing his authority as Emperor, he never pretended to know about such things. Such matters were fights that should occur to gain the Emperor’s favor, not something for the Emperor to interfere with.

Milaire didn’t really have anyone she could call a friend either.

It wasn’t that there were no people around her. But most were just flatterers.

And just as they had wanted to come to Milaire’s banquets until recently, now they were watching to see if they could secure even a slightly better position at the Empress’s birthday celebration.

“Let’s go home.”

That was the only place left to go.

Milaire returned to the Rosan Estate feeling hellish.

“Have you returned?”

The butler bowed politely.

Milaire waved her hand dismissively. She wanted to remove her makeup and rest.

If it had been the late Bill, he would have noticed that Milaire was in a bad mood.

He would have approached her sociably, flattered her, and prepared various things to cheer her up and improve her mood.

But this butler didn’t do that. He did his duties as a butler and the tasks assigned to him perfectly, but he never took initiative in doing things that weren’t asked of him. He never struck up conversations without purpose.

He did his work flawlessly. The estate was managed perfectly. It was twice as comfortable and beautiful as when Bill managed it.

But Milaire thought this butler was like a machine managing the house.

And her inferiority complex made her think he was ignoring her because he despised her.

She didn’t bother to replace him because it was the Emperor’s chamberlain who had sent the butler.

There was also the reason that it was difficult to find trustworthy people. Milaire now found it tiring and difficult to actively search for and compare people as she had in her youth.

Milaire thought this house was no different from the house she lived in as a child these days.

That house was an estate with a long history. But without a single employee, weeds grew up to her thighs in the garden, and thieves had even torn off the wallpaper, making it no different from a ruin.

The butler said.

“A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

Since there was no one who would come to visit, Milaire tilted her head in confusion.

“It’s Princess Hazel from the Belmond Family.”

“The Princess?”

Even Milaire knew of the Belmond Family.

The Belmond Family published a total of three newspapers and several types of magazines that Milaire wasn’t familiar with. The Belmond Coffeehouse was famous as a gathering place for intellectuals in the capital.

Prime Minister Lin occasionally contributed columns to Belmond Newspapers.

On the other hand, the most sensational gossip magazine in the capital also belonged to the Belmond Family.

Yellow Belmond would vividly describe and publish things like whether Milaire’s shoe heels were worn down or what kind of ornaments she wore in her hair.

Milaire also kept up with Yellow Belmond. And she would explode with anger at some content and try to overturn the newspaper office, while on other days she would deliberately throw them story material.

She had even sat for a long time on the balcony of a certain salon wearing a wide-brimmed hat to make it easy for them to draw her portrait.

The Emperor’s mistress and the gossip magazine had a symbiotic relationship. However, after Lawrence learned to read, she drew the line to prevent them from publishing overly harsh content.

In any case, if she was a Princess from the Belmond Family, even if she wasn’t from a traditional noble family, she would be a daughter raised preciously in a wealthy household.

She would be young too, so she couldn’t understand what business brought her here.

In the past, she wouldn’t have bothered meeting with someone like a Princess from the Belmond Family. Maybe if it were Mrs. Belmond. Especially when she was in such a gloomy mood.

But Milaire decided to meet Hazel. Because she thought Artizea might have sent her.

Milaire also knew that Princesses from influential families were helping with preparations for the Empress’s birthday celebration.

When she entered the drawing room, Hazel quickly stood up. And she bowed her head politely in greeting.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Marchioness Rosan. I’m called Hazel.”

“You don’t need to be so formal.”

Milaire gestured for her to sit down.

Hazel expressed her gratitude with a very tense attitude and took her seat.

Hazel had no good feelings toward Milaire. Though Milaire probably wouldn’t remember, it was she who had been hit several times by Milaire while trying to stop Artizea from being beaten.

But Hazel had a personality that couldn’t rest until she resolved whatever she was curious about.

“Thank you for meeting with me despite my sudden visit. The reason I visited today might be rude, but I have something I’d like to ask you, Marchioness.”

“What is it?”

“Could I possibly know where that necromancer you kept as a guest for a while went?”

At Hazel’s question, Milaire closed her mouth.

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