The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 31
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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 31
Milaire hadn’t come all this way intending to lose her temper from the start.
Originally, she had planned to coax her.
She was worried because Lawrence’s situation didn’t seem very good, and she was also concerned about whether that stupid Artizea could do well.
She had intended to make sure Artizea never encountered anything like men for the rest of her life.
She was an insignificant little girl. She had planned to keep her close without marrying her off or letting her leave the manor.
There was enough money to last until death. So it would be best for her to just take care of household affairs and live doing embroidery.
But a man had already entered her life. Moreover, Lawrence said it was an important matter.
Since it had already come to this, she had planned to coax Artizea well and tell her to speak nicely so that Cedric would side with Lawrence.
She knew that Cedric was a rigid principalist. She also knew that he despised her.
But he was still a man after all. Look. Wasn’t he falling for her daughter?
Relationships between men and women were unpredictable. And a man before knowing a woman was completely different from a man after knowing one.
Of course, Milaire didn’t think it would last long.
By now, that daughter must be intoxicated with her own charm, thinking she had bewitched a man, and couldn’t come to her senses.
However, such romantic feelings naturally passed in an instant. In Milaire’s experience, young men were even worse.
So she had planned to give permission but coax her well, warning her to extract only the sweet benefits without being abandoned.
If necessary, she had planned to directly teach her methods of seducing men and ways to maintain favor for a long time.
If she was going to do it anyway, she had to do it well.
Artizea could become a duchess, not a mistress. Milaire herself had given birth to her with such status and raised her as a marquess’s daughter, not a bastard.
Duchess of Evron, wasn’t that quite splendid? As the Emperor said, it would also be helpful to Lawrence.
She had come with such intentions.
But seeing the manor completely transformed like this made her see red.
Artizea had changed as if she had metamorphosed from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Milaire’s eyes weren’t good enough to recognize that the core inside remained the same.
All she saw was her daughter, who had been docile and rustic until recently, overnight changing into clothes bought by a man, becoming beautiful while buried among flowers sent by a man.
“Crazy bitch!”
Milaire’s eyes turned blood red as she screamed and immediately grabbed Artizea’s hair.
“Kyaa!”
The guests cried out in surprise and rose from their seats.
Even those who had been watching with gleaming eyes, expecting something exciting to happen, were shocked by this excessive violence and didn’t know what to do.
“What did I tell you? Didn’t I say that an ugly and stupid bitch like you should just sit quietly at home, manage the household, and live doing embroidery!”
The silver pins in her hair scattered on the floor.
Artizea couldn’t even scream and squeezed her eyes shut. She was dragged along as Milaire pulled her.
She had stopped resisting when she was very young. If she resisted, Milaire would go even more berserk. It would only make the beating last longer.
Her vision went dark and her legs gave out.
She didn’t know what would happen if she fought back like a madwoman, but she had never tried.
Getting used to something was a frightening thing.
She had been the world’s villainess who rolled thousands and tens of thousands of deaths in her palm. But in front of her mother, she was no different from when she was two years old, reaching out her hands asking to be held even while being pinched until her skin peeled.
“You should be grateful that I gave birth to you without a father! How dare you stab me in the back by siding with a man the moment I turn my eyes away?”
“Please restrain yourself, Madam!”
“Restrain? I should restrain myself? I have to restrain myself even with my own daughter?!”
“Ahhh!”
Milaire screamed and struck the head maid who was grabbing her arm. Even as the head maid collapsed to the floor, she held onto Milaire’s legs.
“Lady Marquess Rosan, Lady Marquess Rosan!”
Mielle called out desperately, trying to stop her, but it didn’t reach Milaire’s ears.
Mielle, who was originally sickly and weak-hearted, was so shocked that she couldn’t breathe properly and collapsed, sliding down as if melting.
Hazel was startled and supported Mielle.
“A doctor! Call a doctor! Mielle, Mielle?”
“Lady Marquess Rosan, please stop!”
Belatedly, some of the shocked guests tried to intervene.
Milaire pushed them away with her hands and dragged Artizea out from the terrace.
Then she threw her down in the lobby.
“What did I tell you! I told you not to act like a woman! Crazy bitch, you stupid bitch!”
Milaire randomly grabbed and pinched Artizea’s hair, then punched her face.
Then she grabbed the head of the sprawling Artizea and shook her again.
“Do you think you can live comfortably by acting like a woman? Do you think you’re something special because you receive clothes from a man, get bouquets, and receive jewelry as gifts? Huh? All that stuff is just for one season! In the end, only bloodline remains!”
Thud!
The sound of kicking echoed in the lobby. All the employees trembled and fled.
Only Milaire and Artizea remained in the lobby. Even the head maid who had been trying to stop her had run away.
“Who risked her life to give birth to you? Who made you a marquess’s daughter! How dare you stab me in the back like this? You can’t go anywhere! If you want to run away, give back the life I gave you first!”
“Miss!”
Alice, who came running out late, wrapped around the crouching Artizea.
Even in her senseless state, Artizea pushed Alice away.
Milaire grabbed whatever she could find and beat Alice with a basket, dragging her out and pushing her back hard.
Even in that state, Alice couldn’t raise a hand.
If she accidentally scratched or hit Milaire and left even one mark on her body, that would truly be like begging the Emperor to kill her.
Then the front door burst open.
“Hurry!”
Rizhe, who entered while urging, stopped breathing at the scene unfolding in the lobby.
Cedric, who had hurriedly followed her, opened his eyes wide.
Rizhe was quick-witted. As soon as she heard that Milaire had come, she went to the Evron Duchy to request rescue without a second thought.
And she had encountered Cedric, who happened to be at home.
“Miss!”
Rizhe reacted first, faster than the frozen Cedric. She ran and embraced Alice.
Alice cried out while sobbing.
“Please save our miss!”
Milaire gritted her teeth and dragged Artizea’s arm.
Cedric strode forward and grabbed Milaire’s wrist.
“Let go of that hand.”
“Who invited you to barge into someone else’s house? Get out! Get out right now!”
Milaire screamed in a shrill voice.
“I said get out!”
“Didn’t I tell you to let go of that hand.”
Cedric spoke in a voice suppressing his anger.
Milaire spoke to him in a voice full of disgust, as if she would spit on him.
“Why is an outsider interfering when a mother is teaching her daughter?”
“What kind of education is this.”
“Then what else should it be! It’s my business how I handle my daughter! Ahhh!”
Cedric applied pressure to his hand. Milaire screamed at the pain as if her arm bone was breaking.
The strength left Milaire’s hand and Artizea’s arm dropped down.
Cedric pushed Milaire away as if throwing her.
“…You can’t.”
Between labored breaths as if trying to endure pain, Artizea whispered.
“If mother gets hurt, it will be trouble.”
Cedric took off the cloak he was wearing and covered her from head to toe.
Her hair had been pulled, her face was red with marks from being hit. Her dress was also torn, and her shoulders and arms were covered in blood.
He fastened the cloak to hide Artizea’s body.
Due to their height difference, even though the cloak only reached near his knees, it was enough to completely cover Artizea’s body.
“Your Highness.”
“Stay still.”
Cedric lifted Artizea up just like that.
He had already known from holding her while dancing, but her emaciated body was even lighter than it looked.
Milaire blocked his path.
“Put her down. She’s my daughter.”
“….”
Cedric didn’t even respond and tried to move around her. Milaire viciously grabbed him and shouted.
“Whether I kill her or let her live, she’s mine!”
“Not anymore.”
Cedric answered in a low voice. Then he roughly shook off Milaire’s hand and headed outside.
Behind them, Milaire’s hysterical screaming echoed loudly.
Cedric quickened his pace toward the exit.
The knights who had followed him bowed respectfully. Cedric commanded.
“The Young Marquess Rosan will be moving her residence starting today. Take control of the entire manor. Confiscate everything down to the smallest detail so the Young Marquess can dispose of it herself later.”
“Yes.”
There was concern that the Emperor might intervene. However, Freil didn’t bother adding unnecessary words.
If Cedric had made up his mind, that was enough.
This came after Lawrence had caused a major incident, and there were many upper-class witnesses to this affair. The Emperor wouldn’t be able to blindly protect Milaire either.
After hearing Freil’s response, Cedric mounted his horse while still holding her. He didn’t want to use even a single carriage that belonged to this manor.
Artizea gasped and struggled to speak.
“Alice, Alice is….”
“Don’t worry. Freil will take good care of her.”
“At home, there was a guest. Miss Mielle has a weak constitution….”
“Freil will handle that too.”
Cedric gritted his teeth.
“You should worry about yourself.”
In his arms, Artizea kept her body tense for a while.
But before long, she went limp. It seemed she had fainted as the tension left her.
Cedric looked down at her face huddled within his cloak.
Where she had been pinched, the skin was torn, and there were places where flesh had been gouged out by long fingernails. It was a complete mess of bruises and blood, and her unconscious face was deathly pale.
Artizea had said she couldn’t wait until she inherited the House of Rosan, nor could she choose just any suitable man. Cedric felt like he truly understood those words for the first time.
If it hadn’t been him who took her hand now, Artizea would surely have been killed. Not because of property or titles, but because of her mad mother’s rage.
It would be foolish to ask why she didn’t fight back. She was undoubtedly terrified.
She had probably lived her entire life being treated this way since birth. Overcoming childhood trauma was a difficult thing.
No matter how wise and noble a person might be, there were things they simply couldn’t do. Cedric believed in the power of will, but he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that willpower could solve everything.
Artizea needed him.
The bottom of his chest felt like it was twisting and splitting apart. Yet at the same time, his heart stirred at that fact.
Something was churning up to his throat. Cedric wanted to spit it out. But he didn’t yet know exactly what it was.
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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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