The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 35

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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 35

To prevent eavesdropping, Artizea personally dismissed everyone around the drawing room.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the people of the Evron Duchy, but there was no harm in being cautious. Even carelessly leaked information could be dangerous enough.

On the other hand, she had tried to examine the inside first. But there were no facilities at all.

Artizea decided to discuss this matter with Ansgard today. At the very least, she needed to install listening devices and peepholes with lenses.

Anyway, that was for later.

Artizea took a small breath and opened the drawing room door.

“….”

Lawrence was sitting on the drawing room sofa with his legs crossed, eyes closed.

Unlike Artizea, he bore a striking resemblance to Milaire.

His captivating appearance was as sweet as the prince every young lady dreams of, and his cheeks were beautifully flushed as if he had been dancing somewhere all night.

However, Artizea could tell that he was desperately suppressing rage that seemed ready to explode at any moment, with a lid forced over it.

The reason he kept his eyes closed as if he hadn’t heard her enter despite the sound was because of this.

In the past, Artizea had once evaluated Lawrence like this:

“Brother Lawrence is not a foolish person. He has political sense and judgment. However, he inherited arrogance from His Majesty the Emperor, and from his mother, he inherited a pathologically excitable temperament.”

Those two traits easily trampled his reason and often made him violent.

No matter what other excellent qualities he had, it was such a serious problem that they were all negated by that flaw.

A mad emperor, or a selfish and greedy emperor.

Weighing Lawrence against Loigar was deciding between those options. It was natural that Prime Minister Lin had chosen not to choose and simply quit in the past.

Nevertheless, Artizea had thought Lawrence could overcome his flaws.

Thinking that way was, conversely speaking, Artizea’s own flaw. It was a judgment clouded by blood relations.

In the end, once the person suppressing him disappeared, Lawrence completely lost control of himself.

But not at this point. He still had the controlling force called the Emperor.

So he wouldn’t be able to pour that anger out on Artizea either. Now she was Sedric’s fiancée.

Lawrence knew that politics was a delicate and complex matter.

Even though the Emperor seemed to hold absolute power, he was actually sitting on a throne balanced among various forces. Lawrence understood this.

So no matter how dissatisfied he was, he would speak with a gentle voice to the Evron Duchy for now.

Not only the Emperor’s loyal subjects, but the Emperor himself had directly told him to win over Sedric. Artizea knew this.

But with a voice that seemed to know none of this, Artizea carefully called to Lawrence.

“You came, brother?”

For now, it was better to be thought of as a powerless little girl.

Lawrence opened his eyes. Artizea bowed politely to him.

Instead of returning the greeting, he quietly examined Artizea’s face.

There was bruising above her eyebrows, and scratched wounds around her temples and jaw had turned purple.

Under her fluttering sleeves, the marks of being struck were vivid on her exposed wrists. There would be more wounds in the parts that couldn’t be seen.

Artizea neither turned her head away nor tried to hide the scars.

Seeing Artizea’s pale complexion, Lawrence finally let out a sigh.

“Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Artizea avoided the head seat and sat across from Lawrence.

“I heard you haven’t been at the Separate Palace lately.”

“I went out to get some fresh air for a while.”

“You heard the news, didn’t you? Did you go home?”

“Yes. You packed up your things.”

“Yes. Prince Evron said it would be better to stay at the Duke’s Residence even before the wedding.”

“I see.”

Starting cohabitation before marriage couldn’t be the right thing to do. Moreover, Artizea was still only eighteen years old.

But Lawrence didn’t say a word about that.

Sedric couldn’t have remained still after seeing a woman’s face in such a state. Especially when she was his fiancée.

This matter had already left Lawrence’s hands.

“How is mother?”

“She’s the same as always. I heard she had a hysterical fit and then collapsed.”

Artizea could understand the entire process contained in that one sentence.

The estate would be in a miserable state like a rain-soaked refugee procession, and the maids would be moving around silently, terrified.

Milaire would be sniffling in bed, lost in depression by now.

Anger was something that consumed energy. After she explosively vented her rage and beat Artizea, she would be exhausted and gentle the next day.

She would act like she was dying with a sad or sorry face.

“I only have you to rely on.”

She would say.

When Artizea lowered her head, Lawrence asked.

“If you’re worried, come see her, even briefly.”

“No. I don’t want to see mother for a while. I actually think this was a good opportunity. I’m thinking of cutting ties with mother at this chance.”

Lawrence asked back with a surprised face.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Tia. This isn’t something to decide hastily. Didn’t you love your mother?”

“I do love her.”

Artizea said through gritted teeth. Of all the things she was saying now, only that one thing was sincere.

“But that doesn’t mean I want to devote my entire life to her. I want to be happy with Lord Sedric. I know this is a stroke of luck that will never come again for me. So I’ll do my best. Even if I can’t become a praised Grand Duchess, I want to be properly recognized as Lord Sedric’s wife.”

“Tia.”

“But I can’t become that while bearing the name of Milaire’s daughter, can I? No matter what I do, I’ll only receive the world’s criticism. You know that, don’t you?”

Until now, honestly, Lawrence hadn’t considered this matter very serious.

Sedric’s involvement was the big problem, not what had happened to Artizea itself.

It wasn’t the first time, and it probably wasn’t particularly worse than other times.

But Artizea’s resolve seemed firm.

Lawrence hadn’t known she had such will.

Artizea lowered her head.

“And I don’t want to show such a miserable state in front of Lord Sedric again.”

“Alright. Do that.”

Lawrence nodded easily.

After all, the rights to the Rosan Marquess Estate belonged to Artizea.

Once married, she would inherit the title as well. This wasn’t something for Lawrence to interfere with.

From the beginning, unlike Milaire, Lawrence had no attachment to the Rosan Marquess Estate.

“Yes.”

“Then what about the house? I have several estates too, but it would take some time to arrange and move there.”

“I’ll leave the Rosan Estate to mother. I’m planning to give her maintenance costs for the estate and a pension that won’t be less than what she’s been spending. Brother can continue living as you have been.”

“Alright. I understand.”

Lawrence finally said.

“It’s earlier than expected, but congratulations on your marriage. It would have been nice if you had told me about the engagement in advance.”

Artizea felt bitter inside, but smiled without showing it.

“If things hadn’t progressed so quickly like this, I would have told you first when you returned from the Separate Palace. Asking mother for permission… would have been pointless anyway.”

“…Yes. That would have been the case.”

Lawrence was seized by a strange intuition at this moment.

Had nothing really happened?

Had Artizea always been like this?

He felt something was off. Suddenly he remembered what Bill had complained about as soon as he returned to the Rosan Manor.

“Even before that, Young Lady Tia seemed a bit strange. It’s definitely not because Madam hurt her dignity. She must have been plotting something.”

Lawrence didn’t think Artizea knew how to use such schemes.

Bill wasn’t trustworthy to begin with. He was only kept around because he was good at pleasing Milaire.

So she just let it pass.

But it was true that everything was progressing at a rapid pace, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

Even before this incident occurred, Artizea had changed her employees.

Thanks to that, the assets of the Rosan Marquess Estate had already been fully assessed and ownership was being transferred.

It would be finished once the Emperor’s certification was obtained. It would have been impossible to do without preparing in advance.

‘Tia…?’

The Artizea that Lawrence knew had always been powerless and intimidated.

He knew she wasn’t stupid. But she was always reading the room and craving affection.

The Artizea before his eyes now seemed the same way. Her speech was cautious, and her attitude wasn’t different from before. Her face, bearing traces of being beaten, looked haggard.

Her two hands placed on her knees were clasped so tightly they had turned white, as if she had steeled her resolve.

With such determination, her words about cutting ties with Milaire were reasonable enough from her position.

Yet still, she looked pale and cold.

Her eyes beneath lowered eyelids were deep like an abyss. It seemed as if blue blood flowed through the veins beneath her thin skin.

He knew someone like that. Someone who sat in the shadowed corners of meeting rooms, pointing at maps with dry, bony fingers…

“What will you do, brother?”

As if cutting off that thought, Artizea spoke to him.

Lawrence snapped back to attention. The vague image that had surfaced was already gone.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Artizea raised her eyes that had been downcast until then. And she spoke clearly.

“How long will you remain tied to mother?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Perhaps no one else could say this to you. But I can offer this counsel because I am mother’s biological daughter and also your biological sister.”

Artizea deliberately chose her words. She said counsel instead of advice or suggestion. As if he were her lord.

“The one who needs to cut ties with mother isn’t anyone else—it’s you, brother.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mother certainly receives His Majesty the Emperor’s favor, but what you need isn’t favor. You are His Majesty’s son in your own right.”

“So?”

“What you need to become Crown Prince isn’t His Majesty’s favor, but legitimate rights.”

Lawrence’s complexion changed slightly.

For him, born as an illegitimate child, the words “legitimate rights” were always a sore spot.

Before he could get angry, Artizea spoke first.

“The only person who can give you that is Her Majesty the Empress. The only way for an illegitimate child to have inheritance rights recognized is to become the spouse’s adopted child.”

Artizea raised her head and spoke.

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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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