The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 44

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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 44

The door burst open even though she hadn’t answered to come in.

Alice entered with her cheeks flushed red with excitement. She was panting as if she had been running.

“Miss.”

“What’s the matter?”

Artizea turned to look at her and asked calmly.

Alice seemed to come to her senses as she looked at the splendid room filled with dresses, jewelry, and fabrics. She caught her breath and strode toward Artizea.

“Kyaa! You’re getting dust on it!”

“You can’t step on that!”

Emily’s employees made a fuss, but Alice didn’t seem to have the presence of mind to care.

“Miss, news has come from the House of Rosan.”

Alice whispered quietly in Artizea’s ear.

Emily tactfully moved away from Artizea. Sophie widened her eyes and tilted her head.

“Last night… no, this dawn, Bill died.”

“I see.”

It seems Lai did his job properly.

“Well done.”

Artizea praised Alice.

This was too trivial a matter. But receiving news even a little faster than others like this was important.

For Alice, handling information was just the beginning. It was praiseworthy.

Alice smiled brightly across her whole face with joy.

“Yes. Nora came to tell me. She’s a maid who works in the laundry room.”

“Remember that.”

This was all the effect of spreading bribes in the name of gifts on a regular basis.

When she asked to be informed if there was any new news, as soon as this incident happened, Nora came running to tell Alice.

Sophie perked up her ears when she heard the name Nora.

“What about Nora?”

“Ah. Well…”

“Bill died.”

Alice looked at Artizea, wondering if it was okay not to hide it.

Artizea nodded with an attitude that showed no surprise or agitation at all.

Milaire’s butler had died. The news would spread in half a day anyway.

There would probably be an article in the newspaper this week too. There was no particular reason to hide it.

“My goodness!”

Sophie was startled and covered her scream with her hand. Emily also let out a surprised cry.

Since Milaire had visited Emily’s Dress Shop several times, most of the employees knew about Bill.

Horror and shock spread.

“H-how did it happen?”

“Last night the madam, oh no.”

Alice stopped mid-sentence and quickly covered her mouth. She was being cautious about mentioning Milaire.

Artizea lightly shook her head to indicate it didn’t matter. Then Alice spoke with relief.

“The madam threw a tantrum and hit Bill. So he got angry and went out to drink in the middle of the night.”

“And then?”

“He didn’t come back until morning. When the madam woke up in the morning and looked for Bill but he wasn’t there, she got very angry again. So the servants went around all the nearby taverns looking for him and found him. He was collapsed and dead on the street.”

“My goodness. Was it a heart attack or something like that?”

“No, someone hit him from behind with a stone and stole his wallet. It was probably a mugging. Bill was unlucky and fell forward, getting hit wrong in the head and died instantly.”

“How terrible.”

Sophie muttered as if to herself. Emily asked.

“Did they catch the culprit?”

“No. They reported it to the law enforcement for now, but it seems there’s no hope of finding the culprit.”

“That figures.”

“They said they would investigate out of respect for the madam’s dignity, but they didn’t seem very motivated. They can’t investigate all the vagrants in the capital. Since Bill took out his wallet and threw money around at the tavern last night, you could say he brought it on himself.”

The law enforcement wouldn’t conduct a proper investigation anyway, but even if they found the actual perpetrator, they wouldn’t be able to track down even Lai.

Lai had never disappointed Artizea in matters like this.

With this, the source of the book that Bill had copied was completely hidden.

Artizea hid her satisfied smile.

Emily asked as if bewildered.

“Why on earth did he do such a thing?”

“He probably said something like ‘I live so miserably just to get this money.’ The butler did that kind of thing more than once or twice. He thought he was the most pitiful person in the world.”

Sophie answered in a small voice. But her tone was tinged with compassion.

“I disliked the butler more than the madam, but still, hearing that he died makes me feel a bit… strange.”

“What does the Marquess’s wife say? He was her favored butler.”

“She seems to be in shock. They said she collapsed…”

At Alice’s answer, Emily looked at Artizea. Artizea received that gaze with an expressionless face.

Emily hastily lowered her eyes.

Artizea had come to this place, and Lawrence had also left home not long ago. Milaire was left alone at home.

In such a situation, even the head butler had met a sudden death. She briefly wondered if it was okay to leave her alone.

However, Emily knew her place.

She was a renowned seamstress, so noble ladies treated her kindly. But originally, she wasn’t of a status where she could easily make eye contact and talk with Artizea.

It was sinful just to think of giving advice.

Moreover, she knew Artizea’s inner circumstances.

From that position, she felt sorry for having sympathy for Milaire and trying to show it.

“I apologize, Young Marquess.”

“What do you have to apologize to me for?”

Emily bowed her head respectfully. Artizea pretended not to know even though she probably guessed all of her inner thoughts.

“Alice, is that maid named Nora still here?”

“Yes. I told her to wait a moment because I was rushing to inform you of the news, Miss. I thought you might want to meet her.”

“I’d like to, but I can’t meet her in this situation. You serve her some tea in my place and send her off.”

“Yes. Thank you, Miss.”

Alice bowed and ran out. She understood that “in my place” meant to give a reward in her stead.

For Alice, this was something that would greatly enhance her reputation.

Sophie hesitantly looked around and said.

“Miss, may I also go out for a moment?”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you! I also worked in the laundry room before serving you, Miss, so I know Nora well. Thank you, I’ll be right back!”

Sophie hurriedly followed Alice.

Emily continued working silently for a while.

Without Sophie’s chatter, the toilette room became very quiet.

Artizea became bored and asked Emily.

“Once the wedding dress is finished, everything will be done, right?”

“Yes. But there were many things I wanted to show you…”

Emily said with a face that was more than regretful, almost anguished.

There was no customer as big as a bride preparing for marriage.

When keeping up appearances, excited feelings, and being accustomed to large expenditures combine, one develops a boldness that fears nothing in the world.

But Artizea was neither excited nor someone who thought minimal appearances were sufficient. She also wasn’t someone who had gotten hold of great wealth for the first time and didn’t know how to use it.

However, she had one element that could make Emily happy.

She had lived as the Marquess Rosan for a long time. The monetary units in the ledger in her head far exceeded even the budget of an individual family.

“Since we’ve already taken measurements, you can handle the other things as you see fit. You don’t need to worry about money.”

Emily’s cheeks flushed pink.

“When Prince said that, you called it wasteful.”

“That’s because it’s not money I’m spending, but money Lord Sedric is spending.”

“Calling that wasteful is ridiculous!”

Emily said in a shrill voice. When she was like this, she was so spirited that she made Artizea flinch.

“I understand what you’re trying to say.”

Sedric spending money on her also had functional value. It wouldn’t matter even if it was excessive.

Still, she felt strangely uncomfortable about it. It was probably because she felt sorry for being treated as a bride when this wasn’t even a real marriage.

「This is ‘our marriage’.」

The sound of her heartbeat seemed to spread even to her ears.

Artizea lowered her eyes and suppressed the strange heat that was trying to bloom in the corner of her heart.

Sedric needed to be careful with his words. She knew he wasn’t trying to enchant women. But his sincere face and sincere voice had too much power.

Artizea thought she understood what he wanted to say.

In any case, in his eyes, she was an 18-year-old who had just escaped from her mother’s clutches.

He must have found it pitiful that she was focusing on scheming rather than wedding preparations.

He was probably telling her not to be anxious, not to feel burdened, and to enjoy everything she could as a bride since it was still a marriage.

‘Because he’s a kind person.’

Even though she was someone who didn’t deserve such consideration.

When she thought that way, the heat in her chest that had been stirring cooled down coldly.

Artizea sometimes thought about the scenes she had witnessed before returning to the past.

When she thought that there would be one coldly stiffened corpse for each tombstone erected in the Village of the rebels, she felt her own body temperature was as low as those corpses.

And her head was filled with things she had to do.

She couldn’t think slowly as Sedric suggested. If she had six hands, she would be moving all of them.

There was nothing good about dragging out time. It was better to bring down Lawrence as quickly as possible.

Knowing that she was lost in other thoughts, Emily objected.

“No. You don’t seem to understand at all.”

“Madame Emily.”

“A man right before marriage is in the period when he invests the most in a woman in his entire life. What you receive during this period is practically the upper limit. You shouldn’t lower that upper limit yourself!”

“It’s fine. I am the Marquess Rosan.”

Emily mumbled and then closed her mouth.

“Well, you wouldn’t experience financial difficulties, but…”

“Stop talking nonsense and do the job I assigned you properly. Don’t you know much more about what’s needed for fabric products? I don’t have time to check everything one by one.”

“Young Marquess.”

The happy married life Emily imagined was not Artizea’s concern. It was something that wouldn’t even happen.

Since it was Artizea herself who had made people around her mistake this for a love marriage, she had nothing else to say about it.

“Since Sophie manages my wardrobe, talk to Sophie about it. I’ll pay her a generous bonus separately.”

Emily let out a sigh.

“I thought you were finally seeing some light…”

“Making and wearing beautiful clothes isn’t the only way to change reality, is it?”

Artizea said that and finished the fitting while listening to Emily’s sighs.

Anyway, she would regret this later, but for now, this was how 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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