The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 55

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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 55

“It’s become gloomy.”

The Emperor said as he got out in front of the Rosan Estate.

The atmosphere of the estate had changed while it had been neglected for some time. The garden wasn’t well-maintained, and even at a glance, the cleaning condition was poor.

There weren’t many employees left in the estate because many had followed Artizea when she moved.

“The butler died. I heard he encountered robbers.”

The servant reminded him. The Emperor sighed.

“That makes sense. Tia was at Duke Evron’s residence, and that bastard Lawrence was also staying at another house. Milaire must have been lying down with her head wrapped up.”

The Emperor glared at the servant.

“What were you doing without paying attention?”

“Your, Your Majesty. Since Lord Lawrence usually disliked interference in the Rosan Estate’s affairs…”

“That’s when that bastard was at home.”

The Emperor said with displeasure.

“Find someone decent. Someone patient and good at work.”

“Yes.”

The servant bowed his head deeply.

“That bastard Lawrence is still at the reception, right?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t he send anyone?”

The Emperor said this while striding up the stairs. The estate’s employees were startled and quickly knelt down.

The Emperor went up toward Milaire’s bedroom.

Maid Nora was pacing in front of the door holding a tray. Then she was startled when she saw the Emperor and servant.

Nora was clumsy with etiquette. She had worked at the Rosan Estate for a long time. However, she had only worked in the laundry room. This was her first time seeing the Emperor directly.

She thought she should kneel, but didn’t know what to do with the tray.

As Nora trembled, a servant quickly took the tray for her.

The servant asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Your, Your Majesty. Ar, Artizea Miss, that is…”

“Tia, what?”

“That, that is…, she said Madam would be very upset when she returns, so she told me to prepare soup made with pumpkin and lemon, but that…”

Nora stammered and then began to sob.

It was just yesterday that Artizea had called for her through Alice.

“Tomorrow is my wedding.”

“Yes. Congratulations.”

“I didn’t call you to receive wedding congratulations, I have something for you to do. Tomorrow morning, tell the kitchen to make soup with pumpkin and lemon.”

“Pardon?”

“And when mother returns, bring it to her.”

“Miss, I’m a laundry room maid.”

“Mother will probably be in a very bad mood and won’t pay attention to you. She’s much more likely to drink. You don’t need to actually appear before mother.”

Artizea said.

“Just lurk around near the bedroom, and if His Majesty the Emperor comes, tell him I had the soup prepared. That’s all. If His Majesty doesn’t come, do as you see fit. Whether you bring it to her or not.”

Nora held her breath.

“If I do this for you, will you write me a letter of recommendation?”

“Nora!”

Alice shouted in an angry voice. A servant grabbed Nora’s arm with strong hands and made her kneel.

Artizea looked down at Nora with cold eyes.

“How dare you try to make a deal with me in your position?”

“Ah, Miss…”

Nora wanted to leave the Rosan Estate.

Even Nora could see that the Rosan Estate was declining. Milaire was not only not a generous master but was also cruel. There was no reason to stay.

The employees who had worked there for generations had already moved to other estates or businesses of the Marquess Rosan through the Hanson family’s connections.

However, maids like Nora who had no particular connections couldn’t easily change jobs. This was because Bill, who should have written letters of recommendation, was dead.

Milaire became increasingly violent. Because the maids kept trying to quit, even the head maid wouldn’t write letters of recommendation.

So she grabbed Alice’s outstretched hand like a lifeline.

It would be good if she could become the maid of the young lady whom Sophie praised so highly. If that was difficult, it would be good if she could just get a letter of recommendation to go elsewhere.

She wanted to get a definite answer at this opportunity. But it was a mistake.

Artizea said.

“This is just to check whether you’re useful and whether you can properly carry out my orders.”

“I’m sorry, Miss.”

Alice bowed her head deeply.

Artizea sighed softly. She decided to forgive her for Alice’s sake.

And she said this.

“This is about meeting His Majesty the Emperor directly and speaking to him. If you’re as useful as you think you are, you wouldn’t even need to ask me for a reward.”

And now Nora knew that she was useless.

It was just a matter of holding the soup, lurking around, and telling the Emperor the truth.

But she couldn’t speak calmly. When she thought of being before the Emperor, her mind went blank.

The Emperor showed signs of being frustrated with Nora. The servant quickly responded.

“Never mind. I’ll take the soup in, so you go back.”

“Your, Your Majesty.”

Nora bowed her head. And she left the spot as if fleeing on her knees.

The Emperor sighed.

“Still, Tia is better.”

“Don’t daughters naturally have more delicate hearts?”

“If there had been a child like Tia among my children, I would have decided on a successor long ago.”

“Do you evaluate her that highly?”

The servant asked in surprise. The Emperor lamented.

“Tia knows how she should conduct herself. She knows how to put pride and emotions aside. I thought she was too timid and fearful, but seeing what she did to the Empress this time, she has decisiveness and boldness too.”

The Emperor gestured to open the door.

When the bedroom door opened, several empty liquor bottles were rolling around on the floor. Even Milaire’s personal maid wasn’t by her side.

The Emperor frowned. However, he sighed long again and relaxed his expression.

Milaire was lying there completely drunk. She felt someone entering but didn’t react. She didn’t have the energy to do so.

Her tears hadn’t dried and flowed endlessly. She was so devastated and miserable that she wanted to die.

“When mother herself is not respectable, what meaning do titles or names on marriage certificates have?”

Lawrence’s words wouldn’t leave her mind.

Milaire had always walked around with her head held high with a proud face. She adorned herself with all the expensive and glamorous things in the world. She didn’t tolerate anyone who defied her words.

Milaire deliberately trampled on people to confirm whether the power in her hands was real or not.

She could only be satisfied when the noble ladies of society bent their knees and greeted her. While riding in a carriage, she would sometimes beat someone blocking her path nearly to death and throw them aside.

But Milaire herself knew better than anyone that she was not respectable.

Milaire had never had a proper wedding ceremony.

Her marriage was nothing more than sitting across from an old man who could barely walk properly and signing documents.

There was no bouquet, no guests. There was no pure gold ornament she should have received from her mother.

The priest who came to witness the marriage looked at her as if seeing something dirty. And as soon as the signing was finished, he left hurriedly without properly giving a blessing.

The Emperor put a pure white dress on her that night.

But the skirt of that wedding dress was made entirely of mesh, so everything underneath showed through. With traces of intercourse remaining, she couldn’t treasure it like others.

It was proof of his favor, but it wasn’t proof that she had married respectably.

“What kind of wife is a woman who lives like a corpse in the Empress’s palace? You are my wife.”

The Emperor often said this while looking at Milaire with a face that showed he loved her to death.

The Emperor gave her countless things.

Milaire rode around in a carriage engraved with the imperial crest. She sometimes entered imperial events holding the Emperor’s hand and played the role of wife.

The Emperor would sometimes seat her on his lap and place the imperial seal in her hands. She had even personally stamped documents that determined the fate of the nation.

Milaire was the only person who could freely enter and leave the Emperor’s bedroom.

But the position of Empress was never granted to Milaire.

Milaire was the Emperor’s fearless favored concubine. But she was the Emperor’s mistress, not his Empress.

The Emperor had given Milaire everything he could give according to his whims. But he had never given her a single legitimate right protected in God’s name.

While the Emperor lived, it would be Milaire who entered his bed.

However, it would be the Empress who would be buried in the same tomb as the Emperor and have her name carved on the tombstone.

Lawrence was right. She was a woman of improper standing.

But she hadn’t expected Lawrence to condemn her.

Even if everyone in the world criticized her as dirty, Lawrence and Artizea should not have done so.

“How could you do this to me. How could you… After how I raised you.”

Milaire muttered as if moaning.

The Emperor approached and sat on the edge of the bed where Milaire was lying.

The mattress pressed down and her body tilted. Milaire buried her face in the pillow without turning her head.

The Emperor gently stroked Milaire’s hair with a tender touch.

“Are you that angry?”

“…Please leave.”

Milaire spoke in a cracked voice.

“To make you this sad, it seems I must severely scold Lawrence.”

“Please don’t.”

“You’re still worried about Lawrence?”

Milaire answered in a voice mixed with sobs.

“Your Majesty knew everything from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“I did? What?”

“That Tia became the Empress’s maid, and why Lawrence told me not to come. That’s why you didn’t ask me to go to the wedding together today…”

“No. No matter how sharp my eyes and ears are, how could I have known what happened inside the Empress’s Palace?”

The Emperor said with a sigh.

“I knew that Tia went to the Empress’s Palace to receive a wedding gift. But since the groom is Cedric, it was natural for her to pay her respects. I never imagined she would accomplish something so significant.”

“…You’re praising Tia.”

At Milaire’s murmur, the Emperor let out a troubled groan.

“How can everyone treat me like this…”

The sound of sobbing grew louder again.

“The Empress ended up taking everything. My son, my daughter too. That was the only thing I had over that woman.”

“Calm down. Don’t you have me? Children are bound to leave when they grow up anyway. I’ll grant you anything, so why are you so heartbroken?”

The Emperor pulled Milaire toward him. Milaire weakly fell into his embrace.

‘Then can you make me Empress? Can you make me respectable?’

Milaire didn’t voice such foolish words.

When she was young, she had pleaded with such words a few times.

But now Milaire doesn’t say such things. She didn’t trust the Emperor either.

Men were not to be trusted.

Now he loved her. He cherished her.

But when time passed and her beauty faded, she would be abandoned. If she hurt his feelings, she would be abandoned. If she could no longer please him, she would be abandoned.

「In the end, only blood relations remain.」

What she had said to Artizea was sincere.

But even that blood relation was no longer hers.

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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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