The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 80

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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 80

She suddenly woke up at dawn. Artizea drowsily pulled the blanket toward her while still drunk with sleep.

‘Ah…’

Then the cold air brought her to her senses. The inside of the blanket felt chilly.

Artizea hesitantly turned around.

Sedric was sitting in front of the fireplace wearing a shirt, stoking the logs with a poker to kindle the flames.

The red firelight made his facial features appear deeper. Each time the flames flickered, the shadows cast on his eyes wavered.

His face seemed lost in anguish.

Artizea gazed at Sedric’s profile for a moment.

Now that his anger and passion had subsided, was he regretting it?

She found herself caught in such anxiety.

Artizea herself did not regret it.

No, she did regret it.

Exchanging small tokens of affection or light embraces of friendship could disappear if ignored. But this matter could not be made as if it never happened.

Could they part ways after this? Could they remain as lord and retainer without any awkwardness after parting?

They could not.

Artizea knew she would carry last night’s events with her for the rest of her life.

But still, she did not regret it. Even if this might be a sin, even if it was only for one day, she had been happy.

“Ahh…”

A long sigh escaped her.

There were many things to think about.

How would she repay this sin to Lisia?

It was already a great sin just to have briefly obtained the title of his wife through a simple contract marriage.

There was also what she had promised Cadriole.

What she had proposed to him was something that had to be done anyway.

Separate from that, the fact that he retained memories from before the regression was a great concern.

Aside from simple, small magic like “Shine” that she had tried as a test, that was the first time she had actually cast such large-scale magic.

There might have been something wrong with it.

Or it might have been a flaw inherent in the magic itself from the beginning. She hadn’t studied it with examples of completed magic to begin with.

At the time, she thought she had drawn the magic circle perfectly, but thinking about it now, that might not have been the case.

She had thought she was in a state where she could think properly. But she might not have been in her right mind due to lingering aftereffects of torture.

Perhaps someone else besides Cadriole might also have their memories. If so, she would need to comprehensively revise her plans.

The existing information had become more uncertain. There would be others like Cadriole who would be hostile toward her.

Most of all, if another person who knew her past self appeared, and Sedric truly learned what kind of human being she was…

“Tia.”

While she was lost in thought in a daze, Sedric sensed that she had awakened and turned his head.

He put down the poker and approached Artizea.

“Did I wake you with my rustling around?”

“No.”

Artizea answered with a cracked voice. Her throat was hoarse and her voice barely came out.

Sedric sat on the edge of the bed and gently tucked the blanket around her.

And he looked down at her with a somehow complicated expression.

“Dawn is still far off. Sleep more.”

“Yes…”

Artizea obediently closed her eyes.

But with Sedric right beside her, she couldn’t easily fall asleep.

Sensing her trembling breathing, Sedric asked in a gentle voice.

“Do you regret it?”

“…No.”

“I thought you might tell me it was a mistake and ask me to forget it.”

“…What about you, Lord Sedric…”

She wanted to ask if it hadn’t been a mistake for him.

But Artizea couldn’t ask to the end, afraid that such an answer might come back.

Sedric was silent for a moment. So Artizea became frightened. Her body trembled with anxiety.

His hand covered Artizea’s eyes.

Sedric let out a long sigh.

“I have never even thought such a thing. I have never made a mistake about something like this…”

“Lord Sedric…”

“Rather… I thought I should have done this long ago.”

There was a faint tremor in his voice as he said “long ago.” So Artizea was about to ask what he meant by that.

But she forgot at Sedric’s next words.

“I want to make the contract as if it never existed, Tia.”

“What…?”

Artizea tried to sit up in surprise. She had understood it to mean he wanted to cancel the marriage.

But Sedric did not remove his hand covering her eyes. He could quell Artizea’s resistance with just the slightest pressure from his hand.

“Please let the proposal I made be just a proposal. Regardless of any contract.”

Artizea drew in a breath.

Sedric spoke while still covering her eyes.

“Give me your left hand.”

Artizea hesitantly pulled her hand out from under the blanket.

Sedric lightly grasped her left hand. Cold metal passed through her hand and settled around her wrist.

Since she hadn’t removed it once in several months, Artizea could immediately tell what it was. It was the diamond bracelet she had received from Sedric.

“Will you marry me, Marquess Rosan?”

Artizea held her breath. Her answer was caught in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

Sedric laughed faintly.

“It’s meaningless words since we’ve already had the wedding ceremony, but I wanted to say it.”

“…Yes…”

“I should have done this much earlier.”

He said that in a quiet voice.

Artizea thought it was fortunate that Sedric was covering her eyes. Her tear-filled eyes wouldn’t be discovered.

“Before, you… you told me that if I ever became suspicious because you seemed to be hiding something from me, I should ask you the reason once, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

“In return, I’ll make a request too. Even if we clash with each other, even if you become suspicious of me or conversely I become suspicious of you, don’t forget what I’m saying now.”

Sedric removed his hand from her eyes. And he bent down and looked into Artizea’s pupils.

“Whatever kind of person you are, whatever you have done, even if you point a dagger at my heart, you are my only wife.”

“…”

Artizea could not answer.

When she lowered her eyes, Sedric said.

“Tia, your answer?”

“I under, stand…”

How could Artizea say that she shouldn’t do that?

She answered while pressing down on her pounding heart. Sedric smiled faintly.

“Now go to sleep. When you wake up, we have to depart for the fortress.”

“Lord Sedric, are you not…”

She was too embarrassed to ask if he wasn’t going to sleep. Because it would become a question of whether he would lie down beside her.

Sedric said.

“I just replenished the logs in the fireplace. I need to make sure the fire catches properly. Sleep first.”

Artizea nodded. Sedric patted her affectionately and stood up.

This time, Artizea fell asleep surprisingly easily.

Her body was utterly exhausted, but her hands and feet were warm. Her heart was still pounding and making noise on its own, but even that was quickly forgotten.

Cedric sat in front of the fireplace until the flames grew stronger. Then he returned to the bed.

And he let out a deep sigh.

Artizea was fast asleep. After confirming this, he quietly confessed.

“You are the first and last woman I’ve ever thought I wanted. Before, and after. Even if another life were to come, it would be the same.”

A sleeping person naturally cannot answer. But for him, that was enough.

* * *

The next day, Artizea was woken early in the morning.

The market lady who woke her said apologetically.

“It would be better if you could rest for just one day and leave tomorrow…”

“The situation at the fortress is also serious. We can’t delay.”

Artizea said so.

It would be better to rest once she got to the fortress.

She had slept warmly last night. But the heating facilities of the palace were nowhere near those of the duchess’s quarters in the fortress.

Cedric couldn’t stay attached to her like that all day long either.

Artizea borrowed the market lady’s clothes instead of her ruined ones. She offered all the fur she had to Artizea.

Artizea decided to repay her even more generously.

Cedric had finished preparing early and shared a meal with her.

Whether all his fatigue had been relieved by just sleeping soundly for a while, or thanks to having resolved a frustrating problem, he had returned to his usual refreshed expression.

“The road will be quite rough because it hasn’t been maintained due to the snow. The carriage isn’t very good either.”

“I think it’s better to return quickly and rest. I’m also worried about the fortress.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Cedric nodded.

“There was something I wanted to tell you.”

Artizea said this carefully. Cedric spoke first.

“If it’s about the Southern Sea people, you don’t need to explain. You’re not someone who does things without reason.”

“Not that. About what you said last night… about trust being an illusion, I wanted to speak about that.”

“Tia.”

Cedric looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“I’ve never thought that your trust was built on an illusion, Lord Cedric.”

“Tia…”

“While I think betrayal can happen anywhere, still… even so, the people of Evron Duchy truly haven’t betrayed you. They just think differently about how to serve Lord Cedric and Evron.”

Artizea spoke earnestly.

She knew that Evron truly wouldn’t betray him. Rather, if trust were broken because of her, real betrayal might actually emerge.

“People all think differently. I know that. I just realized it anew.”

Cedric said.

“Don’t worry. I still believe in goodwill and justice.”

He said so.

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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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