I May Be A Villainess, But I Won't Live My Life That Way - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A lovely, kind, delicate, yet lively and cheerful young lady.

That was the kind of woman Maria was in the thirteen-page report the butler handed me.

Although it wasn’t clear if she was truly beautiful as no portrait was attached, it was evident that she was kind and delicate by examining her life story.

Life with an unknown father was not smooth, dealing with poverty and criticism. Yet, Maria did not suffocate under these circumstances; instead, she lived a life trying to overcome them.

Even though it seemed like she didn’t truly overcome them.

God was cruel, not rewarding Maria as much as she struggled.

She studied hard, even excelled, but the jobs she was given were, as they usually were, for commoner girls, day laborers or maidservants to noble families.

Her mother had worked briefly as a maid for Lord Wensbury, who had come down from the capital to recuperate.

Now, what was left for Maria, at the age of twenty-one, was poverty, hard labor, and a sick mother.

Yet, she worked hard, always smiled, and nursed her ailing mother.

“Why would I kill such a girl? Instead of helping her?”

Maria’s pitiful story involuntarily caused my lips to curl up.

Whoever wrote this report, I didn’t know, but the writing style was needlessly good.

While unfolding her story in detail, they used restrained words, making Maria’s story even sadder.

I remembered Panya, who talked about her injured parents and hungry siblings, and the cheerful laughter of Lara that I had never seen.

From this woman, Maria, whom I had never seen before, I could sense the fragrance of their presence.

And at the same time, I felt anxious about the future.

The fragrance of anxiety emanating from the antagonist who would turn me into a villain, take Ricardo away, and threaten my life.

“What should I do with you?”

I sighed, looking at the report.

The name Maria written sporadically throughout the document caught my eye.

Is it perhaps better that it stabbed my eyes than a dagger piercing my throat?

“Ugh…”

As I envisioned a dagger piercing my throat, an involuntary groan escaped my lips.

Instinctively, my hand moved toward my neck. As always, it felt smooth and supple skin.

It was something natural, yet it felt incredibly fortunate.

“What do I really want to do with her?”

I sighed again while glancing at the report.

I couldn’t decide whether to kill or spare her.

***

A beautiful but cold, power-hungry, arrogant noblewoman.

Bianca, as perceived by Ricardo.

No, that’s how he used to think in the past.

The living proof of the binding promise between the Winkaiser and Croft families, for the sake of their family’s power, was the engagement between him and Bianca.

For ten years, Bianca was just an engagement partner.

A fiancée who would eventually marry him and bear the heir to succeed both the Winkaiser and Croft families.

That was how Ricardo used to see Bianca.

Also in the past.

“Huh…….

A small smile appeared on Ricardo’s face as he thought about Bianca.

The image of Bianca, who always seemed elegant and haughty, with a face full of embarrassment flashed in his mind.

The stiff expression, the fluttering eyelashes, the bewildered eyebrows—it all reminded him of her.

Whenever Lara roared with laughter or pretended to roar, he recalled Bianca’s face filled with embarrassment.

“Phew!”

Thinking about that face made a more significant laugh escape from Ricardo’s lips this time.

Before, he genuinely thought that Bianca disliked children. But watching how she treated Lara, it was evident that she did not hate kids. If anything, she seemed to like them. This fact was quite surprising to Ricardo.

Previously, he thought he remembered a particular event.

It involved a small child, maybe around two or three years old.

They were together with Bianca. It was probably the child of one of the nobles.

At first, the child was quietly smiling, a cute little thing. Bianca didn’t seem to react much before.

But then something happened. What exactly, he couldn’t recall.

Or perhaps, it could have been nothing more than Bianca, always by his side, an insignificant memory in Ricardo’s mind.

Anyway, the cute and innocent child, a little apart as the nanny blinked, grabbed a piece of cake with their small, adorable hand. The soft cake squished as the tiny fingers played with it, and the child rejoiced.

Then, they proceeded to mash the cake on the table in front of them, smear it on their face, and rub it into their hair.

“Gyahat~.”

With a face covered in cream, bits of bread, and an unknown purple jam, the child laughed joyfully.

“Oh my!”

“Look at that!”

“Phew! So adorable.”

Others nearby laughed as they watched the child enjoying the mess, their innocent laughter contagious.

Ricardo was no exception. Despite the chaos, he smiled at the child’s enjoyment.

Until he heard Bianca’s mumble right beside him.

“…Disgusting.”

At the chilling tone in her voice, Ricardo turned his head slightly, and there was Bianca, looking at the scene with a slight frown.

Her expression was as cold as the voice Ricardo had just heard.

“…Filthy.”

At the frigid remark, Ricardo furrowed his brows slightly, and Bianca, as if she had seen something unbearable, cringed.

Her expression was as chilling as her voice.

Of course, Bianca’s words were accurate. The child who had completely smashed the cake was indeed messy. There was nothing clean about their appearance.

But weren’t all children like that?

If it couldn’t be eaten, they put it in their mouths. If it was edible, everything but putting it in their mouths was fair game.

However, most adults tried to understand that behavior when they saw it, especially if it was a child.

Cleaning up after the child and giving them a bath was just part of it, unless you were the nanny.

If the child was smiling like an angel, it was even more reason to smile along.

Not for Bianca.

Ricardo’s expression turned as cold as Bianca’s a moment ago as she turned her head away as if she didn’t want to look anymore.

“Why do you look like that?

After their eyes met, and Bianca asked him that, Ricardo realized that his expression had changed.

‘What look?

‘Right now, it’s just….’

Bianca, who was about to say something, closed her mouth.

‘It’s nothing.’

‘…Alright.’

As Bianca turned her head again, so did Ricardo. They weren’t looking at each other but, as always, gazing at the opposite side.

Each focused on what they wanted to see.

Ricardo’s future as the heir to the Winkaiser, the most prestigious of the First Dukes of Sprendo, was, in truth, a simple one.

A beloved wife and an adorable child. To live happily as a family.

If possible, he would gladly give up the position as the heir of the Winkaiser family to someone else. To establish a quiet and secluded place away from power and honor, unrelated to the Winkaiser family, and live happily as a family.

For example, in a quiet, secluded place like Ancini, where Lord Wensbury once said.

“Phew….”

Ricardo let out a small sigh.

As a brilliant swordsman and knight, there was no way he was going to be the heir to House Wincheiser unless he was crippled in some way.

Unless he became outstanding enough to be cast aside, there was no chance for the heir of the Winkaiser family to go to someone else. The heir of the Winkaiser family couldn’t escape from the center of power or honor. Living in a humble countryside place like Ancini was also impossible.

But even if he had to give up all of that, the one thing that Riccardo would not give up until the end was a happy family.

After the horrors of war, what he wanted more than anything was peace, happiness, and security, and he knew that home was the place to start.

The reason his knights and soldiers risked their lives for war was always the same.

To protect those they loved.

It was always the same reason his enemies risked their lives to stop him.

To protect their loved ones.

Ricardo wanted to do the same, to protect his loved ones and be happy with them.

That was his dream.

A dream he didn’t think he could fulfill.

“Bianca.”

He called out the name that had almost extinguished the candle of that dream deep inside him.

His fiancée, who wanted the title of Duchess more than anyone else, who seemed unable to accept the idea of a simple life, who seemed unable to live anywhere but the capital.

His own fiancée, who, even if they were to marry, seemed to care more about being a duchess than about being his wife.

And, above all, the fiancée he thought did not like children, the one he had resigned to as someone he could not dream of having the serene home life that Ricardo desired.

She, who was considered inevitably and reluctantly as his fiancée out of a sense of duty.

“Bianca.”

But recently, things have changed.

The future that Ricardo was envisioning now seemed to have a glimmer of light. Surprisingly, the one shining that light was Bianca.

She didn’t dislike children.

She spent money wisely.

She had compassion.

Yes, overall, she was a kind person.

Until now, Ricardo hadn’t known that. He hadn’t seen the other side of Bianca.

Like looking at a painting from the right for so long and suddenly, by chance, looking at it from the left, revealing a completely different picture, the same Bianca now appeared entirely different.

He didn’t know how this magical transformation had happened, but it did.

Ricardo, who always saw blurry images of a happy wife in the future he envisioned, now clearly saw the face of a specific person lately – Bianca’s face.

“Maybe we should start preparing for the wedding.”

Ricardo felt it was finally time to carry out something he had postponed for a long while.

“Smile Love”