I May Be A Villainess, But I Won't Live My Life That Way - Chapter 103

Chapter 103

“I overheard it… purely by chance.”

Raintar’s story began quietly.

Ricardo and I had already heard it before, but we once again listened intently to his voice.

“I had thought something was wrong for a while. From the moment my father instructed me to tell Lady Bianca that she should take care of Maria. It’s not common for a Viscount to candidly share the family’s embarrassing matters and request that someone take care of an illegitimate child.”

“But the Viscount of Wensbury did that.”

“Yes, and he treated Maria with endless affection.”

“And why do you find it strange that a father would be affectionate toward his daughter?”

“Because my father is not like that.”

Though Raintar spoke calmly, his eyes revealed deep wounds.

“If his children failed to meet his expectations, he would criticize them, constantly compare them to others, demean them, and if they did not achieve results, he would punish them himself.”

Though Raintar spoke of “children,” the only child the Viscount of Wensbury had besides Maria was Reintar.

It was a pitiful confession about his childhood—about how young Raintar had grown up under constant criticism, comparison, and even beatings from his father.

“Couldn’t it be that he had high expectations of you because you’re his son? The future heir to the title of Viscount of Wensbury?”

“I naïvely thought so as well. I believed I was simply foolish for failing to live up to my father’s expectations. That’s how I spent my whole life.”

Raintar smiled self-deprecatingly, as if mocking his former self.

“I even thought at times that I wished I had been born a daughter, seeing how father doted on Maria. That was until I overheard him calling her a stupid girl who didn’t even know how to use a fork and knife.”

“……”

“That’s a pretty mild way of putting it, to be honest. I can’t bring myself to… I can’t bring myself to say the word he used.”

Though I didn’t know what those words were, I could easily guess that they were so crude that my ears would need cleansing upon hearing them.

Judging by the way other nobles were glancing at the Viscount of Wensbury, it seemed they shared my thoughts.

“When a body of unknown identity was discarded outside the Wensbury estate, that’s when I realized something was seriously wrong.”

The body Raintar spoke of was none other than the kidnapper of Lara, whom the Viscount of Wensbury had killed in front of Ricardo and me.

It was truly ironic.

He had killed the man to eliminate a witness, but that had made his own son suspicious, turning him into a witness instead.

“I’ve gone on long enough. Lord Raintar Wensbury, you said you wished to take responsibility for my infertility, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And you also mentioned that you had a reason for it?”

“That’s correct.”

“What is that reason?”

“Because my father, Viscount Klein Wensbury, tried to kill you, Lady Bianca. However, his plan failed, and though you survived, the injury left you infertile. I felt that, as his son, I bore some responsibility.”

“That’s a lie!”

The Viscount of Wensbury abruptly stood up, shouting as if he couldn’t bear to hear any more.

But it was already too late.

I had heard everything I needed to from Raintar, and so had all the other nobles gathered here.

“This is all a conspiracy! Utter nonsense! They must have bribed my son too!” 

The Viscount raged, pointing his finger furiously at me and Ricardo.

I glanced at the unruly Viscount but had nothing to say to him. I didn’t want to entertain his rant any further.

“How did you find this out?” 

I turned back to Raintar, asking calmly.

“My father asked me about Paulo, saying he didn’t recognize him. I explained that he was a newly recruited mercenary-turned-knight. Not long after that, Lady Bianca was attacked, and Paulo disappeared. I believed the events were connected.”

Raintar continued speaking without even glancing in his father’s direction, as if he had expected this reaction all along.

“So I followed my father and confirmed that he had been in contact with the remnants of those involved in the attack.”

“Raintar!” 

The Viscount shouted in a desperate attempt to stop his son, but I urged him on.

“And then?”

Raintar closed his eyes tightly, as if to block out both voices.

“My father said he couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again. He prepared poison for the first attempt, and in case it failed, he placed one of them undercover as a servant of the Wensbury family, hiding in the forest.”

“That man shot an arrow at me, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Shut up, you lunatic! How dare you! You incompetent fool! It’s one thing to disgrace the family name, but this is too much! You useless, worthless idiot!”

The Viscount of Wensbury stood up, hurling insults at Raintar.

The words that spewed from his mouth were so vulgar that I was taken aback. How could a man speak to his own son that way? In fact, how could anyone use such offensive language at all?

And yet, Raintar remained calm, as if he had heard such words from his father many times before.

It was all very clean.

With Raintar’s final testimony and the Viscount’s reaction, I couldn’t help but smile. However, it wasn’t time to fully celebrate just yet.

I glanced around at the nobles, who were clearly unsettled by the sudden change in the Viscount of Wensbury, and then turned to look at him.

His face was flushed with anger, and his jaw quivered from clenching his teeth.

“This is all a conspiracy!”

“When you say ‘all,’ are you suggesting that your own son, Raintar, is also conspiring against you?”

“Yes.”

“Hm… So that’s your claim, Viscount of Wensbury. That everything is a setup, that you are innocent, and that you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Of course! What is this farce? That the most esteemed nobles of Sprendo would gather here over what seems like a child’s game of amateur investigation by some young noblewoman is absurd!”

The Viscount still dismissed the matter, treating it like a trivial joke—something barely worth his attention, perhaps a story to casually share over dinner.

“Do you have any evidence?”

“What?”

“You told me before that there was no evidence of your wrongdoings. You said I shouldn’t speak recklessly without proof. So this time, I’ve come prepared with ample evidence.”

I gestured to the documents laid out before me, the decaying physical evidence, and the witnesses standing behind me.

“Thanks to your advice, I’ve made sure to prepare thoroughly. I’ve brought proof that you killed Megi, that you attempted to kill me to cover it up, and that in the process of trying to kill me, you injured Ricardo. And now, I’ll speak freely about how you are nothing but a villain.”

“You are insolent—!”

“But the only evidence you have to claim your innocence is a single servant. A servant whose only testimony is that they were elsewhere that day.”

At this point, the Viscount no longer mattered.

I turned to the assembled crowd, the ones who had heard and seen everything. These were the people who would decide the fate of the Viscount of Wensbury.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I swear that there is no falsehood in my claims. The evidence and witnesses I have presented are all truthful. I trust you will make a wise judgment.”

With those final words, I sat down. As if waiting for his moment, the Viscount of Wensbury jumped up and began shouting his innocence once again.

Ignoring his ranting, I clenched my trembling hands into fists.

“……”

A hand silently reached over and grasped mine. It was a gentle, warm hand that softly patted mine, as if to say, “Well done.”

The first to stand was Duke Winkaiser. When our eyes met, he quickly looked away and exited the room, as though uncomfortable with the tension.

One by one, others followed, leaving the room as if they could no longer bear the uncomfortable atmosphere.

The Viscount of Wensbury turned his gaze toward me. When our eyes met, he smirked.

I couldn’t hold him accountable for Megi’s death.

“Hah… Hahaha! Hahahahaha!”

His small smile grew until it erupted into loud, uncontrollable laughter, as though he found everything absurdly amusing.

The hall echoed with the sound of his dark, malicious laughter, thick with bitterness.

And I hated the sound of it.

“Shut up.”

I said.

“What… what did you say?”

The Viscount of Wensbury, though he had clearly heard me, stupidly asked again, as if in disbelief.

“I said, shut up.”

“Do you have any idea who you’re speaking to—?”

“And do you have any idea who you are standing in front of right now? You’re nothing but a commoner.”

He had been found guilty of attempted murder against Bianca Croft and of assault against Ricardo Winkaiser.

As a result, he had been stripped of his title as Viscount, and his status as a noble had been revoked.

The person standing before me now was no longer the Viscount of Wensbury. He was simply ‘Klein,’ a man without even a family name—nothing but a commoner.

“What… What did you say? Do you even know—”

“It seems you still don’t understand the situation.”

I looked at Klein with a pitying expression before turning my head and calling for the guards waiting by the door.

“The prisoner doesn’t seem to know his way out. Kindly show him.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“How dare you! You wretches!”

Following my orders, the guards kindly grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out as he struggled. Even as he was being hauled away, Klein didn’t stop shouting.

“Oh, one more thing.”

I stepped in front of them, as though I had forgotten something.