I May Be A Villainess, But I Won't Live My Life That Way - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

“Seems like there’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

It was the first time that three syllables twisted and distorted in such a way.

No, the situation itself was new to me.

Someone looking me straight in the eyes, burning with hatred, revealing their enmity before me.

For someone who grew up in privilege, receiving only admiration and praise, Maria’s raw animosity was both unfamiliar and unsettling.

“Yes, a misunderstanding.”

However, I didn’t show it.

I simply looked at Maria calmly and composedly.

“Am I misunderstanding something?”

“Yes.”

At my brief response, Maria shivered like a small bird just emerging from cold water.

She glared at me as if I were the culprit who had immersed her in the water.

“Does that mean you didn’t poison my mother?”

“Yes.”

“So, the person who visited our mother that day wasn’t you?”

“…”

Maria seemed to have learned that I found Megi.

Whether the hospital director failed to delete the visit record, or one of the hospital staff played lightly with their lips, it could be either.

“You brought a cupcake, claiming it was a get-well gift, and you didn’t even bring the one we ate together with the children?”

She knew exactly what she said, even though I wasn’t sure where she had heard it.

“No, that’s correct.”

So, there was no need to lie.

I never lied to Maria. There were times when I concealed the truth a bit, delayed the timing of saying it, but I never lied.

“You forgot something in the middle.”

“What did I forget?”

“You poisoned that cupcake.”

She said it with a venomous tone, still glaring at me.

And the moment I heard her words, I finally realized how Megi died.

She ate the cupcake I gave her, and that’s how she died.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? Didn’t you just say that out of your own mouth, Bianca? You met my mom, and you gave her a poisoned cake.”

“I did bring the cake as a gift, but it was just a regular cake, as I bought it from a bakery.”

“Oh, really? Then who could have poisoned it? Did an upright pastry chef suddenly decide to commit random murder? Or did a hospital nurse suddenly become the Angel of Death?”

“I don’t know about that, but…”

“My mother didn’t commit any crimes that would justify someone killing her. Unless she suddenly became a victim of a lunatic who decided to murder one day, it makes more sense to believe that someone killed her, doesn’t it?”

“…”

“Aren’t you the one who brought the poisoned cake as a gift?”

Maria’s words seemed logical at first, but the most crucial element was missing.

“Why would I do that?”

I had no motive to be a murderer.

“It’s probably revenge against me.”

Finally, Maria used informal language.

She hadn’t thought of me as the Marquise of Croft or the grateful Bianca who had helped her. Right now, I was just a ruthless murderer who killed her mother.

“You didn’t like me, did you?”

“Why would I hate you, Maria?”

“Because I liked Ricardo, and I tried to steal him from you.”

My mouth dropped open slightly at Maria’s words.

“You tried to… steal him from me?”

That was different from the truth.

It wasn’t that Maria tried to take Ricardo away. I willingly tried to give Ricardo to Maria. Although everyone else didn’t know my purpose, I wished for Megi’s prolonged life, and I hoped for Maria’s happiness.

If it would make her happy, even if it meant I had to bear the stigma of being a broken woman, I was willing to do it.

But it was Ricardo who refused.

Maria would never have been able to steal him away from me.

“Are you saying you tried to steal Ricardo from me?”

“I could have, for a man of his nobility is no match for a brutal murderer.”

Maria, who knew she could not have stolen Ricardo from me in the first place, did not waver in the slightest. If anything, my repeated conversations with her seemed to fuel her anger.

My reason was telling me to step back now. Advising that it would be better to have a conversation with her when she calmed down. But facing Maria, who was glaring at me, I couldn’t possibly back down.

Even if death awaited me, I couldn’t yield. I couldn’t quietly lower my tail in front of a half-bred aristocrat who dared to use informal language with Bianca Croft.

“Are the words you’re saying now statements you can take responsibility for?”

“Responsibility? You have to take responsibility! For killing my mother!”

“I’ve clearly said I didn’t harm your mother.”

“It’s a blatant lie. Just like how you’ve deceived me all this time.”

“I haven’t done anything like that. If you keep taunting me like this, I can’t stay silent, Maria.”

I spoke to her in a low voice, indicating that this was my final warning.

However, Maria, far from heeding my warning, seemed angrier, and her expression showed her frustration.

“What if I don’t stay silent? Are you going to use the power of your esteemed noble family to cover up the truth? Did you threaten the hospital director to erase the traces of your visit to the hospital? I know you did, don’t act like I’m unaware.”

“I didn’t threaten him.”

“Then why did you tell him to delete your name from the register? It wouldn’t have happened unless there was something fishy.”

“I did it in case you misunderstood like this.”

“You think I would misunderstand and accuse anyone of killing my mother without reason? Do you think I could predict such misunderstandings and already know that you’ve done terrible things to me?”

“…No.”

Maria’s accusations were becoming more intense. She nodded coldly, as if admitting her acknowledgment.

“And why did you do that? Acting kind and helpful in front of me but mocking me behind my back. Did you think I, a girl from the countryside, would never know anything? Did you know enough to predict that I would misunderstand, that I’ve done terrible things to me all this time?”

“What terrible things? I’ve been treating you well all this time. Don’t you know that?”

“Yes, you treated me well.”

Maria nodded as if acknowledging that.

“In front of me, you were kind and helpful. But behind my back, you laughed at me while mingling with those ladies and gossiping about me. Wasn’t that all part of your scheme?”

“When did I…”

Suddenly, I realized when it might have happened.

The Conwell Viscountess’s tea party.

She talked about Maria behind her back, warning her about the relationship between Ricardo and me to show off her power among those noble ladies.

And something I didn’t know, but I agreed with those words.

Another one.

The Viscountess, who seemed to have yet to find her place in the herd of the Earl of Conwell.

“Judging by your expression, it seems like you’re finally remembering.”

As I remained silent, Maria sneered coldly.

“Why did you do that to me?”

Maria asked quietly, like whispering.

“I believed in you.”

The anger in Maria’s eyes was gradually diminishing.

“Even when Ricardo hid the fact that he was engaged, I thought it was for my sake. When I heard that you were mocking me with other ladies, I thought it was a misunderstanding.”

In the vacant space left by Maria’s fading anger, resentment took its place.

Betrayal by the one she trusted.

The pain of betrayal.

Resentment for all that.

All these elements converged into a transparent droplet, overflowing from Maria’s eyes.

“But this is the price I paid for believing in you.”

Maria stretched out her hand, pointing to the back.

There lay an already-dug open grave and a coffin.

“You can still trust me, Maria. I’m on your side.”

This was sincere.

And it was true.

“No.”

In her teary eyes, resentment took its place again.

In that empty space where she thought her anger had vanished, Maria directed a sharp gaze at me.

The flames of anger, which I thought had subsided, were blazing again in Maria’s eyes.

“I don’t believe you anymore. Not just you, but no one else.”

Without realizing it, Maria’s eyes were now dry.

“My mother was everything to me.”

I knew.

And everything of Megi belonged to Maria.

“But you took her away from me.”

I realized that speaking further would be pointless.

Or rather, I had realized it a while ago. I just couldn’t accept it.

“So, I’ll take everything from you. Your position, your honor, your power.”

Maria had changed.

The innocent and kind young lady I knew was no more.

There was no longer the young woman who smiled shyly, telling me I was her ideal.

“Even your man.”

Slowly, the ground beneath me crumbled, and reality was collapsing.

What remained in front of me was Maria, transformed into something like a book, and the reality flowing like pages of that book.

The goddess of death was smiling coldly at me from afar.

“Smile Love”