I May Be A Villainess, But I Won't Live My Life That Way - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“What should I investigate?”

“First, check if that woman exists.”

“What?”

After asking for detailed information about someone’s residence and name and then asking if there was information about such a person, the butler seemed confused, or perhaps he misunderstood.

“I understand.”

However, he quickly agreed.

When someone with the surname Croft asked, he did as instructed. There was no need for a reason.

“Find out her age, appearance, if her mother is sick, and whether there are any plans for her to come to the capital.”

The butler quickly took out a notepad and started jotting down my words with the pen he always carried in his pocket.

“And there’s one more crucial thing.”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“The relationship between that woman and Lord Wensbury.”

“Lord Wensbury?”

He asked as if the sudden mention of that name was unexpected.

“I understand.”

His expression was full of doubt again, but the butler didn’t say anything and nodded.

“Is there anything else you’d like to know about that woman?”

There were other things I wanted to know.

Whether she would fall in love with Ricardo, whether she genuinely loved him, whether I was considered a villain, why she was the protagonist and such things.

But no one, not even myself, knew those things.

I still couldn’t be sure, and in truth, I earnestly wished that the woman didn’t exist.

“Just find out everything you can about her.”

“Do you need anything more?”

“No, for now, that’s enough. This time, it’s a different topic.”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“Do you know about my reputation?”

“Your reputation, Miss? Of course, it’s excellent.”

“In what way is it excellent?”

“You are the flower of the Sprendo Empire’s social circles, with beautiful looks and the manners and erudition to match.”

“Other than that.”

“Other than that… you say?”

“My personality?”

“What?”

“What is the reputation for my character?”

The butler blinked for a moment. I couldn’t tell if he didn’t know what to say or if he didn’t know what my reputation was.

“How do the servants in this house view me?”

“The servants?”

“Yeah. The maids, the butlers, the gardeners, the coachmen, people like that.”

In a noble society, my reputation was excellent. However, I already knew that.

What I was curious about now was whether rumors were circulating in society that I was a villain, just as in the novel.

“Let me think.”

He gave an ambiguous smile, extracting vague words.

From this, I could tell. Among them, I wasn’t receiving particularly positive evaluations.

“Tell me honestly,”

I said casually, but inside, I felt a bit uneasy.

“I’m just curious.”

“The servants… Well, they all like you, Miss.”

It was a lie.

Between the words, I noticed a slight gap.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

The butler nodded with certainty in his words.

He answered as if he were confident in his response, almost as if it were a reflexive professional spirit. I sensed that he was lying.

“You think I’m a good person?”

“Probably.”

He didn’t seem to think so.

“Do they not find me intimidating at all?”

“Not at all.”

He seemed to find me intimidating.

“Do you think they hold any grudges?”

“I doubt it.”

What did I do to make anyone hold a grudge against me?
It seemed like my reputation among the servants wasn’t that great. Perhaps it was the same in society.

I felt like I needed to do something about it, but I didn’t know exactly what.

“Alright, I got it.”

“Yes, Miss.”

He bowed slightly and began to leave the room.

“Oh, and one of the kids at work is named Panya, right?”

“Yes. Did Panya do something wrong?”

The butler’s steps to leave the room halted when I mentioned Panya’s name.

“No. Give her a silver coin.”

“It seems she has done something good.”

As I mentioned Panya’s name, the butler’s face stiffened slightly. However, when I asked him to give her money, he quickly softened his expression.

He even offered a faint smile.

It seemed he took pride in the fact that the servants he managed were serving the mistress well.

“Is she one of the maids who goes home at night?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then, when you finish today, if there’s any leftover bread in the kitchen, give her that as well.”

“Ah… Yes.”

The butler appeared momentarily puzzled by this unusual request, but he quickly nodded.

“I’m done with you now.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Even after the butler left the room, I sat quietly. Normally, I would have gone out by now.

Perhaps to attend a tea party with other noble ladies, go shopping, or even take a stroll in the garden.

But today, none of those activities appealed to me.

Something was bothering me, like a small sliver stuck under my fingernail. Yet, I couldn’t just pluck it out; it would undoubtedly cause a wound.

I turned my head to look at the bookshelf, focusing on the silver sticking out.

“Hmm?”

A very faint light emanated from the book.

Ordinarily, I might have doubted my eyes, but knowing that this was no ordinary book, I could accept the dim glow.

“I hope it’s not going to explode or something.”

I glared at the book, taking a few cautious steps backward toward the door.

Luckily, the glow slowly subsided, and the requested book dropped its pretense that it was just another book.

Approaching it carefully, I reached out with a finger. It wasn’t hot or cold.

Despite my attempts to inspect it further, nothing seemed to have changed. Flipping through the pages revealed the same content as before, with scattered words here and there.

“Ah?”

My finger paused at a particular spot.

“To ensure you never commit sins again, I will kill you. This is the salvation I, once your fiancé, offer.”

Ricardo’s cold voice marked the end of Bianca’s tragic demise.

This was the section where the novel detailed Bianca’s final moments. It used to be where the content abruptly ended, signifying the conclusion of the chapter.

‘The Tragic End of the Villainess Bianca.’

If I turned the page, there would be a dramatic scene where Maria, who had almost been poisoned by Ricardo, woke up and kissed him passionately.

I couldn’t fathom how a woman who had been lying in bed for days could kiss with such fervor, and how she managed to do it without any breath smelling. Nor could I understand how a man could kiss a woman who had been lying in bed for days with such intensity.

The most perplexing thing was that a man who had just killed one woman was kissing another woman with a perfectly sound mind!

So, I remembered it even more vividly.

There was nothing after Bianca’s death.

But now, it wasn’t the case.

Dying at the hands of a loved one, the wretched end of a pitiful villainess. She was such a malicious villainess that not even grass grew near her grave. People murmured curses, and they avoided even going near her burial site.

Only once did a maid, who had shown kindness at her capricious request, pluck wildflowers and place them on her grave. Yet, even those withered away within a day.

Thus, the wicked Bianca met a lonely, miserable end even in death.

The book had changed.

As if being miserable in life wasn’t enough, it was now determined to make me miserable in death, but somehow the book had changed.

New words emerged, and additional content appeared.

The crucial part was that.

“The maid who showed kindness only once…”

The maid’s name wasn’t mentioned, but I guessed it was Panya.

Before this, I had never shown kindness to maids. They were employees.

If you provided labor, you received payment in return. That was the extent of my relationship with the maids, as far as I thought.

So, the maid in question here was undoubtedly Panya.

Today, I showed kindness.

“The book has changed.”

Why?

“Because I did something I hadn’t done before.”

So?

“The villainess Bianca in the book should do something she wouldn’t normally do.”

And then?

“The book will change again.”

I finally found the answer.

The character in the book is a villain, but the real me won’t live like that.

Hastily putting down the book, I rang the servant’s bell urgently, unlike my usual calm requests.

“Yes, ma’am!”

The maid came rushing up, her urgency almost as loud as the ringing of the bell.

“I’m going out. Prepare the carriage.”

“Yes, understood. Where should I prepare to go?”

“An orphanage.”

“Which orphanage are you referring to?”

“….”

There was no way I knew about orphanages. I had never taken an interest in such matters my entire life.

“A decent orphanage nearby.”

“Ah….”

The maid quickly seemed to be racking her brain, but it appeared that no suitable places came to mind easily.

“Uh… what kind of suitability are we talking about?”

“….”

Of course, I didn’t know either. I had never been to an orphanage in the first place.

“Well, let’s forget about suitability. Just take me to the nearest orphanage.”

Waiting any longer wasn’t appealing, so I got up from my seat.

“And take a checkbook, and plenty of cash, just in case.”

“Checkbook and cash?”

“Yeah.”

Leaving the preparations to the maid, I headed towards the door.

Now it was time to do something good.

Something incredibly, incredibly good that a villainess would never do.

“Smile Love”