The Villainess Has No Regrets in this Life - Chapter 2

Now that I think about it, the people of Marquis Masipacius are stupid.

Foolish humans who only believe what they see.

Especially our father, the Marquis, was someone who firmly believed that Leila wouldn’t do anything bad, captivated by his first impression of him.
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It was common for the same actions to be considered wrong if I did them, but mistakes if Leila did them.

What I mean is, no matter how nicely I behave, they will never like me more than Leila.

With my miserable end and all affection for the family gone, there’s no need for me to maintain a kind image and get along with them.
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In the past, I thought that wounds received from family could be healed by family.

But wounds only leave scars.

I realized too late that they cannot be healed.

This life, I will be independent from you.

As I resolved just before dying, I’d rather become a villainess myself and live strongly alone, that’s what I mean.
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At that moment, when a firm resolution was set in my heart, my vision seemed to crackle, and strange texts began to appear before my eyes again.

[Oh no, poor Leila…]

[As expected, clichés are fun to watch even when you know them. That’s just what humans do. Brothers, please take care of Leila quickly…]

[What’s with Rowenloa? Was it intentional or a mistake?]

[Rowenloa did it intentionally. Bershua seems to have already noticed and nailed it to neutrality. Look at how he’s keeping his position.]

[Will there be a human who breaks the shackles of this cliché here… This is about perspective. Usually, they move within the framework set by the gods.]

There it is again.

These unknown sentences appearing before my eyes, presumably visible only to me.

But somehow, it feels like they’re hinting at things that will happen in the future…

And they keep talking about humans this and that… What’s that all about?

They speak as if they themselves aren’t human.

Anyway, Leila came to the Marquis’ household when I was about 16 years old.

I have come back about 8 years and gained another life.

Whether this will be an opportunity or a crisis depends on how I handle it.

* * *

How long has it been since Leila arrived? She didn’t come out of her room except when summoned by father.​

The employees of the Marquis’ household began to sympathize with her, thinking, ‘She probably doesn’t want to get on the bad side of the Marquis’ family.’

Honestly, the personalities of my brothers and father were… It’s difficult to say they were good, even as a white lie.

So the servants of the Marquis’ household began to sympathize with Leila, who seemed to be dragged in by father and then neglected.

And later, it became a story of them falling for her pure smile, which is rarely seen in noble young ladies.

“Miss. You finished all the tasks for this week yesterday… You have completely free time for about two days starting today. Is there anything you’d like to do?”

My personal maid, Mylene, seemed to flip through her notebook for a while, then put it on the desk with a satisfied expression and said.

Probably because I could always progress about two days faster than other children, I could do things I liked during that time.

Originally, I would have taken a walk or done things that a noble young lady must learn…

But these days, what I’ve been doing is learning simple martial arts from the knights guarding the Marquis’ household.

I can still vividly remember the face of the knight commander when I first said I wanted to learn martial arts and swordsmanship.

“…Lady Rowenloa wants to learn swordsmanship and martial arts from us?”

“Miss, what on earth… Absolutely not! What would people think if they heard that a noble young lady was learning martial arts or swordsmanship!”

Despite the dissuasion from those around me, I persistently persuaded… no, threatened the knight commander and started learning martial arts and swordsmanship.

What I’ve felt in my over 20 years of life is… whether it’s revenge or success, you need basic physical strength and martial arts to protect yourself.

From the time I entered the academy, I was bullied a lot by Leila’s followers, who believed and followed everything Leila said unconditionally.

Not only minor harassments, but they also didn’t hesitate to lock me in the bathroom or push me into the garbage disposal area.
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And Leila always told me, looking miserable, that she would try to stop them and asked me to forgive them with a broad mind.

However, their evil deeds didn’t decrease, but rather started to become more vicious.

And they always rationalized among themselves.

“This is all for Leila’s sake!”

I, who couldn’t do anything but study and cross-stitch, could only silently endure such bullying.

Hoping that someday the bullying would stop.

But this time it’s different.

I will protect myself so that no one can touch me.

So, whenever I had free time, I ran around the training ground where the knights trained and learned martial arts and swordsmanship from them.

The training that was deadly difficult at first gradually became familiar as days went by, and whether I had some talent or not, the knight commander started to enjoy teaching me and began to teach me various martial arts that I hadn’t even asked for.

…No, shouldn’t everyone like me if I have a decent face, study well, and am good at physical activities too?

As the knights of the order marveled at my growing martial arts and swordsmanship skills day by day, I now naturally reached the point of training together with the knights.

They all seemed to feel disappointed when I couldn’t participate in training due to my studies.

So today too, as I was about to return to my room after pouring my spare time into training and wiping off sweat, I ran into my eldest brother, Bershua.

He frowned when he saw me in training clothes and sweating.

“Why are you doing martial arts…?”

I shrugged my shoulders at him and opened my mouth.

“I just… thought it might be useful somewhere if I train my body.”

“Hah… Might be useful somewhere… Are you planning to join the Imperial Knights Order? Or… are you aiming for something?”

Bershua glared at me with disapproving eyes, then sighed and passed by me.

I just lightly brushed off his behavior, thinking, ‘Is he displeased that a woman is learning martial arts?’ and returned to my room.

After finishing my bath and about to change into my nightgown, the door suddenly opened and Mylene stopped me from putting on my nightgown.

“The Marquis is at the mansion today, so…”

I slightly frowned at those words.

Father was usually very busy and mostly absent from the mansion on weekdays. When Father was away from the mansion, we ate in our own rooms.

But after Leila entered the Marquis’ household, father often stayed at the mansion on weekdays and always summoned us to the dining room.

And soon, this dinner together in the dining room with everyone will become a routine.

Probably… after Leila is adopted as father’s daughter.

Come to think of it, it’s about time…

I changed my clothes and headed to the dining room with heavy steps.

Today was the day father returned to the mansion after being away for a while due to an accident at the business site, after Leila had entered the Marquis’ household.
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As I opened the door and entered, it seemed the others hadn’t arrived yet, as only Leila was sitting in the same seat as last time.

She’s still sitting there even after what I said last time.

“Ah, you’re here. Sister Rowenloa…”

Sister Rowenloa…?

Normally, when a commoner addresses a noble, don’t they add ‘Miss’ or ‘Lady’, don’t they?

It’s not appropriate for Leila, who hasn’t been adopted as a daughter yet, to call me like this.

“Leila. It’s been a while.”

I greeted her and approached where she was sitting.

She looked at me blankly with an expression of not understanding what was going on.

“Um… Is there something…”

I didn’t answer her words and just stared at her sitting there.

Then, as if she remembered what I had said last time, she stood up abruptly, visibly flustered.

“Ah, I’m sorry, sister…”

It seems she finally remembered what I had said last time.

“No, it’s okay. If this seat is my designated seat, I can give it up… but it’s the seat where my mother always sat. Next time, please…”

Creeak–

At that timing when I couldn’t finish my sentence, the door opened and my brothers entered the dining room.

Leila bowed to them, and I just looked at Leila, waiting for her to completely move away from the chair so I could sit down.

Just as Leila was about to move away, Bershua approached us.

“What’s going on?”

He seemed to think there had been some commotion between me and Leila.

When I was about to open my mouth to explain the situation, Leila started explaining about this situation first.

“I’m still unfamiliar with this room, so I just sat in an empty seat… but it turns out it was Lady Rowenloa’s seat, so I was apologizing…”
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…What, now she’s calling me Lady Rowenloa?
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Bershua frowned once after hearing those words, then turned his gaze from Leila to me.

“…Is it that difficult to give up one seat?”

Ha.

I scoffed at his words.

They say words have bones?

“If this was just my seat, I would have given it up. But this seat was Mother’s. I just thought that giving this seat to an outsider might lower the dignity of the Marquis’ family…”

The other siblings standing behind Bershua nodded their heads as if my words made sense.

Even though they usually follow the eldest brother’s words without question, the fact that they’re nodding means anyone could see that this situation wasn’t just a simple seat-stealing fight.

But Bershua’s reaction was different.

“…But you’re not Mother.”