The Villainess Has No Regrets in this Life - Chapter 4

The Duchess of Posilia always liked me.

She had no reason to dislike me, who was smart, well-mannered, and pretty.

In fact, when I first debuted in society along with Leila, the Duchess of Posilia always took me around like her own daughter, introducing me to other noble ladies, as I didn’t have a mother.

This was because Father was too focused on Leila to pay attention to me as well.

Grace, who debuted in society a year before me, also diligently supported me, so my social debut could be said to have been quite splendid.

They’re people I’m grateful for.

“Ah, and this child is…”

As the conversation between me and the Duchess was coming to an end, Father introduced Leila, who had been hiding behind him, to the people from the Posilia family.

The Masipacius brothers didn’t seem surprised, as if they already knew about this, but the Posilia family members looked at her with surprised expressions.

“My name is Leila…”

So Leila, wearing a dress that looked similar to mine, greeted them.

The Duke and Duchess seemed frozen in place, with no room to respond to Leila’s greeting, and Grace deliberately pretended not to see her greeting and linked arms with me.

Just before the situation became awkward, Delian, Young Duke Posilia who had been watching, greeted her.

“…The Marquis is very kind. I am Delian Posilia of the Posilia family.”

He extended his hand to Leila for a handshake, and Leila, after seeming to gauge the situation, gently responded to his handshake.

Father was watching their clasped hands with a very displeased look.

When everyone else is ignoring her, if the young duke extends his hand, she should be grateful… What’s with that look?

And that moment could be said to be the moment Leila fell in love with Delian.

One point of interest at this point is that Delian is completely uninterested in Leila.

Well, in the end, those two end up together with Leila and Delian getting married.

Until just before I died, those two were madly in love with each other.

“Ahem, then shall we move to have dinner now?”

Father broke the silence and guided the Posilia family members to the dining room.

Father was so pretentious, decorating the room lavishly just to entertain four people.

So we entered the party hall, and the Posilia family members were guided by the servants, while the Masipacius family members moved to sit in their usual seats.

And then, the event I had intended occurred.

“…What’s this, Rowenloa? Why are you sitting here?”

Grace looked at me with surprised eyes when I sat next to her instead of in my usual seat right in front of the Marquis.

Then she turned her eyes to where I usually sat…

And of course, Leila was sitting there.

“Ha.”

Grace let out a laugh as if in disbelief.

The Duke seemed slightly embarrassed by this situation but appeared to be pretending not to notice, thinking nothing good would come from creating tension, while the Duchess couldn’t hide her incredulous expression.

“…It seems the seating arrangements in the Marquis’s mansion have changed a bit?”

The Duchess’s voice perfectly explained how absurd this situation was.

“Duchess? What do you mean…?”

“Oh my, I’m just surprised to see someone other than the daughter sitting in the seat where the Marchioness used to sit.”

It must have been an irritating situation for her as a fellow noble lady.

If she imagined the Duke bringing a child from an orphanage to sit in Grace’s place after her death, it would make her blood boil from her perspective.

“Ah…”

Father couldn’t readily answer the Duchess’s words and just showed a hesitant appearance.

“At this rate… I’m worried it might provide grounds for the nobility’s authority to fall.”

With those final words, the Duchess gulped down a glass of water in front of her and elegantly put down the glass.

Just as Father was about to say something, I opened my mouth.

“It’s alright, Duchess. I was worried about that part too… but my brother Bershua said if our dignity could fall from something like this, wouldn’t it be right for it to fall…”

Hearing those words, the gazes of the Posilia family members all turned towards my brother, Bershua.

He glared at me resentfully a few times, then soon closed his mouth tightly and lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Duchess, if you felt offended, I apologize. This child’s leg is injured and her movement isn’t perfect, so in trying to take care of her…”

Father tried to break the frozen atmosphere, but the Duchess’s expression didn’t easily soften.

In this state, the dinner will end with only giving a bad impression of the Masipacius family to the Posilia family members.

And there’s also a possibility that I might be seen as someone who can’t even secure my own bowl of soup.

I tried to prevent that situation by clearing my throat – ahem – and focusing attention on myself.

“I was taught by my Mother that those who have more should give more, Duchess. I believe if Mother were here, she would have respected my choice, so I gave up my seat. Please don’t worry too much about it.”

Hearing my words, the Duchess still looked at Leila with a displeased expression, but soon nodded in understanding and bowed her head once to the Marquis as a sign of apology for being rude.

And so, safely…

Can it be called safely?

Anyway, the dinner began.

The dinner atmosphere was, to put it bluntly, a mess.

Leila, perhaps extremely nervous due to the tense atmosphere, repeatedly made mistakes that shouldn’t be made during a meal.

The Posilia family members couldn’t hide their displeased expressions as they watched Leila dropping utensils or coughing without turning her head when she choked on food.

If my memory serves me correctly, in my previous life, Leila’s first meeting with the Posilia family members was after she had been adopted into the Masipacius family and had learned most of the etiquette as a noble.

Once a bad first impression is made, it takes time to reverse it…

My intention was to buy even a little time, knowing that somehow, whether through my brothers or Father, she would end up falling in love with the young duke of the Posilia family.

As soon as Leila started dating Delian, she gained the favor of many people.

And because Delian once liked me, I became the evil sister-in-law who seduced her younger sister’s fiancé.

Delaying that time even a little was today’s second goal.

The first goal was, of course, to teach the people of the Masipacius family the emotion of embarrassment.

This seems to have been quite successful.

After the disastrous dinner ended, the Posilia family members immediately called for their coachman to prepare the carriage, ready to leave the Masipacius mansion without looking back.

Just as everyone was boarding the carriage, the Duchess of Posilia, as if suddenly remembering something, hurriedly took out a letter from her pocket and handed it to me before getting into the carriage.

“Read it when you’re alone, and make sure to come alone, Lady Masipacius. Understood?”

She whispered those words quietly to me, then smiled brightly before getting into the carriage without hesitation.

After the carriage left, the Masipacius family members were enveloped in silence.

Father had always tried to maintain good relations with the Posilia family, so he must be feeling quite upset that all his efforts might crumble from just one dinner.

As everyone stood there for a while, watching Father’s reaction, Leila started to cry.

“I’m sorry… Because of me…”

Faced with Leila’s sudden tears, Father and my brothers noticeably panicked and started to fuss.

Oh my, these people who ignored me when I was shedding tears on the brink of death are now fussing over Leila’s tears like this.

I watched with indifferent eyes as Father hurriedly tried to comfort her and my brothers anxiously observed both Leila and Father, then quietly returned to my room.

They didn’t seem particularly concerned whether I was there or not.

Unfortunately, their worry of ‘What if we grow distant from the Posilia family?’ was not a concern that included me.

Because the more displeased they were with Leila and the Masipacius family, the more advantageous the situation became for me.

They probably think of me now as ‘the unfortunate noble young lady who lost the love of the Marquis family members because of some child who rolled in from who knows where…’

It’s not entirely wrong.

Anyway, having regained my composure, I sat in a chair and took out the letter I had received from the Duchess.

Opening and reading the letter, I found an invitation inside inviting me to a party at the ducal mansion.

…The Duchess never invites young ladies who haven’t debuted in society to her home.

I must have looked quite pitiful to her.

I asked Mylene to bring me writing paper to reply to her and began to write.

Of course, the content was that I was very honored to receive an invitation to such a precious occasion and that I would definitely like to attend.

Hmm, come to think of it… this invitation could be of help to me within the Marquis mansion, couldn’t it?

I needed to build enough power to not be abandoned, even if not loved, within this Marquis mansion.

Only then could I use the wealth of the Marquis family.

So I carefully put the invitation I received from the Duchess in my dress pocket.

And that invitation began to shine much faster than I had expected.

* * *

On the morning about a week after the disastrous dinner with the Posilia family members, Father called all of us to the dining room with a very angry face.

Then he slammed some documents onto the table with a bang.

“We’ve received a notice from the Posilia family that they’re withdrawing from one of the businesses we’re doing together.”

Hearing those words, we all flinched.

Although the Masipacius family is involved in many businesses, the most profitable ones were those jointly conducted with the Posilia family.

“You all know whose fault this is, right?”