Looking for the Villainess’s Contract Husband
Chapter 3
“Huh? Uh… right.”
As Paul hurriedly nudged the older knight he had been talking to, the man gave a hesitant, muddled affirmation.
‘Hah.’
Watching that pathetic display, my confusion cleared completely. My heart and thoughts grew calm in an instant.
After hearing Paul’s excuse, Mom turned away without a word.
Lowering herself to meet my eyes, she asked in a low voice.
“Livi, is that true?”
“No.”
I looked up at her, without a single speck of shame.
They were the ones who had uttered such unspeakable things first.
As I stared at Paul over Mom’s shoulder and answered clearly, his shoulders flinched so hard it was visible to the eye.
Watching that miserable sight, a snort escaped me involuntarily.
“…….”
Seeing my face, Mom narrowed her eyes and turned her head to look at Paul.
Staring straight at him as he grew even paler, she spoke with sharp precision.
“That mister said first that they were only suffering because Mom was kicked out of the Marquisate. So he said he wished I would die quickly.”
“Th-that’s…….”
The two knights looked utterly bewildered.
They were probably flustered because I, who usually passed them by without interest even when we crossed paths, was suddenly acting like this.
But regardless of how I usually behaved, were those words any human being should say?
‘Absolutely not.’
I finished speaking and closed my mouth.
Then, Mom slowly stood up and approached Paul. Paul recoiled.
“Stand up straight.”
A cold, commanding voice rang out. Startled by her words, Paul hesitated for a moment before straightening his posture.
And the next moment.
Slap!
With a sharp crack, Paul’s head snapped to the side.
Mom had raised her hand and struck Paul across the cheek.
I flinched and almost let out a gasp. Fortunately, I managed to cover my mouth with both hands just in time, so no sound came out.
Paul, who hadn’t even fully recovered from the shock of rolling in the snow, staggered as if losing his balance after being slapped again.
However, Mom didn’t flicker a finger and barked out fiercely.
“I believe I told you to stand up straight.”
I saw Paul bite his lip and straighten his body once more at those words.
Mom spat out her words toward him as if chewing them.
“Even if I am living in a corner of the North like this for now, I am still undeniably a member of the Marquisate and the direct blood relative of your employer. Getting rid of a mere knight like you is nothing to me.”
At those words, Paul and the older knight’s shoulders flinched in unison.
Mom took another step toward Paul. Her voice grew even lower and heavier.
“Of course, since this is work after all, I don’t care what you say behind our backs. There’s no value in paying attention to the nonsense others babble.”
“…….”
“But the child heard it.”
“……!”
“You should never have let such words reach a child’s ears.”
The last sentence was close to a whisper.
It seemed Mom had lowered her voice on purpose, worried that I might have been hurt…
‘I’m fine, though.’
To be honest, I was calmer than expected.
I was just annoyed that Paul was flapping his mouth without knowing how to be careful regarding the family of the master he served.
Was it because I knew there was no other way?
Perhaps because I clearly recognized that my death was not far off and was an unchangeable reality, his words didn’t make me feel bad or sorrowful.
Instead of spending time feeling bad, I thought I should spend even a little more time figuring out a way to save Mom.
Meanwhile, Paul looked at me with a face that seemed greatly shocked by Mom’s words.
When our eyes met, he jumped in surprise and turned his head away.
‘What’s with him?’
I narrowed my eyes at his strange behavior.
Then, Mom turned her head toward the older knight with a sunken face.
“You.”
“Ye-yes?”
“Unless you want to hear news that I’ve di— disappeared next time, tell the Marquisate to replace this guy with another knight. And tell them to watch their mouths.”
Mom had been browbeating the knight but hurriedly changed her words while glancing at me.
She probably intended to use her life as a threat, knowing that the Marquis wanted to use her rather than kill her.
“……Yes. I understand.”
In the end, the older knight bowed his head deeply and gave his word.
Even if they were giggling while badmouthing others just moments ago, I suppose their own well-being is what matters most in the end. It’s pathetic.
As soon as Mom received the confirmation from the knight, she turned away without lingering.
Approaching me, she managed a smile and picked me up.
“Livi, let’s go inside. I need to put medicine on your scrapes.”
“……Okay, Mom.”
Before I knew it, Mom’s voice had returned to its usual tenderness.
I reached out and wrapped my arms around Mom’s neck.
Being held in her familiar embrace as we went up the stairs, I thought…
‘……She was cool just now.’
And at the same time, I caught a glimpse of the ‘villainess’ from the novel.
The image of the ‘villainess’ Gretel Diarmuid, who would slap the Imperial Princess and deal in sarcasm at the Marquis’s command.
As I thought, I had to escape this place as soon as possible and get Mom out of the Marquis’s reach.
‘I have to find a way, no matter what.’
Strengthening my resolve internally, I returned home with Mom.
[That mister said first that they were only suffering because Mom was kicked out of the Marquisate.]
[So he said he wished I would die quickly.]
Gretel Diarmuid’s hand jerked and stopped while she was tidying up the ointment jars.
She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to suppress the anger rising within her once more.
“…….”
Having barely managed to steady her breathing, she stole a glance.
There, in the distance past the bedroom door, she saw Laviella’s back as the girl lay on her stomach on the bed, swinging her legs.
Bandages were stuck here and there on the child’s legs.
Gretel bit her lip hard.
‘Because of me…….’
Her body and her heart must have hurt.
[This child’s life is my own. Do not think of laying a single finger on her.]
Long ago. When she had lost her husband at her father’s hands and was half out of her mind.
Gretel had held a sword to her own throat and threatened Marquis Diarmuid.
It was a bluff born of spite, knowing the Marquis would keep her alive if only to use her as a pawn in a marriage alliance.
In the end, the Marquis could not ignore Gretel’s threat. However, he did not let her go either.
On the night Marquis Diarmuid exiled Gretel to the North.
He gripped the shoulder of his daughter as she was about to board the carriage and laughed despicably.
[Do not be so prickly. As you wish, I shall not touch the child. However.]
[…….]
[You will come to realize for yourself how miserable it is to barely sustain a life in that place.]
[…….]
[And when that time comes, you will beg to return to the Marquis’s estate on your own feet. Do not forget that.]
After imprisoning Gretel in a remote tower in the northern part of the Diarmuid fief, the Marquis provided only enough support to keep her from dying.
From the moment she was born, Gretel had been raised as a precious lady of a family where money, at least, was always abundant.
Being such a person, adjusting to life in the tower was not easy.
Having to heat water, chop wood, and light the fireplace with her own hands occasionally brought back a deep longing for her past life.
But Gretel gritted her teeth and endured the life in the tower.
Because she wanted to protect herself and her daughter from the Marquis’s hands, no matter what.
……But was that truly the right choice?
[Cough!]
Laviella had been frail since birth.
To begin with, Gretel herself was living a life that barely skirted death, so a child born in such circumstances could not possibly be healthy.
The Marquis provided minimal medical supplies, fearing Gretel might take her own life immediately if she lost the child.
But despite the Marquis’s support, Laviella’s health was worsening day by day, little by little, like water droplets hollowing out a rock.
Every time that happened, Gretel’s face grew darker with guilt.
Because of me.
If I hadn’t been exiled to a place like this, if I were living a comfortable and easy life even if my heart were a bit pained.
Wouldn’t the child, at least, have been born healthy?
Is it because of me…… that the child who should have been born healthy was born with such unnecessary suffering?
[Am I…….]
Am I killing this child with my own stubbornness?
Such thoughts ate away at Gretel’s head and heart day by day.
[Mom, you’re thinking weird thoughts again. They say if you only think bad thoughts, you age faster.]
But every time Gretel blamed herself, Laviella would notice her state with uncanny precision and frown.
That hurt her heart even more.
She feared that Laviella’s ‘un-childlike’ calmness and cleverness were traits ‘forged’ by these circumstances.
Drip—
“Ugh…….”
Finally, the tears that had been precariously pooling in Gretel’s eyes rolled down her cheeks.
Hurriedly swallowing a sob, Gretel turned her back to Laviella and wiped her tears.
Laviella, who had been lying on the bed pretending to read a book—no, who had been lying there while actually reading—slightly turned her head at the sound.
