The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 2
‘It’s been a long time.’
There was a certain novelty to seeing a ghost who had died long ago standing right in front of her, head held high.
‘Is this the past?’
Roselyn slowly scanned her surroundings, recalling the woman from her memories who had died a pathetic death while begging for her life.
“Because you are like this, your father is ashamed of you, and his Lordship as well….”
Roselyn let the long-winded chatter beside her go in one ear and out the other as she turned her head to look out the window.
A dry, hollow laugh escaped her lips.
“……You, did you just laugh?”
Only after hearing that shocked voice did Roselyn realize her stepmother-to-be was still prattling on beside her.
“Do you have any idea how much you’ve disgraced the family honor? And yet, I’ve always been on your side! How can you ignore me like this? How could you… *hic*, do you really hate me that much?”
Roselyn paused, chewing over the words she had heard the moment she regained consciousness.
‘I attempted suicide?’
That was strange.
‘In my past, I was the type to grit my teeth and endure until I could charge at someone with a knife. I wasn’t the type to just die.’
More than a decade ago, her stepmother had bullied her when she was young and naive.
Then came a certain day.
At a banquet, Roselyn realized that staying still wasn’t the answer. She flipped a table, unsheathed a decorative sword hanging in the dining hall, and began charging like a madwoman. After that, the overt bullying stopped.
‘Instead, it was followed by assassination and poisoning attempts.’
Therefore, she was certain: Roselyn had no such past.
She had never given up on life, nor had she ever stayed quiet while listening to someone belittle her like this.
‘……This isn’t the past.’
It didn’t seem like she had returned to her own past.
Thinking that far, the words Marquis Gerren had spoken at the end naturally came to mind.
‘A parallel world…….’
Was it actually true?
“Don’t ignore me! I only say these things out of a desire for you to do better….”
Roselyn frowned.
The voice interrupting her thoughts was becoming quite irritating.
“You’re being loud.”
“……What?”
The woman’s eyes widened.
“Ah, my apologies. It’s just that you keep buzzing in my ear like a mosquito, and it’s quite noisy. If you’re going to keep talking, would you mind doing it outside? As you can see, I’ve only just woken up from my sickbed.”
“M-my goodness, look at the way she talks. How could you……. I am your mother! How can you say such things…… Just who are you! Why have you suddenly become so rude…….”
“No, to be precise, you are my prospective stepmother. You haven’t had the wedding ceremony yet.”
Judging by her modest attire with minimal jewelry, it was clearly the period when she was still working hard to maintain her innocent facade.
Roselyn watched her prospective stepmother, who was merely gaping, and spoke.
“Lady Carmel, I don’t care whether you enter this house or not…… just don’t get on my nerves. If you do that……”
Roselyn smiled brightly.
At that, Lady Carmel flinched instinctively. It was because the person in front of her felt like a completely different individual.
“Whether you sell the Ducal House’s business secrets, feed my father poison to kill him slowly, or plant your own people in the mansion…… I won’t care.”
“Roselyn—!”
Lady Carmel’s jaw dropped at Roselyn’s words.
To see that beautiful face uttering such chilling words without a single change in expression was enough to make her blood run cold.
“Let’s make things easy for each other. As long as you don’t bother me, whatever you do…… I won’t interfere.”
Roselyn gave her a kind piece of advice that doubled as a warning.
Lady Carmel looked down at the girl who was to be her stepdaughter, who was now speaking clearly while looking her straight in the eye.
‘……Just who is she?’
While feeling displeased by the fact that she felt intimidated, she found herself gulping reflexively.
It felt as if she were thrusting her head right in front of a beast.
This was supposed to be the sickly, timid, and utterly insignificant daughter of the Bellion Ducal House who couldn't utter a single proper word under her scolding.
A woman with no honor, who would merely glare fiercely and keep her mouth shut even when the maids ignored her.
It was surprising enough that she had moved her long bangs—which she’d grown out to hide her own ugly face and those garish, disgusting red eyes—and was now making eye contact.
But what was even more shocking was….
‘How did she know?’
Those words, recited as if she knew her entire plan.
“Ha…… it’s so annoying how beasts don’t understand when you speak to them nicely.”
At Roselyn’s low murmur, which sounded like she was talking to herself, a maid who usually followed Lady Carmel closely spoke up.
“My Lady, aren’t you being too harsh? The Junior Mistress is……. Aaaah!”
Lady Carmel’s eyes flew wide.
Something seemed to flash before her eyes, and then the loyal maid who had stepped forward in her stead screamed.
“Not Junior Mistress, but Lady Carmel. And I am the Lady of this house.”
“Aaaah, it hurts, it hurts!”
“Roselyn! What on earth are you doing……!”
Lady Carmel let out a shriek.
“Lady Carmel, if you want to become the mistress of the house, you should start by training your maids properly.”
Roselyn turned her head with a smile. Her lips were curved beautifully, but her eyes were cold.
Her messy, unkempt hair made her look even more eerie, and Lady Carmel couldn't bring herself to speak further after seeing the red eyes peering through the strands.
Her lips merely fluttered uselessly, and she froze, pointing a finger at Roselyn, who was still smiling while gripping the maid’s hair.
“Do I have to tell you to get lost one more time before you leave my room?”
“……You, you really.”
“Get out.”
“……Don’t think today’s matter will just be overlooked. I am truly so aggrieved……”
Lady Carmel, glaring at Roselyn’s radiant face, turned away with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You really are hopeless, even when given advice.”
Roselyn clicked her tongue, anticipating that something bothersome would soon come her way.
She had been sincere when she said she wouldn’t care what happened in the Bellion Ducal House as long as she wasn't bothered.
However, to put it the other way…….
If she was bothered, she was fully prepared to drag them down into the abyss.
And exactly three days later, she was invited to the Ducal House’s formal dinner.
* * *
For the past three days, Roselyn had gathered information to deduce a few things about her situation and organize her thoughts.
1. This is a ‘parallel world’ roughly ten years before the day I died, and I am currently seventeen years old.
2. Even if it is a ‘parallel world,’ the people I know exist here, and the major and minor events I know of exist similarly.
3. Unlike my original past, my situation here is dire. The servants mock or ignore me implicitly, and I don’t even have a personal maid.
4. The people I remember are not all exactly the same, but they are mostly similar.
Recalling how a maid who had been favorable to her in the past was now a minion of Lady Carmel here, Roselyn finished tidying her stray hair.
Roselyn had decided on only one thing while gathering information.
To live quietly, calmly, comfortably, and normally in this world.
‘I’m tired of being chased and being pointed at.’
Roselyn opened the wardrobe and frowned at the sight of the shabby, dull dresses.
“My stepmother hasn’t changed a bit.”
Still stupid, still one-dimensional.
Well, that was why she had never moved beyond the rank of ‘Bishop,’ even after achieving the feat of bringing down the Bellion Ducal House.
Because even here, she only did exactly as she was told through periodic instructions.
‘Which also made it easy for me to kill her.’
Roselyn thought as she parted her long bangs, which had been poking her eyes, and tucked them behind her ears.
Looking into the mirror with a clear field of vision, she put on a jet-black dress she had pulled from the wardrobe.
“There’s a lot to touch up.”
She put on a pearl necklace that looked fake to anyone’s eyes and applied a bright red lipstick—one that might even look a bit tawdry—to hide her pale impression before looking in the mirror.
The crimson eyes and bright red lipstick stood out sharply against her snow-white skin.
A smile played on her lips.
‘How long has it been?’
