The Villainess’s Road to Revenge

Chapter 2

It had been an inevitable decision, as her body had grown incredibly weak. She could only walk a few steps before she was out of breath, and she even had trouble getting up from bed. She had thought that she was making the best decision for her health, and that she had done everything she could for her family. Her family had smiled at her and thanked her for what she had done, but apparently, that had all been a lie.

It wasn’t too difficult to guess why they’d decided to backstab her. They were trying to protect Relliana, who had just become the saintess and gotten engaged to the crown prince. Alchemy was illegal in the empire, which meant the crown prince would very likely call off the engagement if he found out Milvia’s family had been the one to request such an act. They were trying to keep her quiet—permanently.

Milvia threw her head back and laughed in maniacal silence as the crows continued hacking at her, beating their wings against her face in their flurry of movements. Her family was now aware that she could no longer make any gold, but there was something else that they did not know—an alchemist’s abilities were not limited to simply creating gold. Although time was an immaterial thing that was very difficult to handle, a skilled alchemist could manipulate it just like any other physical object.

Relliana… Stepmother… You should have put a hot iron to my eyes if you truly wished to kill me.

An alchemist could only manifest their powers three times in their life, each manifestation being a different stage of power. She had decided to stop at the second step because the third one held a high risk of death.

I never imagined actually doing this… Milvia reached for the power inside that she had kept a secret from everyone, even her own family members. Countless golden lines appeared in her vision as she drew on her power—she was seeing the lines of time.

She immediately spotted the one that was hers, seeing it break apart before her. At that moment, the crows’ beaks broke through the ropes that bound one of her wrists, and Milvia drew on the last remnants of her strength to reach out to her “strand” of time.

Immediately, a searing pain engulfed her entire body, and then all she could see was white.

* * *

Milvia knew that she was back before she even opened her eyes. She could feel the rough pillowcase against her cheek and the scratchy fabric of the clothes she was wearing.

Her stepmother had decided to fill her room with things that were only suitable for commoners—all because she had believed the foolish myth about how an alchemist could become even more powerful if they lived like a monk. Even worse, only the poorest of commoners would make use of such things. This room was nowhere near appropriate for the daughter of a count.

Milvia slowly sat up and tried speaking out loud.

“My t-tongue… still intact…”

Her voice was scratchy and hoarse, perhaps because her body had not slept for several days at this point in time. She could still see the sparkling gold lines running across her vision. They intertwined with one another to form complex patterns, and the lines disappeared and reappeared every time she blinked.

Perhaps it’s the side effect of forcing myself to manifest the highest level of my ability. Surely, there will be others. However, Milvia needed to remain calm and stay focused. She had a goal to achieve, after all.

A simple act of revenge won’t do. No… They deserve so much more. Milvia ran her tongue over her dry, cracked lips, then lifted her head to gaze at the mirror across from her. The girl who was staring back at her had a desolate expression, empty of all emotions, even tears. It was clear that her physical condition had seriously deteriorated from all the alchemy work she had been doing for her family up until this point.

Her skin was pale, and she looked very underweight—her face was gaunt, and her cheekbones were too prominent. She looked down and saw that most of her nails were chipped or split, and her back felt too weak to hold her shoulders up straight. When she looked back at the reflection, she could see that even her eyes had sunken back into her eye sockets.

Nobody in their right mind would refer to her as beautiful. In fact, she more resembled the crows that had ripped the skin from her bones than anything else. She turned to carefully study her hair. Although she had inherited her father’s silvery hair, it was now a dull gray and frayed. Her skin was so dry that it looked almost scaly. The only bright side of this situation was that she was so young—only nineteen years old, in fact. She had traveled back in time to the winter right before the new year.

I wish I had realized that I was ruining myself, she thought bitterly. Any form of alchemy drew on the alchemist’s life force itself. However, she had been oblivious to this fact in the past. The only thing she cared about was making as much gold as she could and ensuring that it was as pure as it could be.

She carefully considered the point in time that she had returned to. It was one year after Estaire had gotten admitted into the swordsmanship academy, and a little before the new year’s banquet—the one where Relliana would meet the crown prince for the first time. Essentially, it was when House Meidier had been partially resuscitated thanks to her special “powers.” A part of her wished that she had traveled to a time before she’d manifested her abilities as an alchemist, but she decided this was good enough.

After all, they say it’s much harder to lose something after already having it… For a moment, she wondered if her personality had changed after traveling back in time, then shook her head. Who can blame me for becoming twisted after everything that happened?

Milvia directed a cold glare at her reflection before yanking on the bell pull that dangled next to her bed. Among the several others that hung next to it, this one was special because it summoned a higher-ranking maid who would usually serve Relliana or her stepmother.

After a moment, she heard a set of rapid footsteps striding down the hall. Then the door flew open with a loud slam. Milvia frowned at the outright insolence of the maid.

“Is there something I can help you with?” the maid demanded as soon as she entered. Her eyes gleamed greedily as she peered around the room.

It made sense that the maid was aware of a mysterious source of money funding the Meidiers, although she probably didn’t know that it was the eldest daughter of the count sitting in a tiny room of the west wing, constantly working to produce an endless supply of gold nuggets.

Although her stepmother did her best to hide it, it was hard to be oblivious to how the members of a “poor” noble family were buying luxurious items that they shouldn’t be able to afford. Even the swordsmanship academy that Estaire was attending had an incredibly expensive tuition.

Milvia scrutinized the maid carefully before she came to a decision.

This one will do. She spread her palms wide in front of the maid. In just a second, her hands were full of a mix of regular pebbles and shiny gold ones.

“These could be yours, you know…” she said slyly.

The maid gaped at her.

Milvia continued, “But it depends on your response to my questions.”

The maid stuttered, “I-I, uh, I d-don’t—”

“What’s your name?”

“B-Bonny, my lady.”

“Ah… I see. I should have remembered your name after you served me for so long.”

Of course, Bonny had never once attended to her. As an alchemist, Milvia had to memorize, combine, and apply thousands of equations to formulas, which meant she had an incredibly sharp memory. She knew all of the maids—albeit very few in number—who had ever come into her room, and Bonny was not one of them.

“There is something I would like, Bonny.”

She lightly jiggled the contents in her palm, and with each shake, more gray pebbles sparkled and turned into gold. Although it was nowhere near enough to purchase luxurious items fit for an aristocrat, it would certainly change a poor maid’s life for the better. Bonny swallowed as she stared at the gold.

People are just so easy to figure out… Milvia put a kind smile on her face. She picked up one of the gold pieces and stretched her arm out to Bonny. It looked like she was offering a piece of meat to a dog, but she knew that it didn’t matter. Very few people would turn down gold.

“A-anything you want, my lady. Anything!”

“The sheets and pillowcases are too rough for my liking. I’d like you to fetch me some better ones.”

At this, Bonny visibly hesitated. “But, my lady… I was told that you can’t use anything made of silk because you’re training to become the s-saintess.”

Milvia knew exactly who Bonny was afraid of. After her father’s death the year before last, her stepmother had essentially taken over the household. Milvia’s smile widened as she waved the gold in front of the maid.

“Oh, is that so? What a shame. Go and fetch another maid for me, will you?”

“M-my lady?”

“Since you are not feeling up to the task, I will offer somebody else the opportunity.”

It was true that she had nothing to lose by dismissing Bonny. She could simply take her pick from the numerous other maids who were struggling financially. A part of her wanted to slap Bonny in the face and fire her, but she knew that she had to hold herself back. She would draw too much attention by doing such a thing.

Milvia was going to widen her influence over the estate, slowly but surely, just as her family had done. She would wheedle and bribe everyone until they were too drunk on the taste of money to tell left from right. She realized much too late in her now earlier life that one had to become either an eagle or a venomous snake in order to survive among serpents.

“Ah, no! No, my lady!” Bonny said frantically. “I will go and fetch those for you right away!”

“Oh… Are you sure?”

“Of course! Please let me do this for you! You deserve to live in a room better situated than this. I’ll be back in just a moment!”

In Milvia’s opinion, there was nothing wrong with buying loyalty with money. If she couldn’t earn their faith through genuine means, she would purchase it instead. She gazed at Bonny as the woman enthusiastically raced out of the room.

Truthfully, she was thankful that Bonny had been the maid she’d summoned with the bell pull. Although there was greed in the maid’s eyes, there was no sinister intent behind them, and she didn’t seem like a complete idiot. She trusted that Bonny would not be foolish enough to rid herself of a golden opportunity by reporting Milvia to the imperial palace for some meager reward.

In fact, Milvia was certain that the maid was the type who would turn a blind eye to any kind of vile deed as long as she got paid handsomely for it. For a moment, Milvia thought about how delighted Bonny had been at the prospect of receiving gold.

Why did I never think about using this gold for myself? I could have flourished with all the riches... Why on earth did I sacrifice myself for my family instead? I was such a fool! For some reason, she had believed that it was her familial duty to create gold for them. She had even thought that House Meidier would fall to ruin if she didn’t help.

But now I know that I was wrong. Even if I hadn’t lifted a finger to help them, they would have found some other way to keep their livelihoods intact. She found herself faced with a harsh reality. It was obvious that she had overvalued those who were not even related to her by blood. Perhaps none of those terrible events would have happened if she hadn’t been foolish enough to long for things like love and kindness. Milvia stood up to look grumpily at all the flasks and stacks of parchment piled on her desk.

At that moment, Bonny raced back into the room and began changing her sheets.

“Bonny,” she said abruptly.

“Yes, my lady?”

“I want all of those gone,” she said, pointing at the top of her desk.

Although her younger self would have needed the formulas and tools lying on the desk, now she needed nothing but her bare hands to create gold—this was another benefit of reaching the third and final level of alchemy. Furthermore, only other alchemists would be able to recognize her achievement, which meant that her family would look at her bare desk and think she was no longer going to make gold for them.

Milvia sat down and crossed her legs on the new silk sheets that were finally suitable for a lady of her status. She became deathly quiet as she began to think.

What is the best way to exact my revenge on those leeches? Bonny glanced at her curiously as she began to noisily clean the room, but Milvia paid her no heed. She had always been good at blocking things out to focus on what she wanted.

Oh, I know… First, I’ll take everything that I gave to Relliana and toss it all onto the streets like garbage. She had exactly one week until the new year’s banquet, which the crown prince would attend. Although it wasn’t enough time to properly dress herself for the occasion, she would be able to look presentable at the very least.

Like a crow decorating its wings with jewels, she thought to herself. Well, they better prepare themselves, because I am going on strike.