The Villainess’s Road to Revenge

Chapter 3

After their return from another tea party, it only took an hour for her stepmother and Relliana to come to confront her.

“Just what is the meaning of this, Milvia?” her stepmother demanded.

“I promised my friends that I would get a new dress with them!” Relliana said in a pleading tone. “It would be humiliating if I had to tell them that I couldn’t do it because I had no money!”

Her stepmother chimed in, “Exactly! Relliana is just starting to carve out a place for herself in high society. We all need your support to maintain a decent life. You know this!”

Her stepmother’s smile looked forced, likely because she was now confirming with her own eyes that Milvia had cleared out her desk, replaced everything in her room with finer, expensive items, and decided to stop making gold of her own volition. Her effort to appease her stepdaughter was so obvious that Milvia couldn’t help but smirk.

Now that she was experiencing this life for the second time, she was noticing things that she had been completely blind to before. Back then, she had allowed her stepmother and Relliana to make her believe that she was the one at fault. She had thought that she was being childish and spent a great deal of time reflecting on her own “mistakes,” even when she should have stood her ground. Now it was obvious that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“It’s too much effort,” she said petulantly.

“What?”

“It’s too hard. I don’t want to do it anymore.” She made her voice whiny, and she flopped her arms as if she were just throwing a small tantrum out of exhaustion. That way, her family would do whatever she asked in order to get more gold from her.

On top of that, she was legally the eldest child of House Meidier. Although her stepmother had married her late father, the Theus Empire prioritized the rights of an aristocrat’s children with his first wife. Therefore, Milvia’s wishes and orders took precedence over the rest of her family’s, since the second wife and her child could never rank higher than the first.

When it seemed obvious that Milvia was not going to change her mind, her stepmother took a different approach and began attempting to placate her.

“Oh, Milvia… I-I’m so sorry. I should have realized that you were having a difficult time in your journey to become a great alchemist!”

It was exactly what Milvia had expected. She felt bile rising in her throat. She scowled deeply and raised her voice to complain even more sharply.

“I can’t bear living like a monk for a moment longer. I want to wear nice dresses and attend fancy banquets too!”

“Of course, Milvia! Of course!” her stepmother said in a comforting but slightly frantic voice. “In fact, we just received an invitation for the new year’s banquet. I think it would be wonderful if our entire family attended.”

Her stepmother’s desperate attempt to appease her was almost laughable. It was obvious that she was terrified of losing her precious source of gold. Milvia made a point to avoid her stepmother’s outstretched hand, but she softened the scowl on her face. She had gotten what she wanted for now—an invitation to attend the banquet. It would not be productive to make her family even more wary of her by continuing to throw a tantrum.

“All right. I will make enough gold for Relliana to buy her new dress, but I would like one for myself as well.”

“Anything you want, Milvia. I should have been more considerate. Again, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, and I want to move to another room too,” Milvia continued. “This room doesn’t get any sunlight, which makes it so depressing in here.”

“Of course! I had placed you in this room simply because I knew your equipment would be damaged in direct sunlight, that’s all,” her stepmother said, then tittered lightly. Her gray eyes glinted like a cunning snake.

Milvia studied her dull blonde hair and beaked nose for a moment, then nodded without arguing any further. She stole a glance at Relliana to see what kind of expression she was wearing, and Milvia blinked in surprise. Contrary to what she had expected, Relliana was staring at her with an unreadable look on her face. However, Relliana wiped the mysterious expression away and puffed up her cheeks with sisterly indignation as soon as she met Milvia’s eyes.

“You should have told us sooner if you didn’t like your room, Milvia!” she said in an infuriatingly cute voice. “We would have given you the best room in the manor!”

Ha! You lying little b*tch!

The best room in the Meidier Manor had originally belonged to Milvia. However, she had given the room to Relliana once she manifested her ability as an alchemist after her father’s death.

The biggest reason was that her flasks and the chemicals in them were extremely sensitive, just like her stepmother had said. They had to be handled with extreme caution, and they could not be left in direct sunlight. The basic knowledge of chemical handling had magically appeared in her head as soon as she became an alchemist, and it was why her younger self had not hesitated to relocate to a different room. After all, she had always had a habit of single-mindedly focusing on whatever she wanted to achieve, like a horse galloping with blinders on.

She had preferred working in the small room all by herself, as it helped her focus. Although the number of maids who attended to her decreased over time, and her existing maids were replaced with new ones, she did not pay any notice. In hindsight, she had been incredibly foolish.

The good thing was that she would not make the same mistake again. Milvia took a moment to process how Relliana managed to make Milvia’s request sound as if she were making a great deal of fuss over nothing. When she finally spoke, her voice was as gentle and sweet as it had been when she was buying Bonny over.

“Perfect. You can give me the room you’re currently using, then.”

“Uh… What?” Unfiltered surprise flashed over Relliana’s face for the very first time.

Milvia ignored the reaction and gave her a beaming smile that she ensured also showed in her eyes. “I was only letting you borrow it, after all. Now I would like to have it back. Feel free to have your pick from all the other rooms in the manor,” she said smoothly, showing no expectation of receiving resistance. Everything she had just said was technically true.

The only issue was that Relliana was very fond of that room, since it was always full of natural light and directly faced the garden. Just as expected, Relliana’s face darkened. Milvia watched her closely as she delivered her final line.

“I know that you will be perfectly fine with returning your room to its rightful owner. You are such a kind girl, after all.”

“O-of course you can have it back, Milvia.”

Relliana had always had an obsession with being kind. Milvia remembered that the younger girl had allowed herself to act a bit childish and greedy at eighteen, but that had completely changed when she came of age. After that point, she had changed everything about herself so that nobody would ever doubt that she was tenderhearted and caring. She acted incredibly considerate and selfless, and she always did it with a smile on her face. It made sense that she had been chosen as the saintess out of all those other noble ladies. After all, even Milvia had believed her lies back then.

She said brightly, “Thanks! Could you go and have all of your things moved out?”

“R-right… now?”

“Yes, right now. You see, this tiny room is really pushing me to never want to make gold ever again. If you want to go shopping for dresses with your friends, you should really try your best to help keep me motivated so I’ll be able to help you with it,” Milvia snapped, glaring at her stepsister with her arms crossed.

Her stepmother and Relliana both gaped at her in surprise, which was understandable—Milvia had never acted in such a way before.

Her stepmother was the first to snap out of it and say something. “O-of course, Milvia. Rell, please let your sister have her room back. I will help you pick another one that is just as nice.”

Milvia could see right through her. Her stepmother had always been quick to calculate her gains and losses. Although she was acting like she would give Milvia everything she wanted, she was most likely already scheming a way to get back at her. Relliana smiled at Milvia in an impressive attempt to hide her displeasure.

“Sure thing. Thanks for letting me use your room for so long.”

“No need to thank me,” Milvia said coolly. “It’s not like I wanted to let you use it.”

The slightest crease appeared on Relliana’s smooth forehead, but it faded away in a split second. Her gracefulness reminded Milvia of a swan. Infuriatingly enough, it appeared that she had gotten all the care and food she wanted while Milvia rotted away in her tiny room—her face was undebatably beautiful.

If Milvia recalled correctly, one’s appearance was an essential factor in whether one could become a saintess or not. To be exact, the candidate had to “possess a beauty so great that commoners will worship her.” In Milvia’s opinion, it was quite telling that one’s beauty was more important than their faith in becoming the saintess.

To her credit, her stepmother did not hesitate in giving the maids their new order. “Go and find a new room for Relliana in the east wing.”

The maids visibly hesitated.

“In the… east wing? Who will be using her room then, Madam?”

“It will be Milvia’s from this point on.”

In an impressively short time, Milvia found herself sitting on the most expensive and comfortable couch in the drawing room. She helped herself to various cookies and chocolates that the head chef had brought her on her stepmother’s urgent orders.

I wonder why I didn’t do this sooner, she thought to herself with a bitter smirk as she stared into the hot tea in her cup. She had burdened herself with so much responsibility, despite nobody ever thanking her for her efforts. Although she was in a different time now, the memories of the past few days that she had spent with a painfully empty stomach still haunted her, like the swarm of angry crows pecking at her skin.

It had been so cold—even colder than the small, dusty room that she had just escaped. It was like she had existed in a completely different reality from Relliana, who was currently sitting across from her with an angelic expression, delicately chewing on a cookie. The sweetness of the cookie was overwhelming Milvia with emotions, and yet Relliana appeared completely nonchalant, as if the treats were a luxury that she had enjoyed regularly.

Milvia stared at her stepsister, watching her as she took a bite of the cookie, chewed, and swallowed. She could still vividly recall the venomous words that those pink lips had formed, telling her to “just die already.” She must have been staring for too long because Relliana put her cookie back on the tray and tilted her head in confusion.

“Milvia… What is it?”

Milvia glanced at the cookie, which looked like it had barely been touched. Although this waste annoyed her to no end, she made sure that her tone did not reflect her true feelings when she spoke.

“Oh, sorry. I couldn’t help but stare because you’re so stunning. Also, I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings with what I said earlier.” She smiled kindly as she picked up another cookie and offered it to Relliana.

However, Relliana only shook her head instead of taking it. “Of course not! The room was always yours, not mine. I was lucky to enjoy my time in it for so long. Besides, I have so many other rooms to choose from!”

“I know, but please let me know if you ever feel unhappy with our new arrangement. We’re sisters, after all.”

“I will. But don’t worry, Milvia. I would never change my mind about something that I agreed to… Madame Aranton told me that it’s not ladylike.”

Why you little… Milvia was overcome with the temptation to reach out and grab Relliana by the hair. Fortunately for her stepsister, she was still holding a cookie in her hand. She considered shoving the cookie into Relliana’s mouth instead but managed to hold herself back.

Instead, she whispered sweetly, “It sounds like your tutor has been teaching you well.”

“Yes, she has! Also, I heard that every single noble family will be in attendance at the upcoming new year’s banquet. Apparently, the festivities will last for an entire month! I’m assuming you haven’t heard that yet, right?”

At this, Milvia smiled and stared directly into Relliana’s blue eyes. “No, I haven’t. Unfortunately, nobody told me.”

In other words, you didn’t tell me.

Relliana flinched slightly, as if she had caught the unstated implication of Milvia’s words. However, her expression stayed the same. On the outside, she was as adorable and lovely as she always was. In fact, she looked so beautiful as she cluelessly tilted her innocent little head that Milvia was tempted to rip it off.

To an ignorant outsider who didn’t understand the undercurrent of their words, their conversation might have appeared quite civil—friendly, even. In the past, Milvia had been the “ignorant outsider.” She found the aristocrats’ way of speaking incredibly bothersome, and she did not make any effort to understand it. This meant that she ended up incapable of catching the frequently hidden meanings in other aristocrats’ conversations. But now she knew exactly what Relliana was saying—her stepsister was quite unhappy with losing her room.

However, Milvia was not willing to back down.