I Have Become a Beautiful Trash Villainess

“If you are going to keep talking nonsense, please leave.”

“….”

What did he just say?

This development wasn’t part of my plan at all.

In shock, I got closer to his desk.

“What do you mean nonsense! I’m more serious than ever.”

“What’s the protest about this time? If you want to buy something just buy it,” he sighed.

“Pro…Protest? Do I look like a whining child right now?”

If I want to buy something, buy it. What load of crap is he talking about?” I could feel my blood pressure rising more and more and wanted to grab him by the collar to force him to take me seriously.

“Don’t provoke my temper,” I warned. “I can’t stand you anymore so let’s start preparing for a divorce right away.”

Evandel sighed again, “I don’t have time to joke around. I have work to do.”

“Are you deaf? I said I’m not jok….”

“Is there anyone out there? Come and escort Her Highness out.”

I didn’t even finish my sentence when in the blink of an eye, two servants barged in, grabbed my arms, and dragged me out of the room.

“Let go of me! Didn’t you hear me? Let go! Wait, Marquis Listane! Hey!”

The door was forcefully slammed behind my back as I stood there dumbfounded.

Even after experiencing it firsthand, I couldn’t believe what just happened, happened.

It was so absurd, I burst out laughing like a deranged person.

And after standing in a daze in front of the study’s door for a while, I regained my composure and glared at the servants.

“How presumptuous.”

They did quickly let me go after getting me out of the room, but it was still nothing short of disrespect and rudeness. No matter, what I was of noble birth and the mistress of this house, and they had just treated me as if I were a criminal.

“How dare you lay your hands on a noble princess’s body?”

Smack.

I slapped both of them, one after the other, before taking a deep breath.

Did I originally plan to go that far…. No.

I was honestly stunned by my violent reaction, but quickly regained my composure. Now was the time to be strict, even if I needed to set an example to do so.

I lowered my voice to conceal my confusion, and said, “Do you know who the person you’ve dragged out like a vagabond is?”

“……”

“I am the one and only princess of this Empire. I assure you; it won’t end with a slap next time.”

Despite my threats, the servants still had a calm expression on their faces, as if they already experienced much worse from Attila.

Well, I guess the only way to get someone like the Princess out of a place was by force. And sadly, from their efficient movements, it looked like it’s something that happened a lot.

“Anyway, why won’t this guy grant me the divorce anyway?” I grumbled, feeling utterly disgusted.

First, I needed to go back to the bedroom and revise my entire plan.

Thud. Thud.

Carrying all my pent-up frustration, I headed back to my room.

***

“Why?”

I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn’t find an explanation.

If he was going to treat Attila like this anyway, why wouldn’t he want to get a divorce?

“Could it be that there are some lingering feelings?”

Surprisingly enough, the princess’s love wasn’t always one sided. Although their relationship couldn’t be called romantic, there was a time when Evandel’s heart beat for Attila.

 Well, it was a long time ago, and the princess’s affection turned into a morbid obsession, distorting everything.

“You. Come here.” I called the maidservant who was standing there so quietly, I was confused about whether she was breathing or not.

Glancing around, she seemed unsure at first, not knowing if she was truly the one being called.

But after seeing my finger pointing in her direction, she approached with a terrified expression on her face.

And suppressing my frustration, I exercised as much patience as I could while she was drawing closer.

“Uhm……what can I do for you?”

“The Marquis won’t divorce me.”

“What?” She questioned, her already pale face growing paler.

“He refused to get a divorce. I thought he would be thrilled about it.” I repeated with a straight face.

“Well…”

“Why do you think that is? Give it some thought, if you can give me a reasonable answer, I’ll increase your salary.”

As soon as money was mentioned, the maid’s complexion completely changed. Unlike how she was trembling in fear earlier, she began to seriously think about the situation.

“Perhaps he’s finding it somewhat challenging to anger the Imperial Family?” she said after a while.

“Hmm…”

But that reason alone didn’t provide a sufficient explanation.

Unless the princess herself opposed it, there was no reason for him to be afraid of getting divorced.

There was no reason to refuse if Attila was the one requesting it.

“Or maybe he is aiming for the throne?” the maid added.

“The throne?”

The girl, lowering her voice as if to avoid being overheard, came closer to me, and whispered, “His highness the Crown Prince…. They say he is always causing a lot of scandals.”

Crown Prince Nikolai Rojas, Attila’s brother.

Unlike the current Emperor who ruled the Empire peacefully, he was someone who created scandals every day, unable to distinguish between public and private matters.

So, it was only natural that he wasn’t favored as the heir to the throne in the Emperor’s eyes. Rumors even suggested that Princess’s husband might become the next Emperor.

“Did Van have such ambition?” I muttered without knowing and was taken aback.

What did I just say? Van?

His nickname flowed out so naturally; it made me nauseous.

But upon seeing the servant girl glancing around like a frightened puppy, I immediately softened my expression. I was afraid that if I continued to display my feelings so openly, she might collapse in fear again.

“Sure, that might be true.” I finally said. “One more question. Is there a way to divorce without the other party’s consent?”

The girl rolled her eyes before chuckling softly, “Well, the Imperial Law is a bit……”

“As expected, huh?”

The reason Evandel was being considered as the next Emperor instead of Attila was not because of her personality or gender. It was because she renounced to her succession rights.

Divorce was originally prohibited in the Empire, however, just like the current Emperor, his predecessor who wanted to change wife pushed for it and made it possible.

But the only condition was that both concerned parties had to agree to it.

In other words, it was a rather useless law for those who genuinely needed to escape their marriage.

“It means I have to get his consent one way of another,” I said, discreetly looking at the maid, and the sharp gaze of the clever woman immediately shifted.

As if crafting a plan, her narrowed eyes sought confirmation and turned towards me, “So… what your Highness needs is something worth divorcing for, isn’t it?”

“Exactly,” I nodded in agreement.

Thus, with a servant willing to tolerate her difficult mistress for the sake of money, we ended up exchanging various ideas.

And our discussion lasted until the sun set.

***

“From here to there.”

This was probably the most frequently spoken sentence during this shopping spree.

“Give me both. No, give me all three.”

There was no such thing as decision paralysis in my vocabulary today. If something even slightly caught my eye, I bought it, and after touring several dressing rooms, I was now at the point where there was hardly any space left to cram my purchases.

“What else should I buy?” I pondered out loud.

“Do you still have something left to buy?” The aide, who reluctantly tagged along for my shopping outing, sighed with an exhausted expression.

“You’ve already filled two carriages to the brim. If you keep buying things, Your Highness might need to become a mercenary, and run alongside the carriages on the way back.”

“Your master is the one who confidently asked me to buy everything I wanted.”

Even as the aide complained, I didn’t bat an eye.

Yeah, he shouldn’t have been so arrogant.

[What kind of protest is it this time? If you want to buy something, just buy it.]

At first, I thought that guy was crazy. Attila, a Princess, certainly didn’t lack money, so what was the nonsense about?

However, upon hearing a shocking story from the maidservant I spent the night plotting with, everything became clear.

[Last year, because of your gambling debt, his Majesty cut off your budget. Don’t you remember?”]

The details she gradually revealed were as followed:

Among Attila’s senseless flaws was gambling addiction. She had recklessly gambled without considering the amount and ended up accumulating an astronomical debt.

The debt was billed to the Royal Family, and upon discovering it, the Emperor refused to pay even a penny. Then, he cut her off without a word of warning.

In the end, she found herself in a position where she had no choice but to financially depend on her husband.

“Ugh! So irritating!”

Evandel’s arrogant voice was stuck in my head. And what angered me the most was the fact that I couldn’t come up with a rebuttal then.

I stamped on the ground with my shoes, and the aide quickly moved away from me with a weird look on his face.

Why is he looking at me like he’s seeing Attila?

As I thought about it, it started to feel unpleasant.

I had taken over the Princess’s body, someone who supposedly had the worse personality in the story, and acted completely like myself, yet no one felt that something was out of place?

“Secretary, do you think I’ve changed a bit recently?” I asked the aide.

“Huh? I’m not sure what you mean…”

“Never mind.”

It’s genuinely starting to annoy me.

“And what’s with the attitude? Watch your tone.” I added.

“Yes, your Highness.”

I glanced at the aide who was looking down obediently and scratched the back of my head nervously.

Alright, for now, let’s just focus on getting a divorce. Even if I was penniless, I was still a member of the Imperial Family. Surely, I won’t starve to death.

.

.

.

“I heard you filled up four carriages with clothes and jewelries in just one day.”

“Well, I have a wealthy husband, I should enjoy the perks, no?”

The only moment the couple shared time together in the book was during dinner.

 Of course, Evandel would often skip dinner using work as an excuse, but still, this was the only moment when they saw each other’s face for that long.

Evandel, who was looking at me as if momentarily stunned by my shameless answer, let out a light sigh.

“If your Highness is satisfied, then that’s all that matters.”

“….”

The feelings conveyed through his words weren’t like that of a loving partner saying, “If you are happy, then it’s fine.” No, it was more like, “I won’t get involved no matter what level of chaos you create.”

After all, he still used ‘Your Highness’ to address Attila, just like he did before the wedding, even though she often used endearing nicknames like ‘Van’ for him.

Although it felt repulsive to me, it did come out naturally out of this body’s mouth because it was a familiar word to the real Attila.

Setting my fork down, I rested my chin on my interlocked fingers before asking, “Do you want to be the next Emperor?”

“…..”

And Evandel, who had only made eye contact with me just for a moment ever since we started eating, abruptly raised his head at those words.

Well, at least he looked more surprised than when I mentioned the divorce.

“What are you talking about?’ he questioned.

“Well, you don’t love me, yet you won’t divorce me. I have no choice but to think that you have another motive.”

“Are you going to talk about that again?”

His interest in the conversation instantly disappeared at the mere mention of the word ‘divorce.’ I couldn’t understand why he was so indifferent to this to the point of ignoring me.

Did the Princess already suggest divorce at some point?

I couldn’t recall anything regarding that since I still didn’t recover all her memories, so there was a possibility it did happen.

People who casually suggested to break up when things didn’t go their way did exist.

If that was the case, shouldn’t it have been a welcome event for him? So, what the hell was this reaction?

“If we don’t get divorced, I’ll spend money every day just like I did today. Right now, it’s just buying some clothes casually, but who knows, in the future, I might end up buying carriages or houses.”

“…..”

“It seems you won’t be able to handle it unless you empty a few more dragon lairs, right?”

Evandel remained silent throughout my whole speech, continuing to move his knife as if to say:  You bark, I’m going to eat.

“Or do you perhaps have lingering feelings for me?”

“It’s ridiculous to mentioned something like that between us.”

This time his answer was immediate.

“Then, why won’t you divorce me?”

When the female lead appeared in the book, he treated Attila like the worst villain in the world.

“Why?” I persisted.

“WE!” he suddenly exclaimed.

When the divorce topic came up, I didn’t want him to just ignore it again, so I kept pushing, but he suddenly raised his voice.

My eyes widened at the emotional reaction he had shown me for the first time.

I kept staring at him with curiosity, until he could no longer take it, and angrily put his knife down, saying,

“I don’t think I can eat anymore. I’ll leave first.”

“What? Wait a minute!”

Even though I held onto him, Evandel remained unyielding. In the end, he disappeared without saying one more word, leaving me puzzled.

“What did he mean by ‘We.”

He said talking about lingering feelings between us was ridiculous, then why did that bastard mention that ‘We.’

“Things like this didn’t happen in the novel,” I complained.

Later on, even if I were to cling to him and beg to stay, he would remain unmoved.

Isn’t it just like him to act so stubborn about everything?

I just want to leave on my own terms instead of getting thrown away. Is that so hard to understand?

Okay then.

If the threat of breaking the Marquisate’s coffers wasn’t going to work, then he left me with no choice.

It was time to push with something stronger.