I Have Become a Beautiful Trash Villainess

Thanks Astarria for editing this chapter.

 

 

No, what did I just see?

I was so shocked that I just stared at the back of his head as he walked away.

The drunk man grabbed again, and shook my dress.

 “Ladyyyy!”

 “This jerk, seriously.”

Thump! 

Unable to hold back, I kicked him hard. But maybe because he was quite heavy, he didn’t fall over with just one kick. 

“……What is this?” 

This made things worse. 

Suddenly struck, the man, not even considering the rudeness he had committed, became furious. As the man I had knocked to his knees stood up, my gaze suddenly shot up. I hadn’t noticed before because he was staggering, but up close, he was quite tall.

“How dare you kick me?”

Blinded by rage, he charged at me, gesticulating wildly. I was frozen in shock, but luckily, there was a hand that intervened to stop his tyranny. 

“Evandel?”

Thinking that Evandel might have come back, I turned my head only to see a curly-haired young man I hadn’t met before. 

“Drink gracefully, alright?”

With a grin, he grabbed the drunkard by both arms and shoved him hard against the wall. Groaning, the man toppled over like an insect caught in a trap.

Apparently, the inebriated man was no match for a sober adult, as his only form of retaliation was flailing his arms. Eventually, overpowered in the struggle, he hit his head hard against the stone wall and lost consciousness. 

With the threat to me now subdued, I finally felt relief. As I began to relax, I took another look at the face of the young man I hadn’t properly noticed before. 

“My lady! Are you alright?” He looked at me with a concerned expression.

His golden hair with hints of orange and hazel eyes greatly brightened his appearance. 

“It’s good that you, um, didn’t get hurt.”

“……” 

His speech was oddly halting and his accent was strong, which made him seem like a foreigner. Because he had helped me, I naturally offered my thanks. 

“Thank you.”

There was really nothing more to say after that. 

Then, feeling disgusted with everything that just happened,  I was about to leave, but the man suddenly grabbed me.

“Wait a moment! My lady, what is your name?” 

There was a clear sparkle of interest in his eyes. 

Ah, being pretty sometimes has its downsides.

As a foreigner who wasn’t aware of the rumors about Attila, I seemed to be quite an attractive person to him.

“What would you do with my name anyway?”

After all, I was a member of the royal family of this empire, so I spoke arrogantly. However, the man didn’t back down even in the face of my extremely arrogant attitude.

“Please, be my friend!

“No.”

“……”

The young man had a somewhat shocked expression, as if he hadn’t expected to be rejected so decisively.

But after a moment, he quickly introduced himself with a bright, puppy-like face.

“I from Chishan came. It’s Pao”

It seemed like he was saying he came from Chishan, the country that came up earlier in my conversation with Dexter, which piqued a tiny bit of interest, but that was it. I didn’t want to waste time on a foreigner I could barely communicate with.

“Okay, got it. Have fun.”

“Uh…….”

As I was about to walk away, his extremely pitiful expression caught my eye. It reminded me of my old retriever.

Still, he had helped me, so was I being too harsh?

Thinking that I should at least offer some consolation, I added,

“I’m a married woman.”

“… … Married?”

“I got married.”

“Married!!!!”

As if he finally understood, his eyes widened in a theatrical way and his expression became serious.

Just as I thought he might have given up and started to walk away, his expression brightened again and he called out with a grin,

 “Please make Pao your second husband!” 

“……”

I thought he was a nice guy for saving me from a crazy person, but maybe he was crazy too. Believing it best to avoid lunatics, I was about to turn away without responding when I realized there was potentially an even worse guy standing behind me. 

“Has the number increased already?” 

“……What?” 

“I never knew Your Highness was so accomplished.” 

What are you talking about, you bastard?

I didn’t know when he arrived, but I certainly did not appreciate the nonsense he was spouting with that cold expression of his.

Above all, I couldn’t forgive him for leaving earlier while I was being harassed by a drunk. 

“Stop your nonsense, and prepare the divorce papers for tomorrow. Just seeing your face makes me want to hit you.”

With those words, I left the place without looking back.

Not grabbing him by the collar on sight was already a display of considerable patience on my part. 

Given my mood, it was unlikely I’d have a pleasant return home with Evandel. I planned to spend the night at the palace, pushing my servants to make arrangements. 

The next morning, as soon as dawn came, I headed to the audience room.

 

* * * 

 

“I was so disappointed that I didn’t get to see your face yesterday, Tila. What’s going on?”

I looked at the emperor, who was spouting lies effortlessly, with an expressionless face. 

Disappointed my foot.

Well, I suppose besides Dexter no one cared to ask how I was doing even as an empty greeting.

Just looking at that hypocritical face made me angry, but unfortunately, today I was in a position where I needed to ask for a favor. Suppressing my disgust, I managed a slight smile. 

“I have come to request an imperial decree, Your Majesty.” 

“An imperial decree?” 

I felt a bit nervous because I didn’t know how he would react. I hid my trembling hands in the folds of my dress and calmly brought up the main point.

“I want a divorce.”

“……”

“I request that you put pressure on the Marquis.”

If an amicable divorce was out of the question, then there was no choice but to resort to more forceful means. The only person I could rely on at the moment, believe it or not, was the Emperor.

“Haha, my dear Tila.”

After a moment of stiffness, he chuckled and looked at me intently. 

“Do you know what I have been particularly focused on recently?” 

I furrowed my brows at his seemingly irrelevant reply, and when he saw that I didn’t respond, he adopted a benevolent expression and continued, “I intend to expand trade with Chishan. However, the evil dragon residing in the Mirka Mountains poses a problem.”

If it’s the dragon of the Mirka Mountains, then it must be Medilox. Becoming an ‘evil dragon’ was quite simple. It only needs to interfere with human objectives, and it will be automatically labeled as such. 

It seemed Medilox disliked traders traversing its home. 

“How much do you think the abilities of a Sword master would equate to in terms of military forces?”

“……” 

“A battalion at the very least. However, if it’s someone with extensive combat experience, they could even be comparable to a regiment.”

I began to grasp what he was getting at, and as I became sure it wasn’t going to go the way I wanted, it became increasingly difficult to remain composed. 

“Moreover, a Slayer. It would be fair to say a division. After all, official Slayers are so few that they can be counted on one hand across the continent.” 

“……” 

“With Medilox already being such a headache, are you suggesting I dismiss Marquis Listane, who is equivalent to a division?” 

I hadn’t expected him to agree easily, but I also didn’t anticipate he would reveal his calculating intentions so openly. Feeling nauseous but desperate, I resorted to pretending to cry as I made my plea.

“Your Majesty, my married life is unbearably unhappy. Surely, you are not unaware that I recently considered leaving this world?”

“It was the marriage you so desired; the Marquis didn’t ask for it. Why change your mind now?” 

“The Listane family has served and shown loyalty to the royal family for generations. Divorcing me won’t make him turn his back on the Empire.” 

Yet, despite my earnest plea, he didn’t even blink. 

“One must maintain connections just in case. You never know. If a child is born, who’s to say I won’t leave the throne to that child?”

“……” 

Could it be this was the reason? Was Evandel’s reluctance towards the divorce because he had already discussed succession plans with the Emperor?

Yet he hadn’t been enthusiastic about consummating the marriage. Hadn’t he even insulted me by saying something about cooling a thousand years of lust?

“Tila, you are the sole princess of this great empire. Despite your status, which makes a strategic marriage unavoidable, you were fortunate enough to marry the man you wanted. Now, isn’t it time you dedicated yourself to the empire?”

“……”

“There are good and bad times between spouses. Depending on how you handle it, Marquis Listane might change as well.” 

Ahhh, even forced tears didn’t change anything. 

As I looked at the unwavering emperor, the light slowly faded from my eyes.

“Your Majesty, please keep Nikolai away from me!”

“Your brother is just playing around, why do you exaggerate so much?” 

It was the same back then.

A fragment from Attila’s long-buried memories, coincidentally overlapping with Han So-yi’s.

Disgusting human being. Not once did he help me.

“……I understand Your Majesty’s wishes, so I will take my leave now. I wish you good health.”

Just die already, you old f*ck. In the most painful way possible; I harbored a dark curse in my heart while forcing a smile on my face.

I was not okay, but I pretended to be, maintaining decorum as I backed out of the audience chamber. The corners of my mouth, which had been curved upwards, fell sharply as soon as I turned away from the emperor. 

Ah, I should have at least hidden my tears. Knowing he was not the type to be moved by such appeals, it was embarrassing. I don’t know why I feel so awful when I clearly had no expectations. The sting in my heart fueled my anger. 

“Have you been crying, sister?” 

Just then, a familiar voice called out. A large hand covered my cheek, wiping away the moisture I hadn’t managed to clear. 

“Did His Majesty not grant your request?”