The Guidebook for Villainesses

Translator: Wawaa

Editor: WilsonWilson

It was a hot summer. The cicada’s cry was loud. While brushing her wet hair, Lara approached the window and opened it.

A warm breeze blew in.

The being who sent Lara back to the past did not tell her exactly at what point in time she would go. She knew it was before she entered the royal palace, but she had to rely on speculation for the exact point. Since her eyebrows and hair were not dyed yet, it must have been before she had a relationship with the prince.

“Konny.”

“Yes, milady.”

“What’s the date today? What happened to my coming-of-age ceremony?”

Lara asked. She was born in summer and her portrait was sent to the prince after the ceremony.

“It was a mess. Lord Bailey was busy forming a faction, Lady Bailey did not even come, and none of milady’s friends attended, only His Lordship’s guests filled the party…”

That meant it had not been long since her coming-of-age ceremony had been held.

Have they sent my portrait?

Have I met the prince?

Lara, who was calmly racking her brain, turned her head toward Konny.

“What about my mother?”

There was impatience in Lara’s voice. Her mother left the house around this time. It happened so long ago that she could not remember the day. It might have already been too late.

Marchioness of Bailey was infamous for not getting along with her husband, Marquess of Bailey. If one were to choose the couple with the worst relationship in the Hautean social circle, anyone would point to them. Even though they lived in the same house, they did not even see each other. The husband who looked down on his wife and the wife who despised her husband—they were the embodiment of a broken family.

They began to officially live separately starting from Lara’s coming-of-age ceremony. To be exact, it was right to say that Marchioness of Bailey left the manor and began living alone.

“Konny, what about my mother? Where is she? Has she left already?”

“I heard she is leaving soon.”

“Soon?”

“Yes, the servants will start loading the wagon after breakfast.”

It was today.

Her memories flooded in all at once. On this day, even though Lara knew her mother was leaving the house, she had turned a blind eye and just stayed in her room. Because she thought her mother had abandoned her. Lara shouted to her that she would never call her mother again and even declared they were strangers from that day onwards.

Just because her mother lived separately from her.

Her mother had endured as hard as she could. Being away from her father did not mean that her mother was abandoning her. It was thanks to hundreds of letters from her mother that Lara was able to endure in her right mind until before she died. It was just a short letter asking about Lara’s well-being and telling Lara how she was doing, but despite that, her worries towards Lara can be felt in each word.

Why didn’t I know that?

Every time she recalled that her first reply to her mother was her will, Lara came to hate herself. If she had known this, she would have asked God to return her to the time before her parents got married. She could tell her mother not to marry that bastard because he was a son of a b*tch and not to give birth to someone like Lara. She would tell her to just live alone, go far away, and be happy.

Even though that would mean that Lara would not have been born, her mother would have been much better off like that. She would not have had to suffer the misfortune of having to live in the same house with a husband that she loathed, nor would she have to worry herself and endure that kind of life because of her child. She could have lived a free and wonderful life, more than anyone else. Because her mother was the coolest and most capable woman Lara ever knew.

“Konny.”

“Yes, milady.”

“Let’s go to mother.”

“Right now?”

Lara jumped up from the chair and grabbed the hem of her skirt with one hand. Then, she walked out of the drawing-room with a quick step.

“Milady, wait for me!”

Konny hurriedly followed behind Lara.

When Lara came outside, the servants who had finished their meals gathered and were loading the wagon.

‘I have to meet mother.’

Lara took a deep breath. Her palms were slippery with sweat. Her lips that used to be fine even when she swallowed the poison, were all dried up. She was wondering whether this was a good thing or she was just making trouble. Lara wiped her palm on her skirt and looked at the other side of the main building.

“Milady, Her Ladyship is coming.”

Lara’s mother, Isadora Bailey. Isadora walked fast with her thin brown hair neatly tied up. Heavy fatigue could be seen on her sharp face. With a heavy briefcase in one hand, she hurriedly ordered her secretary who followed her closely.

Isadora was the same in Lara’s memory. The top wealthy merchant in Hautean, who was more well known with the nickname ‘Thousand Gold Isadora’ than Marchioness of Bailey. Her mother was always busy. In Lara’s memory, Isadora was always holding documents in one hand. There was never a day where she slept early or overslept.

When the scale of her business reached the empire beyond the Kingdom of Hautean, Isadora—who used to be a commoner—had been misunderstood as having bought her husband with gold because she wanted to be a noblewoman.

“…Mother.”

Lara murmured.

Her voice was so small that it did not even reach Konny who was next to her, let alone Isadora.

She was afraid.

Although Lara was always the one who turned away and hated her mother, she was afraid that her mother would react the same way. If she could, she wanted to beg for forgiveness for all the mistakes she had done in the past. But thinking that her mother did not know anything, she felt even more guilty.

In the meantime, Isadora had already arrived in front of the carriage. Isadora threw her heavy bag into the carriage, grabbed her skirt, and put one foot on the foothold. Looking from behind, she did not seem to have any lingering feelings left.

‘No.’

Lara decided not to hesitate any longer. If she let her mother go like this, she would regret it once again.

“Mother!”

Lara began to run. Like Isadora, she grabbed her skirt and ran without hesitation towards her.

“Milady!”

Konny was surprised and called out to Lara. All the servants who were carrying the luggage were looking at her. Isadora was almost on the carriage.

“Mother, wait!”

Lara arrived before the door closed when Isadora had just lifted her right leg from the foothold. In a hurry, Lara did not even realize what she had grabbed. She only thought to block the door from being closed.

Of all things, she just had to grab Isadora’s right foot with both her hands. The soft socks and hard shoes were in Lara’s hands. Clinging to her mother’s foot, Lara’s face flushed red in an instant. It was an absurd moment, even for Isadora, whose leg was caught. As she tried to get into the carriage, she turned her head back to check Lara’s face and lifted her thin eyebrows.

“…Lara?”

What are you doing now?

Why are you here?

Why are you holding on to my leg?

Lots of questions could be seen on Isadora’s face.

I was wrong.

Please don’t abandon me.

I will get my act together and listen to you.

So please don’t go and stay with me.

Lara was going to say that. She thought that was the correct answer. But at that moment, she suddenly had another thought.

Should I really hold onto her?

Is this the correct thing to do?

This was something that mother has been thinking about for a long time, so is it okay to act as I please like this?

Has there ever been a moment where mother was happy in this house?

Lara shook her head. No matter how hard she thought about it, this did not seem to be the correct answer. She had sworn to change. She was determined to correct the wrong things. Even though she was lucky to return to when she was 19 years old, she was still an adult who had already lived for 28 years.

So she had to find a better way.

“Mother.”

There was something that Lara really wanted to say to her mother after she came back to the past. She thought about when and how to bring it up, but there was no need to think about it anymore.

The perfect time was now.

“Get a divorce from father.”

Lara said.

How unhappy it must have been for two people who hated each other to need to live in the same house and had to face each other every day. Lara knew how terrible her father was. And now that she knew her mother’s choice was right, she wanted to help her mother get away from her father. At the very least, she did not want to be a shackle to her mother.

So she said it firmly.

“Get a divorce.”

Isadora did not give her answer. She was just squinting and observing Lara’s face for a long time.