I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 1

A dimly lit, lavish bedroom.
The strong scent of lilies was almost choking, mixing with my own perfume.
My skin, soft and flushed after the bath, was wrapped in my nightwear.
The face of the man leaning over me was manly and handsome.
Yet, his blue eyes looked down on me with the coldness of ice.
Our wedding night was about to begin. My heart was battering my ribs with nerves and excitement.
Just then, his lips parted, and he spoke, so close I could feel his breath.
“I’m told you’re quite the woman of low virtue… So, I can treat you without gentleness, can’t I?”
“Absolutely not! What kind of backwards logic is that?”
At that instant, I recalled my past life and slapped the man in front of me.
The long-running romance manga for women, ‘A Single Flower Melts the Ice’.
It’s a fantasy about a long-suffering Countess’s daughter and an ice-cold Duke with a deep distrust of the world.
The heroine, Erica, is the daughter born between the Count and a maid. On a whim, the Count acknowledged Erica and treated her as his second daughter.
The Countess and the eldest daughter, Rose, resented this and constantly made Erica’s life miserable. They were the ones who spread the rumor that she was a man-chasing villainess. Even the Count’s maids, half-jokingly, spread the rumor that the daughter of an ‘easy’ maid would also be unvirtuous.
One day, a marriage proposal arrived for the Count’s family. The man was Duke Kevin Avenius, who had lost his wife eight years ago.
Rose was instantly attracted to his handsome looks and high status and accepted the marriage.
However, as the wedding approached, she grew weary of the fact that his territory was in a remote area and that he was a man entirely without amiability. She also couldn’t stand that Kevin’s children flat-out refused to accept a new mother candidate, so she started pulling out of the wedding.
As a result of discussions between the two families, the younger sister, Erica, became the substitute bride. Erica was only informed of this on the day before the ceremony.
As her sister’s replacement, she went through a cold, unblessed wedding. And then came the wedding night. Kevin, convinced Erica was a villainess, shockingly declared he would take her harshly for that very reason.
Poor Erica passed out cold from the shock. And so, the marriage began with Kevin treating her coldly.
Due to her sister’s rejection of the marriage and the rumors of her being a villainess, the servants at the Avenius Ducal Manor treated Erica with cruelty. Her husband, Kevin, and his children also refused to acknowledge her as family.
However, the kind and devoted Erica nonetheless dedicated herself to the Duke’s family, and gradually, everyone began to realize that the rumors of her being a villainess might be false. The Ice Duke, Kevin, also began to feel affection for Erica, who had won over his children and the servants, and he grew to love her as his wife.
And eventually, they got the happy wedding night they deserved, leading to the happy ending.
“No way! I’ve no reason to dedicate myself to a man with such poor judgement.”
I muttered to myself the moment I got back to my own room.
The moment my husband, leaning over me, declared that he could take me harshly because I was a villainess, I regained the memories of my past life.
After that, Kevin, who clearly hadn’t expected to be slapped, froze, looking completely gobsmacked. I used the opening to bolt from the marital bedroom and back to my own quarters.
It was a good thing the Ducal family was wealthy. There was a separate room for the Duchess, aside from the marital bedroom. Incidentally, Erica’s sleeping quarters at the Count’s house was an attic room, even poorer than the servants’ rooms.
Although I’ve recovered my past life’s memories, Erica’s memories are still firmly there. Therefore, returning to my family home is not an option. I’ll probably have to stick around the Ducal Manor until I can save up enough money and build a solid foundation to be fully independent.
In my past life, I was a female company president until I handed the business over to my son. I inherited the company after my husband passed away in the third year of our marriage, raised three children on my own, and then died of an illness. I was hospitalized for about five years before I died, and apparently, I’ve woken up as the heroine of a manga I read to pass the time during that period.
“I read loads of manga, but to think I’d woken up as the character who got on my last nerve the most…”
I sighed.
Reflected in the dressing table mirror was a frail-looking girl with light-blue hair and purple eyes. She had just come of age. In this world, she would be treated as an adult, but to me, with my vivid past-life memories, she still only looks like a child.
How could he possibly think a child like this was a promiscuous villainess, no matter how widespread the rumors were? It wasn’t just her appearance; Erica before I regained my memories was shy, patient, and unassuming. If he’d just taken ten minutes to actually talk to her, he would have figured it out. Kevin didn’t even spare that brief time for Erica.
“… What a pathetic man.”
I was astounded. Kevin is twenty-seven years old. And he has two children, the eldest being ten. The marriage with Erica is quite the age gap. It’s not uncommon among the nobility. Political marriages are the same. But if he’s older, I wish he’d have the composure and maturity expected of an older man.
“Perhaps only the real Erica, who wasn’t used to men, could have endured a man like that.”
But I hated the type of woman who just bravely put up with everything. To be precise, the kind of woman who simply keeps enduring unreasonable behavior with the belief that “He’ll surely understand me someday.” That’s why, even though I felt sorry for Erica, I was constantly frustrated by her.
Still, I read it up to the final chapter, and the fact that I can recall it so vividly must be down to the author’s skill. It was a well-written, long-running manga.
“But I’ll be damned if I stay the poor, devoted Erica.”
I declared this to the girl reflected in the mirror. I don’t know why my past life’s memories suddenly returned.
But I absolutely won’t be the kind of woman who just endures until her husband loves her.
That resolve, at least, was firm.
I don’t need the love of a husband like that.