CHAPTER 145: VILLAINESS ASSOCIATION

The day the world found out about the real identity of the Bloody Swan would be a disastrous day for House Moore, a noble family with a reputation to uphold. Their daughter, Vivian, was not just a rebellious socialite, but a thief, a killer, and, perhaps most damningly in the eyes of the Elgardian elite, a rogue witch dabbling in forbidden magic. These transgressions would all lead to arrest, a highly publicized trial, and almost certainly, execution, bringing shame and ruin upon House Moore.

Her list of crimes was extraordinarily long, and the people who wanted her pretty head on a spike were some of the worst people in Elgard.

However, that secret was not yet revealed. Vivian revealed it to Esmeralda and Isabella to recruit their help, but she never intended to inform anyone else; thus, Edith and Beatrix finding out about it in the same damn morning was something that she needed to address urgently.

First came the dilemma of handling the screaming and struggling Beatrix Morgan, who was swearing and squirming like a worm when Vivian’s grappling line tied her.

The fastest solution was to try on her ViTech’s latest hot invention, Project Gluepatch, named after the inventor Cordelia Gluepatch, the Duct Tape.

Vivian was so pleased that she wrapped Beatrix with an entire roll, with the most satisfied look on her face. She even taped Beatrix’s mouth once but found it satisfying to pull the tape a few times, making Beatrix’s eyes tear from the pain.

Even Isabella joined the fun a few times, until Esmeralda arrived and carried Beatrix to Vivian’s room through the service corridors.

"And now to address the elephant in the room."

Vivian sat in her armchair, massaging her own neck, Esmeralda standing guard over the door, Isabella behind her acting tough and mean, while Edith sat on the side of Vivian’s bed, and Beatrix was tossed on it.

"I, Vivian Moore, founding member of the Villainess Association, code-name: Bloody Swan, would like to extend my greetings to our latest members of the General Assembly, Miss Edith Black and Miss Beatrix Morgan."

"We’re not members of anything..." Edith said while holding her knees tightly with nervousness, then looked at the angry Beatrix, "I think I speak for the two of us."

"Silence!" Isabella spoke with cold and sharp eyes, sending chills down the spine of poor Edith, "Unless Association Leader Viv finishes what she says, you two plebs will remain silent."

"MMMF!"

"But we..."

As Beatrix and Edith were rather resistant to the whole Villainess Association membership thing, Isabella stepped up and started cracking her knuckles.

"Vivian, hand me one of those duct tape rolls. Our dear Edith seems to be itching for some... waxing!"

"No, that won’t be necessary. Villainess Association... Hooray!"

Edith cheered for the Villainess Association and looked rather intimidated, not by Isabella per se, but rather by the duct tape waxing and the sound the tape kept making as Vivian stretched it gleefully.

"Not to be mean or anything, but you young juniors need to be reminded of a few points before we can proceed," Vivian said and cleared her voice. "The world is a rough place. The four of us are birds of a feather, and some want to keep us in cages. They call Edith mannish for raising a sword, they call Beatrix a witch for casting magic, they call Isabella a slut for dressing the way she does."

"Hey!" Isabella protested and smacked Vivian on her head.

"Ouch!"

Vivian held her head with tearful eyes, looking at Isabella, but the latter was indifferent since she was called a slut.

"Anyhow!" Vivian clasped her hands with a wide smile, looking at the two younger ladies, "Since you two know my deepest, darkest secret, I’ll have to ask you to join my side in this conflict, and work together under the banner of the Villainess Association."

"Hard pass!" Edith made a solemn X with her arms.

"MMMFF!" Even Beatrix started squirming and was probably cursing at Vivian.

"Edith, you didn’t even give it a thought." Vivian looked at Edith with a heartbroken face before gazing coldly at Beatrix, "And you watch your tongue, you twerp."

"MUFFF MMMMAF!"

"I make you mad, huh? Fine. You will have to listen to me either way, ’cause you and I have a lot to talk about, shorty."

"UM MUF UUUUUF!"

"Keep dreaming."

Vivian and Beatrix seemed to be having their own conversation, with Vivian’s knack for linguistics proving able enough to speak in duct-taped... or maybe due to her golden record of interrogating prisoners as Nadia.

"As said, there are various advantages to getting into the Esteemed Association of Villainous Ladies..." Vivian said, then paused for a second, pondering over something, "I like that name better; it can be shortened to EAVL! Write it down, write it down."

She looked at Isabella, who casually brought out a note and wrote the new idea with a pencil.

"What sort of advantages are we talking about?" Edith asked, trying to get this situation done quickly so they could talk about serious matters.

"Of course, the first, as both a rule and an advantage, would be: Hoes before bros," Vivian said.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, my bad. I realize now that this lingo is still too advanced. What I meant is that we would prioritize the power of the feminist spirit of our friendship over the pursuit of carnal entanglements with the opposite sex."

"Oh, that’s so refined." Esmeralda applauded from the side.

The ladies looked at each other, favoring the first term, but then...

"You know, Morris isn’t that bad, if I think about it..."

The first to bail out was Isabella.

"And that’s why feminism keeps dying." Vivian shook her head with frustration before giving up, "Alright, fuck it. We’ll do it a different way. Our Villainess Association doesn’t segregate based on gender, so we can have bros too. Let it be known that bros and hoes walk hand in hand from this day on."

"Yes! That’s finally an association I would love to join." Isabella applauded Vivian’s decision.

Edith rubbed her eyes from exhaustion. It seemed that despite the serious situation, neither Vivian nor Isabella was taking this seriously.

"One of the perks of the Villainess Association is that we always try to hook up our single members with a bro or a hoe to their liking. For example, Edith here is hopelessly single, so it falls upon my shoulders, as well as Isabella’s, to find Edith a likeable match," Vivian dictated.

"I’m okay, thank you." Edith raised her hands, unwilling to participate in the madness.

"This is very thoughtful of you, Vivian. Since I got dear Morris, you have Logan, and Esmeralda has young Oliver. Edith and Beatrix mustn’t be so hopelessly without love," Isabella said.

"MMMMMMF!"

On the other hand, Beatrix seemed to have something to protest about as she started wiggling on the bed.

"What was that?" Isabella asked Vivian.

"She’s saying that she has someone in her heart. She can’t do it," Vivian translated.

"Why are you getting swept up with them?" Edith asked Beatrix.

"And why am I a villainess?" Esmeralda asked from the door’s side.

"The only straight answer I can give you is ’because I said so,’" Vivian spoke haughtily, then put on a serious face as she leaned forward in her seat, "That said, if any of the members were to get stuck in a toxic relationship, it is an absolute priority for other members to bail her out no matter the cost. Do the members find that agreeable?"

"I find it very favorable, even." Isabella was the first to comment.

"A wonderful decision, my lady." Even Esmeralda found it agreeable.

"Well... it is not a bad thing. Assisting those in need is noble." Edith didn’t mind it despite being reluctant to get pulled into something troublesome.

"Hmph!" Beatrix averted her eyes.

Seeing that, Vivian stood up and approached her while patting her head. She sat beside her on the bed and said:

"It is not a waste of time, Beatrix of House Morgan. This step is most imperative for you, above all."

"MHF?"

"Yes, you. In all honesty, as the youngest member of this Association, you are by far the most hopeless and tragic romance of us all. I mean, I was hopeless at some point as well, but as I hit rock bottom, I bounced back up. But you... How do I say this? You just keep digging under the rock bottom."

"MMMUUUFFF! SUMMMMM! PPPAAAAUFFF! Huff! Huff! Huff!"

What Vivian said seemed to have upset Beatrix greatly, but the first villainess was merely asserting her dominance.

"I’ll remove the tape for a while," Vivian said and held Beatrix by the face. "You better use reason and not throw more tantrums!"

As she said so, Vivian used her other hand and violently ripped the tape off Beatrix’s mouth, but as expected of Beatrix, she had a storm of insults brewing in a witch’s pot just for Vivian.