Bad woman, am I pretending to be bad?

“This is what you call a plague, gentlemen.”

The mask slipped from her fingertips and rolled from the long table toward her, the silver threads making a crisp sound as they traced patterns on the mahogany surface.

she says:

"And you are all accomplices."

Chapter 157 The Final Chapter, The Monster

I said quiet, and then it became quiet.

Silence reigned, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and you could hear the heavy, sticky breathing.

His thick lips moved, and fear finally showed on Fauval's otherwise sleek face.

He staggered backward, knocking over the high-backed chair behind him, and the metal badge slipped from his chest, making a hurried thud on the floor.

"You...you're infected!" His raised hand trembled as he screamed, "Guards, isolate her immediately!"

They landed with a startled cry, but no one dared to take a step forward.

Charlotte swept her gaze around with a stern look, the papers between her fingers scattering like flying petals, their pale hue tinged with the pale indictment of the truth by the fading sunlight.

Faced with this looming threat, everyone tacitly remained silent, forced to pay attention to the alarming numbers in the words.

7,362...

It refers to the number of people who have already died in this epidemic.

They were crushed by life, tormented by illness, and waited in solitude only to be met with despair and indifference from those in power.

How pitiful and pathetic.

She moved forward, her boot heels echoing clearly on the marble floor. With each step, the red spots on her face seemed to come alive, writhing eerily in the candlelight.

Those dark red lines were spreading at a visible speed, climbing from the neck to the ears, like some kind of growing fleshy vine.

"cough."

With bright red blood seeping from her lips, Charlotte staggered slightly, startling those around her into turning pale.

"isolation."

Softly repeating what others had said before, the kind doctor suppressed his gentleness and the anger beneath his calm, "Just like how you isolate patients in those slums? Locking them in drafty shacks, putting them on beds made of tattered cloth to die?"

Her gaze swept over everyone present—the well-dressed committee members, the nobles covering their mouths and noses, the pale-faced businessmen. Everyone whose gaze fell upon her seemed to be weighed down on a scale, frozen in their seats, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.

In this deathly silence, someone finally became the first sinner to throw a stone into the lake and create ripples.

“Ms. Valenti, why do you have to go to such lengths? With your family background and reputation, you could easily be a guest of honor on the Medical Committee.”

"Whether it's pursuing further studies in the medical field and making a name for oneself among the public, or taking on a leisurely job and living a life of detachment from worldly affairs."

The wrinkled-faced, dignified old-fashioned nobleman, leaning on his cane, seemed to be earnestly advising the former.

"Stay out of it?"

Charlotte traced the red mark on her cheek with her fingertips, a slight smile playing on her lips. She remained silent, yet her words carried a deeper irony than any spoken words.

“Jacob, Marian, and Luke, they were commissioned by you to accompany me on this investigation, but they were poisoned by a carefully laid trap and no longer have the chance to speak out.”

In a corner of the venue, several people who heard these words changed their expressions drastically, but they could not refute them and could only let the beautiful woman's tone continue.

"I am not entitled to the leisure of being detached from the situation, nor am I willing to ignore the cries for help from the masses. If I had to choose to place them in front of me, I would rather be immersed in the pain of being there."

“Injustice can be forgiven, Isabella, you must remember your place.”

It was probably because they were still unaware of the former's demands that the old-fashioned nobleman even believed that Charlotte was standing in the spotlight for his own benefit.

"Sir, if we are to consider my identity, I am first and foremost a doctor, and now I am a patient who stands with those patients."

Several documents about the water quality test results lay on the bar stool, between the thighs of the fallen Fowler, giving his disheveled appearance a unique touch.

"Illness and suffering are the same for everyone, as is death."

The young nurse, Per, whom I had met then, stepped into the lobby with reporters who had come after hearing about it, carrying reports and photographs in black and white.

They were all supporting characters carefully chosen by Charlotte: the eldest sister who gave everything for her younger brother Ryan, ignored and underutilized by the newspaper, a humble reporter who disregarded power and influence in pursuit of exposure...

Perhaps it was just a casual acquaintance at the beginning, but now everyone has become a part of this denunciation of darkness, regardless of their identity.

Fauval's expression was priceless, as if he had swallowed a toad whole. He pointed at the group and muttered, "This is impossible! Count Montero clearly promised—"

"Guarantee what?" The roles were reversed, and this time Charlotte softened her voice, coaxing him gently, "Guarantee that you can continue to discharge arsenic-containing wastewater into the river? Guarantee that those sick workers will 'disappear naturally'? Or guarantee that all the investigators will become floating corpses in the river?"

Her voice was soft, yet it dissected each layer of lie with the precision of a scalpel.

"Sigh, false news reports may deceive people for a while, but they cannot cover up the tragedies that are actually happening. You say that the epidemic has been effectively controlled, then please tell me, why can't the wards of the welfare homes accommodate the increasing number of poor people, and why are their symptoms not improving at all?"

Her clear voice echoed under the dome as the beautiful woman slowly removed her blood-stained gloves, revealing the back of her hand, which was also covered in red spots.

"The outbreak of the epidemic was not accidental. Wastewater from industrial areas was directly discharged into the city's water supply system. Even without external factors, the heavy metals and germs deposited in the wastewater would inevitably lead to this disaster. The lack of knowledge made the initial negligence unavoidable, but the pursuit of profit has led to the current inaction, resulting in the numbers that are downplayed and ignored."

"You promised to control the source of the disease, promised medicines that could cure the epidemic, and promised that everything was under effective control."

But now...

Charlotte lowered her voice. Outside the silent hall, outside the gleaming auditorium, the painful moans of the people seemed to echo in her ears.

"Enough, Isabella. You have no idea how much it will cost to repair the water supply system in the outer city. Do you think we, or any of us, are just going to ignore the rampant spread of the epidemic?"

Finally, his fear subsided, Fauval straightened his clothes, changed the subject of his self-narration to the group, and regained his composure.

"Everyone has their own unspeakable difficulties. Do you think you're the only one who's worried about the current pandemic?"

Ignoring the other party's sophistry, Charlotte simply stated the most fundamental point.

“I don’t think so. I would only ask, is the life of the poor not even worth a feather on the scales of wealth?”

"How could that be? We have already developed a drug that can alleviate the symptoms."

"Do you mean this?"

She took out a bottle of powder, which was euphemistically called a elixir, from the inner pocket of her coat. The brown-haired beauty raised her eyebrows and threw it on the ground, shattering it into four pieces of glass.

"Its so-called therapeutic effect is nothing more than masking the pain temporarily, making patients unaware that their condition has deteriorated to the point of no return. Moreover, this drug contains excessive amounts of banned substances, and once taken, it will gradually become addictive, completely draining the patient's energy and destroying the already precarious family."

Charlotte was not surprised that the composition of this popular drug on the market had been verified early on. Due to the limitations of the times, the development of the medical field was still at a superficial level. Therefore, this kind of hallucinogenic and addictive drug that could relieve pain had become a mainstream and commonly used medicine.

"Therefore, I cannot agree with your so-called miracle drugs and can only regard them as a cruel joke."

"Don't approve? Who do you think you are? The entire medical community has approved it."

Tearing away the mask of gentleness, Fowler no longer maintained his previous decorum, but instead displayed an ironic attitude.

“Isabella, you’re just like your naive parents, always thinking that kindness will earn you respect. Humph, two pills… just two damn pills a day, and those poor people who can’t even afford the fees can eat, drink, and relieve themselves like normal people, without feeling any pain.”

"No other drug works faster than this. Getting rid of pain is always a human right, and side effects are just a necessary price to pay for dignity."

"They're going to die sooner or later anyway, and they're so sick they'd be better off dead. Even if we repair the water system and develop medicine, we can't save those who are already seriously ill! Rather than living like mad dogs and wasting money on unnecessary things every day, we should give it to the almshouse and contribute to the whole empire."

He raised his hands, speaking in such a grand and assertive manner, as if everything was perfectly reasonable.

"Really? That's what you think, and that's what you all think?"

His gaze swept over the crowd, taking in the unmoved yet deeply approving faces. The kind doctor smiled, a smile he couldn't help but chuckle.

Consumed by anger, she, who was usually gentle and elegant, slowly clenched her fists, trembling as if standing on a red-hot iron, equally 'undignified'.

Words are useless now; faced with such shamelessness, only—

boom.

The dull thud of flesh hitting the ground echoed.

The brown-haired beauty grabbed Fowler by the collar, lifted him up, and slammed him to the ground. At the same moment, she swung her arm back, causing her fist to pierce Fowler's mouth and nose, forcing him to come into contact with his festering skin.

"Fuck you!"

"Without a doubt, you are a complete scumbag."

Although her face showed anger, tears were streaming down Isabella's face, one after another.

It was not a pretense; the spirituality left behind by the previous incarnation felt the same way at this moment, giving rise to a sorrowful sense of helplessness.

Even if she obtained the truth and did everything she could, the scales of life could not be tipped in the face of the established trend.

"My God! What are you doing? Get it away! Guards! Guards!"

A pig-like scream erupted from his bleeding mouth and nose. Fowell belatedly realized what was happening and frantically shook his hands as if he'd gotten something dirty on them. Ironically, his skin was perfectly intact—the rashes weren't contagious.

"It seems you have less courage than those children, who would clean the festering wounds of their seriously ill parents."

“My face, uh, Isabella, don’t forget, Valenti, the Valenti family also couldn’t escape this plague, you were also beneficiaries, also—”

The shrill male voice disappeared because Charlotte laughed.

A smile so beautiful it's chilling.

The intact half of his face was as pure as an angel, while the festering side looked like a demon crawling out of hell.

“Well said, Mr. Fowle.”

She slowly released her grip, removed the Valenti family crest from her collar, and let it roll off the carpet, becoming an inconspicuous glittering silver.

"Now, please allow me to reintroduce myself."

She took out a tissue and wiped away the blood and saliva that stained her knuckles, as if—

One is the one who is defiled by filth.

she says:

"I, Isabella, a doctor, a pioneer who brings sight to the world, a 'monster' who brings honor and fear to you all."

As the sound faded, the remnants of the potion and the monster's spirit were completely digested.

Chapter 158 Nightmare Incarnation

"Isa, Bella, how dare you humiliate me like this—"

A shrill, almost masculine voice, filled with fear and resentment, interrupted Fowler, who had just stood up and was about to grab the ink bottle from the podium to smash at the beautiful woman, when he was once again stopped by a powerful punch from behind.

Step back with your heel, twist your waist and shoulders, tense the power of your half-body, and then release it. The sound of the fist tearing through the air can be heard as it lands heavily on your hard jawbone.

It was a relentless counterattack.

Click.

The flesh was dented by the knuckles, and fresh blood flowed from the mouth and nose, sounding like a tree branch breaking, but wetter and more muffled.

A broken molar first loosened slightly, then broke off and shattered in the gum, becoming visible to the onlookers.

Their teeth were rotten to the core, just like their hearts, and Charlotte pounded them out of that hypocritical mouth, emitting an unbearable stench.

Image: "as shown", Location: "Images/1745595143-100417737-113279063.jpg"

“I will no longer show you mercy, Fowle. Likewise, I will no longer hold that dubious medical license in the name of the asylum.”

No longer addressing each other with respectful titles, the kind-hearted doctor abandons all identities, becoming a rootless cloud, a monster unbound by any rules.

"What kind of behavior is this! What kind of behavior is this! Isabella, your actions are extremely disrespectful. Have you considered the impact this will have on the Valenti family?"

His body trembled uncontrollably, and seeing the cowardice of all his colleagues, the old-fashioned nobleman still mustered his courage and stood in front of the stage.

"If a noble title is so laughable that it can be easily used as an excuse when needed and denied at will to sever ties, then what harm is there in discarding it as dross?"

"But you are also a patient infected with the disease. Without the committee's medicine, your fate will be the same as those poor people, dying a painful and torturous death."

Upon hearing this, Charlotte raised her fingertips and gently placed them on the side of her face, as if deep in thought.

No need for deliberate embellishment; just a glance at that slightly upturned profile as she raises her finger, followed by her gentle eyebrows and eyes gliding over her lips and nose, reveals an elegant and natural charm, like a simple yet delicate oil painting.

However, that was only one aspect of goodness.

Her half-bruised lips curved into a smile amidst the thick red spots on her face. She spoke slowly, her voice like an underground river flowing beneath the ice.

“You’re right, sir. Given the current symptoms, I am indeed beyond saving. But people who are about to die often no longer care about anything they had in life. Do you understand what I mean?”

They gently clasped their hands together, offering a welcoming round of applause.

As the sound arose, the guards outside the gate were pushed and shoved by the surging crowd, and had to make way to allow the public's discontent to be vented.

The poor, dressed in rags, flooded into the venue. Among them were children who had lost their parents, widows who had lost their loved ones, and patients who had been emaciated by the plague.