I don’t normally translate web novels. In fact, I don’t normally translate anything outside my day job. The reason I’m making an exception this time is because I’m currently a sucker for these generic “banished villainess” shoujo manga. The manga for The Banished Villainess’ Husband (èżœæŸæȘćœč什揹ăźæŠéŁæ§) came out recently, but the story didn’t make much sense to me. I started to feel that it was a poor translation to blame when I saw this particular frame:
This was my clue that the translation was off. For all their flaws, Japanese manga usually have well-edited and logical scripts, so if a line doesn’t make sense, 99 out of 100 times, it’s the translator’s mistake. In fact, as a general tip for translators when something doesn’t make sense: do a ton of research, ask a lot of questions, look all over the internet before you conclude that the source text is at fault.
So anyway, I was curious about what the line really said, so first I checked the manga raws.
Japanese grammar/vocabulary lesson: The culprit here is the word “ăăă”. It comes in two flavors. æă, which means ‘foolish, stupid’ or as the translator put it, “naive” and then çă meaning “not to mention …; needless to say …; not to speak of …; not only …” and that is what the translator should have used.
Thanks to all that investigative work, I ended up reading two chapters of the web novel. Somehow. And at the time, only machine-translated chapters were available in English from Foxaholic (though they have now cleaned them up somewhat). So I ended up re-translating the first two chapters. Why only the first two? Firstly because I just wanted to get the premise straight in my mind, secondly because after reading chapter two the series just seemed too stupid to me to be worth continuing. But I will explain why when I post the second chapter tomorrow or later.
Summary of The Banished Villainess’s Husband: “I” had the luck of being the one who reached out towards the young lady whose engagement was annulled by Prince Alephaldo, Elana. The day after the annulment, I was banished with her and married even though we dated for exactly 0 days. Well, it’s just a slow country lifestyle of banishment in the neighboring country! Or so I thought, but…? This is my story about becoming a banished daughter’s husband.(Mangadex)
Chapter 1 of The Banished Villainess’s Husband
Author: Komori Kiri
Web novel raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8287fp/
Prince, are you serious?
My name is Eufran D’italie Bailey.
I am the son of a count. My father is the chief justice.
This is the story of how I was deceived by an incredible woman.
It all started when my “friend” the Crown Prince suddenly declared that he was going to switch fiancĂ©es and foisted his “ex” on me.
It was a confidential matter when he told me, so not only did his fiancée have no idea, but the King, her parents and my parents were all in the dark.
It sounded like a joke someone would make in a casual conversation, but his eyes were completely serious.
Moreover, the one who brought the topic up was the Crown Prince himself.
His fiancée was the daughter of a duke.
There was no problem with her status.
Meanwhile, I barely qualified to be a noble.
My parents needled me at every opportunity because I didn’t have a fiancĂ©e at my age due to my extreme pickiness.
If I didn’t choose someone quickly, I might be forced to marry someone past marriageable age, so I had nothing to complain about if I could get someone who was both beautiful and high in status.
Even if she was an ex, she was still the Crown Prince’s fiancĂ©e at one point.
The real problem was the woman the Prince chose as his new fiancée.
She was a girl who possessed the “holy radiance” and was loved by the Guardian Dragon.
The dragon was the protector of the nation. In times of war, it was both its spear and shield.
The Guardian Dragon loved and protected people who had a special magical power known as the “holy radiance.”
This meant that the country had to have someone with the holy radiance – the beloved of the Guardian Dragon.
If the beloved child was slighted or treated poorly, the Guardian Dragon would abandon the kingdom and it would be destroyed.
That is the kind of woman the Crown Prince Alephaldo has chosen.
And thus, no one objects.
They don’t dare.
…And that’s why I’m at my wits’ end right now.
Because Alephaldo suddenly approached his fiancĂ©e, Lady Elana Ruthfett Forsythe, right in the middle of the graduation party, and pushed her out of the way, fully intending to break off the engagement. And thus he declared, loudly and proudly in front of everyone…
“You vicious woman! You think I don’t know about all the disrespectful things you’ve done to Rifanna?”
“Wha…?”
“I don’t even want to see your face! As of today, our engagement is over! And I’m going to make you pay for all the many times you bullied Rifanna!”
“Please wait a minute, Your Highness! That woman is the one at fault here! She may possess the holy radiance and be loved by the dragon… but Your Highness is still my fiancĂ©…”
“Shut up! I’m saying I’m sick of that arrogant attitude of yours! Get lost! I never want to see you again!”
“Your… Highness…”
The woman in the purple dress who was pushed away, Alephaldo’s fiancĂ©e… no, ex-fiancĂ©, Elana began to shake, fists balled up, biting her lips as she glared daggers at Rifanna, the woman Alephaldo had his arm around.
No one there tried to help her. Some of the young ladies could even be seen holding back their giggles behind their fans. Furthermore, some of the people behind her didn’t even hide their laughter as they commented, “The evil lady is finished now.”
The scornful laughter began to spread.
The scene seemed surreal as the King and the Knight Captain tried to restrain the red-faced Prime Minister who was on the verge of snapping.
In the midst of all that, Lady Elana, who had been pushed away, began to smile. She rose unsteadily to her feet… and curtsied beautifully.
“Very well, then. Since you are that determined, your Highness, I have no objections to canceling our engagement. Since I will be busy with the cancellation procedures, I must bid you farewell for today.”
With that, she tried to make a gallant exit.
Her heels clattered as she made for the exit, an unfading smile on her face.
However she suddenly staggered and lost her balance.
My body moved immediately to save her from danger.
Before I knew it, I was holding her arm and supporting her body.
“Careful there. Did you twist your ankle when you fell?”
“Oh! W-who might you be?”
“Eufran D’italie Bailey. You don’t know me? We’re in the same class.”
“The same class? …urgh…”
“Hey, are you really okay?”
Lady Elana was holding her head. Her face grew paler and paler.
The number of eyes scrutinizing her rudely did not decrease.
I started getting angry at those people and glared back fiercely. In response, some looked away, others pretended not to notice, some began to speak to those nearby…
I glanced at Alephaldo while I was looking at them, but he was laughing away with Rifanna as if nothing had happened.
Hey, hey, Prince… are you serious?
You’re not even thinking about Lady Elana any more, huh?
I could see the furious Prime Minister glowering in this direction with the same death glare that Lady Elana sported earlier, so I bowed to him. This lady inherited the weirdest thing from her father.
“I-if you involve yourself with me, you will put yourself in a difficult position.”
“Hmm? Are you worried about me~? You’re so sweet~.”
“!”
“Don’t worry about me. You have to act tough till the end, right?”
“…”
She left the hall holding on to my arm, not showing the slightest hint of pain in her leg.
She even managed a magnificent curtsy at the end before leaving.
Once the doors closed, she sank to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
“… …”
“I’ll prepare a carriage for you. Will you wait here? Or would you rather…”
“I’ll… wait… in the arrival hall…”
“Okay. Hang in there!”
“Oh!”
She looked pretty surprised when I offered her my hand. Is it that rare for this lady to experience a gentleman offering his hand to a lady?
“…I cannot understand this. For someone of your position to…”
“I’m Alephaldo’s ‘friend’. And what my friend did makes me feel sick. If there’s a lady in front of me who can’t stand, I’ll give her my hand. I’m a gentleman, after all. Right?”
“…All right.”
She took my hand. She and Alephaldo were engaged to each other since childhood as a result of their parents’ decision.So I have danced with Lady Elana several times at social functions, but…
“Okay, one final push. Hang in there.”
“I…I know.”
She only had eyes for Alephaldo, huh? I didn’t make the faintest impression on her. That fact that she doesn’t even remember me… isn’t a good thing for someone who was supposed to be the Crown Prince’s fiancĂ©e. But I guess it just shows how obsessed you were with Alephaldo.
That evening, I took her back to her house and then left.
The trouble began the following morning.
As we were eating breakfast, my father sighed heavily and then said something unbelievable.
“Me? Marry Lady Elana? Huh?!”
“Don’t ‘huh?!’ me. The Prime Minister is absolutely furious. His Majesty is at a loss as well. Urgh, this is such a mess…”
“…”
I stabbed a piece of meat with my fork and brought it to my mouth.
Yup, that’s right.
It’s natural that Crown Prince Alephaldo has made a complete enemy of the Prime Minister after what he did.
Alephaldo is the only prince in this country. Since he has no other siblings, he was rather spoiled as he grew up.
I have five younger brothers, but the third son Courgan is the most talented. I’m sure my father wants to make Courgan his successor as well. In this country, heirs are designated, so you can make your most promising son your heir. However the second son Rooth is 13, the third son Courgan is 8 years old and my other younger brothers are 5, 3 and six months old. They’re all still kids.
I bet my father plans use me as a proxy for a while, then designate Courgan as the official heir once my brothers are old enough to be useful.
Or rather, thatâs what he “planned” to do.
Right now he looks like someone whose plans have gone up in smoke.
“There’s nothing anyone can do about it because his partner is the maiden with the holy radiance, right?”
“That’s right. And that’s a whole new problem…”
“It’s not like you can cut her off at this point, either.”
“Argh… if you understand that much, why did you just sit back and not do anything? Couldn’t you have done something about her with your talents?”
“Come on, Father. You’re giving me too much credit. That’s way above my level as the son of a count. That would have been the job of his “study buddies” from higher-ranking families. And since Rifanna won them all over as well, there was nothing I could do. The end.”
“… Is that true?”
“Yes, unfortunately. Didn’t I report it to you, the King and the Prime Minister? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?â
“Oh! You mean that… I-I thought it was a joke!”
“…”
When I glared steadily at him, he had the decency to look apologetic.
He didn’t actually apologize, though.
Well, I guess it’s only natural.
Terrifyingly enough, Lady Rifanna had the ability to charm not only the Guardian Dragon and Crown Prince Alephaldo but also Starrett, Nicks and Cars, “friends” of the prince and future aide candidates like me, all of them from ducal households.
They were all sons of extremely highly-placed families.
Lady Elana and I were in a different class, so we had nothing to do with Lady Rifanna. However I did hear rumors that Lady Elana was harassing Lady Rifanna out of jealousy. I wasn’t interested in the truth behind it, because I also heard that apart from Lady Elana, the fiancĂ©es of Starrett, Nicks and Cars hated Lady Rifanna and bad-mouthed her.
But daring as they were, those women would not want to face the wrath of the Guardian Dragon. Neither would Lady Elana. So… either the fiancĂ©es or some other party whispered into the prince’s ear that Lady Elana was bullying Lady Rifanna. Just that would be enough to push the blinded prince to eliminate the “enemy.”
And since Lady Elana had the highest position among the noble ladies and was domineering and I heard no good rumors about her, she probably made a good target.
Yes, and if I didn’t get involved… I wouldn’t become a target as well.
There was no need to get involved.
[translatorâs note: This part was poorly explained in the original as well (yes, I did check). Basically rumors were flying around about Rifanna being bullied and bad-mouthed. The fiancĂ©es panicked because the dragon might think the rumors were true, so instead of trying to clarify that they hadn’t done anything, they pushed all the blame for the fictional bad-mouthing and bullying on Elana.
Or it may have been someone else behind both the false rumors and the prince getting to hear of it. Neither the fiancées nor Elana actually bullied Rifanna AFAIK but either way Elana was framed and punished.]
“Back on topic, this talk of marriage between Lady Elana and I is kinda sudden, isn’t it? I just helped her up and sent her home last night, that’s all.”
“I told you, the Prime Minister is livid. So the King wanted to find another fiancĂ© for her as soon as possible. When he saw you of all people helping her up and taking her away, you caught his eye.”
“Oh, really. Well, I don’t mind.”
“Aahhh…Â I knew. That you. Would say that!”
Father’s head sank into his hands.
Mm, this meat is delicious.
“Listen to the full story! Prince Alephaldo is urging the King to banish Lady Elana from the country!”
“What, seriously? Does he have to go that far?”
“Apparently it’s to avoid angering the Guardian Dragon. I don’t know how aware the Guardian Dragon is of Lady Elana. However, on the off-chance that the story of Lady Elana bullying Lady Rifanna is true, not even the King and the Prime Minister will be able to protect her. Even I have no choice but to support the prince in this matter.”
“Hmm…”
In other words, if the Guardian Dragon gets pissed off, there’s the chance that it will waste the whole country because it thinks we dissed the maiden with the holy radiance.
This is the threat of that “chance.”
That’s why Lady Elana is going to be banished to curry favor with the dragon.
It’s only natural when you think of the importance of the Guardian Dragon to this nation.
The problem is that it’s not clear whether Lady Elana ever did harass Lady Rifanna…
Lady Rifanna never said anything about it. Isn’t anyone going to check with her?
As far as I know, neither Lady Elana nor any of the other fiancées ever bullied Lady Rifanna.
No matter how irritating they found her, the nobles wouldn’t touch her as long as she was the dragon’s beloved and had the holy radiance.
This is an outrageous suggestion but, could it be… that this holy radiance maiden doesn’t give a fig what happens to Lady Elana?
“… …”
Which one of them is the vicious woman, again?
End of chapter 1. And already the key problem with the premise arises: it’s just too unbelievable that they would suddenly marry the Prime Minister’s daughter, and the daughter of a duke, off to a random count’s son just because he helped her once at a party. And not just marry her, but set off together to parts unknown. She can take a random guy along, but no maids, retainers, bodyguards, nothing? Ridiculous. I’ll talk more about the logical problems with The Banished Villainess’ Husband after I post the next chapter.
So prepare yourself to see a supposed 27-year old acting like a kid most of the time. Sulking, fighting, arguing with her young brothers Eugene, Cabel and Erich. What you won’t see is a former adult trying to prepare herself for an independent life through education, hard work, networking or anything other kind of common sense behavior. When help is needed, she doesn’t even offer to perform basic bookkeeping or writing tasks even though as a former adult she should have been able to do all that.
