She actually is something of a villainess still. I mean, to the actual villain. She's the pay-evil-unto-evil type.
That count got blackmailed by her, and then she cleared out the family coffers (I'm guessing the real daughter got to marry her lover and escape all this), and finally forced him to become a swineherd, which was an absolute bottom-of-the-barrel job, with a threat to prevent him from neglecting his work. She also kicked him down there, without really needing to, so…