I’m Leaving the Villainess Station

Chapter 26

I felt no sympathy for her as she stood there, completely intimidated by my words. But I also didn’t feel a cruel sense of satisfaction. Of course, I didn’t feel like stopping, either.

Even if those locks were old now, I had to do my best to break free from them.

‘It just feels like I’m playing a role out of duty.’

I had to finish what I started, and she had to take responsibility for her situation. Even if, in the end, it was just one of the many possibilities she had never considered.

‘I played my role as the lady of the house even when Bern made my life a living hell. I never let my misery spill out and disgrace the two families I belonged to.’

I looked at the woman in front of me with cold, clear eyes.

I saw Raina, dragged into the light, lifeless and powerless. She was struggling to bear a burden too heavy for her.

I felt calm.

‘Now it’s your turn to handle it.’

Running away had been terrifying. It felt like a never-ending darkness was lurking inside my mind, waiting to swallow me whole.

Even the smallest disturbance could shatter the illusion of peace I had built, like a house made of sand.

But once I decided to face my darkness head-on, I realized it wasn’t as terrifying as I had imagined. It didn’t feel endless. It didn’t drive me insane.

Unlike when I had lied to myself, pretending to move on, I was truly getting better.

Watching someone suffer might seem like a cruel way to find peace, but I genuinely believed it.

‘I was right to seek justice. I was right to pursue a revenge that wouldn’t destroy my pride, my life, or the people I love.’

I was relieved that I hadn’t thrown away my entire life just to drag them both into the mud with me.

Even this much was enough to bring me peace.

‘I never knew I was this strong.’

I had thought I would never be able to clean up this mess. That I would be stuck in this miserable heap of filth forever, crying endlessly.

Maybe that was why I had been so desperate.

But I didn’t have to throw my life into a pit to move forward. Simply deciding to take revenge for myself, carrying it out step by step—just that was enough to help me heal.

Maybe, deep down, I just didn’t want to feel helpless.

I wanted to do everything in my power to make things right, to fight for myself.

Like a parent who gets angry and demands justice when their child is treated unfairly.

‘What I needed wasn’t cruelty. I needed to prove to myself that I had done everything I could.’

When the fitting was done, I dismissed the tailor. The preparations were nearly complete.

Out of courtesy, I told Raina she had done well. I also mentioned that I would send a maid to help her with her hair and makeup on the day of the ball.

And just in case she thought about refusing, I added,

“If you think of it as excessive kindness and try to reject it, don’t. It would embarrass me if my guardian noticed that you looked like a servant from my household.”

For some reason, Raina looked as if I had stabbed her with a knife.

With such a transparent face, could she handle being Bern’s wife?

Well, it wasn’t my problem.

I gave her a bright smile.

“So, there’s no need to feel burdened. Sir Bern is a man—he wouldn’t think to pay attention to these things. I’ll see you then.”

That night, I had a dream.

I was in that cursed house again.

Faceless, mannequin-like servants moved through the halls. At first, their inhuman appearances frightened me, but they paid me no attention.

Then, I heard someone crying.

“Sniff… sob… ahhh…”

Whose voice was that? It sounded familiar.

I followed the sound through the hallway until I reached a door.

I hesitated.

“This is… my room?”

Who could be crying inside my room?

But strangely, I felt like I already knew.

Something about opening that door felt unbearable.

“Ugh… sniff… sob…”

The sound of crying didn’t stop. It urged me forward.

I opened the door.

Inside, a woman was crying.

She lifted her head.

Tear-filled violet eyes, and pale hair cascaded over her face.

A face I had seen countless times in the mirror.

It was me.

“That’s… me?”

I was sitting there, abandoned, crying.

Before I could feel fear or shock, tears welled up in my own eyes.

When I had been trying to run away, a part of me had stayed behind.

‘I left you here and tried to escape.’

I had been so desperate to forget the pain that I left myself behind and locked the doors to this nightmare.

That’s why she had been trapped here all along, crying.

‘How much did you suffer? How much did it hurt? How much did you resent me?’

My heart ached so much that tears spilled down my cheeks.

The woman in front of me—so proud, yet too stubborn to break—had wasted away in misery.

Only her eyes remained alive.

When I met them, my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

I could feel it. I could understand.

She was still hurting.

‘You never became my past. I ignored you all this time.’

My legs shook.

I was the only one who remembered.

That foolish Carmilla who had held back her tears with all her strength.

That pitiful woman was left with nothing but her pride and her anger.

That broken, lost version of myself who had refused to admit her first mistake and kept walking deeper into the mud.

I had despised her. I had abandoned her.

But now, I realized something.

‘You never gave up. You stood tall. You tried to hold yourself together.’

With each step I took toward her, tears streamed down my face, and sobs rose in my throat.

I reached out and pulled her into my arms.

She was so pale, so thin, trembling in my embrace.

“It’s okay now. I’m here. I came to take you out of this place. You’re not alone anymore. I’m sorry it took so long.”

I couldn’t even finish my words because of my tears.

How could I have been so cruel?

I knew how much it hurt.

So how could I have forgotten her?

Then, she hugged me back.

And in a voice hoarse from crying, she whispered,

“You took too long… but I’ll forgive you. Thank you for everything you did for me.”

I couldn’t stop crying.

When I woke up, the night owl was calling outside, and moonlight streamed through the window.

My pillow was soaked with tears.

“Are you forgiving me? Is that why I had this dream?”

Or was this proof that I was finally okay?

Carmilla…

As I clutched my blanket and wept, something warm melted inside me.

I had never felt this peaceful before.

That night, for the first time in a long while, I fell asleep without taking Lyman’s medicine.

I dreamed again.

I held my past, broken self in my hands and gazed at her with warmth.

The dream was soft and comforting, like being wrapped in sunlight.

The day of the ball arrived.

I felt lighter, and because of that, even the children around me looked happier.

It was as if a long storm had finally ended.

“I feel strangely excited.”

The ball was in the evening, but preparations had begun early in the morning.