The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 117

[Q. A Villainess’s Sad Love Story.]

In a story you don’t know.

Your butler, Ricardo, could not overcome dark magic.

Your dark magic failed, and the side effects fell solely upon your butler, Ricardo.

Flesh rotted away.

He became unable to move from his bed.

On the day his pillow was soaked with tears from unbearable pain,

What were you doing at that time?

(!) Take care of Ricardo, who has caught a cold.

1. Provide nursing that satisfies Ricardo. (1/1)

2. Cook porridge for Ricardo. (1/1)

Reward: You can access the 〈3rd Side Story〉 ‘A Villainess’s Sad Love Story.’

[Would you like to view it?]

*

This was the third time. Seeing the blue window.

The first was a story about how I would have died from dark magic if not for Ricardo.

The second was about how Ricardo took on the aftereffects of dark magic for my sake.

And the third was about what happened when Ricardo could not overcome the aftereffects of dark magic…

Olivia’s pupils trembled slightly, frightened by the tragedy born of her own stubbornness.

Of course, what she was about to see was nothing more than a hallucination that wouldn’t happen in reality, but it was also something that could very well occur.

A feeling of suffocation gripped her heart.

Should she call it déjà vu?

A déjà vu of events that could very well happen.

Olivia couldn’t find a reason why the blue window was showing her such hallucinations. Whether it was punishment for living badly or a cruel joke from the gods, Olivia couldn’t take the hallucinations shown by the blue window lightly.

It was just a hallucination.

A problem she could brush off by tightly closing her eyes, yet she couldn’t dismiss it lightly.

Even though she could escape if she simply resolved not to view it, she chose not to run away and instead faced the horrifying hallucinations.

Like a fool.

The vivid hallucinations that felt as if she were experiencing them herself always made Olivia’s shoulders tremble.

“Haa…”

A deep sigh escaped her lips.

What kind of trouble had she caused this time?

The thought that she might not be able to handle the hallucinations she was about to see suddenly crossed Olivia’s mind.

If she approached it with a light heart, it would be nothing more than an amusing story, but her heart grew heavier and heavier.

All of this.

It could be a cruel joke from a capricious god.

Or a nasty prank by a wicked demon, but there must be a reason for showing her such things.

Olivia decided to respond to the cruel joke of a capricious god. Thinking of it as punishment for living badly, she nodded with a heavy heart.

[Would you like to view it?]

“Yes.”

The viewing of the 〈3rd Side Story〉 ‘A Villainess’s Sad Love Story’ begins.

With the pounding sound of her racing heart, Olivia’s vision turned pitch black.

Since Olivia had a rough idea of what kind of future the blue window would show her, she closed her eyes with the arrogant thought that she wouldn’t be as surprised this time as she was before.

Because it was something that hadn’t happened.

[The viewing begins.]

*

[10 minutes until the viewing begins.]

A familiar space.

Not Hamel’s estate.

My room in the capital mansion.

On the ceiling was a photograph of Mikhail, and on the desk were framed photos of Mikhail taken by a hired photographer.

The place where Olivia stood after opening her eyes was both familiar and filled with bad memories that made her pupils tremble.

She had liked Mikhail.

And it was a place tied to memories of Ricardo trying to stop her.

The calendar pointed to a time six months after using dark magic.

She was still foolish and seemed to still like Mikhail.

Olivia clenched her fist tightly at the sight of her immature self. Still liking him? What was so great about him that she was acting this way? Olivia asked her hallucinated self, but no answer came.

The clock pointed to 7:10 PM. An early night with a bright full moon. In the quiet space illuminated by the soft glow of a lantern, Olivia stood still in that spot without looking around the room.

She didn’t want to look at the room filled with old memories for too long. If she could, she wanted to tear down the photos stuck to the ceiling and desk. It wasn’t because she hated Mikhail, but because she found herself pathetic for still being caught up in such things. Without lifting her head, Olivia simply wished for time to pass.

As the 10 minutes passed, she felt the gap between her current self, whose heart had moved on, and her past self, who still held feelings.

With the ticking of the clock, the blue window sounded an alarm, signaling the start of the story.

[The viewing begins.]

*

-Bang!

-Say that again.

A woman barged into the room, flinging the door open so roughly it seemed like she might break the handle, and walked past Olivia.

Unlike now, her hallucinated self had healthy legs and a fierce gaze. She stomped into the room with the loud “clack! clack!” of her shoe heels and sat down on a chair, shouting.

-Say it again, clearly, with your own mouth.

Her hallucinated self, sitting with crossed legs and a cold gaze, looked extremely angry. It wasn’t the kind of anger that came from trivial matters like having her chocolate taken, but a deep-seated rage boiling up from her core, directed at the man cautiously stepping through the open door.

-Ricardo. Say it again.

Ricardo carefully closed the door behind him and turned around.

-I’m sorry.

When Olivia’s eyes took in Ricardo’s appearance, she let out a weak gasp. Not because she was surprised, but because the stark difference from his current self created a sense of dissonance.

‘Ricardo…?’

Olivia stared at Ricardo.

His once lustrous red hair now looked dry and brittle, as if washed with sand, and his complexion was deathly pale.

And.

Ricardo’s hand was trembling. Trembling as if he had a case of tremors. Wearing his usual white shirt, Ricardo gave an awkward smile and bowed his head.

-I’m truly sorry.

Her hallucinated self didn’t notice Ricardo’s changes, but Olivia, who had only seen a healthy Ricardo in reality, immediately recognized the difference.

‘Are you sick…?’

Ricardo was holding his right arm with his left hand. As if trying to stop the trembling, the veins in his left arm, gripping tightly, caught Olivia’s eye.

‘What’s wrong?’

Her hallucinated self glared at Ricardo and pulled an envelope from her pocket.

[Resignation Letter]

-Ha.

Her hallucinated self frowned at the crooked handwriting and muttered, “You wrote it so messily I can’t even read it.”

At her cold reaction, Ricardo, as always, gave an awkward smile and apologized.

-Ahaha… I’m sorry.

He apologized.

Apologized for being bad at writing, bowing his head as he did so. Olivia’s pupils trembled greatly as she watched Ricardo.

‘You wrote better than usual….’

Olivia knew how bad Ricardo’s handwriting was. Spending so much time with him, she naturally came to understand that it couldn’t be fixed.

So.

She could instantly tell that Ricardo’s resignation letter, held by her hallucinated self, had been written with more care than usual.

She could read it without needing to decipher it.

She knew how much thought and effort he had put into it.

How many times he must have erased and rewritten it, how much time he must have spent on it.

Her hallucinated self frowned as she glared at Ricardo. She threw Ricardo’s resignation letter at his feet and, with a disdainful look, spoke to him.

-You’re quitting?

Ricardo, wearing an awkward smile, picked up the resignation letter that had fallen at his feet and clasped it tightly with both hands.

-Yes, I intend to resign from my position as your butler.

In the hallucination, my past self arrogantly tilted her head and spat out words to hear his reason. In a haughty voice, she spoke to Ricardo, who shrank back.

-Why? Is the salary not enough?

My past self, who could never dare to say such things now, acted as if she held all the power in her relationship with Ricardo.

Back then, I hadn’t been injured, the dark magic hadn’t been discovered, and Ricardo had borne all the aftereffects of the dark magic. My household remained unscathed, and I was unbearably arrogant.

And I had no idea what Ricardo had gone through because of me.

Ricardo had sad eyes.

With eyes that looked as if they might close at any moment, he stared blankly at the resignation letter in his hands.

-I’m quitting because it’s been too hard.

-What?

Ricardo, letting out a deep sigh and wearing a bitter smile as he bid farewell, spoke to me in a trembling voice.

-It’s because your personality is so difficult, Young Lady.

-…What did you just say?

-I’ve endured it for 13 years. I’ve saved up a lot of money, so I plan to open a store in the outskirts, if not the capital, and live a peaceful life to heal.

-You’re saying my personality is terrible?

-Yes.

In the hallucination, my past self let out a sigh of disbelief and opened her cold eyes.

-Don’t be ridiculous. What’s so wrong with my personality?

-Exactly. What’s so wrong with it…? Why am I even doing this?

Ricardo carefully pushed the crumpled resignation letter across the table with both hands.

Even as Ricardo gave his final farewell with a sad smile, my hallucinated self could only express anger.

-Are you really quitting?

-Yes.

-Just so you know, I’m not going to stop you. Honestly, I’ve been so annoyed by your nagging that I was thinking of firing you, but I held back out of sentimentality.

-That’s a relief.

Ricardo’s eyes were wet with tears. Seeing Ricardo’s tear-filled eyes as he said goodbye, I had a hunch.

That he wasn’t just quitting.

That he was preparing for a farewell.

-Young Lady.

Ricardo gave a final bright smile and bowed his head.

-Please take care of yourself. And…

-I liked you.

Olivia didn’t hear Ricardo’s softly spoken words.

Neither did the hallucinated Olivia.

Nor the present Olivia.

The words were too quiet to be heard.

[The perspective shifts.]