The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 118

[The perspective shifts.]

The Blue Window whispered into Olivia’s ear with an emotionless voice.

-At that time, you didn’t know.

-You didn’t know anything about why your butler left. You simply thought he resigned because he was in a bad mood and believed he would return someday.

-You didn’t even consider for a moment that Ricardo left your side because of the aftereffects of dark magic. Back then, you didn’t.

-You were a fool.

-Both you and your butler were fools back then.

The Blue Window’s voice carried no emotion. Despite its consistent pitch and the cold tone of a woman’s voice, it somehow seemed entangled with an undercurrent of sorrow.

Strangely enough, it did.

-Time flows.

-You continued attending the Academy as before and still liked Mikhail. You were lost in his appearance, foolishly persisting in your unrequited love.

-You gave Mikhail expensive gifts you never once gave to your butler, and now that Ricardo was no longer there to interfere, you freely caused trouble wherever you went.

-Of course, as time passed, your relationships with others deteriorated.

-The absence of the butler who was always by your side didn’t strike you as a danger.

-On the contrary, you were pleased, thinking you had been liberated. The presence of the butler, who always acted as your restraint, had only been an obstacle to you.

-Even your parents didn’t stop you, so you thought, ‘Who are you to try?’

-Sometimes, you missed him. When Mikhail said cruel things to you or when everyone turned their backs and hurled bad words at you, you missed the butler who used to comfort you.

-In your honest heart, you believed Ricardo would return. You couldn’t imagine Ricardo abandoning the time you spent together and the friendship you shared. Or your money, for that matter.

-Contrary to your thoughts, Ricardo’s absence grew longer.

-Your life began to grow heavier.

-No one remained by your side. Though no one had been there from the start, the absence of your butler gradually amplified your loneliness.

-You were on the verge of collapse.

-You even felt tempted to look for the Black Magic Book again.

[The perspective shifts.]

-You catch a glimpse of Ricardo’s life after he left you.

-Six months after Ricardo submitted his resignation letter, you view the life of Ricardo, who left Olivia.

-You…

The Blue Window spoke in a trembling voice.

For the first time, the Blue Window’s voice revealed emotion, trembling as if a deep-seated knot in its chest was unraveling.

-Regret it.

*

-Cough!

As soon as you opened your eyes, what you saw was the red blood trickling from Ricardo’s mouth.

The crimson blood, sprayed across the room with his harsh coughs, stained the white pillow and blanket, spreading like a scarlet bloom.

-Cough… cough..! Haah… haah…

The coughing didn’t stop.

Even after a long time, long enough to think it would subside, the harsh, skin-scraping sound of his breathing didn’t cease.

Ricardo’s groans grew louder as he clutched his chest and exhaled ragged breaths, and his face twisted in pain.

-Painkillers… Where are the painkillers?

What greeted Olivia as she opened her eyes was Ricardo lying on a worn-out bed.

Ricardo, lying in a place even more desolate than the small room in the estate where he had lived, appeared pitiful in Olivia’s eyes.

‘You said you were doing well….’

Olivia spoke to Ricardo in a trembling voice.

‘You said you’d live well with the money you saved…!’

The image of him saying he would open a store and live peacefully in a quiet village on the outskirts was nowhere to be found. Ricardo’s appearance, far removed from peace and seemingly estranged from happiness, was not what she had imagined.

‘What is this, you fool…!’

Olivia looked at Ricardo with trembling eyes.

Even though she had heard he couldn’t overcome the dark magic, Olivia’s heart had remained steadfast.

Though shaken a little, she believed Ricardo would overcome it. She thought that after six months, he would triumphantly conquer it.

But the sight of him now denied her faith.

A fierce storm raged in Olivia’s heart. The faith she had held onto with fleeting hope wavered like waves crashing against the shore.

-Ricardo couldn’t overcome the dark magic.

The Blue Window once again reminded Olivia of her mistake.

‘I know. I know that too.’

The steady voice of the woman burned Olivia’s heart.

-Ricardo transferred the side effects of the dark magic, which you were supposed to endure, entirely onto himself. He used his ability, “Limit Break,” to pour it all onto you, hoping you wouldn’t suffer even a little.

‘But Ricardo is healthy now….’

The Blue Window pressed her coldly, as if refuting Olivia’s murmurs.

-It’s no different.

-If Ricardo hadn’t been lucky back then, the Ricardo you’re seeing now would have become your reality.

-Should I say he wasn’t lucky?

-Ricardo’s lifespan now has less than four months remaining.

-That’s why Ricardo said goodbye to you through his resignation.

The Blue Window spoke quietly.

Said it was lucky.

The Blue Window’s dry tone pierced Olivia’s heart like an awl, and at the same time, Olivia could only stare at Ricardo with hollow eyes.

‘Don’t say such nonsense… Ricardo is strong! He wouldn’t lose to something like this…’

Olivia once again vented her resentment at the Blue Window. She angrily retorted, insisting Ricardo wasn’t weak.

But the Blue Window, as always, remained indifferent.

-Four months.

-Ricardo has only four months left.

Though it was a fantastical space where reality couldn’t occur, the Blue Window’s voice, announcing Ricardo’s limited time, sounded scarier to Olivia than the cry of a deer in the dead of night.

‘That won’t happen.’

Olivia shook her head.

Because she wanted to deny it.

But Ricardo’s face flashed through her mind like a life-flashing memory.

Until now, no matter what hallucination she saw, she had never seen a future where Ricardo died.

She had seen hallucinations where he grieved her death or got hurt, but never one where she could never see his face again.

He always smiled brightly.

Ricardo’s bright smile, always by her side, wouldn’t leave her mind.

Even though she could see him once the hallucination ended.

Olivia was scared.

Her mind was filled with the negative thought, ‘I’ll never see him again,’ and she felt as though tears would spill at any moment.

Even though it was just a world within a hallucination, the thought of never seeing Ricardo again was more terrifying to Olivia than anything else.

Gradually, Ricardo’s figure lying on the bed began to appear in her clearing eyes.

Ricardo, lying on the bed, looked emaciated.

Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his breathing was labored. Though his body still bore the muscles that once filled it, they no longer held the same grandeur.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Ricardo stared at the ceiling with weary eyes.

His chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, and his eyelids trembled as if he were in unbearable pain.

Olivia reached out to him with trembling hands.

[Observer’s Perspective.]

Regrettably, the Blue Window didn’t allow it.

-Haah… haah… Even this medicine doesn’t work anymore. Damn.

Ricardo shook his head as he threw the pill bottle under the bed.

Ricardo’s exhausted figure, shoving white pills into his mouth, weighed heavily on Olivia’s heart.

-I wonder if she’s doing well.

After swallowing the pills, Ricardo furrowed his brows and muttered as if the words were slipping out.

Olivia didn’t have to think hard to know who he was worried about—it was her.

-With my body like this, I can’t even go to see her.

As Ricardo’s body, partially revealed from under the blanket, came into view, Olivia let out a dry breath at the sight of the scars covering his shirtless torso.

-Even I find it disgusting.

The wound starting from Ricardo’s right hand looked even more horrifying than when she had secretly glimpsed it in the wardrobe back then.

The necrotic skin had spread across his entire body, consuming his upper torso, and now it reached the nape of his neck, suffocating his life.

The bed sheets were now filthily stained with the pus and blood seeping from his body. Olivia couldn’t lift her head.

‘Is this because of me?’

As she stared blankly at Ricardo.

When the water in the cup ran out, Ricardo began to move his body to get out of bed.

He placed his hand on the bed for support.

Letting out a deep sigh, he slowly reached out toward the wooden wheelchair beside the bed.

It had no cushion.

Just a plain wooden wheelchair. Seeing Ricardo’s pitiful figure as he reached for it, Olivia extended her trembling hand to push the wheelchair for him.

[Observer’s Perspective.]

The cold blue window, as always, refused to grant its meager touch.

-One. Two… Three…! Heave-ho.

-Thud!

-Haha…

Ricardo was laughing.

Even as he stared blankly at his unmoving legs and let out a deep sigh toward the ceiling, the smile didn’t leave his lips.

Olivia’s face twisted at his laughter.

‘Idiot…’

Because he looked like a fool, alone in this lonely room with no one else around.

Unlike herself, who had always stayed by his side, seeing Ricardo alone made him appear unbearably pitiful.

At the same time, a feeling of guilt crept in.

While she was blinded by sorrow, Ricardo’s low voice pierced her chest with a chilling sharpness.

-Well, I think this is fortunate. At least I don’t have to show her this side of me.

Without lamenting his situation, he simply.

-But… I do miss her. The Young Lady.

Kept smiling.

-I’m glad it’s me who’s in pain.

-The perspective shifts.

[The 3rd Side Story, “A Villainess’s Sad Love Story,” Chapter Two: “I’m Ashamed of You” begins.]

-In this story, Yuria will come to hate you.