The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 131

I asked a simple question.

Because I was wondering if the Ruin sitting in front of me was really the Ruin I knew.

I threw out a few questions he couldn’t help but answer.

-Are you an idiot?

-Do you want to get hit for no reason?

-Or is getting hit your preference?

That’s what I said.

Of course, I also asked a few questions that only Ruin could answer, but I thought direct words like these were the best way to distinguish the real from the fake.

The guy who came to the estate a while ago showed an oddly awkward reaction to such provocations.

As if he was filtering his responses through, “This is what Ruin would have done,” and reacting late. I looked at the Ruin in front of me, forming a fireball, and thought.

This guy isn’t a fake.

I sent the Young Lady and Gomtangi out to the yard. I thought it wouldn’t be good for them to hear unpleasant things while in the estate.

Just from Ruin’s dark expression, I could sense he wasn’t going to say anything pleasant.

If Ruin asked me to do something difficult, like subjugating a Cockatrice, I was ready to kick him out.

It felt unsettling and bothersome.

I looked at Ruin’s shadowed face and walked to the dining table with two cups of tea.

Thud. The sound of the two teacups being placed on the table.

I asked him, hoping he’d realize I didn’t have much time to spare for an unannounced visitor.

“Why are you here?”

“…”

“Speak. Ruin.”

My soft voice was pressing Ruin.

Frankly, I wasn’t happy to see a guest who came unannounced without even a single letter.

So I pressed him even more gently.

“Isn’t there a reason you came?”

I wasn’t in a good mood.

I decided to throw out a question to gauge him. I thought there could only be one reason he came to this estate.

Hans.

I assumed he came to inform me about the prison break of the antagonist I had barely captured and handed over.

To ask for help in catching the fugitive. Or to provide information about him.

I didn’t bother to mention that the Tower Master probably didn’t tell him I was the one who caught Hans, but just in case.

If Ruin heard from the Tower Master that I was the one who caught Hans, I thought he’d have no choice but to rely on me.

The only person who had captured the darkened Hans and gone head-to-head with him.

So I…

Opened my mouth with a light provocation.

“Don’t tell me, did something happen at the Magic Tower again?”

“What?”

“Isn’t the Magic Tower a place where incidents happen frequently? I even heard a rumor recently that one of your disciples has gone astray.”

“Shut up.”

“Hmm. Is that something to get so angry about? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what I said.”

“I said shut up. Who do you think you are to evaluate the Magic Tower? Do you want to die quietly?”

“Ah… I see. My apologies for the assumption.”

Ruin completely defied my expectations. I thought he came because of Hans’ matter, but seeing Ruin’s flustered reaction, I felt like I had guessed wrong.

Then what could it be?

Why did this green-haired head come to the estate?

I doubt he came just to see my face, and honestly, I have no desire to see a man’s face either.

Well, I’m sure he feels the same way.

Now, I was starting to want to hear Ruin’s story.

Why did he lower his lofty pride and come to this estate? I kept wondering what thoughts led the green-haired head, who dislikes me the most, to come here.

I hoped it would be an interesting story…

Because I wasn’t in a good mood due to the guest wearing Ruin’s face. I felt like storming into the Heretics’ headquarters right away.

So, I hoped Ruin would tell me an interesting story. Otherwise, I’d have no choice but to vent my anger by breaking Ruin’s mental state.

I asked him with a cruel curiosity.

“Then why are you here? Honestly, we’re not on friendly terms to be chatting with smiles, are we? I don’t even want to see the face of a man with a nasty temper.”

“Could you speak a little more nicely?”

“I’ll decide that based on how you behave.”

“Seriously, you’re so damn rude.”

“You’re worse than me, you know.”

“…”

“Stop glaring and say something. I’m getting tired of waiting.”

Ruin ran a dry hand down his face. It seemed he was about to ask for a favor that was difficult to put into words.

When the awkward atmosphere filled the kitchen and even spilled out into the living room, Ruin slowly opened his tightly shut mouth.

“Recently, I saw Yuria at a tavern. She was drinking alone, even though she doesn’t like alcohol.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“I see?”

“Why are you so upset? I was just responding.”

Ruin, seemingly displeased with my mechanical response, glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“Keep talking. I’m listening.”

“Sigh… Fine. I’ll hold it in.”

“Thank you. So, what’s the main point?”

“I saw something strange then.”

“Something strange, you say…?”

-Bang!

Ruin slammed his teacup down roughly and stared directly at me. Then, he spat out a short and blunt statement.

With a voice filled with heavy emotions and the petty feeling of jealousy, he said to me.

“You.”

“…”

“You were there.”

“I don’t see why that’s a problem.”

“You… sat next to Yuria, who was drinking alone, and talked to her as if you were close. I was about to go there.”

“Ah…”

“Pfft.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I found it amusing that this was the reason he came to the estate. I had mentally prepared myself to hear a serious request and had even thought of a polite way to decline, but the fact that Ruin came all the way here for such a trivial reason made me burst out laughing.

Silence filled the air.

Ruin’s expression, due to my mocking laughter, looked as if it could shatter at any moment, like someone stepping on thin ice.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s just… Isn’t it funny? Coming all the way to the estate just because of something as trivial as drinking with Yuria.”

“Trivial? Did you just say trivial?”

“No… Pfft… Mr. Ruin, don’t you find this situation funny? What’s wrong with having a drink together? And…”

I spoke to him with a sneer.

“What kind of relationship do you have with Yuria to act like this? I honestly don’t understand.”

I answered Ruin with a cold voice.

Asking if there was anything wrong with what I said.

That he had no relationship with Yuria, yet came here to say such things—it was laughable. Ruin stood up roughly from his chair and glared at me.

But.

“…”

Ruin couldn’t open his mouth.

There was no flaw in what I said, and he probably hadn’t yet realized that he still liked Yuria.

Someone who continued to linger in his mind.

What could Ruin possibly say when he was thinking of Yuria only to this extent?

See? You can’t say anything, can you?

Ruin clenched his fist tightly.

Frustrated by the situation, all he could do was clench his fist and open and close his mouth like a fish.

I smiled at Ruin as I replied, laced with a mocking tone that asked why he couldn’t speak.

“Surely, you didn’t come here to ask me to stop meeting Yuria… is that your request?”

“…”

“I see that I was right. But…”

I trailed off and pointed out one fact that Ruin seemed to have forgotten.

It was something I had felt while reading the novel.

And something I had felt even more deeply after being possessed by the novel.

I spoke to Ruin without hesitation.

“Don’t you think you have no right to say this to me?”

“What?”

“If Yuria matters to you, then why did you stand by and do nothing while she was being tormented? I’m curious why someone like that would make such a request of me.”

“I wasn’t just standing by…”

“Liar.”

I smiled.

“What a crude lie.”

Truly.

“Mr. Ruin.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“Do you like Yuria?”

“…Shut up.”

“But, you see.”

I spoke words that were a bit cruel to Ruin. They would hurt a little—no, they would hurt a lot—but they were the hard truth from the novel and the plain conclusion from her Affinity Window. I whispered them into Ruin’s ear.

“Miss Yuria does not like you.”

“Probably. That’s what I think.”

I spoke to Ruin one last time.

“This time, let me ask you something.”

It was the question I was most curious about, imbued with the meaning of an Order to Leave.

“Do you like Yuria?”

I posed a question he couldn’t answer.

*

Ruin, who had left the estate, walked across the yard with a dark expression.

“Who does he think he is, telling me what to do? F*cking ridiculous.”

He couldn’t pull himself together.

Originally, he had planned to tell Ricardo to stay away from Yuria.

Because the more Yuria got involved with Ricardo, the harder it became for her. And when he saw Yuria talking to Ricardo with a bright expression at the tavern—

It twisted his insides.

Ruin wanted to resolve this feeling.

The emotions stirred up by Hans’ matter seemed to amplify a long-forgotten memory.

He thought that if he could erase this feeling, his mind might feel a bit clearer.

Honestly, he had expected Ricardo to accept his proposal.

When it came to matters involving Yuria, Ricardo was usually soft-spoken and tried to say as little as possible. He thought Ricardo would just say, “Got it.”

But Ricardo had ruined his mood with some cutting words.

“Don’t f*ck with me…”

Clenching his fist tightly, Ruin muttered in a small voice.

“I said, don’t f*ck with me.”

He kept muttering to himself, his words filled with a mix of emotions.

I don’t like her.

It’s just that she keeps crossing my mind.

It only bothers me when she’s with another man. It’s not like I have any strange feelings for her.

It’s friendship. Yeah, it’s just friendship.

And.

I just need to protect her.

From Hans.

From other threats.

If I protect Yuria, she’ll eventually come to like me.

Ruin wasn’t in a rush.

So.

He just wished that clueless guy would stop interfering.

Someone who wasn’t any better than him.

“Damn it, this is so f*cking annoying. And what’s with the estate color? It’s so childish.”

Ruin muttered a bit louder this time, loud enough for his voice to echo across the estate yard.

And at that moment.

A strange woman’s voice reached Ruin’s ears.

“Huh?”

A sharp voice, belonging to the woman he hated most, responded to his muttering.

“What did you say?”

The woman, who was teaching a giant bear to offer its paw, turned her dull eyes toward him and slowly tilted her head.

“Was it you?”

“…”

“Were you the one picking a fight with me?”

White hair.

The dull eyes of the woman sitting in a chair with wheels began to gleam with a dark light.

“Ha…”

Ruin hated Olivia.

“Hey.”

“Hey…”

“Can’t you hear me?”

At the same time.

Ruin was afraid of Olivia.

“I’m asking nicely.”

*

-You’re the Disciple of the Tower Master?

-…

-What a load of crap.