The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 151

In a dream, hazy as if shrouded in mist.

The dream’s owner was crouched down, tossing pebbles into a sewer where filth flowed.

The dream’s owner was a small, delicate girl. She had silver hair that shimmered like the Milky Way scattered across the night sky and sat with her frail shoulders hunched, as if she might disappear at any moment.

Melancholy.

A girl to whom everything was unfamiliar.

‘Plop.’ The sound of a pebble falling into the sewer echoed as the girl sniffled.

-Mom…

The world of a girl abandoned by her parents was overwhelmingly vast. Though it was cold, the world her parents had protected had been her everything.

Even being scolded for being dirty.

Even when people pitied her and dropped coins on the ground, it had felt intimidating and difficult to her.

The girl always held onto hope.

She believed that if she just slept for one night, the parents who had abandoned her would come back to get her.

It was what her parents, who had left her, had promised and told her as she clung to them, unwilling to let go of their hands.

The girl comforted herself, thinking she was different from those scruffy children, and lingered like an abandoned puppy at the place her parents had left her.

-Why aren’t they coming…

Outside, the voices of children laughing and chattering could be heard.

The girl disliked hearing the laughter of children who were happy because they had filled their money tins with coins today.

After all, it was just money that would disappear after buying a single toy. She couldn’t understand why they were so happy about it.

It was far too little to escape the slums.

Just as her mood was growing darker and her sniffles were becoming louder.

‘Tap.’ She felt someone’s touch on her head. A touch that was timid yet gentle, indifferent yet warm, playful yet kind.

Feeling a sharp pain, the girl rubbed the crown of her head with her palm and turned around.

-Who is it!

-Who else could it be? The most handsome beggar in the world.

In front of the girl stood a boy with red hair.

The boy’s face was obscured by a black shadow, making his expression hard to discern, but the warmth emanating from him and the playful tone of his voice made it clear to the girl that he was smiling.

The boy smiled and spoke to the girl.

-Hey, kiddo. What are you doing?

-Don’t bother me.

-Wow, you’re really prickly. Just like a hero should be.

-What!

-Nothing~ Just saying you’re as good-looking as ever.

Despite the girl’s sharp reaction, the boy brushed it off with a light smile, as if it didn’t bother him at all.

Most children would have backed off upon seeing the girl’s negative attitude, but the boy with red hair didn’t.

The girl disliked the boy.

She disliked the scruffy kid talking to her.

She disliked how he kept approaching her, pretending to be close.

I’m different from you.

I’m different from abandoned kids like you. Thinking this, the girl pushed the boy away.

-There’s an empty spot next to you.

The boy, seemingly oblivious, made a lighthearted joke and sat down next to the girl. She ignored the boy’s face as he sat on the damp ground with a bitter smile.

All the girl, who was new to everything and unfamiliar with everything, could do was offer a cold rejection.

The boy sat next to her for a while without saying a word, then began to hum a tune.

-When mother goes to the island’s shade…

The boy’s singing voice, which the girl heard for the first time, didn’t sound bad.

-When mother goes to gather oysters in the island’s net…

It was mournful and somehow struck a chord in her chest. Though it wasn’t a well-sung song, it lingered in her ears, refusing to be ignored.

-The baby stays home alone, guarding the house.

The girl simply hugged her knees and listened to the boy’s song.

-The waves tell a story… Ahhh↗ Ugh… Is my voice breaking?

The girl disliked the boy.

She disliked how he kept acting like they were close.

And yet.

The girl liked the boy.

As the boy’s humming, carried by its mournful melody, came to an end, the girl turned her head to look at him.

-Wasn’t I good?

-You were terrible.

-I’ll just do better next time.

The boy flicked her forehead lightly and smiled.

-Hey, kiddo.

As always, the boy pulled a piece of chocolate from his pocket and handed it to her.

The girl’s dislike for the boy’s dirty hands, which held out the worn wrapping paper, began to fade.

-You eat it yourself.

*

Late evening.

Mikhail woke up, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he gasped for breath.

That dream again.

The nightmare, holding old memories that always hid without showing their face, had returned once more.

He had thought it would fade away since it hadn’t come for a while, but just when he was about to forget, the dream knocked on his door again, stirring up sad memories and pounding on his heart.

It was a long time ago.

A very long time ago.

If measured in years, it was a memory from over a decade ago that still haunted Mikhail.

“Just stop already.”

How long are you going to torment me?

Isn’t it time to stop?

I know. I know I’m a bad person.

But… I have to live my own life too…

Mikhail pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in them on the bed. His shoulders trembled as if he might burst into tears if he let go of his emotions, and he kept exhaling and inhaling to steady himself.

“Huuuh… Huuu…”

The mistakes of his past weighed heavily on Mikhail, suffocating him.

A child abandoned by their parents in the slums.

The kind image of the red-haired boy who always called him “kiddo” lived vividly in Mikhail’s memory.

And the guilt over what he had done to the boy only grew larger.

His vow never to kill another person with his own hands, his obsessive fixation on justice—these were nothing more than acts of atonement for his sins.

He knew.

How pathetic his stubbornness was.

And that Ricardo’s words were practical advice.

-Are you an idiot?

Mikhail knew that the blunt words, spoken without care, were piercingly accurate advice.

But.

Even he had a stubbornness that wouldn’t break.

-Run away!

-…

-Don’t just stand there, run…!

Having failed to protect the boy in his final moments and having left him behind, all Mikhail had left to cling to was his crude stubbornness.

“Haa…”

Mikhail slowly began to remove his sweat-soaked shirt.

Ssshhh. The shirt slid down his slender shoulders and fell to the floor with a soft thud, revealing his pale, bare body.

Mikhail’s body, with its alabaster-like white skin, was too delicate and alluring to be that of a man.

Mikhail gazed at his reflection in the mirror.

“…”

He silently lowered his head, simply staring at his own reflection.

Should he go for a walk to ease his suffocating thoughts?

Mikhail picked up a bandage from the desk and began wrapping it around his chest.

Watching himself skillfully wrap the bandage around his chest, Mikhail let out a bitter smile at the sight of his reflection in the mirror.

“…It’s suffocating.”

*

“Hiiit! Hehehehe!”

Another peaceful day at the estate.

The Young Lady, throwing a rubber ball for Gomtangi in the yard, smiled like a villainess while exercising her arm.

“Fetch!”

-Gom!

“Hehe!”

The Young Lady, pleased with Gomtangi bringing the ball back like a boomerang, looked delighted. Comparing Ricardo to the bear, she remarked, “Ricardo could never do this,” provoking him. Though annoyed, I wasn’t petty enough to fall for such trivial provocations, so I simply smiled and gazed at the wide yard.

“Throw it.”

“Okay.”

“Throw it as far as you can. Let’s prove the difference between an inferior bear and a human.”

“Alright…!”

Since it was to uphold human dignity, surely it could be excused.

To grab the ball before Gomtangi, I placed my sword on the ground and gathered strength in my legs.

“Huuuuup! Eeeeeek!!”

With the Young Lady’s loud shout, the rubber ball flew through the air. Swallowing hard, I tensed my legs.

-Thud.

Watching the ball drop weakly to the ground, I made an awkward expression.

The Young Lady, looking embarrassed, stared at the ball lying on the ground.

“Hmm…”

Seeing my disappointed expression, the Young Lady gave an awkward smile.

“Heh!”

“…”

An awkward exchange of glances followed.

Perhaps too much enthusiasm is a bad thing. Just as I was about to thank the Young Lady for this unexpectedly profound lesson and bend down to pick up the ball—

-Gooooom!

Gomtangi, wagging her tail, picked up the ball from the ground and walked over to the Young Lady.

“That damn bear.”

“Pfft. You lost to Gomtangi.”

“Throw it again.”

The Young Lady kept throwing the rubber ball repeatedly until her arm started cramping.

“Stop…!”

“No.”

“Hiiiik!”

*

Hans was shedding tears of emotion.

“Magic…!”

The magic book Hans received wasn’t an extraordinary tome. Of course, that was only by Ricardo’s standards, who knew so much.

The magic book Hans received was one of the tomes that should have been returned to the heretics.

Since Hans, the Archbishop of Greed with an obsessive passion for magic, had spent a long time searching for it, perhaps it was fitting to say it had returned to its rightful owner.

The Magic Tome ‘Black Wall.’

A spell that had caused the protagonist’s group the most trouble in the original work and was hailed as the ultimate barrier magic. Hans, clutching the tome, swallowed his tears and pledged his loyalty.

And then.

“Hmmnya…”

Olivia was watching Hans, who had concealed himself.