The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 23

After erasing all the graffiti on the wall, I looked at the clean wall with a refreshed expression.

“Perfect.”

No graffiti could be seen on the wall.

Today is the day the Young Lady goes out.

It’s not an event that happens every day.

It’s a rare occasion when the Young Lady, who detests going out, steps outside the house.

5 Great Restaurants of the Empire.

Friends of Forest.

A restaurant that turned Hamel, a place with no notable landmarks, into a tourist destination. Today, the Young Lady and I were going to the restaurant known for its perfect harmony of juicy steak and fresh vegetables.

I had something to tell the Young Lady today.

A piece of good news I had been pondering over when to share.

I plan to tell the Young Lady that I’ve finally paid off the debt.

I wondered how happy the Young Lady would be if I told her she no longer needs to sleep under a newspaper. I became curious about her reaction.

‘She’ll like it.’

Before returning to the estate.

I checked the wall one last time to see if there were any strange writings on it.

Since it’s a rare outing, I wanted to show the Young Lady only good things.

“It’s clean.”

Things like “Banish the Evil Villainess to the village.”

I thought that erasing graffiti like “The house where the Villainess lives” would make it easier for the Young Lady to leave the estate with a lighter heart.

Because the Young Lady, with her tender heart, might get hurt if she saw such phrases.

Though she always complains and grumbles, she’s unexpectedly scared of cockroaches, cries buckets when she has nightmares, and whines to sleep together.

Protecting the delicate heart of the Young Lady is also the duty of a butler.

-Song of the Forest?

-Yes.

-You didn’t mishear, did you?

-What if I did?

-I’ll sulk.

She has a big appetite and sulks easily.

The Young Lady, to my eyes, seemed more innocent than most people.

“Ricardo! When are you coming!”

From the second floor of the estate, the Young Lady’s loud voice echoed. She seemed extremely excited at the thought of eating meat.

She was like a child begging to go to an amusement park. If I said no, she might burst into tears.

‘Does she like meat that much?’

I thought she ate it often, but it seems it’s still not enough for her.

Now that the debt is paid off.

Couldn’t I feed her meat about five times a week?

We are the new people who’ve escaped the negative balance in the bank account.

We could remodel the estate.

Fix the leaky ceiling.

Hire workers for cleaning and lay the foundation for a luxurious noble life, so spending on meat isn’t scary anymore.

Although we might need to compromise when choosing the cuts.

First, it would be best to start by replacing the cheap green tea.

When we go to the marketplace, I resolved to visit a tea shop first.

“Ricardo!”

“Yes!”

I’d better hurry.

If I don’t, she might cry.

***

“You’re late.”

The Young Lady, sitting on the bed, glared at me.

“Why are you so late!”

“There was a lot of trash outside.”

“Even so, you’re way too late!”

The Young Lady, eager to leave quickly, didn’t like my dawdling. With her arms crossed and pouting lips, I felt an urge to tug at them.

-Stare.

The Young Lady gave me a villainess’s glare.

“Ugh.”

I defended myself against this mental attack inducing guilt by pulling at the Young Lady’s cheek.

“Don’t pull!”

It was surprisingly soft to the touch.

Like a rice cake.

If you pull sideways, it stretches.

“I said don’t pull!”

“Oh….”

“It’ll tear. Waaah…! I said it’ll tear!”

“It’s so soft!”

If you pull the other way, it stretches the other way.

“Waaaah!”

After enjoying the satisfying texture of her cheek for a while, I finally let go when the Young Lady, clenching her fist, hit me with her cat punch.

Still upset, the Young Lady extended her fist. Her eyes were filled with annoyance and her punch carried a hint of killing intent.

I dodged lightly and took out two sheets of paper from my inner pocket, sticking them onto the Young Lady’s forehead with a snap.

The Young Lady, frozen stiff like a corpse, sniffed the paper and calmed down.

“Sniff sniff.”

“It’s real.”

“Sniff… It’s really real?”

“If it weren’t, why would I have asked you to get ready?”

“Sniff… I’m so happy.”

The Young Lady was quick to switch her mood.

The Young Lady, for the first time in a while, dressed like a proper person.

The beloved pajamas she wore every day finally went into the laundry basket, and she sat neatly on the bed in a black dress fit for a ball.

The Young Lady, dressed like a proper person for the first time in a while, was beautiful.

“Did you put on perfume?”

“Yes. Want to smell?”

The Young Lady brushed her hair aside and showed me her nape. The sight of her pale nape, exposed without hesitation, made my face flush with heat.

‘Damn.’

It was an expression too much for a Confucian boy like me to handle.

I turned my head away.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

It had been so long since I’d seen the Young Lady, who could be called a Goddess of Beauty without it being an exaggeration, that I felt thrilled.

“Young Lady…”

“Yes?”

Hm….

“Are you planning to go out like that?”

“Why?”

“No, it’s just that.”

I took a mirror from the dressing table and showed the Young Lady her face.

The Young Lady tilted her head, unable to find anything wrong.

“Why? Too pretty?”

“No.”

“That….”

The Young Lady ended up with makeup that looked like it came straight out of a Japanese period drama.

Heavy eye makeup.

Overloaded lipstick.

Even excessively bright blush.

She seemed excited about going out for the first time in a while and decided to put something on her face.

She looked like an elementary school kid who had stolen her mom’s makeup.

I rubbed Olivia’s face with a cotton pad.

The rebellious Young Lady grumbled, “Ew, ptoo ptoo,” in annoyance. I wiped off her makeup to preserve the dignity of a noble.

“You look too beautiful. I’m afraid you might get into trouble if you go out like this.”

“Really? Did I overdo it?”

“Yes, it’s so overdone that it seems dangerous in many ways.”

“Really?”

The Grinning Young Lady beamed at the compliment about her appearance.

“Hehe. Make me pretty, please.”

The Young Lady looked at me with a foolish smile.

I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.

Having retouched the Young Lady’s makeup numerous times at balls, I was quite familiar with the process. In the past, when the Young Lady ended up looking disheveled like a warlord after pulling another noble lady’s hair at a ball, I often fixed her makeup.

I began to naturally adjust the Young Lady’s makeup.

Not too strong.

But not too gentle either.

I finished the makeup in a style the Young Lady liked.

I held up a mirror to reflect the Young Lady’s face.

“Oh…!”

Puffing out her cheeks, the Young Lady alternated between looking at the mirror and me. She seemed satisfied as she gave me a thumbs-up with a pleased expression.

“It’s pretty.”

“It’s because the Young Lady’s reputation is naturally beautiful.”

“Hehe….”

Light makeup.

The Young Lady, with her lips tinted a soft red, smiled bashfully.

The preparations were complete.

I crouched down with my back to the bed.

“Alright, one. Two… three…!”

“Heave-ho.”

The Young Lady climbed onto my back with practiced ease.

It felt like just yesterday when she was too embarrassed to let me carry her, but now, her habit of naturally entrusting her body to me felt warm.

Knowing we had reached a point where we could lean on each other made me happy.

Grunting, I joked while carrying the Young Lady.

“Oh, you’re heavy.”

“Liar.”

“It’s true. You didn’t secretly eat chocolate, did you?”

“…Am I really that heavy?”

I had only said it to tease her, but I ended up learning a secret I didn’t want to know.

To change the subject, the Young Lady quickly searched for a new topic of conversation.

“Is the weather nice outside?”

“You’re banned for a week.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Tying a cloth around my waist, we headed outside.

***

All eyes were on us.

It seemed inevitable that our appearance—me carrying a full-grown adult—would attract the villagers’ attention.

-Mom, why is that lady being carried?

-She must be uncomfortable for some reason.

-Uncomfortable where?

-How would I know?

Feeling burdened by the blatant stares, the Young Lady tightened her arms around my neck.

“Ack! Young Lady. My breath. My breath!”

“Shh….”

The Young Lady was shy.

She was embarrassed about her uncomfortable body.

Every conversation she overheard felt like criticism directed at her.

The farther we got from the estate, the quieter the Young Lady became. Even with a wide-brimmed hat on, she flinched and kept her eyes glued to the ground.

“Heave-ho.”

“Am I heavy?”

The Young Lady whispered softly into my ear. Her voice sounded dark, as if she was very nervous.

“No. You’re so light I barely feel you on my back.”

“Liar.”

“No, it’s true.”

She felt lighter than the sword I usually carried around.

Maybe it was because I was happy to be out with the Young Lady after such a long time, but I felt unusually energetic today.

I wanted to leave her with good memories, but at this rate, all she’d remember was counting bricks on the ground.

I changed our course from the tea house to a restaurant.

As we walked toward the restaurant, I tried telling old stories to ease the awkwardness.

I wasn’t sure if she’d find them amusing.

But I hoped it would help her relax.

“Do you remember when your shoelaces broke at the Academy? I carried you all the way back to the dormitory.”

“…I do.”

“You were really heavy back then.”

-Thud.

The Young Lady delivered a cat punch.

“That hurts.”

“I hit you so it would.”

“Puhaha…. Where would a lovely butler like me even have a spot to hit?”

“Plenty.”

The Young Lady buried her face into my back.

She was overwhelmed by the constant attention from people, and she was also grateful for the butler’s playful teasing.

“Why are you hiding on my back like a turtle?”

“I just want to be a turtle.”

“Puhaha….”

The bashful Young Lady peeked out from the butler’s broad back like a turtle shell as she watched the bustling marketplace. She was curious about the outside world, but the stares of others made her hesitant.

As her tension eased slightly, she raised her head and slowly looked around.

“Oh….”

The Young Lady was amazed by the marketplace she hadn’t seen in a long time.

New buildings had appeared.

Old ones had disappeared.

And some buildings filled with memories still stood unchanged.

Olivia gradually began to relax.

During the Academy days, she would come down to the estate to snack on treats and indulge in extravagant shopping sprees, saying, “From here to there.” Those bittersweet yet cherished memories vividly came back to her.

“Look at that.”

“Cotton candy, you mean?”

“We used to buy it from there all the time, remember?”

“Right. It’s been such a long time.”

Olivia mustered up her courage to speak.

“Shall we get some cotton candy there after we finish eating?”

I answered her readily.

“Sure.”

Slowly, the destination at the city center came into view.

A restaurant bustling with people, even at this late hour.

I told the Young Lady to hold onto the meal voucher I had in my pocket.

“Show the meal voucher to the clerk when you see them.”

“Okay.”

Malik had said,

-This one’s a bit special. If you show it to the clerk, you can skip the line and eat right away. It’s expensive, so don’t foolishly wait in line—just go straight in.

-Oh…!

The crowded restaurant.

We slowly made our way inside, cutting through the long line.

“Excuse me.”

“Sorry.”

“Pardon me.”

“Sorry.”

The Young Lady and I pushed through the massive crowd. Spotting the clerk in the distance, I shouted loudly.

“Over here! Young Lady, wave your hand!”

“Uh… uh!”

“Boss~”

“Here… here!”

In that moment, someone grabbed us.

I stopped in my tracks and turned my head.

Behind me stood someone familiar.

“Ha. What’s this?”

A voice full of irritation.

A tone dripping with contempt.

“What are you doing here?”

A man with green hair.

Ruin was standing there, looking at us.