The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 30

Yuria hates me.

From the day we first met at the Academy until now, Yuria has hated me.

-Ricardo.

-Yes?

-A pervert is staring at you.

-A pervert?

-That pink-haired girl over there has been watching you nonstop.

-Oh, come on… No way.

When our eyes met, the pink-haired girl quickly turned her head away.

-It’s true.

The pervert the Young Lady mentioned.

It was Yuria, the heroine of this novel.

Maybe she found it strange that I wore a butler suit to the entrance ceremony, or maybe she just didn’t like how I looked, but Yuria kept sneaking glances at me until the Chancellor’s tedious speech ended.

Her face flushed with a blush.

‘Crazy, crazy,’ she muttered.

I was scared because it felt like she had figured out I was a crazy bastard.

Who wouldn’t be intimidated if the heroine, who later becomes the strongest in this world, called them crazy?

But I’m not a crazy bastard.

Sure, I have hobbies like eating poisonous mushroom soup to build immunity or throwing myself into a Salamander’s Breath to gain fire resistance, but I’m not insane.

At the time, I thought I had messed up my first encounter with the heroine.

A heroine who ends up in romances with the strongest individuals.

And to think I caught her attention—the heroine who, in the latter half of the novel, wipes out the undead with a mere wave of her hand. On the day of the entrance ceremony, I sensed I was screwed.

After that, for some strange reason, Yuria began secretly following me. On some days, she even left strange letters in my shoe cabinet.

[Today at 6 PM. In front of the fountain.]

Fearing a group lynching, I dressed in thick clothes despite the summer heat and went to the meeting location, but no one was there. That memory still lingers.

Was it three times?

The fountain.

The girls’ dormitory.

The school rooftop.

All three times, I arrived at the meeting location on time, only to return empty-handed. Though the wasted trips annoyed me, I was still relieved not to have been lynched.

Finally, a fourth letter arrived, but due to circumstances, I couldn’t make it to the meeting location that day.

Anyway, during my time at the Academy, I followed the Young Lady’s orders and tormented Yuria.

-Oh dear, I’m so sorry. I meant to water the flowers, but I accidentally spilled wine on your dress.

-Flowers, you say…?

-Oh my! The flowers are talking!

I committed evil deeds in a way that wouldn’t hurt Yuria too much.

-It’s fine. I’m a flower, after all!

-I truly apologize. I just love cosmos flowers so much.

-Do I resemble a cosmos flower?

-Yes~ If you tell me your name, I’ll make sure to compensate you…

-Instead of that, would you dance with me later? I don’t have a partner.

Yuria accepted it with a happy smile, as if she were a carefree person.

Indeed, Yuria had the kind-hearted nature described in the novel.

Even when faced with excessive harassment, she always smiled when she saw me and even shared meals with me.

Maybe it’s because she’s the heroine of the novel.

She’s a person full of warmth and consideration.

But I pushed Yuria away.

At first, we had a good relationship.

But after the Young Lady was rejected by Mikhail, cracks began to form in our relationship.

-Ricardo. Do you see that vulgar woman over there?

-No, I don’t see her.

-Shut up. Look properly.

-…

-Lock her in the wardrobe until the party ends.

-Do you really have to go that far?

-It’s better than killing her, isn’t it?

-As you wish.

Back then, the Young Lady was a villainess.

Even though I knew the Young Lady, who couldn’t even kill an ant, wouldn’t actually do such things, there’s always room for unexpected variables. So, I acted as a mediator between the Young Lady and Yuria.

When the Young Lady heard strange rumors from other noble ladies, I told her they were misunderstandings. When those noble ladies provoked the Young Lady into plotting something strange, I stopped her.

I hoped Yuria would hate the Young Lady a little less.

Perhaps understanding my intentions, the Young Lady secretly informed me of the schemes other noble ladies were planning.

-May 12th.

-Yes?

-Go to the dungeon.

In the novel, Yuria faced many life-threatening situations.

Not just because of our Young Lady.

But also because of noble ladies who liked Mikhail.

And noble ladies who liked Ruin.

And the jealousy of high nobles secretly in love with the Crown Prince.

She drank poisoned tea.

She was kidnapped while walking through alleyways. Students were bribed to leave her behind in the dungeon.

I saved Yuria to prevent things from escalating, but Yuria misunderstood me.

-How long are you going to keep doing this? Just let me die. Poisoned tea. Being abandoned in the dungeon. And even confinement?

-That’s not it…

-Not it? You’ve been there every time something happened. And now you’re saying I should believe you? You saved me again this time, didn’t you?

-Miss Yuria, please listen to me.

-No. I can’t trust you anymore. I must have been crazy to think well of you.

I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but Yuria wouldn’t listen. Too many of the threats she faced were connected to me.

I could understand why Yuria hated me.

Even so, we continued to torment Yuria.

Because if it wasn’t the Young Lady, the other noble ladies might have really killed Yuria.

We kept harassing Yuria, staying just short of threatening her life.

In the end, Yuria, befitting a tragic heroine, overcame all the hardships with strength, and the Young Lady and I met the same ending as in the original work.

And Yuria?

She hated us.

She never smiled at me again.

After my expulsion, a letter arrived at the estate saying, “I no longer like you.”

“You’re the most wicked person I’ve ever met,” it said.

It was true, so I couldn’t reply.

***

Yuria is looking at me.

Various emotions seem to cross her face.

Yuria, with a stern expression, is staring at me. The smile she used to freely show at the Academy is gone, leaving only a cold expression.

-Did you say it’s been a while?

Yuria’s voice was sharp.

I forced an awkward smile.

-Haha… Nice to see you.

The perpetrator and the victim.

I couldn’t figure out what to say. It didn’t seem like Yuria would take anything I said in a good way.

I just wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.

‘Should I run away?’

Disappear in an instant, become the bad guy for a moment, and that’s it. Leaving without blushing would probably be better for Ruin, Yuria, and me.

Just as I was thinking of waking the Elite Orc to buy some time to escape.

Yuria, who had been clenching and unclenching her fists, spoke to me.

“I’m not happy to see you. We’re not on terms to exchange pleasantries with a smile, are we?”

“I’m sorry. It’s been so long that I must have misunderstood.”

Yuria let out a sigh.

She seemed to have a lot built up inside.

“This is the first time since Olivia was expelled, isn’t it?”

Expulsion.

A bad memory.

-What did I do wrong to be kicked out? Is liking someone a crime? You all cling to that girl like crazy, but I can’t?

The Young Lady shouted, clenching her fists tightly.

The faculty ignored her, and the supporting male lead and academy students cursed at us as we were dragged away.

The Crown Prince, who silenced the Young Lady in an instant, looked down at us as if we were bugs.

-Shut up, Olivia.

Ruin, who was pleased to take the top rank, spoke with a refreshed expression, as if pulling out a deeply embedded thorn.

-Idiot, serves you right.

Mikhail, proudly claiming his innocence, said.

-I will never forgive you.

I didn’t like that guy talking about forgiveness, but I held back because Yuria was next to me.

Because, at least to Yuria, we were in the wrong. I didn’t want to show an ugly side until the very end.

-Let’s never see each other again.

The scene of that moment, when they sent us off without any affection or friendship, replayed in my mind.

The Crown Prince. Mikhail. Ruin. Yuria.

They were connections that could never grow closer. Accursed karma where we hated and pushed each other away.

Standing at the center of this accursed karma, Yuria spoke to me.

“Why did you run away?”

“Run away?”

“Yes. You should have at least explained yourself before leaving.”

Yuria looked straight at me.

Even with Ruin standing beside her, she looked directly at me. I didn’t understand what she meant by running away.

Why was she talking about running away when she was the one who said we shouldn’t see each other again? I asked her.

“What are you talking about…”

“Why didn’t you re-enroll at the academy? Do you know how much I…”

Yuria stopped speaking.

“Hah… What am I even saying at this point.”

She shook her head and spoke again.

“Ricardo wasn’t expelled. You should have come back.”

“But it was the Young Lady who was expelled.”

“What does Olivia have to do with you?”

“That’s not it.”

I spoke to Yuria.

A bit firmly.

“In my hometown, there’s a culture like this. It’s called collective responsibility, where if one person does something wrong, the whole group gets punished…”

“That’s not something I need to care about, is it? You should have resolved it and come back. You ruined my school life. You should take responsibility.”

Yuria let out an empty laugh.

As if she couldn’t believe it.

Yuria spoke as if she found my talk of responsibility disgusting.

“Didn’t you read the letters?”

“I read them all.”

“Then shouldn’t you have come back and said something? If you had any conscience… That collective responsibility you mentioned. Isn’t that just dressing it up in nice words? From my perspective, it looks like you just ran away together.”

She calmly demanded that I take responsibility.

I had nothing to say.

Yuria raised her voice at me, her emotions more intense than before.

Earlier, she acted as if she didn’t care about me at all. But now, her emotions were starting to show.

“Why? Are you saying you did nothing wrong? Are you going to say Olivia made you do it? That you’re not at fault?”

“No.”

Yuria fundamentally misunderstood something.

“Miss Yuria. Why wouldn’t I be at fault?”

I personally don’t like hiding my mistakes.

I already know I’m branded as a bad guy, and no matter what I say, they won’t listen.

If I can’t fabricate a perfect lie, it’s more comfortable to just speak plainly.

I decided to speak plainly.

“Do you remember when you got left behind in the dungeon? I was there too.”

“…What?”

“I was secretly watching.”

Yuria’s expression hardened more and more.

“And the graffiti written on your desk every morning. The one that said, ‘Get out of the academy.'”

“…”

“I wrote that too.”

Yuria asked me.

“Why did you do it?”

“Well…”

Because the Young Lady told me to?

No.

I gave the same excuse as every school violence perpetrator.

“Because it was fun.”

In truth. Everything I did was for Yuria.

Looking at Yuria’s favorability, I thought this was the right thing to say.

[Yuria Lv. 29]

[Job: Academy Student/Saintess Candidate]

[Favorability: -81]

[Favorite conversation topics: Friends/Volunteer Work/Justice/Handsome Men/First Love/Savior of Life/Father]

[Disliked conversation topics: Olivia/Selfish People/Two-Faced People/Liars/Ended First Love/Financial Hardship/Red Hair]

If I’m going to be a bad guy, I might as well do it thoroughly.

I wanted to go to the Young Lady as soon as possible.