The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 39

[10 minutes until viewing begins.]

It was a familiar room.

Not her own room plastered with Mikhail’s photographs, but a room filled with plain furniture.

A year ago. It was the room Ricardo used.

Olivia, who opened her eyes on the cold floor of the room, let out a sigh.

“I really came back…”

She had returned. To the past.

At first, she thought she was just going crazy, but now she was starting to accept it. That she had come back to the past.

Whether it was punishment for the way she had lived or a gift from God to live virtuously from now on, she didn’t know. But now, resignation came before denial.

Her hands trembled. The scenes she would soon witness played vividly in her mind, and cold sweat wouldn’t stop dripping from her hands.

Olivia wiped her sweat on her dress.

‘I want to run away.’

She looked down at her toes with eyes full of worry.

Clean, pristine legs.

Olivia wiggled her toes.

“…”

She wasn’t happy.

If this were reality, she would’ve jumped for joy. The first time she came, she had excitedly bounced on the bed, but now, her moving legs didn’t bring her any joy.

She almost wished they wouldn’t move at all.

If she closed her eyes tightly and turned over, everything might end. But…

“I have to see it. I can’t just keep running away.”

It was a choice she had made.

A choice made with great courage because she didn’t want to hide and pretend she didn’t know. Looking at her wiggling toes, Olivia mustered her courage and slowly sat up.

The current time was 4:50 a.m.

Ricardo lay on the bed, breathing evenly. The butler, dressed in sky-blue pajamas covered in teddy bear patterns, was sound asleep.

Seeing Ricardo’s peaceful face as he slept with his mouth slightly open, Olivia gave a complicated smile.

“Sleep well.”

Ricardo was sleeping so soundly that she felt sorry to wake him. Olivia reached out and gently stroked Ricardo’s red hair.

[This is the observer’s perspective. You cannot interfere with the subject.]

“Right.”

Then, as now, the blue window prevented her from touching his body.

“Haa…”

Olivia let out a long sigh.

The quiet estate.

On this day, only Ricardo and she were in the estate.

All the servants had resigned.

Because she had driven them out.

In the silence that filled the room, Olivia lifted her head to look upstairs.

By now, her past self was probably casting dark magic. Laughing like a lunatic while doing so.

And then.

In about 10 more minutes, she would realize she had failed.

Olivia took a deep breath.

Her hands kept trembling from the tension.

There were still 10 minutes left.

Sitting still would only make her more depressed, so Olivia stood up and looked around the butler’s room.

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve been here. That wardrobe, that table…”

The butler’s room was ordinary.

It wasn’t the dress storage room that had been converted into her current room, but the second-best room in the estate, which the butler had used.

The butler’s room was the same as it had always been.

Still clean.

Still well-organized.

It still had the fragrant scent of lilacs.

As expected of Ricardo. The room was spotless.

During the time she had been estranged from Ricardo after being expelled from the academy, she hadn’t visited his room. To think he had arranged it like this.

Seeing Ricardo’s room after so long brought back memories.

She touched the golden butler badge he had proudly shown off, saying he had officially become a butler.

She brushed her fingers over the academy uniform of old memories.

Immersed in the memories of the past, Olivia found it hard to take a step forward.

Especially that table.

On the table in the middle of the room sat a chocolate cake from the dessert shop she often visited.

A chocolate cake that hadn’t been touched at all.

A single fork lay beside it, waiting for its owner.

Olivia’s steps came to a halt.

It seemed like he had prepared it, thinking I would come to make amends….

Olivia clenched her fist tightly.

“Fool.”

Olivia sat down next to the peacefully sleeping Ricardo. Then, she lifted the blanket covering Ricardo, just in case.

She held onto a small hope.

It was a bad thought, but…

If his hand had been injured from this point, perhaps the past she was about to witness would feel a little less painful. It was a despicable thought, but she wanted to relieve even a little of the guilt weighing on her heart.

Otherwise, she really… wouldn’t be able to face Ricardo.

The wounds on Ricardo’s body had looked so painful, and just thinking about them made her chest tighten.

Swish. Olivia lifted the blanket.

Slowly, Ricardo’s body came into view.

A clean body without scars.

And unblemished arms.

Olivia, her strength drained, lowered her head.

Too clean. Far too clean.

Like a blank canvas with nothing written on it.

“What am I supposed to do…”

She felt like she was going insane.

She wished someone would come and tell her it was all a dream.

That she was actually having a nightmare.

That she should wake up quickly.

But her wildly beating heart was telling her this wasn’t a dream.

Olivia murmured.

“Is it because of me?”

As she stroked Ricardo’s red hair.

“…Then what am I supposed to do?”

With each ticking second, Olivia’s heart pounded harder. As the minute hand moved relentlessly toward the promised time, her chest tightened even more.

The time was 4:59 a.m.

The moment had come.

[Viewing begins.]

***

Tick.

-Yawn… I slept… well?

Yawning lazily as he woke up, Ricardo reached for the water cup on the nightstand. With trembling eyes, he muttered to himself.

-What is this?

Looking into the empty space, Ricardo tilted his head in confusion.

-Uh…?

Ricardo cursed.

-F*ck!

Bang. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ricardo got out of bed and dashed toward the door. He flung it open and, disregarding all the virtues he usually preached as a butler, sprinted toward the second floor.

-F*ck… F*ck…!

His hurried footsteps echoed as he climbed the stairs, spitting out harsh words.

Olivia, panting heavily, followed behind Ricardo. Her poor stamina and lack of habit for walking made it impossible to keep up. Ricardo disappeared from her sight in an instant.

“Huff… Huff…! Wait for me…”

-Thud…!

The sound of someone falling down the stairs echoed.

With a loud crash, Ricardo tumbled down the stairs. A dull sound of bones breaking followed, but he gritted his teeth, grabbed the railing, and stood back up.

Even as he fell, Ricardo’s trembling eyes remained fixed on the second floor. He frantically ran toward a single door.

-Please. Please… Please, Young Lady!

She couldn’t keep up.

Not emotionally.

Not physically.

Like a child rushing upon hearing the news of a parent’s death, Ricardo ran desperately.

Clutching my pounding heart, I chased after Ricardo.

Standing before the door, Ricardo panted heavily.

[No Entry.]

[Especially. Ricardo is forbidden from knocking.]

-Hah…

Letting out a deep sigh, Ricardo knocked on the door.

-Young Lady. It’s Ricardo.

There was no response.

Of course, there wasn’t.

The entire room was under a Silence Magic spell.

No sound from inside the room could escape, and no sound from outside could enter.

Ricardo knocked on the door roughly.

-Young Lady.

There was no response.

Ricardo pounded on the door with his fist.

With a desperate plea for his knocks to reach her, Ricardo struck the door with his fist, gritting his teeth at the unyielding silence.

-I’m coming in.

With a loud crack, the door swung open.

Standing before the now-open door, Ricardo froze as if time had stopped. He neither entered nor shouted. He simply stood there, trembling, his face pale, stammering.

-Y-Young Lady?

Ricardo spoke in a trembling voice.

Black smoke billowed from the room.

His wavering eyes seemed to call out to his past self.

I covered my nose.

A pungent smell filled the air.

The stench of a rotting corpse.

My stomach churned.

Ricardo spoke again.

-Miss Olivia?

His hands shook violently as he stared beyond the door, his voice trembling as if he were about to cry.

I pushed past Ricardo and peeked into the room.

And, like Ricardo, I froze in place.

‘What…?’

The floor was charred black.

White ashes scattered everywhere.

Moonlight seeped through the curtains, casting a sorrowful glow on a lone figure crouched in the center of the room.

A woman, her entire body blackened, blood seeping from various parts of her body.

It was her.

The villainess I had been a year ago.

Her figure, so disfigured it was unrecognizable, no longer resembled that of a noble lady.

Her body had turned black.

A foul odor emanated from her.

‘That’s… me?’

Her face was streaked with tear marks.

Blood dripped from her lips, bitten in an attempt to endure the pain.

My past self, curled up and groaning, looked at Ricardo standing at the door and spoke in a dying voice.

Stretching out her hand, her hoarse voice called out.

-Ah, it’s Mikhail.

-You must be busy… Sorry.

-But Mikhail… I’m in so much pain…

-It hurts so much… It really hurts…

Ricardo’s expression hardened.

From the moment my mouth uttered Mikhail’s name, his face turned rigid as he briskly walked into the room.

Looking at my collapsed figure on the floor, he thought.

‘Crazy woman.’

Truly…

‘She’s insane.’

What is love, really?

What’s so great about love?

Why would she call out Mikhail’s name in this place?

And.

Ricardo, why are you making that face?

Clenching her fists, Olivia watched Ricardo’s determined steps as he approached.

Ricardo spoke to me, lying on the floor.

-Yes…

In the gentlest voice he had ever used.

-It’s Mikhail.

Deceiving himself as Mikhail, he embraced my collapsed figure.

I know how much Ricardo despises Mikhail. He couldn’t even stand being near him, let alone hearing his name.

Because Mikhail was the reason I had fallen apart.

I know Ricardo well.

I know how deeply he loathes Mikhail.

Yet the expression of relief on his face as he held me tightly, pretending to be Mikhail…

‘Hic… No… You’re not Mikhail…’

Tore my heart apart.

Ricardo held me in his arms, gently patting my back.

My past self, nestled in Ricardo’s arms, smiled brightly. Like a fool, she said.

-Mikhail…

-It’s Mikhail…

Holding my broken figure in his arms, Ricardo spoke.

-Yes… I’m very late, aren’t I?

Cradling me as if I were a delicate glass artwork that could shatter at the slightest touch, he whispered softly.

-I won’t let you hurt anymore, Young Lady.

Ricardo’s pajamas began to stain red.