The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 43

Three weeks had passed.

Three weeks—a short time if short, a long time if long—had quickly changed the awkwardness between us.

We spent one week in silence, steeped in awkwardness.

The next week, we exchanged hesitant greetings.

In the final week, we faced each other and had a serious conversation.

An apology for causing such a terrible ordeal, followed by words of gratitude. And then, we talked about the arm.

The more we talked, the more tears filled the Young Lady’s eyes, but the awkwardness between us began to heal.

She cried when she looked at my arm.

She cried when she saw my awkward smile.

She even cried when she looked at the stars at night.

Like a man going through menopause, the overly sentimental Young Lady gradually regained her smile as we spent more time talking face-to-face.

That day, the Young Lady said,

She would curse less and complain less about side dishes.

And that she was truly sorry.

We got to know each other and exchanged heartfelt apologies.

The Young Lady faced my arm once again. She said there wouldn’t be another chance if not now, and with trembling hands, she unwrapped the bandages to look at my hand.

I still can’t forget the expression on her face, steeped in shock.

-…Did I do this?

-I…

After staying silent for a long while, the Young Lady nodded and covered her face with her hands, crying.

The Young Lady gradually returned.

To the bold and food-loving Villainess Olivia.

Not as bad as she had been in the past, though.

-Ricardo, what do you want to eat?

She returned as a generous villainess who gave me the choice to pick the menu.

Though she still got teary-eyed whenever she looked at my face, and when I scratched my arm because it tickled, she would nervously mumble, “Ah… Does it hurt?” But compared to three weeks ago, the Young Lady had changed a lot.

Not the dejected Young Lady, but the bold one.

I liked this version of her better.

Rather than being confined to her room out of guilt, I preferred the Young Lady who, even if a little shameless, spoke her mind and said what she wanted.

Since I had hidden the scars on my hand out of fear of creating a suffocating atmosphere, I thought this wasn’t so bad.

*

The quiet Young Lady’s room.

Sitting on the bed, the Young Lady frowned and focused intently on one spot.

With a sharp gaze like that of a surgeon in an operating room, she held a cotton swab in one hand and ointment in the other, concentrating.

I was reminded of what adults used to say.

That if she studied that hard, she could get into Seoul National University. If the Young Lady had focused on her studies like this, she would have easily taken the top of the class.

She was first in practical skills in the Magic Department.

But dead last in written exams.

The Young Lady hiccupped as she squeezed ointment onto the cotton swab.

“Hiccup.”

Biting her lip and concentrating, the Young Lady’s hands trembled as she spoke to me.

“Tell me if it hurts.”

“Ah…”

“…Hic!”

Even though she hadn’t touched me yet, when I said it hurt, the Young Lady flinched her shoulders. Watching her, I laughed.

“You haven’t even touched it.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Phew.”

Letting out a long sigh, the Young Lady focused on my right arm with its rolled-up sleeve.

With a face that looked like she might cry if nudged, she concentrated on the wound. I was dying to tease her.

Covering my twitching lips, I looked at my glistening right hand.

Instead of the black scar, only white ointment was visible on my right hand. Her excessive worry made me chuckle.

“Young Lady.”

“…Be quiet. I’m concentrating.”

“If you apply this much, it might end up in tonight’s steak.”

Flinch. At the mention of food, the Young Lady paused her hand and awkwardly nodded, spinning hopeful thoughts in her head.

“Meat is injured too, so if you put ointment on it, it might grow bigger.”

“Please say something that makes sense.”

“…Is that not true?”

“No.”

The Young Lady pouted and muttered, “Then I’ll just eat it less deliciously.”

The Young Lady was applying ointment generously to my arm.

She applied it again to places she had already covered.

She even applied it to uninjured areas.

To my eyes, there was no spot left to apply it, but to the Young Lady, it still seemed insufficient.

It wasn’t a bubble bath, but the sticky ointment had already used up two tubes. Yet, as if it still wasn’t enough, the Young Lady rummaged through the first aid kit and pulled out an unopened tube of ointment.

The Young Lady muttered,

“It mustn’t hurt…”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Even so…”

The Young Lady applied ointment to uninjured areas as she spoke.

“It mustn’t hurt.”

The Young Lady didn’t listen to what I said.

She tapped the wound lightly to gauge my reaction, and when I flinched from the ticklish sensation, she made a teary face and muttered, “Ah… It mustn’t hurt, though?” to herself.

Applying ointment to the necrotized skin caused by dark magic was meaningless, but I liked the Young Lady’s earnest touch, so I held out my arm.

I remember that moment. The day after I had properly shown the Young Lady my wound. She spoke to me with a serious expression, and my heart nearly stopped.

-Take it off.

-Pardon?

That day, I had an internal conflict as an improper thought crossed my mind. The Young Lady, with her eyes tightly shut, spoke to me.

-I’m going to see your arm. Take off your clothes.

-My arm, you mean?

I awkwardly hid my arm behind me, but the Young Lady, having already realized everything, wouldn’t back down. If I didn’t show her, she would probably spend the whole day lying in bed, gloomily muttering, “I’m such a terrible person…!” How could I avoid it?

When I rolled up my sleeve, the Young Lady wiped her tear-filled eyes and spoke firmly.

-I’m going to apply ointment.

The Young Lady spoke decisively.

Reluctantly, I showed her my hand, and right then and there, she started crying as she applied ointment.

-Sniff… Sob…

-Why are you crying again?

-It’s disgusting… And it looks so painful…

Since then, showing my hand to the Young Lady had become a daily routine.

When buying chocolate, she would pull a gold coin from her chest pocket and tell me to buy ointment with it. Of course, the warm gold coin was safely stored in my drawer.

It would be a waste to give a gold coin with such a deep story to someone else. Definitely not for a reason like a pervert.

“Done.”

The Young Lady, having wrapped the bandage, smiled contentedly.

“Hehe…!”

Puffing out her chest proudly, the Young Lady looked at the bandaged hand. I gave her masterpiece a faint smile.

“What is this?”

“Treatment.”

“Calling this treatment is a bit much, isn’t it? If the Honorable Maid sees it, she might think my arm is broken.”

The sloppily wrapped bandage was so thick it looked like a cast. It was wrapped so heavily that it seemed like I could hammer nails with my arm.

“Hehe…”

She wore a proud expression, making it impossible to complain.

The Young Lady picked up a pen and began drawing on the bandage.

“What are you doing?”

“A magic spell.”

“Calling that a magic spell seems a bit too optimistic, don’t you think?”

“…Be quiet. I’m concentrating.”

The Young Lady continued to draw on the bandage with swift strokes.

An orc and a goblin.

She left a blessing in [Get well soon.] written in elegant handwriting, but the monster family portrait was hard to get used to.

Looking at the orc with a menacing expression, I spoke.

“Is this supposed to be me?”

The Young Lady nodded enthusiastically.

“Yep.”

“…”

I felt an urge to flick her forehead.

I pointed to the goblin beside it, which had an unusually voluptuous chest—a design that reminded me of the Young Lady’s secret stash pouch.

When I pointed at it, the corners of the Young Lady’s lips curled upward.

“Is this supposed to be you?”

She nodded again. With bright, shining eyes, she looked at me, silently asking for an evaluation of the masterpiece into which she had poured her artistic soul.

“How is it?”

I turned my head toward the window.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“…”

“Were you so amazed by how good it is?”

One should never give false hope to someone with hopeless talent. What if she misunderstood and decided to become an artist? My praise wasn’t so cheap as to encourage such a delusion.

The Young Lady stared at me intently.

Pouting her lips, she gave me a sharp, silent glare, a wordless threat. I mumbled my response.

“It’s… well-drawn.”

“Right?”

“Yes. The goblin and…”

‘Ah… I slipped up.’

The Young Lady furrowed her brows.

“It’s not a goblin…”

Disappointed, the Young Lady lowered her head gloomily.

I offered her some words of comfort.

“It’s fortunate that you don’t have grand aspirations in art.”

The Young Lady threw her pen.

***

Warm sunshine streamed into my eyes.

Another sunny day in the estate yard.

The Young Lady, stepping outside for the first time in a while, sat down on a chair.

Declaring herself the medic, she graced us with her presence, worried about what might happen if I got hurt during sword practice.

I swung my sword vigorously in front of her. Since I was showing her, I thought it best to display elegant swordsmanship.

Whoosh, whoosh. The sound of the wind being sliced echoed across the estate yard.

As I infused aura into the sword and left afterimages in the air, the Young Lady widened her eyes and clapped.

“Oh…!”

Like the protagonist of a romance fantasy, I wiped my sweat and let out a deliberate breath.

“Hoo… How was that?”

The Young Lady, with an unimpressed look, focused on my right arm instead of the swordsmanship.

When I heard her clapping, I thought she’d be impressed, but she merely clapped with a disinterested expression.

The Young Lady spoke to me.

“Can’t you do something like a meteor?”

“No.”

“What about a laser that goes ‘pew pew’?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Lame.”

The Young Lady wounded a man’s pride. With bored eyes, she tapped her stomach lightly.

“Can’t you split a mountain or the sky or something?”

“Even a Swordmaster can’t do that.”

The Young Lady stared at me softly.

“Ricardo can’t do it?”

“Well… that’s…”

Asking me to demonstrate swordsmanship beyond even a Swordmaster’s limits was a provocation that struck my pride.

The Young Lady, leaving behind another “Lame,” leaned back against the chair, adopting a lazy posture.

“I’m hungry.”

She had thoroughly trampled on my pride.

This won’t do.

Even if I collapse, I must make the Young Lady exclaim, “Oh…! Amazing.” If things ended like this, I’d forever remain in her memory as just a butler who was good with a kitchen knife.

I drew out my aura.

[Limit Break (L) tests the limits of your aura.]

As the sword glowed with a crimson light like the sun, the Young Lady’s bright, shining eyes sparkled.

“Do you see this?”

“Oh…”

The Young Lady showed an intrigued reaction. Just as I was about to gather more aura into the sword—

“Oh…”

“Oh…”

Familiar male and female voices rang out.

Two people with bright brown hair.

Uninvited guests.

Lowering my sword, I looked at the two standing at the entrance, silently observing me.

“Miss Hanna?”

The Histania Siblings stood amicably at the estate entrance.

Carrying a bandaged sword and a bundle of gifts, Hanna smiled brightly at me.

“It’s me, Butler.”

It had been a while since we’d had guests.

“We came because we were hungry.”