The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 49

[Every Tuesday is a day off.]

-Blink. Blink.

The Young Lady rubbed her eyes.

I rubbed my eyes in the same manner.

“Ricardo, I think there’s dust in my eye.”

“Me too.”

I put down the cart handle and looked up at the clear sky. A sky so clear without a single cloud—this kind of weather calls for eating meat to feel good…

Both the Young Lady and I were disheartened by the signboard announcing the closure.

We stared into empty space for about a minute without saying a word.

With trembling eyes, the Young Lady looked at the sign hanging on the door, and sensing that something was seriously wrong, I pressed my lips together tightly.

The Young Lady flopped down onto the cart.

“This is ridiculous.”

“The world is definitely trying to starve me to death.”

Staring emptily at the sky, the Young Lady poured out her grievances against the world.

Although the cart’s floor was cushioned, making it not too hard, the expression of the Young Lady cursing the world with empty eyes was a sight to behold.

With her lips slightly parted and sprawled out like a homeless person, if you placed a soju bottle in her hand, it felt like you could recreate Seoul Station.

The Young Lady muttered.

That the world was unfairly targeting her.

“This is noble abuse. I need to hold a trial.”

“…Do you have money?”

“No.”

She became even more dejected.

The rare outing had ended in failure. I had mustered the courage to come out, only to be greeted by a sign with the words “Closed for Business.” We hadn’t even prepared dinner, and our grand plans had gone up in smoke.

The Young Lady looked at me, demanding an alternative. I awkwardly smiled and whistled.

When you can’t eat what you were looking forward to, no matter what else you eat, it feels disappointing. In my previous life, the orphanage director once said dinner would be fried chicken but brought back tteokbokki instead. That tteokbokki tasted awful.

The memory of whining “Hee-ing…” while eating tteokbokki because I couldn’t stop thinking about fried chicken still lingered, so I couldn’t easily come up with an alternative.

Was there no solution?

Was there nothing to satisfy the Young Lady’s hungry stomach, apart from the Friends of the Forest?

Watching the Young Lady, who seemed to have lost her purpose in life, I cautiously asked.

“Is there anything you’d like to eat?”

“…No.”

The upset Young Lady pouted her lips and sighed.

“Don’t be like that. How about we go eat something else? It’ll save us meal coupons too.”

“…”

Not wanting to just go back, the Young Lady gave a small nod. Although the rare dining out had failed, the outing wasn’t over yet.

Breathing in the fresh air and feeling the cool autumn breeze while admiring the autumn leaves didn’t seem like a bad idea.

I grabbed the cart handle and started rolling the wheels. I glanced back, wondering if the bumpy road was hurting the Young Lady’s bottom, but she was staring emptily at the sky, indifferent to the jolts or sudden stops, fully immersed in her reality check.

“I’m upset. I was planning to eat a lot of meat today.”

“I was planning to eat a lot of meat today too. It’s a shame.”

“Hmm… Ricardo.”

“Yes.”

Lying on the cart and savoring the autumn breeze, the Young Lady glanced at me and brought up a trivial topic.

“Ricardo, is there anything you want to eat?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

The Young Lady gave a small nod.

Knowing she disliked the phrase “anything is fine,” I fell into deep thought.

What food would the Young Lady like and not find boring…?

Steak seemed out of the question.

The cake the Young Lady liked…

Didn’t fit her question. If I mentioned cake, I felt like she’d just suggest going back.

-Rattle.

The sound of the cart wheels rolling went on a bit longer. The Young Lady peeked her head out and looked around curiously.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”

Here…?

A street lined with street vendors. The marketplace.

A market full of snacks like chicken skewers and cotton candy. The delicious smells brought life back to the Young Lady’s eyes.

I quickly decided on dinner for tonight. Though unintentional, I was lucky to escape my indecision.

I turned back and asked the Young Lady.

“How about eating here? Like a buffet, we can try everything we want.”

“R-Really?”

I gave a small nod.

“Doesn’t it bring back old memories? If you’re okay with it, we can have a quick dinner here and pick up a bath bomb before heading back.”

“A bath bomb…! A mint chocolate-scented bath bomb!”

“No, not that one.”

The Young Lady nodded vigorously in agreement.

I grabbed the cart handle and sent a look to the Young Lady, asking if she was ready.

“Then, gear four.”

“Huh?”

The Young Lady gripped the cart’s handle tightly and swallowed nervously.

“Can’t we go in gear two?”

“Sorry. I’m such a fine steed that I can’t control my speed.”

The Young Lady’s timid suggestion failed to persuade my explosive legs.

Since I had even made a safety belt, speeding should be fine.

The Young Lady shut her eyes tightly and patted the cart railing courageously.

“L-Let’s go!”

The Young Lady’s scream echoed through the street.

***

“Yum. It’s delicious. Ricardo, try this too.”

Holding skewers in both hands, the Young Lady chewed happily and offered me one.

A skewer with a peculiar appearance.

The protagonist of a children’s song, a frog, was skewered on it, with its front legs and back legs sticking out. The Young Lady, smiling happily, held it out to me.

A peace-loving Young Lady of this era, who didn’t care about appearances as long as it tasted good, offered me the frog skewer and said.

“This is tasty.”

“…”

“I’m serious, it’s really good!”

“…No, thank you.”

I shook my head and pointed at the chicken skewer in her left hand with my finger.

“Could you give me that one? It looks delicious.”

“This one…? No. It’s mine.”

The Young Lady looked at me with eyes full of refusal. It seemed she was saving the tasty one for herself, but taking something like that is what makes it truly delicious. When I showed her bright, shining eyes like a cat, the Young Lady took a bite of the chicken skewer, then, with trembling hands, offered me the rest.

“…Young Lady, are you perhaps a purple alien?”

“A purple alien?”

“There’s a monster that splits everything in half.”

“What a bad monster.”

“You’re also… bad…”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.”

I ate the skewer the Young Lady handed me and kept my mouth shut.

As the lanterns lit up the street, people began to gather.

Families who came to enjoy the night market.

Couples on dates.

And even children from the slums, hiding among the crowd to pickpocket.

As more people began to flood the streets, the Young Lady gradually pressed herself into the corner of the cart.

Glancing around nervously, she would lower her head awkwardly and chew on an empty skewer whenever our eyes met. Seeing her like that, I maneuvered the cart to less crowded areas.

The crowd was growing.

The number of eyes on us was increasing too.

The Young Lady began to panic.

“Hic…”

“There are too many people.”

A High Noble sensitive to the gaze of others.

For someone who once thrived on admiration and lived for display, sympathetic gazes must feel burdensome.

After all, she had spent her entire life receiving admiration rather than pity.

Seeing the Young Lady ashamed of her now-humbled appearance, I patted my empty stomach and spoke loudly.

“Ah… I’m full!”

The Young Lady looked up at me.

When her pale face came into view, regret washed over me for not acting sooner.

With a trembling voice, she asked me.

“F-Full?”

“Yes, I’m full. I must have eaten so much random food that my stomach’s already satisfied.”

The Young Lady’s face regained some color.

She seemed eager to leave. Very much so.

Just in case, I asked her.

“Young Lady, aren’t you full as well?”

Patting her own stomach as if to confirm, the Young Lady nodded and replied.

“Yes. I’m full.”

The Young Lady’s lips twitched as if she wanted to say something, but she hesitated, only glancing at me nervously. Perhaps she thought leaving now would inconvenience me, or that we were cutting the outing short because of her.

She kept sneaking glances at me from under her hat, hesitating to speak.

Honestly, I felt a bit disappointed.

I was still hungry, and we hadn’t explored much yet. But fulfilling the master’s wishes is a butler’s duty, and we could always come back another time. I reassured her with a look that said not to worry.

“Shall we head back now? If we buy the bath bomb and return, the timing should be just right.”

“…Really? Won’t you regret it?”

“No.”

The Young Lady’s expression brightened.

“Then let’s go?”

“Yes, I’ll escort you back slowly.”

Without hesitation, I pulled the cart. On the way to the store, we chatted idly about which bath bomb to buy and agreed not to get the Mint Chocolate Bath Bomb.

“Ricardo.”

The Young Lady pointed toward a shadowy alleyway.

A dark alley where slum residents lived.

The underbelly of Hamel, where sinister activities occurred behind the bright streets. While not as extreme as the capital city with its kidnappings, confinements, and contract work, this alley housed orphans and vagabonds. The Young Lady, pointing at it with a puzzled expression, spoke to me.

“Isn’t that Yuria?”

The Young Lady called out a familiar name.

A name that shouldn’t be here.

“No way.”

“She’s right there. The one with pink hair.”

Though I doubted it, my feet were already moving toward the alley. The slums were dangerous.

Especially for women.

Why would Yuria, who only saw the bright side of the world, enter such a place? No, it made sense. If she was the Heroine, she would go there. Yuria was a fool with an overly kind heart.

Letting out a deep sigh, I pushed the cart forward. As we neared the alley, a commotion reached my ears.

-What are you doing right now!?

-Miss, just mind your own business and leave~

The mocking voice of a thug.

And a familiar woman’s voice.

I sighed again.

Was that woman fearless?

Judging by the thug’s casual tone, she seemed to be alone. If she had come with someone, the Heroes would have already dealt with the situation.

As the voices grew more heated, my steps quickened.

-I saw it clearly. I saw you take the money I gave to that child. Give it back!

-No, ma’am, you must’ve seen wrong. Hey, did I take your money?

-…N-No.

The situation seemed to be taking a bad turn.

More thugs were gathering in the alley, one by one, while Yuria stood alone.

-Now that I look at you, Miss, you’re quite pretty.

-…What did you just say?

-You’d fetch a good price.

-Let go of me!

-Boss, should we just knock her out with something?

I parked the cart in a secluded spot for a moment.

I sought the Young Lady’s permission.

“Young Lady…”

***

Yuria was flustered.

She had only wanted to help a poor child, but now these large men were closing in on her.

The man approaching her with a dagger terrified her. The one grabbing her hand and dragging her deeper into the alley terrified her even more.

She couldn’t escape the grip holding her tightly.

There was no one to help her.

Yuria’s legs refused to move, paralyzed by fear.

“Let go of me! I’ll scream!”

“Go ahead and scream. See if anyone comes.”

The big-built man gripped her wrist roughly and tried to drag her further into the dark alley.

She was terrified. Absolutely terrified.

If only someone would help her.

If she had known this would happen, she would have learned self-defense magic. She cursed her past self for vowing never to learn magic that could harm others.

She felt like she was about to cry from fear.

Was it wrong to intervene when she saw a child being beaten? Or was it wrong to wander the streets alone?

Whatever the case, she was scared and overwhelmed.

A comment from a male student at the Academy crossed her mind.

-Stop meddling in others’ business. I’m not teasing you, Miss Yuria. I’m saying this because I’m worried.

What was the point of regretting it now?

Yuria struggled desperately to break free, but all she got in return were vicious curses.

“Stay still! Before I kill you…”

That’s when it happened.

“Kill? Who?”

A silhouette of a man appeared between the alleyways.

“Don’t breathe. You’re polluting the air.”

A man with familiar red hair.

At the same time, the man she despised the most was walking toward her, his red eyes blazing.

And then.

“Ddi-pal! This is my territory!”

He saw the villainess clinging to his back.

“Ricardo! Bite them!”

“That’s supposed to be my line.”

“Bite them!”

“No, I’m striking a pose right now.”

“Grr! Bite them!”

“Sigh…”

Yuria’s legs gave out, and she collapsed on the spot.

“Ricardo! Yuria’s dead!”

“Please don’t declare someone alive and well as dead.”

“Eek…!”

As her eyes closed, the screams of the thugs echoed around her.