The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen - Chapter 39



39 – The Woman Sees the Man’s Secret – Part 2 –

[It is 10 minutes before the reading begins.]

A familiar room.

Not her own room filled with Mikhail’s photos, but a plain room filled with simple furniture.

It was Ricardo’s room from a year ago.

Olivia let out a sigh as she woke up on the cold floor.

“You really came…”

She came back. To the past.

At first, she thought she had gone crazy, but now she was admitting it. She had come to the past.

She didn’t know if it was a punishment for living a wicked life or a gift from God to live a better one in the future, but now, resignation came before denial.

Her hands trembled. The scenes she was about to witness were already playing in her mind, and her hands wouldn’t stop sweating.

Olivia wiped her sweat with her dress.

“I want to run away.”

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

From Noble mtl dot com

Clean and slender legs.

Olivia wiggled her toes.

“…”

She wasn’t pleased.

If this were reality, she would have been thrilled to bounce around the room, and when she first came, she had happily jumped on the bed. But now, her moving legs didn’t feel pleasant.

I would rather not have moved.

If I closed my eyes tightly and turned over, everything would be over. But…

“I have to see. I can’t just run away.”

It was the choice she had made.

She had summoned up the courage not to hide, pretending not to know. Looking at her fidgeting toes, Olivia gathered up her courage and slowly got up.

The current time was 4:50 in the morning.

Ricardo was lying in bed, breathing out a soft breath. He was wearing sky-blue pajamas with teddy bear patterns, peacefully sleeping.

Seeing Ricardo peacefully sleeping with his mouth open, Olivia smiled awkwardly.

“Sleep well.”

Ricardo slept so well that she felt sorry for waking him up. Olivia reached out and gently stroked Ricardo’s red hair.

[Observer’s perspective. Cannot interfere with the subject.]

“That’s right.”

Then and now, it was a barrier she couldn’t touch.

“Sigh…”

Olivia let out a long sigh.

A quiet mansion.

On this day, there were only Ricardo and me in the mansion.

All the servants had resigned.

Because I drove them away.

In the silence-filled room, Olivia raised her head and looked upstairs.

By now, her past self would be practicing dark magic. Like a madman, she would be spitting sarcasm and activating her magic.

And.

After about ten minutes, she would realize that she had failed.

Olivia took a deep breath.

Her hands kept trembling with tension.

There was still ten minutes left.

Since she felt more depressed just sitting still, Olivia got up from her seat and looked around the butler’s room.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. Even this wardrobe and this table…”

The butler’s room was ordinary.

It wasn’t the current room she had converted from a dress storage, but the second best room in the mansion that the butler was using.

The butler’s room was the same as always, whether it was in the past or now.

Still clean.

Tidily arranged.

The sweet scent of lilacs lingered in the air.

It reminded her of Ricardo. The room was neat.

During the time when she had been kicked out of the academy, she hadn’t come to the room because of her strained relationship with Ricardo, but it had been decorated like this.

Seeing Ricardo’s room after a long time brought back memories.

She touched the golden butler badge that Ricardo used to boast about becoming a real butler.

She brushed her fingers against the academy uniform of memories.

Captivated by the nostalgic memories, Olivia couldn’t step forward.

Especially that table.

On the table in the middle of the room, there was a chocolate cake from the dessert shop they used to visit frequently.

An untouched chocolate cake.

A single fork was placed beside it, waiting for its owner.

Olivia’s footsteps halted.

I thought I would come to the room after I had calmed down and prepared….

Olivia clenched her fist.

“Fool.”

Olivia sat down next to the sleeping Ricardo. Then she lifted the blanket that Ricardo was covering himself with. Just in case, with a glimmer of hope.

She put a little expectation into it.

It was a bad thought.

But maybe if his hand had been injured since then, the future that lay ahead wouldn’t feel as painful. It was a twisted thought, but she wanted to alleviate the guilt that had accumulated in her heart, even if only a little.

Otherwise…she felt like she wouldn’t be able to see Ricardo’s face.

The wounds on Ricardo’s body looked so painful, and just the thought of it made it hard for her to breathe.

Swiftly, Olivia lifted the blanket.

Ricardo’s body slowly came into view.

A clean body without any scars.

And clean arms.

Overwhelmed, Olivia lowered her head.

It was clean, but too clean.

“Like a blank canvas with nothing written on it,

“I, what should I do for real…”

It felt like I was going insane.

I wish someone would come and tell me it’s just a dream.

In reality, I’m having a nightmare.

Wake up quickly.

But this heart pounding like crazy is telling me it’s not a dream.

Olivia muttered.

“Is it because of me?

While stroking Ricardo’s head.

“…Then what should we do for real.”

Tick-tock, as time passed, Olivia’s heart beat more vigorously. As the minute hand moved relentlessly towards the appointed time, Olivia’s chest throbbed intensely.

The time is 4:59.

The moment has come.

[Commencing the reading.]

***

Tick-tock.

– Haaah… Did I sleep… well?

Ricardo, yawning lazily, woke up from his sleep, searching for a glass of water on the bedside table. With trembling eyes, he mumbled to himself.

– What’s going on here?

Looking into thin air, Ricardo tilted his head in confusion.

– What…?

Ricardo cursed.

– Damn it!

With a thud, Ricardo got up from his bed without a moment’s hesitation, rushed towards the door, flung it open, and disregarded what had always been the butler’s virtues, sprinting towards the second floor.

– Damn it… damn it…!

The butler’s frantic footsteps echoed as he climbed the stairs, cursing loudly.

Olivia, panting heavily, followed behind Ricardo. Her stamina was quite low, and she wasn’t accustomed to walking. Ricardo disappeared from her sight in an instant.

“Heuk… heuk…! Wait for me…”

– Kudangtang…!

The sound of someone falling on the stairs could be heard.

Thud… Ricardo made a sound as he tumbled down the stairs. There was a dull, bone-breaking sound, but Ricardo clenched his teeth and grabbed the handrail to get up.

Even as he stumbled, Ricardo looked up at the second floor with trembling eyes and urgently rushed towards just one door.

“Please. Please… Please, Miss!”

It was impossible to catch up.

Mentally.

Physically.

Ricardo hurriedly ran, like a child who had just heard the news of their parents’ passing.

I clenched my heart, feeling like it was about to burst, and followed Ricardo from behind.

Ricardo, standing in front of the door, gasped for breath.

[No entry.]

[Especially. No knocking for Ricardo.]

“Huff…”

He let out a deep sigh and knocked on the door.

“Miss, it’s Ricardo.”

There was no response.

Of course.

A silence spell was cast throughout the room.

The sound inside the room could never escape, and conversely, sounds from outside could never enter.

Ricardo knocked the door forcefully.

“Miss.”

There was no response.

Ricardo struck the door with his fist, driven by the desperate desire to reach her. In the face of the unresponsive silence, Ricardo ground his teeth.

“I’ll just open it.”

With a creaking sound, the door opened.

Finally, in front of the open door, Ricardo stood still as if time had stopped. He couldn’t go in, he couldn’t even shout. Ricardo, trembling and standing still, stammered with a pale complexion.

“Mi… Miss?”

Ricardo spoke with a trembling voice while looking at the black smoke billowing inside the room.

With trembling eyes, I was calling my past self.

I covered my nose.

A strange smell was in the air.

The putrid, vile smell of a corpse.

My stomach churned.

Ricardo spoke again.

“Olivia, miss?”

Trembling hands, Ricardo, who was gazing beyond the door, called his own name with a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.

I slipped between Ricardo and entered, peering into the room with my head held high.

And just like Ricardo, my body stiffened.

“Huh…?”

The floor was charred black.

White ashes were floating around.

Moonlight seeping through the curtains cast a bleak light on a woman sitting in the center of the room.

Her entire body was black, and she was bleeding from various places.

It was me.

The one who had been called a villain a year ago.

Her appearance was so destroyed that one would hardly think she was a noblewoman.

Her body had turned black.

And there was a noxious odor.

“Is that me?”

Tears filled my face.

To endure the pain, blood was flowing from my lips, which I had bitten.

The past me, crouched in pain, said in a dying voice when she saw Ricardo in front of the door.

With an outstretched hand and a feeble voice.

“It’s Mikhail.”

“You must be busy… I’m sorry.”

“But, Mikhail… I’m in so much pain…”

“I’m in so much pain… really.”

Ricardo’s expression turned cold.

From the moment the name Mikhail came out of my mouth, he began to walk into the room with a stern expression.

Looking at me collapsed on the floor, he thought,

“Crazy bastard.”

Really…

“He’s a crazy bastard.”

What is love?

What is this thing called love?

Am I really calling Mikhail’s name from this spot?

And…

Ricardo, why are you making that face?

Biting her lip, Olivia clenched her fists as she watched Ricardo approach, step by step.

Ricardo said to me, lying on the floor,

– Yes…

With a gentler voice than ever.

– It’s Mikhail.

Embracing me on the floor, pretending to be Mikhail while hating him so much, Ricardo knows well how much Ricardo hates Mikhail. He didn’t even want to be with him and hated calling his name.

Because of Mikhail, I fell apart.

I know Ricardo well.

I know how much Ricardo hates Mikhail.

His face, as if it were a stroke of luck, pretending to be Mikhail while embracing himself tightly.

“Sigh… Ha… No… It’s not Mikhail…”

It hurt so much that it felt like my heart was tearing apart.

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

In the past, I held Ricardo in my arms and gave him a bright smile. And like a fool, I said this.

“It’s Mikhail…”

“It’s Mikhail…”

Ricardo said, embracing the broken me.

– Yes… Did I come too late?

Holding me precious like fragile glass art that could shatter at the slightest touch, he murmured softly.

“I’ll make sure you don’t feel any pain now, miss.”

Ricardo’s nightgown began to turn red.