The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen - Chapter 413



413 – Old Diary -2-

[XXX Year, January 14th]

[Weather: Raining, so annoying]

[Title: Playing with a Beggar]

Having read through countless entries, Olivia smiled faintly, reminiscing about old memories.

“Heehee…”

The diary written in her clueless youth was keeping the bored Olivia entertained.

“This is fun.”

There were stories from when she was little, going to the mountains to play with Riccardo…

[Title: Fresh Meat is Delicious.]

-Today, Riccardo and I went to the mountains and caught a wild boar and ate it.

“Saying it’s easier to buy it from Ricardo, Ricardo just shoved wild boar meat in my mouth and shut me up. It was the best meat I’d ever tasted.

From noble mtl dot com

Wanted to come back again later.

There was also the story about fighting with Ricardo.

[Title: Want to Abandon the Beggar.]

-Ricardo stole my chocolate. So annoying.

Flipping through the diary, Olivia sighed softly, a happy smile on her face. Her memories with Ricardo weren’t sparkling, star-like memories, but they were funny memories that made her clutch her stomach and laugh.

A thought suddenly hits her.

What kind of person would I have become if I hadn’t picked up Ricardo?

A brat who grabs you by the hair first when angry.

Cursing more than talking.

A little kid who tried to settle things with violence when words didn’t work, but she changed after meeting Ricardo. She wondered what kind of person she’d be if that meeting hadn’t happened.

Would she have become an evil villain?

Or maybe a witch that people feared?

Of course, she can’t say she’s a good person even now, but she admitted her personality was awful when she was young.

Olivia, with no excuse to offer, smiled faintly and started to yawn languidly.

“Haaam…”

[Title: Learning Manners from a Beggar.]

-Went to see Great Uncle today. Didn’t want to go, but Dad woke me up, so I had no choice but to go. But…

“Even learned how to bow deeply from Ricardo.”

As old memories resurfaced, a smile bloomed on Olivia’s lips. The image of Ricardo pressing down on my head, telling me to bow when I was holding my head stiffly in front of my uncle, that image.

– Ricardo, say hello. This man is my Big Daddy.

– …Whom did you say?

– Big Daddy.

– …??

“Pffft ha ha…”

Olivia, spitting out a burst of laughter, wiped the tears welling up in her eyes as she turned the diary page. Back then, Ricardo didn’t understand why, but looking at it now, it’s driving her crazy.

“Pffft ha ha!! Seriously… I was such an idiot.”

– Greet him quickly!!

– Whyyy!!! He’s my Daddy, so I’ll do as I please!

– Isn’t he your uncle?! It’ll be a disaster!

– Our Daddy is the boss, so it’s okay!!!

– Aish…. My nape.

“Haa… Haa… Whee hee hee hee!!”

So many things I learned.

From how to treat people, to how to hold back anger.

Ricardo might not think so, but I think I’m very different from how I used to be. From my childhood and even after becoming an adult, I’ve been learning so much from Ricardo.

“Fool.”

I don’t show it on the outside, but I feel so grateful to Ricardo. Ricardo, who repaid unpayable grace, was too good for a villainess who can’t walk.

He could shine even brighter.

Could be more brilliant than anyone….

-Ugh…

I wanted to give him shy praise.

Like he was stroking my hair as I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the paprika. Warmly. Sometimes, I wanted to praise him gently.

“…”

Though I’d done it dozens of times in my heart, the word ‘thank you’ wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

“Idiot…”

There were about three journals.

Not a large amount, considering I’d been writing since I was little. I skipped some days when Ricardo didn’t check, and as I got older, I felt too lazy to write.

“…”

My fingers hesitated, reluctant to turn the page. For some reason, I felt a vague sadness at the end of this notebook of memories, filled with laughter and tears.

If I had known it would be like this, I would have written more when I was younger… I also felt regret towards my lazy childhood self.

[Title: The Idiot Heiress Passed the Academy.

I told you not to write it like that!

Didn’t I decide to give it a title today?]

“…It was really fun back then.”

Olivia, looking at the diary she wrote when she confidently passed the academy entrance exam, stopped her fingers with a bitter smile.

I couldn’t say I didn’t receive help from the family, but after receiving the acceptance letter, which was the first result I achieved through effort, Ricardo and I laughed and talked a lot.

-I told you I’d get in!!

-Honestly, I wanted you to fail… This is troublesome.

-Eeeeee?!

-Well, I passed too, didn’t I. I can manage things just fine.

-I’m not a monster.

-Hahaha!!!

Memories.

Sad memories, too.

Memories filled with small, small incidents that can be glossed over with laughter.

But the diary entries that follow…

[Title: I Fell in Love at First Sight.]

They were nothing but content I couldn’t laugh at.

[Title: Fought with Ricardo.]

-Gnnngh…

[Title: You moronic b*stard. I wish you weren’t at the academy at all.]

-Flip.

-Flip.

-Flip.

As the story of the academy continued, the smile that had been lingering at the edge of her lips began to fade.

[Title: I Saw Ricardo Crying in Secret.]

Her chest felt heavy, her breath tight.

The words written in the diary felt as though they were reflecting her own selfish interior, as though they were telling her that this was the kind of person she always was; the diary, turning bleak and cold, was making Olivia’s chest tighten.

The face of Ricardo, the one she’d averted her gaze from, rose in her mind.

Because Ricardo’s face, forcing a smile like he was being chased by something, kept shimmering before her eyes.

-Squeeze…

Olivia gripped the journal’s end tight, squeezing her eyes shut. Many pages remained, but after that day, she hadn’t written anything.

[Title: A Way to Turn Back Everything.]

Olivia, her eyes squeezed shut, didn’t read the diary to the end, but turned to the next page.

Even knowing that from the next page on, nothing was written, she didn’t have the courage to look at her broken diary.

“…Coward.”

Olivia flipped through the diary, moving her fingers to shake off the gloomy mood.

Like that.

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Around the time she passed Chapter 10.

-Flutter.

A white paper fluttered from between the pages of the diary and fell to the floor. A neatly folded white paper.

“What is it.”

Holding the paper, Olivia tilted her head, picking up the paper that had fallen to the floor. She didn’t remember putting a paper in the diary.

Thinking maybe it was a drawing she’d made when she was little, Olivia, excited, erased her gloomy mood and slowly unfolded the paper on the floor.

But the fallen paper contained a story different from what Olivia had expected.

[To the Lady.]

On the white paper was a letter written by the thief who had stolen a peek at the diary.

“…Benefit.”

Olivia, spotting the familiar chicken-scratch, glared at the letter with a huff. Some things were sacred, even privacy, and this felt like her nosy butler had swiped her diary without so much as a by-your-leave.

Of course, even if he’d *asked*, she wouldn’t have shown him, but still, Ricardo was in the wrong. Olivia puffed out a long breath, eyes narrowed.

“He’ll get it when he gets back…”

Olivia, brimming with revenge, began to read the butler’s letter.

[Diary’s a real page-turner.]

“Eeeesh…”

[Didn’t think our lady had a single girlish bone in her body, but that dainty little diary was a tasty treat. Ate it right up.]

“EEEEEEEEEESH!!!”

Anger flared, but a smile crept in too.

Ricardo’s prank-laden letter felt like hearing his voice, a welcome thing.

[So the wild boar was that good, eh? Might have to make it again sometime. But *I* caught it last time. This time, it’s your turn, Lady.]

Reading Ricardo’s remembering, Olivia smiled, a soft one. She’d thought it was just her memory, but it seemed to have taken root as a good memory for Ricardo, too.

But.

Olivia’s face soured as she read on.

[Guess this is the last letter I’ll write from the manor.]

The words, thick with forced pressure, hardened her expression.

[I don’t resent it.]

That she could even decipher Ricardo’s atrocious handwriting meant he’d rewritten this dozens, no, hundreds of times.

[I am your butler, after all.]

Olivia, fist clenched tight, began to read the letter slowly. Ricardo’s letter, written before she’d dabbled in dark magic.

She read on, deliberate.

*

“Alright, alright, fight-ing…!!”

-Kiyaaak!!! Spiders, I hate them!!!

-Ricardo. Save me.

-…Just kill me already.

-Mama… I think this is the end for me.

-Butler, please save us!!!

Watching the ever-lively Swordsmanship Department today, I offered a small smile and a word of encouragement. No matter how tough it gets, a handsome man cheering you on should give you strength, right?

“Just a little further. If you descend another 400 meters or so, today’s lesson ends here!”

-We haven’t even gone 100 meters today….

-Just kill me!! I can’t go any further!

“So vibrant, it’s good to see.”

This was the dungeon that appeared in the side story of the novel. The place where a new weapon for Hanna lay sleeping.

“Fight-ing!!!”