The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 70

Past Hanna stood in the Orc’s Habitat at the summit of the Hamel Mountain Range.

Her past self, hiding behind a Huge Tree, held a Crumpled Commission Letter in her hand.

It was a familiar commission letter.

A commission that had remained on the board for 6 Months, offering no real profit.

Among adventurers, it was infamous for its Pessimistic Evaluation. Veteran adventurers even called it “a commission no one with a single life would ever take.”

[Please kill the ‘Orc’ who killed my mother.]

Commission Fee: 1000 Gold

Details: Wears a Necklace Made of Wolf Fangs. / Distinctive pale purple skin.

The client, seeking revenge for their mother, had disguised an ‘Elite Orc’ as just an ‘Orc.’

Only adventurers confident in their skills would have accepted such a commission, and even then, the reward was absurdly low.

Hanna had known about this deception.

Surely, her past self must have known as well.

Even a novice adventurer would know that an Orc with pale purple skin was a Monster labeled as an ‘Elite.’

Her past self had accepted the commission despite knowing it was a scam.

To find solace in her heart.

And to gain the motivation of ‘altruism.’

She was likely deceiving herself, believing her courage was not meaningless but rather a way to avenge a child who had lost their mother.

On a rainy birthday.

She, too, had spent a long time deliberating over this commission letter.

Holding her breath, her past self watched an Orc that had strayed from the group and muttered softly.

-Found you.

Unlike ordinary Orcs, it had pale purple skin.

Hanna let out an Empty Laugh.

‘It’s the same one I caught back then.’

The Elite Orc she had managed to capture with Ricardo’s guidance looked exactly like the one her past self was targeting.

Pale purple skin.

Wielding a Club larger than its own body.

Seeing the Orc wearing a Necklace Made of Wolf Fangs, Hanna thought back to her past with Ricardo.

Back then, with Ricardo by her side, she hadn’t felt fear, but now, she found it terrifying.

Because she knew her past self’s lack of Martial Arts.

Hanna muttered.

-Run away.

Hanna knew it was an opponent she couldn’t handle.

Her past self must have known her lack of strength as well. The hand holding the commission letter trembled like an Aspen Tree. Watching her frightened self constantly glance down paths without Orcs, Hanna let out a dry sigh.

Hanna clenched her fists tightly and said once more.

-Run away.

She tried to silently observe her past, but she couldn’t just stand by and watch herself struggle to break free from the Shackles of indifference.

It was pitiful.

And foolish.

So Hanna spoke.

Because there’s no one by your side.

Run away.

She wanted to tell her to sheathe her sword and go to her own Refuge. To run to the Villainess’s House, where someone always greeted her with a smiling face.

But.

Her past self didn’t know about the Refuge called ‘Ricardo.’

Unfortunately.

Her past self, with determined eyes, drew her sword and walked toward the Orc.

She hesitated upon seeing the Bloodstain at the end of the Club.

-Prove it… that I can do it too.

Driven by the desire for recognition, her frightened legs pushed her forward.

When the Orc’s back came into view, she kicked off the ground and leaped.

“Aaaaahhh!!”

With a Shout of Spirit, she swung her sword at the Orc.

Hanna could sense it instinctively.

That this was where her past self would die.

Despite the determination in her eyes as she faced the Elite Orc, the outcome, no matter the process, was far from favorable.

The Orc’s attack, swinging a Club larger than her body, was far more powerful than she had anticipated.

The Orc’s Club moved toward her at a speed she couldn’t even perceive.

Suspended in mid-air, she offered no resistance as the Club struck her, sending her tumbling to the ground with a deafening crash.

-Crunch.

Her past self, now covered in dust, made a grotesque sound as she hit the ground.

She collapsed in excruciating pain.

With a single blow, the plan she had meticulously crafted in her mind turned into a Blank Paper. Panicked, she shook her head and struggled to stand.

When her legs, drained of strength, refused to move, she pounded her thighs mercilessly with her fists.

-Huff… sob… ugh! Move… just move!

The Orc charged toward her fallen self with a thunderous sound.

Her pupils trembled violently.

Hanna crawled across the ground to grab her fallen sword. Watching her stagger as she struggled to stand, Hanna clenched her fists.

‘It’s okay… I expected this.’

Knowing her own skills before receiving Ricardo’s guidance, Hanna could foresee the Future that awaited her.

‘It’s okay…’

Because she had expected it…

-Crash!!!

Because I’m weak…

-Crash!!!

I…

-Aaaaaahhhh!!!

If the Butler hadn’t been there…

-Aaaaaahhhh…!! Stop… stop it…!

Hanna, who had been consoling herself in a place where no one could see, began to freeze as she saw the Blood-stained Ground spreading before her.

It was horrifying.

The sight of herself being torn apart by the Orc’s Club.

The image of her frail hands trying to block the Orc’s Club felt utterly wretched.

Hanna despaired.

Was it really this bad…?

If the Butler hadn’t been there…

Would I have ended up like that…?

The emotions evoked by seeing it with her own eyes were far greater than what she had imagined.

Blood splattering on her face.

The expression soaked in a Sense of Despair.

And her past self, desperately calling out for her father in a Desperate Voice.

It was pitiful and terrifying.

Because she knew no one would come to save her.

Tears began to flow from Hanna’s eyes.

Because of the Fear she felt.

The fear of what she would have endured if the Butler hadn’t been there, and the terror of seeing her past self desperately calling for her father.

-Ah… Dad…

Hanna ran toward the Orc.

With the emotions of wanting it to stop.

But.

The Blue Window did not allow it.

[This is the Observer’s Perspective. You cannot interfere with the subject.]

Hanna collapsed to the ground as if her legs gave out.

She could only silently watch herself fall.

Her past self, barely standing while holding a sword, was staring at the Orc before her.

A face in shambles.

Legs barely holding her up.

With fearful eyes fixed on the Orc, her past self spoke with difficulty.

-I have to be acknowledged… I must now…

With those words as her last.

The Orc’s club tore through the air.

Her small and fragile body was sent flying.

[The perspective shifts.]

With ragged breaths, her vision flipped.

“Huff… Huff…”

She was standing in a dark cave.

Hanna looked around with a heavy heart.

Drip. In the dark and damp cave, moisture gathered into water drops, and moonlight seeped through the pitch-black darkness.

Hanna recognized this place.

It was the spot where she had rested while training with Ricardo.

A shallow, not-too-deep cave.

Hanna let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was finally over.

-Haa… Haa…

But upon seeing her entire body battered and broken, she wore a look of despair.

Her past self was staring blankly at the cave entrance with empty eyes.

Leaning against the cave wall.

Gasping for breath, her past self.

She saw herself gripping her sword tightly, fearing a monster might enter.

Her body was wrecked.

From the battle with the Orc, her legs were grotesquely twisted, and her entire body was covered in wounds.

Hanna clenched her fist.

She felt relief that her past self was still alive, but that relief began to turn into despair.

The words she had seen on the Blue Window were clear.

It had said she would die.

In the moment when ominous thoughts silenced her,

The voice of the past began to echo in the cave.

-Thank goodness…

In that desperate situation, her past self looked at her hands and smiled. With a wilted smile, as if her mangled legs didn’t matter, she muttered softly.

-At least my hands are unharmed.

She was saying something foolish.

Her past self, with hands full of small wounds, reflected them in the moonlight, smiling pleasantly as she hugged her hands tightly and looked out of the moonlit cave.

-Now, I just have to wait.

In the darkness, she was waiting for her father.

Even though she was a forsaken child, she firmly believed her father would come to rescue her.

*

Two days passed.

-Drip, drip…

Rain was falling outside the cave.

Her past self hugged her body against the cold air. Her blue lips and pale face signaled the end of a relentless nightmare.

Her past self blankly stared at the cave entrance where the rain fell and murmured.

-Why isn’t he coming…

-It’s so cold…

-I need to apologize for running away, too.

-Could it be… he’s not coming…?

-Sniff… No, why am I thinking so negatively? Dad would scold me if I cried… Let’s not cry.

-He’ll definitely come… Definitely.

Soaked in cold sweat, she stared outside with eyes filled with fear.

Her legs wouldn’t move.

Cold sweat poured down like rain.

As a burning fever enveloped her body, her past self groaned in delirium, and Hanna lowered her head.

She thought she would die fighting.

That was the ending she had envisioned, the least miserable one she could imagine.

But.

As two days passed without any sign of her father, Hanna’s face began to pale.

Even if she was a forsaken daughter.

Even if she had run away.

Wouldn’t he have worried?

If he had searched even a little, he would’ve known where she had gone.

Even if he had just gone to the Adventurer Guild, he could’ve found out what quest she had taken.

‘Why… isn’t he coming?’

Hanna looked at her past self, pitifully collapsed, with trembling eyes.

She was alone.

There was no one beside her.

No one to comfort her.

She was enduring a tragedy all by herself.

Seeing her past self foolishly smiling at her intact hands.

Seeing her past self excited, thinking her father would praise her, was like watching a horrifying movie for Hanna.

And so.

A week passed.

Clutching the sword gifted by her father tightly to her chest, she called out her father’s name until her breath faded.

Hanna lowered her head.

Overwhelmed by the despair of being abandoned.

Accepting the fear of death.

Her past self silently stared outside the cave… the fate she would have faced if Ricardo hadn’t been there.

-Da…d… I miss you.

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of the falling rain.

-I’m sorry…

The ending she least wanted to see had come to pass.

Watching her breath fade, Hanna lowered her head.

And three days later.

Her father held her lifeless body in his arms and wept.

-Hanna…

-You need to wake up. Your father is here.

-I’ll spar with you or do whatever you want.

-You need to wake up…

With a foolish expression on his face, he spoke.

Hanna couldn’t bear to watch.

Because of hatred.

[The perspective shifts to one year after Histania Hanna’s death.]

The Blue Window’s final joke unfolded before her eyes.

-Can you call me Father?

Father was smiling warmly at a woman with a familiar face.

It was a smile I had never seen before, as he gently patted the woman’s head with a gentle touch.

A woman with pink hair and a beautiful appearance. The most popular person at the Academy and a prodigy in the Healing Branch.

Yuria.

Yuria lifted her head and spoke.

-Mister, why are you so kind to me?

Father gave a wistful smile and said.

-You remind me of my youngest daughter… I keep seeing her in you.

Tears began to flow from Hanna’s eyes.

Even in death… she felt she would never look at her father again.

[Viewing ends.]

***

The heavy feeling didn’t go away.

Tears streamed down her face.

Her breath trembled with fear and anguish.

Disgust overflowed as she reflected on her father, who projected his regrets onto her dead self, and she shuddered at the remorse that turned into death.

What could she say?

What expression should she wear?

Hanna, unable to describe the suffocating feeling, ran her hand over her face in despair.

“I… I really tried my best…”

She had endured excruciating pain, fought through it, and tried everything to be acknowledged.

But the ending, where her death was the only recognition she received, felt so absurd that Hanna pounded her chest in frustration.

She wanted to give up.

On everything.

At the moment she tried to leave the bed with eyes filled with despair.

“Are you crying?”

A familiar voice reached her ears.

“Why are you crying…?”

A woman with white hair, chewing on chocolate with a sullen expression, looked down at her and placed a hand on her forehead.

“You don’t have a fever.”

Olivia, with a concerned expression, broke the chocolate in half.

Her trembling hand extended the chocolate to Hanna.

“Do you… want some?”

Olivia made it clear she didn’t really want to share.

And then.

“Young Lady, is that all you’re going to give her?”

“Eeeek…! It’s mine!”

“Consideration. Respect. Chocolate. Everything is a bribe for the future.”

“But… still…”

Ricardo, snatching the chocolate from Olivia’s hand, spoke with a gentle smile.

“Don’t cry.”

“It makes me even sadder to see you like this.”

Hanna looked at Ricardo with teary eyes.

And then.

She collapsed into his arms and sobbed bitterly.