The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 78

[Q. A Person Who Doesn’t Deserve to Be Misunderstood]

There is a girl who has fallen in love.

With a boy who has red hair and upright eyes. Most students avoided him, saying he looked fierce, but to the girl, he had an appearance that struck her heart with a “pop.”

The girl’s love was shy.

Just being with him made her happy, and the thought of eating together filled her with joy. She would lie on her dormitory bed, her heart pounding, staying up all night. That is, until problems arose with the villainess the boy served.

The boy tormented the girl.

Using the excuse of danger, he locked her in a wardrobe. With a sorrowful smile, he spilled wine on her dress and constantly played pranks that left wounds on her heart.

Even so, the girl liked the boy. She comforted herself, thinking there must be a reason.

However, after an incident in the dungeon, the girl began to dislike the boy.

She started to doubt the boy who had saved her, almost as if he had been waiting for her to be abandoned by the friends she thought were on her side in the dungeon.

Why was he there?

Why was she always entangled in bad situations? The girl began to feel afraid.

The girl was suspicious.

She wondered if the events she thought were accidental were actually the boy’s intentions. Or if the bad things happening around her were caused by him.

That day when she was abandoned in the dungeon.

The boy had done his best to protect her, and yet…

The boy thinks of himself as bad. It might be true, but you might see it differently.

[!] That day when you were abandoned in the dungeon. Recall the memory you misunderstood.

1. Enter the Altar of Greed. (0/1)

2. Persuade or deal with the “Greed-possessed Hans.” (0/1)

Reward: You can view the 〈12th Side Story〉 “A Person Who Doesn’t Deserve to Be Misunderstood.”

Failure: “A Person Who Doesn’t Deserve to Be Misunderstood” will be forcibly replaced with 〈42nd Side Story〉 “A Person Who Doesn’t Deserve It.”

*

Yuria stopped in her tracks as she looked at the blue window.

Because the clear sound of “ding” accompanied by the chilling message had gripped her ankles.

Standing still, Yuria felt as if her blood had run cold.

The words telling her to kill her friend.

And the detailed account of her story.

Yuria froze at the blue window that described her story, one she had never told anyone, and the exact turning point when she began to hate Ricardo.

‘What is this…’

‘What did Ricardo do…?’

‘And who is Hans…?’

Yuria rubbed her eyes and asked Mikhail, who was inspecting the state of his sword.

“Mikhail… I see something strange…”

“Something strange?”

Yuria pointed to the blue window with her finger.

Mikhail followed her hand but saw nothing in the empty space. With a puzzled expression, as if he had no idea what she was talking about or pointing at, Mikhail spoke.

“I don’t see anything. Are you too nervous?”

“…You really don’t see anything?”

Yuria bit her lip tightly.

She wondered if, as Mikhail said, she was just too nervous. But the clearly visible words were hard to dismiss.

Yuria swallowed her questions.

She didn’t want to ruin the mood by saying something strange. Before exploring an undiscovered region of unknown origin, she didn’t want to appear panicked.

Yuria clenched her fists and spoke to Mikhail.

“No… I must have just imagined it for a moment.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… I’m fine, so don’t worry.”

Mikhail looked at the evasive Yuria with concern. He could guess why she was acting that way.

It had been more than a year.

The dungeon abandonment.

Mikhail didn’t know the details of what happened a year ago. He hadn’t been there and had only heard rumors.

What he clearly remembered was Ricardo, covered in blood, carrying Yuria back. That much was vivid in his memory.

At that time, Mikhail had been interrogating the group who had returned to the academy.

-Be honest…

-How would we know where she went!

-Someone saw her go in with you… Are you still going to deny it?

-…No… It’s just that.

-Speak up. Before I report this to the Student Council President.

-Sigh… It’s not like we wanted to do it…!

-Stop dodging and just say it…

While he was pressing them, Ricardo appeared.

-Damn. I thought I was going to die.

Ricardo, covered in blood, handed over Yuria and disappeared without a word.

That was all Mikhail remembered about that day.

Ricardo had kept his mouth shut.

Yuria didn’t remember.

So there was nothing he could say about it.

Before entering the ominous place, Mikhail reached out his hand to the struggling Yuria and said.

“If it’s too hard, let’s go back. I’ll come down with Ruin and search again.”

“…”

Yuria shook her head with difficulty.

“No, it’s just because it’s cold.”

Ignoring the blue window floating in the air, Yuria rejected Mikhail’s offer.

“What if Hans is injured? You guys can’t use healing magic.”

Since she was right, Mikhail couldn’t respond.

They had heard a human scream, and running away didn’t align with Mikhail and Yuria’s convictions.

The two fools who had tried to save heretics couldn’t bring themselves to turn back after hearing a human scream.

Yuria stood up firmly and said.

“Let’s go. We can do this.”

The dark hole in the dungeon wall.

Proving it had never been touched by human hands, the pitch-black space without torches or lights awaited the three of them.

Ruin, excited at discovering an undiscovered region.

Mikhail, sensing foreboding.

And Yuria, worried about her friend.

The three swallowed nervously and stepped toward the deep layer.

The moment they stepped beyond the wall.

With a “ding!” sound, chilling words appeared before Yuria’s eyes.

[Enter the Altar of Greed. (1/1)]

Yuria ignored the blue window with a stern expression.

‘It’ll be fine…’

Calming her pounding heart.

*

The space beyond the wall was nothing special.

No powerful monsters.

No dangerous traps, just an ordinary space.

The only thing unique was how oppressively dark it was.

Without magically created light, it was so dark that one couldn’t see ahead. Other than that, it was no different from a typical dungeon.

There were walls, paths, and…

A consistent rhythm to the sections.

After walking for about ten minutes.

Ruin, feeling bored, began to grumble.

“What is this? No monsters, no items… I was looking forward to this, but there’s nothing? Did that bastard Hans take everything?”

“Be quiet. A monster might appear.”

“Quiet, my ass. We haven’t seen a single monster so far.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to be cautious. If there’s an Irregular, are you going to take responsibility?”

Ruin grew irritated with Mikhail’s overly cautious behavior. Not only did their slow pace not suit his temperament, but the deeper they ventured, the stronger a strange foul odor became.

At the stench that made him furrow his brow, Ruin frowned and spoke to Mikhail.

“Your breath… Ugh. Brush your teeth, will you?”

At Ruin’s sarcastic remark, Mikhail strode toward him, and Ruin stepped back, spouting curses.

“Are you mad? Hah, hit a nerve, didn’t I?”

“Stop joking around and focus.”

“Yes, yes… Stop joking and… huh!!!”

Thud! While backing away to avoid Mikhail, Ruin tripped over something heavy and fell.

“Damn it… This is so annoying…”

As he tried to prop himself up from the ground.

“What the hell.”

A squishy, foreign sensation spread through Ruin’s outstretched hand.

Ruin began lowering the sphere he had been floating in the air toward the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

“No… Wait, something feels off.”

Frozen by the eerie sensation, Ruin had a chilling thought.

‘It wasn’t a rock. It felt more like… something…’

A texture that felt both hard and…

Soft at the same time.

It wasn’t like a rock but more like sitting on a living creature. Carefully, Ruin lowered the sphere to illuminate the ground in front of him.

Gradually, under the sphere’s light, the obstacle’s form began to reveal itself.

“Ahhh!”

Sitting on a human corpse, Ruin jumped up in shock. Sticky bodily fluids clung to his clothes.

Ruin exhaled heavily at the source of the stench that had been assaulting his nose.

“…F*ck…”

Seeing the revealed corpse, Ruin covered his mouth.

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong, Ruin… Ahhh!”

At the sight of the corpse on the ground, Yuria screamed and stumbled backward, bending over as if to retch.

Her face turned pale.

A corpse with its eyes wide open, frozen in death.

The body was wearing the patrol uniform of the dungeon’s exploration team.

And it wasn’t just one. There were several, lined up in a row.

Seeing the corpses sprawled across the ground, Mikhail bent down, struggling to maintain a neutral expression.

He reached for the neck of one of the bodies and then shook his head.

“Dead.”

Mikhail confirmed the death with certainty.

Supporting the panicked Yuria, Ruin looked at Mikhail and spoke.

“F*ck… What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know either.”

“No… Damn it…”

Lost in complicated thoughts, Ruin ran a hand through his hair.

A corpse.

In the dungeon of the capital city.

While finding corpses in dungeons was relatively common, discovering abandoned bodies in the capital city’s dungeon was not something to be taken lightly.

The dungeon had been chosen with the safety of Academy students in mind. It was where 1st-year final exams and most assignments took place, so the presence of corpses meant something was seriously wrong.

There were no monsters threatening the lives of students, and the exploration team managed the dungeon regularly.

For someone to have died, it clearly pointed to murder.

At that moment, an ominous energy began to prickle the skin of the three startled individuals.

-Aaaahhh!!!

As another unfamiliar man’s scream echoed, Ruin’s hair stood on end.

The smirk that had been on Ruin’s face vanished, and Mikhail, who had been standing expressionless, began to channel mana into his sword.

Leaving his unrefined aura as a last resort, Mikhail tensed his entire body and scanned the surroundings.

As another chilling breeze swept through.

Mikhail, having made up his mind, looked at Yuria and Ruin and spoke.

“Let’s go back.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I said, let’s go back.”

Angered by the suggestion to retreat, Ruin began to argue with Mikhail. Despite noticing the gravity of the situation, Ruin was worried about his friend.

Mikhail calmly addressed Ruin, who was visibly upset.

“Something’s wrong.”

Mikhail spoke.

Something was definitely off.

Shielding the panting Yuria behind him, Mikhail began walking toward the entrance.

“Let’s give up.”

“What?”

“Let’s give up and go back. This isn’t something we can handle.”

Although Mikhail suggested returning to the entrance, Ruin shook his head and responded loudly.

“What kind of nonsense is that? We’re almost there…”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m saying we should go back. Before it’s too late.”

“And what about Hans? Are we just going to let him die?”

Ruin thought Mikhail was being a coward.

Thinking that such an attitude wouldn’t accomplish anything, Ruin briskly walked in the opposite direction of the entrance, toward where the man’s scream had come from.

“Coward. What a joke.”

Mikhail reached out to grab Ruin’s hand, trying to stop him and convince him to return together.

“What the…”

But seeing Ruin suddenly stop, Mikhail froze in his tracks.

It was a massive space.

A vast area that seemed like the lair of the dungeon’s boss.

Dark, with a high ceiling. A circular space came into view, and at its center, a giant red magic circle drawn in blood appeared before them.

And then.

In the midst of the chaos, an eerie laugh came from a familiar man.

A man with an ordinary appearance and black glasses.

The boy, who looked like a model student, was none other than the missing student, Hans, whom the three had been searching for.

Ruin slowly walked toward the center of the magic circle.

As if entranced, Ruin walked forward, his eyes filled with disbelief as he stared.

“Hey… Hans, what are you doing here?”

Hans turned around at the sound of Ruin’s voice. Seeing Ruin, he responded with a calm, indifferent expression.

“Oh… Ruin? Yuria and Mikhail are here too…”

Standing amidst the corpses with a nonchalant expression, Hans sent chills down Ruin’s spine.

Hans was waving his hand.

His hand, drenched in blood, was muttering something chilling.

“I never thought I’d show my first demonstration to you guys… Well, I suppose this is fate too?”

Standing right in front of Hans, Ruin spoke with a trembling voice. Confused, he couldn’t believe the friend he knew would act like this.

“What are you doing here…”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

“What?”

“I’m studying. Trying to catch up to talented guys like you.”

Hans spoke to Ruin with an innocent look in his eyes.

“I was just self-studying on my own.”

“You won’t interrupt me, will you?”

At that moment, the Red Magic Circle beneath Hans’ feet began to glow.

“I don’t want to kill you. After all, we’re friends.”

A supporting character darkened by the gap in talent, becoming the Archbishop of Greed.

Hans was smiling innocently at Ruin.