The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 83

Ricardo’s wistful smile marked the end of her mistake.

Reaching out into the empty space in immeasurable shock, all that returned was the cold inscription of the Blue Window.

[Viewing has ended.]

[Returning to the original time in 3 minutes.]

Her vision began to darken gradually.

Only sounds could be heard.

Nothing was visible.

Amidst the darkening vision, what she heard was Ricardo’s calm voice.

-Run, Miss Yuria.

-Ah… Ah…

-It’s okay. Quickly.

She had wished to stay by his side until the end.

She had wanted to remain by Ricardo’s side and heal him, but the sound of her own footsteps fleeing in the face of overwhelming fear distorted Yuria’s expression.

-I… I’ll heal you…

-It’s okay. Just run quickly.

The hurried sound of the girl’s desperate footsteps echoed like a rhapsody in the darkened vision.

‘No…’

‘Don’t run away…’

‘I must stay until the end.’

As the sound of her past footsteps grew distant, Yuria broke down.

Even though she couldn’t see anything, Yuria knew. She knew that only Ricardo and Calypso were in this space now.

-Tsk, tsk, tsk. What will you do now that you’ve been abandoned? If you bring that woman back even now, I might spare just you.

-I may know how to assault the elderly, but respecting them is beyond me.

-Heh heh… What an unamusing fellow.

-Indeed. Perhaps your dementia has dulled your sense of humor.

As the brief conversation ended, the deafening sounds of battle rang out.

Flesh being torn.

The savage sound of skin being sliced.

Yuria covered her ears, tears streaming down her face.

‘Ah… No…’

She struggled to deny it, saying it wasn’t her doing, but the gradually aligning fragments of memory refused to escape the mire of acknowledgment.

A forgotten memory came to mind.

After escaping the dungeon, when she was hospitalized. She remembered Ricardo cautiously opening the hospital room door.

-Why did you come…

She recalled coldly pushing Ricardo away at that time. Though she hadn’t said it outright, her words had essentially told him to leave.

Ricardo, after checking her body for injuries, had left a small gift on the hospital room table with an awkward smile.

-I came to return something you lost.

Inside the small box that day was the pink dagger she thought she had lost in the dungeon.

The dagger that stabbed Ricardo.

The precious item she once told Ricardo was a gift from her father, which he had brought back despite the painful memories it must have stirred.

As the memories aligned one by one, Yuria shook her head in denial.

‘Haa… Haa… No…’

-A pitiful wretch, abandoned.

-…

-Even though she ran away and left you, do you still want to protect her? If it were me, I’d have chased her down and dragged her back by the hair.

-You’ve truly gone senile.

-Don’t you value your life?

-Shouldn’t you be returning to the earth by now?

The dark sorcerer’s taunts and Ricardo’s retorts, along with the sounds of their desperate battle, echoed in Yuria’s ears.

The old man’s voice hinted at Ricardo’s defeat.

-You fought well enough, young swordsman.

As the dark sorcerer’s chilling words ended.

-Limit Break.

With Ricardo’s brief words, the Blue Window bid farewell to the past.

[Returning to the original time.]

***

When she came to her senses, everything was over.

Unable to escape the shock of the terrible past caused by her own mistake, she stood there blankly.

Mikhail, summoning all his strength, faced Hans, and thanks to Mikhail buying enough time, the Empire’s Knights’ Order was able to arrive while searching for Hans.

“Damn it…”

Hans swallowed his resentment and fled.

Faced with the appearance of a skilled aura user, he had no choice but to tuck his tail and run.

Muttering something like “If not for the rampage…” Hans fled, leaving behind the chilling words, “See you again,” as he disappeared.

She had done nothing.

Though she had joined the group to provide support, her lack of ability had only hindered Mikhail and Ruin, and she had failed to persuade Hans.

Watching the Knights’ Order clean up, Yuria swallowed her resentment.

“I couldn’t… do anything…”

She had lost many friends and countless lives.

She had seen a truth she had never imagined.

Learning the truth about someone she had misunderstood and treated coldly, Yuria bit her lip and swallowed her tears.

“I’m such a fool…”

She felt like a fool for being unable to do anything.

If only she had been a little stronger, if only she hadn’t been swayed by her emotions, the events the Blue Window had shown wouldn’t have happened.

Mikhail. Ruin. Ricardo.

She could have protected them all.

Yuria felt her own weakness keenly, leaving her feeling utterly insignificant.

In the vast space where the battle with Hans had taken place.

Yuria tilted her head back toward the ceiling to hide her tears. If she didn’t, she felt like they would pour out uncontrollably.

Though she didn’t want to show her tears in front of the Knights’ Order and her friends, the sword marks etched into the ceiling overwhelmed her emotions, and she couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Hhk…”

They were sword marks that signified an intense battle.

Marks left by an exceedingly weak academy student who had wielded their sword to save her against a wickedly evil dark sorcerer.

Marks that had protected her.

Tears began to stream down her chin.

-Nothing happened.

His gentle voice kept echoing in her mind. Ricardo’s sorrowful face, faintly smiling while hiding the blood dripping from his mouth, still lingered in her thoughts.

Yuria muttered with empty eyes.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“You weren’t supposed to do that…”

“I… I misunderstood you, thinking it was your fault, but if you do that, what does that make me…”

Yuria spoke bitterly to herself. Without wiping away her flowing tears, she kept muttering while staring at the sword marks etched into the walls and ceiling.

“I didn’t know… and I hated you.”

She had hated Ricardo.

She had hated him enough to wish he’d trip over a rock while walking. But she had never once wished for his death.

She had only wanted him to feel a fraction of the pain she had felt and to face consequences for his evil deeds at the academy. But not revenge like this.

She had never imagined him being hurt by her own hands…

She had only wanted the scales of their relationship to tip slightly in her favor, where she had always been beneath him.

She hadn’t wanted the scales to lighten in this way.

‘I only wished Ricardo would struggle a little…’

As the misunderstandings she had held began to unravel one by one, Yuria could only stare blankly at the ceiling.

It felt as if the world had turned to ash.

She wished everything had been a lie, but unfortunately, Yuria had no choice but to admit that the past she had seen was not fabricated.

Hans had said so.

And the faint remnants of her own memories supported it.

Yuria raised her hand toward the ceiling. Her delicate, white fingers bore no scars.

With these hands, she had stabbed Ricardo.

“I…”

Yuria looked at her trembling hand with quivering eyes. Her fingertips, stained with guilt, shook uncontrollably. The guilt of what her hands had done made every joint in her fingers tremble.

“I didn’t… do it on purpose.”

“It’s all… the work of that Dark Sorcerer…”

Denying it as the act of an evil Dark Sorcerer.

She uttered a cunning lie, claiming it wasn’t her will, but the pink dagger hanging at her waist seemed to scream at her not to be ridiculous.

‘…’

It was a crude lie.

Just an excuse to ease her own conscience.

Yuria let out a hollow laugh and lowered her head.

“Yeah… it’s all just an excuse.”

If only she hadn’t foolishly followed those people that day, Ricardo wouldn’t have suffered like that.

Yuria’s shoulders began to shake with heavy breaths, weighed down by her constant incompetence that only ever caused trouble.

“It’s suffocating.”

Overwhelmed by the rising frustration, Yuria pounded her chest with her fist. She thought it might help even a little, but the more she struck her chest, the tighter it felt, as Ricardo’s bitter smile came to mind, choking her even further.

“Yuria…!”

Ruin, who had been collapsed, ran toward her. Seeing Ruin running to her despite his own injuries, worried about her, stirred a feeling of gratitude in her. But even this emotion quickly turned into gloom as Ricardo’s pained smile resurfaced in her mind.

Ruin, who quickly reached Yuria, asked with a face full of concern.

“Are you okay? You must’ve been so startled…”

Yuria grabbed Ruin and spoke.

“Ruin… it must’ve hurt, right?”

“I’m fine.”

Yuria’s gaze wasn’t directed at Ruin. Looking at the man lingering in her memory, Yuria spoke to Ruin.

“Ricardo… it must’ve hurt so much, right…?”

“He must’ve… hated me so much…”

“I… I must’ve been hated to death.”

Though she had healed many people, she had never experienced pain herself, so she could never understand the suffering Ricardo had endured.

Yuria thought she could never comprehend the pain of betrayal Ricardo had felt from someone he trusted.

Yuria lay down and thought.

Even as her forehead touched the dirty floor, no thoughts came to her mind.

She just…

wanted to stay like this for a while.

Just until the heart that felt like it was being torn apart could settle down…

She wanted to stay like this for just a little while.

“Yuria…!”

Yuria’s vision went black.