I’m a villain, but I want to live a long life.

Chapter 7 “I’m a villain, but I want to live a long life.”

“Walter!”

Walter stopped walking through the courtyard at the sound of my voice calling out to him. In the distance, he saw someone running toward him.

“Princess……?

He squinted. Even looking again, it was unmistakably Selenea.

“I see you again, my lady.”

He tucked the papers he was carrying into his side and bowed.

“What brings you here?”

“Oh, I was wandering around the mansion and got a little stuck…….”

Walter nodded, then glanced over at Selenea.

She was looking around at the flowers and trees in the garden as she caught her breath.

“You don’t seem like a walker”.

Selenea said.

“It’s nothing, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“I was wondering, when is the next training?”

“Training?”

Walter scratched his head. He considered for a moment, then made an “ah.” sound and looked at Selenea.

“You mean the day the priest is supposed to visit?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Selenea’s eyes sparkled.

“Yes!”

“I was going to tell you anyway. Father Meyer has an appointment in three days.”

“In three days?”

“Yep. Do you have anything else scheduled for that day?”

“Oh, not that, I was just wondering when.”

Walter nodded. He looked at Selenea, then added.

“You seem to have been a good follower of Father Meyer for some time now.”

“……Did I?”

The muttered maiden frowned slightly. Walter looked at her questioningly.

But she didn’t say anything more.

She simply said, “Okay, well, I’ll see you later!” and turned and walked away the way she came.

Walter shook his head again.

He didn’t know why, but she seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

‘The same woman who throws a fit if we’re even slightly behind schedule…….’

Walter stared at the back of Selenea’s head as she walked away in a daze.

She’d looked at him like he was a bug whenever he’d come to deliver a message from the Duke or a training schedule.

“Get out of my room now! I told you I’m not coming to dinner”!

Throwing things was customary,

“Didn’t you hear me say, ‘I don’t want to hear this, make it short and get the hell out of here!’

The way he would yell at me with his venomous eyes was also memorable. But…….

What kind of wind can blow and make a person suddenly change like that?

Today, she obediently came to the dinner table.

That was after two years.

‘Besides, a little while ago…….

Hadn’t she waved goodbye, smiled, and said she’d see him again?

Walter looked out into the now-empty garden and narrowed his eyes.

“……What a wound to heal so suddenly.

It was a day when rain poured down from the sky in torrents.

Inside the darkened room. Selenea was cowering in front of the open window, screaming.

Her white negligee was soaked with rainwater, slowly stained with blood she didn’t recognize.

The wind tore at the curtains, and a thunderstorm rumbled in the sky.

Selenea’s tear-streaked face flashed before her.

That was eight years ago.

* * *

“Now, these are your dresses from here to here, this is the indoor one that the tailor recently tailored for you, and this is the outdoor one…….”

I sat on the bed and stared at the colorful clothes Anna was showing me.

“I knew it! That’s how many outfits I have”.

My hips swayed with excitement.

“This is a hat, gloves, and shoes…… Oh my God.”

Anna stopped and looked at me.

“Speaking of shoes, young lady, are those heels from last time okay?”

Anna stopped showing me her clothes and quickly walked over to me and examined my feet. I pulled my leg back, feeling embarrassed.

“Huh? It’s fine, nothing to worry about.”

“But the blister is bigger than I thought, just call a doctor and get it checked out…….”

“Eh, not for a heel, if you can afford it, Anna, buy yourself something good.”

Anna stopped talking and glared at me.

“Miss…….”

Her green eyes were somehow touched, and I mumbled, bewildered by the glare.

“No, I mean, you’ll get better soon enough…….”

Anna nodded slowly, as if she understood. Then she said, with a hint of pride.

“You do realize that you’ve been a little different lately, don’t you, young lady?”

“My, my?”

“Yes! You seem to have become kinder, if you will, and less angry, and just today I was thanking you for agreeing to dine with me.”

I recalled the face of the Duke of Tigeris, who had been sitting in the dining room the entire time with a sour expression on his face and nodded.

“After two years, I suppose I deserve that kind of reaction from Anna”.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’s been frustrated with me all this time. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, I’m not sorry, I’m just grateful that you finally seem to have opened up to her!”

“Open up?

Anna laughed, wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. I shook my head, then nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’s weirded out that I’m being so quiet after all the trouble I’ve been in”.

I looked at Anna, and something suddenly occurred to me and I jumped out of bed.

“Oh, right. I think I should go to the study.”

“The study? You mean the library?”

“Huh? Uh-huh, the library, because there’s a book I want to look at.”

“Oh, well, you should come with me then, because I was just about to stop by the laundry room, and I thought it would be a good idea to get my winter clothes out.”

I nodded quickly.

Aside from the meaningful conversation I’d overheard when I’d gotten lost in the mansion, there was something I wanted to find out as soon as possible.

It’s a good thing this is a huge house with a library.

“Oh my God.

I stared wide-eyed at the giant bookshelves that must have been at least three meters tall.

The rows and rows of bookshelves seemed endless.

“It’s huge”.

The library of Tigeris Manor was even bigger than I had expected.

It wasn’t surprising, given the size of the mansion itself, but my excitement didn’t subside easily.

“I’ll stop by with a snack in a bit, then, but you’ll be in the library until then, right?”

I nodded in a frenzy, and Anna said, “I’ll see you in a bit, then,” and headed out.

I made my way to the nearest bookshelf.

My gaze quickly scanned the books on the shelves, and my eyes landed on one in particular.

The bold text caught my eye.

The words were unfamiliar to me, but strangely enough, I understood their meaning as if they were a language I knew.

‘So, you can read the writing of this world.’

I was worried that I would have to learn a new language, but I was relieved.

I breathed a sigh of relief and reached for one of the books on the shelf. It was a brown leather-bound book.

I ran my fingers over the title in golden ink.

“This should do it”.

Why I, not even a manifesto, drank the tears of a god and collapsed. And the cause of the unpleasant pain I felt then.

I had to figure that out first.

Manifestation is the awakening of the divine in humans.

Historically, it had been practiced since the beginning of time and has been passed down through the bloodline of the imperial family.

The powers awakened by manifestation are very diverse. From elemental powers, which are often used as an offense, to mind control powers such as brainwashing and manipulation.

Ancient records also reveal powers to manipulate nature, such as calling down rain and creating wind.

Manifestations usually occur between the ages of 10 and 15. ……

I closed the book with a clatter. I craned my stiff neck, my overworked joints popping and cracking.

“What the hell,” I thought, “a bunch of useless stuff.

I blinked through stiffened eyes as I tossed the book I was holding into the stack of books beside me.

I’d looked through several books so far, and none of them had anything about the Tears of God and its side effects.

“No, why not?”

I’d seen it in the novels. Selenea had somehow obtained the Tear of the God and used it to kill Eria.

She wasn’t set up as a genius, so she couldn’t have done it herself, and she probably had helpers.

‘But how was it that there was so little written about a drug with such terrifying effects?’

Even after scouring all these books.

I sighed heavily and rubbed my puffy eyes. Suddenly, an absurd thought flashed through my mind.

“It’s as if they don’t even know there’s such a drug.

He paused.

“……Wait, that’s it.

I jumped to my feet, slapping my knees.

“You don’t even know the drug exists!”

If the authors of all these books didn’t know about the Tears of God, there was only one answer.

The tears of the god were a drug that has yet to be discovered by the world. But there was another catch.

“Then where did Selenea get it?

Anna asked, obviously referring to the Tear of God. ‘The medicine you gave her.

So Selenea must have gotten it from somewhere and given it to Anna.

“Who gave it to her?”

I asked, feeling strangely uncomfortable. The conversation I’d overheard in the corner hallway earlier flashed through my mind.

“There’s something about it that wasn’t in the novel.

It surrounded Selenea.

I swallowed hard. Now that I thought about it, there was more than one oddity.

For one thing, Selenea was only seventeen years old, no matter how villainous she was.

And she’d even think about killing someone she didn’t like? By drugging them?

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

“No way. There’s a world of difference between a kid being a little cranky and killing people.”

I rubbed my palms together and muttered, “There’s something, there’s something……..

“What are you doing here?”

Startled by the sudden voice, I stopped stepping on the hem of my skirt and backed away.