The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 221

The words from Olivia’s mouth gripped Yuria’s heart.

“You don’t know anything.”

“You don’t know what Ricardo did because of you, how much that fool was criticized just because of you.”

Olivia spoke coldly, looking at Yuria. She claimed there was no reason behind her hatred.

“Do you know why Ricardo goes to the Academy so early in the morning?”

“Have you ever asked why Ricardo lingers in front of your shoe cabinet like a puppy needing to pee?”

Olivia stared straight into Yuria’s eyes as she spoke, conveying the feeling that Yuria was under a great misconception.

“It must feel unfair. I know it’s ridiculous for me to say this, and I understand it’s a situation bound to cause misunderstandings… because I orchestrated all of it.”

“But what changes if you know it’s unfair…?”

“Exactly.”

At Yuria’s sharp question, Olivia shrugged and answered.

“Nothing.”

“…”

“I don’t intend to make excuses to you. Even if I said the others egged me on, or that I got swept up in the mood, it would still be a pathetic excuse.”

“Why are you telling me this? Are you saying I should hate you instead of Ricardo? That I shouldn’t hate him too much because you pressured him?”

“I told you. You don’t know anything right now.”

Olivia calmly opened her mouth in response to Yuria’s question. Bringing her hand to her lips, she began to reveal secrets Ricardo had told her to keep.

“Graffiti on the desk.”

“Thumbtacks in the shoe cabinet.”

“Backstabbing, and more. You think Ricardo did all of it.”

Yuria remained silent.

She simply pressed her lips together and focused on Olivia’s words.

“You’re right. No matter how much I ordered him to do it, the sense of betrayal must have been immense if you experienced such things from Ricardo.”

“But. But, you see…”

Olivia spoke with a faint smile.

“That fool can’t do such things.”

Recalling the fool who would never do anything he didn’t want to, Olivia lowered her head. Even she thought Ricardo was too kind.

“That fool absolutely cannot do it.”

“…”

“He’s overly meddlesome, takes all the blame himself, and even claims responsibility for things he didn’t do. What slum origin? I’d believe it if someone said he came from a monastery instead. Don’t you think so?”

At Olivia’s words, Yuria felt as though something inside her was cracking.

-Crack.

The faint crack deepened, and from the fissure, complex emotions began to stir, trying to surface.

Yuria spoke with trembling eyes.

“What are you trying to say…”

“Ricardo never bullied you.”

Olivia took a calm breath and looked at the moon. The disgustingly bright moon seemed to remind her of someone, leaving her feeling unsettled.

She had revealed everything, even though she was told to keep it a secret.

It was the same back then. That day, blinded by jealousy, she had made unreasonable demands of Ricardo, and the moon had been just as bright as it was today.

-Don’t hang out with Yuria.

-I don’t want to.

-Do it because I said so. People are starting to look at you unfavorably.

-Am I popular now? That’s actually good news.

-You’re dodging the question again.

-Anyway, I refuse. If you have a problem, come talk to me directly.

Recalling Ricardo, who had defied her orders, Olivia spoke in a low voice.

-Sigh.

“Do you really think that fool would do everything I told him to?”

Then she turned to Yuria and said.

“No. That fool can’t do it.”

Because he was the same with me.

“That’s why Ricardo became an outcast.”

“He deliberately did things the others hated, ignored everything I said, cleaned and tidied your desk on his own, and that’s why he became an outcast.”

Olivia let out a long sigh and spoke.

“At some point, Ricardo started acting mean toward you, didn’t he?”

“…”

“And after that, your school life got a little better.”

“…”

“Why do you think that is?”

“…”

Stop. Don’t do this.

Ignoring Yuria’s inner turmoil, Olivia coldly spoke the harsh truth.

“Do you think it’s because people changed?”

Olivia shook her head.

“No, it’s because of Ricardo. He deliberately acted cruel to make you seem pitiable so you could make friends. He made himself the villain.”

Please, stop.

If you keep going, I’ll break down.

“No…”

“The tragic heroine role suits you, doesn’t it?”

“No, that’s not true…”

Don’t shake me.

Do you know how much resolve it took?

Why I hated Ricardo so much…

Please…

“Stop it.”

“It’s satisfying to see a commoner bully another commoner, isn’t it? Don’t you think? If someone more annoying than you shows up, you want to torment them. Picking and choosing who’s better.”

“I said stop!”

Olivia ignored Yuria’s warning and continued.

“It was all Ricardo’s doing.”

To make things easier for you.

“He bought chocolates with his meager wages and placed them on the classmates’ desks.”

To improve your image.

“He took all the trash, milk, and thumbtacks from your desk and put them in his own.”

Just to take care of you.

“Every morning, he came to school to check if nothing had happened that day.”

Olivia looked directly at Yuria and said.

“That fool absolutely cannot do it.”

*

In a story no one knew,

A lady was shedding tears in front of someone’s tombstone. The black sword beside the tombstone was rusted and seemed unmovable, while lilies were piled around it.

“It’s because of me.”

The pink-haired lady knelt before the tombstone. She pounded her chest and caressed the tombstone.

“Because of me… you…”

The lady’s sorrowful murmurs sought answers from the unresponsive tombstone.

-Doubt.

If she could cast a curse,

She would want to curse her past self.

Telling herself not to trust, not to believe, because giving too much faith would lead to heartwrenching pain.

-I’m relieved. That you’re not hurt…

Like now, enduring such pain.

Pain that she could not share with anyone.

The lady wept bitterly as she looked at the tombstone, feeling she could no longer endure it.

‘Doubt.’

She had hated him because of something so trivial.

At the same time, if she had let that reason grow larger, she felt she might never have approached him in the first place.

The lady cried all night, wiping the tombstone with her tears.

Hoping for one more chance.

***

A week passed, but Yuria’s mood did not improve.

Even though her father had awakened.

Even though she ate delicious food.

There was no sign of improvement.

Yuria wore a dark expression, her head bowed.

It was strange.

The words she had heard from Olivia were so strange. She had thought it was bullying orchestrated by someone behind the scenes and had tried to understand and think positively, but everything had been a contradiction.

Though she thought she couldn’t trust Olivia’s words, memories from the past that flashed through her mind began to cast doubt on Yuria’s negative thoughts.

-What were you doing?

-Ah… that is.

Even Ricardo, whom she had accidentally run into at the shoe cabinet, had been unusually startled.

-What are you doing!

-Oh, you’re here early today?

The scene of Ricardo, who had arrived earlier than usual, scribbling graffiti on a desk in the classroom, replayed in Yuria’s mind.

At the time, she had been angry.

Because what she saw pointed to Ricardo’s wrongdoing. She had thought the bullying by her classmates and every word they spoke were all insults directed at her. She had been overly sensitive and afraid.

So she hadn’t had the capacity to look back at Ricardo. To observe what he was doing or who he was with. She liked him, yet she knew nothing about him. How ridiculous.

Slowly, the puzzle pieces in her mind began to fit together.

From the moment she started making friends in class, she began to understand why Ricardo’s lonely figure, walking away without speaking to her, had seemed that way.

As more friends invited her to eat together, she began to realize why Ricardo stopped appearing in the restaurant.

She had thought he was avoiding her.

She had thought he found her uncomfortable and didn’t want to eat with her, so he avoided the restaurant. But everything had been a contradiction.

Why was he avoiding me?

Why was he tormenting me?

Why did he hate me?

If he had told me back then, things would have been different. If he had given me even a hint, things might have changed, even just a little….

-Miss Yuria, are you happy with your life at the Academy?

-I’d be fine if you weren’t here.

-Is that so? That’s good to hear.

‘Ah.’

Only now did she begin to understand the meaning behind Ricardo’s words when he was expelled from the Academy. The farewell he had kindly given her, though not to others, was starting to make sense.

It was all because of ‘me.’

Late at night, sitting by her father’s sickbed, Yuria rubbed her eyes at the warm sensation on her cheeks.

“Huh…?”

Tears were falling.

“Why am I…?”

She felt so foolish.

For doubting Ricardo.

For the hatred she had held in her heart until the very end, only to realize it had been misdirected. Tears streamed down her face.

“Ah… ahhh…”

Even when she rubbed her eyes, the tears wouldn’t stop.

Amid the moonlit tears, the emotion she felt was not regret but guilt, and she cried, consumed by it.

This isn’t right.

This isn’t what I wanted.

Swallowing her sadness, Yuria lifted her head.

I need some fresh air.

She thought that if she could take a deep breath and let the air fill her chest, she might feel a little better.

Covering her eyes with her hands to hide her tears from her father, Yuria ran to the veranda.

-Creak.

And then.

“Huh?”

“Miss Yuria?”

She met the one person she least wanted to see.

“The wind is cold.”

She had encountered the person who always worried about her, at the moment when she felt the most vulnerable.

And at that moment.

-Crash.

The shell encasing Yuria’s heart began to crumble.

*

[■■■ The curse of ‘Jealousy’ within ‘Yuria’ begins to stir.]

-The Needle of Memory, which had been frozen, begins to move.