The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

Chapter 78: The Unqualified Person (2)

[Q. The Person Who Has No Right to Misunderstand]

There was a girl who had fallen in love.

A boy with red hair and straightforward eyes. His appearance might have seemed fierce to most students, something to avoid, but to the girl, he was someone whose appearance ‘clicked' with her heart.

The girl's love was shy.

She was happy just being with him, overjoyed at the prospect of eating together, and would lie in her dormitory bed with a fluttering heart, staying up through the night. That was until a problem arose with a villainous woman the boy was serving.

The boy tormented the girl.

He would lock her away in a wardrobe under the pretense of danger and pour wine on her dress with a sad smile. He ceaselessly played pranks that hurt the girl's heart.

Yet the girl still liked the boy, comforting herself with thoughts that there must be a reason for his actions.

However, starting with the incident in the dungeon, the girl began to dislike the boy.

She had thought her friends were on her side, but she was abandoned by them in the dungeon. Beginning to suspect the boy who had come to save her as if he had been waiting, she asked herself why.

Why he was there, why bad things always happened around him, the girl started to become afraid.

The girl was doubtful.

She thought about whether the things that seemed to happen against her wishes had actually been the boy's doing or if the bad things happening around her were caused by the boy.

That day in the dungeon.

Despite the boy doing his best to protect her.

The boy thinks he is a bad person. Although he may be right, it's uncertain how you see it.

(!) Find your mistaken memory from the day you were abandoned in the dungeon.

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

2. Persuade or eliminate ‘Hans' tainted by greed. (0/1)

Reward: You can access 〈Side Story 12〉 ‘The Person Who Has No Right to Misunderstand.'

Failure: ‘The Person Who Has No Right to Misunderstand' will be changed to 〈Side Story 42〉 ‘The Unqualified Person' and you will be ‘forced' to view it.

***

Upon seeing the blue window, Yuria stopped in her tracks.

The clear ‘ding' sound that accompanied the chilling contents had caught her by the ankles.

Frozen in place, Yuria felt her blood run cold.

Because it spoke of killing a friend.

Because it detailed her own story.

A story she had told no one. The blue window clearly indicating the turning point of how she came to dislike Ricardo made Yuria feel as if her body was turning to stone.

‘What the…'

‘Ricardo did what…?'

‘And who's Hans…'

Rubbing her eyes, Yuria asked Michail, who was checking the condition of his sword.

"Michail… I see something strange…"

"Something strange?"

Yuria pointed at the blue window with her finger.

Michail looked where Yuria was pointing, but he saw nothing in the air. With a perplexed expression, not understanding what she was talking about or pointing to, Michail said,

"I don't see anything. Are you too tense?"

"You don't see anything?"

"…"

Yuria bit her lip hard.

She thought maybe she was seeing things because she was too tense, but the clear words she could see were not easy to dismiss.

Yuria swallowed the doubts that rose to her lips.

She didn't want to ruin the mood with strange talk. She didn't want to show a fuss before exploring an unknown area.

Gripping her fists tightly, Yuria said to Michail,

"No… Maybe I just saw something for a moment."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… don't worry about it. I'm okay."

Michail looked at Yuria with concern. He could guess why she was acting this way.

An incident over a year old.

Being left behind in the dungeon.

Michail didn't know about the event from a year ago. He wasn't there and only heard rumors.

What he clearly remembered was Ricardo, covered in blood, bringing Yuria back. This was something he distinctly remembered.

At that time, Michail was interrogating the students who had returned to the Royal Academy.

"Tell the truth…"

"We don't know where that wench went!"

"Somebody saw you go in with her… and you're still going to deny it?"

"No… it's just that…"

"Talk. Before I tell the student council president."

"Haah… we didn't want to do it…!"

"Stop beating around the bush and talk…"

Amidst the questioning, Ricardo appeared.

"Damn. Thought I was dead."

Bloody and battered, Ricardo handed over Yuria and then left the place abruptly.

That was all Michail remembered about that day.

Ricardo kept quiet.

And Yuria couldn't remember.

So there was nothing he could say about it.

Before entering the ominous space, Michail reached out a hand to the struggling Yuria and said,

"Let's go back if it's too hard. I'll come down with Ruin and look for it again."

"…"

Yuria shook her head with difficulty.

"No, it's just the cold."

Ignoring the blue window that hung in the air, Yuria rejected Michail's hand.

"What if Hans is injured? Neither of you can use healing magic."

Michail couldn't respond to her valid point.

Running away upon hearing someone's scream didn't fit Michail and Yuria's principles.

The two fools who once tried to save a heretic. They couldn't consider turning back after hearing a human scream.

Yuria stood up with determination and said,

"Let's go. We can do this."

A dark hole in the dungeon wall.

As if proving that no human hand had touched it, the dark and dreary space awaited the three, with no torchlight or lanterns.

Ruin was excited to discover an unexplored area.

Michail felt an ominous premonition.

And Yuria was worried about her friend.

The trio swallowed their nerves and moved toward the depths.

As their feet stepped beyond the wall.

‘Ding!' A chilling text obscured Yuria's vision.

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

Yuria ignored the blue window with a stiff expression.

‘It'll be okay…'

She tried to calm her beating heart.

***

The space beyond the wall was nothing special.

No powerful monsters.

No dangerous traps. Just an ordinary space.

If not for the sheer darkness, it was no different from an ordinary dungeon.

There were walls and a path.

A repetitive pattern every few sections.

After about 10 minutes.

Ruin, feeling bored, began to grumble.

"What's this? No monsters, no items… We were excited, and there's nothing here. Did Hans take everything?"

"Keep it down. Monsters might show up."

"Keep it down? We haven't seen a single monster so far."

"That's why you need to be careful. What if there's an irregular? Are you going to be responsible?"

Annoyed by Michail's conservative actions, Ruin was irritated. The tentative steps were grating on his nerves, and the more they walked into the depths, the heavier the foul stench became.

Ruin furrowed his brows at the nauseating smell and complained to Michail,

"Your breath stinks… Go brush your teeth or something."

As Ruin's sarcastic words came out, Michail walked up to him with big strides, and Ruin stepped backward, spouting curse words.

"Are you mad? It struck a nerve, huh…"

"Stop joking around and focus."

"Nu-nu… Stop joking around… Ah!"

Thud! Avoiding Michail, Ruin tripped over something dull and fell.

"Damn it… Annoying…"

As he tried to get up, he reached for the ground.

"What's this?"

His hand felt something squishy, and Ruin began to lower the orb he had floated in the air.

"What's wrong?"

"No… just a moment, something feels strange"

A creepy sensation froze Ruin as he had a chilling thought.

‘It wasn't like a rock. It felt… a bit softer.'

A hard texture, yet somehow soft.

The feeling wasn't like a rock but rather like sitting on a living creature made Ruin carefully lower the orb to illuminate the floor.

An obstacle began to reveal itself in the light of the orb.

"Yuck!"

Ruin, who had been sitting on a human corpse, jumped up in horror. Sticky bodily fluids clung to his clothes.

He breathed heavily as he discovered the source of the stench that had filled their noses.

"Damn…"

Seeing the exposed corpse, Ruin covered his mouth.

"Ugh…"

"What's going on, Ruin… Aaah!"

Yuria screamed and stepped back upon seeing the corpse. She bent over, retching.

Her face turned pale.

The eyes of the dead corpse were open, having died with its breath still.

The corpse was wearing the patrol uniform of an exploration team that managed the dungeon.

And it wasn't just one – there were several in a row.

Seeing the bodies scattered on the floor, Michail tried to maintain his composure as he bent down.

He placed his hand on the neck of one corpse and then shook his head.

"They're dead."

Michail was confirming their deaths.

Ruin, supporting the flustered Yuria, looked at Michail and said,

"Damn… What is this?"

"I don't know."

"No… Ah…"

Ruin swept a hand through his hair, his mind a whirlwind.

Corpses.

In the capital's dungeon.

Seeing corpses in a dungeon was a relatively common sight, but finding abandoned bodies in the dungeon near the capital was not something to overlook.

A dungeon adopted for the safety of the Royal Academy's students. A place where first-year finals and most assignments were conducted. The presence of bodies meant something had gone terribly wrong.

Monsters that threatened students' lives didn't exist here, and there was a team continuously managing the dungeon.

The death of people meant it was clear-cut murder.

Suddenly, an eerie sensation began to prickle the skin of the confused trio.

-Aaaaaaagh!!!

Once again, the scream of an unfamiliar man sent shivers down Ruin's spine.

Ruin's smug smile began to fade, while Michail, who had been standing expressionlessly, started to channel magic into his sword.

With inexperienced aura kept as a last resort, Michail, tensed by the situation, surveyed the surroundings.

As another chill wind blew through,

Michail, deciding on a course of action, looked at Yuria and Ruin and said,

"Let's go back."

"What are you saying, man."

"Let's go back."

"…"

Ruin bristled at the mention of turning back and started to argue with Michail. He was aware of the seriousness of the situation, but Ruin was worried about his friend.

Michail calmly replied to Ruin,

"Something is wrong."

Michail said it.

Something was terribly wrong.

Michail began to walk towards the entrance, shielding the panting Yuria behind him.

"Let's give up."

"What?"

"Give up and go back, it's not our problem to solve."

Michail suggested heading back to the entrance, but Ruin shook his head and responded loudly,

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? We can't just leave after coming this far…"

"We've come far enough, so let's go back before it's too late. Let's go back."

"Then what about Hans? Just leave him to die?"

Ruin thought Michail was scared.

With such an attitude, Ruin looked down on Michail, thinking he couldn't accomplish anything. Ruin started striding towards the opposite side of the entrance, towards where the man's scream had come from.

"Being scared, what can you do? Idiot."

Michail reached out to grab Ruin's hand, to stop him from going further and to go back together.

"What's that?"

Michail halted when he saw Ruin suddenly stop.

It was a vast space.

A wide space that seemed like a dungeon boss was lying in wait.

The dark, high ceiling. An arena-like circular space came into view, and at its center, a giant red magic circle drawn in blood loomed before them.

And.

In the midst of chaos, a familiar man was standing with a strange smile.

A modest-looking man with black glasses.

The boy who looked like a model student was ‘Hans,' the missing student they had been searching for.

Ruin started walking slowly towards the center of the magic circle.

Ruin walked as if entranced, with an incredulous look in his eyes as if asking why Hans was there.

"Hey… Hans, what are you doing here?"

Hans, upon hearing someone approaching, turned around and saw Ruin. With a nonchalant expression, as if nothing was amiss, he said,

"Oh… it's Ruin? And Yuria and Michail are here too…"

Hans, unfazed in a place filled with corpses, sent shivers down Ruin's spine.

Hans was waving his hand.

His hand smeared with blood, he muttered something eerie.

"I didn't expect to show the first demonstration to you guys… Maybe this is fate too?"

Ruin, now close to Hans, spoke with a trembling voice. Confused, as the friend he knew wouldn't act like this.

"What are you doing here…"

"Can't you see?"

"What?"

"I'm studying. Trying to keep up with talented people like you."

Hans spoke to Ruin with innocent eyes.

"I was self-studying."

"You're not going to interrupt, are you?"

Suddenly, the red magic circle under Hans's feet began to glow.

"I don't want to kill you. After all, we are friends."

The supporting character, tainted by jealousy, turns into the Archbishop of Greed.

Hans looked at Ruin with an innocent smile.