The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

Chapter 83: The Unqualified Person (7)

Her transgressions ended with Ricardo's faint smile.

Overwhelmed by an incalculable shock, she reached out into the void, but all that returned was the cold text of the blue window.

[The reading has ended.]

[You will return to the original time in 3 minutes.]

Her vision began to darken.

Only sound was perceptible.

Nothing could be seen.

The only thing that could be heard through the darkened vision was Ricardo's calm voice.

-Run, Yuria.

-Ah… Ah…

-It's okay. Hurry up.

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

Yuria had hoped to remain beside Ricardo and heal him, but the sound of her own feet running away in the face of overwhelming fear twisted her expression.

-I… I'll heal…

-It's okay. Run faster.

The desperate rushing footsteps of the girl echoed like a mad song in the darkened sight.

‘No…'

‘Don't run away…'

‘I need to stay until the end…'

As the sound of her past self's footsteps gradually faded, Yuria crumbled.

She couldn't see anything, but Yuria knew. She knew that in this space, only Ricardo and Calypso were left.

-Clck. Clck. Clck. What to do being abandoned? If you bring that woman back now, I might spare at least you.

-I might know how to attack old men, but I don’t know how to respect them.

-Heh, what a dull fellow.

-Indeed. Seems dementia has set in since my humor isn't landing.

After the brief exchange, sounds of a battle that could burst eardrums resonated.

Flesh being torn.

The grim sound of skin being sliced.

Yuria covered her ears and tears fell.

‘Ah… it can't be…'

Though she floundered, denying that she was the one responsible, the pieces of memory slowly fitting together refused to let her escape from the swamp of admission.

A forgotten memory surfaced.

After escaping the dungeon, when she had been hospitalized in the infirmary. She remembered how Ricardo had cautiously opened the door of the infirmary.

-Why did you come…

She remembered coldly pushing Ricardo away at that time. She hadn't spoken directly, but she asked him to leave in a way that made her intent clear.

Ricardo scanned her body for injuries and then left a small gift on the table of the infirmary with an awkward smile.

-I brought back something you lost.

That day, the small box contained the pink dagger she thought she had lost in the dungeon.

The dagger with which she had stabbed Ricardo.

The precious object she had once told Ricardo was a gift from her father, he had brought it back, recalling the unpleasant memory.

With memories fitting together one by one, Yuria shook her head in denial.

‘Haah… Haah.. No..'

-You poor abandoned thing.

-…

-You want to protect him, even though he ran away from you? If I were you, I would have chased after and dragged her back by the hair.

-You really have gone senile.

-Are you not afraid of losing your life?

-Isn't it about time for you to return to the dirt?

The sounds of Ricardo's desperate battle with the taunting dark wizard, Calypso, echoed in Yuria's ears.

And the voice of the old man, hinting at Ricardo's defeat, reached her.

-You put up quite a fight. Young swordsman.

As Calypso's chilling words concluded.

-Limit break.

With Ricardo's short phrase, the blue window bid farewell to the past.

[You are returning to the original time.]

***

When she came to, everything was over.

While she stood there, dumbfounded, unable to shake the horrific shock of the terrible past that unfolded due to her mistake.

Michail had gathered all his strength and confronted Hans, and thanks to Michail stalling for time, the Empire's knights who were searching for Hans were able to arrive.

"Damn…"

Hans swallowed his frustration and ran away.

With the arrival of someone who could skillfully wield aura, a formidable opponent, he had no choice but to tuck his tail and run.

As Hans fled, spitting out the words ‘if only I hadn't gone berserk…' he disappeared with a bone-chilling remark, ‘See you again,' aimed at them.

She hadn't done anything.

She joined the group to provide support, but due to her lack of ability, she was not only unable to help Michail and Ruin, but she also failed to persuade Hans.

Yuria swallowed her frustration as she watched the knights trying to sort out the situation.

"I couldn't… do anything…"

She lost many victims and friends.

She encountered truths she had never considered.

Having harshly misunderstood and treated someone poorly, Yuria bit her lip and swallowed her tears, now knowing the truth.

"How foolish…"

She felt foolish for being powerless.

If she had only been a little stronger, if she hadn't been swayed by emotions, then the events shown by the blue window wouldn't have happened.

Michail. Ruin. Ricardo.

She might have been able to protect everyone.

Yuria felt pathetic in her weakness.

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

Yuria lifted her head towards the ceiling to hide her welling tears. It felt like they would pour out if she didn't do this.

Though Yuria didn't want to show herself crying in front of the knights and her friends, when she saw the sword marks etched across the ceiling, the emotions surged like a tidal wave, and she eventually burst.

"Hic…"

The sword marks were evidence of a fierce battle.

The traces of a frail Academy student who had swung his weapon to protect her against the wicked dark wizard.

The traces of someone who had protected her.

Tears began to stream down her chin.

"It was nothing."

His tender voice seemed to keep coming back to her mind. The sad face of Ricardo, who had been hiding the blood flowing from his mouth with a faint smile, still lingered in her head.

Yuria murmured with empty eyes.

"It shouldn't have happened."

"You shouldn't have done that…"

"I… I misunderstood it as your doing, but if you do that, what does that make me…"

Yuria uttered these sorrowful words to herself. Without wiping her tears, she repeated the words while looking at the sword marks drawn all over the walls and ceiling.

"I didn't even know… and I hated you."

She had hated Ricardo.

She had hated him enough to wish he would trip over a stone while walking. She had never wished for his death.

She just wanted him to feel the pain she had felt, and she hoped he would be punished for the wrongdoings he committed at the Academy, but she never wanted revenge in this manner.

She hadn't thought she'd be hurt by her own hands…

She just wished that she, who had always been at the lower end of the scale of relationships, would rise a bit higher.

She hadn't wanted the weight on the scale to lighten in such a way.

‘I just hoped Ricardo would suffer a little…'

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

The world seemed to be shaded in gray.

She wished that everything she had seen was a lie, but unfortunately, Yuria had to admit that the past she saw was not made up.

That was what Hans had done.

And her faint remaining memories supported that.

Yuria raised her hand towards the ceiling. Her fingers were delicate and white, without a single scar.

With this hand, she had stabbed Ricardo.

"I…"

Yuria looked at her hand with trembling eyes. Her fingertips were quivering, tinged with guilt for what she had done with her hand.

"It wasn’t on purpose…"

"It was… all the dark wizard's doing…"

Denying it was the act of the evil dark wizard.

Even as she told the cunning lie that it wasn't her will, the pink dagger at her waist seemed to be screaming, ‘stop joking.'

‘…'

It was a clumsy lie.

Just an excuse to ease her conscience.

Yuria let out a hollow chuckle and shook her head.

"Yeah… it's all just an excuse."

If she hadn't foolishly followed those guys that day, Ricardo wouldn't have had to suffer through such an ordeal.

Her shoulders began to shake with heavy breaths due to the frustration of her own incompetence, always being a hindrance rather than a help.

"It's suffocating."

Overwhelmed by rising frustration, Yuria struck her chest with her fist. She thought it might help alleviate the pain, but the more she hit herself, the more Ricardo's bitter smile came to mind, tightening her chest even more.

"Yuria…!"

Ruin, who had been lying down, ran towards her. Despite his own injuries, he ran towards her with concern, and while she was touched by this, the thought of Ricardo's painful smile quickly turned the feeling into gloom.

In no time, Ruin reached Yuria and asked with a face full of concern.

"Are you okay? You must have been frightened…"

Yuria caught hold of Ruin and said,

"Ruin… it must have hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Yuria's gaze did not settle on Ruin. Looking at the man remaining in her memory, she spoke to Ruin.

"Ricardo must have been in so much pain, right..?"

"He must have hated me so much…"

"I… I must have been hated to death."

Having had plenty of experience healing others, but none being injured herself, Yuria thought she could never understand the pain Ricardo went through.

She thought she could never understand the heartache Ricardo felt from being betrayed by someone he trusted.

Yuria lay face down, thinking.

Even though her forehead touched the dirty floor, she didn't care.

Just…

She wanted to stay like this for a while.

Until her heart that felt like it was tearing apart was okay, just for a moment…

"I want to stay like this…"

"Yuria…!"

Yuria's vision went black.