The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 8

The room where only Olivia and I remained after Hanna left.

I stroked Olivia’s sleeping head as evening approached.

There were a lot of things that happened today.

I even had a fight with Ruin.

Hanna came, kept Olivia company, and then left.

It seemed like a rather exhausting day.

I was tired and worn out.

And yet, it was fun.

“Was it fun?”

I said as I stroked Olivia’s sleeping head.

“Hmmnya… hmmnya… Mikhail…”

Her calling out Mikhail’s name in her dream made me want to flick her forehead, but just for today, I decided to let it slide. She must have been tired and had fun too.

I got to see quite a variety of Olivia’s expressions.

Especially Hanna’s expression—it was priceless.

-During the Class Battle, when Senior Mikhail used Body Strengthening Magic to instantly appear behind Senior Ruin and swing his sword with a ‘swish.’

-Oh…!

-He was so cool, I almost fell for him.

-Oh… Ohhh…!

-Ah… What am I even saying?

Seeing Hanna get all excited and passionately talk about Mikhail, only to realize what she was doing and mutter “Ah…” as she came back to reality—it was amusing to watch.

But one thing concerned me—Olivia.

Usually, she would get overly excited about anything related to Mikhail, but today, she listened to Hanna with a somewhat ambiguous expression. Like someone eating mint chocolate, unsure if they liked it or not.

[Desmond Olivia Lv. 0.5]

[Occupation: Unemployed]

[Favorability: 50]

[Favorite Conversation Topics: Mikhail/Academy]

[Disliked Conversation Topic: Mikhail]

Fortunately, there was no change in her Favorability.

But something seemed off.

I stared at her Favorability and fell into thought.

‘Academy… is it?’

The reason they came today was for Academy re-enrollment. Not for the Young Lady, but for me.

I don’t understand why.

The Young Lady has far more talent than I do.

If someone asked if I wanted to re-enroll, I would definitely say yes.

I wanted to re-enroll and see the Heroine and Hero’s sweet moments, and considering my future, graduating from the Academy would benefit my life greatly.

There was so much to learn.

And connections to build.

Overall, it had many advantages.

“Snore… Kuuh… Koooh…”

But leaving behind a Lady Villainess who couldn’t do anything without me was unimaginable.

Entrusting Olivia to someone else was also out of the question. Honestly, I thought no one but me could take care of Olivia.

Sometimes she’d get angry.

Sometimes she’d cry out of frustration.

Sometimes she’d laugh out of spite.

She wasn’t a bad person, but her excessive honesty was her problem, and more people saw her negatively than positively.

I gently pinched the nose of the peacefully sleeping Lady Villainess.

“Huek… Keok… Air raid alarm…!”

“Pfft…!”

The Lady Villainess frowned.

She was so cute it was driving me crazy.

How did I end up entangled with Olivia?

I wanted to avoid this Lady Villainess at all costs.

I still don’t understand why I’m drawn to the most wretched and infamous Lady Villainess in the novel.

It must be because of our first meeting.

Seeing the Young Lady’s scowling face reminded me of my days in the slum.

The day I foolishly acted up after being possessed.

I got beaten up a lot.

By delinquents who came to collect tribute money.

By the bakery owner.

And by nobles.

I got beaten by delinquents for not paying enough tribute money, and because of my poor stealing skills, I kept getting caught stealing bread and was beaten by the bakery owner.

If I was unlucky, I even got beaten by nobles for no reason.

It was my first experience being beaten for no reason, and I was dumbfounded.

Maybe because I came from a world where democracy was the norm, my unyielding sense of freedom ruined my personality.

I got beaten every day.

And I fought back every day.

Three times harder than what I received.

It might seem excessive, but what could I do? I was angry.

-Damn it. Life sucks!

While shouting about the unfairness of the world, I met Olivia. When the Noble Lady in a Fancy Dress briskly walked toward me, I was terrified. I wonder if Olivia knows how scared I was.

-Shut up! You beggar!

-What’s with you, kiddo?

Of course, back then, I didn’t care about anything. And neither did the Young Lady.

-Kiddo? Did you just call me kiddo?

-Who else would I be talking to, kid?

-Eeeek!!!

Victory was mine.

The experience I gained from surviving in the slum and the dogfight skills I honed in my previous life helped me win. Fighting the Young Lady, who had pulled countless nobles’ hair in high society, wasn’t easy, but I won.

The Young Lady glared at me.

With a face full of indignation.

What was funny was that she didn’t cry.

-You, I’ll kill you.

-Pfft. Go drink some more of your mother’s milk first.

-You… drink me!

-I… don’t have a mother.

-Oh… Th-then! I’ll give you money, so go buy some!

And that’s how I started building a relationship with the Young Lady.

It wasn’t a normal meeting.

Becoming friends after fighting—it was ridiculous. But Olivia and I became close in this foolish way.

-You came again today?

-Yeah! Today, I’m going to beat you up mercilessly.

-Pfft.

The Lady Villainess who came looking for me every day.

And me, who didn’t hold back and beat up the Noble Lady.

-You bastard!

-Bastard~

-Stop copying me!

-Stop copying me~

-Snrk… Hahaha…!

-Don’t cry. I’m sorry.

Thinking about it now, I was a crazy bastard back then. The act of a commoner fighting with a noble lady was grounds for immediate execution. Yet, the Young Lady forgave all of it.

When the bodyguard knights came to stop us, she yelled, “Don’t touch this bastard! If you do, I’ll kill you!” Because of that, neither the bodyguard knights nor her maid could stop our fight.

Everyone knew the Young Lady’s personality.

Perhaps because of that, even after the fight ended, the bodyguard knights didn’t bother me. In fact, they slipped me some money on the side, asking me to go easy on her.

Anyway, that’s how we became close.

And then.

When I was truly on the verge of dying.

-You… Just come live in my house.

The Young Lady saved me.

The Young Lady is both my friend and my benefactor. That’s probably why I care so much and why I can’t abandon her.

“Snore…”

The Young Lady slept soundly.

She’s always been such a deep sleeper since childhood that it’s almost a flaw.

Maybe the saying that beauties need more sleep is true.

‘She’s sleeping so soundly.’

I checked her favorability again.

The list of topics she liked to talk about had increased.

‘The Academy, huh…’

Olivia’s hesitant words from earlier crossed my mind.

-Do you want to re-enroll?

-Uh… Huh? No?

Her expression was quite flustered.

She was never good at lying, not back then and not now.

I could tell. She missed the Academy. After serving her for 13 years, it would be strange if I couldn’t figure out her feelings.

But I had no choice but to ignore it.

There was nothing I could do.

She had already been expelled from the Academy.

Her reputation had already hit rock bottom, and returning to the Academy in that state wouldn’t be a wise choice.

The Young Lady isn’t foolish enough to not know that.

She could end up being ostracized.

Her life there could be worse than not attending at all, and she likely knows that to some extent.

Even so, it seems the Young Lady still wants to go to the Academy.

-Uh…

Her regretful voice still lingered in my ears.

I looked at the peacefully sleeping Young Lady again.

Even pinching her cheek didn’t wake her.

“Mmph…”

She just made a foolish sound.

I pinched her cheek and asked.

“Do you want to go to the Academy?”

“Mmph… Yeah.”

The Young Lady answered honestly in her sleep.

Pisik. A chuckle escaped me.

It felt like I had worried about something too obvious. For a possessor, nothing is impossible.

‘I’ll have to do something.’

I took out a small paper I had tucked away.

-Histania Hanna.

It was the business card she had given me from the Histania Family.

She told me to come by if I needed a small side job. Her family ran a small knights’ order, and she said I could earn a decent amount by working there temporarily.

I stroked the Young Lady’s head and stood up.

***

By 9 a.m., I was ready.

I secretly took the sword the Young Lady had bought as a gift for Mikhail and strapped a small dagger to my belt.

I set aside my usual butler suit for a while and put on active wear for the first time in ages. Looking in the mirror, I admired myself.

‘Wow… I look handsome, even to myself.’

The Young Lady, with her blank stare, asked me.

“Where are you going?”

“To earn some money.”

“Money?”

The Young Lady, her head full of question marks, listened as I kindly explained the dire state of our mansion’s finances.

“Don’t you want to eat meat?”

“I do.”

“Then we need to earn money, right?”

“Are we broke?”

“We’re beggars.”

Only then did the Young Lady, saying “Ah,” finally grasp our pitiful financial situation. Nodding vigorously, she asked another question.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to hunt some monsters.”

“Monsters?”

The Lady Villainess fell into deep thought.

The Young Lady pointed her finger at the desk.

“Give me that.”

I picked up the paper and pen from the desk.

“This?”

“Yes.”

The Young Lady quickly started writing.

True to her noble heritage, her elegant handwriting was a work of art.

I could never write like that, no matter how hard I tried. My handwriting was so bad that no one could imitate it, in the worst way possible.

While I was admiring her handwriting skills, her masterpiece was already finished.

The Young Lady confidently handed me the paper.

“Here.”

Her face was full of anticipation as she handed me the paper.

I felt a lump in my throat.

I thought she had written a charm for her butler, who was about to do dangerous work. Holding back tears of emotion, I accepted the paper.

And then I froze in confusion.

[Things I Want to Eat]

Meat.

Ice cream.

Apples.

Chocolate.

The spicy rice cake dish you made before.

It was the Young Lady’s eating wishlist.

As expected, she never failed to surprise me.

Her actions always went beyond my expectations.

Even so, I liked her cute handwriting, so I tucked the errand list into my chest pocket.

“I’ll skip the chocolate.”

“Ah.”

Olivia froze at my cold rejection.

I smiled brightly at her reaction.

“Instead, I’ll go buy some candy.”

Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise.

I turned away from her and opened the door.

“Th…”

“Yes?”

“Come back safely.”

Olivia waved her hand.

***

Left alone, Olivia sat blankly on the bed.

[You have gained the authority to view the side story.]

Goosebumps rose on Olivia’s shoulders.