The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen chapter 99

99 – I am a Bad Person -6-

Yuri’s innocent question, asking for an emotion I have never tried before, made me feel puzzled.

‘I don’t hate you.’

Shouldn’t this be a question for me?

In the relationship between Yuri and me, the one dominating was not me but Yuri.

Perpetrator and victim.

Even if I maintained boundaries and caused distress, the fact that I troubled Yuri remained an unchanging wrongdoing.

Even if I reduced half of the suffering Yuri was supposed to endure, the hardships she faced at the Academy were likely the first of its kind for her, and I was one of the culprits who gifted her with such adversity.

With doubts in my mind, I looked into Yuri’s eyes.

Her eyes were moist, with dampness lingering in the corners. Gazing into Yuri’s eyes, filled with complex emotions, I found myself momentarily speechless.

“Why are you asking such a question?”

“Just because.”

In response to Yuri casually adding the reason and posing the question, I hesitated for a moment in contemplation.

Feelings of resentment towards others and my unfamiliarity with closeness—perhaps due to my usual isolation from the remorse of conscience—made it difficult for me to respond to Yuri’s question.

Taking a pause, I finally replied to Yuri.

“I don’t hate you. Um… yeah.”

…

Yuri tightly held the handle of the beer glass. With her head lowered and ears perked up, the thin fingers of Yuri, gripping the glass, trembled slightly with each movement of her lips.

Having doubts about such Yuri, I questioned her.

“Why do I think I hate you, Yuri?”

“Because I’ve committed a grave mistake…”

“A mistake?”

Yuri’s uttered word “mistake” left me in contemplation.

“Have you by any chance touched my wallet, or perhaps spat in the coffee you gave me? If it’s the former, it’s a serious matter, and if it’s the latter, well… I’ll spare my words.”

“Nothing like that happened.”

“Then I don’t quite understand why you’re asking such questions.”

In response to the returning question, Yuria asked with a trembling voice.

“Why…”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you hate me?”

I repeated the answer I gave a little while ago.

“I’ve said it before. I have no reason to hate you, Yuria.”

Yuria’s expression began to break down into tears. Perhaps due to recent worries, her faltering expression seemed somewhat poignant.

“Don’t lie.”

“Because of me… No, I… I…”

Yuria seemed to want to say something, biting her lip after uttering the same words.

I couldn’t figure out what Yuria was trying to say, but it seemed like she was about to talk about something related to me.

Maybe something she learned about at the academy.

Like the incident of the fire in the girls’ dormitory.

Or perhaps she found out about one of the lies I told her. I had discreetly moved to avoid being caught by others, but could someone have witnessed it?

Since it was something in the past, I didn’t pay much attention. Facing Yuria, who was asking me questions with a trembling voice, I calmly spoke.

“Why would I hate you, Yuria.”

“…”

“Although I may have a somewhat erratic personality, I’m not one to lose my composure easily.”

Yuria was left speechless by my response.

She tightly pressed her lips together and, unable to say anything, only muttered softly, “Why pretend not to know… You know everything, don’t you…?”

Feeling the sudden shift to a truth game, I cautiously decided to speak up, feeling the need to gain something from this.

“This time, I’ll be the one asking questions. It wouldn’t be fair if only Yuria gets to ask.”

I politely folded my hands on the table and continued, “Yuria, do you dislike me?”

Yuria hesitated, clenching her fists tightly, but I felt that her response was clear enough from her demeanor.

Even though we could speak comfortably due to the alcohol, I knew that deep inside Yuria, there was a darkness that no one could see.

It would be strange not to dislike her.

Even if everything that happened because of me was meant for her, the conclusion was still hurtful.

I thought that seeking forgiveness itself was the problem.

So, I spoke with a voice that sounded resolute.

“As you know, I am a person without conscience. Well… you could say I’m wicked.”

To that, Yuria retorted with a question. Without a hint of hesitation, she firmly denied it.

“No, you’re not.”

“I appreciate you saying that, but you see, Yuria, you saw me at the academy, didn’t you?”

“There’s a reason for that…!”

I clenched my fists.

“Why did you do it?”

“…”

“What reason did you have to torment Miss Yuria?”

“It’s because of Lady Olivia…!”

“I see.”

I felt it was necessary to be a little harsh now.

To be honest, I calmly retorted with the hope that Yuria would draw a clear line.

“Even if it was at Lady’s behest, there were things that wouldn’t have happened if I had refused.”

It might have been tougher if I hadn’t intervened, but I didn’t bother saying that.

It wouldn’t have been dignified.

And I hoped Yuria would feel remorse.

It was my way of atonement.

Because it was one of the few gifts I could offer Yuria as a possessed.

So, I said something that pained Yuria a little.

“If I had given Yuria a warning in advance, it might not have been as tough, and if I hadn’t taken your side, perhaps Yuria could have had a comfortable time at the academy.”

As Yuria listened to the cold words, she clenched her fist and shouted.

“Then why did you help me?!”

Yuria’s voice was choked.

“In the dungeon, in the classroom, and even when eating alone, it was all Riccardo who was there for you!”

“It’s nothing. I’m nothing to Riccardo…! Why did he treat me so well?!”

“Was I pitiful to you?”

“Did I look pitiful being alone?”

“Or…”

“Was this also Ricardo’s doing?”

Yuria’s eyes were trembling.

In the eyes filled with truth, I couldn’t easily bring up the story. I was so awkward with these emotions that I found it difficult to speak, to know what to say, and with what emotions to say it.

So, I decided to wrap up the conversation in a boring way.

“…I guess so.”

“I don’t really know either.”

“Maybe I acted that way because I’m a bad person.”

*

On the way back home,

Yuria, drunk, was leaning on my back.

Who would’ve thought that someone who couldn’t even drink would end up drinking this much. If she chatted with a forced smile, I’d order a beer and she’d down it in one shot, and with vague answers, I’d order another one for her.

So, Yuria, who had turned into a mess, was leaning on my back.

“Ugh… The world is strange.”

From Noble mtl dot com

“It’s Yuria who’s strange.”

“Ugh… My stomach feels queasy.”

“Can’t you endure that?”

Yuria’s unsettling gestures of retching were unsettling, but I couldn’t just leave her on the cold ground, so I sighed deeply and headed towards the academy.

“It’s been a while since I took this path, so I don’t remember it well.”

I wandered through the park, like a lost monk in a fuzzy memory that had been going on for about a year and a half.

Clearly, if I had followed the main road, there should have been a signpost leading to the academy, but there wasn’t.

Repeating the same path, I found myself standing in a gloomy alley.

“Hmm… Is this the realm of hallucination?”

I let out a deep sigh.

It felt quite unpleasant, as if someone had been following me since earlier.

Ever since we left the bar, they persistently stuck to me, and now, as we reached a dead-end alley, it felt like they were slowly revealing themselves, like finding a cockroach hiding under a pillow.

Once again, exhaling a deep sigh, I muttered to myself.

“I wonder if alcohol-induced violence can be considered a mental illness.”

Through the dark alley, one by one, figures of black shadows became visible.

Slowly approaching, the man in front was wearing the academy uniform, and the men appearing behind him had swords at their waists.

Men who exuded a foreboding aura came closer to me.

And the man who seemed to be their leader revealed himself in the darkness and spoke.

“I received your gift well. Ricardo, you played an interesting prank. I thought I would die.”

A man with black-rimmed glasses.

I looked at his face and gave him a casual smile.

“Hans.”

Hans looked at the glass shard resting on my back and said,

“Leave that behind and go.”

I see a person and that’s quite unpleasant, isn’t it?

A black aura like a scab began to emanate from Hans’s hand. A pitch-black darkness that made it hard to see ahead started to envelop the dark alley.

I spoke to the approaching Hans slowly.

“You dropped out, and now you’ve switched sides?”

Hans replied with a faint smile.

“They give good grades here.”

“I see…”

I cautiously reached out for the handle of Tyrving. Then, looking at him with eyes devoid of any emotion, I said,

“It’s probably best to just walk away.”

Hans’s eyes, seeing the black dagger, began to tremble greatly.

“Otherwise…”

I am not the kind person Yuria thinks I am.

I am someone who avoids fights that seem thoroughly calculated for gain. The label of a kind person did not suit me.

I replied to Hans in a calm voice.

“You’ll die.”

Hans muttered quietly.

“Try to kill me.”

“Okay.”

The pitch-black space vanished with a single strike.

Hans looked at me with a helpless gaze.

Hans looked at me with the same expression as Pascal and muttered quietly.

“Crazy bastard.”

[Breaking the limit tests the limits of ‘Dark Magic Resistance.’]