The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 190

During the passing time, the Villainess and I were able to share more stories.

-Damn it!

-What now.

-No, they’re calling me a beggar without even a butler.

-It’s not that you don’t have one; you probably drove them away.

-No, I didn’t!

-Liar.

-I’m not lying! I just said a few words, and they ran off crying!

-That’s what driving them away means, idiot.

-Eeeek!

The Villainess and I became close enough to casually point out each other’s flaws.

A relationship I thought would be fleeting. The threads of a bond I believed had no chance of tangling began to intertwine.

Even though this relationship started from one-sided obsession.

-Damn it! Fight me again!

-No.

As time passed, our conversations deepened, and we became more entangled in each other’s lives.

What started as indifference shifted to a hope that her future wouldn’t be the worst, and I wished the future from the novel wouldn’t come true.

-Why are you stealing my bread?

-Heheh, it’s delicious.

-You eat plenty of good stuff. So why are you stealing mine, you pig?

-Nom… It tastes better when I steal yours.

-You’re insane.

-Don’t curse!

-Do you think I can hold back?

-Eeeek!

As time went on, I started waiting for the Villainess.

When the Clock Tower’s Clock passed noon and moved into the afternoon, I found myself enjoying the wait, thinking, “Just one more hour,” while imagining the shadow of the Villainess who wouldn’t come.

At first, I thought of her as just a client who paid well, but now, I think I kept waiting because her stories were entertaining and her stubbornness was endearing.

Today, she told me she fought and won against the Drill-Headed Noble Lady. Although she got slightly hurt, she bragged about hitting her more. The Villainess’s amusing stories seemed to have become a hobby of mine.

Then, one day.

The Villainess made me a proposal.

She presented a proposal to an orphan of the slum, asserting her Villainess-like stubbornness.

-Will you be my butler?

-Butler. Say it after me, butler.

-Butler!

-I think you need to be reborn.

-Eeeek!

A proposal to become her butler. It wasn’t the kind of offer one would make to a beggar surviving on dust in the slum.

I knew.

How precious this proposal was.

Even if ordinary kids wouldn’t understand, I, who knew the weight of the name Desmond, understood how attractive the Villainess’s proposal was.

The position of a butler in the House of Desmond, coveted even by the children of most nobles, wasn’t an opportunity that would come to a beggar living in the slum.

The Villainess spoke with a puff of breath.

-With me, world domination is possible.

-Then what about me?

-You’ll be a sidekick.

-…?

But I refused her proposal.

As tempting as it was, the weight of the information I possessed couldn’t be satisfied with the position of a butler.

On the scales of a life that could collapse with the slightest tilt, the weight of the Villainess’s existence was too heavy, so I turned down her alluring offer.

-No.

-Why not!

-I just feel like being with you would ruin me.

-I’ll feed you and take care of you! Our family is wealthy!

-It feels like everything would disappear because of you.

-Why? Because I’m too beautiful?

-No, because you’re stupid.

-Eeeek! You’re dead!

Even so, the Villainess kept making her proposal to me.

Day after day, even as time passed.

It seemed she liked me, as she persistently continued to propose, but I kept refusing her.

I thought that if I held out just a little longer, I’d eventually escape this place by following Mikhail.

At most, a year.

At least, a month.

The novel didn’t detail why Mikhail left the slum, but it was true that the time was drawing near.

Today, after rejecting the Young Lady’s proposal again, I looked up at the rainy sky with a bitter smile.

“It’s raining.”

It was a rainy day.

-Ssshhh.

The rain, which could easily be blocked with an umbrella, soaked the slum streets.

Sheltering under a roof to avoid the rain, I watched as the children gathered one by one and spoke.

“Is this everyone?”

“Yeah.”

Mikhail, standing next to me, answered.

These were all the people who had gathered.

The slum streets were quiet. The roof, once crowded with no room to step, was now empty, revealing its silence.

Including me, there were only three children left in the street. I forced a bitter smile and an awkward laugh.

‘This really is the end now.’

For many reasons, we parted ways.

Because of illness.

Because of adoption by good parents.

Because parents whose circumstances had improved came back for their children, we were saying goodbye.

Today, we gathered here to say goodbye once again.

It wasn’t a bad reason like death, but a goodbye born from a meeting. Looking at Mikhail’s gloomy face, I forced an awkward smile.

“Let’s smile.”

“…”

“It’s the last time, so we should send them off with a smile. Don’t you think?”

Mikhail clenched his fist and lowered his head. Perhaps because of the rain, he seemed downcast, letting out a deep sigh before nodding.

I ruffled Mikhail’s hair and looked at the little one running toward us from afar.

“Hyung!”

The child, holding their parent’s hand, ran toward me without even using an umbrella.

“Raggedy!”

“Hyung!”

“So, are you happy to meet your mom?”

“Yeah! It’s all thanks to you, hyung!”

“What do you mean, thanks to me?”

“You found my mom and dad for me!”

The child, smiling brightly with an eye smile, looked at me with a beaming grin.

I chuckled softly, placing a pouch of money into the child’s small pocket and patting their back.

“Go on, and listen to your mom.”

“Okay!”

“No whining, and no picky eating.”

“Alright, I won’t!”

“You little rascal.”

I patted the child’s head, reminiscing about the memories we had shared. Laughing together, fighting off delinquents, comforting the child when they cried, missing their mother—those memories were folded neatly into the paper of goodbye and sent away.

“Take care.”

The parents standing behind the child were nodding at me in greeting. It seemed the child had told them about me—embarrassingly so.

Seeing the parents bowing their heads repeatedly, I gave them an awkward smile and nodded back.

I was relieved to see them happy.

The child too.

And the parents.

They all looked happy.

I didn’t know what their future would hold, but I hoped that smile would last as I waved at the child’s retreating figure.

‘There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore.’

This street had once been just me, Mikhail, and one child. The sense of responsibility that had kept me here was now gone.

Mikhail had a bright future ahead of him, and the child standing beside him already had a home.

Now, it was just me left.

‘I need to do my best.’

Whatever that might mean.

Watching Mikhail wave awkwardly, I spoke in a small voice.

“Are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Don’t cry. Something good will happen for you too.”

“…No.”

Mikhail was bad at goodbyes.

Whether it was someone’s death.

Or the footsteps of someone leaving.

He was a fool who cried easily.

Especially at moments like this, when a friend reunited with their parents and left.

Because he was envious.

He hated staying here and envied the child who was leaving, so Mikhail cried.

There were times he cried all day underneath the bridge, or threw his teddy bear on the ground and sobbed.

Today too, Mikhail looked gloomy.

I gave him an awkward smile, trying to gauge his mood. I always struggled to figure out how to console him in moments like this.

I understood how he felt, but I didn’t know how to make it better. Situations like this were always difficult for me.

With a more sullen expression than usual, Mikhail stared at the ground. After standing still for a long time, looking at the empty street, he grabbed one leg of his teddy bear and dragged it along the ground as he walked to a corner.

I playfully tapped Mikhail’s shoulder with my fist and said, “Cheer up.”

“Mikhail! We still have to go today!”

“…”

“The bridge… Aren’t we going?”

Mikhail didn’t respond.

He just stood there in the rain, wearing a stern expression. I awkwardly reached out to pick up his teddy bear, which was getting soaked in the muddy water.

No matter how hurt or upset he was, he always clung to that one teddy bear.

Just as I awkwardly tried to grab the teddy bear that seemed about to slip from Mikhail’s hand, he coldly avoided my touch.

As if the teddy bear didn’t matter at all, Mikhail dropped it onto the ground.

Then, after stopping in his tracks, he walked past me and said,

“I’m not going.”

“Huh…?”

“I said I’m not going.”

“Huh…?”

I stood there like a fool.

No matter how much time passed.

Even on the days of free meal distribution.

I was shocked by Mikhail’s words that he wouldn’t go to the place he always sought out.

If he had overcome his sadness, he would have smiled, but the Mikhail I saw now looked like he was about to crumble under the weight of his sorrow.

In a foolish voice, I asked Mikhail to reconsider.

“Why?”

With his head hung low, Mikhail answered in a trembling voice.

“Why, you ask?”

Clenching his fists, Mikhail shouted at me, his voice filled with resentment.

“Did you really just ask why?”

“Mikhail, you seem really upset right now. Calm down a bit…”

“Ha.”

Letting out an empty laugh, Mikhail’s shoulders shook lightly.

“If you were me, would you want to go?”

“…”

“You know, don’t you?”

“…”

“Are you pretending not to know?”

“Haha…”

Ignoring my awkward laugh, Mikhail shouted again.

“You know they’re not coming! So why are you asking me that?”

“No…”

“Why! Why do you keep asking! It’s so hard!”

He broke down.

The wound I thought had healed was reopened by the gentle waves of sadness and finally burst.

I was used to comforting the grievances of children, but Mikhail’s deeply rooted resentment hurt me deeply.

Because he was my friend…

Because he was a friend I had shared so much with.

It hurt my heart.

I understood.

I knew how Mikhail felt right now.

I had been an orphan too, endlessly waiting. I knew what it was like to look at the opening door every day, hoping and being crushed.

I knew what it felt like to see no bright future ahead.

Watching other orphans leave, thinking, “Why only me…”—I understood that feeling better than anyone, so I bit my lip and listened to Mikhail’s outburst.

“You’ll just pretend not to know and laugh behind my back! Thinking, ‘Oh, he really must’ve been abandoned.’”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Don’t lie!”

I approached Mikhail with a pained smile, but.

“It’s okay, maybe today will be different.”

“Today…! Today…! I’ve waited every single day thinking that!”

“Mikhail. Just calm down for a moment…”

“Shut up!”

Mikhail roughly pushed my hand away and burst into tears.

“I’m so sick of this…!”

Clenching his fists tightly, Mikhail glared at me.

“Waiting in a place like this.”

“…”

“And being stuck with someone who stinks like you…!”

“…”

“I hate eating weird-smelling bread too!”

“I see…”

I approached Mikhail with a sad smile.

I thought there were many things I had failed to pay attention to. I decided to try a little harder.

So, I cautiously spoke to Mikhail. I told him I was sorry.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“I’m sorry for not taking better care of you.”

Mikhail spoke through his flowing tears.

Like a child throwing a tantrum, he let out the words buried inside him, not realizing that those words could hurt someone.

He simply wiped away his flowing tears and said,

“I have a mom too… Unlike you, who doesn’t even know your mom’s face, my mom promised she’d come back!”

“…Huh?”

I shouldn’t let this get to me…

I shouldn’t be hurt by words like this.

Yet, it felt like a small wound had formed on the deeply hidden scar in my heart.

I clenched my fist and calmed myself.

It’s nothing.

Mikhail is just a child, so it’s understandable.

But still, Mikhail kept hurting my feelings.

“I hate it! I hate all of this. Being here, being friends with someone filthy like you—I hate it!”

“…”

“I want to be friends with cool kids. Clean and neat kids!”

“…”

“Not someone ugly and smelly like you!”

Mikhail had said things that hurt me deeply.

He made it seem like all the effort I had put in until now meant nothing, as if I was just someone who brought him food.

I shouldn’t take it this way, but my best efforts felt so foolish that I couldn’t help but take it badly.

As an adult, I should have brushed it off lightly.

But Mikhail’s words, which struck the reverse scale of my long-forgotten heart, wouldn’t go away easily.

I lowered my head.

I thought he’d get angrier if I said anything.

“I hate you and this place that you like so much.”

“…You don’t know me.”

“And you don’t know how I feel. You never lived with your mom or heard a promise from her like I did.”

“…”

“You were always alone from the start.”

“Stop it.”

“You were alone from the beginning, so you don’t understand how I feel.”

“I said stop it.”

I gritted my teeth and told Mikhail to stop, but he crossed the line I had drawn.

“You and I are different!”

-Snap.

‘Ah.’

It broke.

The last thread of reason I had desperately clung to snapped.

I don’t care anymore.

I let out a deep sigh and threw Mikhail’s doll onto the floor. I thought even this effort was meaningless.

I spoke in a calm voice.

“Then do it yourself.”

“What…?”

I shouldn’t have done that.

“Figure it out on your own. Since being with me disgusts you so much, do it yourself.”

“No…”

“What? Am I wrong?”

“That’s not it…”

“I gave it my best.”

“I did everything for you without expecting anything in return.”

“But what…?”

“You say I’m disgusting…?”

“Then handle it yourself. Find the mom you’re looking for on your own, eat on your own. Maybe then, like you said, your mom will come back.”

“Unlike me, of course.”

I ended up leaving Mikhail behind.

Whether it was because I felt complicated thinking that what started as a good intention had turned into poison for Mikhail, or because I was hurt by his words, I don’t know. But I left him and began wandering the streets alone.

And then.

“Hyung!”

“What.”

“That arrogant kid! No, I think Mikhail’s mom is here!”

“What?”

I started looking for Mikhail frantically. Without a second thought.

I don’t know why I did it.

Even though I knew that kid’s words were lies.

Even though I knew that kid was a lackey of the heretics. Even though I could see the topics he liked to talk about, I foolishly kept running.

Even though I knew from the novel that Mikhail would meet his mom as an adult.

“Where’s Mikhail?”

“The bridge.”

Even though I knew the ending, I started running through the streets to find Mikhail without a second thought.

I just wanted to make him smile for some reason.

And so I.

“Huff… Huff…”

Fell into the trap.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

“I was wrong…”

“The person this kid is looking for.”

It was a rainy day.

A day when very sad rain fell.