The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 202

The Young Lady’s room was peaceful as always.

Sitting on the bed and gazing out the window, the Young Lady rubbed her sleepy eyes as she looked at the brightly shining morning.

“Ricardo.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sleepy.”

“It hasn’t even been ten minutes since you woke up.”

“That’s why I’m sleepy.”

Watching the Young Lady yawn, I let out an empty laugh.

The sight of her claiming to be sleepy even though she woke up at 10 a.m. was adorable.

“Haaaam…”

Could it be true that beauties need a lot of sleep? The Young Lady, who constantly battled drowsiness, could even make the Sleeping Princess take a step back.

It seemed beauty was proportional to sleep.

Smiling softly, I began brewing black tea. There was no drink better than tea to wake someone up. As the hot water trickled down and soaked the dry tea leaves, the subtle scent of black tea began to fill the room.

“Hmm…”

Perhaps pleased by the scent of black tea, the Young Lady wrinkled her nose and sniffed, her sleepy eyes starting to clear. Confirming her expression as she opened her previously drooping eyes, I smiled faintly and spoke to her.

“The scent is nice, isn’t it?”

“No.”

“…”

The Young Lady’s firm response. With a sullen expression, she looked at the cup where the red tea was steeping and said,

“It smells musty, seems sour, and feels like it’ll make me healthier.”

“Isn’t it good to be healthy?”

“Healthy things don’t taste good.”

“These are very expensive tea leaves, you know.”

“Eeeek…”

The Young Lady spoke with a serious expression.

“Even so, I don’t like things that taste bad.”

It seemed that expensive things weren’t always the right answer. The Young Lady, who didn’t care for such romantic notions, firmly rejected the carefully brewed tea and turned to look out the window.

Gazing meditatively at the gentle breeze blowing outside the window, the Young Lady rummaged through her treasure pouch and began tossing snacks out the window.

“You eat some too.”

-Gooooom!

“Eat this too.”

-Gooooom!

Watching the Young Lady’s kind gesture of sharing with Gomtangi, I burst into laughter and picked up the teacup. It seemed this tea was destined for me to drink.

Sipping the bitter taste of the black tea, I smiled peacefully and thought to myself.

“What a waste of money.”

It seemed that luxurious things didn’t suit Desmond. Darbav didn’t like black tea either.

An hour passed.

After finishing breakfast, the Young Lady lay back down on the bed to nap, while I sat beside her bed, enjoying the leisure.

Feeling a rare sense of peace, I turned my head and began reading the newspaper placed on the desk.

“What are you doing?”

Hearing the rustling of the newspaper, the Young Lady opened her eyes and looked at me, asking. Her tempting gesture of patting the space next to her on the bed with a “Come nap too” almost swayed me, but I smiled and declined her offer.

“I’m nourishing my mind.”

“Ricardo, you don’t need much of that. You won’t get smarter with just a little nourishment anyway.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean? That’s quite hurtful.”

“It’s fine. I gave up because it doesn’t work for me either.”

At the advice of a senior who had given up on nourishing her mind, I chuckled softly and stretched the Young Lady’s cheek.

“What do you mean you gave up? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Eeeek…! It’ll tear!”

“I’m fine with that.”

“I’m not fine with it!”

As expected, the Young Lady’s cheeks were soft.

The Empire’s newspaper contained many articles. Politics, adventures, economy—topics of gossip that the public cheered for were all included.

The Young Lady occasionally appeared in them too.

-Breaking News! The second daughter of the Desmond Family rises to the top rank in the Magic Department…!

-Breaking News…! The second daughter of the Desmond Family expelled for using dark magic…!

-Is this the beginning of Desmond’s downfall?

Of course, it was rarely for good reasons. The Young Lady was something of a celebrity who frequently appeared in the news.

If fame meant being well-known, then she was certainly famous.

Taking a small breath, I began reading today’s articles with the Young Lady.

“At least there’s no crossword puzzle today.”

“Boring.”

“Indeed.”

I wondered what kind of content would fill the gaps in our limited social knowledge today. With some anticipation, I continued reading the articles.

Usually, the first page of the newspaper featured the Empire’s hottest and most sensational gossip.

A certain household had fallen.

A noble family’s child had caused a scandal—topics designed to excite the masses.

Narrowing my eyes slightly, I began reading the first-page article.

“But there’s an interesting article today.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the Academy.”

At the mention of the Academy, the Young Lady subtly glanced at the newspaper. She pretended not to care, but it seemed the word “Academy” piqued her interest.

Tilting the newspaper so she could read it, I began reading the article aloud.

“Breaking News. ‘The Academy is no longer safe!’ it says.”

“Why?”

“You’d have to read it to find out.”

Seeing the Young Lady nod in response, I slowly skimmed through the article’s content.

A photograph of the Academy in chaos.

Students covered in wounds, their faces blurred out, receiving treatment.

A picture of Princess Chartia, covered in wounds, giving an interview. At a glance, it was clear this wasn’t a positive article.

It seemed like a mistake.

Knowing the novel’s information, I wasn’t particularly surprised. But the Young Lady wouldn’t know.

I had thought the Academy would suppress the media, but it seemed the situation had escalated more severely than expected.

Seeing such unfavorable content prominently displayed on the front page, it appeared they were overwhelmed just trying to handle the internal situation.

With a bitter smile, I subtly covered the article in the newspaper. Thankfully, the Young Lady, who hadn’t seen the article, looked at me with a question mark on her face.

“Why are you hiding it?”

“It needs to be censored.”

“You’re unfairly keeping the fun stuff to yourself.”

“It’s less interesting than you’d think, so I don’t think it’s worth showing you.”

“Eeeek…”

The Young Lady pouted her lips and voiced her complaints. At her whining about my unfairness, I gave an awkward smile and closed the newspaper.

“Instead, I’ll give you chocolate ice cream as a snack today.”

“Ice cream?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“I’ll give you a whole tub.”

“Hooo…!”

Satisfied, the Young Lady nodded and closed her eyes.

“Then I’ll sleep.”

Nodding, I covered the Young Lady with a blanket and sat down at the bedside table, slowly reading through the article’s content.

-A raid by Shulia, the Archbishop of the Heretics disguised as a professor, occurred yesterday around 1 p.m.

-The detailed damages are still under investigation, but the estimated cost is around 2 million gold.

-The number of injured exceeds 500, while the death toll remains at 0….

-This incident is expected to bring both concerns and positive outcomes, as it serves as a successful example of subjugating heretics through the efforts of systematically trained Academy students and the cooperation of Heinz, the Tower Master…

‘It’s not as serious as I thought.’

It seemed the incident had been resolved more commendably than expected. The article wasn’t written to criticize the Academy under the influence of the Imperial Family, and the fact that there were no fatalities alone was enough to consider it a good outcome. I thought the matter had been handled within an acceptable range.

‘Honestly, I thought the damage would be worse. This is well done.’

It was the first battle against heretics that I hadn’t been involved in. The students must have experienced baseless malice for the first time, and it would have been difficult for them to endure a fight where killing intent was openly displayed.

Although the Tower Master’s assistance made the battle somewhat less burdensome, I knew that just enduring it was a challenging task. They deserved praise.

With a satisfied smile, I thought that I wouldn’t need to interfere any further. If they continued like this, both the supporting characters and the main characters would grow in preparation for the hardships ahead.

I felt relieved and oddly proud, thinking that my efforts hadn’t been in vain.

As expected, unnecessary worries are pointless.

I gave a small smile and closed the newspaper.

The Young Lady was sound asleep.

Breathing softly, she slept quietly with her hands folded over her stomach, like a Sleeping Princess.

“Mmm… meat.”

Just looking at her like this, she seemed every bit a noble, but the image of the Young Lady transforming into a villainess the moment she opened her mouth kept making me laugh.

Sometimes, I have such thoughts.

I wonder what it would have been like if the Young Lady weren’t a villainess.

I occasionally imagine what it would be like if the Young Lady I served were someone who gracefully brewed tea and preferred black tea over chocolate.

-Mr. Ricardo, you’ve worked so hard today.

-You must be tired, right? Please sit here and rest comfortably.

-Huh? You’re telling me to eat first? No, no. Mr. Ricardo, you should eat first.

Whenever I have such thoughts, I let out an empty laugh. The Young Lady isn’t someone who suits that kind of image.

I liked the Young Lady as she was now.

I liked the straightforward and whiny side of her. That’s why I’ve served her until now, and perhaps it’s the reason I’m content with this life.

Whatever the case, I liked the Young Lady.

With a small smile, I softly gazed at the Young Lady. As a fly landed on her cheek, causing her to furrow her brow, I smiled and thought about the future.

A future together.

A future where we laugh together.

And a future where we walk along the beach together.

Just imagining it made me happy.

[Would you like to use Rehabilitation’s Touch?]

That’s why I had no regrets about my choice.