The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 233

Ten years ago.

From the slum streets, a woman’s sorrowful voice echoed.

“…Where did you go?”

The young woman’s voice, unanswered, began to spread mournfully like a fading echo.

The woman wandered through the slum streets, muttering to herself.

Where did you go?

I told you to stay here.

You promised you’d come back for me.

The woman knew how irresponsible and burdensome her one-sided promise to the child had been, but she thought this was the only way to endure the overwhelming regret.

Even though she knew that an unbearable amount of time had passed for the child to handle alone.

“Misa…”

She trudged along, calling out the name with difficulty, burdened by her own guilt. Then, spotting a passing child, she ran toward them, superimposing her mistakes onto the child.

“Misa…?”

She grabbed the shoulder of the child walking ahead and turned them around to check their face.

Perhaps this child was the one she was searching for. Her trembling hands reached out as she stared at the startled child’s face, her expression filled with sorrow.

“Who are you, lady?”

“S…sorry.”

The woman’s appearance was far from pleasant. The ambition to return as a successful person was long gone, and she now roamed the slum streets in worn-out clothes.

The bag she carried was old and tattered.

Her once-delicate hands were now covered in calloused skin. Though her beauty remained, the traces of hardships etched by time left an indelible impression of tragedy on her appearance.

She had only loved, but was abandoned.

She had only dreamed of a happy future, but was left unrewarded. She had cruelly pushed everything away to escape this bottomless life, intending to return as a respectable mother, but she had achieved nothing. And so, the woman continued to search through the slum.

One day.

Two days.

A week.

And then a month.

The slum streets she came to, hoping to fulfill her role as a mother with the money in her hands, only brought her pain.

Dust rolled along the streets.

The sight of begging children weighed heavier on her heart than she had imagined.

If only she had chosen an orphanage instead of the slum, if only she hadn’t feared the rumors of children being sold at orphanages, things might have turned out differently.

In her haste to rid herself of the burden, she had made a decision that led to terrifying consequences, a fact she realized far too late.

She hadn’t known back then.

She had valued her own future more than the child’s, blinded by selfish, colored glasses that made her think it would be fine.

Every night, she dreamed of the child resenting her, spending her time trapped in nightmares.

Then one day.

The woman met a boy in the slum.

-Have you seen a girl named Misa?

-Yeah. She’s about this tall, with silver hair.

-I’ve seen a boy named Mikhail, but never a girl named Misa. I’ve been around here for a while, but I’ve never heard that name. Not anymore, at least.

The red-haired boy frowned as he spoke, saying he hadn’t seen the child she was looking for.

-Hmm… I don’t know.

The boy addressed the woman politely.

-Do you have a photo?

-…

The woman couldn’t answer.

She hadn’t created any memories with the child, nor had she wanted to keep any back then. There was no way she had a photograph.

Seeing the woman’s silence, the boy replied without hesitation, “You won’t find her.” He explained that after so many years, searching for a child in this vast slum with only a name was nearly impossible.

The boy looked at the woman and said,

-Do you remember?

-…

-Her face.

Pointing to his own face with his finger, he offered a suggestion.

-Do you remember her face?

-…

The woman couldn’t lift her head.

Too much time had passed.

“Ha…”

The boy didn’t know who the woman was.

Or who she was looking for.

Or whose mother she might be.

He simply thought of her as one of the many people who came seeking closure for their regrets. He didn’t attach much significance to it.

With a trembling voice, the woman asked,

-What usually happens to children abandoned here?

The boy replied,

-You already know.

-…

-That it’s not good.

As he passed by her, the boy said,

-Think of it positively. That’s the best you can do.

Not long after, the woman found a damaged teddy bear discarded under a bridge.

Kneeling before a pile of stones just big enough for a child to lie on, she clutched the teddy bear and wept.

It was covered in stitched marks.

The teddy bear, worn and with no intact parts left, had endured the passage of time.

In front of the ownerless grave, she cried out in anguish.

*

Morning at a peaceful estate.

Humming a tune as I prepared breakfast, I placed the well-done cooked meat onto a plate, accompanied by the cheerful chirping of birds and the bright morning sunlight.

The meat was cooked to perfection.

I lightly poked the center of the meat with a fork and brought it to my lips to check its doneness.

“It’s cooked well.”

It seemed thoroughly done all the way through.

“Maybe I should open a restaurant.”

The Young Lady didn’t like meat with blood. She said meat should have a chewy texture to be enjoyable. I once served her meat with blood, and she threw her fork, scolding me that it was so raw it could still be revived as a calf. Ever since then, I’ve made sure to cook the meat thoroughly. Though she enjoys steak tartare just fine.

Satisfied with the meat cooked perfectly to the Young Lady’s taste, I glanced up at the second floor of the estate.

‘She’ll probably call for me soon.’

I silently counted to three in my head.

One. Two. Three.

-Go… go-go-gong! Air raid alarm…!!!

“Pfft…!”

Listening to the Young Lady’s lively morning call that echoed through the estate, I carried the breakfast up to the second floor.

*

The Young Lady, wearing a sullen expression, was chewing on the well-done cooked meat for breakfast. Despite my careful attention to the doneness, her face was full of dissatisfaction.

“…Ugh.”

Watching her struggle to lift her fork, I tilted my head in confusion.

“Do you not have an appetite, Young Lady?”

“No.”

“Then is the meat undercooked?”

“That’s not it either.”

“Then why do you look so sullen?”

Shaking her head, the Young Lady let out a deep sigh. Then, stabbing the meat with her fork, she spoke in an elegant voice.

“I’m out of money.”

“What?”

“I spent all the money I had stashed away from Ricardo last time.”

The Young Lady boldly confessed to theft with an astonishingly straightforward answer.

Letting out an empty laugh, I questioned why the Young Lady seemed so glum. Not only had she stolen money, but where had she managed to spend such a large amount?

The Young Lady lowered her head gloomily and replied.

“I bought pajamas and chocolate, so it’s all gone. Oh, and I gave some to Ricardo’s friend too.”

“My friend?”

“Yes.”

Nodding, the Young Lady spoke while thinking of Hans, who was absent due to personal matters.

“I saw Ricardo’s friend in the North last time. The one with glasses, the ugly one.”

“He’s not exactly ugly, though.”

“He looks ugly to me.”

Though I already knew, I smiled faintly and nodded, acknowledging the Young Lady’s rather high standards. I had been wondering how to describe Hans, but thankfully, the Young Lady considered him a friend, so there was no need to overthink it.

While counting the remaining money with her fingers, the Young Lady spoke.

“Since I helped Ricardo’s friend, I gave him a compensation fee.”

“…”

“Ricardo wouldn’t pay him a friend fee, would he?”

“…That friend probably has a lot of money, though.”

“Huh?”

“That friend is rich. He doesn’t even pay taxes because of his illegal activities.”

“So he has more money than me?”

“Yes.”

“Eeeek!!!!!!”

Clenching her fist tightly, the Young Lady vented her frustration. Like someone who had been scammed, she declared that she would make him cough up the compensation fee. Then, as if her appetite had returned, she began eating the meat with relish.

By the time the meat on her plate was almost gone, I placed the cookies I had prepared as a snack onto the Young Lady’s dining table.

“Poop!”

“No, these are cookies made during the tea party.”

“Ugh… Who made them?”

The Young Lady frowned as she looked at the cookies, which resembled a giant pile of poop.

“They look incredibly unappetizing.”

Smiling faintly, I responded to the Young Lady, asking where her conscience had gone, as she stated the obvious so confidently.

“You made them, Young Lady.”

“Eek!”

“The cookies with the most leftovers are the ones you made, Young Lady.”

The Young Lady pushed the cookies away and shook her head vigorously.

“I didn’t make those.”

“Are you planning to orphan the cookies you made?”

“Those aren’t my cookies. Gross.”

“The cookies will feel hurt.”

“Gross. Eating those will give me a stomachache.”

Smiling, I urged the Young Lady.

“We need to move a little faster today.”

“Huh? Where are we going today?”

“Yes.”

Smiling faintly, I told the Young Lady.

“We’re going out to eat today.”

“Dining out?”

“Yes.”

The Young Lady’s eyes widened. As if the meat she had just eaten had already digested, she drooled slightly, her excited gaze fixed on me.

“Are we going to Friends of Forest?”

I answered vaguely, trailing off.

“Something like that.”

“Huh?”

“We’re going with the boss of Friends of Forest.”

“Why are we going with them?”

“I heard a rival restaurant has opened.”

Smiling with satisfaction, I replied to the Young Lady.

“Oh, and of course, the boss will be paying for the meal.”

“Really?”

The Young Lady erased her disappointed expression and nodded enthusiastically.

“Then that’s fine.”

As expected, the Young Lady couldn’t resist anything free.

And so, we arrived.

In front of a restaurant with a sign that read [Youlam].