The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 67

A fortuitous encounter is always most delightful when meticulously hidden somewhere.

Just like how the Spirit Beast’s Core hidden in a gloomy cave in martial arts novels significantly contributes to internal energy growth.

The fortuitous encounter in the warehouse of Histanaa, where the Knight Commander resides, had the finest taste.

Especially, stealing the fortuitous encounter of someone who will later become an enemy is the least risky and most satisfying.

The Demonic Sword Tirbing.

A weapon used by the Archbishop of Greed, who causes a massacre in the capital city.

In the middle of the novel, there’s an episode where Malik transports the Demonic Sword, but it ends in failure due to a spy among the heretics.

As a result, Malik loses the Demonic Sword, and it becomes a brutal weapon that aids the Archbishop of Greed in killing the Master of the Magic Tower.

Tirbing’s effects weren’t anything extraordinary.

It could cut through magic.

Sharper than any other sword.

And it enhanced the efficiency of sword energy.

Its sharpness was so exceptional that it was problematic, but beyond that, it didn’t have any particularly remarkable effects.

It wasn’t a Holy Sword with Ego’s Self that babbled advice, nor did it possess the ability to pass down ancient skills. It was an ordinary sword, but its cutting power was unmatched.

However, it carried the penalty of driving its user insane with the energy of Dark Magic, making it a perfect weapon for heretics who enjoyed madness.

At the same time, it was an ideal sword for me to use, as I had resistance to Dark Magic.

I had initially intended to ignore it because it felt unsettling….

-Ricardo… This sword is trash.

-Young Lady, this is the sword you bought for 100,000 gold to gift to Mikhail…?

-When?

-When you were attending the Academy.

-Then why does Ricardo have it?

-I stole it because it looked nice.

-Oh… good sleight of hand! But… it’s trash.

Thanks to the Young Lady’s provocation, I decided to go all out and steal it.

Since it was the sword intended as a gift for Mikhail, it felt a bit unsettling, but it had to look at least somewhat impressive so the Young Lady could boast that her butler wielded a Demonic Sword.

Carrying around a flimsy sword made by a dwarf would surely embarrass the Young Lady, so I resolved to steal the fortuitous encounter.

It wasn’t out of petty revenge for Rowen’s strange request. I just felt I deserved some compensation for the emotional damage… so I came to claim it.

[Poison Resistance resists the lethal toxicity of the Potion of Concealment.]

A potion focused solely on concealment efficiency.

It was a potion I had crafted.

It was so toxic that Yuria, who specialized in Divine Power, would die instantly if she consumed even a little, but thanks to the Poison Resistance I had been building up since childhood, I was the only one who could drink it.

Only I could make it.

Only I could consume this unique potion.

It had the fatal drawback of losing its effect when Aura was used, but thanks to this potion, I could easily acquire Tirbing.

A black blade.

A sleek and well-crafted sword.

Perhaps because it was a Demonic Sword, it had an air of elegance.

To an ordinary person, it would appear so beautiful that they’d be tempted to touch it. Satisfied with the imposing presence of the sword, I smiled as I prepared to leave the estate.

It would be troublesome if the master of the house caught me.

I climbed onto the roof, ready to escape without paying.

-How about apologizing to Hanna?

An intriguing melodrama echoed from beneath the roof.

*

Hanna was crying.

“Why are you doing this to me…?”

Clenching her fists tightly, Hanna, who had been suppressing her emotions, finally let them out as she glared at Rowen with eyes full of grudge.

Hanna had been lost in thought after reading the letter.

Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?

Why was the father who had ignored her all this time now seeking her out? Hanna demanded answers.

“You said you didn’t need a daughter like me… When you treated me like dirt all those years, and now you’re doing this… Why!”

“I never treated you like dirt.”

Hanna let out an empty laugh as she replied.

“You never did? Then why did you always ignore my duels?”

“…Because your brother had the talent to lead Histania…”

“That talent again. I’m sick of hearing about it.”

Rowen, flustered, cautiously opened his mouth, but Hanna, filled with resentment, couldn’t hear a word he said.

She hated everything.

Standing in this wretched estate.

Her father, who wouldn’t listen.

Even the name Histania, which she had once taken pride in, now felt shameful because of him.

Grinding. The sound of Hanna clenching her teeth could be heard.

“I had a sliver of hope… I opened the letter with that faint hope.”

Drip. A tear fell onto the letter discarded on the floor.

Flowing tears soaked Rowen’s letter. The stubborn words written by her obstinate father were smudging and fading.

“I thought maybe, just maybe, something would have changed. I didn’t expect warm words like ‘You’ve done well’ or ‘Congratulations,’ but I thought you might at least say you were sorry.”

“But what is this… What is this!”

Hanna’s shout echoed through the silent estate.

The heavy words she had never been able to say her entire life reached Rowen’s ears. She told him, filled with resentment, that she had been foolish to hope, foolish to think that showing him her growth would make him change.

Rowen silently listened to Hanna’s grievances.

‘It was the best choice.’

This was the conclusion Rowen had reached.

‘You didn’t see that vision.’

An excuse he couldn’t share with Hanna. The only refuge where he could justify his mistakes lay within Rowen.

But.

Seeing his daughter’s tear-streaked face made him think something was wrong.

The selfishness of always believing he was making the best choices began to gnaw at Rowen’s mind, making him wonder if he had driven Hanna to the edge of a cliff.

If only he had trusted Hanna.

If only he had been a slightly warmer father, could they have avoided the events shown by the Blue Window? The terrifying thought tore through Rowen’s mind.

Rowen furrowed his brow as he pondered.

He was always right.

Hanna was just too young to understand his decisions, Rowen convinced himself.

‘I am always right… Just as every decision I’ve made has been right.’

His conviction, firm as ever, urged him to tell Hanna to give up the sword immediately, but deep within, something held his trembling lips shut.

Rowen struggled to speak.

“It’s all for you. You may not understand now, but one day…”

Hanna glared at Rowen.

“What exactly is for me?”

“…”

“What exactly is for me? Ignoring me because I lack talent? Crushing your daughter’s growth—is that for me?”

Hanna couldn’t understand Rowen.

As a child, she had tried to understand, holding back tears, thinking it was because her brother was more talented. But now, having achieved greater accomplishments than her brother, she couldn’t comprehend her father, who still held her back.

She didn’t want to understand.

She had no intention of following him.

She had endured a lifetime of her father’s neglect, forcing herself to eat at the dining table while constantly watching her family’s reactions, only to end up choking on her meals.

Why… Why had he never once asked for her opinion?

In a hollow voice, Hanna spoke, disheartened by her father’s unchanging demeanor.

“A butler living in the outskirts once told me.”

“…”

“That I have talent.”

I heard words from a stranger that I had never once heard from my family.

At the time, I thought it was nonsense.

I looked at that man as if he were crazy.

But now, thinking back, he was like a Prince from a Fairy Tale who gave me the strength to endure.

To someone like me, trapped in darkness and only capable of self-blame, he was a ray of light, and that memory weighed heavily on Hanna’s heart.

Should I call this feeling love? No, right now, I just desperately wanted to see him.

I wanted to tell him how unfair it all felt.

I wanted to ask him if I was doing the right thing.

Hanna, holding back tears, spoke to Rowen. Grinding her teeth, she said there was someone a hundred times better than him.

“He said I had talent… and asked if I would believe him if he made me defeat someone I thought I could never beat in my life.”

“At first, I thought he was a crazy bastard… I thought he was just saying sweet things for money. But do you know what’s even more unfair?”

Hanna looked directly at Rowen as she spoke.

“I was smiling because the obvious lie made me feel good… like a crazy woman.”

Clang.

Hanna dropped the Sword Engraved with Histania Insignia to the floor as she spoke.

“Do you think this is right, Father…?”

Hanna’s shoulders were trembling. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she sobbed uncontrollably, unable to say anything more as her emotions overwhelmed her.

What he claimed to have done for her sake—

It had suffocated her to the point of death.

Hanna’s chest felt unbearably tight.

“Do you know…?”

Hanna recalled a memory that surfaced in her mind.

“A stranger said this to me.”

Clenching her fist tightly, Hanna struggled to speak through her ragged breaths.

“If I kept swinging the sword, I would die. That I was so starved for praise that one day, I’d go to my death just to get a little attention…”

She thought she wouldn’t be like that. But when she looked deep into her heart, Hanna couldn’t deny it.

“I thought it was a lie… but back then, the way I was, I really… I really might have done it.”

Hanna spoke with Eyes Filled with Conviction, staring into the Empty Space.

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Hanna felt as though she might never see her father again.

“I don’t know what you want, Father. But… if.”

Hanna let out a Deep Sigh.

“If I were to die…”

She then uttered Words Like a Dagger to Rowen.

“It would be because you killed me.”

Rowen’s face turned cold.

Only after seeing Hanna’s tear-streaked face did Rowen realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

But the damage was already done.

With a trembling voice, Rowen spoke to Hanna.

“Even so… I… for you…”

“Stop it!”

Malik clenched his fist and shouted at Rowen. He didn’t want to witness any more of this disgrace.

Knowing full well that he had been complicit by staying silent, Malik could no longer bear to see Hanna hurt.

As he braced himself, ready to face his father’s wrath, he took a Deep Breath.

-Crash…!

Thud-thud-thud!

A familiar-faced man fell through the ceiling. Malik stared at the man before him with wide, startled eyes.

The red-haired man sat there, equally flustered.

Wearing an expression that said he hadn’t expected things to turn out this way, he looked at Malik, who returned the gaze with a similarly dumbfounded expression.

The man who had fallen from the ceiling muttered.

“What kind of ceiling is this weak…?”

After grumbling in an irritated voice, he slowly surveyed everyone in the office.

He glared at Rowen.

He smiled at Malik.

And he winked at Hanna.

Scratching his head once, the man looked at Rowen and grinned brightly.

“Father-in-law, do you want to be buried in a Sunny Place?”

Hanna’s heart pounded wildly.