The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

A cold wind blew.

Yuria followed behind Olivia, listening to the sound of the wheelchair wheels rolling as they made their way to the hospital veranda.

“…”

Olivia remained silent.

She didn’t bother with the usual pleasantries.

No inquiries about how she was doing.

Without saying a word, her face stern, Olivia quietly moved her wheelchair forward.

-Rattle…

Yuria didn’t feel glad to see her. There was no sense of fear either. Instead, the foremost thought in her mind was one of annoyance, the unpleasantness of meeting someone she didn’t want to see.

The only thing that crossed her mind was the question of why Olivia had called her out separately. Olivia, like Yuria, probably didn’t think they had anything to talk about.

-Screech.

They arrived at the veranda, and Olivia stopped her wheelchair, slowly turning her body around.

“Ahem.”

Clearing her throat once, Olivia tied her hair back as she faced the cold northern wind, carefully parting her lips to speak.

“First, I want to apologize for calling you out so late.”

“…”

“I didn’t want to meet like this either, but if not today, I won’t have the chance….”

With a rigid expression, Olivia bowed her head from her seat in the wheelchair.

“Honestly, the two of us aren’t the type to sit down and have a conversation, are we? Especially not you.”

If she knew, why bother?

With someone she disliked even seeing.

Yuria clenched her fists as she looked at Olivia, maintaining her calm expression. While she could tolerate Ricardo, she couldn’t stand Olivia.

Perhaps sensing Yuria’s feelings, Olivia bowed her head once more, offering a sincere apology again. She promised that this would never happen again, and that she was truly sorry. 𝙧

“I’ll make a proper apology later.”

“…”

“I’ll do it properly then, so don’t feel too uncomfortable for now.”

Reluctantly, Yuria nodded at Olivia’s words. Olivia sighed and spoke again.

“I’ll keep it short. Just one thing.”

-Nod.

With another deep sigh, Olivia spoke with a heavy tone.

“Why do you dislike Ricardo?”

Olivia clenched her fists, speaking with great difficulty, carefully watching Yuria’s reaction.

“It’s just… I can’t understand it, no matter how much I think about it.”

“Me…?”

Yuria responded with a hint of confusion to Olivia’s question. She didn’t hate Ricardo.

It wasn’t a question she had expected.

‘Hate him?’

‘Me, hate Ricardo…?’

Under Olivia’s expectant gaze, Yuria shook her head. Olivia had misunderstood, she thought.

“No, why would I hate Ricardo? In fact, I…”

Before Yuria could finish, Olivia interrupted with certainty, her conviction unwavering. From Olivia’s perspective, Yuria’s actions clearly showed that she disliked Ricardo.

“No. You do hate Ricardo.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

Olivia looked Yuria straight in the eyes. Despite the discomfort between them, Olivia seemed determined, her fists tightly clenched as she continued.

“If you didn’t dislike Ricardo, that idiot wouldn’t be so afraid of you.”

“That’s just your misunderstanding.”

“No, my eyes never lie.”

Olivia shook her head confidently.

“Ricardo lowers his head every time he sees you. He can’t sit still. He flinches, trying to find something to do for you.”

“…”

“He worries. Thinking, ‘What if she’s hurt? What if something happened to her?’ He gets worked up over it.”

“

The pleasant words caused a slight relaxation in Yuria’s mood. She hadn’t expected Ricardo to think of her in such a way. Hearing it, even from the mouth of the villainess, made her feel as though a smile might break out. It felt good and strange to know that the person she liked was thinking about her.

But Olivia’s expression remained stern, and she spoke to Yuria as if what she had said wasn’t a compliment. Her voice carried a touch of emotion.

“But that’s not you, is it?”

“What?”

“Whenever you see Ricardo, you get angry. You resent him. You shout at him.”

“…”

“You misunderstand him, even when he hasn’t done anything wrong. If that’s not hating someone, what is?”

Yuria couldn’t deny Olivia’s words. She wasn’t wrong—everything she said was true. Yuria had nothing to say in defense of her actions.

Without mincing words, Olivia continued pointing out Yuria’s faults. As a villainess who wasn’t known for being considerate of others’ feelings and as someone who carried the guilt of leaving a scar too deep to heal, Olivia spoke with her hand pressed to her chest, offering as much consideration as she could.

“I can hate him, but you can’t. How could you hate Ricardo after everything he’s done for you?”

Olivia stated plainly that she couldn’t understand Yuria.

“I honestly don’t get you.”

Pushing aside her emotions from the past, Olivia thought of Ricardo, lying in his hospital bed, as she spoke out the thoughts she’d been holding in. It was a slightly awkward tone for Yuria to accept, but that didn’t matter.

“What more do you need from Ricardo?”

“…”

“Back when he was kicked out of the Academy, didn’t he apologize? Didn’t he say he was sorry for causing you trouble?”

Yuria clenched her fists as she recalled Olivia’s words. Olivia had brought up memories Yuria would rather not revisit.

She had hated Ricardo.

The memories of why she had no choice but to resent him began to surface, stirring deep emotions within her.

-Clench.

Still reading Yuria’s mood, Olivia pressed on. She spoke in a quiet voice, her intent clear: even if Yuria lashed out, she would listen to what she had to say.

“Ricardo definitely apologized to you. He said he was sorry for causing so much pain and promised he’d never show up in front of you again.”

“Hah.”

Frustrated emotions bubbled up in Yuria, and she couldn’t keep her mouth shut anymore. To her, the memories with Ricardo weren’t just cherished—it was a festering wound.

“So, an apology…”

“…What?”

“Does apologizing fix everything?”

“No, that’s not…”

“I apologized to you, too. Even though I didn’t know what I had done wrong, I said I was sorry.”

“…”

“I admitted it was my fault and asked you to forgive me! But how did you treat me after that? Did you really make things right with me? Compare our situations.”

Yuria bit her lip as she struggled to get the words out, her pronunciation muddled by a mix of emotions.

“Do you know how hard it’s been because of you guys…?”

“…

“Don’t make excuses. I don’t want to hear them.”

“…”

Olivia tightly shut her eyes, sighed, and shook her head in frustration. Her trembling shoulders gradually calmed as she tried to maintain some composure. After all, Ricardo had asked her not to get mad. Taking a deep breath, she cooled her temper.

-Huu…

“Fine, you have every right to be angry with me. But Ricardo… Ricardo doesn’t deserve it.”

“…”

“Ricardo isn’t some punching bag. He’s not just someone you can yell at the moment you see him.”

Olivia shook her head and clenched her fists as she spoke, her gaze fixed on Yuria.

“He’s mine—the only one who can hit him is me. No one else can touch him without my permission…”

At Olivia’s childish assertion, Yuria had a lot she wanted to say.

Yes, she knew.

She knew it wasn’t right to be so sensitive and angry toward Ricardo.

But at the same time, she felt she’d been wronged.

Thinking back to the time when she had been ostracized by someone she liked, who she still liked even now, her feelings of resentment and anger overflowed.

Yes, she knew. She did.

But…

How could she not feel bitter?

Yuria couldn’t understand why she had to be scolded for being hurt by someone she had liked so much—and still did.

Yuria clenched her fists and responded to Olivia, her voice strained.

“You’re saying he’s only yours?”

“Yes.”

“And yet, Ricardo can’t even make his own decisions because of you?”

“I know.”

“Don’t you feel guilty?”

“Of course, I do.”

Olivia bowed her head, stammering as she responded. She sheepishly confessed that she wasn’t so dense as to be oblivious to that.

Then, repeating herself in the same firm tone, she gave Yuria the same message.

“But you… you still shouldn’t do it.”

Olivia looked Yuria straight in the eyes as she spoke.

“You don’t understand, do you?”

“Understand what?”

“You don’t know how much Ricardo has suffered because of you.”

“No, I do.”

“Then why do you act like you’re the only one suffering?”

Olivia knew her own situation all too well.

She knew that she was a burden to Ricardo, that she was holding him back, and that she acted out of frustration. She had tried to fix herself, but, of course, it wasn’t something that could be done quickly—it would take time.

Because of that, she always felt sorry and grateful to Ricardo. Knowing that he probably didn’t like the academy, she no longer brought it up and tried to act considerate in her own way.

At least, Olivia knew how much Ricardo had been struggling.

“At the very least, I’m thankful to Ricardo. But you’re not, are you?”

Yuria clenched her fists and hung her head. Her trembling hands balled up as her lips quivered slightly.

‘Hold it in.’

She didn’t want to bring up the Academy again.

‘Don’t say you’re bitter.’

Ricardo nearly died because of what she did. He had been stabbed with the sword she had recklessly swung. Yuria knew how bad and cruel it was to hate Ricardo when he hadn’t sought any recognition for it.

‘I know. Olivia is right.’

But…

Even so…

How could she not be scared?

Yuria shouted.

“What do you know?”

“…”

“Do you even know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you trusted? To see the person who promised to always be on your side turn against you overnight—and to find graffiti carved into your desk by them, of all people?”

Yuria began to vent her pent-up anger, tearing open the emotional wounds from her past.

“You say I don’t understand gratitude? I know! I know exactly how much Ricardo has suffered because of me! I know he got hurt because of me!”

“Hurt…?”

“But you don’t know anything! You don’t know that I spent three hours locked inside a wardrobe during the ball!”

Despite Olivia’s changing expression, Yuria didn’t stop.

“You know absolutely nothing about me.”

“I trusted him—truly trusted him! Do you know how it feels to see that trust completely shattered?”

Yuria shouted about the duality of Ricardo, from the memories she had of him.

“It terrifies me… I’m honestly scared.”

“I want to stop now too, but I’m afraid it’ll happen again—getting betrayed, I mean.”

Olivia let out a snort, irritation visibly rising from the single keyword that triggered her anger.

“Wow… You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Olivia glanced between the two of them before whispering to herself, “Ricardo told me not to say this… but…” she sighed audibly before speaking again, this time more clearly.

One syllable at a time. Deliberately.

“Ricardo… was an outcast at the Academy because of you.”

She laid it out, plain for Yuria to hear.

“You really… don’t know anything, do you?”

End of Chapter.