The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen - Chapter 376



376 – The Story of When She First Met Him -3-

With a gentle smile, Shartia placed her hand on the teacup and spoke in a low voice.

“There was a fire at the academy.”

“Are you talking about the fire in the manufacturing lab? It’s famous, so I know about it. They said they couldn’t catch the arsonist, right?”

“…”

Shartia held back her words with a bitter smile. She always had to be careful with her words in front of the guild master, who bought and sold information. Shartia wanted to avoid making a mistake that would spread rumors throughout the empire.

The guild master let out a hearty laugh and expressed his disappointment at Shartia’s tight-lipped response.

“You’re not giving in. I thought I might get some good information.”

Shartia smiled and said,

“Don’t be too disappointed. I’m still giving you high-quality information. You’re the only one who gets to hear the story of the man who saved the princess’s life, so it’s not bad information, right?”

“Hahaha…! That’s true. The princess’s story easily goes for 1000 gold.”

“Please keep it confidential.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Shartia chuckled softly at the guild master’s mischievous joke and continued the story.

“It caused quite a stir in the capital. The fire at the academy…”

“That’s right. I remember there were many complaints about the academy going bankrupt and wasting taxes due to a student’s mistake.”

“Yes… It was really tough back then, I don’t know how I managed to endure it.”

“Haha…! If it were me, I would have embezzled and run away.”

“I should have run away back then too.”

Shaltia smiled gently.

“That day, as always, I was holed up in my office. There was always so much work…”

“I could hear the sound of students running down the hallway, late for class, and students sneaking out during class to play.”

“And not long after that…”

Shaltia, who had been smiling gently, clenched her fist and opened it with a ‘pop’ in the air, adding a ‘bang’ sound effect.

“Bang.”

She began to talk about what happened that day.

*

That day was just an ordinary day.

I was processing the piles of documents in my office and sighing at the childish complaints of the freshmen.

– The academy feels too dull. I think it would be nice to install a rose garden in the center, please.

“Damn it. There are more than three gardens in the academy, and they haven’t even bothered to look around.”

– The history professor gives too much homework. I wish we could have a young and handsome professor instead.

“Ha… I wish that too.”

Shaltia, who was spending her time surrounded by trivial documents, was not in good health that day.

She had been tormented by the Desmond princess for a while.

– Eek? A chocolate thief!

– …We have to run away!

– Eeeeeek!!!! If you have hidden chocolate, hand it over!

– If it weren’t for that guy…!

Due to the excessive workload, her energy was already depleted, and she had fallen ill from the constant disturbances of the Desmond princess who barged into her office almost every day.

“That b*stard… I hope he gets ruined.”

Even while she was sick, one of Shaltia’s pleasures was finding the name of a student called ‘Ricardo’ and deducting attitude points from him whenever she could.

It was only polite to return the favor if you received a bomb.

“If you want to earn credits, you can’t rest during the holidays. Hehehe…”

Shaltia, who had deducted Ricardo’s attitude points again today, was dozing off at her desk in the office.

She wasn’t feeling well that day.

Was it the tea she drank?

Was it because I skipped the night and immersed myself in work? It felt like my body was breaking down.

“Haah… Why does my head hurt so much?”

Even after taking a fever reducer, I couldn’t concentrate on my work because the fever wouldn’t go down. The letters and paper seemed to be dancing separately.

“I have a mountain of work to do… My head feels like it’s going to explode.”

My head just wouldn’t function properly.

Students were moving around, changing classrooms for their classes, and I could hear the sound of a tardy student running frantically.

“…”

Just a little more, and I could finish today’s work, but with my head hurting so much, I didn’t have the energy to continue. Shaltia stretched and let out a languid sigh.

“Maybe I should take a little nap.”

After all, no one would come into the office.

Unless it was for official business, hardly anyone entered the student council room for personal reasons. There were people who came in to get scolded, but no one came in to flatter me.

Back then, my personality was so twisted that no one came to see me.

– I heard you’re sorting out the student council list.

– …Who did you hear that from?

– It’s a secret. Anyway, please include our lady in the student council.

– …Huh?

Except for that guy.

From noble mtl dot com

Just thinking about the guy who entered the office without permission gave me a headache. He always babbled strange things while giving me chocolates.

– It’s a good day to skip class.

– It looks like it’s going to rain. And go to class. At this rate, you won’t graduate.

– Hmm… It feels like a sudden downpour is coming. Shall we go fix the waterway together?

– Are you crazy?

– …Heeing.

“…Ugh.”

Knowing that no one would come to my room except for that guy, Shaltia closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Just a little.

Yes, I think I dozed off just a little.

I had a nightmare.

A nightmare where my second brother played a prank with filth right in front of my nose.

– Dirty blood can be washed away with water.

– Ha… don’t do it.

– Are you scared? If you wash with this water, you can become a royal just like us. If you wash away the blood of a commoner with clean water, you can be treated just like me.

– I… I don’t want to.

– Hey, get out of the way.

– Ha… don’t do it.

– What’s the fun in this? If you fall in once, I’ll tell mom to treat you well.

– …Ugh… Uwaaa… don’t do it. I’m scared… I was wrong.

– Why are you crying? Is it too deep and scary?

Despite the small age difference, she was having a nightmare about her second brother, whom she could never defeat.

– Mommaaa…

She couldn’t struggle in her dreams or in reality. Having nothing, she could only stare at the filth reflecting her crying face.

Cold.

– I’m scared…

Fearful.

– I was wrong…

Feeling like she would drown in the bottomless pit.

Even though she knew such things wouldn’t happen anymore, she still trembled in fear when she had such dreams.

Just as her brother’s hand moved roughly in the dream.

“…”

‘Cold…? Hot?!’

She felt her breath catch.

She opened her eyes slightly.

It was the same office, but her body felt unusually heavy. As if someone was pressing down on her, her body felt so heavy that she couldn’t easily open her eyes.

She had definitely slept, but her condition had worsened instead of improving.

– Whoosh…!

A hot gust brushed her face as if to wake her up.

“…!!!”

Sharutia barely came to her senses and looked beyond the door with startled eyes.

“What… is happening…?”

– Fire!!!

-Fire!!!

The office was strangely intact. Unlike the noisy outside, it was just as it had been during the nap.

But.

“…Uh…uh?”

From the moment she saw the black smoke coming through the crack in the door, she began to be engulfed in fear.

The room was entirely black.

The rising smoke filled the room so much that her eyes stung and she couldn’t open them.

As her thoughts cleared, she began to cough violently.

“Cough… cough…!”

Shalltear hurriedly tried to open the door.

“Ah, hot…!!!”

She failed to grasp the doorknob, which had already become scorching hot.

“…Uh…uh..”

Panic set in.

She could have easily escaped using magic, or even by jumping out the window, but she couldn’t make the right decision in this unprecedented situation.

“Cough… cough…”

She couldn’t breathe.

She had inhaled too much smoke, and her body wouldn’t move.

“Ah…ahhh…”

Shalltear, feeling as if she could faint at any moment, let out a long sigh and dragged herself towards the window.

Just in case…

“No.”

She wondered if there were any students left who hadn’t escaped.

If no one had escaped because of her nap, she couldn’t bear the responsibility. Shalltear looked out the window.

“Thank goodness.”

-Fire!!!

-Where are the other students!?

-All our department students are out. It seems like all the other students are out too…!

Only after seeing the students crowded outside did she let out a sigh of relief. It seemed everyone had made it out.

It was too late to do anything now.

The office window was made of reinforced glass that couldn’t be broken by ordinary magic. Foolishly, I didn’t even think about breaking the window. Perhaps my body had reached its limit the moment I woke up.

“…Cough.”

It felt like the last chance given by the gods.

When I instinctively felt that death was approaching, many thoughts came to mind.

I thought I should have played a little more. I regretted not shouting at the royals I had ignored.

Terrible memories.

Happiness I didn’t want to forget.

As I watched many thoughts pass by like a revolving lantern, I thought I had lived a truly futile life.

And in the midst of it all, I foolishly thought of that man.

-Are you working again?

-Just teaching a class. Otherwise, there’s no point in deducting my attitude score.

-Oh…! The mastermind was here. Anyway… If you keep working like this, you might die.

-Don’t worry about it.

-I’m saying this because I’m concerned, aren’t you being too cold?

-…Sigh.

-This won’t do. Let’s ditch work and go out to play today…

-Get lost.

-Whimper…

Strangely enough.

So.

“I don’t want to die.”

I didn’t want to die.

No matter how miserable life was, there were so many things I wanted to do, and dying seemed too much. I hadn’t even had a single romance.

I gathered my magic to break the glass window.

“I will live…”

-Bang!!

“I can’t die yet…!”

-Bang…! Bang!!!

“Not yet…!”

-Bang…!

“Cough! Cough…! I can’t die yet… Please…! Pleaaase!!!”

Just as tears began to pour down the uncracked window.

-Splash.

“You’re crazy!!!!”

From outside the window, amidst the murmurs of students, someone could be seen entering the building.

The students were trying to stop him.

Due to the blurred vision, the face of the student pouring water over his head couldn’t be seen, but a feeling of envy crept in. The person that man was going to save must be someone precious.

Was I ever precious to someone? If so, there would have been someone who would come to save me, drenched in water.

Probably not.

I didn’t live that kind of life.

Regret is inevitable no matter what you do. Even if you make choices without regret, regret will remain afterward.

“…I don’t want to die.”

Tears well up.

Since coming to the academy, I hadn’t shed a single tear, but today, it seemed I would cry foolishly.

If only I hadn’t taken that nap back then. If I had lived responsibly without becoming lazy, I could have achieved better results than now.

As regret keeps surfacing, tears well up. Having gone through such an unfair time, I end up crying like a child.

“…I want to live…”

Is it the end?

As heavy eyelids began to close.

-Bang!!!

“Is anyone there?!”

A man drenched in water entered with a bright smile as he opened the door.

“…Huh?”

It was Ricardo.

The uninvited guest who barged into the office every day was standing right in front of him.

Ricardo, with a trembling expression, checked Shaltia’s complexion and pointed to his hair.

“Oh, my hair is red. I must have fire resistance.”

“…”

Ricardo was smiling.

Covered in burn marks all over his body.

“Maybe.”