The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 15

Afterimage (2)

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a pure white ceiling.

The distinctive smell of disinfectant stung Seraphina’s nose.

It was the infirmary.

She tried to sit up, but her entire body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.

"......"

Her throat was dry.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Her tongue felt stiff, as if filled with sand.

She turned her gaze.On the chair by the window sat Lavin’s sister.

She was looking out the window.

Her profile was cold and expressionless, like a statue.

A faint bruise still lingered on her neck.

"......Water, p-please."

Her voice barely came out.

A hoarse, raspy voice.

Levina turned her head.

Her eyes were empty.

One might have thought it was because she had her back to the light, but the heavy dark circles beneath her eyes were too pronounced for that to be the case.

She wordlessly rose from her seat, picked up the water glass on the bedside table, and handed it over.

Seraphina took the water glass with trembling hands.

As the cold water moistened her throat, she finally felt as if her senses were returning.

"......"

As soon as she set the glass down, Levina grabbed her by the collar.

It happened in an instant.

Cough.

Her body lurched violently forward.

Levina's face was right in front of hers.

"Why on earth were you doing that there?"

"I don’t quite understand what you’re s-saying......"

"Why were you hugging a dead Lavin all day? Without calling anyone, without even thinking of taking him down."

"Why would Lavin be dead?"

Levina's hand lost its strength.

And her characteristic expressionless face seemed about to contort, but instead, she merely bit her lip lightly, glanced idly at the empty air, and then let out a sigh.

"......"

"I know. He’s dead, apparently. Please don’t look at me with that expression. I’m not crazy."

Seraphina said that, then bowed her head deeply and began to laugh maniacally, choking back sobs to herself.

"Doesn’t something about this seem funny?"

"What is?"

"Everything. This situation, my state. Your state too. It’s funny, isn’t it?

I said I wished he would die, and he actually died."

Seraphina’s laughter filled the empty infirmary.

It was closer to crying than laughter, though.

Levina merely looked down at her, without saying a word.

Her face remained utterly expressionless.

"Isn’t it funny? Your brother died."

"......."

"Right, he was just a disgrace to the family, an eyesore.

More than funny, you must feel relieved. Don’t you, Young Head of Edelgard?"

Seraphina stopped laughing and looked up at Levina.

Her face was stained with tear tracks, but her eyes alone glowed.

"Why don’t you answer?

Don’t pretend to be alright when your insides are rotten black and festering."

Levina’s eyebrows twitched faintly.

That was the only change.

"Say one more word like that, and I'll take it as an insult."

"Oh, really?"

A sneer played on Seraphina's lips.

"You react like this to just one disrespectful word, so why did you treat Lavin that way?"

"That child deserved it."

"Oh, he deserved it, did he? Indeed, Lavin was a person who deserved it."

"......."

"Even so, you shouldn't have done that."

"Now? You, who wished for an annulment, is that what you have to say?"

"You made him that way."

Levina flinched when she heard the word ‘you’.

"Don’t call me that."

And she uttered the words in a slightly trembling voice.

"Or perhaps, should I call you Young Head of Edelgard, like before?"

Levina did not reply.

She merely glared at Lavin’s former fiancée with faintly furrowed brows.

"Do you know why Lavin died?"

"Lie down and cool your head. I know you're confused because Lavin died, but you're not in your right m-mind right now......"

"Who here is more sane than I am right now!?"

Seraphina tried to raise her voice, then steadied her breath again.

And she continued in a calm, yet cold voice.

"It’s because of you."

Her voice was quiet.

However, the air in the infirmary somehow seemed to grow colder.

"You know very well why that child ended up like that."

Levina still said nothing.

She merely looked down at Seraphina.

"When he was little, how much that child clung to you.

He respected you more than anyone, and even asked me for gift ideas that might somehow win your heart."

Seraphina rose from the bed.

Her body was still heavy, but it didn't matter.

Because she wanted to face Levina directly.

"But what about you?

You always looked at him as if he were an insect.

A disgrace to the family, a dirty bastard.

As if his very existence was disgusting."

"What do you know? I still treated him like a younger sibling."

Levina's voice was low and dry.

But she fiddled with the water glass on the table, avoiding Seraphina’s gaze.

She couldn’t meet Seraphina's blue eyes.

"You couldn't possibly be unaware of how that child was treated in the mansion before entering the Academy.

Shall I list it out for you, one by one?

Having lived together since childhood, I’ve heard more than a few stories, you know.

And there were many times you openly ignored Lavin right in front of me."

"......That was for his own good.

Because from a certain day, he started overstepping his bounds, not knowing his place.

That child needed to know his place."

Levina paused to consider her answer, then began to speak.

"You should know that, originally, a bastard like him wouldn’t be living in the same mansion, nor receiving the same education as me.

Everything that child received came from my magnanimity.

At least, I thought half of the same blood flowed in him."

Seraphina was speechless for a moment.

Levina’s logic was, at least to Levina herself, so clear and unshakeable that Seraphina saw no room to argue.

But to Seraphina, Lavin was simply Lavin.

A person she loved, no matter what blood flowed through him.

At least, the reason for her to hate him wasn’t because he was a bastard.

"That wasn't treatment; it was rearing.

You shouldn't have lived together."

Levina raised her head and met Seraphina’s gaze.

Her eyes were full of dark circles.

Her lips were dry and peeling, and her cheeks were oddly flushed, as if she had a cold.

"Your words are going too far."

"It was your actions that went too far."

"I know you’re distraught because your former fiancé died, but can’t you at least exercise basic discretion?"

"Lavin respected you.

He wanted to be like you.

Because you seemed like the most wonderful, cool-headed, intelligent, and flawless person, capable of anything.

He admired you more than someone like me......"

"What’s the point of saying such things now?"

"And unlike you, I'm quite foolish.

Perhaps I resemble Lavin. Or perhaps, having spent too much time together, Lavin ended up resembling me.

I can’t act as if nothing’s wrong, as if a dead person is just a dead person, unlike you."

"You speak as if I'm the problem."

"Well, considering that you were essentially the one who drove him out of the family... At least I tried to make things right with Lavin again. Haven't you heard the rumors? Everyone knew I visited Lavin's room every morning."

"Effort? Is that effort?

Just visiting every morning to clean? Why didn't you just hire a suitable person and send them instead?

Why did he suddenly seem precious to you only after the engagement was broken?"

Levina’s voice was as cold as ice.

But a faint tremor was mixed within it.

"I drove Lavin out, yes. So what? What could Lavin have done if he had stayed? Do you think he could have become the head of the family? Even if he did, would the elders have left Lavin alone?"

"You speak as if you did it all for Lavin."

"It was indeed for Lavin's sake.

If that child had remained in the family, even if he hadn't been a good-for-nothing but a perfectly respectable human being, he would have been poisoned and disposed of long ago."

"And you would have been the one to poison him."

"......Today, you're not exercising any caution with your words."

"When have I ever been cautious?"

Seraphina smiled faintly.

It was a self-deprecating laugh.

Because ever since the day she hugged Lavin tightly, the only thought that came to her mind every day was that she wanted to tear out her own tongue right then and there.

"You said you did it for Lavin’s sake, but it’s all lies.

To call such a person a sister, family, hnh."

Seraphina couldn't continue speaking and bit her lip.

Levina turned her gaze out the window.

As if she no longer wanted to see Seraphina’s face.

Silence fell between the two women.

Faint sounds of students passing by could be heard from outside the infirmary window.

The world outside was peaceful, as if nothing had happened.

In reality, Lavin’s death was indeed nothing.

After all, even if one good-for-nothing, banished from his family and having his engagement annulled, died, it was merely a fleeting topic for gossip, nothing significant.

"Why did you want to break off the engagement?"

Levina spoke first.

It was an attempt to change the subject.

She hoped, at least, that the arrow wouldn’t be aimed at her.

"If you cared for that child so much, shouldn’t you have stayed by his side until the very end?

Even if, as you say, I shook things up to make you annul the engagement."

"......"

This time, Seraphina did not reply.

She lowered her gaze and looked down at her fingers.

Slender, white fingers.

Fingers that once held Lavin’s hand.

"Indeed, why did I want to?"

Seraphina stared blankly into space, then continued speaking.

"How many times did I hope alone, only to be disappointed alone.

I believed he would change, only to turn my back on him over a small misunderstanding.

I never once truly believed that child’s words."

Seraphina nervously gnawed at her fingernails.

Her nails were already trimmed short, so the skin tore, and blood seeped out.

"As that child slowly drifted away, all I did was heap blame upon him; I didn't help him at all."

She stared blankly at the drops of blood welling up from her finger.

"Is that why? I wish there was someone to blame.

I don't want to hear that it's my fault. Even if it is my fault.

So, I hate you."

"That won't bring him back."

"I know."

Seraphina replied calmly.

"That's why I resent you even more.

Even you should have believed him until the end.

You said you treated him like a younger sibling, didn’t you? You’re family."

"Family......"

Levina chewed on the word.

As if she had never heard it before.

A faint sneer crossed her lips.

"What kind of child was the Lavin you knew?"

It was an unexpected question.

Seraphina couldn't understand why such a question had suddenly come up.

But she immediately answered, thinking of Lavin.

"He was a kind child. At least when he first met me.

He didn’t know how to hurt others, and he was always smiling.

He didn’t know how to hate anyone either."

Seraphina spoke, gazing into space as if recalling the past.

"At least, the Lavin I knew was like that.

Until you made him that way."

"Yes. He was that kind of child."

And Levina also spoke, gazing into space as if recalling the past.

"He always stopped being the obedient, kind, cute younger brother, and became Lavin, whenever he met you."

Seraphina couldn't understand what Levina was saying, so she didn't continue speaking.

Even though she had blamed Levina, she didn’t feel any relief, so she stopped resenting her.

At least for now. Now, she was simply too tired.

"What will you do now?"

Seraphina asked.

"Now that child is gone, the one who tormented you is gone.

Do you feel relieved?"

Levina slowly turned her head to look at Seraphina.

"The funeral will be held tomorrow morning.

A modest family funeral."

Seraphina nodded.