The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 23

Coloring (5)

She wiped the apple with the sleeve of her priest's robe.

A couple of swift wipes.

Then, she took a big bite.

Crunch.

A crisp, fresh sound echoed.

It cut through the silence in the room.

A sweet and sour scent spread.

Into the stale air, mixed with cigarette smoke and the smell of blood.

Estelle held the cigarette I had been smoking between her fingers and playfully wiggled it.Her face was slightly flushed.

"So."

She said.

"How much do you know?"

I didn't answer.

I was in the middle of taking a drag from the cigarette Estelle had put back in my mouth.

A bitter taste enveloped my tongue.

It was a familiar taste.

"How much do you think I know?"

I exhaled the smoke slowly and asked back.

A hazy cloud of smoke obscured us.

Estelle looked at me for a moment.

Fixedly.

Then she smiled.

"You know answering a question with a question is a bad habit, right?"

"You're doing it too, right now."

"It's fine because I'm the Saint.

God is always the one who asks useless questions anyway.

And never has any intention of giving answers."

She drawled.

Then she squatted down next to the sofa.

Her white priest's robe dragged on the dirty floor.

My blood, which had pooled on the floor, soaked into it.

But she didn't seem to care.

"Right, how much would you know, I wonder. You wouldn't know things like this."

Estelle rested her chin on her knees and looked up at me.

Her red eyes shone with particular clarity in the dark room.

"Like, for instance, the fact that the Saint is someone who doesn't care whether someone dies unjustly or not."

As she spoke, she picked up a piece of broken glass from the floor.

It was a suitable size.

A fragment with a sharply broken edge.

After rolling it in her hand for a moment, she pressed it down onto the table.

Crack.

The glass fragment was unharmed.

Only the table had cracked.

Even if you pulled the trigger on a gun pointed at the woman in front of you, the bullet would probably just flatten.

"Or that she deliberately didn't stop monsters from being released into the forbidden library, hmm?

Stories like those that, if you spread them around, would get you strung up and killed."

Unperturbed, I stubbed out the almost finished cigarette in the ashtray, then took out another and stuck it in my mouth.

Then, I looked at Estelle, who was making a playful expression, and said in a low voice.

"I don't know about anything else, but I did hear that you framed and killed a few innocent priests as heretics."

The playful smile on Estelle's face vanished instantly.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

"Enough, don't say it.

And they were sinful people. By my standards."

She said irritably.

And she took another cigarette from my pack and put it in her mouth.

She glanced around as if looking for matches, then soon gave up and brought her cigarette to the tip of the one I was holding.

The fire caught.

Two embers burned side by side at the tips of the cigarettes.

She then, just like that, straddled my lap.

It was a very natural movement.

Estelle put her arm around my shoulder and puffed the cigarette smoke she was holding into my face.

"It doesn't matter what I say.

But I don't like hearing it from others.

I don't know why, but especially not from you.

It's like... I only want to hear pleasant things, I suppose."

The acrid smoke obscured my vision.

Her breath carried a faint scent of fruit.

It was mixed with the smell of cigarettes.

Her fingers brushed my face.

Slowly.

They slid along my eyebrows.

Her fingertips were lukewarm.

A temperature somehow lacking vitality.

Those fingers traced down the bridge of my nose, gently tickling my nostrils.

It was a playful gesture, but her eyes weren't smiling.

"Hmm."

She made a sound as if intrigued, and touched my lips.

Gently pressing my lower lip, her finger slowly traced its contour.

"By the way, people..."

Estelle whispered.

Her breath touched my cheek.

"At least in front of me.

Even proud nobles grovel, fearing they'd go to hell if they utter a single wrong word to me."

Her fingers moved along my jawline.

Down to below my ear.

She gently squeezed my earlobe, then slowly released it.

For some reason, it felt ticklish.

I turned my head, but her hand didn't move away.

My face seemed quite interesting to her.

"Why aren't you like that?"

A faint smile returned to her lips.

"Because I've spent quite a long time with someone even worse than you."

"Levina?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

Then she began to chuckle to herself.

Swaying slightly on my lap.

She cupped my cheeks with both hands.

She brought her face closer.

So close our noses almost brushed.

"Right. Hehe, Levina would certainly do that."

Estelle's fingers slowly delved into my hair.

A soft sensation.

She ruffled my hair, then gently smoothed it back down.

"If I had a younger brother like you, I would have treated him so well."

She took the cigarette she was smoking, tossed it behind her, and said in a low voice.

"Tomorrow, come to the church near the back gate.

There are much better things than these cheap ones.

I didn't even know, but churches are overflowing with these kinds of things too."

"Is there alcohol too?"

"Plenty. Though almost all of it is just wine."

"And I can just take it?"

"Yeah. Who's going to stop me if I say I'm taking it?"

As Estelle and I were chatting, the door opened.

Creak.

A sharp sound.

Levina entered the room.

Her face was hardened.

More than usual.

It seemed she had come to see if I was alright.

But her gaze was directed at me, sitting on the sofa, and at Estelle, sitting on my lap and smoking a cigarette.

Especially at Estelle's dirtied priest's robe, and the sight of her nonchalantly holding a cigarette in her mouth.

Levina's brows furrowed deeply.

"I seem to recall only asking you to treat him."

Levina's voice was coldly frozen.

A voice that seemed to be forcibly suppressing irritation.

"Or Lavin, did you start this?

What kind of weakness are you trying to expose yourself to? No matter how stupid you are, there are some people you just don't touch, the Saint..."

Levina was pressing her temples as if she had a headache and speaking, when Estelle interrupted her.

"I was the one who approached him first, you know?"

She said, glancing at Levina from my lap.

"Why? You said you were going to kick him out soon anyway, didn't you?"

Estelle replied as if there was no problem at all.

Slowly exhaling smoke.

Then she stubbed out the cigarette she was smoking on the table.

Indifferently and dryly.

"This is a family matter, not something for you to speak of."

Levina's jaw tightened.

She slowly walked towards us, step by step.

But Estelle wasn't intimidated at all.

On the contrary, she merely looked up at her as if amused.

To be honest, I wished both of them would stop messing around in my room and just leave.

"A family matter, you say. Then why did you entrust him to me?

Wouldn't it be better if your family members lovingly treated him?

Why didn't you even put a bandage on him?"

Estelle lightly patted my arm as she spoke.

"Because you're the only competent person to treat him right now."

Levina replied precisely.

"Do you think you're on the same level as me just because we killed monsters with Kyle and those worthless fools together?"

Estelle snickered.

Her laughter seemed to grate on Levina's nerves.

"Quiet down and leave.

I still have something to discuss with Lavin."

Levina said.

In her right hand, she held an an envelope.

Was she going to formally announce my expulsion from the Edelgard family?

It would be a story I didn't particularly need to hear.

"I don't want to. The treatment is done, but I haven't received my compensation yet.

Hand this friend over to me. I'll raise him well. You're going to kick him out anyway, aren't you?"

Levina looked at Estelle with tired eyes.

With the same eyes she used to look at me.

"Estelle, don't cross the line. He's still my younger brother."

"And yet, you're going to kick him out anyway, aren't you?"

Estelle deliberately didn't get off me, instead grabbing my wrist and lifting my arm.

And tracing the spot where the wound had been with her fingers, she said mockingly.

"And usually, you know.

There wouldn't be an older sister who would neglect her younger brother to this extent, would there?"

"That's none of your bu—"

Levina stopped in mid-sentence.

It seemed a thought had occurred to her.

A slight smile crept onto her otherwise expressionless face.

"Oh, that's right. Didn't you say, Saint, that you had a younger brother when you were little?"

She stood up.

From my lap.

Very slowly.

Then she picked up an empty liquor bottle that was rolling on the floor.

Crash!

Estelle pretended to throw it at Levina, then threw it against the wall.

The glass shattered into pieces.

A sharp sound echoed in the room.

Shards flew everywhere.

A small cut appeared on Levina's cheek.

A single drop of red blood welled up.

Clearly streaming down her white skin.

However, she didn't even blink.

The two of them simply stared at each other.

"See you tomorrow."

After a long silence, Estelle spoke.

Her voice was surprisingly calm.

As if nothing had happened, she stroked Levina's cheek once.

At the same time, the cut vanished instantly.

She straightened her disheveled priest's robe.

And after winking at me once, she naturally left the room.

The door closed, and only I and Levina remained in the room.

As soon as Estelle left, Levina sighed wearily, leaned back into the chair Estelle had just been sitting in, and muttered in a low voice.

"She's a crazy woman, so don't even think about getting close to her."

In her right hand, she still held the paper containing the notice of my expulsion.