The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 47

Escape (5)

My skin was cut, but not much blood was flowing out anymore. Only a throbbing pain remained.

Was coming to the annex the right choice? That thought, for a very brief moment, flashed across my mind.

But soon, the red flames that had threatened to consume everything in my mind came to the forefront.

It was better than that. Incomparably so.

I’m scared of fire.

I ran away all the way here because I’m scared of fire.

I didn't want to go back.

I pressed my eyes firmly with my palms and sighed.

Then, I gently pushed myself up and tried to help Lineta, who was lying on the floor.But the thorns that had sprouted from near her shoulder were also slightly piercing her neck, so I felt that if I unnecessarily meddled, things might get even worse.

It was always like that. Because whenever I tried to do something, or got involved with someone, everything would always get messed up.

Before long, urgent footsteps could be heard from the corridor.

Levina returned to the parlor with the butler.

In the butler's hand were clean bandages and something dark green in a wooden bowl.

A pungent herbal smell spread through the room.

The smell stung my nose.

"Even if the smell is a bit pungent, please bear with it."

The butler said cautiously.

Leaning against the sofa, I looked at the man without answering.

As he was about to approach me, Levina stopped him.

"I'll do it, so you go and rest."

Levina took the bandages and the bowl containing the herbs from the butler's hand.

"Y-Young Mistress. But this is something I should do..."

"I said I'd do it. Go and rest."

Levina's voice was low and firm.

The butler seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon bowed his head and quietly left the parlor.

Only the three of us remained in the room again.

Lineta's faint breathing could be heard from where she lay collapsed on the floor.

Levina knelt down in front of me.

She slowly began to remove my shirt, which was soaked with blood and clinging to me.

Her hands, unbuttoning it one by one, were careful.

The cold air touched the wound.

The wound stung.

"...Does it hurt a lot?"

Levina asked.

Her gaze was fixed on my wound.

"I can't even lie and say it doesn't hurt."

She smeared sticky herbs on her fingers and carefully applied them onto the wound on my chest.

Along with a burning sensation, the pungent herbal smell grew even stronger.

Her touch was strangely gentle.

While applying the herbs, she gently swept her finger around the wound once.

Her cold finger brushed against my skin.

"I'm sorry."

Levina said calmly.

"Yeah."

Even if I wanted to be sarcastic, I had no particular words to offer.

"I heard you went to a small village nearby."

"I did."

"How was it?"

"Just a countryside village."

"Still, since you're from the Edelgard family, if there are any people who treated you poorly, tell me."

"Wasn't I expelled from the family?"

"...Rather than being expelled, it means you shouldn't use the family name indiscriminately anymore."

"Then, whether I get close to a maid or not, it's none of your business, isn't it?"

Levina didn't answer.

She just silently continued to apply the herbs.

Her long eyelashes were faintly trembling.

"Levina."

"..."

"How long are we going to keep living like this?"

The hand that was skillfully applying the bandages paused for a moment.

And then it moved again.

She pressed firmly on the wound until the bleeding stopped, then carefully wrapped my chest.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Are we even truly family in the first place?"

Levina stood up.

As if trying to avoid an answer, she approached Lineta, who was lying on the floor.

"No siblings would live like this."

The thorns embedded in Lineta's shoulder disappeared like dust as soon as Levina touched them.

"I suppose so, but still, Lavin..."

"Don't call me Lavin."

Levina roughly tore off the shoulder part of Lineta's maid uniform.

And she applied the medicine to the wound as if rubbing it in.

After applying the smelly herbs to the wounds near Lineta's shoulder and neck, she wrapped the bandages excessively tightly.

So tight it was suffocating.

She frowned painfully, but did not wake up.

After finishing wrapping all the bandages, Levina stood up.

"Now, do you even dislike it when I call your name?"

Then she sat on the sofa opposite me, and with her blood-stained hands, drank the completely cold tea, saying.

The hand holding the teacup was trembling slightly.

"Finally, everything is in my hands. Father will soon step down, and the entire family will be mine."

"That's wonderful. You've always wished for that since you were little, haven't you?"

"And you also finally returned to the Edelgard family, and with that fiancée who doesn't even suit you, the engagement will soon be annulled, right?"

"What suits me, then?"

"...At least not the Beluze family."

I rose from the sofa.

"Levina, do you perhaps remember? Was it around the age of ten?"

Her lips slightly parted.

"Don't you remember? The Duchess locked me in the underground storage room. For two whole days. I was alone in a cold, dark place. And you were the only one who came to find me."

I continued speaking as I gently picked up Lineta, who was lying on the floor.

"That was..."

"What you came and said was, 'Why didn't you listen better? Someone like you, being a bastard, is deficient, that's why this happened.' Even hearing those words, I think I was happy just that you came to find me."

At least, 'Lavin' was.

Lineta's body was lighter than I expected.

I carefully laid her down onto the sofa on the opposite side.

"Even when I was twelve. Ah, was it a closet then? And even when Mother passed away."

After looking at Lineta, whom I had laid on the sofa, I sat down again opposite Levina.

"If you thought I didn't listen to you even a little bit, you would just recite the words the Duchess spewed: 'Because Mother was a prostitute, because I was a bastard, because I lacked education, because my very birth was a problem...'"

Levina was about to say something, but with her blood-stained hands, she rubbed her face.

A slight smear of red blood was on her face.

"I was young then... No."

She was about to say something, but for a moment, she stared blankly into space, then closed her mouth again.

Something seemed to flash past in her eyes.

"...I'm sorry. No, I mean. I'm sorry. Truly."

Levina said in a very small voice.

"Tell that child I'm sorry too. And tell her that if she quits, she'll be given a generous amount of money."

She opened her mouth.

Her voice was cracked.

"...And when was it you tried to kill her?"

"I wasn't trying to kill her. I told you, I was just trying to scare her a little. And I just, suddenly, don't know why I did it."

For the first time, Levina showed me a confused expression, not her usual blank face.

It was a face like a lost child.

Even if I wanted to say something to Levina, my mouth wouldn't open.

In all my life, I had never seen Levina make such a face and speak to me, not even once.

At least in 'Lavin's' memories.

And so, the room was filled with silence.

"I'll come again next week. Rest well for a while."

She stood up and looked down at Lineta for a long time.

Levina ultimately said nothing and left the room as if fleeing.

Not long after, the sound of a carriage rolling in the distance could be heard.

The sound grew farther and farther away, until it could no longer be heard.

Silence returned to the room again.

How much time had passed?

Lineta, who was lying on the sofa, opened her eyes with a faint groan.

Trembling, she pushed herself up.

And she gently touched her shoulder and neck area.

The sensation of the bandages felt unfamiliar.

"This... did the Young Master wrap this for me?"

Lineta asked.

Her voice was heavily hoarse.

"No. Your Young Mistress did."

At my words, Lineta's body trembled once again.

"...That scoundrel who torments servants, is that also the Young Mistress?"

Lineta said that, then gasped, inhaling sharply.

She seemed to realize what she had just said.

"Ah, no! I'm sorry! Please don't tell anyone about this!"

She pleaded with me, almost sobbing.

I just gently stroked her head.

"The Young Mistress says if you quit, she'll give you a generous sum, and asked me to tell you she's sorry. She's such a important person, it seems she finds it hard to say it herself."

Lineta stared at me blankly.

Fear still lingered in her eyes.

"Are you going to quit?"

Lineta gently stroked the bandages wrapped around her neck and shoulder with her hand. After hesitating for a moment, she soon shook her head.

"No. I won't quit."

"Why?"

"I want to go to the capital. After saving a lot of money. It's my dream."

"Why the capital?"

"A friend I was close with from the same village went to an Academy in the capital."

A faint smile appeared on Lineta's face.

"That friend, by now, must have become a splendid knight. Instead of just waiting for him to visit someday, I want to go and meet him myself."

"Then, you can just quit and use that money to go to the capital."

At my words, Lineta flushed slightly and hesitated.

Her gaze fell to the floor.

"...I don't want to leave the Young Master with a person like that."

She said in a very small voice.

"And if I'm not here, the Young Master, with his eccentric personality, seems like he wouldn't have a single friend."

At those words, I was about to retort something, but having nothing to say, I closed my mouth.