4 – The Letter Awaiting the Villainess -3-

 

[Olivia’s favorability has increased by +50.]

 

“What?”

 

I was peacefully doing photosynthesis under the morning sunlight when I suddenly saw the increased favorability and rushed to the miss’s room.

 

I’ve never seen such a surge even in the Bitcoin market.

 

Did she have a good dream or something?

 

Thinking of the girl that I couldn’t understand even though I knew her, I arrived at the room and saw the feverish landlady.

 

[Deathmont Olivia Lv. 0.5]

 

[Occupation: Unemployed]

 

[Likeability: 50]

 

[Preferred Conversation Topic: Mikhail]

 

New!

 

[Disliked Conversation Topic: Mikhail]

 

Hmm.

 

A new liking has emerged.

 

Something happened while I was asleep.

 

But what’s the situation where what I like and what I dislike overlap? My head hurt from the morning.

 

***

 

The towel quickly became hot.

 

I thought as I looked at the grumbling girl.

 

“She clearly didn’t cover herself with the blanket while sleeping.”

 

I always nagged her to cover herself with the blanket fully, but Olivia, who caught a summer cold even though she doesn’t catch a cold in the summer, annoyed me.

 

“Cough cough. Hoo-ahh! Cough cough!”

 

The girl was coughing dramatically.

 

It seemed like it wouldn’t end in 1 to 2 days.

 

I should go to the hospital or something.

 

But I can’t take the girl who doesn’t want to go outside and I can’t afford to call a doctor.

 

“Cough. Cough…. I want water.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Compromising with reality, I stayed by the girl’s side.

 

The maid who came to work was ordered to clean the mansion. Just in case she catches a cold or something.

 

If the maid were to take a leave due to illness, I would have to take care of both the girl’s meals and cleaning duties. I could handle it for one day, but I didn’t have the confidence to handle it for two days.

 

Especially the bathing.

 

Hiring a new maid was impossible. It was impossible to find someone who would work in the house of a villainess expelled from high society.

 

Everyone was reluctant to work at our mansion.

 

Even if I offered a higher salary than other mansions, it was mostly rejected.

 

I don’t want to build a career working in the villainess’s house, but isn’t it actually a good opportunity? If I were to say that I improved the condition of our crazy young miss, I think they might even acknowledge me.

 

The regret continued to grow.

 

Sigh.

 

The villainess finished her water and placed the cup on the table.

 

She seemed to have something to say.

 

She took a deep breath and slowly opened her mouth.

 

“Ricardo.”

 

“Yes. Tonight’s dinner is rice porridge.”

 

“I don’t like rice porridge…”

 

Olivia, who wanted to be selective with the inhumane dinner menu of rice porridge, pouted reflexively and then got to the point.

 

“You know, the day I was sick, that day.”

 

“The day you were sick? Hm….”

 

I pressed my lips with my hand.

 

The day she was sick.

 

That day….

 

A woman is in pain.

 

“Oh!”

 

I recalled the magic flyswatter.

 

“There’s still some left, right?”

 

Olivia’s face turned red in an instant.

 

“Cough…! What are you talking about? You pervert! And how do you know about that?”

 

I proudly said.

 

“Isn’t it the duty of a butler? It’s basic.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

Olivia’s face turned even redder.

 

Her face was already red from the heat and it looked like it was about to explode.

 

Olivia threw the towel she had on her forehead at my face.

 

“Eheh!”

 

With a clatter, the towel slipped from my face and fell to the ground. I calmly picked it up and put it back into the bucket of ice water.

 

Olivia looked determined.

 

“Perverse and gloomy. The only thing in his mind is something like that.”

 

“The head of a strong 23-year-old young man is correct. And what’s wrong with that? Isn’t it a completely natural phenomenon?”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Sniff…”

 

She sniffed, trembling.

 

Unexpectedly, a clear notification sound rang in her head.

 

[Olivia’s fondness level has decreased by 10.]

 

Of course, a surge is also an art.

 

A decline is also art.

 

From today, your name is Dojuria.

 

Olivia composed herself.

 

She seemed quite surprised by the sudden drip. I was being sincere in my own way, but when I cleared my throat and said, “Stop joking,” it was like art.

 

Too bad we can’t show this video to the Academy students and try to recover public opinion.

 

“I used black magic that day.”

 

“Oh. So that day wasn’t really that day.”

 

“You, you…”

 

“I’m sorry. I just like the impact.”

 

It was the first time Olivia talked about that day.

 

What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?

 

Whenever I tried to bring up that day, she would turn away and get angry, but now she’s telling the story herself.

 

Could it be a nightmare she had?

 

As always, I thought it was a dream about getting hit by Mihail, but this was slightly unexpected.

 

Olivia’s gaze is fixed on me.

 

An intense determination to hear the answer while exhaling hot breath.

 

As memories of that day briefly resurfaced, I gently stroked my forearm covered by the sleeve.

 

It’s still vivid, even though it happened a year ago.

 

That was the last fondness quest.

 

[Main Quest ‘Two Threads of Fate’]

 

◈Olivia attempts to use black magic in her unrequited love.

 

1. Go to the second floor and save Olivia.

 

Compensation

 

1. Survival of Olivia

 

2. Likability of Olivia +1

 

3. Ability 〈Resistance to Dark Magic Lv.3〉

 

Penalty: 50% chance of death.

 

From Noble mtl dot com

 

2. Ignore.

 

Compensation

 

1. Likability of all characters +10

 

2. Magic power stat +30

 

3. Ability 〈White Magic Lv.3〉

 

Penalty: Olivia’s death.

 

On that day, Olivia was screaming.

 

I naturally chose Olivia.

 

That was all.

 

Olivia didn’t need to know the details. It was enough for me to be the only one who knew about that day.

 

“Why suddenly that day?”

 

“No, I was just curious.”

 

Olivia turned her head towards the window.

 

Whenever she lied or felt uncomfortable speaking, she would turn her head.

 

I was certain.

 

Olivia’s nightmare was a memory from that day.

 

“Why did our young lady ask about this story?”

 

It was a rather uncomfortable question to answer.

 

Even for me to speak.

 

And for Olivia to ask.

 

It’s because of that, that we are in this situation right now.

 

Olivia lost her leg.

 

I lost my water jug.

 

Nevertheless, Olivia asked me, curious.

 

“How did you save me?”

 

Olivia’s gaze was sharp. Whether it was because she sensed something, or because she was still angry from when I had interrupted her dark magic.

 

Because Olivia often held a grudge against me for that day, I had to be careful with my words.

 

“I just went in.”

 

“It was 4 in the morning. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

 

“Do you know when I sleep?”

 

“A person sleeps at 4 in the morning.”

 

“What if I’m not a person?”

 

“Don’t be silly.”

 

I lowered the towel from my forehead.

 

Olivia struggled to sit up and looked directly at me as she spoke each syllable.

 

“I thought about it carefully. I’m certain I cast the silence spell perfectly from outside.”

 

“It could have been a mistake, no?”

 

“No. I don’t make mistakes with basic magic.”

 

I have no way of knowing Olivia’s true intentions.

 

Whether she’s scolding me.

 

Or genuinely curious and asking.

 

Either way, Olivia is questioning me, and I had no intention of telling her.

 

What good would it do to bring up bad memories for no reason?

 

Isn’t it better to focus on the good?

 

I pressed my forehead against Olivia’s.

 

A weak villainess, lying limply on the bed. You’re pushing yourself too hard when you’re already running a fever.

 

“It’s telepathy.”

 

“No, tell me.”

 

“Haven’t I been serving you for 13 years? Friendship, love, salary! It’s because all of these things come together beautifully. Isn’t me exerting my supernatural powers only natural?”

 

“No…!”

 

A firm tone.

 

I covered Olivia’s entire face with the towel.

 

I must keep my mouth shut. Excitement is forbidden for the patient.

 

“Uwaaah!”

 

The lady thrashes and screams.

 

I performed a spell and got out of bed.

 

“Later. I’ll tell you later.”

 

***

 

Olivia’s mansion at that moment.

 

It seemed that the garden caretaker had gone on strike. The front gate was filled with densely grown garden trees.

 

Two students, neatly dressed in school uniforms, stood there.

 

“Is this the house of ghosts?”

 

“Quiet down. Seniors.”

 

The woman couldn’t deny the man’s words, given the scenery that couldn’t be considered a place where people live.

 

The man standing next to the woman interrupted, speaking playfully.

 

“With this kind of place, shouldn’t we call adventurers instead of us? It looks like a dungeon no matter how you look at it. The owner is like a monster.”

 

His rough appearance was no different from a troublemaker. Who would think of the student council when they see that appearance?

 

The woman thought of the man pitifully.

 

“I told you to be quiet.”

 

The man, with his hand in his pocket, mocking the mansion, was Ruin, a student at the Royal Academy. He was a disciple of the Martial Tower.

 

“Excuse me, Senior Ruin.”

 

She responded curtly.

 

Just like him, she was also a student at the Royal Academy.

 

She was the top student of the 1st-grade swordsmanship department.

 

Her name was Hanna, the secretary of the student council.

 

The reason the two students came to the expelled student’s house was simple.

 

The student council president ordered them to.

 

They took precious steps to assess the intention of Ricardo, a student who had applied for a leave of absence, for returning to school.

 

Hanna scanned the mansion’s wall in front of the main gate.

 

“Exile the wicked villainess to a convent.”

 

An obnoxious phrase.

 

It indeed looked like the house of a villainess as rumored.

 

She had heard it from her seniors.

 

The worst villainess was at the school.

 

She slapped anyone she saw.

 

There was a wicked woman who discriminated against and ignored the commoners and nobles, they said.

 

Especially, they said she relentlessly tormented and followed Senior Mihail…. It was quite awkward for her, who had a crush on Mihail.

 

Honestly, she didn’t want to come here either.

 

Her senior who she liked.

 

She didn’t know what this woman, who was called a saint and considered Mihail senior to be the “worst,” would do to her.

 

She might curse at her outright.

 

Or she might make a servant pour a bucket full of filth on herself, so her steps felt heavy.

 

But what could she do.

 

She was the youngest in the student council. A freshman.

 

As a lowly freshman, she had to obediently follow along.

 

*Sigh*… I don’t want to go.

 

Hanna tightly held the letter in her hand.

 

Originally, she wanted to come with Senior Mihail and show off how she would scold that woman.

 

But Senior Mihail didn’t want to come.

 

Instead, the one who came with her was Senior Lune, who was sitting next to her.

 

He wasn’t very popular in the student council due to his eccentric personality, but his skills were impeccable as he was the top student in the Department of Magic.

 

Although the president attached him just in case,

 

“hehehehe, let’s go in quickly. I want to show off.”

 

He didn’t seem very trustworthy.

 

Hanna made up her mind.

 

She wanted to leave this mansion as soon as possible, and then give that wicked woman a piece of her mind.

 

She knocked on the mansion door with her tense hand.