Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

I thought I knew the character ‘Senia’ better than anyone else.

After all, I had read the original work where she was the protagonist, and there was nothing suspicious in the first-person narration.

But this incident wasn’t something that could be dismissed as a simple misunderstanding just because she was the female lead.

“Lady Senia may have taken precautions, anticipating that Marquis Zeld would put Ria in danger.”

At Luka’s words, I couldn’t affirm or deny, and just sank into thought alone.

A child with a different disposition from the Kablos family, the reincarnation of a saint, a kind heart and strong character.

These were all words used to describe Senia.

Who could have imagined that she would be involved in trying to harm me?

‘I’ll have to be careful of Senia from now on.’

For the first time, I suspected there might be content in the original work that I didn’t know about.

* * *

Marquis Zeld was unexpectedly stubborn.

Even under severe torture, which must have been hard for him to endure, he still wouldn’t say if there was someone who had instigated him.

His bloodshot eyes looked innocent.

“Se-Selth Baron instigated me! It’s his fault… Aaaaargh!!”

Rather, later on, he seemed to guess what we wanted to hear and falsely named someone unrelated.

“What do you think, Luka?”

“Baron Selth has been at odds with him for a long time. He’s an old noble nearing ninety, on his deathbed.”

It seems he was desperately trying to take down one enemy before he died.

As expected of Marquis Zeld.

I looked at him with cold eyes and said:

“Then where did you get the key to the tower?”

At my question, his slumped body flinched and he hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Well, I had been staying in front of the Marquisate for a while! I met the jailer passing by then. He readily gave me the prison key for a few coins. It’s all because of him! It’s not my fault!”

‘The jailer…’

Before I could act, Damon, who was directly supervising the torture, had a servant bring the tower’s jailer.

Soon after, the small-bodied jailer who entered the torture chamber bowed his head with a terrified expression and said:

“Y-You called for me…?”

“Raise your head.”

At Damon’s words, the jailer carefully raised his gaze, then was startled to see Marquis Zeld in such a battered state that he could hardly bear to look.

It was the same for Marquis Zeld.

“You gave this man the key to the tower.”

“Th-There’s no way!! I absolutely did not, Marquis!”

“The jailer I saw was large in build, could my eyes have been mistaken…? No, it definitely wasn’t this man!”

Marquis Zeld was denying it even with his vision blurred by blood.

It seemed the builds were clearly different.

“This man is the only caretaker of the tower. It seems someone must have impersonated a jailer.”

“The key also looks like it was copied.”

Dad said, comparing the key handed over by the jailer with the one Marquis Zeld had.

This revealed that Marquis Zeld had been unknowingly used.

“I-I, you should find that person before me! That’s the only way to prevent further trouble!!”

The Marquis also knew this well, and was struggling to find a way out.

“That’s one thing, but the fact that you almost killed my daughter remains unchanged.”

“Duke, Duke Rayes! Don’t do this…!”

“Do you want to leave this torture chamber, Marquis?”

“O-Of course…!”

“Then you’ll experience even worse pain, are you sure? It seems you want to experience Rayes’ underground prison.”

At Dad’s words, the Marquis’s face turned deathly pale.

He seemed to finally realize his fate was already sealed.

“The pain will be spread out multiple times, until just before death. Carve into your bones the price for daring to touch my daughter.”

At this point, he should envy Kesil who died from Luka’s single blow.

Damon bowed respectfully and accepted Dad’s orders.

Miller didn’t want to leave me alone for even a moment in the torture chamber reeking of blood, so as soon as the interrogation ended, he took me outside.

‘I have no choice but to connect this to Kablos.’

As I was returning to my room lost in thought, I heard hurried footsteps approaching.

The moment I sensed the presence and turned around, Luka and Miller on either side of me also took fighting stances…

But the one who embraced me was none other than Sarah.

“Ria! Sob, I was so worried!”

Her beautiful face was covered in tears.

“Sarah, what happened to your pretty face? I’m fine.”

I raised my head from her embrace.

I wiped away the flowing tears, caressing her smooth face with my hand.

“It’s shameless of me, but I really thought of Ria like my own little sister. And yet, on the last day, I couldn’t be with you because I was sad about parting…”

“You don’t think it’s your fault, do you? It was an accidental incident. How could Sarah have prevented it!”

At my words, Sarah hugged me tighter and sobbed.

‘I’m making a lot of people cry today.’

It was the first time since getting injured in my previous life that I had caused so many people to worry.

Back then, it felt burdensome and uncomfortable, but strangely now it didn’t feel entirely unpleasant, as if their thoughts for me were being conveyed fully.

‘…It tickles.’

Had I changed without realizing it?

I felt conflicted emotions for a while in Sarah’s warm embrace.

* * *

Although I had come to the west for recuperation, it felt like I was just causing trouble before leaving.

It wasn’t just my thought, as the butler who had been running around looked the oldest he had in nearly a week.

Just before boarding the carriage, I approached Sarah, who was sniffling, and Damon, who was holding her.

“Congratulations on your marriage in advance. See you next time.”

“Yes, I’ll definitely succeed and come to the capital to see Ria…!”

“Haha… Definitely.”

Sarah had the qualities of a romance novel female lead.

To be precise, she was like a madam whose every business venture flourished.

That’s why she reminded me of the protagonist of ‘The Lady of the West’.

That’s also why those words didn’t sound like empty boasting.

“Goodbye, Lady of the West.”

I quickly kissed Sarah’s lovely cheek and ran to the carriage.

As the carriage door closed, the scent of the western sea gradually faded.

I was feeling the wind while looking out the window in the comfortable carriage.

“It’s sad to leave like this.”

The fact that I felt this way after all that had happened was probably because I had met such good people.

“We’ll come together again. I’ll accompany you as many times as Ria wants.”

Like when we came, I was in the same carriage as Luka.

I stared at Luka for a while, then asked him something I had been curious about.

“Luka, why did you make a vow in front of me? You know you can only make it once, right? It means you can’t take it back.”

I also felt like he might have made it without knowing, though that seemed unlikely.

I was naturally expecting an answer like ‘You looked pitiful crying, I wanted you to trust me and feel at ease.’

“I wanted you to become my world, my reason for breathing and living.”

However, the answer was unexpected.

“The vow doesn’t just bind the knight to the master.”

“…What?”

“The master can also only make the vow once in their lifetime. I made Ria bound to me, just as I am bound to Ria.”

Luka’s crimson eyes resembled the sunset light coming through the window.

That gaze terribly ensnared me.

Just like the red thread in legends.

I looked back at him with a surprised expression.

‘…I’m also bound to Luka?’

I should have felt upset that he had trapped me in his hands without telling me, but strangely, I didn’t dislike it.

Luka’s warm hand touched my cheek.

I flinched but didn’t avoid his hand.

The person who came to save me first, the one who seemed like he would find me no matter where I ran away to.

Since the day we first met at the orphanage, were we already tied together by an inescapable thread?

“You, you heard what I said at the festival.”

I spoke bluntly.

It was the first time he had revealed his feelings to me with such certainty.

He must have definitely heard what I said then.

‘I wish he would forget that unsightly confession.’

Since Luka was a transcendent being, it wouldn’t be strange if he heard tiny sounds that normal people’s ears couldn’t catch.

My guess was correct.

Luka’s face turned bright red, as if recalling that day.

I thought it was the red flames reflecting, but that wasn’t it.

“Haa- Arzenluka.”

I put my hand to my forehead.

Stirring up the feelings I had planned to quietly fold away, really.

I grasped Luka’s hand that was still on my cheek.

Then I leaned towards Luka.

At a distance close enough for our noses to touch, I looked into Luka’s crimson eyes.

I had seen many emotions in Luka’s beautiful eyes until now, but it was the first time I saw such naked obsession that he couldn’t hide.

With this, I felt I clearly understood Luka’s feelings that I had been confused about.

“Ria.”

“When you return from the war, if my feelings are the same, I’ll tell you again. So forget it for now.”

Forget it, Red Sun, Red Sun-

A woman’s heart is like a reed.

Especially for a girl around my age.

Even though my sudden action must have been surprising, Luka didn’t lose his composure and kissed a few strands of my silver hair that had fallen over his shoulder.

His persistent gaze that didn’t leave me seemed overflowing with confidence that he would reclaim my heart even if it strayed.

It was an attitude that some might consider arrogant, but Arzenluka was that perfect of a boy.

Luka said with his eyes beautifully curved:

“I understand. But… while I’m gone, absolutely don’t bring in another dog, Sister Ria.”

It was a low warning.

“If when I return, there’s someone occupying that spot beside you. I won’t be able to keep Ria’s words to become a wise ruler…”

Luka swallowed the last words, but strangely, the unspoken words seemed to echo in my ears.

‘I’ll have no choice but to become a tyrant and kill them all, you know?’

It felt like my hair was standing on end.

I thought I knew Luka better than anyone, but was that too arrogant of me?

If Luka had always seemed like a gentle lamb, now he had taken off the mask to reveal a chilling face.

“I told you, you’re my world. If you’re gone, I’m gone, and the Empire is gone.”

“You…”

Luka knew that I cherished him dearly.

So he must have known that those words were no different from putting strong shackles on my ankles.

“…What would you do if I left you?”

When Luka returns from the battlefield, I won’t be in this Empire.

I said I would convey these feelings again if he returned safely, with that in mind.

“I would find you somehow, kneel at Ria’s feet and beg. Beg you to never disappear from my sight again. Beg you not to abandon me.”

Luka’s eyes sharpened for a moment, as if imagining a world without me.

“Ah… I won’t run away. How could I go anywhere when I’d be so scared?”

I hesitated for a moment, overwhelmed by Luka’s aura, but soon gathered my wits and spoke.

Luka embraced me with open arms.

In an instant, I, who had been looking down at him, was enveloped in his warm embrace.

“Right? I believe you will.”

He must know well that I’m not the type to say such things out of the blue. It seems this mouth of mine made a mistake.

To already let slip signs of running away.

I had an intuition that something was going wrong.