The Villainesses in the Romance Fantasy Novel Became Obsessed with me

A village free from the northern chill.

Renesti.

A simple house located there.

A middle-aged man handed a cup of warm tea to Yuri, whose face was smeared with blood.

“Here, have some warm tea. It will help you feel better.”

Yuri, who had been walking endlessly while carrying Damian on her back.

They were fortunate enough to be saved by a middle-aged merchant who passed by with his carriage.

The man saw the pitiful state of the two children, took them in his carriage and brought them to a physician, ensuring Damian received the necessary treatment.

According to the doctor, Damian had lost a lot of blood, but fortunately, the wounds had missed any vital organs.

Yuri shook her head at the man’s kind smile.

“I’m fine… I don’t need the tea… Damian’s condition is far worse than mine…”

“You’re saying you’re fine after losing that much blood?”

“…”

‘This isn’t my blood.’

Yuri fell silent at the man’s words.

The blood covering her body wasn’t hers.

She looked down at her blood-stained hands.

‘What did I do to my brother and the knights…?’

Since Damian was slashed by her brother’s sword, she couldn’t remember anything.

She didn’t know what she did.

When she came to her senses, she was holding a blood-soaked kitchen knife.

The white snowfield was stained with blood, and her brother and the knights were lying on the ground.

“I… I don’t remember anything, Damian…”

Yuri asked as she looked at Damian lying in bed.

“Did I… Did I kill my brother and the knights… with my own hands…?”

“… What? What did you just say-”

“Oh, nothing… I was just talking to myself…”

“… I’ll leave the tea here. Drink it if you feel like it.”

The man sensed something strange about Yuri and hurriedly left.

Leaving behind a cup of barley tea in an elegant cup.

However, Yuri couldn’t bring herself to drink the tea.

“I… I caused Damian to be like this because I’m weak… How can I drink tea… I’m sorry, Damian…”

‘It’s all my fault.’

Yuri shed tears of regret as she looked at the unconscious Damian.

With a large wound on his chest and a faint heartbeat, he seemed as if he were dead.

Yuri watched over Damian in silence.

“I’m… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Damian…”

She cried and blamed herself.

She thought it was all because she was weak and that everything happened because of her.

Yuri whispered into Damian’s ear as he lay in bed.

“Ev… everything… is my fault…”

A deep sense of guilt was growing within Yuri’s heart.

***

It feels like being trapped in a deep, dark swamp.

I kept trying to get out, but my feet were stuck in the swamp, and I couldn’t move forward.

I guess this was where I was.

“The afterlife. I tried to avoid the vital spot by turning my body, but it didn’t work well.”

It was a shame.

I didn’t want to die, and I wanted to transform all the wicked women.

I walked forward to get out of the swamp.

An endless darkness stretched out before me.

“So, this is where you go when you die. It’s dark, so it must be hell.”

Did I do something deserving of hell?

No. I actually did things that helped the world, nothing deserving of hell.

At most, I ran away from my engagement with Nadia?

But that was for the sake of peace.

“I didn’t do anything bad.”

As I walked through the swamp with such self-justifications, a small light appeared in front of me.

“There’s something ahead…”

Should I walk towards it?

Passing through the dark swamp, a simple one-room apartment appeared before my eyes.

I knew where this was.

“This must be what they call the flashback. It’s been a while, my room.”

The room I lived in before I entered the novel.

There, past me lay on the bed, looking at a phone.

Since I seemed invisible, I approached myself to see what I was looking at.

“Fiancé Who Punishes Villainesses. That terrible novel.”

A romance fantasy novel where, instead of falling in love, people kept dying.

The past me was engrossed in the phone screen, reading the novel with interest.

Comfortably lying with a fan on.

Suddenly, the past me started crying while reading the novel.

I knew the meaning of those tears.

“Tears shed for the pitiful wicked women…”

And a bit of self-pity.

I sympathized with the wicked women and also pitied myself.

Those were my self-pitying days.

I didn’t want to see any more, so I turned around.

“… The swamp is gone.”

Then, the dark swamp disappeared, revealing a white floor.

I slowly stepped toward it.

At that moment.

‘Yuri…?’

Along with the sensation of my body, I saw the back of Yuri’s head.

The metallic smell of blood filled my nose.

Late at night, Yuri was walking unsteadily down the road, carrying me on her back, mumbling.

“Damian, let’s run away… We shouldn’t have trusted people… Because we looked like nobles, they tried to sell us… Should we have killed them…?”

“…”

“As expected, people can’t be kind to me… I almost put you in danger again, Damian…”

“…”

“Only Damian… has no ulterior motives… Because you’re my friend… There’s no one else in this world I can trust… except you…”

What could have happened?

Yuri was trembling with anger and resentment in her voice.

‘This isn’t right…’

I wanted to open my mouth and say it’s not true.

That there are plenty of trustworthy people in the world.

That it was a bad thought to have.

But my mouth didn’t open, and I felt my consciousness sinking.

Even though I was being carried by Yuri, my body felt too heavy.

I could barely keep my consciousness and was unable to say anything.

“Damian, I will definitely… bring you back to the family… Because we’re friends… You saved me… I have to atone…”

“…”

“So, until we get there… You have to stay alive… Okay?”

“…”

Yuri’s words clung to me like the mud stuck to my legs.

I wanted to answer, “Because we’re friends, there’s no need for that.”

But my mouth felt stuck.

It felt like being trapped in a deep, dark swamp.

***

Verdium Nadia.

Currently, her mind was half-collapsed.

Nadia clutched her chest while staring at a portrait.

She’d been doing so for 20 hours straight, without any rest.

“Damian…”

Squeeze-

Nadia’s heart ached, rendering her unable to do anything.

Since yesterday.

The ‘symbol of the vow’ she shared with Damian had been shining.

Not understanding the situation, Nadia had called for a priest from Zephyros and questioned him.

‘Why is the symbol of the vow shining?’

‘It shines as a warning when the person you vowed with is in mortal danger.’

Thud!

Her heart sank, and her blood felt like it was freezing.

Nadia quickly shouted.

‘… Summon the knights immediately. Search the entire empire and find Damian.’

However.

No news came from the dispatched knights.

There were no sightings of a boy with brown hair and blue eyes.

‘Why can’t they find Damian?’

Waiting for news from the knights at the mansion, Nadia had lost her usual composure and tried to stay calm by looking at Damian’s portrait.

Otherwise, she felt she would truly go insane.

“If I don’t look at your portrait, I feel like I’ll fall apart, Damian. You wouldn’t leave me and die, would you, Darmian?”

She felt anxious, impatient, and her hands trembled.

Thinking about Darmian dying made her want to die too.

Without Darmian, she saw no reason to live.

Nadia clutched her heart and writhed in restless thoughts.

“It feels suffocating. I feel like I’m going to die. Damian, where on earth are you…”

‘I want you so much, my servant.’

‘Where are you, beyond my reach?’

‘I want to have what I desire.’

Not having it made her feel a thirst, a suffocating sensation.

And thinking that this precious thing could disappear into someone else’s hands.

Nadia felt suffocated, cold sweat covering her body.

“Darmian is my servant. He will be my family. If he must die, it should be by my hand. He won’t die in someone else’s hands, will he, Damian…?”

So please, don’t let the symbol of the vow shine again.

“To find you, I have yet to place my eyes over the entire empire.”

‘Don’t leave.’

‘Don’t leave me.’

Kiss!

Nadia kissed the portrait of Darmian.

“I want to have you as soon as possible, Darmian.”

Although she forcibly prevented herself from becoming a wicked woman due to the vow.

Like a leak formung when you plug something forcibly.

Nadia’s heart gradually filled with the emotion of obsession.

***

From winter to summer.

The time it took me to return to my family.

Though there were moments we almost got sold to slave traders and other hardships.

With the help of a family close to the Sinclair family, Yuri and I, while not in perfect shape, managed to return home in a somewhat okay condition.

It took much longer than anticipated.

“The trees in the mansion are turning brown.”

“Yeah… Hehe…”

Yuri clung to my side, giving me an awkward smile.

If it weren’t for her, I might be living as a slave by now.

‘Even if I say so myself, I do have some looks…’

I could have ended up as a slave for a noble with a preference for boys.

Just the thought of it was horrific, so I decided to erase it from my memory.

People can erase memories they can’t handle, after all.

Just like Yuri, who was smiling beside me.

“Yuri.”

“Mm? What’s up, Damian?”

“Do you really not remember what happened back then?”

“Yeah, I don’t remember… I’m sorry… I wasn’t much help…”

Yuri apologized with a genuinely regretful expression.

She really seemed to have no recollection of it.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have asked…’

I was the one who survived thanks to her help.

I was the one who should apologize.

“…No, I’m sorry for asking something unnecessary.”

“No, no…! I’m the one who’s sorry…! Damian, you have nothing to apologize for…!”

“No, I said I’m sorry.”

“No, really…! It’s my fault…! Damian, don’t apologize to me…!”

“… Alright.”

She’s as stubborn as ever.

Yuri shook her head vigorously, determined not to accept my apology.

Despite my efforts to break her stubbornness on our way to the mansion, her resolve remained unshaken.

“Have it your way, Yuri.”

“Hehe…”

How amusing.

I laughed along with Yuri’s laughter and headed toward the mansion’s entrance.

A familiar-faced guard was standing there.

I approached him and spoke.

“Guard.”

The guard saw me and exclaimed in surprise.

“Y-Young Master Damian…!!? How did the trip go- no, more importantly, what’s with those wounds and bandages-”

“Stop fussing and let everyone know.”

That the eldest son of the Sinclair family had returned.

As I stepped into the mansion, I spoke to Yuri.

“Yuri.”

“Mm…?”

“Are you happy to have left the North?”

“… Yes. But, I’ve realized something.”

“What is it?”

“I guess I don’t actually dislike snow…”

What does that mean?

Seeing my confused appearance, Yuri laughed and explained.

“Hehe… I think who I’m with when I see the snow matters more. Thinking about it, the snow seemed to help us. I still don’t like the mansion, though…”

Thank you.

Yuri held my hand and spoke earnestly.

“Thank you for taking me out of the mansion…”

“There’s no need to thank me. As a friend-”

“You did what a friend should do, right? Still, thank you…”

Has she started predicting my answers now?

Having spent so much time together, Yuri had reached a point where she could predict my responses.

‘Now that we’re out of the mansion, she won’t become a villainess like in the novel, right?’

Though it seemed she killed Isen and the knights.

At least she wouldn’t turn into a villainess, and that was a relief.

‘Or not…’

To be honest.

I didn’t think it was a relief.

Even though she didn’t become a villainess, Yuri’s condition wasn’t great.

Mentally.

From what I observed while bringing her to the family.

Currently, she was too…

“Thank you for being my friend, Damian… Let’s stay best friends forever, okay…?”

Squeeze!

She was too dependent on me.

Though we are friends.

“Best friends always trust each other, right…?”

No matter how I looked at it, we had crossed the line of mere friendship.

At this rate, wouldn’t she struggle with daily life even if she joined the academy?

Looking into Yuri’s sticky, swamp-like red eyes.

I had a premonition. An instinctive feeling about it.