The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen-Chapter 395-396
It was an ordinary day.
"...Shall we stop here for today?"
"..."
"Lady Chaltia?"
That day too, I spent the day buried in documents with Ricardo, and it was a day where I would close the documents only when Ricardo suggested it was time to leave around sunset.
At Ricardo's observant gaze, I stretched languidly and shook my head.
"You go home first today. I'll just finish this and then leave."
There was still work to be done.
"Hmm..."
Ricardo, whose departure was delayed, gave a bitter smile and began to spread the documents he had organized back on the desk.
"I said you can go first."
"...I don't want to, you evil employer."
"I'm fine, so go home early today. You must be tired from staying up all night anyway."
"How can I leave you alone? I have loyalty."
"Really..."
"Boss, you're so mean..."
"Where did you learn to say things like that?"
With the work reaching its final stages, there was no time for leisure. Even minor documents had to be checked meticulously, and the Crown Prince's movements had to be monitored.
Ricardo, who let out a long yawn, stretched and said softly.
"You'll collapse again if you keep this up."
"It's fine. If I collapse, you'll save me."
"Oh my..."
"Don't make that face."
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"Ehet...!"
That day too, I worked as usual.
And Ricardo stayed by my side, keeping me from being lonely.
Only the soft sound of our pens echoed in the room, and the occasional yawn was our only conversation.
-...
-...
How uninteresting.
About thirty more minutes of only looking at documents passed, and Ricardo, rubbing his eyes, asked me in a drifting voice.
"Your Highness?"
"Yes?"
"Would you like some tea?"
"That would be great. I'll have coffee, please."
"Rejected. Your blood sugar must be low right now, so I will go make a sweet chocolate latte."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because I wanted to hear you say you wanted a chocolate latte."
"Ha."
Funny guy.
I let out a small, hollow laugh at Ricardo's joke and closed my eyes, inhaling the sweet scent.
"..."
It's nice.
This kind of daily life was so nice.
This peaceful daily life where everything went smoothly and there was nothing to worry about seemed sweeter than any drink.
Even though it was a boring daily life of just looking at documents...
"...It's nice."
The scales of the throne were heavily tilted in my favor.
Because the Crown Prince, who had failed to stop the Wolfgang faction, had eventually borrowed the Emperor's hand.
It was a foregone conclusion. It was nearly impossible for the Crown Prince to stop Wolfgang, who had come to wield the power of the beast.
He had no strong allies like the Knight Commander of the Empire, and the cultists, whose scale was unpredictable, were also an insurmountable wall.
"Hmm-mm... shall I warm up the milk?"
The story would be different if that fool had fallen into the Crown Prince's hands, but unfortunately, the goddess of fortune was on my side. The scales had no choice but to tilt in my favor.
Ricardo, who was humming a tune while preparing the tea, began to nag, unaware that I was praising him in my heart.
"If you drink too much coffee, you'll become a person who can't sleep even when you want to."
"..."
"Without even knowing how dangerous caffeine addiction is."
"Oh dear..."
"It's a good thing I'm by your side. If you were alone, your dark circles would have reached your legs."
It was an unpleasant nag, but I felt I could happily accept the nagging he gave. The nagging of someone who genuinely worries for you is not something you can hear just by wanting to.
Especially if it's a worry from a person like 'Ricardo', even the nagging felt like pleasant music.
I sighed, opened the documents, and changed the subject to politics. I wanted to end it before Ricardo's nagging went on for three more verses.
"So, when do you think Wolfgang will be arrested?"
"Hmm... if things proceed quickly, I'm looking at about three weeks. Though it's highly likely to be longer than three weeks."
"Three weeks is longer than I thought. It will take a long time to stabilize the west."
"That's probably true."
"But since we dispatched the Knight Commander, won't it end quickly? No matter how strong the beast is, it won't be able to use its full power out of the water."
"...What?"
"The beast is originally a creature that lives in water. So..."
Ricardo looked up at me with trembling eyes. As if to ask what I had just said.
"Who did you say you sent?"
"Didn't I tell you?"
"...No. I thought Michael had gone to help the Crown Prince."
"No. Michael is doing something else right now... and that guy isn't someone who listens to the royal family's orders in the first place. He's just a wanderer playing hero."
"...Then."
"That's right. I sent Histania Lowen to the west. Why...?"
Ricardo said.
"Who is protecting the Emperor right now?"
A very obvious question.
"If the Knight Commander, the empire's greatest military power, is absent..."
"..."
"It means there's no one in the palace."
Ricardo's eyes began to widen.
"Your Highness... I think this is dangerous."
A foolish story.
Ricardo's question, worrying about the person who needs the least worry in the world.
I let out a hollow laugh and scolded Ricardo. With the meaning of, is Histania the only knight in the empire?
"There are many competent knights in the empire."
"...No."
"You know it too. How strong Lowen's disciples are. And the vice-captain is a monster on par with a sword master."
"That's not it."
"Don't worry too much. My father is also a person who has a national treasure... and Lowen has left his post several times. If they were going to do something, wouldn't they have done it already?"
"...No."
Ricardo, who was dissolving cocoa powder in the boiled milk, came over hastily and said.
"Now that the head of the Desmont family is gone, there is no one other than Lowen who can handle an apostle-level powerhouse."
"What are you talking about?"
It was then.
-Bang!!
A huge explosion was heard from the direction of the imperial palace.
Startled by the deafening sound, I raised my head and ran to the window. And my eyes widened at the sight of the place engulfed in flames.
"Huh...?"
Fire.
A huge blaze, large enough to blow away the pillars of the imperial castle, was devouring the place where I had grown up.
"The imperial palace..."
Before I could even sort out my chaotic thoughts, I heard a strange sound from beyond the window.
-It's a rebellion! The 2nd Prince has started a rebellion!
-All knights, gather at the imperial palace. All knights except the guards, follow me...!
I was about to run to the imperial palace too.
No matter how much I hated my father, he was still my parent. I was about to run, leaving my pounding heart behind.
"Ricardo, we too...!"
But.
"Duck your head."
-Kwoooooooooooong!!!!!!
The moment Ricardo's hand touched my head, a wave of heat and flames came rushing in.
It was hot.
A wave of heat, hot enough to feel the heat directly on my cheeks, engulfed me in an instant.
-Beeeeeeeee....!!
-Eeeeeee...
-Ee...
"Haa..."
With the ringing in my ears, what I saw was a scene of pandemonium. The rubble of the collapsed building showed the seriousness of the situation, and the fragments of the building on the floor told me what had happened.
"...Ugh."
Just as I was coming to my senses from the pain that felt like every joint in my body was screaming, I recalled the memory from a moment ago and urgently looked for Ricardo.
"Ricardo...!"
When the explosion happened, he had hugged me. Ricardo must have been injured more severely than me.
"Ricardo..!"
"I'm here."
"You...!"
"Hoo... are you alright?"
Fortunately, he didn't seem to be seriously injured. Ricardo, who was looking out through the broken window, looked at me, who had come to my senses, and smiled faintly.
No.
-Drip...
"You...!"
It seemed he was pretending not to be hurt.
"Blood from your arm..."
Ricardo looked at my panicked state, smiled as if it were nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. And he, in turn, worried about me, saying that this was no problem at all.
"I'm fine. More importantly, Your Highness..."
"But...!"
"It's just a scratch."
"Don't lie!"
A scratch.
Is he telling me to believe that a sword master's body can be injured by something trivial?
The aftershock of the explosion still lingered in my body, and my whole body felt like it was going to break, and it hurt... but! Seeing Ricardo, who had blocked the explosion, pretending to be nonchalant, my heart ached like crazy.
Because I knew why he was doing this. My heart ached even more.
"...!"
The moment I reached out to check his injured arm, Ricardo smiled lightly and didn't offer his hand.
"It's fine. More importantly..." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Ricardo looked out the broken window and gave a bitter smile.
"It seems we're in big trouble."
People were coming in.
Fanatics of the cult, wearing black hoods, were quickly entering the hideout.
"Why... cultists."
Flustered by the unexpected ambush, I looked at Ricardo with trembling eyes, seeking an answer. Because I thought he would know the answer.
"...!"
Ricardo gave a bitter smile and began to send me behind the debris.
"It seems there was a cultist spy inside the royal family."
"Wait a minute..."
"It's probably him."
"..."
"It's complicated..."
Ricardo gave a bitter smile, smiled softly, and said.
"Don't worry. I... will protect you."
Crimson blood began to scatter.
Red blood dances.
"Kill the princess!"
"...How much longer."
"We just need to kill the princess!"
With every movement of Ricardo's hand, blooming flowers leave red blood on the floor and disappear.
"Are you going to be a nuisance?"
She was afraid. Afraid that Ricardo's sword would turn towards her.
"I want to stop now."
She instinctively closes her eyes.
The horde of heretics was pouring in relentlessly, without a moment to breathe. Their attacks, fueled by a burning killing intent as they looked at me, showed no sign of letting up.
But.
-Slice.
My silent knight was not allowing the heretics to harm me.
So much so that the invaders looked like moths to a flame.
"..."
-Stab...!
"Aaargh!!!!"
As if to wake me from my bewilderment at the sudden situation, Ricardo drove his sword into a heretic's leg, his expression cold.
"Your purpose."
"...Khaha! I cannot say. I am a messenger to fulfill His will...! I am not afraid of death."
-Stab...!
"The purpose of invading the imperial palace."
"Khaha...!"
"The number of heretics and the location of the apostle."
"...You will never... fulfill His will..."
Ricardo's cold gaze looked past the man's eyes, up above his head, and said.
"The person you love most..."
"..."
"Is it a child named 'Sara'?"
"..."
"A subject I dislike... ah, I just got a new one."
Ricardo's eyes began to turn cold. He was cornering the heretic to a degree that made her forget his usual smiling face.
In the chaotic situation, she couldn't hear the conversation between Ricardo and the heretic in detail.
"I told you everything...!"
"..."
"Please, just don't touch my family."
"I'll think about it."
By the time she tried to focus and listen, Ricardo had already obtained the information he wanted.
Ricardo, having ended the heretic's life, let out a sigh and swept his hair back. Then, he lowered his sword and began to exude a cold aura.
"...Things have gotten complicated."
The red aura leaking from Ricardo's sword began to spread across the floor. And the moment Ricardo touched the tip of his sword to the ground.
"It's too noisy."
-Stop.
The sound of countless heretics climbing the stairs ceased as if they were dead mice.
Ricardo, who had crushed the heretic forces with a single attack, swept his hair back, approached me, and said.
"Let's go."
That we had to leave this place.
We had just secured a hiding place, and she was bewildered by Ricardo's words that we had to go, but she bit her lip at his urgent expression.
"Where... are we going."
"..."
"Are we going to the imperial palace?"
"No."
"Huh...?"
Hearing Ricardo's retort, I questioned him with a trembling voice. What did you just say.
"Then where are we going?"
"To a safe place."
"No."
The imperial palace is the heart of the empire.
It is where the emperor of the empire lives, and where all the ledgers and assets are.
And that imperial palace.
"You're saying... to abandon the empire?"
Ricardo was heartlessly telling her to abandon it.
Ricardo looked straight into my trembling eyes and began to move urgently.
"Your Highness."
"..."
"As you may have guessed, the 2nd Prince has joined hands with the heretics. That's probably why the barrier isn't working."
"I know... but if we abandon the imperial palace, the empire is finished."
"Still, we have to escape now."
"But...!"
"When Rowen returns, it won't be too late to start the recapture then."
At Ricardo's words, my pupils trembled greatly as I spoke, thinking of my father inside the castle.
"No, we have to go now..."
"We can't."
He's hateful... but he's the father who gave birth to me.
"I said we have to go now!"
Because the empire can only be maintained if he is alive. I have to ascend to the throne through legitimate means to avoid any future disputes. If the emperor disappears, the repercussions will be unimaginably large, so we must return to the imperial palace.
And...
Because my mother's belongings are there.
"We have to go..."
For the first time, Ricardo raised his voice and scolded me for my unyielding stubbornness.
"Why are you being so stubborn...!"
"Ricardo..."
"Can't you see what's outside...?!"
"...I have you with me."
"I'm telling you this because I can't do it alone!"
In a state of confusion, I spouted foolish words at Ricardo.
"This is our chance."
"...A chance, you say?"
"A chance to achieve great merit."
"...Your Highness!"
"Theo is absent due to matters in the west, and if my second older brother has started a rebellion... if I handle this matter well, I could be crowned emperor."
"...Foolish words."
"What if Theo resolves the matter in the west and is revered by the people."
"..."
"Hero of the west. Hailed as the one to be king. Then all the hardships we've gone through will be for nothing...?"
The me of that time was foolish.
Because I made an unreasonable request to Ricardo in order to retrieve my mother's belongings and to save my father.
In truth, I wasn't worried about Theo at all... but I thought this was the only way to persuade Ricardo.
"Then, you won't be able to save Olivia either."
"..."
"You went through all this for that reason too, didn't you? I know it's an unreasonable request. But...!"
The moment the name 'Olivia' came from my lips, Ricardo's complexion turned cold, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"...Ha."
The me of that time didn't know.
That Ricardo was genuinely angry at that moment.
"...I'm truly... a fool."
"Huh...?"
Ricardo, who had been silent for a long time, clenched his fist and then let his hand fall.
"Ending like this might not be so bad."
"What...?"
"Don't be angry. It's scary."
Ricardo shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Let's go."
"...Is that your answer?"
"..."
"Then I'll go alone..."
"To the imperial palace."
"Huh...?"
Ricardo, who had gotten up, smiled the gentle smile he always showed and said.
"In return, could you make me one promise?"
"...What kind of promise."
Ricardo smiled faintly and said.
"No matter what happens... you must not cry."
"Cry?"
"Just because. I've seen too many tears from beautiful women and I don't want to see any more."
"I won't cry."
Ricardo was silent.
He just silently held his sword and extended his hand to me.
"That's a relief."
The streets of the capital were tragic.
The bodies of those killed in the heretics' attack were piled up on the streets, and the sad sounds of those who had lost their loved ones echoed horribly in my ears.
-Block the castle gates!!!
-There are too many heretics!
-Block them somehow! Don't let them get any further into the imperial palace!!
-...!
"...Ricardo."
I squeezed Ricardo's hand and looked up at him. Even for me, who had seen many things, this sight was not familiar.
-Squeeze...
If he hadn't been by my side, I would have been dry-heaving long ago.
Ricardo, holding my hand tightly, smiled slightly and was taking me somewhere.
-Kill them!!!
-Deal with them somehow!
To the place where the sounds were loudest.
And the screams were loudest.
"Where are we going...? The secret passage is over there."
"..."
Despite my hesitant movements, Ricardo steadfastly moved, dragging me to the source of the sounds.
"Where are we going...!"
"..."
"Stop...!"
"..."
"I said stop!!"
The moment I roughly shook off Ricardo's hand, my pupils trembled greatly at the sight that unfolded before my eyes.
-Ha...
An unexpected person was standing there.
Silver hair.
A white sword that instantly identified him. And the swordsman who had become a sword master after Ricardo... it was Mikhail.
"Mikhail...?"
Ricardo let go of the hand he was barely holding onto and smiled.
"Go with Mikhail."
"Huh...?"
"Mikhail is better at protecting than I am."
"How did you know where Mikhail was... no, more importantly, why do I have to go with Mikhail?"
Ricardo gave a bitter smile and did not answer.
"There's no guarantee that Mikhail will help... why?"
"Because I can persuade him."
"Impossible. You two don't get along..."
"I can solve that problem."
Mikhail, looking at Ricardo, let out a sigh with cold eyes. As if looking at disgusting filth.
"Mikhail-ssi."
"Is this your doing?"
"Haha... no."
"Don't laugh."
"..."
"Because I can kill you now."
"I seem to be thoroughly disliked."
Ricardo began to speak in a small voice to Mikhail, who was brandishing his sword.
-I will find her for you.
-...What?
-Haven't you been looking for that person all this time?
As soon as Ricardo's words ended, Mikhail grabbed Ricardo by the collar and began to glare at him.
"How do you know that bastard's name."
"..."
"Tell me...!"
"If you grant my request... I will tell you."
"You will definitely pay the price for selling that person's name."
"..."
"...You must keep your promise."
"...Yes."
Ricardo, who had had an incomprehensible conversation with Mikhail, walked back to me and began to speak with a regretful expression.
"You can follow Mikhail from now on."
"What about you?"
"I..."
Ricardo looked beyond the castle gates and gave a bitter smile.
"I'll have to continue what Mikhail was doing, right?"
"No, you come with me."
Ricardo shook his head and replied.
"No."
"..."
"There's no time. Go quickly. That's the only way we can escape, isn't it?"
"...But!"
"Hurry."
"...Don't get hurt."
Ricardo did not answer.
Ricardo, who had stopped me as I was leaving, gave me a wistful look and said his goodbyes.
"Promise... you must keep it."
"..."
"Because I don't like crying."
I nodded at Ricardo's words and disappeared from his sight. Not knowing that this would be the last time I would see him.
"I'll be back."
I had given him a clumsy farewell.
Two men had arrived in front of the lone-standing Ricardo.
Apostle Olaf.
"Hmm..."
And.
The High Priest of the Empire stood before Ricardo.
"Mikhail... it's not."
Ricardo, sitting on a pile of countless heretic corpses, got up and smiled.
"I've been waiting."
The apostle, hearing Ricardo's words, let out a hollow laugh, and the High Priest of the Empire smiled coldly and said to Ricardo.
"...Not bad."
"..."
"It's different from the original purpose... but I was curious."
"That's quite an honor."
"The silver-haired knight must have gone to the imperial palace. With your master."
"..."
"And that's why you, the princess's 'dog,' are guarding this place."
"..."
"In memory of the deceased Temperance, I was going to send you off painfully, but since I'm in a hurry, I'll send you off comfortably."
Ricardo's eyes began to glow red.
"I can't let you pass."
Like a knight burning his last flame.
"Because I made a promise."
He began to swing his sword.
