I’m a Villainess, Can I Die? - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

“Lady, what’s wrong?”

“Lady, are you feeling alright?”

After that, lady, lady… words like that followed. All voices came from the employees behind my back and on either side.

Earlier, I left the room with a maid who was obviously taking care of me.

As soon as I left the room, a maid passing by near the door ran over to me and supported my other arm. Another maid I met along the way knew where I was going and would follow me up the stairs… After that, one more servant and one more maid followed.

…Since when did I become a piper?

No, I am made up of a total of four human limbs, so does it make sense that there are five people supporting me? Even the support almost felt like they were transporting me instead.

The short maid who supported me first went behind me, and the two tall maids lifted my shoulders. My feet naturally floated into the air.

Like a puppet in a puppet show, my dangling feet struggled pathetically, then resigned and stopped moving. Going down the stairs was even worse. The five of them, each supporting my limbs and body, went down the stairs holding me in the shape of a cross.

I had already resigned myself, so I just let them do whatever they wanted.

Looking at the high ceiling facing my front, I felt as if I had just stepped out of the room for no reason.

Jesus Christ…

How could I not be normal as soon as I woke up? Was this the fate of villainess?

On the way down the stairs, I met mother, who satisfactorily comforted the employees. I wanted to ask if she was really satisfied with this, though if I did, I thought she would add a few more employees, so I shut my mouth and greeted her while facing the ceiling.

Fortunately, after going down all the stairs, I was able to see my front properly. Although my feet still couldn’t touch the ground, it was because I had come down the stairs so radically that this felt much more normal now.

In the end, I was almost exhausted in front of Aiden’s door, finally arriving with a total of eight people, including the three who were near the annex.

…Ah, I feel like I have lost my vitality.

“Thank you for supporting me. I have something to say to Aiden, so you can go back now.”

“But, when you go back…”

I was distracted when eight answers came back to every word I said.

“When I go back, I’ll ask Aiden. Let’s just say I’ll give him overtime pay? And well…”

‘Won’t people soon follow me like a piper, too?’

If I spat out the latter, it would become a reality, so I barely swallowed it and sent all the employees away.

Even though everyone glanced at me worriedly, I didn’t care and waved my hand to tell them to go. And so, eight people rushed out just like when they came here.

The dense hallway was empty, and even the air felt fresh.

Since when did our employees come to follow me like this? Obviously, when I first opened my eyes in this world, everyone treated me stiffly. Well, it was a place I would live for about four years, so it was better than having a bad impression.

Good things are good.

“Aiden, are you in there?”

Left alone in front of the door, I confirmed that there was no one around and sat down. I kept on standing, so I ran out of energy. I then knocked slightly and spoke to the inside, though there was no reply.

Did he go somewhere?…But, there would be nowhere to go?

No matter how much I looked at the vaguely emerging contents of the novel, there was nowhere for Aiden to go.

Knock, knock.

I knocked again and put my ear to the door. It sounded like a small rustling sound.

Aha, so he’s pretending not to be there?

If he had known how I got here, he would have opened the door right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be looking out the window. I let out a small sigh, and if I could see Aiden’s face, I decided to tell him about my adventures from my room to her.

“Aiden. I know you’re in there.”

So, Aiden, first open the door.

* * *

Aiden felt the noise outside, but did not get up. Helplessness and lethargy came at the same time. She wondered why the Lady had so many thoughts while she lived only in bed… It seemed to make a little more sense now.

The noisy crowd stopped in front of his room. He heard the voices of men and women outside, and the footsteps suddenly disappeared.

What is it…?

Aiden was still lying on the bed, his ears pricked up. Soon, a familiar voice followed behind a small knock.

“Aiden, are you in there?”

Ah. She may not be feeling well yet, so how did she get here? Just yesterday, she couldn’t even move her legs properly…

Aiden slowly stood up.

However, that was all. He lifted up his lying upper body, but he couldn’t do any more. It was because the image of the lady who had fallen without any regrets flashed before his eyes again. The scene that popped into his mind was suffocating him, unable to move.

The bloody face did not leave his mind.

She said she was sorry but she tried to die casually… Though he hated it so much, the empty eyes that could only do that were pitiful and hateful.

“Aiden, I know you’re inside.”

A small voice was heard once more.

Aiden closed his eyes tightly. He remembered his childhood in a world that was all dark. From the time he began to remember, he was alone. He had a father, but he was not human enough to be called a father.

He was a drunkard who didn’t care about his child, a man crazy about gambling and women, the very few days he came into the house… Aiden couldn’t even remember his face.

On days when he came in with food, he sometimes yelled at Aiden, he was so drunk. The little boy, who had his ears plugged up, only swallowed food by carefully silencing the noises after his father fell asleep.

And, the pathetic man, the child’s father, fell into the drinks he loved so much and died. He was so drunk that even his body could not contain him, and he fell on the bank of the river. It was indeed a pathetic and fitting death for that man.

Then, his own age… It was probably six. It wasn’t accurate.

‘…I guess it was my birthday in the summer?’

He grinned and chuckled, because he was counting it like counting his father’s drinking habit.

After his father’s death, he was taken to an orphanage on the outskirts by a neighbor’s aunt who occasionally looked after him. However, the orphanage children did not accept them easily. The director of the orphanage was not interested in children. Yes, this little guy was just a ‘pathetic bastard.’

Adult indifference and a poor orphanage environment turned children into beasts — bullying and subsequent assault, hunger and cold — it was worse than the house he used to live in. Eventually, Aiden could not stand it and ran out of the orphanage.

He thought that wherever he was, it would be better than here. He was seven when he ran out of the orphanage.

After that, Aiden mingled with the group of children beggar.

The youngest was five years old, and at most, there was fifty. He blended into their mix, one huge group of vagrants, and Aiden became a beggar. He wanted to earn money on his own to live in that hellish orphanage.

When he was saving money like that, if he could finally make a very small space enough to lay down his body…

‘Is that what a child is going to do?’

Aiden, who remembered his childhood, smiled coldly. These were memories that could not be called memories, even as jokes. In any case, his life as a beggar was also not easy. It was common for him to kneel down on the street, grab the pants of passersby’s trousers, and then get kicked by the shoes.

It was not uncommon to be beaten for failing to bring the money to the captain on time.

He had been robbed of his hard-earned money several times overnight. The person whom he talked with laughter the night before was frozen to death the next morning, and there were many who fell ill because of hygiene.

Young Aiden nevertheless thought that he was better now than he was before.

At least, he had someone to talk to here. Those who could be called friends were older brother, younger brother, and the captain… because there were people who called him any name. It was quite exciting for Aiden, who had been alone since his birth.

Nevertheless, he soon realized that he was wrong.

The day he was trampled on by a group of other beggars saying he had invaded the area, Aiden looked at the people who looked at him coldly and stretched out his hand pathetically. They were the ones who had been together with him for two years… They would help him.

But, there was no one to help Aiden.

Watching Aiden crumble to the ground, they spit once, and everyone turned back and went on their way.

At first glance, it seemed that a familiar voice could be heard saying ‘That bastard is done now. If he acted to draw sympathy with that pretty face, he would still have a good income.’

He was trampled on, leaving behind the chuckle of laughter. It wasn’t just the body that was trampled on that day. Aiden, whose heart had become rags, closed his eyes. By the time he felt unbearable physical and mental pain, he would rather die.

The person appeared.

“Aiden… Won’t you open the door?”

Yes. That person, Selina White… The Lady appeared.

Looking at the hand extended to him, young Aiden recalled the fairy tale book he had read a few days ago.

A children’s book that he found while digging through the trash after failing to be a beggar. The storybook, soaked in moisture, was mushy, but the writing was readable… As if possessed by something, Aiden opened the storybook.

It was a mass of fantasy, itself.

After reading the story that ends with ‘The poor woman met the prince and lived happily ever after,’ Aiden only laughed out of absurdity. He threw the storybook that was far from reality into the trash again, and threw his own body into the trash to look for things that could be money.

Then, the Lady with a face as beautiful as the princess in the fairy tale he had read, waving her hands like the prince in the fairy tale, chased away all who trampled on him.

Then, she reached out to his young self. She spoke softly and raised the corners of her lips.

‘Will you come with me?’

For a very brief moment, the people behind that beautiful girl picked him up and moved. He dreamed of this for a moment — like the main characters in fairy tales, he longed of a happy fantasy of his life getting upside down in an instant, and that fantasy was quickly shattered.

When he had his wounds treated and stood in front of her again hesitatingly, the words that came out of her mouth were, ‘Did I bring this kid?’

It was the impulsive, capricious, and mean Lady Selina.

She was picked up by a mean Lady impulsively… that was who he was.

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