I’m A Villainess, Can I Die? - Chapter 8

Knock, knock.

There was a restrained knock.

Now I could recognize people even by their knocking. It was new knowledge for me.

Well, it was hard not to know since they always took attendance.

“Come on in, Lord Lucas.”

The doorknob turned, and Lucas came in as expected.

“How did you know it was me?”

I looked at him through the mirror as he gave me a natural smile.

‘Should I smile a little too? What should I do to smile like that?’

It was very awkward even when I pulled the corners of my mouth up with my fingers. Actually, it was a little weird, not awkward.

‘Should I get a lesson from Lucas?’

“You knocked on the door a lot. I could tell just by the sound.”

“It’s an honor.”

I looked at him and shrugged.

“I’ll be your escort today. I don’t think you’ve heard about it yet.”

“I knew that, the maid told me. But why? Where’s Aiden?”

Lucas answered, closing his eyes and opening them again,

“Princess, he is a servant. If he’s close to you, the aristocrats will talk about it.”

“Ah… That’s true.”

So it was about the nobles. Well, if a commoner joined the party, they would get eaten by them.

“They suck…”

Lucas didn’t frown, but he looked at me with a subtle and mysterious look.

“Oh not you, Sir Lucas. I mean the nobles.”

“Princess, I’m a noble too.”

“Then we must suck too.”

Soon he opened his mouth and laughed. He was the main character but he laughed like a villain.

Lucas, who smiled like a villain, answered me with a more assertive voice than usual,

“I guess so.”

As we faced each other, a strange silence continued for a while.

‘Why is he looking at me? If he’s done talking, he should stop staring at me.’

It was another familiar knock that broke this strange silence.

“It’s Aiden.”

*** 

“I’ll be your escort today. I don’t think you’ve heard about it yet.”

“I knew that, the maid told me. But why? Where’s Aiden?”

When Lucas heard her reply, he suddenly thought of Selena in the past. It was natural to doubt her because of her past actions.

It was weird how the prideful lady suddenly wanted to be escorted by Aiden instead.

She was really interesting.

“Princess, he is a servant. If he’s close to you, the aristocrats will talk about it.”

“Ah… That’s true.”

Selena said that and turned her head.

She had an expressionless face, but she was silent for a while as if she was thinking of something.

Lucas looked at her silently, wondering what he should say at this time.

Soon a calm voice came out of her mouth, but the words were not calm at all.

“They suck…”

Lucas couldn’t hold his laughter at this moment. It was funny.

He couldn’t move his sight from Selena’s face, the face that calmly spat out the thoughts she had in her mind.

His family was only a poor baron family, so he was often discriminated against among the nobles.

The reason his father went to subjugate monsters in the past was because of the nobles who tried to pass the dangerous work to the lower-ranked ones.

Well, the duke and his father, who participated in the subjugation, had a good relationship, and as a result, the poor baron’s son could be sponsored by the duke himself.

It was funny how the nobles’ attitude changed once everyone knew he was sponsored by the duke.

They acted nice in front of him, but behind him, many threw unkind words to him out of envy.

The only thing that changed for him was his title after being sponsored by the duke.

‘They suck.’

That thought continued to stick with him throughout his life. No, he was even more disgusted by them as he grew older.

Those pretentious people,

They were prideful, frivolous, and always made the weak suffer.

All they had was their title and money, but they thought they wre gods.

Despite that, he had to treat them well. That was what the most sickening to him.

He didn’t want to be a nuisance to the duke, since this life was more comfortable than his previous one.

He didn’t really want to get down once he got to the top.

So the conclusion was, he was also one of those nobles that sucked.

Hence, he did his best to act like them.

Although with contempt, he put a mask on everyday.

He wore a mask, deceived people, and talked sweetly, but inside he was like a venomous viper.

Lucas was getting more and more impatient from having to smile through their nonsense. The anger was boiling inside him.

He never expected that a day would come when the words that he was holding back came out of someone else’s mouth.

He always tried to act and speak with sincerity to the duke family, but he wanted to be loved, so he often acted pretentiously unknowingly.

Even to Aaron, who he thought was his best friend.

What would Lucas look like if he smiled sincerely? How would it feel?

He didn’t even notice that what he was doing was acting because he had been doing that for a long time, but a few days ago Selena pointed it out.

“And stop acting now. It was obvious and I felt uncomfortable.”

“I guess so.”

Recalling that memory, the corners of his mouth rose on its own.

Did he feel happy because she could see through his mask?

Whatever. It was really fun right now.

*** 

Meanwhile, Aiden stood at the door and hesitated.

Why did he always seem to be in this situation? He couldn’t go in, neither could he not go in.

He had no choice but to take a few steps to the side and lean against the room’s wall.

The conversation filled his head.

‘They sucked.’

Aiden thought of himself that way sometimes. No, he really sucked.

The princess saved him from being beaten like a dog on the street. He thought she was from a fantasy as she reached out her hand.

Little Aiden, who had been saved by her, recalled a memory of picking up a torn fairy tale book and reading it when he was younger.

It was the story of a poor woman meeting a rich prince and living well.

Oh, was he about to enter that fairy tale?

In this beautiful woman’s house, he thought he would be treated like a nobleman and live well.

His fantasy was shattered in an instant. His role in the magnificent mansion was the servant of the princess.

She was a young girl of a similar age, a noble daughter as beautiful as a princess. But beauty and character were not necessarily proportional. A fairy tale book is just an illusion and reality is cruel.

He received daily verbal abuse and violence.

It was disgraceful and unbearable.

Even though the days of resentment continued, every time he saw the cold winter wind from the window, his gratitude for being saved from the street was etched in his mind.

He didn’t need to be hit by this cold winter wind any longer. At least he had his own space to lie down here.

If he left this place, the terrible past would seem to be his future.

However, at the age of 17, it occurred to him.

What was the difference between then and now? He still got abused and insulted.

Still, he looked at the money that came in and put up with everything. It had been a long time since he sold his pride to money.

What was the point of living a life like this?

If anyone heard this, they would think he should be honored to be taken in by a duke’s household and they might be salivating.

His days of confusion and shame followed.

Then one day, he heard that the young master had graduated from the academy.

The lady’s abuse became even more severe.

Aiden could only receive her abuse.

“Get out of here, I hate to see you! You’re a bastard, you’re no help! Ah, I’m mad, I’m so angry!”

He knew that the anger wasn’t directed at him, but he couldn’t say anything.

Wasn’t it a hobby for high-ranking nobles to push people down?

“Y… You worthless bastard!”

The small jewelry box hit his forehead and fell to the floor.

His blood dripped to the floor, and the princess’s body which was on the other side trembled.

“Blood…”

She was so scared of blood even though she caused it to spill? Aiden pulled up the corners of his mouth.

Because he had to survive at the duke’s mansion somehow.

“Are you all right, my lady?”

“Your… blood on your forehead…”

“I’m fine. However, if I keep standing like this, you’d be surprised, so I’d better get going. I’ll send someone else in soon.”

Aiden smiled to the end, then closed the door and clenched his fist to suppress his shaky hand.

When he wiped his forehead roughly, there was a red stain on his hand. It seemed to bleed a lot more than he thought.

At this, his body trembled softly.

He came back to his room, looked in the mirror, and cried out silently.

His silent cry became magic and floated around. A black flame hovered around him.

It was like he was going to burn everything to a crisp at any time.

And what was his resolution that day?

He was going to kill the princess? He was going to get revenge? … He didn’t remember very well.

What was certain was that he quietly kept the spark and didn’t dare to reveal that he could use magic to anyone.

After that, he kept lowering his head. He was a parasite attached to the duke and his family, as he didn’t want to go back to the days when he worried about freezing to death.

But…

‘In a way, I suck like the nobles too.’

He suddenly remembered the princess’ expressionless face.

Laughter suddenly leaked out from his mouth.

He felt weird.

He felt like Selena was not Selena.

‘Let’s see what this sensation is a little bit longer.’

Determined to see what it was, Aiden knocked on the door.