The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen – Chapter 70

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 70

Past Hanna stood at the Summit of the Hamel Mountain Range, at the Orc’s Habitat.

Hiding behind a Huge Tree, her Past Self clutched a Crumpled Commission Letter in her hand.

It was a familiar Commission Letter.

A commission that had stayed on the board for 6 Months without being taken, offering little monetary reward.

A commission infamous among Adventurers for its Pessimistic Evaluation. Veteran Adventurers even called it, ‘A commission no one with a single life would ever take.’

[Please kill the ‘Orc’ that killed Mother.]

Commission Fee: 1000 Gold

Details: Wears a Necklace Made of Wolf Fangs. / Characterized by light purple skin.

It was the commissioner’s wish to disguise an ‘Elite Orc’ as an ‘Orc’ to avenge their Mother.

No Adventurer who lacked confidence in their skills would have accepted such a commission. And the pay was absurdly low.

Hanna also knew about this deception.

Certainly, her Past Self must have also known.

Even a novice Adventurer would know that an Orc with light purple skin was a Monster labeled as ‘Elite.’

Her Past Self had taken the commission, fully aware it was a scam.

To find solace in her heart.

And to gain a sense of motivation through ‘Altruism.’

She must have been deluding herself, thinking her courage wasn’t meaningless, that it was for a reason—to fulfill the grudge of a child who lost their Mother.

On her rainy Birthday.

Her Past Self had agonized for a long time in front of that Commission Letter.

Holding her breath while hiding, her Past Self quietly muttered as she watched the Orc straying from the group.

-Found you.

An Orc with light purple skin, unlike a typical Orc.

Hanna let out an Empty Laugh.

‘It’s the same one I caught back then.’

The Elite Orc she was able to capture through Ricardo’s guidance looked exactly like the Orc her Past Self was targeting.

Light purple skin.

Holding a Club larger than its own body.

As she watched the Orc wearing a Necklace Made of Wolf Fangs, Hanna thought about her time with Ricardo.

Back then, with Ricardo by her side, she hadn’t felt fear. But now, it terrified her.

Because she knew the limits of her Past Self’s Martial Arts.

Hanna muttered.

‘Run away.’

Hanna knew this opponent was beyond her ability to handle.

Her Past Self must have also known she lacked the strength. Her trembling hands gripping the Commission Letter were like an Aspen Tree. The frightened figure repeatedly glancing back at the path without Orcs made Hanna let out a dry sigh.

Hanna clenched her fists tightly and said again.

‘I said, run away.’

She tried to watch her Past Self silently, but she couldn’t just stand by and watch herself struggling to break free from the Shackles of indifference.

It was pitiful.

And foolish.

So Hanna spoke.

Because there was no one beside you.

Run away.

Even now, she wanted to tell her to sheathe her sword and retreat to her own Refuge. To run to the Villainess’s House, where she was always greeted with a smiling face.

But.

The self before her eyes did not know of a Refuge called ‘Ricardo.’

Unfortunately.

Her Past Self, with eyes full of Determination, drew her sword and walked toward the Orc.

Though she hesitated at the sight of the Bloodstain on the Club’s end.

-Prove it… that I can do it too.

Urged by her desire for recognition, her frightened legs pushed forward.

As the Orc’s back came into view, she kicked off the ground and leaped.

“Ahhhhh!”

Swinging her sword toward the Orc with a Shout of Spirit.

Hanna had a Hunch.

‘This is where she dies,’ she thought.

Although her Past Self stood before the Elite Orc with Determination, no matter the process, the outcome would not end well.

The Orc’s attack, swinging a Club larger than its own body, was far stronger than she had anticipated.

At a speed she couldn’t register, the Orc’s Club came hurtling toward her airborne figure.

Her body, suspended in the air, offered no resistance as it collided with the Club, tumbling to the ground with a loud crash.

-Thwack.

With a grotesque sound, her Past Self was covered in dust.

She collapsed to the ground in excruciating pain.

With just one attack, the plan carefully laid out in her mind was wiped blank, and her panicked self struggled to rise, shaking her head.

When her legs, drained of strength, refused to move, she struck her thighs mercilessly with her fists.

-Pant… Sob… Ughhh! Move… Move already!

As the Orc charged toward her fallen figure with heavy thuds,

Her pupils trembled violently.

Hanna, crawling on the ground, grabbed the dropped sword. Staggering to her feet with difficulty, Hanna clenched her fists tightly.

‘It’s okay… This was expected.’

Before receiving Ricardo’s guidance, Hanna had known her own skills and could foresee the Future that awaited her.

‘It’s okay…’

Because she had anticipated it…

-Crash!!!

Because I’m weak…

-Crash!!!

I…

-Aaaaaaaaaah!!!

If it weren’t for the Butler….

-Aaaaaah…!! Stop… Stop it…!

As Hanna, who had been consoling herself in a place where no one was watching, began to see the Blood-stained Ground gradually spreading, she started to grow cold.

It was horrifying.

The sight of herself being torn apart by the Orc’s Club.

Her thin hands attempting to block the Orc’s Club felt nothing but pitiful.

Hanna despaired.

Was this all…?

If it weren’t for the Butler….

Would I have… ended up like that…?

The emotions of seeing and thinking were of different magnitudes.

Blood splattering on her face.

A face soaked in a Sense of Despair.

And her Past Self crying out desperately for Father.

It was pitiful and terrifying.

Because she knew no one would come to save her.

Tears began to fall from Hanna’s eyes.

From the Fear she felt.

The thought of what she might have endured without the Butler, and the sight of her desperate Past Self crying out for Father, filled her with nothing but Fear.

-Ah… Father…

Hanna ran toward the Orc.

Driven by the emotion to make it stop.

But.

The Blue Window did not allow it.

[This is the Observer’s Perspective. You cannot interfere with the subject.]

Hanna collapsed to the ground as if falling.

She could only silently watch herself falling apart.

Past Hanna, barely standing while holding a sword, was staring at the Orc in front of her.

A face in shambles.

Legs barely holding her up.

With Fearful Eyes, her trembling self was struggling to speak while looking at the Orc.

-I have to be acknowledged… I, too, now…

With those words,

The Orc’s Club sliced through the Empty Space.

Her Small and Fragile Body soared through the air.

[Perspective is shifting.]

With a ragged breath, her vision flipped.

“Huff… Huff…”

She was standing inside a dark cave.

With a heavy heart, Hanna looked around.

Drip. In the Dark and Damp Cave, moisture gathered to form Water Drops, and Moonlight seeped through the pitch-black darkness.

Hanna recognized this place.

It was the spot where she rested while training with Ricardo.

A shallow, not-too-deep cave.

Hanna let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was all over now.

-Hah… Hah…

But seeing her Entire Body in shambles, her expression turned despairing.

Her Past Self was staring blankly at the entrance of the cave with Empty Eyes.

Leaning against the wall of the cave.

Her Past Self was gasping for air.

Fearful of a Monster possibly entering, she tightly gripped her sword.

Her body was broken.

From the battle with the Orc, her legs were grotesquely twisted, and her body was covered with wounds.

Hanna clenched her fists.

Relieved that her Past Self was alive, but that relief began to turn into despair.

The words she had seen on the Blue Window were clear.

It had stated she would die.

As ominous thoughts clouded her mind, she couldn’t say a word.

The Voice of the Past began to echo in the cave.

-Thank goodness…

In the midst of the Desperate Situation, her Past Self looked at her hands and smiled. With a withered smile, as if her broken legs didn’t matter, she mumbled quietly.

-Because my hands aren’t hurt.

She was saying something foolish.

Her Past Self, with hands full of small wounds, reflected them in the Moonlight and smiled with a Pleasant Smile, clutching her hands tightly as she gazed outside the Moonlit Cave.

-Now, I just have to wait.

In the darkness, she was waiting for her Father.

Because, no matter how abandoned she was, she firmly believed he would come to save her after she disappeared.

*

Two days passed.

-Drip, drop…

Rain was falling outside the cave.

Her Past Self hugged her body against the cold air. Her blue lips and pale face signaled the end of a relentless Nightmare.

Her Past Self stared blankly at the entrance of the cave where the rain fell and mumbled.

-Why isn’t he coming…

-It’s so cold…

-I need to apologize for running away.

-No way… Could it be he’s not coming…?

-Sniff… No, why am I thinking so negatively? Father scolds me when I cry… Let’s not cry.

-He’ll definitely come… Definitely.

Her body, soaked in Cold Sweat, stared outside with eyes filled with Fear.

Her unmoving legs.

The Cold Sweat poured down like rain.

As a burning fever engulfed her body, her Past Self whimpered with delirious groans, making Hanna bow her head.

She had thought she would die in the fight.

That was the ending she had imagined, the least miserable one.

But.

As two days passed without Father showing up, Hanna’s face began to pale.

Even if she was a daughter cast away.

Even if she had run away.

Wouldn’t he have been worried?

If he had looked, even a little, he could have figured out where she had gone.

Even just visiting the Adventurer Guild would have revealed what commission she had taken.

‘Why… isn’t he coming.’

Hanna looked at her wretched Past Self with trembling eyes.

She was alone.

No one was by her side.

She had no one to comfort her.

She was enduring a Tragedy all by herself.

Her Past Self, smiling foolishly while looking at her intact hands.

Her delighted expression, thinking Father would praise her if he saw her, was like a horrifying movie to Hanna.

And so.

A week passed.

Clutching the Sword Gifted by Father tightly to her chest, her younger self was calling out Father’s name until her breath faded.

Hanna bowed her head.

Despair from being abandoned.

Fear of Death.

Her silent Past Self, gazing outside the cave… It was the ordeal she would have faced if Ricardo hadn’t been there.

-Fa…ther… I miss you.

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain.

-I’m sorry…

The ending she wanted to avoid the most had finally come true.

Watching her fading breath, Hanna lowered her head.

Three days later.

Father held her lifeless body in his arms and wept.

-Hanna…

-You need to wake up. Your Father is here.

-I’ll do anything, whether it’s dueling or whatever.

-You need to wake up…

With a foolish expression, he spoke.

Hanna couldn’t bear to watch it.

Because of Hatred.

[Perspective shifts to one year after Histania Hanna’s time of death.]

The final joke of the Blue Window unfolded before her eyes.

-Can you call me Father?

Father was smiling warmly at a woman with a familiar face.

With a Gentle Smile he had never shown before, he was gently stroking the woman’s Pink Hair.

A woman with Pink Hair and beautiful Appearance. The most popular person at the Academy and a prodigy in the Healing Branch.

Yuria.

Yuria lifted her head and spoke.

-Mister, why are you so kind to me?

Father, with a wistful Smile, replied.

-You remind me of my Youngest Daughter… I keep seeing her in you.

Tears began to flow from Hanna’s eyes.

Even in Death… it seemed she would never see Father again.

[Viewing has ended.]

***

The suffocating feeling did not go away.

Tears flowed from her eyes.

Breaths trembling with Fear and anguish escaped her.

Disgust Overflowed as she projected herself onto Father, who was filled with regret over her Death.

What should she say?

What kind of expression should she make?

Unable to express her current Sense of Despair, Hanna swept her face in frustration.

“I… really tried my best…”

Surpassing excruciating pain to endure and be acknowledged, she had done everything she could.

The Ending of being acknowledged only in Death felt utterly laughable to Hanna, and she pounded her stifled chest.

She wanted to give up.

On everything.

At the moment when, with despair-filled eyes, she tried to push herself off the Bed.

“Are you crying?”

A familiar Voice reached her ears.

“Why are you crying…?”

A woman with a Sullen Expression, looking down at her. Olivia, with white Hair, chewing Chocolate, placed her hand on Hanna’s forehead.

“You don’t have a fever.”

With a worried expression, Olivia broke the Chocolate in half.

Olivia, whose trembling hands offered it to her.

“Do you… want some?”

Olivia made it clear she didn’t really want to share.

And then.

“Young Lady, is that all you’re going to give?”

“Eeeek…! It’s mine!”

“Consideration. Respect. Chocolate. It’s all a Bribe for the Future.”

“But still…”

Ricardo snatched the Chocolate from Olivia’s hand and, with a Gentle Smile, said.

“Don’t cry.”

“It makes me sad to see you like this.”

Hanna looked at Ricardo with tearful eyes.

And then.

She collapsed into his arms and cried her heart out.