A Sad Love Story of a Certain Villainess -6- Within the Untold Tale
Olivia was searching for Ricardo, who had vanished right before her eyes. With anxious eyes, she sought the man who had disappeared after spitting out that ominous farewell.
He was gone. That foolish, idiotic, insolent butler who teased his mistress... He had faded from existence before her eyes, wearing that bitter smile. The warm heat of Ricardo's embrace around Olivia gradually cooled. The cozy warmth that had lingered in her chest was scattering in the cold wind, growing frigid.
"Ricardo?"
Olivia looked around frantically, searching for the vanished butler. She was annoyed at the servant who had struck every possible pose before disappearing. She kept scanning her surroundings.
"Where'd you go...?"
Olivia's eyes trembled with unease. "Don't joke around. Okay?" Her heart was pounding strangely. Tears seemed ready to spill from her eyes, so she desperately called Ricardo's name, but all that returned was the hollow sound of the wind.
Something felt... off. Her heart was gripped by inexplicable anxiety. It was terrifying.
"Ricardo..."
Olivia tried to convince herself it was just the butler's foolish prank, like always. An event staged by her servant to lift her sullen mood. It had to be that. If it wasn't Ricardo's joke... she couldn't bear it.
Clutching her trembling heart, Olivia desperately called his name. "I'm gonna get mad. If you don't come out in three seconds, I'm really gonna get mad... okay?"
Humans possess various senses. Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch—the five basic ones. But among them, an extra sense was now squeezing Olivia's chest heavily.
Instinct.
The intuition whispering that she'd never see Ricardo again was crushing her with fear. A suffocating tightness gripped her chest, making it hard to breathe. A stuffy, oppressive emotion began to redden her sharp eyes.
With trembling eyes, Olivia touched the spot on the floor where Ricardo had vanished, murmuring to herself. "This is weird... He was right here just a moment ago..."
Olivia turned to the academy students who had been hurling malicious insults at her. "Huh?"
Even if they cursed her, even if they threw rotten eggs—it didn't matter. Desperation filled her voice as she pleaded for answers to her question. "He's gone."
"I can't see him...?"
"He was right next to me just now, even playing pranks... but he's gone."
Their silence made her heart pound like it might burst. Her head denied it as the butler's prank, but deep in her heart, a buried voice kept spitting out negative truths. It wasn't a joke. What you're denying is real. It whispered relentlessly in her ears.
"Huh...? I'm asking you."
"I'm asking you...."
"Me. I. I'm the one asking! Huh? Why isn't anyone saying anything? Why!"
Even as Olivia's question echoed loudly, the crowd remained silent. Olivia feared that silence.
"Why won't you talk...? You were all yapping away before, so why the hell not...?"
Thud... thud...
The academy students, who had been muttering about Ricardo's sudden disappearance, along with Mikhail and Ruin, fell silent as they spotted a woman approaching Olivia.
"I..."
Yuria gritted her teeth. Her shoulders began to tremble faintly as she stood weakly before Olivia, weighed down by the vibration of emotions she couldn't accept.
Gazing at the spot where Ricardo had vanished, Yuria murmured softly. "Did you think I'd be grateful if he left like this...?"
"Did you think someone like me—a bad person—would cheer because he got what he deserved?"
"Why didn't you give me a chance...? He apologized... said he was sorry... so why didn't he even talk to me?"
"What is this?"
Olivia stared at Yuria's clenched fists. If it was Yuria, she might know where Ricardo was. Beloved by so many, she must surely know. Olivia reached out a trembling hand toward her.
"Hey..."
"..."
"I can't see Ricardo."
"...Let go."
"Ricardo was right in front of me. You can't touch that—it's dangerous. I told him the person who gave him that stone was really risky, that he had to keep it with him."
"I said let go."
"Hey, Yuria, Ricardo's gone—"
Yuria roughly shook off Olivia's hand. "Let go already...!"
Tears welled up in Yuria's eyes. As she brusquely brushed off Olivia's hand, Olivia's body slumped to the cold ground. Yuria glared at her.
"You still don't get it?"
"I'm an idiot, so I don't. That's why..."
Olivia gripped her trembling heart and looked at Yuria. She was a fool. A genius in everything else, but a complete idiot when it came to human relationships. Olivia asked the one person she least wanted to rely on.
"That's why... tell me..."
Thump thump...
Olivia pounded her frustrated chest. "It's so stuffy... My heart keeps saying something's wrong..."
"Like... it's shrinking... and now it feels like I'll never see Ricardo again..."
Hot tears began streaming down Olivia's cheeks. Even as she lied to herself that it was nothing... even as she whipped herself to believe it was fine... the anxiety whispered eerie words in her ear, and the tears wouldn't stop.
"My heart hurts so much for some reason... So please? Tell me."
Olivia grabbed Yuria's hand again. "I'm begging you like this. Mikhail won't like you anymore anyway. So tell me."
Kneeling before Yuria, Olivia wailed desperately. "I can't live without Ricardo."
"That fool took such good care of me. I never did anything for him, so sending him away like this doesn't make sense."
The emotions Olivia had wrapped tightly in bandages began to unravel as she let go of something precious. The feelings, friendship, and lingering regrets accumulated over thirteen years crumbled all at once.
"I couldn't even give him a proper gift. I said so many harsh things... We can't end it like this, right?"
Olivia pressed her forehead to Yuria's hand. "Please... say something!"
Yuria glared at her with bloodshot eyes, veins bulging. She bit her lip hard, barely containing her trembling shoulders as she looked down at the pitiful Olivia slumped on the ground.
"I did tell you."
"That Ricardo was suffering... that he looked like he was dying from the pain!"
"Even though I was scared of you, terrified of what you'd do over one word from me! I said it because Ricardo seemed like he was going to die. You know that, right?!"
"But what did you say?"
"I..."
"What did you say!"
"I'm an idiot, so...!"
Yuria let out a hollow laugh and grabbed Olivia's collar. "You know why I couldn't speak... so why pretend you don't?!"
Yuria's eyes pierced Olivia with resentment. "It's your fault."
Olivia bit her lip and shook her head. "No... I didn't know."
Ha...
Yuria let out a defeated laugh, as if it were pathetic. "Ricardo died because of you."
Ricardo's face kept flashing in Yuria's mind. That pitiful expression, clinging to a frayed lifeline like it might snap any moment, yet still smiling. It haunted her vision relentlessly.
No matter how much she hated him. Even though he'd tormented her. He had been her first love.
Her heart ached too much. "He was always doing awful things..."
"I thought it wouldn't matter if it was him."
"Even when he tried to change, he was the one who bullied me..."
Drip...
The sky darkened, and soon the clouds burst into tears. A downpour soaked Yuria and Olivia.
"Why does it hurt so much?"
Yuria looked up at the sky, choked with emotion. "Ricardo was in a lot of pain."
"..."
"He couldn't even walk alone, covered in black scars. His breathing was so ragged... his eyes were dead."
"My chest hurts so much..."
Olivia shook her head frantically, overwhelmed by the relentless accusations of responsibility. She hadn't known. She thought there was no way.
But Yuria's words pointed solely to her own fault as the cause of Ricardo's suffering.
"That idiot never even said he was hurting..."
"He just smiled like a fool and said he was fine... You knew!"
In the pouring rain, Yuria screamed at Olivia.
And the arrows of blame weren't aimed only at her.
"What do you mean he was here?"
A platinum-haired figure pushed through the students. Princess Shartia. Having finished her busy duties, she stood panting before Olivia, where all eyes were fixed.
"Where is he?"
Shartia scanned the surroundings. Seeing the silence and the tear-streaked faces, she spoke in a voice laced with anger.
"Where the hell is that bastard?"
No answer came. Yuria hung her head. Olivia stared down at her trembling hands.
"I'm asking! Where's that idiot?!"
Shartia demanded of Yuria in a quivering voice. "The student council misjudged."
"Pardon...?"
"Three days ago, that guy handed me a weird bundle of papers."
Shartia was flustered. The contents of the documents she'd overlooked in her busyness contradicted everything she knew. Seeing the truth Ricardo had meticulously hidden, Shartia couldn't help but panic.
"The dungeon incident. The academy arson. Everything we thought was Ricardo's doing..."
"..."
"It had nothing to do with him. Those bastards kept blaming him, so I issued the punishment... Fuck."
Shartia looked at Yuria with trembling eyes. "It wasn't related to him."
She asked Yuria in a shaky voice. "Don't you remember anything? You should know."
"I..."
"You said Ricardo saved you. Mikhail, you saw him rescue Yuria too, right?"
The arrows of responsibility began splintering in multiple directions.
And then.
"You fucking morons."
A chilling voice tightened their throats. "Do you even realize what we've done?"
Shartia spat the truth at them. Cold, hard truth.
"If it weren't for that guy here..."
"You'd all be dead by now."
Olivia opened her tightly shut eyes and stared at the ceiling.
"Ricardo..."
She felt a warm touch. A gentle warmth stroking her hair.
"Having a nightmare?"
There, smiling kindly, was Ricardo. As always, he smiled at her with that warm voice.
"No chocolate this time, though."
Like a fool.