The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

Chapter 37

37 – Exposed Secret -4-

The young lady was crying.

Large teardrops fell onto the closet floor, like late summer rain.

“No, it wasn’t. I didn’t trip…!”

Crying miserably, stuck in the small closet, the young lady resembled a damp rat. I wanted to say something, but my lips wouldn’t move.

If I opened my mouth now, I would tell the same lie as before.

The young lady spoke awkwardly to me.

“This is obviously an injury from tripping…!”

As she spoke in an accusing tone, her tears, like chicken droppings, continued to fall.

I wiped away the flowing tears with my sleeve, but the relentless tears made the agitated young lady look at me in annoyance. Even if her hands were dirty with mucus or tears, she didn’t seem to care, pouring her resentment onto me with a desolate expression. She didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping her tears.

The young lady spoke to me again.

“I’m not a fool, and I have no reason to lie…”

I know that too.

That the young lady wouldn’t be deceived by such lies. I was so shocked that I reflexively made an excuse, and it wasn’t a lie that I wouldn’t be deceived either.

But one thing was clear.

I exposed the scars that I had hidden from the young lady for the past year, and my lie didn’t deceive her.

“You called it a tattoo… said it looked like tree bark…!”

“If you look closely, it somewhat resembles a tattoo.”

“Where does it look like a tattoo! Where does it look like a tattoo!”

In the place where he made the excuse of a tattoo, there was a noticeable scar. Who would believe that someone had stumbled?

I couldn’t lift my head at the sight of the girl wearing a sparkling hat and crying.

I couldn’t come up with an excuse.

I didn’t expect to be found out like this.

Because I didn’t want to be found out.

If I had about a month, and if my resistance to black magic had increased and the scar on my right hand had faded a little more, then maybe I would have been slightly less startled when I was caught.

It was a pointless regret, but there was a part of me that wished I had been caught just a little later.

The girl reached out her hand towards her scar-ridden right hand.

With trembling hands, like a willow tree swaying in the wind.

In that way, she threw her beloved chocolate cake onto the floor and reached out her hand.

“Don’t lie… How did this happen by falling over…”

I cautiously evaded the approaching girl’s touch. I met the girl’s wandering eyes as her hand moved further away.

“Why… are you avoiding me?”

The girl asked with a trembling voice. Her voice contained worries that maybe she had made a mistake or hurt me. Awkwardly, I hid my hand behind me and lowered my head.

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then why are you avoiding me…?”

“Because I exercised and didn’t wash my hands. hahahaha…”

The girl’s pupils shook greatly.

“Do you… dislike me?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Because I don’t want to show it.

My hand, trained on the dusty floor for half a day, was dirty. And if by any chance the girl sees this scar and remembers that day, then at that time I won’t have anything to say to her either.

So, I tried to pass it off with a forced laugh.

“Why are you laughing…!”

The girl shouted with frustration.

It wasn’t scary as the tassel on the end of the hat shook whenever she got angry, but I could see how upset she was from the quivering fist of the girl.

The girl said.

“You said it was a tattoo.”

“…”

“You said it was a tattoo…”

The lady with a cloudy expression.

“I said it was a tattoo, why… why are you lying?”

I replied to the lady with indifference.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“It’s a lie.”

The resolute lady.

She seemed to have no intention of believing my words.

The lady clenched her fists tightly, a sight that was amusing as someone telling you not to feel pain clenched their fists.

The lady, who had grown tired of the playful atmosphere, bit her lip firmly and spoke firmly.

“Give it to me.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Give me your hand.”

She spoke with a look that conveyed absolute determination, but this time, I couldn’t match the lady’s rhythm.

The lady furrowed her brow.

With cheeks puffed up as if really angry, she stared at me, but her eyes, which seemed on the verge of bursting into tears at any moment, didn’t make her look angry at all.

“It’s really not a big deal.”

There was a popping sound as she gnashed her teeth.

“I told you not to lie.”

“I didn’t lie, I just told the truth.”

Thud.

The lady’s hand, which had a firm grip on the hem of her dress, turned pale.

“Ricardo, if you keep doing this, I won’t be able to handle it. I really… I don’t think I can handle it.”

The lady lowered her head.

The lady, like a child throwing a tantrum in a department store to buy a toy, begged me not to lie.

But I still couldn’t grant her request.

“Please… please…”

Frustrated, the lady hit her chest with her fist. Not because she was angry at me for lying, but because she was angry at herself for making me lie.

Olivia didn’t want to hear kind words. She didn’t want the consideration that it had nothing to do with her or wasn’t her fault. Even if it hurt a lot, she wanted to hear the painful truth.

But she hated Ricardo for constantly avoiding her touch.

I avoided the lady’s demanding touch for the truth and hid my right hand behind my back.

And she gave a faint smile and said, “It’s really not a big deal.”

Picking up the shirt that had fallen to the floor, I thought of the next thing to say, something that the young lady would believe in a bit more…

Ah.

‘No matter how I think about it, it’s not there.’

I started it wrong.

It would have been better to start the story with a groan of, “Oh, I’m done for” instead of saying I tripped; the atmosphere would have been somewhat brighter.

The young lady clenched her fists and said, “Lies.”

I replied to her, “If I tell a lie, my nose gets longer disease.”

“You don’t have such an illness.”

“I do.”

“Don’t joke. If you had such an illness, Ricardo’s nose would have grown much longer by now.”

The young lady extended both her hands.

Much longer.

How many lies did I have to tell to make her say something like that? As someone who considered himself a professional liar, my pride was hurt, and I questioned the young lady with a sense of rebellion.

“It’s not to that extent. How innocent do you think I am?”

“That’s also a lie. You lied about fasting, and last time, you said you’d buy a pile of chocolates, but you didn’t.”

“I never made such a promise.”

Pause. The young lady hesitated for a moment, but she quickly remembered her past actions and questioned me.

“You sent a letter to Mikhail last time asking if he’s doing well.”

“…”

“You wrote that, right?”

“Did you figure it out? I thought I copied the handwriting perfectly.”

“Mikhail’s handwriting doesn’t waver like a worm!”

“You just need to write so that it looks like his, right?!”

“I couldn’t recognize it. I barely read it because Ricardo interpreted it for me!”

The infuriated young lady clenched both her fists. Tears streaming down her cheeks soaked the floor of the wardrobe, and her eyes, filled with sadness, trembled visibly each time she hid her right hand behind her back.

I realized that I had no talent for lying.

“So, Ricardo, why are you like this?”

I responded with a grin to the lady’s worried question.

“Someone hit me.”

Thud. The sound of the lady’s heart dropping reached even here. In an instant, her face turned pale, and she nervously clenched her hands.

The lady stammered, “Who… who hit you?”

“Well…”

I scratched my chin and contemplated.

The sight of the lady clenching and unclenching her fists was both adorable and, due to the relaxed atmosphere, gradually eased my tense heart.

“That’s true. I wonder who it could be. If you find out, would the lady scold them?”

The lady awkwardly nodded.

With clenched fists, she was determined to scold whoever it was. Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Lady.”

“Um…?”

“You’re the one who hit me.”

In an instant, the atmosphere grew chilly, and I felt bewildered. I had said it as a joke, but the lady bowed her head deeply, releasing her tightly clenched fists and looking sulky.

“Do you really believe it?”

“It’s true.”

“But that’s a lie.”

The lady looked at me.

“My nose didn’t grow longer.”

“I don’t have that kind of condition.”

“I mentioned Ricardo.”

“…”

I lowered myself to the lady’s eye level.

“Lady, if you live so innocently, you’ll be taken advantage of.”

“Taken advantage of?”

“There are things essential to the body, you know.”

The young lady looked at me, sobbing.

With swollen eyes, I was sure that when she woke up tomorrow morning, instead of an air raid alert, she’d say, “Cheong-ah… Cheong-ah, Sim Cheong-ah.” I didn’t want her to cry even more and end up looking like Sim Bong-sa, so I gently held her cheeks and spoke.

“Even if the young lady says that, what can we do? It’s a shame, isn’t it?”

“Still…”

“She acted recklessly, so it must be a reckless thing.”

The young lady bit her lip.

Like someone who had secretly stolen a cookie and couldn’t meet my eyes, she sobbed.

I squeezed her cheeks like a goldfish.

“What are you doing?”

“This is ugly.”

The young lady clenched her fist.

Only now did I feel relieved to see her acting like herself.

“You see, young lady.”

I spoke softly in a calm voice.

“I tend to be dramatic. Very dramatic.”

“When I was younger, I tried catching fish in a river with my bare hands. I fell on the gravel and scraped my knee. Do you know how I reacted?”

“How did you react?”

“I cried like a baby all night long.”

“The other day, didn’t I accidentally prick myself with a thorn while swinging a wooden sword? I complained to you all day long, didn’t I?”

The young lady nodded with a trembling voice.

“See, I can tolerate almost anything else, but I can’t stand pain. Even a small injury makes me whine. So, if I’m in pain, won’t I tell the young lady?”

I gave her a reassuring smile with my watery eyes.

“If it hurts, I’ll tell you.”

The young lady nodded.

“Yes.”

And she added one more thing.

“But this doesn’t feel right.”

The young lady bowed her head deeply.

“This isn’t right.”

Like a sinner, she lowered her head and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

I handed her a handkerchief from my pocket.

“Why are you crying again, miss?”

Sniff. Sniff. “It’s not that…. It’s not like that….”