Page 254 of The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

It was another sunny day at the young lady's mansion.

As I returned to the mansion after a long time, I looked at Gomtangi playing with Hans in the doghouse and couldn’t help but wonder.

"What’s going on?"

I had clearly found a decent hiding place for him in the back mountain, so why was he living in a doghouse?

I tilted my head as I noticed Hans's bowl next to Gomtangi. Thankfully, he wasn’t eating dog food, but I couldn’t understand why Hans was choosing to live like this.

He was supposed to be an important villain in the novel, after all.

Hahaha!!! Power...! I feel the power!

Hans, showing behavior I couldn’t quite comprehend, had his butt stuck in the doghouse while he looked up at me.

"You’re back?" "Ah... yes." "It’s been a while, Master." "Why do you keep changing the way you address me?" "I’m sorry. If it bothers you, I can call you ‘Lord’ instead." "No, that would bother me even more."

Hans laughed brightly as he dusted himself off and stood up.

"Have you been well?" "Yes." "Anyone you wanted to kill? Or perhaps someone who blasphemed... no, caused you any trouble?" "No, none at all. Well... there was one person...."

Hans’s eyes lit up with a crazed look as he leaned in closer.

"Who is it?! Who dared to commit blasphemy?" "Wolfgang... No, Hans, didn’t you just change your title again?" "Wolfgang... Wolfgang... Got it."

Hans nodded with a bright smile, seemingly committing the name Wolfgang to memory before turning back to me with a joyful expression.

"Anything else?" "No." "That’s unfortunate."

I gave Hans an awkward smile and asked him,

"Has anything unusual happened at the mansion?" "There have been no intruders, and I’ve taken care of all the cleaning." "You could have taken a break." "This is the joy of my life."

Hans had turned into someone quite peculiar.

He carefully removed Gomtangi, who was nibbling on his head, and then entered the doghouse, saying he had something urgent to attend to.

As I watched Hans disappear into what seemed to be a tunnel he had dug inside the doghouse, I bid him farewell and turned to Gomtangi, who was scratching his head with his hind leg.

"Gomtangi."

Grr. "Do you like your new roommate?"Grr grr.

Gomtangi nodded in affirmation.

As expected, with a big head like his, he understood things well. I couldn’t help but wonder if he saw Hans as an emergency food supply, but I decided not to dwell on it too much.

"Then keep guarding the house well. I’ll go fetch the young lady."

Grr. "What?"

Gomtangi ambled over and grabbed my ankle.

Like a proper pet bear, he gently bit my ankle and nudged me with his head. Honestly, it was a bit scary, as it felt like he might eat me.

Gomtangi then placed a letter he had been carrying in his mouth on the ground and looked up at me.

Grr.

It was a white envelope, likely something he had picked up from somewhere, and Gomtangi urged me to open it by nudging it with his head.

"Scary... Can you back off a bit?"

Smiling awkwardly, I picked up the letter and patted Gomtangi on the head with a small smile.

"A letter? Who sent it?"

Grr. "Who’s it from?"Grr grr.

Of course, I couldn’t understand animal language.

I lightly patted Gomtangi’s head again and then carefully opened the letter.

A floral scent wafted out.

It was the same scent of flowers I had encountered recently in the capital. The scent inside the envelope was subtle yet familiar.

If I remembered correctly, the flower was Edelweiss. It wasn’t flashy, but it had a refreshing scent. That must be it.

The familiar scent made it easy for me to guess who had sent the letter.

"So impatient."

With a curious expression, I carefully unfolded the letter.

[Hello.] This is Misa, whom you met last time. I hope this sudden letter doesn’t startle you. I apologize for showing you such an unbecoming side of myself last time. Though I can’t share the details, I received a lot of help thanks to you, Ricardo.

Omitted Could I receive the swordsmanship lessons you mentioned?

The letter contained a polite greeting and the location where they were hoping to receive a reply. The handwriting was elegant, quite different from someone else’s.

I nodded slightly as I read the letter.

"They must be in a hurry."

Perhaps it was related to that.

The Academy's missing person cases.

The student council had begun investigating the string of disappearances, and maybe that was why they had urgently sent me a letter.

Recently, there had been an attack by the Archbishop at the Academy, so they probably needed to bolster their strength, and that’s why they were seeking my teaching. If that wasn’t the reason, Mikhail wouldn’t have come to find me for help.

Although Rowen was his teacher, he didn’t have endless time, and it was probably challenging for Mikhail to improve his skills alone.

"Hmm..."

Understanding Mikhail’s situation, I nodded slightly and then crouched down in front of Gomtangi and asked,

"Gomtangi, do you know how to write?"

... "My handwriting is terrible, and I don’t want to ask the young lady to do it. Could you write the reply for me?"Grr?

Gomtangi looked at me with an exasperated expression, as if he were looking at a fellow creature in disbelief. ‘Gomtangi 2.0’ scratched his head with his hind leg and yawned, as if this was the first time he had been asked to do something beyond his species' capabilities.

Grrrrr~

"I’ll give you some meat."

Gomtangi nodded and sat down on the dirt floor with a heavy thud. Sitting with his massive rump on the ground, he lifted one well-proportioned paw and gestured for a pen.

"What?"

Grr. "Oh, you want a pen?"Grr grr. "Thanks, I’ll give you lots of treats later."Grr grr.

As expected of this house’s pet... or rather, pet bear, he was a smart one.

Gomtangi gripped the pen between his giant paws and began to move his wrist. The pen was too small to hold with his paw, so he wrote using just two of his claws.

Focusing on Gomtangi’s concentrated expression, I couldn’t help but clench my fists and focus on his movements.

"Tomorrow at 2 PM."

Grr grr grr grr grr.

"Please come to the plains of the Hamel Mountains."

Grr grr grr.

Gomtangi wiped his snout with his paw and showed me the letter.

"Oh...!"

[Gr grr grr. Grr grr grr grr.]

"Oh...."

It seems I had asked too much of him.

I patted Gomtangi’s head, knocked on the doghouse door, and called for Hans. I should have done this from the start instead of making such an unreasonable request.

"Ricardo, I’m hungry!"

Hearing the young lady’s voice from beyond the wall, I handed the letter to Hans and left the area.

The Academy’s missing person cases.

‘...This isn’t going to be easy.’

For the first time, I wasn’t confident if Mikhail would handle the episode involving the Apostle well.

Under the warm sunlight in the plains of the Hamel Mountains.

Mikhail arrived an hour earlier than the agreed time, brushing his long hair nervously.

He worried about whether the magic he used to grow his hair looked strange. Whether his makeup was off. Whether he might be disliked.

The only thing certain was that he hated the name ‘Mikhail.’

Mikhail sighed deeply as he looked down at his sword. It wasn’t the usual sword he carried but a smaller one that Ricardo had recommended.

Mikhail repeatedly gripped and released the unfamiliar sword’s handle.

He worried about whether he could do well, whether deceiving that boy was really the right thing to do, and lowered his head under the bright sunlight.

"...I don’t like this."

Mikhail hated lying.

The weather was nice, and his body felt light, but his heart was heavy. His chest throbbed with an inexplicable pain, even though he felt happy about seeing that boy.

"Why am I feeling this way... Get a grip."

An overwhelming wave of emotions washed over him, emotions he couldn’t understand. He didn’t know if it was excitement or fear that he was feeling.

For countless days, he had cried. He had locked himself in his room, replaying in his mind all the things he had said, all the times he had ignored Ricardo’s advice, crying through the night.

Please, just listen to me.Why should I listen to you? You’re just trying to make me like you, aren’t you? Isn’t that right?Wouldn’t it make my job easier if you did? I hate working overtime.

Mikhail clenched his fist tightly.

The countless words he had thrown at Ricardo had become sharp knives, and now he realized just how much they had hurt him.

If only he had been a little kinder. If only he had listened to him once. Things wouldn’t have turned out like this.

Mikhail lowered his head and swallowed his sorrow.

From a distance, he heard someone mumbling. It was a small voice, but it reached his ears clearly, carried by the wind from ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) the forest.

"If I stand here, I should be visible."

It was Ricardo.

He was cutting down the surrounding grass to make his position more visible as he approached.

There were still 40 minutes left.

Ricardo was approaching him with light steps.

With his usual red hair. With his carefree smile, he was walking toward him.

Mikhail’s fist tightened. He clenched his hand even harder than when he was standing alone. The pressure was so intense that he worried it might cut into his palm.

"If you make that face...."

He didn’t want to cry.

"If you make that face, what am I supposed to do...?"

The boy’s innocent smile was squeezing Mikhail’s heart, making it hard to breathe.

"What am I supposed to do...?"

His chest tightened.

Ricardo smiled brightly at him.

"Oh? Miss Misa!"

He lightly waved his hand as he slowly walked over, hurriedly sheathing the sword he had been holding in his right hand. His pace was neither too fast nor too slow as he approached.

"How long have you been here? It’s hot out." "..." "You must have overheated. You’re not speaking."

He raised his hand to shade Mikhail’s forehead, and Mikhail couldn’t help but feel how sweet this gesture was. He felt a bursting sense of guilt as he remained silent.

Ricardo, creating a shade over Mikhail’s head, spoke gently.

"Shall we sit in the shade for a bit?"

Mikhail finally opened his tightly shut mouth and spoke cautiously.

"Um..." "Yes?" "By any chance..." "By any chance...?" "The sword I brought." "Yes?"

Mikhail showed the sword to Ricardo and asked,

"Did I bring the right one? It’s different from the one I usually use."

Ricardo smiled brightly and nodded.

"It’s perfect." "...Really?" "Yes."

Ricardo gave Mikhail the brightest smile he had ever seen and said,

"It’s the perfect sword for someone of your stature, Miss Misa."

Ricardo thought to himself.

‘You finally brought it.’

He felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest, something that had been bothering him for a long time.

And then he hesitated.

As he pondered how to tell Mikhail about his mother, a bitter smile crossed his face.