Page 305 of The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

The archbishop in front of the door sneered at Mikhail.

"Puhahahaha...!!"

Mikhail's brow furrowed. The mocking laughter, loud enough to burst his eardrums, echoed endlessly, as if there was nothing funnier in the world.

Thud.

"Haa... Kid, I really think you're something else."

Click.

The sound of the door handle clicking echoed in Mikhail’s ears. At the same time, from beyond the door, he could hear Yung’s deep breath, Ssssss....

"I was hoping for a grand reunion..."

Click.

"Such a pity."

Yung muttered to himself and continued speaking, as if Mikhail, behind the door, didn’t need to respond. He continued his mock praise.

"Entering the academy without parents and living without a care... that's quite impressive."

Mikhail gripped the door handle tightly, answering Yung’s words with silence. He had no intention of playing along with Yung’s game.

Even though fury boiled within him, Mikhail wasn’t sure he could defeat him with his current strength.

After all, he had experienced a bitter defeat before. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake, Mikhail bit his lip and endured.

Rather than losing his cool and forfeiting his chances, it was better to wait for the right moment and escape—for the sake of his future.

Besides...

"Next week, I'll treat you to a meal.""Can I come again?""Of course."

He had a promise to keep. Mikhail didn't want to make a reckless move.

No matter what Yung said...

"It really is impressive."

Mikhail intended to push forward with the best decision he could make right now.

Yung continued the one-sided conversation, undeterred by the silence.

"Honestly, I thought you'd turn into some kind of vengeful ghost. I expected you to foam at the mouth, doing whatever you could to get revenge on me."

Yung’s voice was devoid of any emotion, as though he were casually complimenting the path Mikhail had walked.

"Everyone else did, so I assumed you'd be the same."

He calmly recounted his experiences.

"They picked up a sword out of revenge, even though they'd never touched one before..." "..." "They hired mercenaries with money, ordering them to bring me in..." "..." "They dabbled in dark magic and ended up destroying themselves..." "I don’t care about your story. Get lost before I kill you." "Don’t you care? You should, if you want to know what kind of spell I cast on you." "..."

Spell...?

Mikhail held his breath at Yung's words, swallowing back his question. It was the first time he'd heard the word "spell" come from Yung's mouth.

There was no memory of it. No, he couldn't recall it. That day... there was no memory of him casting a spell.

Let go...!

"..."

Hearing Mikhail’s quiet breathing, Yung let out a small chuckle, imagining the expression on Mikhail’s face.

"Curious, aren’t you?" "..." "Curious enough to go crazy?" "...What did you do to me?" "Ah, that’s it. Now you're speaking my language. Now I feel like telling you." "Tell me right now." "Puhaha! You're dying to know what trick I played on you, right? Well then, listen. I heard your story from someone else’s memory... so shouldn’t you hear mine as well?"

Yung took a deep breath and forcefully shared his story with Mikhail, muttering about how everything has its own tale.

"I wasn’t always like this."

Yung’s voice was laced with deep regret, as though he were reminiscing about a distant past, speaking to Mikhail like someone lost in a mirage of memories.

"I had good parents, a girl I liked, and a youth I wasn’t envious of." "...Then why?" "The wind blew."

"..."

"A wind that I couldn’t avoid."

Yung’s voice began to carry more emotion.

"My parents died in an accident." "..." "The girl I liked left me for another guy." "..." "I was left with nothing." "What are you even talking about?" "I’m telling you why I went insane."

Yung scolded Mikhail for his question, his voice rising in frustration.

"Life was tough. I got scammed, lost all the money I had saved in gambling... and then I got angry. Why was my life such a mess?"

"..."

It was disgusting to listen to. The sob story of the man who had gifted him his worst memories was revolting to the point of nausea.

"When I was young—right around your age, actually..." "..." "I decided to say 'screw it,' and I hit the guy the girl liked with a rock. It pissed me off that he happened to walk by." "..." "So, I smashed his head. Crushed it."

Yung seemed to take pleasure in boasting about his actions, and Mikhail’s shoulders trembled in response.

"Do you know what happened?"

Yung chuckled softly before answering his own question.

"He couldn’t remember." "..." "He forgot who the girl he liked was, forgot who smashed his head. I turned him into an idiot, and then he thanked me for taking him to the hospital."

With a broad smile that seemed ready to tear his face apart, Yung spoke to Mikhail.

"He didn’t remember a thing! Puhahaha!"

As Mikhail listened to Yung’s story, he gripped the door handle, breathing heavily. He still couldn’t process the situation.

The twisted man’s whining... The way he turned small misfortunes into grand disasters made Mikhail’s hands tremble with fear.

Yung sensed the faint tremor in the door handle and spoke again.

"That’s how I went crazy." "..." "It’s so much fun... this thrill! Taking someone else’s life away...! It feels so good I can hardly control myself."

Mikhail’s voice shook as he asked Yung.

"For just... that?" "For just that? Do you know how miserable I was?" "For that pathetic reason? Is that why you did all this?"

Mikhail couldn’t understand why Yung, who spoke like a victim, was justifying his evil actions. While Yung’s experiences were unfortunate, Mikhail couldn’t accept them as reasons for his descent into madness.

In fact, Mikhail thought his own life had been even more tragic and unfair...

Click.

"Kid." "..." "Watch your words. If you don’t want to die right now." "Gulp."

Yung let out a mocking laugh and spoke ★ ?????????????????? ★ again.

"You know..."

Yung, suppressing his rage, continued to explain his twisted ideals to Mikhail. He didn’t force the door open, keeping his voice calm as if he were simply talking to himself.

"If you’d seen my memories, you wouldn’t have said that. You would have dropped that 'pathetic' comment and just started crying."

"...No. I won’t pity trash like you."

Mikhail bit his lip. There were people who deserved pity, and then there were people who didn’t.

"You're... too cold." "Stop spouting nonsense and tell me about the spell you cast on me." "I don’t feel like it anymore." "Enough of your games!" "Why?"

Yung banged on the door with his fist and laughed.

"Why am I trash?" "Because you killed so many people..." "In other people’s memories, they all forgave you. So why don’t you forgive me?" "..." "I can be good too." "..." "If you just gave me a chance, if you opened the door and hugged me tight, I could... 'atone.'" "Shut up."

Yung sneered at Mikhail’s response.

"You’re not falling for it, huh?" "..." "Well then..."

Yung fixed his piercing gaze on the door, looking straight at Mikhail as he spoke.

"People don’t change." "..." "Unless you wipe away all their memories, people don’t change, even if they die."

Yung’s words struck Mikhail, who remained frozen behind the door.

"It’s time I told you what you’re curious about."

Gulp.

"It must have been exhausting waiting, listening to an old man’s sob story. You must be tired of it."

...

"It’s a shame."

...

"If I had cast the spell a bit stronger, you might’ve seen something interesting."

"Interesting...?"

"It would've been more fun if I had cast it on that kid instead of you. But it didn’t work out. Makes me want to kill him."

"What are you talking about...?"

Yung could practically see Mikhail’s expression—one of desperate curiosity.

"Didn’t you think it was strange?"

"What was strange...?"

"Think carefully. Didn’t you ever feel an unusual amount of hatred or disgust towards someone? You must have."

Yung’s chilling question left Mikhail speechless for a moment, a sense of dread creeping over him.

"You didn’t have any reason to hate them so much, but you did anyway."

No...

"You could have resolved everything through conversation, but you ignored them because you thought they wouldn’t listen."

No... right?

From beyond the door, Yung heard the silence and smiled with delight.

"Wasn’t it strange?"

It couldn’t be. No, it wasn’t.

Mikhail’s trembling hands gripped the door handle tightly as he stared at the door, his eyes wide.

The realization that 'he' was the source of everything made Mikhail’s blood boil, his eyes flaring with anger.

"Looks like something’s clicking for you."

"Did you...?"

"The story’s finally getting interesting,so?”

“Did you do it?”

Yung ignored Mikhail’s question and continued to boast about his dark magic.

“My black magic can turn people’s minds blank, just like the people you passed by...”

“...”

“I can make sworn enemies call each other ‘mother’...”

“...”

“On the other hand...”

Mikhail, sensing the dark malice in Yung’s voice, gripped the door handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white, gritting his teeth.

“I can also make people hate each other.”

“...”

“You’ll look at a photo of them, but their face will blur, and even when you try to remember them, you can’t.”

“...”

Yung’s chilling confession made Mikhail’s fingers start to tremble.

“But then, no matter what, you still miss them.”

“...”

“You miss them so painfully that it brings you to tears...”

“...”

“But.”

Click.

The door handle Mikhail was gripping began to rattle, the sound of the lock clicking repeatedly.

Click. Click. Click!

“And when you see a certain someone, impulsive emotions take over...”

“...”

“You think, ‘Why is he making that face?’”

“...”

“‘Why is he smiling like that?’”

“...”

“‘I don’t want that person to be happy.’”

Mikhail’s voice shook as he shouted at Yung.

“Was it you?! Answer me!”

“Why are you getting so angry, kid? I’m here to apologize for the little prank I pulled on you.”

“I said, shut up!”

“Why?”

Yung spoke softly to Mikhail.

“Are you scared?”

“...”

“No. I only planted a small seed of doubt in your mind. I just made it so that when that kid appeared in front of you again, your emotions could turn into ‘rage.’ That’s all.”

“...”

“The one who ruined the relationship was you.”

“...”

“The black magic was weak... you could have easily overcome it, but you didn’t. That’s your fault.”

Rattle.

Yung smiled smugly as he felt the door handle tremble.

“If you’re trembling already, what will you do when I open this door and come inside?”

“...”

“You know I’m not the kind of person who stops at this.”

“...”

“I’ve prepared a wonderful gift for you. It wouldn’t be any fun if this ended too easily.”

Yung spoke with twisted glee, as if he was truly enjoying himself.

“Maybe I’ll rewrite your memories this time.”

“...”

“This time, I’ll make sure you hate that kid with every fiber of your being. You’ll call me ‘Dad,’ and that person you thought was a hero will become your enemy.”

“...Shut up.”

“Yeah! Let’s make our first meeting unforgettable! I’ll change my face to the kid’s, and change his face to mine, so...”

“...I’ll kill you. Right now, I’ll kill you!”

“You?”

Yung asked Mikhail seriously.

“How?”

“...”

“Can you?”

“...”

“Listen, kid.”

Yung sneered as he spoke to Mikhail.

“If it weren’t for me, you would have burst into tears the moment you saw that kid again.”

“...”

“You should be thanking me.”

“I’ll... I’ll kill you.”

“Ah, but there’s an art to waiting.”

Yung chuckled again, twisting the door handle and speaking to Mikhail.

“When I open this door and come in, a whole new world will unfold for you. Aren’t you looking forward to it?”

Yung spoke with sincere excitement.

“You’ll be happier than you’ve ever been, far more than any happiness you’ve felt before.”

Click!

“So...”

Click. Click!

“Let’s have a pleasant dream...”

The door handle shook violently. As the handle rattled, Mikhail’s body also began to tremble.

The once silent people outside began to pound furiously on the doors.

Darkness began to descend outside the window.

The rain, now pouring heavily, brought with it a cruel storm, devouring the sounds.

Shhhh.

The pounding rain signaled that, for Mikhail, the worst wasn’t over—it was just beginning.

Shhhh.

The storm raged on.