1. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓
Have you ever imagined the final moments of your life?
Laila has. Many, many times.
In her imagination, Laila always aged gracefully and peacefully, closing her eyes around the age of ninety.
Listening to the soft, sweet music playing on one side of the bed from the orchestra that had been specially invited for that day.
Surrounded by her children and grandchildren, who loved her and mourned their separation from her.
“Ack!”
However, reality and imagination can be so different.
Laila sat up in bed, staring intensely at the tightly closed bedroom door.
Instead of the serene music she had imagined, her room echoed with a piercing scream from the other side of the door.
“Ninety years old, really?”
Laila was merely twenty, and her birthday had passed just a few days ago.
Children? Grandchildren? Not a chance!
Anxiously, Laila clenched the bedsheets.
In the midst of her tension, the other side of the bedroom door fell silent; the agonizing screams that tormented Laila’s ears had ceased, indicating that…
‘They’re all dead.’
She had anticipated it, but…
Just as Laila’s green eyes darkened, the bedroom door opened.
The moment the door opened, it was eerily silent.
Perhaps it was thanks to the maids who diligently applied oil, ensuring the large door opened without even a faint creak from the hinges.
Laila stared at the door, her tension palpable.
The door swung wide open, revealing a young man who seemed to have just passed his twenties. He looked about the same age as Laila.
He had the kind of appearance one would expect, yet his face was smaller than the average person, fitting neatly into features that seemed meticulously sculpted by an artisan hired by the king, working tirelessly over many sleepless nights.
And what about his hair and eye color?
Blond hair lighter than the noonday sun, and eyes as rare as the finest obsidian.
In short, the man was a handsome one.
Incredibly.
But then, what was he going to do?
He was the envoy who had come to take Laila’s life.
Would it hurt less if it was a handsome reaper wielding the scythe?
She had never heard such a thing.
And dying was still dying, even if it hurt less.
Laila did not want to die. Not at this age, not this way.
The man, with his long legs—they were indeed long—walked briskly to the center of the bedroom and paused before asking,
“Are you Laila Hildegarde?”
Responding to the odd question, Laila let out a sarcastic chuckle before answering,
“You’ve got the wrong person.”
“No, I think I got it right.”
‘Why ask when you already know!’
Laila bit her lip. She didn’t really expect the lie to work, especially considering the man had invaded this far and must have remembered her appearance.
Feeling teased, Lila’s irritation flared, but only briefly. She spoke quickly before the man could swing a knife at her.
“I have something to tell you.”
“A dying wish?”
“…Something like that.”
“Go on.”
It wasn’t a dying wish. Laila swallowed her inner thoughts and opened her mouth.
“Please don’t kill me.”
“No.”
“No, listen a bit more.”
Why is he in such a hurry?
Feeling rushed, Laila poured out her words hastily.
“I swear, I have no intention of seeking revenge against you. The relationship between the people you killed and me was really bad.”
“…….”
“Even if you spare me, there will be consequences.”
“…….”
“So why don’t you let me live?”
“Do you want to live that badly?”
He’s going to spare me? Laila’s eyes widened with anticipation.
“Yes!”
“Then let me draw all the Hildegarde blood flowing in your body.”
“…….”
Laila’s eyes returned to their usual size.
“If you do, I’ll let you live.”
No, they were even thinner than usual.
Draw the blood? That’s…
“Could you perhaps show me a demonstration?”
“Is that the end of your dying wish?”
He was telling her to die anyway!
Playing with words against someone who was desperate, you nasty bastard!
Laila bit her lip reflexively and shouted,
“I have one more question!”
The man remained silent. Laila, interpreting it as consent, immediately continued.
“If, hypothetically speaking, ten years ago, I had tried to prevent ‘that incident’ and your death…”
The incident.
The man’s death.
Laila had no power to prevent either.
There never was, and there never will be…….
So, not ‘if I had prevented,’ but if I had ‘tried’ to prevent it.
“If I had done that, would you have spared me now?”
“If the premise is that you tried but couldn’t prevent it, then no.”
“……I see.”
With a firm response, Laila nodded her head.
So mere ‘trying’ didn’t mean anything.
‘I shouldn’t have bothered in the first place.’
She originally wasn’t planning on doing it, but hearing the answer solidified her decision.
After organizing her thoughts, Laila looked straight at the man and spoke.
“Hey.”
“……?”
“You know you have a bad personality, right? If you don’t, you should know. You’re an asshole.”
Telling someone to draw all their blood after putting on a hero’s mask.
‘Meeting you was disgusting; let’s never see each other again!’
Before the man could react to her words, Laila quickly swallowed a small stone hidden behind her molars.
“Cough!”
Soon after, Laila clenched her chest and rolled off the bed under the intense pain.
‘It hurts!’
It was as if she had swallowed a fireball. Her throat, mouth, and stomach seemed to burn, one after the other.
Was it supposed to hurt this much?
But if it meant surviving…
The pain was so intense that tears welled up in her eyes. Laila, with a blurry vision, watched as the man held a knife and hastily approached her.
So be it.
It’s too late…
Soon after, Laila’s vision plunged into darkness.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
Laila was the daughter of a vicious villain with no blood or tears. All her misfortunes stemmed from that one fact.
“Father, what is that?”
The year Laila turned ten.
Her father, Marquis Hildegarde, brought a boy of her age to Hildegarde Manor.
“He’s not someone you need to worry about.”
But he was too beautiful to ignore. At least, Laila could tell at a glance that the boy was prettier than a doll.
Her heart fluttered, but she never saw him again after that first day. The boy was immediately confined to the underground prison.
Every day, Laila lingered near the entrance to the stairs leading to the underground prison, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy.
She wanted to see him, but she never had the courage to visit the prison on her own.
About a week after the boy arrived at the manor, during breakfast, Laila heard the news of his death.
At breakfast, Laila was told that the child had died.
“Miss!”
Laila collapsed unexpectedly and woke up a few hours later, unable to eat anything else for the rest of the day.
Eight years passed from that day.
The news of the birth of a hero destined to seal the demons stirred up the world.
While it was joyful news, Laila felt greatly uneasy as soon as she heard the rumors.
Her unease stemmed from the fact that the hero mentioned in the rumors bore an exact resemblance to the boy who was brought to the manor eight years ago and died.
Laila reluctantly confided in those around her about her unease, but all she received in return was mockery.
“Dead people coming back to life? What kind of books have you been reading?”
“Have you been getting proper sleep lately?”
“Don’t talk about it with Father. He hates crazy people!”
“But was there really a kid like the one Laila talked about in the manor?”
And exactly two years later,.
Laila’s worries, which everyone had dismissed as delusions, became a reality.
The hero sealed the demons as foretold in the prophecy, then appeared in Hildegarde Manor to settle the scores from ten years ago, sparing not even a single life in the manor, just like in the prophecy.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
“Gasp!”
Laila sat up abruptly as soon as she opened her eyes.
She was in her bedroom.
‘Did it work?’
She quickly checked the date on the desk calendar, but that alone didn’t bring relief, so she sought a mirror.
Laila stared blankly at the girl in the mirror.
Ten years old.
The age of the young girl reflected in the mirror seemed to be precisely around that age.
“The date on the calendar is correct. I’ve returned. Back ten years ago…”
Laila curled up in a ball on the bed and wrapped her arms around her trembling shoulders.
‘I survived!’
The Stone of Regression.
A mysterious treasure said to instantly send anyone who swallows it to the past when they die.
Laila had consumed it in the future.
And now she woke up in the past like this.
“…I did well to switch them secretly.”
The Stone of Regression was the spoils Marquis Hildegarde had looted after destroying another noble house last winter.
But Laila had quietly swapped it with a fake, seizing it without anyone noticing.
‘Why did I do such a thing?’
Looking back now, it was truly a reprehensible act.
‘Well, back then, I was half out of my mind due to anxiety…’
Laila absentmindedly felt her chest and stomach.
The intense pain she had felt right after swallowing the Stone of Regression seemed to have vanished as if it were a lie.
Suddenly, she felt regret. The ideal scenario Laila had imagined was surviving without using the Stone of Regression.
She had envisioned selling the stone and securing a comfortable future without using it.
‘But I’ve already used it; what can I do?’
Laila settled her trembling body and got out of bed.
“And there’s plenty here that can be turned into money, so it’s okay.”
She searched the dressing room, found the most ordinary bag, and swept various valuables into it as much as possible.
Then she hid the bag under the bed and waited for nightfall.
Finally, when the sky was draped with a curtain, the faint moon appeared.
“Farewell, you damn villain! And the family you’ve spent your life building! I’m leaving, so sort out your own problems in the future!”
Laila grabbed her bag and left Hildegarde Manor.
Escaping from Hildegarde Manor in the dead of night was not as difficult as she had thought. The soldier guarding the narrow back door, in exchange for a suitable bribe, pretended not to see a hooded child passing through the door.
As soon as Laila stepped outside the manor, she hailed a carriage and headed towards the neighboring territory.
As she sat in the carriage and looked out the window, she laughed and scrunched her nose.
Laila lowered her head. She felt a mix of laughter and tears.
‘I should have done this soon.’
Regret filled her.
‘I should have escaped like this from the beginning.’
It was so easy.
Leaving this path behind, she wondered why her past self had endured so much in that hellish family.
It was utterly senseless.
‘Forget it. From now on, I can start a new life. I have plenty of money.’
Laila tightly hugged her bag.
Once she arrived at the neighboring territory, considering the late hour, she decided to spend the night at an inn.
Perhaps due to her anticipation for a new life, she found it hard to fall asleep even after organizing her belongings and lying down on the inn’s bed.
Laila forcibly closed her eyes, trying to calm her trembling heart.
‘Where should I go? Anyway, seeking asylum would be safer, right? Then tomorrow, I should first head to the capital and get a fake ID…’
The next day.
Laila left the inn early in the morning and boarded a carriage bound for the capital.
And an hour later, she died.
The cause of death was robbery.
💀💀
Looks interesting