- 𝐻𝒶𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹
When was it? I remember watching pigs being loaded onto a small truck on the road as the sun set and driven to a slaughter.
Every time the truck turned a curve, the pigs wailed and swayed. Their white butts were stamped with purple and red stamps.
I was suffering from depression at the time.
I pulled over and cried. Maybe it was because I felt sorry for the pigs, or maybe it was because I felt so sorry for the villain in the novel I was reading.
Hailey, the villain.
I was sad because she was similar to me. Pretending to be we don’t care and pretending to be strong.
‘…Huh?’
But this time I was trapped in a pigsty made of iron bars.
The wheeled cart rattled, and before I could figure out what was going on, rocks and dirt flew at me.
“You wicked woman! Die, die!”
“The likes of you should be wiped from this world forever, you monster with no blood or tears!”
They were all angry. They were accusing me of something I didn’t do. They despised and loathed me.
What’s this?
“Hailey, may you suffer in hell forever!”
Why am I Hailey?
“Die in Castle Marron, you scumbag!”
Hailey? Hailey Marron?
This is ridiculous. I haven’t read that novel in ages. I cried my eyes out reading the villain’s POV, and I even deleted everything I downloaded because the main characters had such unfortunate fates.
I became that villain.
××××××××××××××××××××××
The sky is blue. The clouds are white.
“Hey, when are we getting there? I think I’m going to get a bruise on my butt.”
“Shut up.”
“This is the Casnatura border, right? My name is Hailey Marron, right?”
“Stop acting crazy. What difference will it make?”
I just asked what I was curious about, but the whip flew in. Luckily, I was locked in a sturdy cage, so I didn’t get whipped myself.
“No, I can’t even ask you anything.”
“Shut up….”
“Don’t talk to her. She’ll curse you.”
The man wielding the whip flinched at the advice of the other man beside him.
Honestly, it was funny.
“Funny. If you’re going to be cursed for talking, isn’t it too late? How many times did I talk to you earlier? I asked you for food, I asked you to let me go to the restroom, and I asked you to….”
“You crazy girl.”
The men looked really angry, but they couldn’t hit me. It was all thanks to this cage. I don’t know what it was made of, but it was sturdy and wide.
“Hailey Marron, stop talking.”
A man who looked like a captain said from the back.
“And you, too. Stick to your duties.”
He sounded like he had the most authority among these men. I wondered if he was a high-ranking person because as soon as he spoke, all the men around the iron cage shut their mouths.
I, of course, had no such intention.
“Mister, just let me know when we’ll arrive. If you’re not going to let me use the restroom, you don’t have to feed me, but if we’re going to take a long time, I’d like to sleep.”
It was fortunate that it was warm because it was late spring. If it had been a cold winter, I would have had a hard time with this thin dress.
There was not even a common blanket or leather in the cage. My butt was so sore. It hurt even on asphalt, and driving on a dirt road without any cushion felt like a journey in agony.
“Excuse me.”
“…….”
The men didn’t even make eye contact with me, as if they’d decided to ignore me now. They must be scared of the tough guy.
Then I can’t help it.
I reached my hand out through the bars and grabbed the closest man’s cloak.
“Argh! Let go, let go!”
“Let me sleep on it.”
The man whose cloak I was holding lost his balance on top of the horse and carriage. The man beside him, in turn, screamed and drew his sword.
He threatened to slit my wrists if I didn’t let go, but I refused to give in.
“If you don’t give it to me, I’ll curse you.”
I said eerily, in a voice that could have come from the home of a legend, and the man grunted and threw off his cloak.
“Nice.”
It was a useful cloak. I was disappointed that the dress I was wearing was nothing but flashy and not even a shred of practicality, but this was different. However, this one was different. I could use it as a blanket, a cushion, or even flip it over.
I pulled the cloak through the bars, held it in my arms, and grinned.
Ah, now I can survive a bit.
As I wrapped the cloak around me and curled up like a bug, I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of my predicament.
It’s okay to possess a character in a novel.
I can handle possessing a villainess.
But a time-limited villain? That’s a bit much.
“Crazy.”
The sky was blue. The clouds were white. It was late spring, and I was Hailey Marron.
A murderer who brought misery to countless people with her forbidden magic. A devil who didn’t hesitate to do anything wrong if you gave her money. A public enemy of the Three Kingdoms.
And finally, he received a death sentence from a noble.
“Send her to Marron Castle and let her die alone.”
The place where I was taken was barren land that did not belong to any country. It’s been more than 100 years since people couldn’t live because of contamination.
The three kingdoms tried to decapitate Hailey, but the opposition of the church was severe. Since what Hailey was using was forbidden magic, cutting her throat wouldn’t guarantee their safety.
So, they sent me to a place called Marron Castle. If they left me there, I would die on my own.
Humans cannot live on land contaminated with dark energy. They couldn’t even leave it. The moment they breathed the contaminated air on that land, they would become wandering corpses, forgetting who they were, existing only there.
Therefore, the church used the land mainly for dumping people.
To kill them openly like me. They give the last name “Marron” to the prisoners.
“Excuse me, mister.”
I extended my head beyond the cloak, and the man whose eyes met mine spat phlegm towards the bars.
Wow.
I really hate that.
Spitting phlegm on the road or towards people for no reason. You live like a commoner under someone else for the rest of your life.
I glared at him and cursed, and the man’s face turned pale in an instant. I don’t know why he’s so scared when I can’t even touch people.
“Ask me if you have any questions.”
The old man sighed and approached the cage. Looking closely, he was a middle-aged man with a white beard and white hair.
“What’s that, two-letter kingdoms? Is the king there dead? Or is he still alive? Hey, can you tell him that he’s dying not because of me, but because of his wife who secretly poisoned him? I feel unfairly treated.”
“Using tricks like that won’t work. We are under the church’s protection.”
“Well, then, before you abandon me, how about giving me some money? And maybe some food to tide me over? You never know, right? I might survive there.”
If I have money, I can go to a nearby village someday to buy bread and clothes.
The old man looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“I heard you made enough money to build a kingdom through bad deeds and all that.”
“It’s a false rumor.”
The real Hailey may have had a lot of money, but I’m not. The book didn’t mention where he kept that money. Besides, she was going to die anyway, in a year.
“Hey, sir.”
I rolled up the cloak again and lay down. I don’t think these old men will give me money, and I don’t think they’ll buy me anything delicious.
A hand protrudes from outside the dress. The wrist was so fragile that it seemed it could break at any moment, and even in this moment of being dragged away, there was a faint fragrance of rose from her hair.
Hailey, why did you live like this?
Did you really not know that doing such terrible things, even if it was for the sake of others, would eventually lead to this?
While you killed people to help someone, cursed people to make someone a king, and even turned the tables on someone else’s infamy.
Those ‘someone’ became the main characters of this world.
They abandoned you.
They turned away from you.
They killed you.
And they became the protagonists.
“Ha! Life….”
Sweat was seeping inside the cloak. The midday sun was heating up the iron cage.
I hugged Hailey with both arms and crouched down inside as best I could.
I had a strange dream. It was a dream where Hailey appeared and yelled at me to give him my legs, but I shouted back, “You should ask for your body instead!” and then she sat down and cried loudly.
“We’re here!”
As soon as I heard the words, I quickly got up. It was real. There was a canyon under the cliff. It was the path to Marron Castle.
The sound of a ghost crying could be heard through the narrow canyon. I knew it was because of the wind, but even as a modern person, it was a creepy sound, giving me goosebumps.
“Get ready.”
The tough guy glanced at me and ordered his men. Only now did I realize that I would be leaving this familiar iron cage. I squirmed in anticipation of getting up.
But these guys weren’t pulling me out of the cage, they were dismantling the connected parts between the carriage and the horse.
“Aren’t you going to take me out now?”
There’s a long time before the novel begins. I know Hailey was abandoned, but I didn’t know how she was abandoned.
This doesn’t look good.
“Get me out! I’ll walk in on my feet!”
It was true. A wizard who has been robbed of mana is as weak as a paper doll, so I had no choice but to do as these men told me.
“Hailey Marron.”
The tough guy looked down at me and said,
“Reflect until the moment you live out your life in this cursed land. God will watch over you.”
Clang!
The iron cage fell sharply. I clutched the cloak tightly inside and hung from the bars, screaming.
“No! You heartless bastards! You’re not just throwing me away like this, are you? Huh? You can throw me away, but this is too much! Get me out of here! At least let me walk and die on my own!”
“Throw it.”
The men moved in and out. It was to push the iron cage down the cliff, even though the road between the canyons was rough.
“One, two, three!”
“Hey, you punks!”
I screamed loudly from inside the iron cage that was floating in the air. I cursed them with every swear word I knew.
Of course it was useless.
All that poured on Hailey until the end was terrible contempt and disgust. They were intoxicated with a sense of justice, citing God’s will, and they believed that by making Hailey Marron die more horribly, the more peaceful the world would be.
“Die!”
“Never come back, you filthy murderer!”
“Repent for all eternity down there!”
Wow, that’s ridiculous.
Was she really abandoned like this?
How the hell did she survive for a year?
Even at the moment of falling, I was admiring Hailey. Isn’t she really an amazing woman? She was thrown into the canyon while trapped in an iron cage and yet she survived.
The wind blows.
I was flying through the sky. The faces of the men who pushed me away quickly became distant. All I could see was the beautiful blue sky and white clouds.
××××××××××××××××××××××
Hailey is dead.
Upon hearing this news, some felt relief, some were wracked with guilt, and some forgot her existence altogether.
Those who ascended the throne in her power, those who succeeded in revenge in her power, and those who were forgiven for their sins at her expense, all believed that this death marked her end.
A wizard who just loved them so much and wanted to be loved.
Hailey is dead.
