The Villainess' Ending Was Death

Jerome Thorpe arrived late in the village of Faro yesterday and had to spend the night in a poor inn. This town was terrible, with inns crawling with bugs, rude residents, and no amenities. Besides, this town was so hot that it was annoying. The heat was too much for Jerome, who grew up being called a swordsman. His shiny red bob hair hung limply.

 

‘Damn, if it was that important, you should have come in person.’

 

Jerome muttered a curse under his breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. According to information obtained before coming to Faro Village, Count Gillespie and his wife were planning to stay at a villa in this village.

 

‘I managed to find out the location of the villa…’

 

Anyway, that’s true. Would you be generous to someone who came to you during your honeymoon and asked for financial help? That Rowan Gillespie? Rowan was a person who treated Fresa like trash and turned away coldly. He was the type of person who, once he was out of his mind, would never look back.

 

Jerome recalled Elias’ words.

 

‘Lie down as flat as possible. I mean, behave like a sloppy person.’

 

He doesn’t even have the intention of kneeling on his own expensive knees, but he pretends that it is an easy task for his younger brother, Jerome. Jerome’s frown did not seem to widen as he barely got into the shabby carriage and headed to the villa. That time when he let his gaze wander to the boring scenery outside the window and drown out the discomfort of the shaking carriage.

 

‘…Fresa?’

 

Jerome’s eyes widened. A woman who looked very similar to his dead younger brother, Fresa Soph, was standing in the garden of an unfamiliar house. The carriage was moving very fast, as Jerome had requested. A woman who looked exactly like Fresa had already moved away. Even though Jerome thought it couldn’t be so, he kept looking back.

 

His heart was pounding.

 

‘That girl is dead.’

 

He vividly remembered looking down at Fresa’s cold body and laughing at her, asking if she had acted like a crazy person to do this.

 

‘Does she look like someone?’

 

However, it was so similar that it was too much to say. Enough to believe that Fresa Thorpe came back alive.

 

“What the hell? What?”

 

Even though it was midsummer, the back of her neck was cool. He got goosebumps.

 

‘It looks like my eyes are blank because I’m tired.’

 

Jerome rationalized as best he could and tried to look away. It was not until much later that he arrived at the villa where Count Gillespie and his wife were staying.

 

“Oh, Jerome?”

 

Alicia, wearing a light blue thin summer dress, greeted Jerome with her surprised face. Whenever he saw her, she was Jerome’s ideal type.

 

‘If only that person, Rowan, hadn’t existed.’

 

Jerome, who hid his true feelings from her, greeted her with a slight blush on his face.

 

“Alicia, how are you?”

 

“Great. Thanks to you. But what brought you here…”

 

Jerome looked at Alicia like a man possessed and then hurriedly revealed his business.

 

“Can I meet Count Gillespie?”

 

“Oh, Rowan has some other business to attend to right now. Is it important?”

 

“So he is not at the villa?”

 

“He will be back soon. Do you want to come in and wait? I’ll tell them to prepare tea.”

 

Alicia smiled and let Jerome into the villa.

 

“Then please excuse me.”

 

Jerome responded in a daze and slightly furrowed his eyebrows.

 

‘Where did you go on your honeymoon and leave your wife alone?’

 

Jerome sat on the living room sofa and sipped the tea brought by the villa owner. It was a villa perfectly suited for a tycoon, the Count. The interior, all white and decorated with expensive decorations, caught Jerome’s attention.

 

‘It’s extravagant.’

 

At that time, Alicia, who was sitting across from him, spoke to him.

 

“It must have been difficult to come to you in person. Is this an important story that can’t be told through a letter?”

 

“Oh, yes. That is…”

 

He thought it would be better to tell Alicia first. The moment when Jerome tries to explain the Thorpe family’s situation in detail.

 

“Earl Thorpe’s reign?”

 

Just then, Count Gillespie returned. Jerome jumped up and walked towards him, forcing a smile.

 

“Count Gillespie, please forgive my rudeness. I have come to see you here because I have an urgent favor to ask you.”

 

Jerome glanced at Rowan’s gaze. As expected, Rowan looked very displeased.

 

‘I guess that’s inevitable since your honeymoon was interrupted.’

 

Still, Jerome was offended to see such an uncomfortable expression on his face. Rowan asked, frowning.

 

“What is so urgent that you followed me here? It’s gone too far.”

 

“Rowan, this seems important. Please calm down and listen to Jerome.”

 

Alicia whispered, holding Rowan’s arm. Then Rowan gently pulled her arm away as if to avoid her hand.

 

Alicia’s eyes suddenly shook. It was as if she had never been like this before. Much to his dismay, Jerome was equally surprised.

 

‘Why is it like that?’

 

Has he changed his mind as he chose Alicia after he broke off his long-term engagement with Fresa? Anyway, what was important to Jerome right now wasn’t Alicia.

 

He spoke, being careful not to displease Rowan as much as possible.

 

“This is a letter from my brother. This is a matter for the survival of the Thorpe family, so please give us a positive review.”

 

Jerome held out a letter that Elias had carefully written. Rowan checked the letter with a still stiff expression. Jerome swallowed his saliva nervously. After a while, Rowan smiled and looked at Jerome.

 

“Are you here to borrow money? That’s absurd. I’m on my honeymoon right now. You should know that clearly.”

 

“I’m sorry, Count. As I said, there was nothing we could do because it was a matter for the survival of the Thorpe family. Please understand. Please do this.”

 

Jerome bowed down to him, suppressing his surging pride. His eyebrows furrowed as he lowered his head. If it weren’t for Elias’ orders, his pride wouldn’t have been hurt like this.

 

“Rowan, the Thorpe family is like family, yes?”

 

Alicia caught her expression and asked Rowan for a favor.

 

Family.

 

Was there any other relationship whose name was more incongruous than Alicia and Thorpe? It was a good thing for Jerome that he gained Alicia’s sympathy, but he was not sure if Rowan thought the same way.

 

“Ha. I will contact you after consulting with my vassals. So please go back now.”

 

Fortunately, Rowan seemed to have decided to listen to Alicia. Only then did Jerome straighten his waist, which had been deeply bent as if he were going to fold it in half.

 

“Thank you, Count. Then I will wait for your response.”

 

Rowan’s face was still cold as he nodded his head briefly.

 

Alicia sighed lightly and winked lightly at Jerome. Jerome, who was almost fascinated by that face for a moment, quickly left the villa. He would rather catch a boat and return to the capital now than go back to that cheap inn.

 

Jerome got into his carriage and headed to the port. As he went back the way he had come, he saw the house of the woman he had mistaken for Fresa.

 

“Stop for a moment.”

 

Jerome stopped the carriage in an instant. The coachman opened the door. Jerome walked toward the house, repeating this to himself several times.

 

‘I’m just confirming, just confirming.’

 

Okay. He just needed to be sure it wasn’t Fresa. After that, this uncomfortable feeling would become at ease. Jerome, who walked quickly and confidently to the front door, suddenly stopped.

 

‘No, this is crazy.’

 

Fresa Thorpe, Jerome’s younger sister and the bane of the Thorpe family, was dead. She had been dead and buried for some time, so there was no way she was still alive.

 

‘Yes, I’m just so tired that I see nothing. Or maybe she’s just a lookalike.’

 

And he tried to erase the face of a woman who looked exactly like Fresa stuck in his head. Jerome walked back to the carriage. Then he stepped into the carriage, shook his hair irritably, and changed his mind.

 

‘Damn, I still have to check.’

 

If Fresa was alive, and if she really just pretended to be dead and ran away, then she definitely couldn’t have been empty-handed.

 

‘There must be something. There must have been one or two jewels that Fresa had.’

 

Jerome finally changed his mind and knocked hard on the front door. The wooden sign swayed left and right.

 

‘Apothecary?’

 

Jerome’s sharp eyes scanned the sign. He thought it was just an ordinary house, but now he saw that it was open for business. He became even more confident that it was not Fresa. The moment he thought about just going back to the port, the landlord appeared with a creaking sound.

 

“Who are you?”

 

A woman who looked like Fresa was startled as she opened the door. As if she hadn’t expected it at all, her face was clear as if she was asking why he was here. This woman was clearly Fresa Thorpe, Jerome’s younger sister.

 

Jerome stared at her with his mouth wide open.

 

“You, you crazy…”

 

Jerome stretched out his hand to confirm Fresa’s identity. Just as his fingertips touch the woman’s shoulder.

 

Flash! Rumble, boom!

 

Lightning fell from the dry sky in broad daylight and struck Jerome.

 

“Shit!”

 

With a single scream, Jerome fell down awkwardly and groaned. It was as painful as if someone had hit his entire body with a blunt object.

 

“Uh, uh…”

 

The whole body stopped listening. His calloused fingers scratched the floor pitifully. At that time, an unfamiliar voice was heard from above.

 

“Hello, Resa. I think it came at the perfect time.”

 

The man gently stepped on Jerome’s back and gently greeted the woman who resembled Fresa.

 

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