The Villainess' Ending Was Death

“Uh, how? Aren’t you dead… You’re dead!”

Alicia cried out, looking pale and looking like she was going to lose her mind at any moment. The banquet hall, which had been quiet as if cold water had been poured on her, suddenly became noisy using her words as a signal.

Rowan, who noticed the attention of those around him, pretended to remain calm and spoke.

“Once I moved to my seat…”

“Is that necessary?”

Fresa cut Rowan off in a calm tone.

“You already knew. Oh, I guess you haven’t told Alicia yet?”

“What does she mean, Rowan?”

Alicia shook Rowan’s arm violently. As expected, Alicia had no idea that Fresa was alive.

‘I don’t know why, but the Thorpe family was quiet too, so Rowan didn’t tell anyone.’

Why? The original Rowan Gillespie would have told Alicia straight away. She remembered the time when she reunited with Rowan in Paro Village.

‘Are the nonsense you said back then sincere?’

No way. Rowan’s true love was Alicia Loomis. Even if he said no, it didn’t matter to her.

Anyway, unlike the original story, Fresa has never loved Rowan.

“Alicia, calm down. I’ll explain later.”

“But what is this, I… I don’t know!”

Rowan tried to console her, but Alicia cried and looked at Fresa once, and then she disappeared out of the banquet hall in an instant.

Rowan turned towards her for a moment as if to follow, but then looked at Fresa again, as if she had changed her mind. At the same time, Lycaon took a step forward and stood, half-obscuring Fresa.

‘There’s no need to do this.’

She needed a proper excuse to attend the banquet, so she had no choice but to lie and say he was her fiancé. But Lycaon was acting too perfectly for it to be a play.

She knew he was a good person, but she never thought he would do his best for this.

“It looks like the greetings are over, so I’ll head back. My fiancé is a little weak.”

Lycaon blurted out his offensive words so shamelessly that he almost stabbed her in the side. He practiced calling her several times in the carriage, but she still found it awkward.

It was all Lycaon’s idea to scam her by claiming to be his fiancé. Fresa was worried that she would be in trouble if the empire found out about her, but Lycaon reassured her that there was no need for that.

‘Anyway, he’s a Grand Duke of the empire or something.’

That couldn’t have been possible. But Lycaon said she should have more provocative material than the fact that she faked Fresa’s death. Only then would the fact that she deceived everyone with lies and left would be somewhat covered up.

This meant that it would be much more beneficial for her to return as the fiancé of the Grand Duke of the Kancher Empire than for the dead Fresa to just come back alive.

“She is the Grand Duke’s fiancé.”

Obviously, the person he was talking to was Lycaon, but Rowan had her eyes fixed on Fresa.

Lycaon slightly narrowed his eyebrows and he responded softly.

“Yes. My fiance.”

“When did you get engaged? I haven’t heard from her…”

“I don’t think there’s any need to tell the Count such personal things.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Rowan apologized obediently, looking not sorry at all.

Fresa stared at his shameless and unlucky face and patted the back of Lycaon’s hand. It was a signal to go back now that the work was roughly finished.

Lycaon nodded his head and escorted Fresa past Rowan.

Once Fresa no longer had to look at Rowan, she let out the breath she had been holding. The nobles suddenly split into two sides and whispered as they watched the two people pass by.

Fresa slowly looked around, pretending to be relaxed. Many people still looked shocked, and a few people frowned. She felt like she knew what they were whispering without even having to listen. How many more steps did she go?

Before she knew it, Rowan, who had been standing in front of her, had completely turned towards Fresa and called her out.

“Fresa.”

Fresa turned her body ever so slightly to look at him.

Rowan’s expression was hard, but his mouth was drawn into a straight line.

‘A smile?’

She felt like she wanted to grab his hair and shake it to make him bald. However, Fresa held back and held on to achieve a bigger plan.

She crossed her arms around Lycaon’s arm proudly, lifted her chin up, and left her banquet hall without hesitation. 

She didn’t show it, but she must have been quite nervous, and as soon as she got back into her carriage, all her energy disappeared.

Fresa barely sat down, leaning her body against the backrest as if it were just going to spill out.

‘This is enough for today.’

She created a stir between Rowan and Alicia, and she let countless people know that Fresa was alive. It probably would reach the Thorpe family in less than a day.

‘It still surprises me that Jerome actually kept his promise.’

Although she was a coward to begin with.

“You look tired, Resa.”

Lycaon, who was sitting next to her, spoke in a tone of concern. Fresa sighed softly as she felt her heart pounding rapidly.

“It’s true that I’m a little tired. I guess this kind of thing is very difficult.”

“For someone who said it was difficult, he did quite well.”

“It’s all thanks to Lycaon. Thank you in many ways.”

Fresa was truly grateful to Lycaon. Even though Lycaon was still in a weak state, having just cured her dragon poison, he was willing to come forward.

At Fresa’s greeting Lycaon stared at her without saying a word. Just as she was about to ask why he did that, Lycaon opened his mouth first.

“If you’re grateful, please do me a favor later.”

“It’s not a strange request, is it?”

“Surely I would do that?”

At her playful retort, Lycaon took off his robe and placed it on Fresa’s shoulder.

“Sigh, sleep. I will have no time to rest because I will have to return to Paro village at dawn tomorrow.”

The carriage began to move slowly.

Fresa looked out the window blankly, then suddenly came to her senses and spoke.

“I have a place to stop before I leave for Paro Village.”

She finally found a way to contact Lauren.

* * *

Late that night, an unexpected item arrived at the Thorpe family mansion. It was a box containing several pieces of jewelry that seemed to be worth quite a bit of money, along with a short note saying that it would be helpful to the Thorpe family anonymously. The person who delivered it was the owner of a small jewelry store in the capital.

Since most of the workers had quit, the person who received the goods was Lauren. The butler was busy with other things, and it was natural that Lauren was the person who worked the next longest. After handing over the box, the jewelry store owner gave Lauren something special: a small locket necklace.

“The person who sent it asked me to make sure to deliver this.”

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“I don’t know why. Okay then.”

The jeweler left the mansion as soon as he was done with his business, and Lauren looked down at the locket for a moment, feeling strange.

‘This…’

Soon after, Lauren noticed the pattern on the locket and held her breath.

It was shaped like a small lilac studded with an unusual purple gem.

Lauren was reminded of her former master who resembled Lilac.

‘The young lady sent it to me.’

Her heart began to beat rapidly, but she tried to act as if nothing had happened and checked the boxes. They often sent poison or curses to nobles to keep them in check or out of spite. Therefore, she had to make sure there were no problems before handing it over to her master.

Lauren calmly inspected the box and then she delivered it to Elias’ office. She then returned to her room and she quickly opened her locket.

“Ah…!”

As soon as she opened the locket, there came out a very small note folded several times. Lauren opened the note with her trembling hands.

The harbor just before dawn was beautiful. It was a message with no sender or detailed information. But she knew right away that Lauren knew what to do.

She had to go to port before dawn. Fresa would be waiting for her there. It was already late at night now. In order to arrive on time, we had to leave immediately.

Lauren put on her black cloak and left her mansion without anyone noticing. She then caught a passing carriage and rode on it.

‘I can’t believe the young lady is in the capital now…’

Could it be that something happened? She thought she would never come back, but she contacted her so suddenly. She couldn’t help but feel anxious.

‘Or did you find out about the family’s situation…?’

Since she entered the capital, there was no way she wouldn’t know about the Thorpe mansion. Lauren was very worried because she wanted Fresa to be free and not worry about family matters anymore.

The carriage ran toward the port without stopping. Lauren urged the coachman to make sure she wasn’t late. Fortunately, they were able to arrive at the port where the huge ship was anchored just before dawn.

Lauren looked around, looking for Fresa. Then she saw a familiar silhouette with its back against the rising sun far in front of her.

Lauren intuitively realized that the person was Fresa.

“Miss!”

Lauren suppressed her overwhelming emotions and screamed with all her might. The person, who was looking out at the sea, slowly turned towards her and smiled, pulling back her hood.

“Nice to see you again, Lauren.”

 

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