The Villainess' Ending Was Death

Rowan Gillespie’s stomach boiled when he remembered the friendly image of Fresa and the Grand Duke of Granadines. He suffered from nightmares while he slept, and even after he woke up, that was all he thought about all day.

Whenever she always said she loved him, she got engaged to a man she only met for a short time.

Fresa Thorpe’s strengths were her persistent personality like a leech and her pretty face. It wasn’t the unsophisticated red hair typical of the Thorpe family, but rather mysterious purple hair and clear blue eyes that passed through Rowan’s mind. However, that scene soon changed to a scene of her leaving the banquet hall, arm in arm, with the Grand Duke of the Granadines.

‘Shit.’

Rowan had been away from Alicia for days, but he hadn’t thought about her at all. He only had anger and longing for Fresa. Why did it only now occur to him that he should do well while she was there?

He attributed the emptiness he felt after Fresa’s death to the fact that the death of someone he had known for a long time was new to him. However, after learning that she was alive and not dead, he suddenly realized how great Fresa’s love was.

He missed Fresa’s affection, which was on a different level from what Alicia gave, and was only for Rowan for a very long time.

Rowan had been awake since early morning, but barely managed to get out of bed after the morning sun rose. It’s been quite a while since he couldn’t sleep properly because he was plagued by nightmares all night.

The insomnia started after he met Fresa again in Paro Village.

Rowan washed up to come to his senses and then had a quick breakfast. While chewing the soft bread like tough leather, all he could think about was Fresa.

‘How can I change Fresa’s mind?’

As expected, the problem was Alicia and the Grand Duke of the Granadines. If he divorced Alicia not long after his noisy marriage, people would naturally not look at him well.  Moreover, the news that Fresa was engaged to the Grand Duke of the Granadines spread throughout the kingdom and even the empire.

Rowan, who was in trouble for one reason or another, stopped his thoughts and threw down the bread. He should have just brought her straight from Paro village. There might have been some resistance from Alicia, but Alicia was obedient to what Rowan said, so she wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyway.

Alicia.

His head throbbed when he thought of that name.

“Ha.”

The original plan was to keep Alicia as his Countess, with Fresa separately as his concubine. However, before he could convince Alicia, Fresa appeared and the plan went completely wrong. Moreover, he couldn’t talk to Alicia because she cried excessively and she was so angry.

Now that it’s like this, he thought he would have to give up on one of the two, but right now, he couldn’t decide who he should give up. How to coax Alicia into keeping her position as countess, and how his unchanging love affair with Fresa…

“Rowan.”

At that time, the bedroom door burst open without knocking and Alicia appeared. Instead of looking down at the cooled meat soup, Rowan looked up.

“…Alicia, what’s going on?”

Rowan’s reaction was unintentionally cold. His mind was already complicated, and looking at Alicia’s face didn’t feel good at all.

Alicia paused at Rowan’s cold reaction, but soon entered the door with a calm expression. She then naturally began to speak as he sat across from him.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a few days… I decided to understand you.”

“Understand?”

“You had your reasons too. I guess I was so embarrassed and surprised that I was slow to judge the situation.”

As Alicia said that, she glanced at Rowan. It hurt her pride to say something she didn’t mean, but she couldn’t help it now.

Rowan looked down at the floor for a moment, then turned to face her again. His expression seemed to have relaxed somewhat, as if he liked Alicia’s attitude.

“I’m glad you realize that now, Alicia.”

“I guess I’m still not good enough as a countess. I should have acted more maturely.”

“What. You are enough now. As long as you behave well.”

Rowan smiled and pulled his chair up next to Alicia. Then he planted a quick kiss on Alicia’s hair and started off with her slutty words.

“Noble people often keep their main wives and lovers separately, Alicia. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Of course, I’m not saying I’m going to do that, but I’m afraid you’ll be very angry that day.”

“…Yes, I trust you.”

Alicia was distraught hearing these words directly from Rowan’s mouth.

‘You don’t mean to do that? Liar.’

She barely managed to keep her expression from distorting before answering, and her stomach turned and puked up.

As Alicia stared at Rowan with a smile on her face, she thought that she would have to visit the Thorpe family again soon.

* * *

Lycaon and Zed looked at Isaac, a new employee who started working today.

Fresa, who was standing tall in a somewhat awkward atmosphere, soon introduced Isaac to them.

“This is Mr. Cade. As you all know… We will start working together starting today.”

“I will leave it up to you.”

Isaac bowed his head slightly and said hello, like a fairly new person. His tone of voice was still oddly cocky, but Fresa could only assume it was his natural personality now.

Lycaon looked at him with a shocked expression and then turned his gaze back to Fresa.

“Are you serious?”

“I guess you don’t like me, His Highness, Grand Duke of the Granadines.”

“Because the intentions are suspicious. Because you’re the type of person who doesn’t need to do something like this.”

“I have done many things like this. Because I wasn’t a guild master from birth. You have a strange prejudice.”

The war of nerves between Lycaon and Isaac became quite prolonged. Zed looked like he had no other thoughts on his face, and Fresa watched the conversation between the two with interest.

Come to think of it, she didn’t know exactly what Isaac had done in the past. He probably didn’t run the guild from the beginning, so she didn’t know if he had a story. In any case, working in the same place would make it easier to talk about business, so after much deliberation, Fresa hired Isaac.

She wondered how he got to work in the kingdom, and Isaac said he could do it by using an expensive and rare item called a magic scroll, he said lightly.

‘I almost fainted when I heard how much it cost.’

It was roughly the living expenses of an ordinary nobleman for several months. In this world where wizards were rare, magic scrolls were not easy to obtain. So it was bound to be expensive, but that doesn’t mean you can get it just because you have money.

Thanks to this, Fresa once again realized how big the home-buying guild is.

While Fresa was lost in thought for a moment, Lycaon and Isaac were still fighting for no reason.

As soon as Fresa came to her senses, she clapped her hands to attract attention.

“Well. Now that we’ve had enough of greetings, could you please take care of Mr. Cade, Mr. Zed?”

Zed, who was quietly organizing his medicine cabinet, asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Do you mean me?”

“Yes. Zed is the newest.”

If you think about it, Lycaon and Zed were similar, but it seemed like if Lycaon took charge of Isaac, something big would happen.

Zed looked at Fresa as if he couldn’t understand even more.

“The newest… Me?”

“Zed will now be able to move on from being the newest. Congratulations.”

Fresa was afraid that Zed would retort something, so she quickly responded and pushed Isaac’s back.

“Now, Mr. Cade. Learn hard.”

Isaac still looked like he wanted to say something to Lycaon, but he soon followed Zed and disappeared behind the medicine cabinet.

Only when the two people disappeared from sight did Fresa sigh in relief and gesture towards Lycaon. Lycaon looked at Isaac disapprovingly, but as soon as he saw Fresa’s hand gesture, he came over to her.

Fresa began speaking in a very serious tone.

“Give me a moment, Mr. Lycaon.”

Lycaon blinked for a moment at the sudden words and then asked.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“…You’ve been obsessed with dating since last time. Well, if you think about it, they are similar, so I won’t say no.”

Lycaon let out a soft laugh at Fresa’s rough answer.

“Yes, all I have left is time. But what are you going to do?”

“A view of the Empire’s downtown streets.”

“Empire?”

“I have a favor to ask Mr. Cade.”

Fresa took out a rolled up parchment from the dresser and showed it to Lycaon.

Lycaon looked like he knew what it was right away.

“It’s a magic scroll. It wouldn’t have been easy to get it.”

“It’s also a teleportation magic scroll. I asked Mr. Cade to get me some.”

“I can teleport, too.”

Lycaon muttered in an expression of disappointment. Every time this happened, Fresa thought it was a big deal because he looked a little cute and gently comforted him.

“I already told you. You should refrain from using excessive magic until the dragon poison is completely gone.”

“…It’s not that much of a stretch.”

“That’s because I’m worried. Please understand. If you think about it, I’m the one who treated Mr. Lycaon. I have some responsibility to take care of your health.”

Fresa smiled and held out one of her scrolls to Lycaon.

Lycaon still seemed reluctant, but soon accepted the scroll.

“Mr. Zed, Mr. Cade. I’m going to go out for a while!”

At Fresa’s shout, Zed and Isaac, who were organizing something in the corner, simultaneously looked out at Fresa.

Fresa waved lightly at them and then walked out the front door with Lycaon. Reese refused to accompany her, saying he hated teleportation scrolls.

This time, it was just Lycaon and she on their own. Fresa was wearing a dark burgundy cloak, and he had the hood pulled over just in case. He said that since it is an expensive scroll, it rarely fails, but you never know when things may go wrong in the world.

Fresa was a little excited.

Although she was reincarnated in a romance novel, she lived a life far from magic, so this was her first experience.

Fresa looked at Lycaon with a flushed face.

“Mr. Lycaon, shall we tear it apart at the same time?”

“Yes. Are you sure it was designated at the same coordinates?”

“Sure. I checked it several times. I also brought a scroll to use when I return.”

Lycaon’s eyes narrowed for a moment at the confident tone, but he soon nodded in the affirmative.

“Then one, two, three…!”

As soon as Fresa shouted three, the two tore the scroll in their hands in half. At the same time, Fresa’s vision shook and it felt like her soul was escaping into an unknown space.

Fresa unconsciously closed her eyes tightly and hoped that this strange sensation would go away. The moment her queasy feeling slowly subsided, Fresa had already arrived at the capital of the empire.

It was in a narrow alley with no one in sight, perhaps thanks to the coordinates set so that it would not be noticed, but Lycaon was nowhere to be seen.

Mr. Lycaon?”

Fresa quickly looked around with a slightly embarrassed face.

 

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