The Villainess' Ending Was Death

The person who came late at night was none other than Jerome.

Jerome stood in front of the front door and kept glancing at Fresa and Lycaon. Seeing that frustrated look, Fresa finally opened her mouth first.

“Aren’t you going to tell me why you came?”

“That is…”

“What is that?”

Fresa had been treating Jerome poorly since last time, but Jerome didn’t seem to care about that anymore. However, even when Fresa asked, he hesitated several times and eventually sighed deeply.

“This, this…”

Jerome suddenly handed out a letter to Fresa.

She didn’t know what kind of letter she was suddenly receiving.

As Fresa looked at Jerome and the letter back and forth with suspicious eyes, Lycaon, who was standing tall behind him, took the letter instead. And without hesitation, he opened the envelope and checked the contents.

“There is no curse or magic, just a letter. Here.”

“Thank you.”

Fresa opened the letter, admiring Lycaon’s thoroughness.

[The maid named Lauren dared to covet the Thorpe family fortune and was imprisoned in a dungeon.

From what I heard, she was very close, Fresa.

I will forgive the maid if you help our family.

There is only one option for you.

Please send your answer through Jerome. And if you want your maid to be safe, come alone.]

The content was concise and scathing.

Lauren couldn’t have done that, so this was clearly a frame-up. Fresa frowned unconsciously and crumpled up the letter.

Wasak.

When the paper got all messed up, Jerome blurted out something she didn’t even ask.

“I definitely tried to stop them, but my brother and Alicia pushed me to do it!”

“…Alicia?”

“Yes, yes! It was the method that Alicia suggested.”

It seemed like Alicia had moved.

For some reason, the Gillespies had been quiet since what happened at the last banquet hall. As for Alicia, she had worked at Thorpe Manor for a long time, so it was highly likely that she would have noticed the relationship between Lauren and Fresa.

She thought she was careful not to be noticed by others, but the female protagonist’s intuition was definitely different. Even so, they still looked at Fresa as if they could commit such an obvious and absurd act.

“I was thinking of helping him a little when he got down on his knees and begged, but it turned out to be a shame.”

Fresa smiled softly and looked at Jerome. When Jerome’s eyes met hers, he was startled and rolled his eyes back and forth frantically.

“Jerome, is Lauren safe?”

“I’m in the dungeon, but not yet…”

“Not yet?”

Instead of Fresa, Lycaon muttered softly.

“Fresa giving money to the family… You should starve until she gives it to you…”

The voice was so cold that Jerome turned pale and stammered. As expected, Jerome had already been struck by lightning several times by Lycaon.

He must be afraid because pain would have been engraved on his body.

‘They say strength is strength, and that’s exactly what it is.’

Fresa clicked her tongue loudly.

Anyway, she didn’t have time to write to Jerome right now. It wasn’t enough to keep Lauren in that dark, dark place and starve her, but the Thorpe family was truly the same place.

They also said that since she was young, Fresa had damaged the honor of her family by not listening to them or following Rowan around, and she often starved.

Fresa glared at Jerome and slammed the front door.

For a moment, Jerome’s embarrassed expression passed by, but Fresa was completely focused on Lauren’s safety.

“Fresa! I don’t have a boat to return to, so if you let me sleep for one night…”

Jerome’s voice was heard crying earnestly, but Fresa answered by locking the front door.

Lycaon glanced at Fresa’s expression and said insinuatingly.

“If you want to go now, my magic will make it possible.”

Fresa glanced at Lycaon while trying to choose her words, then slowly shook her head and answered.

“I feel like going to Thorpe Mansion right now, but first we need to prepare here too. And you shouldn’t use much magic, Your Highness, Grand Duke of the Granadines.”

“I am taking the medicine you gave me well, and I am almost completely cured now. Aren’t you being too overprotective?”

Lycaon countered Fresa’s nagging, but Fresa did not respond. Again she was lost in her thoughts, worrying about whether Lauren would be okay.

Lycaon, as someone who was quick to notice her, did not say any more and waited for Fresa to finish her thoughts.

Fresa was trying hard to stay calm.

‘I guess I should have brought Lauren with me a long time ago.’

She felt bad because she felt like she was wasting time trying to come up with a perfect plan. Lauren must have been suffering as she was locked in the cold basement of Thorpe’s mansion even in the middle of the summer, and her meals were stolen from her.

Just thinking about it made her feel like her head was going to explode.

When she read the letter, she didn’t feel any special emotions.

Jerome was right in front of me, so she might have reflexively tried not to show weakness. Or maybe this absurd reality didn’t hit her clearly.

Anyway, Fresa was so angry right now that her whole body was on fire.

“First… us… No, when the sun rises tomorrow…”

“Fresa, calm down and look at me.”

Lycaon whispered, reaching out her hand and carefully grasping only the tips of Fresa’s fingers.

Fresa felt the cool temperature against his feverish fingers, and she slowly looked up at him.

“Why are you so worried when you have me? You’re so shocked right now. You can calmly let your head cool and then leave. If you need more preparations, tomorrow is fine too.”

As she listened to Lycaon’s calm and composed voice, her confused mind calmed down.

As if by magic, the unpleasant feelings were disappearing beneath the floor.

Fresa suddenly came to her senses and answered while staring at the fingertips held by Lycaon.

“Yes, Mr. Lycaon is right. I need to ask Mr. Cade for a few more magic scrolls. And when I return, I will make medicine for Mr. Lycaon again. I think we can create something more effective than the current medicine. If it’s okay with you, could you come with me tomorrow morning?”

Once her thoughts were organized, the words that had been floating around in her head quickly flowed out.

Fresa finally let out the breath she had been holding.

“Anytime you want.”

As always, Lycaon expressed his intention to respect Fresa’s opinion.

Fresa took out the hair tie from around her wrist and tied her messy hair into one tight piece.

* * *

The basement of the Thorpe Mansion was so dark that it was difficult to tell whether it was day or night.

Lauren was suddenly imprisoned as a thief, which was unfair, but she also seemed to understand why the Thorpe family had imprisoned her.

‘They are doing this to threaten Miss Fresa.’

She didn’t know how they did, but she knew that Elias, who came to Lauren’s room, found in Lauren’s locket a necklace.

It was the necklace that Fresa sent her last time to contact her secretly. Since she had received it from Fresa, it was clear that it was Lauren’s, but of course Elias did not believe her.

Lauren couldn’t even protest properly, so she was dragged into her basement and locked up. 

It seemed like half a day had passed since she did that.

She was still okay, but she was worried about Fresa.

‘It’s a big problem because you have a weak heart. If only I could contact you…’

Perhaps on Elias’ orders, Lauren’s butler came and went periodically to check on her condition. But the butler, who had sworn loyalty to the Thorpe family, refused to listen no matter how desperately Lauren asked him to let her go.

‘I should have left a long time ago. I’m causing trouble to the young lady.’

Lauren sat down on the floor and curled up her body. How much time has passed?

She gradually became thirsty and hungry, but this was nothing.

Lauren just hoped Fresa wouldn’t show up here.

Just thinking about how the Thorpe family had tormented Fresa so badly made Lauren want to cry. People called Fresa a crazy, evil woman for her stupidity and strange personality, but Lauren knew her.

She only erected her thorns because she was afraid of the hurt she would receive from people. Her cold and chilly eyes always swayed gently like a clear lake.

Lauren noticed the moment she lifted her hand and looked into her eyes. It wasn’t an easy journey to win the heart of a closed-minded girl, but Lauren felt happy because of it.

So, if Fresa showed up here, and if she became tied to the Thorpe family again because of her, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Jump, jump.

Someone was coming down the stairs.

Lauren lifted her head and looked out of her thick bars. It was Elias and Amy.

“She should have shown up by now.”

“She has nothing to do with this maid, do you? Brother, you shouldn’t believe everything Alicia says.”

“Be quiet, Amy.”

“What about this maid? Let’s just kick her out. Now she’s useless. Ah, it would be better if I handed it over to a slave dealer or something…”

She spoke loudly in a high-pitched voice, as if she was deliberately asking Amy to listen.

Boom.

Lauren’s heart sank at those words.

“Slave.”

Even Elias seemed to agree with her as she glanced down at Lauren and muttered. It seemed like these people would really do that. Because these were selfish people who only cared about themselves.

There was no way they could feel sympathy for one worker in the first place. However, the reason Lauren stayed in the mansion was because she had nowhere else to go.

All the money she had saved had to be handed over to her parents in the countryside as if it had all been stolen from her.

She appealed to her sympathy by saying that otherwise her younger siblings would starve.

It was difficult for her to find a nobleman who would accept her maid, who had worked for another family for a long time.

“If Fresa doesn’t come, we’ll have to raise money that way.”

The moment Elias muttered that, her loud, loud voice suddenly rang out.

As if there was a hole in her ceiling, a large chunk of something popped out and fell down.

“Shit!”

Elias let out a single scream and fell down.

“Aaaah! Brother!”

Amy screamed at the sudden intrusion and fell behind her.

No, to be precise,he was crushed by something that fell from the ceiling.

Lauren jumped up with a startled expression on her face and looked at the fallen ‘thing’, holding on to the bars with both her hands. And soon she was able to figure out its identity.

“…Phew, Miss Fresa?”

“Hi, Lauren. how have you been doing?”

Fresa, who gracefully stepped on Elias with both feet, smiled and waved at Lauren.

 

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