The Villainess' Ending Was Death

After the plan to extort money by blackmailing Fresa failed miserably, Alicia ignored Elias’s calls. Elias once again asked Count Gillespie for help, but Rowan also ignored his request to meet him. He looked into the nobles who had been close to his father, but most of them had been scammed by Count Thorpe, so he was lucky if he didn’t get sued.

In the end, the auction date came, and the Thorpe siblings, who couldn’t just sit around in the mansion where all the servants except the butler had left, attended the auction. In fact, they should have already vacated Thorpe Manor, but considering the situation of the siblings who had nowhere to go and the unconscious Countess Thorpe, the royal family gave them ten days from the auction.

The grace period was extended, but in any case, after ten days, the siblings had to hand over Thorpe Manor to the new owner.

“If no one bids, isn’t the mansion safe?”

Elias groaned at Jerome’s stupid remark.

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, keep your mouth shut.”

How could a mansion that was already auctioned off according to the law of the kingdom be safe? Even if it didn’t sell today, there would be another auction waiting.

Elias watched the auction anxiously, holding his head in his hands. Since the mansion auction involved a lot of money, it was probably assigned to the back.

A necklace, a famous person’s heirloom, ended up in the hands of a noblewoman after a close fight, and a painting by a poor artist whose true value was recognized was sold for a high price. The atmosphere in the auction house quickly heated up with the participation of nobles and rich people who were willing to make some money.

Elias couldn’t suppress his increasingly anxious feelings as the auction progressed.

His frowning expression spoke for itself.

“Hey, isn’t that Fresa?”

Jerome muttered without even thinking about lowering his voice as the auction was in full swing.

Elias and Amy turned their heads in that direction at the same time.

Fresa was sitting in the front row, in the special seat reserved only for wealthy customers.

“Damn it.”

Elias cursed.

Fresa was accompanied by the Grand Duke of Granadines and the knight who threatened Elias last time.

‘Did you come here to see the Thorpe Mansion fall into someone else’s hands?’

If only he had not seen it, he would have gone to Fresa right away and made that arrogant face a mess.

Like when Fresa was staying at the Thorpe Mansion. But now, Fresa Thorpe was not the naive younger sibling she used to be.

‘That medicine… If you brought that again, it would be difficult.’

Furthermore, since the Grand Duke of Granadines and the knight were with him, Elias was at a disadvantage in many ways since he didn’t have a single knight to escort him.

Elias barely managed to suppress his boiling anger and focus on the auction. And finally, the Thorpe Mansion was up for auction.

“The next auction item is the Thorpe Mansion, which has maintained its beauty for many years and stands tall! We’ll start at 5,000 ticons!”

5,000 ticons? In fact, most mansions up for auction start at this amount, but Elias thought it was an absurdly low amount. There were only a few places in the capital as beautiful as the Thorpe Mansion. However, the Thorpe family’s standing had recently hit rock bottom, so it seemed that the auction price had been set at the lowest possible price in consideration of public opinion.

Elias let out an involuntary laugh.

His pride was hurt, and he couldn’t believe that this absurd thing was actually happening. On the other hand, he understood.

The nobles already had their own mansions, and there was no need to spend money to manage two mansions.

The auctioneer who introduced the auction items held up a drawing of the entire Thorpe Mansion.

Several nobles held up signs and began bidding in earnest.

“Number 12, 6,000! 13th 7,000! 56th 8,000! 12th 9,000!”

Even so, several people continued to compete by steadily raising their bid prices.

At that time, Fresa, who had been silent, raised a sign.

“3, 33rd 20,000 Ticons!”

The sudden surge in prices caused silence everywhere.

It was still a small amount compared to the original value of the Thorpe Mansion, but it seemed that no noble would trade a mansion that had lost its value for more than 20,000 Ticons for various reasons.

“The bid has been made to Customer 33! Congratulations!”

The auctioneer announced the winning bid, and the nobles who recognized Fresa began to murmur.

“Brother, did Fresa change her mind?”

“Then I don’t have to leave our house?”

Amy and Jerome asked Elias questions one after another.

Elias couldn’t answer right away because he didn’t know Fresa’s intentions. However, like his siblings, he was pinning his hopes on a weak hope.

Yes, no matter how coolly she acted, Fresa was still Fresa.

While Elias was silent, the Fresa group got up from their seats and left the auction house.

“Let’s go, brother. Hurry up!”

Amy suddenly got up and grabbed Elias’ arm.

The three siblings hurriedly followed Fresa.

* * *

Now that they had won the bid for the mansion, their purpose of coming here was almost complete. The Thorpe mansion was beautiful, but its location didn’t have much value. And many nobles felt uncomfortable buying the mansion of a once famous but fallen noble.

Thanks to this, Fresa was able to purchase the mansion for much less than they had expected.

It wasn’t a small expense, but it was much cheaper than the original Thorpe mansion, so they were somewhat satisfied.

As they left the auction house, the warm and sunny weather greeted Fresa.

Instead of going straight to the pharmacy, the Fresa group stopped for a moment and waited for the Thorpe siblings to follow them.

Lycaon, dressed in dazzling white from head to toe, whispered as she looked at Fresa.

“I’m coming now.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Fresa grabbed the skirt of her gorgeous and voluminous black dress with her hand and turned around.

The siblings of the Thorpe family were running after her in a panic.

The sight was so desperate that Fresa almost laughed out loud.

“Fresa, I knew you’d change your mind.”

Elias, who had caught his breath, approached Fresa with his characteristically arrogant expression.

Jerome, who was standing next to him, also looked surprised.

Amy, who was following behind, also regained her pride and looked proud.

They thought that Fresa had purchased the mansion for the Thorpe family.

“Yes, of course. Because we’re family.”

Fresa smiled brightly and looked back and forth between Elias, Jerome, and Amy.

“But there’s a condition. As my father said, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Even if we are family.”

“What are the conditions?”

Fresa raised his right hand and shook it up and down once while spreading out his sword.

“Kneel before me. All three of you.”

“…What?”

“Are you crazy?”

Elias and Amy reacted immediately, but Jerome surprisingly quietly observed Fresa’s reaction.

As if the auction was over, the nobles began to leave the auction house in droves.

Fresa had deliberately waited for this moment.

This very moment when everyone would learn of the Thorpe siblings’ downfall.

“I apologize for tormenting you for no reason.”

“You are really crazy!”

Elias shouted at Fresa’s words, his face turning bright red.

Because he raised his voice, the nobles glanced in this direction. Elias looked as if he was sorry, but it was too late to turn back.

Fresa let out a faint sigh and said regretfully.

“Ah, you don’t like kneeling after all? I can’t help it. I can’t give you back the mansion. It’s a shame that the mansion is worth less than your knees. Then I’ll go now.”

Fresa turned her back on those who were once her family without any regrets and walked away briskly.

Lycaon and Zed also followed Fresa.

At that moment, someone knelt down with a thud. Fresa stopped walking and slowly turned her head to look behind her.

The first one to give up his pride was unexpectedly Elias Thorp.

When his brother, who had been afraid, knelt down, Jerome immediately followed suit and knelt down.

Jerome looked even more impatient because he had been caught off guard by Fresa.

“I, I…”

Amy sobbed with her pride completely hurt.

“What are you doing, Amy?”

But when Elias glared at her, she immediately knelt down next to him.

The sight of the three siblings of the Thorpe family kneeling down side by side and prostrating themselves was quite a sight. However, Fresa, who had made this shameful request, looked down at them without any expression.

In fact, she did not want such a ridiculous and insincere apology.

She just wanted to show how miserable it was to kneel down in front of someone and ask them in such a mean way. However, seeing this made her feel uncomfortable and unpleasant.

Fresa let out a faint sigh.

“Do you know how I felt now? How I felt every time I was treated as a family member in front of you and had to just watch your every move.”

“I’m sorry, Fresa.”

Elias gritted his teeth and pronounced each word clearly.

The nobles stood far away, muttering.

This would probably be covered in full on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper, and it would spread throughout the capital before noon.

Fresa deliberately took a moment to look at the Thorpe siblings carefully, then blurted out.

“I’m sorry, but I already have someone I want to give the mansion to.”

“What, what?”

Elias stuttered for a rare moment before he stood up abruptly.

“I’m going to hand it over to my real family, not you.”

Fresa looked at the faces of the three siblings, who had turned pale, one by one.

“But I’ve received an apology, so I’ll forgive you for what happened in the past.”

“You crazy…! Fresa! How dare you hand the mansion over to a maid?”

Elias’s eyes turned bloodshot and he reached out as if he was going to strangle Fresa at any moment. But Jed, who had come forward, lightly slapped his hand away.

Slap.

Elias’ hand waved in the air with a harsh sound.

“Get your stuff out in ten days. It’s not your house anymore.”

Fresa spat out more coldly than ever and turned away without hesitation.

Lycaon and Lauren followed right behind.

Jed still kept an eye on Elias, and only put away his sword when the three of them had moved away a little.

“Sigh, sob… What are we going to do now? I shouldn’t have been mean to my sister…”

Amy finally burst into tears.

Words of belated regret flowed out through her pale lips, but the person who should have been listening was not there.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have stuck with Fresa. I have to think of a way, even now.’

Jerome looked down at the floor, thinking of something else, while Elias stared blankly at Fresa’s back as she walked away.

He too was dizzy from the regret that came like a flood.

“Fresa! Fresa, let’s talk for a moment! I was wrong, please!”

“Sister! Can you just look at it once? Sister! Let’s go together!”

Jerome was the first to run out, and Amy was the one who ran after him, crying and throwing off her high heels. But Elias couldn’t bring himself to act like them.

Since Count Thorpe was away, he was the head of the Count’s household.

Elias Thorpe stood there for a long time, left alone in the blazing sun.

 

—————————————————————

Translator Note: