The Villainess’s Son is Innocent
Chapter 1: The Villainess’s Son
“Why…!”
Blood dripped down to the floor from the blade that pierced through my stomach.
It hurt.
The pain was so excruciating that I couldn’t even scream. But before the pain could overwhelm me, a single question escaped from my trembling lips.
“Why…?”
The person who stabbed me was someone I knew well.
Emil Ronsiste Calixte.
My dear friend. My only childhood friend. A pitiful boy who was ostracized by everyone because he was the son of a villainess.
He was someone I trusted as much as my family. And now, he was the one who had killed me.
With a thud, the strength in my legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor. The pain was unbearable. I pressed my trembling hands against my stomach, but they quickly became soaked in blood.
“Answer me, Emil… Why…?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Truly, I’m sorry, Belle.
Emil kneeled down like a knight swearing an oath and gently touched my cheek. Despite being the one who stabbed me, he was crying. Emil, who never cried even when he was tormented by countless hardships, now shed tears as he looked down at me.
The once proud boy now gazed at me, fallen and helpless.
“…It’s better this way than for you or me to keep living like puppets.”
He murmured something I couldn’t understand, and his unfocused eyes drew closer to mine.
I understood immediately. That madness—the insanity of his villainous mother—had consumed Emil as well.
Gently, Emil caught me as my body fell limp and laid me down on his lap.
Tears dripped down and wet my cheeks.
Ah, I truly thought I was happy in this life…
But the pain of the blade buried in my stomach was unbearable. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to die! But no matter how much I resisted, my eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
“…I’m sorry,” he said again.
And then…
Emil said something, but his voice didn’t reach me clearly.
And so, my second life came to an end.
My mother was the heroine of a story.
Esmeralda Ephrich.
She was a tragic heroine, killed by Robellin Castone, the villainess and sole imperial princess of the Castone Empire who suffered from madness.
Of course, If the story had ended with the protagonist’s death, it wouldn’t have made any sense. But a protagonist is a protagonist for a reason.
Even after death, my mother regressed. Over and over again.
My mother was a regressor who came back after every death.
“I wanted to befriend you.”
“…Princess Robellin.”
“But I must atone for my sins.”
Images flashed before my eyes like a spinning lantern, and I recalled the novel I once read.
No One Saved Her.
It was a book I’d spent an entire day starving just to buy the collector’s edition, despite my tight budget in my previous life.
The story followed the heroine, Esmeralda, as she died twelve times at the hands of the villainess, Robellin, and returned each time to fight her.
Despite enduring circumstances that would have driven anyone else insane, Esmeralda never wavered in her beliefs and continued to confront Robellin.
And now, in this new life, that heroine was my mother.
“Am I seeing this because I died?”
I watched the young, yet weary heroine—my mother—who had grown numb from the countless regressions.
The scene before me was familiar: two women standing across from each other, who were separated by prison bars.
“I didn’t understand you at first, Princess,” said my mother. “But now, I think I understand you, just a little.”
“My sins won’t disappear. I won’t undo the past or mock the people I’ve killed by pretending it never happened. But still…”
The moment I heard those words, I realized where I was. This was the final chapter of the novel.
Robellin, her hair dark as night, was consumed by madness. And yet, despite the countless times she had killed my mother, Esmeralda still agreed to her final request.
“Esmeralda, sometimes… could you check on my son for me?”
“Of course, Your Highness. Don’t worry. He’s innocent.”
“I’m in your debt for the third time now,” Robellin murmured.
The villainess Robellin had killed countless innocents, her crimes were unforgivable even with the madness that consumed her.
And yet, the reasons behind her madness were enough to draw sympathy from the heroine, Esmeralda.
“If things had been different, could we have been friends?”
“Of course.”
“I wanted to know more about you.”
“You already do, Your Highness. You know me better than anyone else.”
Their meeting ended with those words. Robellin smiled faintly at my mother, and my mother returned a soft smile.
Despite knowing the story, I couldn’t understand the emotions behind their smiles.
Robellin stepped back from the bars.
“You should go now.”
“May the gods guide your path, Your Highness.”
I followed my mother out of the prison. As soon as we left, the scene shifted like pages turning into a book.
My mother married my father, just as the story dictated.
One week later, Robellin Castone, the imperial princess who had tortured and killed 21 people, was executed.
Would she ever know? That her son, Emil, killed me—her ally Esmeralda’s daughter.
Probably not.
Like a ghost, I silently watched Robellin’s execution from start to finish.
That was the ending of the novel.
