I'm a Villainess, Can I Die?-Chapter 83

The emptied teacup had a faint red stain at the bottom. It was a sign that the conversation had lasted longer than expected.

A quick glance at the clock showed that the time had reached an ambiguous hour—too late to be called night, yet too early to be considered morning.

Good grief. My sleeping hours have been cut short.

“I should get going now.”

Lucas, who had been resting his chin on his hand in a lazy posture, shifted his eyes toward me without moving the rest of his body.

“Already?”

“It’s not really ‘already’ if you look at the time.”

“Oh, that’s true. Time just slipped away while we were sitting across from each other.”

Lucas straightened his posture slowly, brushing off his left hand, which had been supporting his chin. While he did that, I rose from my seat and smoothed out my nightgown.

Deep wrinkles had formed from sitting for so long.

“I’ll walk you back.”

“That’s unnecessary. We’re under the same roof.”

Lucas simply smiled deeply without responding. But seeing him stand up, it was clear that he intended to escort me to my room anyway.

Seriously, why is everyone in this household so insistent on walking me back to my room?

It’s not like I’m a child waking up from a nightmare.

Letting out a short sigh, I headed for the door. Behind me, I could hear the leisurely sound of his footsteps following.

“I think Sir Lucas is drunk right now.”

I didn’t stop walking, nor did I turn around as I spoke. It was my way of telling him to drop any ideas of seeing me off and just go to bed.

Yet despite my words, Lucas remained silent and continued matching my pace behind me. He had surely understood what I meant.

...Fine. Do as you please. It’s not like I’ll drop dead just because someone insists on walking me back.

With a shrug of resignation, I reached for the doorknob.

“I’m not drunk.”

His belated response came just as a large, pale hand suddenly appeared.

That hand settled on top of mine, which was gripping the doorknob.

Rough and calloused, his palm pressed against the back of my hand—just as I had felt once before.

“I was just pretending to be.”

Lucas slowly applied pressure, turning the doorknob. Since my hand was underneath his, my fingers naturally moved along with it.

If you were going to open the door, couldn’t you have done it normally? And you claim you’re not drunk?

“I thought it might make you look at me a little longer.”

A rush of cold air swept in from the open hallway.

Only then did I realize how stifling the air inside the room had been.

I lifted my hand lightly, and as if he had never been gripping it with any strength at all, his large palm fell away without resistance.

“Drunk people never think they’re drunk.”

I stepped outside.

Now standing in the empty hallway, I glanced around before turning back to face Lucas.

He stood still in the doorway, maintaining the exact shape of his hand from when it had held mine. He looked at me in silence.

“Sir Lucas, you’re drunk.”

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The faint smile that had been playing on his lips slowly sank downward, as if gravity were pulling it down.

His lips, now pressed into a straight line, didn’t seem like they would part again anytime soon.

I hesitated, wondering if I should just say my goodbyes and leave.

But just as I was about to, his lips parted once more.

“...From now on, try not to visit another person’s room at such a late hour, Selina.”

What kind of sudden shift in topic was this? Weren’t we just debating whether or not he was drunk?

But the seriousness in his expression made it hard to brush off. So instead, I simply responded as if I understood.

“I did ask earlier, but you were the one who said it was fine, Sir Lucas.”

He had said it was fine. And now he was giving me a lecture?

I tilted my head in confusion. Lucas’s lips, along with his sharp gaze, had hardened even more. Letting out a shallow sigh, he ran a hand over his face.

“I’m saying this because I’m worried about you.”

Well, I suppose visiting a man’s room at this hour could be a cause for concern.

It wasn’t necessarily wrong, just... something to worry about. I nodded absentmindedly, acknowledging his concern.

But even then, I had a valid counterargument.

“Is that so? But you don’t need to worry—I’m already aware of that much.”

“If you knew, you wouldn’t have come to my room.”

Hah. And who was the one who kept me here when I was about to leave?

I rolled my eyes before locking my gaze onto him again.

This man is definitely drunk.

He’s not thinking straight. I should cut him some slack for this nonsense.

“...Because it’s you, Sir Lucas.”

“...What?”

Lucas's hardened expression softened just a little.

Seeing his dumbfounded face as he repeated my words made a small, petty sense of satisfaction bloom within me.

“You wouldn’t do anything to me, Sir Lucas.”

“...And how exactly are you so sure of that?”

His eyes wavered slightly at my firm statement, though the flicker of uncertainty quickly disappeared.

It had been rather entertaining to watch him look flustered, what a shame.

I let out a long yawn. After going out earlier and staying up this late, exhaustion was finally catching up to me. The moment I acknowledged how drowsy I was, the desire to sleep became unbearable.

This meaningless debate or whatever it was—it was time to end it and go to bed.

“I just... somehow trust that you wouldn’t.”

I couldn't exactly say, I read it in the novel, and you weren’t that kind of person, so I just mumbled a vague answer and turned away without hesitation.

Perhaps he had given up on escorting me, because I didn’t hear any footsteps following me.

I felt as if his gaze lingered on me until the very end, but what did it matter?

“Good night, then.”

The empty hallway echoed with only my voice. A lone shadow stretched across the floor, cast by the light spilling from Lucas’s room.

I thought I’d fall asleep the moment I got back to my room.

But contrary to that expectation, I lay there for a long time, staring up at the towering ceiling with open eyes.

Sleep wouldn’t come.

No matter how tightly I shut my eyes, I couldn’t drift off. My body was weighed down by exhaustion, my mind felt hazy, and yet, I was trapped in a sleepless state. It was pure torture.

After repeatedly closing and reopening my eyes, turning this way and that, I finally gave up and sat up.

Maybe the moonlight is too bright.

I stared at the silver light pouring through the large window before throwing off my blanket and walking toward it.

In the distance, the imperial palace was still aglow.

Do they just never turn off the lights, or is someone working this late?

Working overtime... That must be awful.

With a moment of silent sympathy for the poor souls stuck at work, I reached for the curtains. The window was so large that I had to take several steps before I could draw them shut.

The moment the thick fabric concealed the window, the room was plunged into complete darkness.

Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.

Looking around at the shadows swallowing the space, I suddenly recalled that strange place—the one where I had met Eunji and... my other self.

That eerie space, where life and death seemed to meet in the middle.

A shiver ran up my spine, starting from my toes. My skin prickled, and I rubbed my legs to shake off the sensation. Then, I pulled the curtain open just slightly. A sliver of dim light seeped through the gap.

Yes, this is just right.

Satisfied with the compromise, I turned back toward my bed.

As I climbed in, my eyes caught sight of the glass bottle I had left by my pillow.

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Even in the dim lighting, the bottle stood out with unusual clarity.

Clink.

Ah, such a pleasant sound.

I set the bottle down carefully and nestled back into the sheets, holding onto the hopeful thought—I should be able to sleep now.

...But apparently, light hadn’t been the reason for my insomnia.

Even with the curtains drawn, sleep still refused to come.

I pressed my temples hard, groaning as I exhaled a deep sigh.

Enough. Body, get yourself together. Let’s sleep already. I have to go out with my family tomorrow.

Like soothing a fussy child, I coaxed my own body with empty words, then pulled the blanket over my head.

Time passed.

The only thing filling the cocoon of my blanket was my own breath warming the air.

But sleep still wouldn’t come.

I give up. I won’t sleep.

In the end, I surrendered.

Knowing when to quit was a skill of mine, after all.

Of course, the fact that I had to give up on sleep was... quite devastating.

I wiggled out from beneath the blanket, gasping for the fresh air I’d been deprived of.

Now what?

A glance at the clock told me it was past 4 AM.

With tired eyes, I rolled over, adjusted the blanket, and lay properly on the bed again.

Just because I was awake didn’t mean I had to get up and do something active.

What could I do while lying down?

...Maybe I should go over what Lucas told me earlier.

Monsters. That unfamiliar concept.

“Monsters.”

Even when spoken aloud, the word felt foreign.

Like those dragons or... dragons or... yeah, dragons from fantasy movies—was that what they were?

Why was something that had never appeared in the original novel suddenly causing so much trouble for my family?

“...The original?”

Despite my earlier vow to stay put, I slowly pushed myself upright.

The creeping suspicion in my mind wouldn’t let me lie still.

Now that I thought about it, monsters had never been mentioned in the original novel.

I suppose there might have been a passing reference, like how the temple or priests were briefly mentioned once or twice. I couldn’t rule out the possibility entirely, since I didn’t have absolute confidence in my memory.

But monsters were a concept with a heavy presence. If they had been included, even briefly, there would have been at least a small dedicated episode.

Something like, “Monsters exist! Oh my god! Anyway, about last night’s dinner...”

It wouldn’t have been that casual.

No matter how hard I searched my memory, I couldn’t recall any episodes involving monsters.

Why?

Why had something so significant—something that never existed in the original—suddenly appeared in reality?

Fragments of the original novel flashed through my mind at ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) high speed.