Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

“Lady Hilne Avard of the Count’s family, watch your tongue. Tell me the name of the person you just called vulgar.”

“…!”

When she didn’t open her mouth, Ensia looked ready to raise her hand again.

At that, the Count’s daughter finally spoke:

“L-Laveria Jenne… Lady Rayes.”

Ensia dominated the social circles, so she seemed to not even dare think of opposing Ensia.

She apparently hadn’t expected there to be any friendship between us two in the first place.

“That’s right. She’s the daughter of Duke Rayes. Even I, a Marquis’s daughter, use honorifics for her, so what is this insubordination?”

“B-But Lady Ensia! The Duke’s daughter to Lady Kablos…!”

“You speak as if you know the whole situation despite coming late. I, who’ve been here the whole time, know the situation better… Or are you saying I’m mistaken?”

“Absolutely not! Lady Ensia, that’s not it!”

She spoke desperately, seeming to know well what happened to young ladies who fell out of Ensia’s favor in social circles.

“Apologize to Princess Rayes.”

Ensia grabbed her shoulder and led her to stand in front of me.

The Count’s daughter bit her lip and slowly bowed in front of me, her face all red with humiliation.

“I’m… sorry…”

“For what?”

“That…”

When I asked for the reason, she gripped her dress tightly and opened her mouth.

“Enough. That’s sufficient now. Hilne has reflected enough.”

Senia intervened at my words.

She embraced the sobbing Count’s daughter and patted her as if comforting her.

“Why is Lady Senia saying it’s sufficient? Forgiveness is entirely my prerogative, yet you’re even taking away that opportunity…”

“Stop it. This is for your sake too. Don’t show any more of your true colors.”

At those words, I turned to Ensia in exasperation.

She too had an expression of disbelief, seemingly of the same mind.

Senia was highly praised for her upright and kind character.

Perhaps because of that, the nobles standing around also seemed to side with her.

At this rate, only Ensia and I would be treated as heartless.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

I buried my face in my hands.

“Sniff… sob.”

Ensia, who was extremely perceptive, immediately understood what technique I was about to use and promptly wrapped her arm around my shoulder, patting me.

Warmly, just as Senia had done to the Count’s daughter.

“Am I… am I not even allowed to receive a proper apology after being called vulgar?”

“Laveria… That’s not true. The price for daring to call a great noble vulgar can be paid later.”

“Sniff, you mean the crime of insulting nobility. I don’t want to go that far, but…”

At that moment, some of Ensia’s followers stepped forward and spoke:

“Ah… No, I’ve been watching the situation the whole time, and I think it’s enough!”

“Insulting a founding meritorious family is a crime as heavy as insulting the imperial family…!”

They had undoubtedly been pushed forward after receiving Ensia’s fierce glare, but nothing helped turn the atmosphere around as much as loud voices.

Amidst mentions of the crime of insulting nobility, the Count’s daughter’s face turned pale as she shook off Senia and prostrated herself in front of me.

“P-Please forgive me for that much! I’m truly sorry for my slip of the tongue in calling you vulgar!”

“Sniff, alright…”

I wiped away fake tears.

Then, with a clean face, I smiled slightly and said:

“Don’t you think you were a bit rash too?”

“Y-Yes. Are you for-forgiving me?”

“I’ll think about that later.”

I glanced at Senia, who was looking this way with a distorted face, and turned around.

Ensia struck away the Count’s daughter’s hand trying to grab my ankle and followed behind me.

The hall, which had been in an uproar, quieted down as the imperial family members who had briefly left their seats returned.

I was sitting in a corner with Ensia, eating pudding to avoid the hot attention.

Ensia opened her mouth with sparkling eyes:

“Ria, well done. I was really impressed.”

How impressed must she have been for even her cheeks to be flushed…

‘More importantly.’

When I absorbed the mark from Senia earlier, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

When I let magic flow while absorbing, I also felt her magic…

‘It resembled my magic as if facing a mirror.’

The unique wavelength of magic was different for each person.

Like irises or fingerprints, it can’t be perfectly identical.

But how…

‘Is it because we’re both healing mages? If not that, then…’

As I was deep in thought, the lights around went out.

The only light was sunlight pouring down on the platform.

“The ceremony seems to be starting.”

As Ensia said, soon the doors opened, and Luka, dressed in uniform, walked on the carpet with his red cape trailing. Knights in black armor followed behind him.

Everyone held their breath and watched the majestic scene of Luka and the knights moving with discipline.

Luka’s steps were directed towards the Emperor.

Sacred sunlight shone like a halo.

At the same time, a solemn and magnificent piece was played.

Servants raised huge flags of the Greffin Empire on both sides.

“Crown Prince Arzenluka Blake de Greffin has perfectly completed the process for succession to the throne and now stands before his final test.”

The Emperor personally bestowed the crown held by a servant to Luka, who was kneeling on one knee.

“I grant you the authority of a ruler to command the battlefield. Spread the majesty of the Empire far and wide.”

“I will obey Your Majesty’s will.”

“From this day, I hereby declare war on the Selon Kingdom! The crime of murdering the Empire’s envoy, the crime of continually plundering our people in the borderlands, the crime of plotting rebellion! These are by no means light offenses. We shall ensure they never look down on the Empire again!”

At the Emperor’s declaration of war, everyone who had been solemnly keeping their places cheered.

“Hurrah!”

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live His Highness the Crown Prince!”

It was a succession test that had come again after the current Emperor’s succession test 20 years ago.

Moreover, the opponent was the Kingdom of Selon, with whom relations were worst recently due to frequent conflicts at the border, so it was worth such enthusiasm.

I looked at Luka with lonely eyes.

Tomorrow was the day of departure.

We had never been apart for even a moment, yet he was going far away to a place I couldn’t reach.

I would surely feel an emptiness as if there was a hole in my chest for a while.

I couldn’t be certain we would meet again even if Luka returned from the war.

When he returns after saving the country, I will leave the Empire as if fleeing to save my own life.

It was truly a long farewell.

Perhaps I might never see him again.

Just as my eyes were starting to sting, Luka, who had finished the ceremony, turned around and moved his steps.

The nobles made way for Luka but seemed curious about where he was heading.

“Ria.”

The destination he walked to without hesitation was none other than in front of me.

How did he find me so quickly when I was hiding in a corner?

“When I return victorious from the war, please give me your heart again. I too will not forget Ria for even a moment, so please.”

“You… Was this the meaning of what you said to Rachel earlier?”

At my words, Luka silently smiled, knelt down, and brought my hand to his lips.

The Empire’s knights kiss the back of the hand of someone who is even closer than a lover before departing for war.

He had officially imprinted on everyone that he considered me like a partner.

At Luka’s unrestrained straightforwardness, the nobles watching the situation all gaped, without exception.

Ensia was the same.

The Emperor was watching his son’s behavior from afar with folded arms, looking indifferent.

“Really now…”

I smiled slightly and inevitably left a kiss on Luka’s forehead.

It was what the recipient of a knight’s kiss did to wish for their safe return.

“You’ve ruined my chances of marriage because of you.”

“You can come to me.”

“Don’t regret those words later.”

“That won’t happen.”

The hand Luka held became very warm.

“When I return, I intend to never leave Ria again. Until my last breath.”

“…”

What I held in my hand wasn’t just Luka’s hand.

I was holding his entire body and heart.

It was heavy, but I never wanted to let it go.

Loving someone required a lot of courage, and Luka had shown me that sufficiently.

So it was time for me to respond to that as well.

“Thank you for becoming my family, for being my friend, for becoming my lover, for becoming a part of my life. This feeling will probably never change until I die, so don’t worry.”

It will surely be so.

I realized just now that it was a feeling that wouldn’t change until the moment I closed my eyes.

The feeling I had lightly thought I could shake off, that time would resolve, was my first love and last love.

Perhaps I’ve loved you for much longer than now.