Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

“I will do it.”

“What?”

“I’ll become your daughter.”

The Duke seemed flustered by my prompt decision, questioning if I could agree so readily. But who would decline adoption into the prestigious Rayes household?

Especially in my particular case.

“It seems we share the circumstances of having lost precious loved ones, which made me wonder if I could truly fill that void.”

It had been nearly 15 years since I had been separated from my longtime hometown.

Hell Joseon* – how had I been born into such a nation? (tl/n: a satirical South Korean term that became popular around 2015. The term is used to criticize the socioeconomic situation in South Korea, meaning that it’s a hellish, hopeless society)

That was the habitual slang I had used daily to refer to my birthplace and home.

It wasn’t the world itself that I missed. As an adaptive species, humans could grow attached to any new environment.

And yet, the gaping void in my heart remained unfilled.

I had regarded the orphans as siblings, with Luka akin to a brother, but… I had never truly forgotten my original family for even a single moment.

Their faces and voices had gradually faded, filling me with profound dread.

In this world without photos or recordings, if the memories in my mind disappeared, it would be an eternal farewell.

‘So please…’

If possible, fill this emptiness before I descend into madness.

So that when the day inevitably comes that everything blurs, I won’t have to live with this hollow cavity in my chest.

The Duke gently wiped away the tear streaks on my cheek with his large, warm hands – hands colder than ice upon first glance.

They say warm hands signify a warm heart, so would he exile me like in the novels? Though I had no intentions of committing any offenses warranting exile to begin with.

“I promise. Now that you have become my daughter, you will be safe from any harm.”

As if reading my mind, the Duke tousled my silver tresses as he spoke.

‘Ah, he smiled.’

This person who seemed unlikely to ever smile, and an incredibly handsome one at that, had made me instinctively smile in turn upon his own expression.

“I should go see Luka now. To let him know I won’t be able to accompany him further.”

“Very well, go on.”

Unlike our approach, the Duke and I walked side-by-side on our way back.

I reached out and took his large hand first.

His callused hand, marred by scars from the battlefield that had earned him monikers like ‘The Mad Wolf of the North’ and ‘The Reaper,’ momentarily hesitated before warmly clasping my small fingers.

In that moment, the faintest echo of a memory from when I had first reincarnated in this world drifted through my mind.

I had thought my earliest recollection was being abandoned in the storage cart before the orphanage, but that wasn’t quite right.

-With hands this tiny, will she even be able to grip a teaspoon?

-Kaine, you’ll wear her fingerprints off at this rate, holding her hands every day like that.

-As my daughter, I’m sure those little hands will one day be able to wrestle a bear.

That familiar, tender sensation washed over me.

I hoped I could one day say ‘I’m your real daughter’ as we made our way back to the guest room.

* * *

The hallway was now riddled with countless more cards embedded compared to when I had left.

‘Wait, are these really just ordinary playing cards to be able to pierce solid marble like this?’

Marble dust littered the floor in an unsightly mess.

The moment I approached the open door, yet another card whizzed by.

The card grazing right past my nose made me jump in fright. Behind me, the Duke swiftly yanked me back while barehanding the rapidly flying projectile.

“Ria, are you okay?!”

Luka came rushing over, having belatedly noticed the commotion.

Miller too dashed forward, cards wedged between each finger like loaded ammunition.

“Your Highness has once again forfeited the right to take Ria away.”

Luka flung another card at blinding speeds toward Miller.

Miller narrowly dodged the potentially lethal blow, the card embedding itself deeply into the marble instead.

Stepping protectively in front of me, Luka looked up at the Duke behind us.

“Please cherish and protect Ria. That is not a request, but an order.”

“You have my solemn vow on anything.”

“Luka, will you be alright without me? If you wish, I can still go with you.”

At my words, Luka shook his head with a faint smile.

“No. Everything Ria has desired is right here.”

The expression on Luka’s face as he spoke seemed tinged with a hint of bitterness.

“Miller, go make your preparations to depart for the Imperial Palace as well.”

After instructing us to leave in ten minutes, the Duke closed the door behind him.

“Luka, I’m worried about you. You’re still just a child, and the place you’re heading is extremely dangerous.”

I knew there would be more people seeking to harm than welcome you.

“But I have to trust in you and let you go, don’t I?”

I brushed back Luka’s raven locks as I spoke.

Luka nodded slightly with a solemn look.

“Before that… Ria, there is something I must tell you.”

Luka met my gaze with a deliberately grave expression.

* * *

Watching the black carriage disappear into the distance, I revisited Luka’s parting words before his departure.

Did I not want to believe them? Shouldn’t I have?

-The truth is, my memories of Ria keep fading away. When we’re together, it doesn’t happen. But the further apart we are, the more my recollections of you grow hazy.

Was that why Luka had been incessantly clinging to my hand back at the orphanage?

-This must also be part of that wretched spell cast upon me by my kidnappers. At the Troy Orphanage, I merely thought I was going insane. But after regaining my memories, I realized it was a form of black magic.

-What kind…?

-An ancient spell called ‘Amnesia’ that erases memories of cherished individuals. Apparently in ancient times, this curse was cast on soldiers before sending them to war.

-Th-Then why are you only telling me this now! Is there a way to undo it…?

-Not yet. But please don’t worry too much.

Luka gave a faint smile as he continued.

-I have this necklace. I’m sure you have a matching one as well. These necklaces link us together through our mana wavelengths.

The necklace with a magic tool gem that the Duke had procured for us last night, he had said.

I opened my tightly clenched fist to reveal the deep pink jewel-set pendant resting in my palm.

-As long as we don’t remove these necklaces, my memories won’t disappear. Ria, just promise me one thing – that you won’t abandon me.

-Why would I abandon you? You’re not some object for me to discard…

-I know, but Ria has no lingering attachment to me. The only reason you didn’t leave me trapped in the orphanage was that singular shred of affection preventing you from callously walking away. But now I’m free, even the Crown Prince returning to his rightful place. Can you show that same compassion toward this new me?

-…Why ask something so obvious? Don’t worry, I won’t take it off for even a moment.

Luka had seen right through me better than I understood myself.

I was trying to let Luka go.

Meeting the amnesiac male lead, living together, secretly falling for him, willingly crippling myself for his sake, then using that as an excuse to interfere with the protagonists’ love.

Ultimately facing exile and a lonely demise from a terminal illness at the banished estate for nearly killing the female lead.

Would persisting in this intense bond with Luka, whether familial or camaraderie, benefit either of our future lives?

As Luka said, he was currently under a spell. Recalling it now, that ‘Amnesia’ had indeed been mentioned in the original novel as part of the possession curse.

A dangerous enchantment that could further endanger Luka’s very life.

Once he turned seventeen, the possession spell would activate, rendering Luka extremely hazardous on the battlefield.

Ancient inscriptions would manifest like tattoos across his arms, neck and legs.

This curse, euphemistically known as ‘Puppet’ among black mages, lived up to its name – if Luka obeyed, the inscriptions would heal his wounds, but if he resisted, they would brutally tear his flesh asunder as punishment.

No matter how steely his willpower, even Luka would eventually be consumed, compelled to surrender to Duke Kablos’s dominance over his nation’s enemy forces.

The one who had come to Luka’s rescue as a battlefield healer was the female lead Senia – an aberration born into the villainous Kablos household.

It had all begun with Duke Kablos striking a deal with the Imperial Consort to kidnap Luka and imprison him in their Troy Orphanage.

The Consort had tasked the notoriously unscrupulous Duke Kablos with eliminating the Crown Prince.

The Kablos household’s influence had been spiraling out of control to the point their crimes could no longer be overlooked by the Imperial family.

The Consort had exploited this, promising to turn a blind eye to their misdeeds if Kablos disposed of Luka, allowing her own son to inherit the throne and make Kablos untouchable upon his eventual ascension.

It was essentially instigating the advent of a criminal underworld dynasty from within the Imperial family itself.

Kablos had feigned agreement, but harbored grander ambitions – to later subjugate the Consort herself once her son became Emperor and seized control of the capital through her machinations.

Which was why, instead of eliminating Luka as requested, Kablos decided to keep him alive to be groomed into his own personal puppet ruler using ancestral possession magic from his lineage.

Only those Luka’s heart opened up to could potentially undo his binding curse – a rare occurrence given his reclusive nature.

At this point, I may have been the sole exception. Yet I was a mere supporting character, not a powerful mage like Senia.

‘My existence might only hinder their relationship instead of helping.’

Perhaps this ‘Amnesia’ afflicting Luka was a final chance granted to me by the heavens to rectify my transgressions and divert the original trajectory.

I could become a ‘Free Spirit 2’ departing from the novel’s world, eluding my scripted death while freely searching for a cure to my terminal condition.

‘Could this truly be an opportunity for both Luka and myself?’

I re-fastened the necklace he had given me.

Luka was no fool. If I attempted flinging this necklace out the window now, he would undoubtedly turn the carriage around immediately.

The day when I discarded this necklace would mark my quiet exit from this story’s cast.

* * *

Until the Duke’s return, I began listing out tasks I needed to accomplish in this room.

The pristine writing paper and fountain pens were all brand new products. To have prepared to this extent for a daughter’s uncertain return – it was astonishing.

Scratch-scratch-

[Rescue the orphanage children.]

This was the most pressing priority. While I could seek the Duke’s aid by recounting my experiences and pleading for his assistance, the crucial fact was that the orphanage belonged to the Kablos family.

Moreover, my plans already encompassed the children who had likely departed the premises to be exploited as criminal lackeys.

‘Sister Serine…’

Beloved faces surfaced one by one in my mind.

Their fates had gone unmentioned in the original story. Directly questioning Layola was the only recourse.

Apart from the monthly visitations by Viscount Louiscone to monitor Luka and myself, the Troy Orphanage had been completely isolated from the outside world.

According to the original story, Viscount Louiscone and another figure were supposed to arrive the year I turned fifteen, on the first day of the new moon cycle.

Moreover, with Luka’s return to the Imperial Palace, they might come even sooner to assess the situation.

‘Which means, if I’m going to make a move, it has to be done tomorrow without fail.’