Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

It was a gathering of the most formidable athletes from across the nation. I rekindled suppressed sensations one by one.

Repeatedly clenching and unclenching my fist, a certain strength seemed to flow into my hands that hadn’t gripped a sword for so long.

Until the voice announcing the tournament’s start rang out, I didn’t leave the dojo. Even when that senior I had despised endlessly appeared, telling me to come out for a moment as he had something to say, I responded:

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I told you to get lost.”

Resting the sword hilt across my lap as I sat, I boldly spat those dismissive words at his face.

That detestable countenance truly looked flustered. And yet, the reason this impudent junior could render him as mute as a stuffed pig was likely due to the murderous aura, the hatred emanating from me.

He hadn’t done anything yet. No matter how poor our relationship, for someone to glare at him with such loathing hostility must have been an unsettling first.

More than that…

‘The smell of alcohol.’

It was something I had failed to notice before, too tense ahead of the competition.

As a fellow adult, there was no rule against him drinking alcohol.

That person wasn’t even a participant in today’s tournament.

However, this was unbecoming as the representative from my dojo master’s school.

“I should focus, so please leave.”

I scoffed at the clueless man, unsure of what to do while standing there.

A senior I had attended the same dojo with since childhood, he lacked both talent and diligence.

Yet his greed was immense, coveting my spot in this selection tournament. I recalled the day he had raged when my participation was confirmed.

Back then, as he berated me, I seemed to have pathetically apologized to him.

He was my elder and more experienced. Seeing how upset he was, I had felt it was truly my fault, fumblingly apologizing and vowing to work just as hard as his share to become the tournament champion – or so I had thought.

As he stormed off, calling me insane, I silently hurled an insult at his retreating back.

‘Like hell I’ll work his share too. It was all my portion from the start.’

The moment finally came when my name was called, and I felt my pounding heart thundering in my chest.

Was this truly reality? But if not reality, my heart and blood couldn’t have been this stirred.

From the moment I exchanged courtesies with my opponent and the match began, I overwhelmed them as if displaying the peak brilliance from my most glorious era that I could recall.

‘It can’t be. Were all my memories of living as Laveria just a dream?’

My skills hadn’t rusted at all.

So this was what they meant by ‘the body remembers.’

After ultimately defeating my opponent and waiting for the next round, I locked eyes with that senior. His rotten expression seemed to intuit my imminent victory, provoking an involuntary hum of satisfaction from me.

* * *

“Mom is truly proud of you.”

After I had cried a river of tears and spoke incomprehensible nonsense that morning, Mom said she could finally put her mind at ease.

Dad chimed in as well.

“Following in your mother’s footsteps, you’ve become a national representative too. Our daughter, tell us whatever you’d like to eat today.”

As we drove to go out for a meal, I watched the city lights filling the darkening Seoul skyline as the sun set.

“Come to think of it, what was that about crying this morning?”

Dad asked as he drove. Mom recounted that I had made quite a commotion.

After much contemplation in my mind, I conveyed to them the words I had settled on.

“What would it be like if I died?”

Silence fell at my words, so I hurriedly added:

“It means being reborn after dying! In a place where there are people who love me, who cherish me. But without you, Mom and Dad…”

“What’s with the sudden strange talk?”

“Ahahaha… You’re right, it was an odd question. I had a dream like that this morning.”

As I turned my gaze back towards the window in embarrassment, Mom’s voice reached me.

“If there are people in that reborn world who love you as much as we do, I could grieve with a comforted heart.”

“…”

“Were they good people?”

At her unexpected question, I opened my mouth hesitantly.

“Ah… Yes, there was a sister who basically raised me, and an adorable little sister who always clung to me like a koala, and a bit of an eccentric but real family… Yes, I didn’t know them for long, but they were a true family. People who felt like they could fill the void left by you, Mom and Dad. And then there was a boy who was my best friend…”

Luka. I had especially missed that child.

The one who had claimed the world would end without me – would he be able to live well in my absence?

The hands that had clung to me incessantly, the face that had beamed whenever I stroked his head.

“I miss them so much.”

No, why was I even discussing this? They would know nothing of those people regardless.

“Just a dream, just dreaming! It was one long, drawn-out dream.”

A dream where I died in a bus accident, was reborn, and lived a tumultuous life, yet I could still vividly recall it all.

Chuckle.

I turned my gaze from the window to the two in the front seats.

But then…

“Why are you crying…?”

Unable to even look back at me, the two wept silently.

“I’m so relieved, truly… Our daughter, were you truly happy in that world?”

“To Mom and Dad, it just seemed like another ordinary dream. You appeared in my dreams every single day, ever since the day of the bus accident…”

At their subsequent words, my eyes widened and my lips trembled finely.

“How did our daughter, who we never even got to bid farewell, find out about our lingering regret and come back to us?”

[We love you and we’re sorry.]

Along with those words, their figures wavered. The components inside the car gradually lost their form. The city nightscape visible through the windows also continuously morphed shape, second by second.

The appearances of the people on the streets likewise changed every single second. It felt like the instants I was perceiving each second were all different dimensional worlds.

We were transcending innumerable dimensions. In the end, I seemed to know where I would return.

Shedding welling tears, I grasped each of the two hands intently etching my face into their memories.

“I love you, forever. Mom and Dad, I’m living incredibly well, so…”

[Don’t worry.]

My voice clearly reached them. My vision whited out, and then everything faded to black.

* * *

I opened my eyes. This time, back in my true body.

Not in a small, shabby room, but the room with its own story – the one the Duke had redecorated anew each year, waiting for his lost daughter – I had ultimately opened my eyes here once more.

“Ria…?”

At the voice calling my name, I turned my head. There was Luka, grasping my hand with his face contorted from crying.

“Are you awake? Please, tell me you’re alright. Please.”

With my free hand, I stroked the head of the boy who looked on the verge of breaking into tears, consoling him.

“You knew I’d be like this.”

It wasn’t just Luka. In the room were also Sister Serine, Garnett, Miller, Drehan, and even Dad.

Having just met the parents from that other world, it felt strange. Not an alienating sensation, but rather… it seemed I could truly accept him as my father now.

And for good reason – he was regarding me with eyes so reminiscent of those parents I had just witnessed.

“Is she alright?! Pedrick, get over here! Quickly check on Ria’s condition!”

He rushed over in a few strides, brushing aside my sweat-soaked hair as he fretted incessantly.

The attending physician approached to examine me. Relief was palpable on the utterly exhausted physician’s face.

It was plain to see the toll these people had endured while I was away.

“I merely fell asleep, so what happened?”

“No matter how we tried, you wouldn’t awaken. For two whole days.”

Two days? To me, it had only felt like half a day…

Ugh. Whether in that world or this one, I was undoubtedly an unfilial daughter who tormented her parents.

Drehan and Miller, who had drawn near, added their comments.

“It truly felt like living in hell. I’m so relieved you woke up… Truly a relief.”

“Don’t tell me… it was that precursor phenomenon?”

I immediately understood what Drehan was referring to – the contents described in the ancient text.

I shook my head and raised my index finger to my lips. There were too many ears present here.

To these people already wearing such shaken, horrified expressions from my two-day slumber, I could never reveal that an incurable illness was growing within my body.

Turning my gaze towards Luka, whose firm grip clutched my hand, I met the eyes of the Luka who had matured more in just these few days.

“I thought the world was ending. I had the terrible thought that maybe Ria would never wake up again… If that happened, my life would have no meaning. But I’m relieved that Ria opened her eyes after two days.”

Luka buried his face into my hand.

“If you hadn’t opened your eyes by the third day, I would no longer be in this world.”

“Luka! Don’t say such things-“

What tragic play had nearly unfolded?

Ruffling his jet-black hair, I said:

“I didn’t realize I would miss you the most. But if you weren’t here when I woke up, what was I supposed to do?”

Within Luka’s beautiful crimson eyes, deeper than unfathomable crimson seas, I was fully reflected.

At my candid words, he eventually showed a smile. Seeing that handsome face asking if I was sincere, I tenderly stroked his soft hair.