I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 175

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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His tightly clenched fist trembled weakly.

Calypso Laurence opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

“First, calm down a bit, Aleon.”

However, Aleon’s rigid body showed no signs of relaxing.

In front of him, irregular breathing sounds could be heard.

Breathing that seemed like it could stop at any moment.

A face pale as a sheet, with brows deeply furrowed.

The one lying motionless without stirring was none other than Selene.

Just then, the door opened.

“Th-this way!”

The Laurent Estate’s personal physician, brought by Estelin, hurried in.

The doctor rushed over and began examining the collapsed Selene’s condition.

A cold silence had settled over the room.

The doctor, with anxious eyes, spoke in a small voice.

“Her pulse is severely unstable.”

A small groan escaped from Aleon’s lips.

The doctor carefully looked around and asked.

“What happened here?”

Estelin began speaking incoherently.

“Nothing, nothing happened at all. We were just looking at paintings together… and suddenly…”

Eventually, tears began falling from her large eyes.

The doctor nodded and turned his attention back to Selene.

Then, pulling various medical instruments from his bag, he asked urgently.

“Has this happened before?”

Aleon, who had been maintaining silence with clenched teeth, answered.

“Yes. But that time, she had been exposed to mind control abilities for a long period.”

His gaze carefully examined Selene’s complexion.

A face completely drained of color. The hand he carefully took was cold as ice.

The doctor spoke seriously.

“Your Grace. Stabilization is the priority right now. If we don’t forcibly calm her breathing…”

The doctor deliberately left his sentence unfinished.

Then he quickly began channeling healing power into Selene’s body.

Watching this, Aleon’s fists clenched even tighter.

Selene had lost consciousness several times before. But back then, the reasons for her collapse were clear.

Whether she had taken dangerous drugs by mistake, or fallen victim to Father Mayer’s dirty schemes.

Or her stamina had been depleted from overexertion.

‘She’s never suddenly lost consciousness like today…’

Moreover, Selene had been perfectly fine just a few dozen minutes ago.

She had enjoyed the meal Duke Laurent prepared, and hadn’t forgotten to give kind compliments about how excellent each dish was.

And he could still clearly see her leaving the dining hall, saying she’d go for a short walk.

“Why so suddenly…”

His voice cracked at the end.

After performing treatment with magical tools and unknown medicinal materials for a while, the doctor wiped cold sweat and turned around.

“I’ve forcibly stabilized her breathing for now. But if her consciousness doesn’t return like this… it could be dangerous.”

Aleon barely managed to nod. Duke Laurent, who had been behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder.

“…Aleon, will you be alright? Tomorrow is your return.”

“…”

“There will be many watching eyes, so there’s no need to force moving the child. If you wish, she can be treated here as long as needed.”

Aleon gazed at Selene without answering. Then he muttered in a low voice.

“…Thank you.”

As if the words about forcibly stabilizing her breathing were true, Selene’s breathing had become much more regular.

But her pale face still showed no signs of improvement.

The situation was even more frustrating because the cause of her collapse was unknown.

Just as he took a shallow breath, feeling as if his heart was burning.

“Your Grace…!”

The door burst open again without a knock.

Aleon turned his gaze with a rigid expression.

Standing at the door was Walter.

He looked at Selene once while catching his breath, then looked back at Aleon.

Then he approached him with quick steps.

“I’ve completed the investigation you ordered. About Joanne Bardi’s death…”

Aleon turned his gaze away from him and spoke coldly.

“…Later. Now is not the time to receive reports.”

“Your Grace. This is urgent…!”

Walter approached with large strides and a serious face, then whispered in a lowered voice.

“From the clothes Joanne Bardi was wearing when she died…”

Then he pulled something out from his chest.

“This was found.”

Aleon’s eyes slowly widened as he confirmed the object.

Familiar handwriting on faded paper.

I’m just going away for a while.

So I’ll return. To your side.

A very long time ago.

Aleon had been pushed to the battlefield immediately after graduating from the Academy.

And this torn piece of paper was undoubtedly a handwritten letter.

The one he had written to Hemera back then.

“How is it that we didn’t know such an item existed until now?”

At Walter’s coldly cooled voice, Anna’s hands trembled.

“All this time… I couldn’t bring myself to open my sister’s belongings… It’s my fault.”

“Anna Bardi. I’m not reproaching you right now.”

Tears finally streamed down Anna’s eyes.

The memory of the day she first entered this household, which she had forgotten for a while, came back vividly to her mind.

The warm hand that had been extended to the sisters who had nowhere to go.

That hand had completely changed the lives of herself and her sister Joanne.

“Master. The Madam was always more than just someone we served to us sisters.”

Anna raised her gaze and began speaking with a trembling voice.

“That day, when you were away from your position…”

Anna remembered clearly.

All the candles illuminating the ducal palace were suddenly extinguished at once.

Thunder and lightning struck outside the window, and screams began to fill the darkness.

Anna could still not forget the Head Chamberlain’s corpse hanging on the first floor stair railing.

“Before going to the young lady’s quarters, I tried to go to my sister first. To get a weapon.”

Her green eyes gradually became immersed in the past.

“Then I encountered my sister in the corridor…”

Anna’s sister, Joanne Bardi, was a brave and strong person.

Due to living on the streets since childhood, she was agile and skilled with daggers.

She deeply respected the Duchess who had taken her in.

She was also the maid who had served her most closely within the manor.

‘Sister. What about Madam? How is Madam, and why are you here alone?’

‘Anna, listen carefully. I have something I must do.’

That day, Jeanne’s eyes were filled with something resolute.

‘You know too. My life belongs to Madam and the Young Miss.’

‘…Sister.’

‘She’s the warm person who saved you when you were dying. I still can’t forget that moment. So…’

‘…’

‘This second life I gained through her grace… even if I use it up, I’ll use it for her sake.’

“Sister… gave me a sword.”

Anna’s voice trembled.

‘Take this. Go to where the Young Miss is, and don’t open the door for anyone who comes.’

‘S-Sister. What…’

‘Remember Anna, you must protect the Young Miss. That’s what you need to do.’

‘Then what about you, Sister? Where are you trying to go? Can’t we go together instead? Serving Madam, all of us together…’

‘Anna, I have something I must do.’

Anna barely held back her sobs.

Jeanne repeated the same words over and over again that day.

“In the end, I took the dagger and entered the room, holding my breath with the Young Miss. Sounds kept coming from outside the window…”

It was a terrible night.

The sound of clashing blades and the screams of dying servants echoed through the manor.

Anna slightly pulled back the curtain, trying to at least confirm the appearance of the intruders, but she couldn’t see anything.

She instinctively realized.

The fact that the intruders were hiding their bodies with supernatural abilities.

She couldn’t even properly confirm their number, whether there was one or two of them.

A deliberate attack that began when the Duke was away.

Intruders attacking the ducal palace under cover of darkness.

A hopeless situation where neither their number nor identity could be known.

The opening of Selene’s room window also happened not long after that.

“I just, just desperately fought back.”

Unlike her sister Jeanne, Anna didn’t know how to handle a sword.

But in that moment, she completely forgot such things.

She frantically rushed toward the black figure that came running across the room.

She swung the weapon she was desperately holding, but soon felt sharp pain in her abdomen and chest.

She instinctively realized that she had suffered fatal wounds.

“I had to… I had to protect the Young Miss…”

Through the gaping wounds, it felt like all the blood in her body was draining out.

But more than the pain, she resented her consciousness growing dim.

What if they take the Young Miss away?

What if they hurt her?

As Sister said, if I’m to use this life I gained again, it should only be for the Young Miss’s sake.

But cruelly, strength gradually left her arms and legs,

And when she opened her eyes again like that.

The sharp pain she had felt in her stomach and chest was gone.

Only terrifying scars remained.

That day, Jeanne, the Duchess, and countless servants died.

The Duchess’s body could not be found. However, large amounts of her blood were discovered throughout the manor.

Anna felt the two pillars that had supported her crumble in an instant.

However, she soon steeled her heart.

‘It’s alright, Young Miss.’

‘No matter what happens, I will protect you…’

Sister’s share too. And the departed Madam’s share as well.

She never got to see Jeanne’s final face in the end.

The reason she couldn’t properly examine her belongings was also for that reason.

Because Anna, who was only a few years older than Selene, simply didn’t have the confidence to do even that.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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