The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 52
At the word “brother,” Aine’s face visibly hardened.
How could she forget? She closed her eyes, and the memory surfaced.
When things had fallen apart between her and Leixi, how her brother had tried to set her straight, to pull her back from the path she was treading.
Aine carried a weight of regret—sorrow for her own foolishness and for all the ruin it had wrought.
If there were ever a chance to meet him again, she would kneel and beg his forgiveness. And yet, separate from that longing, something puzzled her.
‘Why would he ask about my brother?’
When the Kleid Family fell, her brother had fled the Orion Kingdom to avoid execution.
She had no idea where he’d gone or how he lived. He had vanished without a trace.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to search. But finding a single person across this vast continent was like hunting for a needle in a desert.
So in this life, she had long since resigned herself—she would never find him.
“A man claiming to be your brother, someone named Theo, has come seeking you.”
“Who did you say?”
Yet he had come directly. Here, to the Chesher Estate where she dwelt. She felt a jolt of shock.
“By his appearance, he hardly looks noble—I considered him an impostor and thought to turn him away. But I judged it worth your time to see him.”
With that, Kleid pressed a Pendant into her hands.
“He said that if he showed you this, you would know at once.”
Aine recognized the Pendant immediately.
“This is a heirloom of the Kleid Family.”
A heirloom passed down only to the heirs of the Kleid Family.
Her hands trembled pitifully, seized by urgency. Why had he come? Could he have reached here because he was somewhere in the Empire? Her thoughts tumbled chaotically.
She had driven the family to ruin, and her actions had led to her parents’ deaths. Would he still despise her?
One thought chased another in an endless spiral.
“Compose yourself, Aine.”
“Hah… hah…”
Kleid looked down at her and took her hand.
The unexpected warmth made her start, but it drew her back from her spiraling thoughts.
Instead, she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.
“If you wish it, I will remain at your side.”
Oh, how those words steadied her. She didn’t understand why, but Aine’s face softened with relief.
That a sworn enemy, one whose life she had sought, now stood as her anchor—who could have foreseen such a thing?
Yet Aine soon shook her head.
“I’ll be all right. But please, look after Wilhelm for me.”
She could not bear to leave Wilhelm alone.
Even knowing this estate was safe, she could not be certain that something as terrible as what happened when Retaria infiltrated would not occur again.
Though they had since reinforced their defenses tighter than ever, vigilance could never be absolute.
Wilhelm was the reason she existed at all. Anie would not allow anything to happen to him.
Kleid’s expression betrayed reluctance, but he soon nodded.
“I will watch over Wilhelm as you ask. Still, if you have need of me at any moment, call for me.”
As always, he showed her respect.
That respect meant everything to her—a comfort and an anchor.
* * *
“Sister. You must stop this.”
“Stop? It’s far too late for that now.”
“Sister, please!”
Her mistake had driven the family to the brink of collapse.
At that time, Aine had been mad with desperation. Convinced she must overturn the crisis by any means, she was prepared to cross a line.
Seeing this, Theo fell to his knees and begged her. It was not too late even now.
He pleaded with her to stop—if only while those dear to her still remained.
But Aine regarded Theo with contempt.
“You remain a coward, don’t you?”
He was a coward. Whenever conflict arose, he always faltered and fled.
She gazed at him coldly, this brother who trembled at discord and friction.
Her eyes held no family love, no bond of shared blood—only enmity.
“Perhaps you’re right that I’m a coward, as you say. But I cannot bear to watch.”
She expected him to shrink, to fall silent in disappointment or anger, yet Theo showed no such sign.
“Your soul staining itself with sin.”
With those words, he left completely. Even as he departed, Aine paid him no mind.
Yet later, she came to regret it. Only when she had reconciled with Leixi did she understand: he alone had ever truly worried for her.
* * *
Aine headed toward the drawing room. Hamlet had told her that Theo was there, waiting for her.
As she walked through the estate—now familiar—hesitation marked every step.
While she’d been searching, she’d held firm resolve: when they met, she would apologize.
But considerable time had passed since then.
‘I thought I’d never see him again.’
Things she was certain she’d never forget grew numb with the passage of time.
Her parents’ faces, their voices, memories—all of it had been slowly erased by the weight of years.
What Theo looked like had almost faded entirely.
[SYSTEM : Theo Kleid is present.]
The System informed her: beyond this door lay the person she had searched for so desperately.
Aine bit her lip and carefully opened the door.
“Theo.”
“Sister.”
The moment the door opened, she knew with absolute certainty—despite remembering almost nothing—that this man sitting within was her brother.
She froze, unsure what to do. This felt different from the battlefield. There, the System had guided her; she’d known what to do.
But now—now her mind was crowded with questions.
What if he hated her? What if she saw resentment or recrimination in his eyes?
“Oh—”
“I’ve missed you so much, Sister.”
Theo closed the distance before her worry could take root, drawing her into an embrace.
He held her tight, tears streaming down his face, and Aine’s lip trembled.
Now only one person remained—her true blood.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
Though people might hear or see them in the corridor, Aine wept as she whispered.
How many years had it been? She felt both recognition and longing as she looked at him—a stranger transformed by time—and the words spilled from her lips.
“I wasn’t condemning you. Only later did I understand that everything you said was right, and then I finally saw my own failure and regretted it.”
Everything. All of it.
Once the dam broke, years of accumulated words came pouring out of her.
“It wasn’t only Sister’s fault. I shouldn’t have left your side so carelessly either. I’ve regretted leaving in that moment ever since.”
Even when harsh recriminations would have been justified, Theo remained somehow incomprehensibly kind.
* * *
The years apart had changed nothing—Theo remained exactly as he was.
Aine, by contrast, felt she had only recently matured enough to hold a conversation with him as an equal.
‘So you were always so much more of an adult than I was.’
Joyful to see him again, Aine asked the question that had been troubling her.
“So you’ve been here in the Empire all this time.”
“Yes, I’ve been living in the Empire.”
Living there. Aine studied his appearance.
She could sense he’d made an effort to dress well for this visit, yet his clothes were shabby—just as Kleid had said—a far cry from his noble days.
Reading her gaze, Theo rubbed his cheek in embarrassment and spoke.
“I’ve been away for quite a long time, but I’ve only recently managed to establish myself.”
“Why didn’t you choose a noble’s life?”
He could have petitioned for asylum in the Empire and preserved his noble status.
He came from the high nobility of the Orion Kingdom. The higher one’s station, the more one tends to know of the kingdom’s secrets.
Yet instead of selling such information, he appeared to have chosen an entirely different existence.
Theo smiled bitterly and replied.
“I grew tired of that sort of life. So instead, I went into a quiet rural area and became an apothecary, choosing a life devoted to healing those people.”
Worried she might find such a choice contemptible, Theo glanced at her—but Aine took his roughened hands and spoke.
“I’m so very proud of you.”

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