I Became The Villain’s Master - Chapter 2.10

***

“Mmm…”

His head felt fuzzy.

Rory squinted at the ceiling.

A pitch-black ceiling.

Dark stone walls.

It was like being in a prison.

Everything looked unfamiliar.

“Rory.”

Except for one thing.

“Young lady?”

His foggy mind instantly cleared up.

The fair face and sand-colored hair close to platinum blonde seemed out of place in such an eerie setting.

Rory strangely observed his young mistress sitting comfortably on the cold floor with just a thin blanket spread out, wearing worn-out clothes, as if it were her own home.

“Would you like a bite?”

In Merchen’s tiny hands was a piece of bread larger than her face.

“What is this… oof.”

Rory opened his mouth in surprise, and bewilderedly bit into the bread that was suddenly pushed in.

Not knowing what had happened to him overnight, he was simply dumbfounded.

Amidst all this, he noticed the long, loose sleeves.

“Young lady. Your hand…”

“Hm?”

Merchen unconsciously stretched out her hand.

Rory carefully folded up the loose, long sleeve cuffs neatly.

Seeming more comfortable, she flapped her hands.

“Now, please tell me.”

As he slightly lowered his head to meet her gaze, Merchen subtly averted her eyes.

“Rory. First, I’m sorry.”

Merchen slowly revealed everything that had happened until now.

Earlier, after pestering the research director at the tower to confirm Rory’s safety, she immediately asked to meet Marquis Crumble.

***

“You expect me to believe that?”

Marquis Crumble’s face twisted terribly.

Yes, there’s no way he would believe the words of a tiny child.

But soon he will believe.

Because I know a secret that only he and his daughter know.

“It’s true, Marquis. Lord Steicups told me.”

I chose the third option.

Requesting a deal with Marquis Crumble, saying I know how to save the Marchioness.

Desperation blinds people.

Even if it’s unbelievable, they have no choice but to respond as if grasping at straws.

I added a bit more seasoning to the story.

That I received a divine revelation.

“You’re not on good terms with your daughter, are you?”

“What?”

“You haven’t celebrated her birthday since she was four years old.”

“Did the deity tell you that too?”

A gap appeared in his gloomy face shadowed with doubt.

I quickly nodded.

“And that you forgot your promise to buy her a bear doll made of porcelain.”

“…”

Marquis Grape Crumble brushed up his messy brown hair that was getting in the way.

His face looked much older than his age due to long-term nursing and stress.

However, his mysterious purple eyes still shone fiercely.

“Fine. Let’s give it a try. But if you fail…”

His grape-like eyes flashed with killing intent. The chilling aura made my body stiffen.

“Tonight, your and your brother’s corpses will be thrown out as crow food.”

Sigh…

Life is hard.

Isn’t everyone being too harsh on such a small and cute baby?

But there was no time to feel depressed.

As the Marquis strode away, a knight picked me up and followed.

The Marchioness’s room, grand yet gloomy.

A small girl with purple eyes just like the Marquis was nursing the Marchioness.

Violet Crumble.

The Crown Prince’s fiancée and the villainess who torments the female protagonist.

She glanced at the Marquis but withdrew far from the bed without greeting.

The Marquis ignored his daughter and approached his wife’s side.

“My dear…”

As he tenderly stroked her forehead and cheeks, the Marchioness opened her eyes with difficulty.

The Marquis raised her upper body and propped pillows behind her back.

The Marchioness tried to say something but curled up and started coughing violently.

Blood mixed with saliva came out.

Though blood stained the Marquis’s shirt, he paid no attention and patted his wife gently.

Watching their desperate and affectionate scene made me feel strange too.

Their image was sad and beautiful, but thinking of the people who must have died in succession as sacrifices for human experiments in the tower, I felt horrible and conflicted.

If the Marchioness gets better, they’ll stop the human experiments too, right?

It seems like a beneficial choice in many ways.

“Marquis. I’ve brought it.”

A red liquid swirled in the bowl brought by the servant.

As a drop of the sloshing liquid splashed onto the servant’s clothes, his face turned pale.

The spot on the white tunic spread slightly as it seeped into the fabric.

The identity of the liquid with its vivid color was… hastily obtained goose blood.

Violet wrinkled her face and covered her nose at the pungent smell of blood.

Even I, with my sensitive nose, involuntarily took a step back.

“Fragrance… A nice fragrance…”

The Marchioness mumbled.

The Marquis, a bit surprised, scooped up some blood with a spoon and brought it to his wife’s lips.

Gulp.

The Marchioness carefully swallowed what looked repulsive even at a glance.

“It’s sweet. Is it raspberry juice?”

“…Yes, it is.”

Seemingly impatient with eating one spoonful at a time, the Marchioness urged her husband.

“Please put the bowl to my lips.”

The Marquis glanced at me briefly before bringing the bowl to her mouth.

Gulp. Gulp.

As if desperately clinging to life, she raised her trembling hands to tilt the bowl even more.

The Marquis stared blankly at his wife, unable to say a word.

He must be quite surprised and bewildered to see her drinking animal blood so deliciously when she used to vomit everything she ate.

The Marchioness’s incurable disease wasn’t actually a disease.

The root cause was being bitten on the ankle by Titania, an evil spirit that survives on animal blood, while staying at her parents’ home.

Titania was as small as a mosquito, and its bite only stung a little, so it was easy to dismiss it as just an insect bite.

But if left untreated, one’s body would become unable to consume anything but animal blood.

“More… Please give me more.”

Darling. I’m so thirsty. Please give me more.

The Marchioness clutched tightly at the Marquis’s clothes.

The Marquis urgently shouted at the servant.

“Bring more! Quickly!”

The Marchioness eventually emptied another bowl and exhaled with satisfaction.

But… perhaps she ate too much at once.

“Urgh! Ugh!”

“My dear!”

“Mother!”

The blood she drank came back up.

Her weakened stomach couldn’t handle it all at once.

Chilling gazes turned towards me.

A cold sweat ran down my back.

“Throw that impudent little brat in the dungeon!”

***

“That’s what happened.”

Furrowing my brows and fidgeting with my fingers unnecessarily, I added gloomily.

“They say we’ll become crow food tonight. But we don’t have any meat to peck at.”

At my words, Rory’s face turned pale.

“Young lady. Are you scared?”

“Uh… Uung.”

You seem to be the scared one.

His pouting lips and watery eyes looked cute and pitiful.

Is this why people keep teasing babies?

“Shall I hug you then?”

Isn’t it you who wants to be hugged?

Not wanting to embarrass the frightened child, I nodded slightly.

As soon as I agreed, he rushed into my arms, his body warm.

I could feel Rory’s chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Rory.”

“Hic. Y-yes.”

“I was kidding.”

“Pardon…?”

Rory tried to back away in disbelief.

I grabbed his retreating arm, put it back in place, and smiled softly.

It was a bit cold in the underground dungeon, but being hugged felt nice and warmed me up.

“No. Everything I’ve said so far is true, but we’re not going to die.”

Clank.

Creak.

The sound of the prison door opening was heard.

“Come out quickly, Lady Hauser.”

It was Violet Crumble.

***

When the enraged Marquis shouted to imprison me, my heart momentarily sank.

My body trembled at the piercing chill.

The thought that I might actually die left my mind blank.

I thought he might just chop off my head regardless of my noble status.

It was Violet who stopped the knights from approaching me immediately.

“Stop. I’ll guide her to the dungeon. You follow three meters behind.”

Violet grabbed my arm and slowly started walking.

Then she lowered her voice and whispered.

“I believe you. It’s the first time Mother has asked for more food when even the smell of it made her retch before. Father’s judgment is too clouded to think rationally. As you saw, he’s quite the lovesick fool of the century.”

Her tone seemed both mocking and bitter.

Walking while looking straight ahead, she glanced at me and asked.

“You’re a noble, aren’t you? Lady Hauser of the Count’s family.”

How did she…?

As I looked at her in surprise, Violet explained with a smirk.

“We received a message that the Hauser family sent a young male slave. There was no news about a sister coming, but you appeared. How could a noble look like a commoner just by wearing shabby clothes? Even your well-groomed hair gives it away.”

“You received the message?”

“As I said earlier, Father isn’t in his right mind now. All matters within the mansion are reported to me. Even external communications have to go through me before reaching Father. The aide and butler help a lot, so most of my job is just stamping documents.”

The Violet I knew was just a villainess blinded by love who tormented the female protagonist…

Her bitter gaze and calm voice revealed a maturity unbefitting an eight-year-old child.

“I’ll help you.”

She looked at me with downcast eyes and gave a faint smile.

Violet’s childhood, which I couldn’t know and wasn’t curious about while reading the novel.

“Seeing that you’re not revealing your family name, you must have some circumstances, right? You’ve given me hope that you might be able to cure my mother’s illness, so I’ll repay the favor.”

Perhaps she had been underestimated under the name of a villainess.

“Tell me what you want.”

It was a sweet whisper, like a genie from a wish-granting lamp.