I Became The Villain’s Master - Chapter 3.2
No, while pretending to focus, I was inwardly berating myself.
In typical possession novels, a few words from the protagonist would turn even the meanest characters into docile lambs.
The Hauser family members were not easy at all.
Why was it so difficult only for me?
Why did I realize so late that not all novels are the same, and that novels are just novels, different from reality?
People don’t change easily, and I was arrogant and foolish to think I could change them.
How delusional I was to think I could protect Rory in such a dysfunctional household.
It was a foolish thing to do.
If I had taken Rory and run away earlier, I wouldn’t have put him through such hardship.
Guilt gnawed at me, clawing and nailing myself with one regret after another.
Rory, who had been gazing at me intently, reached out his finger.
He wiped the crumbs from the corner of my mouth and the milk that had formed a mustache on my upper lip, then finished eating his portion.
He didn’t ask any more questions, and we quickened our pace again.
“The path is submerged in water.”
“Keep going.”
At my words, Rory lifted the bag over his head and held the lamp higher.
I grabbed the hem of his clothes and followed.
Splash. Splash.
The water that had been sloshing at our ankles now reached our waists.
“Huff. Huff.”
Breathing became increasingly difficult, as if there wasn’t enough oxygen.
Our soaked clothes clung to our bodies. We were shivering from the cold.
Whoosh.
To make matters worse, the lamp went out.
Rory threw the lamp into the water and gripped the bag tighter with trembling hands.
“The lamp went out, my lady. But we can still follow the wall, so please don’t let go of me…”
Ah.
The temperature was dropping steadily.
It meant night, night was coming.
“My lady?”
“Rory. J-just hold me for a moment…!”
Rory’s clothes slipped through my fingers that I had been gripping tightly.
In an instant, my eye level lowered, and I was submerged in water.
“Mel!”
Plunging into the water without warning, water rushed into my nose and mouth.
‘No…!’
Darkness where I couldn’t see an inch in front of me.
My body was swept up in the cold current like a whirlpool.
Unable to open my eyes, I kicked my feet frantically.
Thud!
My back hit a hard wall, and my body flipped over again.
‘Ugh! No. No. Not now.’
It was painful as if my bones were freezing, and my head was spinning wildly.
My nose, throat, and lungs filling with water burned terribly as if on fire, and my heart pounded violently.
‘Help me! Please!’
At that moment, I felt something hot rush out of my body all at once.
Whoosh-!
Before my suddenly opened eyes, a massive golden thread whirled violently like an angry wave.
***
Bang!
Sugar opened the door before the carriage had even stopped.
Startled by this, the horse reared up on its hind legs.
The coachman hurriedly calmed the horse and stopped the carriage.
Looking back, the eldest young master was already passing through the gate of the Crumble Marquis’s mansion.
Unlike Count Hauser who had ridden ahead on horseback, Sugar had to take the carriage.
Although he was learning to ride, a 10-year-old child was given a pony with a low height, not a swift steed.
“Merchen!”
The gatekeepers didn’t bother to stop him as he passed through the gate, shouting.
It was the wise instruction of young lady Violet.
Even if the Hausers invaded and ransacked every corner of the mansion, they were not to block their way.
Sugar approached the building, crossing the garden to meet Marquis Crumble.
Exuding a fierce aura as if he would bite if touched.
However, the Count had already arrived, finished his conversation with the Marquis, and thoroughly searched every nook and cranny.
“I apologize for the intrusion, Marquis.”
“I have a daughter too. It’s only natural to cooperate. I sincerely hope you find her as soon as possible.”
“Yes. I also hope the Marchioness recovers quickly.”
Sugar ran to his father, who was turning away with a dejected expression.
“Father! What about Merchen? Is Merchen not here?”
“Go to the carriage.”
“No! Marquis Crumble! Did you really not see my sister? Where is the slave now? I must meet him!”
Sugar, who didn’t even greet properly and was being unreasonable, looked completely out of his mind.
As Sugar tried to approach the Marquis, Count Hauser, enraged, grabbed Sugar’s arm forcefully.
“Come to your senses! Merchen is not here! We’ve completely barked up the wrong tree!”
“No! That can’t be! If it’s Merchen, she must have come to save the slave…!”
Slap!
Sugar’s face turned from the harsh blow.
“Don’t make any more of a spectacle. We’ve already caused great trouble for the Marquis. No one has seen even a strand of Merchen’s hair, and there’s no trace! The slave was too young and was sent to a nearby orphanage! They said he was too weak and timid, needing the protection of a facility!”
Anger blazed in Count Hauser’s eyes like a ticking time bomb.
“F…ather.”
“If you hadn’t sent the slave here, Merchen wouldn’t have suddenly run away! Is it even true that he tried to harm Merchen?! Didn’t you dislike him from the start and bully him several times?!”
“No! That’s not true! That cunning brat first…!”
“What would a timid five-year-old know!”
Count Hauser shouted, shaking Sugar’s shoulders.
“If your words were true, you shouldn’t have left Merchen and that child alone in the first place! You should have told me beforehand! But you deliberately didn’t! How am I supposed to interpret this!”
Sugar staggered and contorted his face.
His lie had been completely exposed.
Over his father’s shoulder, he saw the bewildered Marquis Crumble and a girl who had appeared like a ghost from somewhere.
His eyes met her indifferent purple eyes.
“We’ll go home and you’ll tell the whole truth! Get in the carriage now!”
Sugar shook off his father’s rough hand and rushed towards the young Lady Crumble.
“Young lady! Are you certain you didn’t see her? Did Merchen really not come here?!”
Grabbed by Sugar, she stepped back in surprise.
But Sugar advanced as much as she retreated until her back hit the doorway.
“Young master! What insolence is this!”
Marquis Crumble tried to pull Sugar away to protect his daughter, but he persistently clung on, even kneeling down.
“Young lady! Young lady! Please answer me!”
“Sugar Hauser! Will you not stop this!”
The Count grabbed Sugar by the scruff of his neck and threw him down.
Sugar, who had tumbled down the low steps and fallen face-first on the ground, quickly turned and hugged the stair railing post.
His broken glasses rolled on the floor.
“I won’t go until I find Merchen! I can’t go! I’ll turn to stone and die right here!”
“Y-You brat!”
Translator
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ReadaholicBunny
I hope he really treats Rory nicer now.