I Thought I Healed the Villain’s Sickly Younger Brother

Was it because they had an honest conversation?

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly an honest conversation, but after that day, Ariel no longer obsessed over the “Dragon’s Tears.”

This was also quite fortunate for Agnes.

Whenever he heard that Ariel was coming to the Tower—no, even at the slightest hint of it—he would flee in a hurry.

After all, Ariel would always demand, “Give me the tears!” and beat him mercilessly.

He said he might actually shed real tears of joy now that he didn’t have to deal with that anymore.

Seren frowned as he brought up all the work Agnes had dumped on him during that time.

Anyway, after that, Ariel quietly worked in his office or prepared for the wedding with Merrien.

“Merri, the butler said that these days it’s trendy to line the entrance to the venue with your favorite flowers.”

“Ah.”

Merrien squinted one eye.

‘I was deliberately not mentioning that.’

Charlotte, who had visited when Ariel wasn’t around, had indeed mentioned something like that.

But honestly.

No matter how she thought about it, the idea of covering everything with blue roses was absurd.

‘Do we want to bankrupt a country?’

She believed the blue roses in the mansion’s outer garden were more than enough.

Hadn’t she been told that these roses had been gathered from all over the world?

So she had been extremely careful not to let this information reach Ariel’s ears.

Make the impossible possible.

That was Ariel’s motto.

If Ariel heard about it, he would somehow threaten kingdoms that produced blue roses to make it happen.

‘Judging by his expression, it seems like already…’

It was already too late.

Ariel’s eyes twinkled like they had stars in them.

Perhaps he had already sent threatening letters to various kingdoms before even mentioning this to her.

Merrien glanced sideways at the butler standing quietly by the door.

But strangely.

Usually, he would have whistled and pretended not to know anything, or claimed he had something to do and left, but he was just standing there.

In this unexpected situation, Merrien was the one who became puzzled.

Keeping her gaze fixed on the butler, she asked Ariel.

“You didn’t threaten other kingdoms to produce blue roses, did you? They’re already rare flowers, and there’s no need to go that far.”

“Merri, what do you take me for?”

At his resolute response, Merrien’s head turned automatically.

Ariel pouted as if genuinely wronged.

“No matter how obsessed I am with blue roses, I wouldn’t do something so cruel.”

“…Hmm?”

“Since we both like roses, let’s just use all different colors. That would work, right?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Ariel smiled brightly and gave these instructions directly to the butler.

It was truly a clean resolution.

‘Something seems suspicious.’

The problem was that it was too clean.

Having been almost completely swayed by Ariel’s conversation, Merrien belatedly examined what he had said.

He claimed he wouldn’t do something so cruel, but he was definitely capable of it.

It was strange how he ended the conversation without giving her a chance to speak further.

‘Well, I don’t know.’

But it was just about placing flowers at the wedding venue, so there wasn’t much point in being suspicious.

With this, the seemingly endless wedding preparations were finally complete.

The wedding day was not far off.

She had been preparing calmly because it didn’t feel real, but now that the day was approaching…

‘I’m excited.’

Merrien secretly placed her hand over her heart when Ariel wasn’t looking.

Thump, thump, thump.

Just thinking about the wedding made her heart beat faster with anticipation.

***

“Saint, it’s time to wake up!”

Merrien’s eyes flew open at the maid Rica’s booming voice as she flung open the door.

Wow…

‘I didn’t sleep at all.’

Tweet, tweet. Oblivious to her feelings, birds chirped energetically outside.

Even though the sun had barely risen.

“Come on, Saint. You need to get ready!”

Rica, who quickly reached Merrien’s bed, rolled up her sleeves.

Following her, other maids also appeared, rolling up their sleeves.

Today, they all had determined expressions, as if they had made up their minds about something.

“Mmm…”

Merrien rubbed her sleepy eyelids and slowly infused her body with holy power.

‘I’m really, really grateful.’

Though her mind was still exhausted, at least she could heal her body somehow.

Finally.

It was Merrien and Ariel’s wedding day.

***

If Merrien had a romantic dream about her wedding, it was definitely a white wedding dress.

A white wedding dress with abundant frills.

Hehe. Merrien smiled contentedly as she checked her appearance in the prepared mirror.

The maids, including Rica, had often complimented her saying “You look truly beautiful,” but today especially.

“Saint. Really…”

“I look too beautiful?”

“I think I might cry because you’re so beautiful…”

“…Rica? What if you really cry?”

Rica had praised her with actual tears streaming down her face.

It might be partly because she was exceptionally well-dressed today, but perhaps it was also like the feeling of parents sending off their daughter.

Merrien recalled the memory of holding Rica’s trembling hands just moments ago.

“Rica.”

“Yes, yes, Saint…”

“From now on, don’t call me Saint, call me Madam. Saint feels too distant.”

“Ma-Madam. Yes, I understand. Madam!”

To be so happy over just being called Madam.

I should have told her to call me Miss earlier.

Merrien placed the mirror on the table.

Knock knock-

At that moment, someone knocked on the bride’s waiting room door.

“Merrien, we’re here. May we come in?”

It was Charlotte’s voice, cautious yet lively.

“Yes, of course! Please come in!”

When Charlotte opened the door handle, suddenly, children came pouring in.

“Children, I told you not to run, didn’t I?”

Charlotte hurriedly reached out her hands to stop them, but the children had already positioned themselves right next to Merrien.

“Saint, you’re so pretty!”

“Congratulations, Saint!”

“Thank you.”

Twelve children clustered together.

It seemed like just yesterday she had thought of them as little nose-pickers, but now more than half of them were taller than Merrien when she was seated.

Perhaps it was because they ate and slept well.

Their growth was remarkable, and Charlotte shook her head at the children who simply could not be controlled.

“They were all so insistent on greeting you. It was really noisy.”

“It must have been hard for you, Charlotte.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Alex came along to help, too.”

Charlotte pointed outside the door with a bright smile. At the end of her finger, the butler peeked his head in and bowed.

He seemed embarrassed about following his lover on his master’s wedding day.

“Well, we need to find our seats, so we’ll be going now. There are so many invited guests!”

“Yes, see you later!”

Charlotte quickly left the bride’s waiting room, leading the twelve children.

Even though the children were uncontrollable, she handled them quite skillfully, probably due to her long experience with them.

The door closed.

In the suddenly quiet room, Merrien fidgeted with her dress for no reason.

There was still some time before the wedding ceremony would begin…

‘Is there anyone else coming?’

It seemed like everyone who was supposed to visit had already come and gone.

But that thought didn’t last long.

Knock knock-

As if on cue, another knock was heard.

“Yes, come in.”

Though puzzled, Merrien answered anyway.

And the person who entered was…

“It’s been a while, Merrien.”

It was Agnes.

“…Mr. Agnes. It has been a while.”

Merrien tried to smile as if she wasn’t surprised. Agnes surely noticed the corners of her mouth trembling.

Merrien’s gaze slowly examined Agnes standing at the door.

He was neatly dressed in a white shirt and black suit, appropriate for a wedding.

In fact, this was the first time she had seen him dressed so tidily.

Perhaps finding it curious, Merrien’s gaze moved from Agnes’s clothes to his arm.

‘That’s…’

When Merrien’s gaze stopped, Agnes hastily covered his arm.

“Ah, congratulations on your wedding.”

“Thank you.”

Merrien also looked away in surprise.

‘Wasn’t that the bracelet I gave him before?’

On Agnes’s arm was the crudely shaped bracelet Merrien had given him when she thought he was a child.

“I tried to squeeze out tears, but unfortunately, none came.”

“Haha… That’s okay. By the way, I heard Ariel beat you terribly. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. He’s always been that kind of guy, so what’s new?”

After the pleasantries, an awkward silence fell between them.

It was a very brief silence, but both of them felt extremely uncomfortable, to the point where cold sweat ran down their backs.

Agnes cleared his throat and grabbed the door handle.

“Well, I should be going now.”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Agnes.”

Though he seemed to have more to say, Merrien didn’t particularly want to keep him and promptly saw him off.

Only after Agnes left did Merrien take a deep breath as if her airways had cleared.

“Saint, it’s time for your entrance!”

Not long after, it was Merrien’s turn to make her entrance.

***

Merrien walked down a dreamlike path.

A path made of colorful roses that stretched from the entrance.

At the end of the seemingly endless path stood Ariel, smiling and reaching out his hand.

Ariel in a white tuxedo.

Why was he so obsessed with couple outfits?

When she said she wanted to wear a white wedding dress, he chose that tuxedo without a moment’s hesitation.

While thinking such trivial thoughts, she suddenly found herself in front of Ariel.

“Merri.”

“……”

Merrien took a breath at Ariel’s gentle voice.

She carefully placed her hand on top of his outstretched one.

Suddenly, a wind began to blow from their hands.

“!!!”

Merrien’s eyes widened.

What was he doing…!

But looking behind Ariel, she saw a strong wind blowing over the roses lining the path.

The wind grew so strong it seemed like a whirlwind, visible to the n*ked eye, and it looked like it might cover all the roses.

Pop!

Suddenly, the wind disappeared with a cheerful sound.

…?

In this absurd situation, everyone just stared at Ariel, who was clearly the culprit.

But then.

“My, my goodness!”

People who checked the roses covered their mouths and stood up abruptly.

“Blue roses, they’re blue roses!”

The once-colorful roses began to change one by one. Before long, they had all transformed into blue roses.

In fact, blue roses could only be seen at the Hartez mansion; they were extremely rare flowers, so everyone stared in amazement.

Merrien glared at Ariel.

“…Ariel.”

“Magic.”

Ariel just smiled.

‘I see, I thought something was strange.’

It didn’t seem like he had sprayed dye on the roses; they were genuinely blue roses.

‘I can’t even imagine what he did to other kingdoms…’

To pull something like this on their wedding day.

Is this marriage really the right…!

There was no time to think further.

Because Ariel pressed his lips against Merrien’s.

The people who had been staring blankly at the blue roses suddenly realized that the wedding’s protagonists were strangely quiet.

Dozens of gazes turned back to the center.

Immediately, they caught sight of the two with their lips pressed together. At this, everyone smiled broadly and began to applaud.

“Congratulations on your wedding!”

“Congratulations!”

Merrien, whose eyes had widened like a rabbit’s, saw Ariel calmly closing his eyes and quietly closed her own.

Fireworks prepared by the Tower exploded above the two with loud bangs.

Agnes, who was quietly watching this…

Drip.

“…?”

He wiped something flowing down his cheek with his hand.

A warm, transparent liquid.

Could it be…

Drip, drip, drip.

As soon as Agnes realized what it was, he shed uncontrollable tears.

Despite his completely expressionless face.

He hurriedly left the venue, afraid someone might see him.

Fortunately, everyone was watching the couple, so no one had seen him.

‘…Yes, they’ll be happy.’

In the end, he found himself wishing them the happiness he had never wanted to wish for them.

He didn’t know when he would be able to forget Merrien, but it seemed it wouldn’t be before she died.

It was a moment that was the happiest day for some and the most miserable day for others.

I Thought I Healed the Villain’s Sickly Younger Brother Side Story End

T/N: This is now the third novel that painfully reminds me how important it is not to take too much time for translation. Good for you—the reader—as it means novels will be completely translated faster from now on. Bad for me, since in cases like this, I never have a 100% confident opinion at the end of a novel, as I simply can’t remember everything. I just read too much (ᇂ_ᇂ |||)

Now to the ending: A beautiful conclusion for our protagonists, but with a rather bitter aftertaste. I’ll elaborate on that aftertaste shortly, but first: I found the solution for the system very interesting, especially how Merrien saw it as an opportunity to give Forcite a chance at his own happiness. I’m honestly a bit disappointed that there wasn’t at least one side story chapter dedicated to him. To end his story with a nice conclusion as well. And especially to satisfy my curiosity about how he envisions his happiness.

Let’s get back to the bitter aftertaste. Agnes, my poooor dragon.

Why must the author keep stepping on our poor dragon? We know he has a broken heart. There’s no need to rub it in the reader’s face every other line. By the way, it’s worth mentioning how well Agnes handles his feelings. No forcing his emotions on others, no unnecessarily making her feel guilty, etc., which other men in novels often do. He only confessed his feelings once, and even then, only in a roundabout way. So even in that moment, he thought more about the aftermath than briefly about himself. And above all, he doesn’t behave drastically differently, making Merrien feel super uncomfortable. Based on what we usually see in Korean novels/manhwas, I would have expected far different behavior at the wedding. Was it really necessary, for example, to portray Merrien as not wanting him anywhere near her, as if he had ever done anything to her? It’s been too long for me to remember correctly, but I’m pretty sure the two had a different relationship dynamic before. The last sentence, paired with his first tears, was the final straw for me. Does the author know that a happy ending should be written happily? ┬─┬ノ(ಠ_ಠノ)

Now to Charlotte, our OG FL: I’m surprised how well she adapted to the changed story. No unnecessary “OG FL is/becomes evil” plot, no unnecessary “what if Ariel and she got together now” thoughts from Merrien. No pointless jealousy for whatever reason. Just a wholesome blossoming friendship between two Saints who developed a wonderful friendship thanks to the events.

The fact that she and the butler were a thing was nice, but honestly, I could have done without reading almost an entire chapter about how we stalked their date through Ariel and Merrien.

Well, to conclude once more for those who may not have read it: I will return with Snu Snu chapters sometime in the next few months. I sincerely hope this effort will be worth it. But only to please my pure reader heart and of course for you—for nothing else—ahem. ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃