The Reason I Have To Be A Villain

[Renée’s POV]

Susan twisted her wrist as my heart calmed down and my breathing became more comfortable.

“Let go of this…….”

“Susan.”

Susan, frozen at my call, looked at me. Looking down at her, I muttered dryly.

“Yes, think as you please. It’s none of my business. Whether you think of me as your master, as someone else, or as nothing.”

“…….”

“However, no matter how much you think so, whatever I am, I am now Renée Blair.”

I muttered in a small voice that only Susan could hear, and let go of her wrist as if tossing it.

Then I saw Catherine coming down the stairs. Catherine descended slowly, then hurriedly came down, wondering what was going on, perhaps surprised by the sight unfolding before her eyes.

I glanced at Catherine like that and then pointed at Susan.

“Catherine, kick this woman out.”

“Yes… Yes?”

Catherine answered casually, then asked again. Susan’s expression hardened visibly. On the other hand, I smiled.

“Why do you make that face? You’re the one who said I wasn’t the owner, Susan. Did you think I’d keep someone around me saying such outrageous things?”

“……Do you think you have that authority? Only your Excellency…….”

“Did no one tell Susan that I’m managing the employees now?”

A cold silence came over my words. Susan made a face of incomprehension, but soon returned with a dry expression as if she had grasped the situation.

“Even if I don’t have that authority, you shouldn’t dare ignore my words, should you?”

“…….”

“I thought you were smart, but I don’t think you’re that smart, so I’ll tell you exactly, Susan.”

“…….”

“You’re fired.”

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It was the moment when the words were spoken. A ringing sound echoed, and the mission success window popped up.

Today’s mission is a success!
– Compensation: 100 gold-

It was the first time. I wasn’t happy even after completing the mission.

***

[Reden’s POV]

After returning from work earlier than usual, Reden realized that it was still before dinnertime and subconsciously thought it would be okay to have dinner with his sister.

Unfamiliar with that thought that came naturally, Reden frowned and got out of the carriage. But somehow, the atmosphere of the employees greeting me was strange. Even Catherine, the butler, was not seen.

Busy? Thinking simply, he witnessed a strange sight as soon as he entered the mansion. In the hall on the first floor, Catherine, the butler, and Susan, the maid, were arguing.

Before he could ask what was going on, Susan, who had spotted him first, passed Catherine and quickly came over to greet him with courtesy.

“It’s been a while, Your Excellency.”

“Yes…… What are you doing now?”

“Your Excellency.”

Catherine also approached. Reden took on a quizzical look at Catherine’s unusual expression. But it was Susan, not Catherine, who spoke up.

“Your Excellency, may I venture to say something?”

“Yes.”

“……I’m afraid to say this, sir. The current lady is not the lady.”

A strange look appeared on Reden’s face, who was not interested in Susan’s sudden words. His eyes were a warm color, but his gaze was very cold. Susan didn’t care about that gaze and continued.

“It is as if she has become a different person. She does things she wouldn’t have done at all, and her tone of voice and the way she treats a maid like me are also different.”

“Your Excellency, this maid is now talking about anything in the shock of being fired.”

Catherine intervened, but Reden continued to look down at Susan. Susan took it as a sign to keep talking and didn’t stop.

“Your Excellency, did you not find it strange? I’m sure your Excellency must have felt a sense of incongruity.”

“Susan, stop…….”

“Catherine! You must have felt it too! Are you just thinking that the lady has changed like the other maids? That woman is not the young lady!”

Uncharacteristically enraged, Susan shouted and breathed heavily, then exhaled a long, thin breath.

“Ten years, sir. I’ve been supporting her for 10 years. I know better that it’s not the lady. She’s not the lady! I don’t know what she’s done, but she’s replaced it or……. It’s absurd, but it went into the lady’s body……. In any case, you should ask the woman where the lady is. The lady, she must be dangerous.”

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Reden didn’t respond until the end. He just asked Catherine next to Susan about something else.

“Why did the child fire Susan?”

“From what I hear….”

“No, change of question. Did it seem to you that the child had fired unreasonably?”

When Reden asked dryly, slightly narrowing his brows as if he was annoyed, Catherine shut her mouth for a moment and shook her head.

“No. She was right in her judgment.”

“All right then. Drive her out, even with force.”

“Your Excellency…!”

In an unbelievable situation, Susan urgently called Reden. It was a very desperate voice, but Reden moved without regret as if he couldn’t hear it.

Catherine sighed and grabbed Susan’s forearm. Susan stood there, clenched her fists, and shouted out loud.

“Your Excellency must have noticed that she has changed, and your Excellency intends to keep silent!”

“Susan, don’t be tyrannical.”

“I don’t understand. Are you silent just because that woman is gentler than the lady? Is that pathetically stupid woman more important than the young lady?”

Toweringly, Reden’s footsteps stopped and a chilly silence came to the hall. Soon, the silence was broken as Reden turned around.

Reden’s eyes, facing Susan as he turned his back, were no longer dull.

Reden, who had been staring at Susan with quiet angry eyes, strode forward differently from a moment ago and looked down at Susan.

He whispered in a low voice.

“Can you take responsibility for what you just said?”

The voice that pierced her ears was cold enough to freeze her to the bone.

In an instant, Susan realized that she had just done something crazy, but it was too late.

When she did not answer, Reden continued.

“The child, What if she just felt uncertain and simply changed her behavior, what are you going to do?”

“…….”

“I asked what would you do if it was simply your delusion. Will you cut off the tongue that spoke disturbingly? Or are you going to sew up the mouth with a hole because it’s out of line?”

“…….”

“After ten years of support……. Yes, I’m sure you’ve seen her the longest among the employees in this mansion. But aren’t you the wrong person to say it?”

Reden laughed uncharacteristically. His smile, which seemed not to be amused, seemed to poke Susan.

“I have been with that child all her life. Don’t I know more about her than you, who’s only seen her for ten years?”

Susan’s face hardened. Reden returned with an expressionless face as usual, looked down, and briefly glanced at Catherine.

Accepting the meaning of the gaze, Catherine dragged Susan’s arm.

Susan vigorously shook Catherine’s hand. Then, as if she hadn’t been frozen before, she smiled, grabbed the hem of her skirt and greeted him politely.

“I see. If that’s your will, I’ll go out. Thank you for all this time.”

It was a noble posture and tone that didn’t lose until the end. Reden ignored Susan without showing any ridicule or anger.

***

Thump, Reden, who made Catherine who was trying to follow him back down, and went to the office alone, suddenly hit his forehead on the wall.

A sharp pain ran down his forehead. Nevertheless, Reden leaned against the wall with a nonchalant face and looked down.

Something just came to mind. The heated voice still rang in my ears.

‘That woman is not a young lady!’

‘Your Excellency intends to keep silent!’

‘Are you silent just because that woman is gentler than the lady?’

And what did he say?

‘I have been with that child all her life. Don’t I know more about her than you, who’ve only seen her for ten years?’

Even thinking about it, it was a ridiculous statement. What do you know? What the hell?

‘Only yesterday, I also said she seemed to be a different person.’

The thing is, I still can’t get rid of that thought.

Yes, the maid’s suspicions were reasonable. It certainly was.

She was so different from the woman she was just two months ago that I couldn’t understand just by saying that she had changed. Even so, the reason for ignoring the maid’s words.

It’s just…

I didn’t want to hear her speak ill of the child. Strangely enough, I didn’t want to hear that she wasn’t her. On the subject of doubt that she might not be.

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Blinking, his stiff eyes closed and opened, barely getting out of the tomb of thoughts. Indifferently rubbing his dry eyes, he turned around.

The destination was my sister’s bedroom. It seemed that the maid had spoken harsh words to her, so it was to see what was going on.

However, he was forced to stop again due to Handel running urgently.

“Your, Your Excellency…! See you.….”

“Greetings are fine. What else is going on?

“Th, that’s what the lady……. The lady is gone… … !”

“What?”

“Bedroom, she definitely went back to the bedroom, but she’s not in the bedroom……. I’ve looked everywhere at the mansion, but she’s not there……!”

“……Didn’t she go out?”

Handel shook her head urgently with a tearful face.

“I asked the coachman and the gatekeeper, but the lady had never been out…….”

“Is it true that you properly searched the inside of the mansion?”

“I swear…! I looked for her with other maids, but she’s not in the mansion…”….”

“……Let’s look for more.”

What else are you doing……. Reden gave a brief command to Handel and headed straight for her room.

When he arrived shortly thereafter, there was certainly no one in her room.

It was getting dark outside the window, so Reden’s brow narrowed. Where did you go at this hour?

Reden turned his head and found a piece of paper that had fallen on the floor and picked it up at once.

“Dismissal…?

What was written on the paper was nothing other than a notice of dismissal. His expression, which was suspicious, immediately relaxed. I thought it might have been brought out to fire the maid.

However, what was written on the letter of dismissal was not the maid’s name. It was my sister’s name no matter how many times I blinked because I doubted my eyes.

Come to think of it, she said she became a maid herself to carry out the mission. That kind of kid wrote her name on the letter of dismissal… …

‘I guess the mission this time was to fire the maid.’

Coral-colored eyes rolled slowly and landed on the desk. After remaining silent for a moment, he hesitated and wavered before opening the drawer of his desk.

A bundle of resumes came into view at a glance. In addition, my sister’s resume was at the top.

‘You really did write a resume.’

Looking at her resume as if he had hesitated, Reden blinked at a slight sense of incompatibility.  I gradually realized that I was reading the same part over and over again with a sense of incongruity that I did not know where it started.

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‘The handwriting… has changed.’

It did. The writing on her resume had changed completely to the point where it was strange that I had noticed it now.

Originally, it was as jagged and difficult to read as it was written by a terribly old person. It was such a bad handwriting, but now it is so elegant that it can be read smoothly.

Did someone else write it? One plausible possibility came to mind, but was quickly dismissed.

It was because there was no way anyone else would write a bizarre resume for the daughter of a marquis family to become that family’s maid. Above all, if it was ghostwriting, rumors would have spread that the ‘lady’ was trying to become a ‘maid’.

In other words, this elegant handwriting matches his sister’s handwriting.

Then why has it changed so dramatically?

One strange thing is that this elegant handwriting is not unfamiliar. Rather… …

Rather, it’s familiar?

No, it’s like seeing it for the first time in a while… …

Yes, strangely, it seemed like I hadn’t seen this elegant handwriting in a long time.

TL/N: Halppp I can’t stop Tling??!! The plot seems to be thickening and things are spicing up!