"What... What is she doing here?!"
The commoner I had sheltered looked completely different from how I had ever known her.
Instead of a simple shirt made of coarse material, a magnificent mantle adorned with precious stones lay on her shoulders. On the thumb of her left hand sparkled the imperial family ring, whose value exceeded my annual allowance several times over.
I froze, motionless as a stone.
"....."
Honestly, after we parted, I had several times imagined our possible meeting in the future.
For example, we might accidentally run into each other on the street a few years later, and it would be a pleasant surprise, prompting us to remember our shared, albeit short, past.
We would sit in some café and discuss the latest news from each other's lives. I would be interested to know how the fate of the commoner I once saved had turned out.
Despite the fact that our acquaintance happened completely spontaneously, I couldn't deny that I had grown attached to her. I was truly sad when she left, leaving behind only a short note. And although I tried to push these thoughts out of my head, from time to time they still returned to me.
A little over a week had passed since our parting.
I couldn't have expected to see her again so soon.
And if the situation were different, I might have believed that this meeting was just a coincidence. But now I couldn't close my eyes to it. The circumstances of what had happened were more than obvious.
I never would have thought that I would feel in the presence of the "commoner" like an animal trapped in a cage. Especially when a chilling voice sounded in my ears: "What's the matter? You're so quiet."
"......"
She uttered these words covered in red blood. The liquid, exuding a metallic smell, was on her clothes, her beautiful face, her dark brown hair, and dripped down like water after rain. At the moment those golden eyes turned to me, I stopped breathing.
The realization of what was happening slowly dawned on me. Like information loading on a hard drive, I stood with my mouth open. Countless memories of the time we spent together flashed before my eyes. Until the last moment, I wanted to believe I was mistaken.
However...
No matter how I looked at it, I had to admit that the only person in the empire capable of such a thing was her. The main villainess of this novel. The psychopath obsessed with a thirst for bloodshed, bringing destruction and human suffering wherever she appeared.
The person who, more than anyone else, deserved to pay for her deeds.
Kaena Hessen de Ronan.
The comment with the most likes was still alive in my memory.
[The author is on fire. The villainess massacres thousands of people in the first ten chapters, and how the hell is our heroine supposed to defeat her?]
In every chapter, innocent people suffered because of the main villainess. Without her existence in this world, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of people, would have remained alive. She was completely sick in the head.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Yahoo! She's finally dead!"
I didn't know how long I had waited for this. I couldn't wait to see that scene — when I was reading the novel. I clutched my mobile phone in my hands and was completely satisfied with the novel's climax, which I read from spoilers.
"Now the main heroine has a bright future ahead, right?"
The death of the villainess, the tyrant who was destroying the country, was the best part of this novel for me. After all, that's the point of such stories — to eagerly await justice prevailing. Karma works on everyone. No one goes unpunished.
At least, I had believed in this philosophy all my life.
However... I turned out to be the one who destroyed it. To hell with everything.
I didn't even have an excuse for myself.
And to be precise, only one question tormented me.
"Where was my brain at that moment...?!"
The girl I met wounded near my house hadn't aroused the slightest suspicion in me.
Rather, with her clumsy and naive character, she had seemed even a little pitiful to me. She wasn't at all like a mass murderer.
But, as it turned out, the naive fool was me.
"Camilla."
The voice uttering my name seemed completely unfamiliar to me and made me shudder.
The Crown Princess stared intently at me and began to slowly approach. Her expression now revealed the maniac in her.
When the girl began to come closer and closer, I saw something dripping.
It was blood. Dark red blood dripped from the tip of the sharp sword in her hand. Whose blood was it? The faces of our family's knights and my personal maid quickly flashed through my mind. All these people had unjustly suffered only because they were accompanying me.
An overwhelming feeling of guilt constricted my throat more than anything else.
"Elisha and everyone else, please forgive me..." — it was pointless to ask forgiveness from the dead, but nevertheless, I wanted to express my sincere regret to all the victims.
I thought, looking at the drops running down the blade. Well, obviously, this time it was my turn.
The thought of running away didn't even cross my mind. I knew in advance it would be useless.
Knowing the terrifying skills of the Crown Princess, she would need only one movement to cut off my head. More precisely, if I tried to run, I would only worsen my fate. The main villainess was the type who liked to torment her victims before their death. So, she would probably kill me slowly and painfully.
Therefore, I decided to accept my death quickly.
After all, this was the payback for my own mistake.
Nevertheless, I still recoiled, unable to contain my natural fear of the woman's bloody appearance. As she approached, the ground where she left her footprints became dark red. Bloodied, with a maniacal grimace on her face, she frightened me more than if I had actually met the devil himself.
"Damn, can I at least pray before meeting God?"
But suddenly, she threw the bloody sword into the grass and took a step towards me. I trembled even more.
"There's one question that's always interested me."
"....."
"You are the first person in my life to offer me a helping hand," the main villainess began hoarsely, "Everyone else just wants me dead. Why did you do it?"
I understood that my entire life depended on this answer.
My eye twitched nervously. Is she really interested?
Damn. If I had known from the start who you were, I would never have done it!
I saved the main villainess by accident. It turned out to be the most fatal mistake of my life. If I could turn back time, I would have left her to die, and wouldn't have taken a single step in that direction!
But I felt that if I told her these words, I would speed up the meeting of my head with the ground twice as fast.
So...
"Actually... I'm your fan!" I unexpectedly declared.
Such a "sincere" confession on my part clearly confused her. The villainess's gaze wavered.
"What are you talking about?" she asked again.
"I... I mean, I've always admired your talent!" I exclaimed passionately, "Your Highness, you are truly amazing!"
As I said these words, I carefully avoided looking at the pile of corpses nearby. The metallic smell made nausea rise in my throat. The fake smile on my lips was starting to look more and more neurotic.
I was fighting with myself with all my might. I was really ready to burst into tears.
But...
Since things have turned out this way, I'll have to deal with the consequences of my wrong actions. If I can survive today, I must use any means necessary for that. And after... Well, it's too early to think about what comes "later."
At least, I managed to surprise her.
"You... Do you really think so?"
Her bloodthirsty expression gradually shifted to a bewildered one.
I readily answered, holding up my trembling thumb:
"Your Highness, please know that I am your devoted number one fan!"