The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

“… I couldn’t do it when I saw you sleeping so soundly. I’m worried. And… I’m sorry for your pain, but I reached out because I couldn’t pass it as your moonlight hair was so beautiful.”

She remembered something similar that she heard from him. He always told her that it didn’t go as he thought when he saw her face-to-face.

Even though he said that she was beautiful, it was an answer that could be misleading. It was too much for the daughter of a prostitute. Was he too noble to have such a conversation with her? He was different from Mielle, who was pretending to be noble. So, as she was hesitant to answer, Asher sat on the side of the bed. He put aside his shyness and said, staring gently at Aria’s eyes,

“I don’t want to see you suffering like this.”

Although he didn’t want to see it, there was nothing that he could do. It was all to come in at dawn and see her face secretly. But no matter what she was now, she was the daughter of a prostitute. With the fact that he had an acquaintance, he might get swept away by idle speculation and rumors, and why was he talking about this to her?

“I’ve been thinking about a lot before, but… I’ve come to have realized with this incident. I could not meet you easily even though something happened to you.”

Aria slowly picked herself up when she heard that. Aria’s face, leaning against the bedhead, was full of embarrassment. In the past, she, who had had meetings with countless men, could guess the following words of Asher but tried to deny that her assumption was ridiculous.

“So I felt like I wanted you to be around so that I could meet you anytime, and that no one could hurt you.”

What Asher told her was what Aria thought. Aria’s eyes shook without rest when she heard what he said.

‘Were you just thinking? Or did you mean what you said?’ Either way, she was sure she would be a stumbling block in the way of the future of Asher. It was best for him and for her to maintain a relationship without anyone knowing it.

“How dare you! I am just another thing to you.”

So she answered like that and looked away. But he didn’t seem to want to end what he had just said and didn’t give up easily.

“Perhaps… don’t you like me or feel uncomfortable?”

“No, that’s not…”

No way. She had never lowered her guard to any man. She had always cooked to her own taste and used her greatest weapon, beauty, to make them lose heart. That was only possible because Aria didn’t feel anything for her opponent, but Asher was the only one she couldn’t resist.

It might be because he had been unusual from their first meeting. The unpredictable mix of situations and encounters had made it impossible to judge on the same lines as the other men she had met.

Perhaps it was because she had continued the meeting from the beginning without expressing her real intention. It had not been for her to not like him from the beginning, no matter what the process had been. No, she had been rather happy when he had worried about herself or she had come across him accidentally.

“But I’m sure I’m not going to be of help to you. I’m from a humble family that doesn’t match Mr. Asher. Everyone will swear.”

It was the plain truth. No matter how much the reputation of Aria was changing, the stigma of being the daughter of a prostitute would always be there. But he didn’t seem to think so.

“Is there anything more stupid than judging a person on such a useless basis? I don’t, but do you judge people by their origin?”

“No…”

“And now I’m not weak enough to be swayed by such trivial rumors.”

There was confidence in his eyes when he retorted. For him, who had long been oppressed and tested, what Aria was worried about seemed to be a trivial matter.

“In addition, you are clever enough to make such rumors useless. At least that’s what I’ve seen.”

He smiled softly saying what he could not easily convey, but he was full of trust and faith even though he did not know much of what Aria had achieved. While staring at Aria, who was speechless, his eyes blushed again.

“I just thought about it, but I didn’t mean to tell you this much… That’s always what happens when I face you. I didn’t mean to ask for an answer.”

Maybe he was trying to ease the burden by appearing suddenly and making surprising remarks, and he added, “Don’t pay much attention to me.” However, Aria did not respond because it was something that she couldn’t help but pay attention to.

“I was going to send this by letter, but instead, now that I’ve had the opportunity, I’d better tell you in person.”

With a soft look, he faced Aria with a serious face. In an instant the mood changed, Aria swallowed her saliva and waited for he would say.

“I caught the criminal who tried to kill you. I personally let people search. I was thinking about what to do, and I thought it would be right to let you know first, so I was going to leave the letter behind.”

He took the letter out of his arms and said. When Aria accepted the letter, he added an explanation.

“The letter says where she is being detained. I’ll leave it up to you.”

“… That’s the maid who tried to hurt me. Do you know what I’m going to do to her?”

“You’re doing it for a reason, whatever you do.”

As he said, “That is all I can to do,” he kissed the back of Aria’s hand softly and left. Her eyes followed the traces of him, who disappeared like a mirage.

‘I’m doing it for a reason, whatever I do…?’

She was always uncomfortable somewhere with impure thoughts in her mind, but when she heard it, she suddenly felt at ease as if she had been justified. Perhaps he could say so because he didn’t know everything about Aria, but that was how she was able to put down a load off of her mind.

In the first place, she had never thought of having a special relationship with him because he was going to marry the princess later on, but she thought that she didn’t have to avoid it now that she had made a lot of different moves.

* * *

Aria, unable to sleep at all after Asher’s visit, hurried to the place Asher had informed her of as soon as dawn came. It wasn’t a place to laugh and go for a conversation, so she prepared herself simply and unnoticed. She thought about which of the maids she should take, but she didn’t think it would look good, so she went out with the knight, John.

“I want to be alone, so please stay outside and wait for me.”

Aria, who told John so, rented a new carriage through the cafe owner and headed alone to the place where Berry was detained. In preparation for any possibility, she put the carriage on standby at a store a little further away from where Asher had informed her and walked for a long time.

It was a shabby warehouse that people had not visited for a long time. She didn’t know if there was no surveillance at first, or if he had thought Aria would come and left it empty, but there was no one there.

Screech. When she opened the old door and went inside, she saw Berry lying in a corner of a warehouse with scattered straw. Even though she had run away nicely, she was now in a shabby mess.

‘Why would you do such a bad thing? You don’t have anything.’

As she raised her head at the sound of the door opening, she showed off the white of her eyes as soon as the evil woman of the world she had tried to poison appeared.

“Ah, ah, ah…!”

‘What does she want to say?’ To prevent self-harming, the only thing flowing through Berry’s mouth was an ugly groan because a cloth was pushed deep into her throat.

“It’s been a long time, Berry. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Where and how have you been?”

Then Aria slowly approached Berry. She grabbed Berry’s hair as she approached.

“How do you feel when the evil girl you thought was dead came back to life?”

As Aria smiled brightly and asked, Berry burst into tears. There was still a groan of unknown meaning from her mouth. With the fear of imminent death, she seemed crazy.