The Villainess turns the Hourglass
chapter-248-30041322

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

‘What good is it for you to deny that?’ Cain was gone. A knight guessing that the conversation was over pushed her on the back, and she took a step, reflexively.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you this time, Mielle.”

Aria shed tears, and everyone’s anger toward Miele grew except for one person, Mielle, who thought this situation was very strange and weird.

“Mielle, I trusted you… I believed that you would no longer do anything bad! How could you…”

As Miele, who was pushed out of the front door by the knights, was about to go out, she heard Jessie’s resentful voice. Jessie must have truly believed that Mielle could become a new woman like she had expected Aria in the past.

“…!”

At the voice, Mielle completely collapsed, and she was pulled helplessly out of the front door, and soon left the mansion in a carriage carrying a sinner. As she had already said what she had done in front of the front door, like confessing, there would be no questioning or investigation to confirm the facts.

Evidence and witnesses were also clear, so it was not necessary. It would just end up browbeating Mielle in denial and embarrassment. In the meantime, Mielle would regain her memory and insist that she had not tried to kill Aria and Aria was also an accomplice, but no one would listen, no matter how much Mielle insisted. Rather, she could have been beaten up for talking nonsense in order to avoid punishment. The execution would be decided right after that. No, she might face a harsher sentence than execution.

Aria, who looked sorry for not seeing the interrogation scene in person, called out Jessie, as the maids left cursing and swearing at Mielle.

“Jessie.”

“…. Yes? Ah, yes. Miss…”

“It’s very late, but why don’t you have some tea with me?”

“… Tea?”

There was a sinful mind on Jessie’s face. She seemed to have the idea that she had defended and embraced Mielle, and it had created this situation. She didn’t even know she had been used by Aria.

“Yes. I’m upset, and I don’t think I can fall asleep. I think you will be the same.”

“… Ah, yes… I’ll be ready in a minute.”

Jessie’s face was completely darkened when Aria said she couldn’t sleep. Jessie uncharacteristically prepared a refreshment with a clumsy hand and went into Aria’s room.

“… Miss.”

Jessie’s voice was very cautious when she called Aria. Aria smiled softly at Jessie, asking her to sit opposite her.

“Sit down, Jessie. I’m lonely, so let’s drink together.”

“…”

‘How dare I be entitled to that position? With a dull sympathy, I almost put my master to death.’

“Come on. The tea is going to get cold.”

But Aria did not give up and urged her to sit, so in the end, Jessie sat opposite Aria, and the two savored the tea without a word for a moment.

“I don’t think you’re bad for caring for Mielle.” Then suddenly Aria came to the point.

Jessie, who was startled, stared at Aria with her eyes wide open.

Aria still had a soft smile. “There are so many people in the world who regret and repent for their sins.”

Of course, there were those who did not, like Aria and Mielle, who had afflicted Jessie in the past and had kicked her out.

“So I don’t think your behavior is wrong. It’s just…”

Aria, who paused, took a sip of tea and said, “I want you to be a little more careful in what you say and do. Don’t show your true intentions to others.”

“… What do you mean?”

“As long as you don’t completely believe in others, don’t show your true intentions to them. If you do, you will be the one who gets hurt.”

Aria, who spoke that way, had a serene face that was completely different from the look she had just shown to Mielle as if either one was a lie.

“If you don’t, you’ll either get hurt yourself like you are now, or you’ll regret hurting someone. If you keep meeting with Hans, you’ll need the art of how to get along in the world more and more.”

Hans was still on the winning side, and at this rate, his lover Jessie would have to step into the social world as well. Aria no longer wanted Jessie to sacrifice herself and be hurt for others. Aria didn’t want Jessie to think that she could at least trust and improve others, even if she didn’t become a wicked woman like herself.

Jessie looked down as if she had learned something from this incident and nodded in silence, biting her lips.

* * *

Since then, Jessie had had a moment of solitary thought.

Jessie seemed to think over Aria’s words. If it had been any other advice, she might have taken it immediately, but it was hard to change her attitude of trusting others in an instant that she had held on for twenty years.

Aria left Jessie alone without urging her to think hard enough and choose. Still, she thought it would be better for Jessie to doubt others a little more for herself, who had committed visible misdeeds like Aria and Mielle. That was the only way for her to avoid what it had been like in the past.

Of course, in case Jessie was hurt because she trusted someone, Aria would not let the other person go, but she wanted Jessie to learn how to get along in the world a little more so that her being hurt would not happen in the first place.

In the meantime, as Aria had hoped, Mielle had lost her chance to explain herself and had to wait for her end in prison. At first, investigators asked several questions, saying, “It was a fact check,” but soon after, they stopped visiting her as if they were tired of Mielle’s absurd claim after she regained her memory.

“I’m not, I’m not! Everything is done under the instruction of Aria… No, it was Aria the wicked bitch who set it up! How many times do I have to tell you? Please, please believe me!”

After a few days, an investigator and a knight came to check on Mielle’s condition, but they clicked their tongues as soon as they found her, who shouted, squeezing all her strength. They wondered how she still had such strength because Mielle hadn’t eaten any food throughout the investigation. They hadn’t wanted to waste any food because she would be executed anyway. Of course, a small amount of water had been given to prevent her from dying.

It was a better treatment. Other criminals facing execution so far had been subjected to severe beatings and torture, but Mielle, who had not yet reached adulthood and was thin and weak, had been very fortunate to avoid suffering because she was likely to die after being tortured once.

“We don’t need to hear any more, so we’d better report to His Highness now.”

“Yes, the circumstances and evidence are clear, and there is still no sign of reflection.”

“It feels terrible to even breathe the same air she’s breathing.”

“That’s right. How many times has she committed such a horrible crime while still being so young? We have to get rid of her as soon as possible so that no one else can be harmed.”

After watching Mielle’s frantic struggle for a while, they turned away without hesitation, as if she didn’t deserve to live anymore.

“It was not me! It wasn’t the wicked woman who I tried to kill, but it was Annie who was just a maid! That’s why she gave me the Inducing Flower! Please!”

The investigator furrowed his forehead in Mielle’s confession from behind as he was leaving the prison and asked the knight, “Can I add it?”

“Well, I’m sure she’s lying, but let’s do that for now.”

But even if that was true, nothing would change.

What good would it be even if she said who the target was when a person had been already dead? Moreover, it had already been widely rumored that Mielle had tried to kill Aria. Now, if they declared that the target was Annie, no one would believe that. It was clear that no one would believe that because Mielle had already lied to lay the guilt on Aria.

Nevertheless, the investigator had to report directly to the Crown Prince, so he visited Asher with a report compiled by himself, which drew up all the details at a glance. Asher received the report with a substantial amount of detailed testimony or analysis and read them without missing a single word. It was to make sure that Aria was no longer bound to the past and to eliminate the cause of long-suffering.

“It was Annie, the maid, not Lady Aria who she tried to kill.”