A Third-Rate Villain Tries Her Best Today 150

Chapter 150: Birth and Resurrection

“No, you can’t.”

“…!”

Even Noel was intimidated by her sharp, firm voice.

“Please let me go with you.”

A polite voice suddenly followed. It wasn’t Noel. Ten’s lips tightened as she saw the man who had appeared behind him.

“…Young Master Woo Acrea.”

Acrea’s face was devoid of his usual gentle smile. He looked a little weary. It was unlike Woo Acrea, as if he felt guilty for even asking.

“Evan is frightened.”

Evan, clinging to Acrea’s arms, was trembling, his hand clutching Acrea’s sleeve.

“U-… Sob… Is she going to die? Is she dying because of me…?”

Acrea calmly stroked his hair and continued,

“The only way to reassure him is to let him see Byron’s condition improve. …Please, Ten.”

Regardless of Acrea’s intentions, Ten couldn’t refuse “Evan Fritz” and “Woo Acrea,” not a simple knight like Noel. She sighed and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll treat you all with the utmost hospitality in the drawing-room.”

The carriage carrying Sue had already left while they were arguing. Acrea summoned the servants and had them prepare the carriage with the Fritz family’s lion emblem.

“Let’s ride together. Ten said she would attend to you.”

Acrea said to Noel before they got on. Noel accepted his offer without hesitation. It would have been faster to run from the park to the townhouse, but he had something he wanted to ask Acrea.

“You seem to know why Byron is like that.”

Noel asked, trying to control his trembling legs. Acrea, who had put Evan to sleep with a light sleep spell, was silent for a moment before replying,

“She said she’s been frail since birth. That’s all I know.”

Frail.

Was that all?

Noel had heard the same thing after Sue had collapsed at the Imperial Ball. And as if to prove it, she had been absent from the academy almost every other day during the winter semester. The reason for her absence had been illness.

Come to think of it, she had often been absent from the academy, citing “illness,” even when she was in the sixth-year building. None of the Black Eagle students, including Noel, had believed her, but…

‘Frail. Is that all? Really?’

He had no evidence, but Noel felt a strange unease. But he couldn’t do anything about it, so he changed the subject,

“Acrea, you asked me how well I knew Byron. What did you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. I was curious how well you knew Byron and why you were by her side. That’s all.”

“Curious… Why?”

Acrea raised his eyebrows at Noel’s question, as if he didn’t understand.

“Why am I curious about what you know about Byron and why you’re by her side? Is something bothering you?”

“Ah…”

Acrea stared blankly into space, as if he had been struck. A short silence fell. Noel didn’t say anything either, lost in his own thoughts.

As they approached the entrance to Sue Byron’s townhouse, Acrea, looking out the window, his eyes distant, mumbled,

“…I wonder why.”

***

Sue woke up to a familiar ceiling. She realized immediately that she was in her bedroom. Whenever she woke up from a nightmare after collapsing in pain, she would see the high, bright ceiling, the scent of warm tea filling her senses.

It had become a common occurrence, so she was used to it now.

“Ten, how long is Enzhe going to keep doing this?”

Her question to Ten, who was silently wiping her face, was met with a cold, cynical response.

“Why don’t you just give up? Is there even… a point in enduring this?”

“Hmm… I don’t want to die yet.”

To think she had to endure pain worse than death because she didn’t want to die. It was ironic.

Fritz and Enzhe’s broken engagement would be announced soon. And when that happened, Enzhe might become uncontrollable. But that was all Sue could predict.

Honestly, she had no idea what would happen next. Fritz had broken up with Enzhe, even though he hadn’t found anyone he loved, and Enzhe’s frustration and anger were aimless, her target gone.

But one thing was certain: Enzhe wasn’t the type to give up or accept defeat.

“Why couldn’t Fritz just marry her quietly…!”

Sue rubbed her face in frustration. Shina Fritz was beyond her control, and her frustration grew day by day.

She could control Soran Halo, whose status was far below hers, with money and power. But not Shina Fritz. Even if Sue Byron begged him to marry her, he wouldn’t even listen.

In other words, Fritz and Enzhe’s broken engagement was inevitable, even without Soran Halo’s intervention. It was practically “fate.”

But at the same time, Sue couldn’t help but understand Fritz.

Because the reason why Fritz couldn’t love Enzhe and the reason why Enzhe had fallen in love with Fritz had happened on the same day.

***

“Noel.”

It was already dusk when Sue, having recovered somewhat, opened the door to the drawing-room. The faces Ten had mentioned were really waiting for her.

“Byron! Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Noel rushed towards her the moment he saw her face through the crack in the door.

To think that this many people had been waiting for Sue Byron. Sue felt a strange sense of gratitude and looked away.

“Young Master Evan, thank you for your concern. As you can see, I’m fine.”

Sue, as Ten had reported, attended to Evan first.

Evan, who had woken up from his nap, had been clinging to Acrea. His eyes were swollen from crying. He stared at Sue, who was smiling brightly, then snorted and buried his face in Acrea’s chest again.

She looked up and met Acrea’s gaze. Sue smiled, as usual. Acrea averted his gaze.

Why?

But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She was pretending to be fine, but she was exhausted.

“I apologize for not being able to entertain you properly. But it’s getting late, and I’m sure Master Shina is worried about Young Master Evan.”

She was telling them to leave.

“Noel, I’ll have a separate carriage prepared for you. Take that back to the dormitory. Thank you for your concern, really.”

“…Okay, I’m sorry for coming along. Get some rest.”

It was a very brief meeting, but no one seemed to mind.

Sue saw Noel off first, then Acrea. Acrea, after putting the weary Evan in the carriage, stood in front of Sue.

“Byron, I’m sorry about before.”

He continued without hesitation,

“I shouldn’t have said those things to you without considering your situation. I’m sorry.”

She wished he had been wearing his “usual smile.”

Sue, taken aback by his apology, touched her neck awkwardly.

She hadn’t had a proper conversation with Acrea since their argument in the glass garden. So she had assumed that the Acrea family had cut ties with the Byron family. But it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

“You don’t have to apologize, Master Acrea. It’s ultimately my fault.”

Who was apologizing to whom?

Sue felt pathetic, being apologized to by the second son of the Acrea family.

“…Honestly, those are things that any noble in the capital would do. Byron, you’re one of them too.”

Sue’s eyes widened at his words. She had never imagined he would say such a thing, even if he was apologizing.

‘…Why?’

Why was he saying this?

Was it just Reeves’s order?

She pursed her lips, adjusting the shawl on her shoulders. She had to think carefully about how to respond. And then, she spoke, her voice calm,

“You’re right, Master Acrea. You’re right, those are things that anyone would do. Giving advice to a child they don’t like, scolding them… Even resorting to violence. It’s something that any noble in the capital would do at least once. As you said, at least once. But I… I do those things every day. So I have to stop. It’s the right thing to do. But I just… can’t.”

The wind was cold. Sue raised her hand, stopping Nine, who was about to rush to her side. She didn’t avert her gaze from his unreadable platinum eyes.

“I understand why you haven’t said anything to Lady Enzhe or the Lopetrefer family. Every family has its own circumstances. Me, and you too, Master Acrea.”

Her faint smile was only for Woo Acrea.

He was a puppet, controlled by Reeves’s words. His emotions only moved for Reeves. It would be more rational to feel nothing than to feel anger or pity.

He was probably saying this to her because of Grand Duke Reeves’s orders.

“I apologize if I disappointed you. You probably already knew, but… That’s why I’m even more grateful. For not saying anything until now. So… you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

“Don’t understand me, Byron.”

“What?”

Acrea’s silence was short. He knew she was hurting. His expression was unreadable.

“You don’t have to understand. You can be angry.”

But Sue unconsciously sensed an emotion beneath his words.

“…I don’t have the right to be angry.”

Sue’s face contorted, not understanding why Acrea was feeling that emotion, why it was directed at her.

Sadness.

Sue didn’t understand.