A Third-Rate Villain Tries Her Best Today 170

Chapter 170: The Day After the Rain Settled

Sue barely managed to take the summer evaluation after returning to the academy after a month and a half. Of course, she had failed miserably, as she didn’t know anything except for the general education subjects.

“Look at Sue Byron… shamelessly returning to the capital.”

“She’s just that kind of person. Don’t pay attention to her anymore, it’ll bring bad luck.”

Unsurprisingly, no one welcomed her return.

Sue had contemplated whether she should even return to the academy, but she hadn’t submitted her withdrawal form because she felt like it would be a waste of all the time she had spent there. She was actually surprised that she hadn’t been expelled yet.

“Byron, good morning.”

But she knew it was all thanks to this man.

The commotion was doubled because he was in the same class as her.

“W-w-why is Master Acrea talking to Byron…?”

“He must have been threatened in Patroclus… That’s the only explanation…”

He had pushed his way through the crowd that had swarmed him as soon as he arrived at the academy and taken his seat next to Sue.

Sue, sweating at his overly friendly attitude, glanced at him.

“…Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

Acrea whispered, as if he had been waiting for her to ask,

“I don’t know why, but I like you, Byron.”

Sue, her face burning, touched her cheeks, hearing her own words thrown back at her.

…Had they really gotten this close?

Was this really Acrea?

Sue was starting to feel confused about her memories.

Among the Red Snake students, who were staring at them in disbelief, only one girl clutched her aching chest.

“L-Lady Byron.”

During break time, the girl followed Sue, who was alone, and called out to her. It was Azette.

“How have you been? I’m glad you look well.”

Sue just stared at Azette, who was awkwardly trying to make conversation. Azette, embarrassed by her silence, lowered her head. She wasn’t acting like herself, she would have usually approached Sue despite her silence.

“I’m glad you’re back at the academy, Lady Byron, because…”

“Lady Azette.”

Azette instinctively looked up at her calm voice. Sue was standing before her, her posture straight. The girl who had been broken a month ago was now holding herself up.

“You’re a good person.”

Azette had realized that she had been wrong the moment she saw Acrea’s actions at the tribunal. She had been thinking in the opposite direction.

Woo Acrea likes Sue Byron?

No, that wasn’t it.

She had been blinded by her arrogant assumption that Woo Acrea couldn’t possibly like Sue Byron and had missed the most important thing.

‘Master Woo likes Lady Byron…’

Azette Delondariwood’s first love had ended as abruptly as the trial had ended.

“I hope you can revive your family.”

A girl with weak, kind eyes. Azette felt a strange affection for this girl, along with a crushing sense of defeat, even though they had never had a proper conversation.

“Blessings of the Empire.”

Sue didn’t speak to Azette after that.

***

“Sue, it’s been a while.”

Enzhe personally visited Sue after history class the next day. She greeted Sue cheerfully, as if she were meeting an old friend.

“I was very disappointed in you… But you’re still my friend, how could I just abandon you?”

Enzhe wiped away her tears with a handkerchief she had prepared beforehand.

“Enzhe.”

Acrea tried to stop her, but it was no use.

“Woo, stay out of this.”

A faint hint of anger was hidden in her delicate voice, and only Sue noticed it. Sue was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected situation, but she quickly regained her composure and took Enzhe’s hand.

It was cold.

“Lady Enzhe, I’m so sorry for being such a disappointment.”

She would act out a show for a show. That was what Sue was best at. But this performance was different.

“I’m truly sorry… Will you please forgive me?”

A momentary blackout before the final act. That’s how it had to be.

***

“Byron.”

He was waiting for her at the academy, bathed in the setting sun of midsummer, his appearance unchanged.

Sue, seeing his face, quickly wiped away her tears.

“Noel.”

The moment she said his name, the fear that had been gripping her finally shattered. And something else began to fill her heart.

All the memories Sue had made in Atlantis.

‘Yes, it’s not the same.’

It’s definitely not the same.

Things had changed. She was certain of it. She had built something, even if it was just a sandcastle. Even if everyone despised the trash that was Sue Byron.

The proof was right before her eyes.

“Noel.”

She called out his name cautiously. Noel’s tense expression relaxed. She walked towards him.

“Thank you… for waiting for me.”

The breeding ground of her sins.

Even if there was an inescapable reality, there were many other realities she had to create.

Sue Byron had a future. And she would prove that it wasn’t just a delusion.

She would build a sandcastle that wouldn’t be washed away by the rain.

***

The basement of the glass garden, the place everyone had assumed would never be used again after Sue Byron’s punishment, was still occupied.

“Die! Die! Dieeee!”

The bond between master and servant, already cracked, was beyond repair. Sue curled up on the floor, savoring the familiar, agonizing pain.

“Why did you come back?! You’re useless, you’re a burden, you’re filthy! Why? Why? Why? Why?! Why is Woo protecting you, and why are you still breathing like nothing happened?!”

Defect, deficiency.

The words that symbolized Enzhe Lopetrefer.

She could never be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, that was how she had been created by God.

“Enzhe, stop it.”

It was her friend, Woo Acrea, who broke down the basement door and grabbed her by the back of her neck. Acrea stopped Enzhe and checked on Sue. She was alive, but her body was covered in wounds.

“…Hahahahaha!”

Enzhe, watching the farce unfold, burst out laughing, her body shaking. She wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

“If you want me to stop, why don’t you expose what I’m doing to the world?”

But Acrea couldn’t speak. Enzhe smiled triumphantly.

Just as Acrea knew her weakness, Enzhe also knew his.

Submission, obedience.

“Woo, I never thought you would say such a thing to me. Never in my wildest dreams. You, who’s just a puppet, following Brother Reeves’s every word. But I guess you’re still a puppet, after all, since you can’t say anything… Woo, but I realized something. Yes, I’m a failure. I was definitely born a failure. That’s probably why Shina doesn’t love me. And you, you’ve also started prioritizing Sue over me. But did you know? I like myself this way. I’m adorable. I can’t stop, even if someone tells me to. I don’t regret anything I’ve done, I love it. As much as I love Shina. Breaking animals since I was a child, getting rid of anything that got in my way. And killing Cedric, who loved me. You know why Sue Byron can’t escape from me, even if she dies? Why she dies at the snap of my fingers? Because there’s a shackle that can’t be broken. A shackle that binds her to me, no matter how much she hates me. …Ahaha! Judging from your expression, you didn’t know that. Well, you’ve never thought for yourself, have you? You’re just a puppet. A puppet who has to live in the shadows of Brother Reeves and Shina, following their orders. And Sue is my puppet. A worn-out puppet that’s about to be discarded. …I know that the Acrea family is trying to counter the Lopetrefer family. No, not just counter, you’re trying to destroy us. But it won’t work. I’m going to destroy the Lopetrefer family, and I’m going to be the only one left standing. I just loved Shina, I never wanted to be a puppet… Because I’m a failure. So look forward to it, Woo. I’ll find another way to entertain myself.”

***

Sue was moved to the Acrea mansion after that. She wanted to go back to her townhouse, but she had no choice but to give in to Acrea’s insistence.

Sue lay in bed in the luxurious guest room, lost in thought.

‘Look forward to it, Woo. I’ll find another way to entertain myself.’

Enzhe’s last words wouldn’t leave her mind.

There was no way to stop Enzhe.

Sue, just in case, touched her waist. There was no pain. She felt a renewed sense of dread, remembering the agonizing pain she had experienced in the basement.

“Byron, can I come in?”

Acrea knocked on the door and entered. He was carrying a glass of warm water and a small bowl of porridge.

Sue, eating the bland porridge, said flatly,

“So the Acrea grand duke family was planning to destroy the Lopetrefer family.”

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“…I see.”

To think they were plotting the downfall of their supposed ally while pretending to be friends. They were no different from Sue Byron.

The Acrea family had been wary of the Lopetrefer family in the novel, but they hadn’t tried to destroy them. What had changed their minds?

“It was after the Damon Keron incident.”

“…What?”

Acrea, who had said he couldn’t tell her, suddenly changed his mind.

“Byron, what’s the shackle?”

Ah, he had answered her question so he could ask her this.

“The shackle…”

Sue was about to make up an excuse, but she stopped. There was no point in hiding it anymore. She pulled down her pajamas, revealing her collarbone.

“It’s a curse.”

Acrea was speechless, seeing the two giant snakes, intertwined like chains, wrapped around her body.

‘Yes, there’s no going back now.’

Sue, as if to soothe him, explained everything that had happened between the Byron and Lopetrefer families. It was a choice she had made to move forward.

And strangely, she trusted Acrea.

Sue, realizing that it wasn’t a very pleasant story, glanced at Acrea.

“…?! Master Acrea!”

Something was strange. He was crying.

He was crying, his face emotionless, as if he was just lost in thought.

“I like you.”

He confessed, his voice soft, the moment their eyes met.

“…What?”

“Byron, Sue Byron, you said you would never be loved.”

He was crying.

“That’s not true. I think I like you a lot, Byron.”