A Guide to Raising a Villainess Chapter 123: An unpleasant encounter (3)

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

Everything around seed to lose its clarity: sounds beca muffled, people’s faces blurred, and the air beca heavy and dense, as if it were difficult to breathe.

I wanted to take a step back, but my feet seed to be glued to the ground. The world before my eyes narrowed to a single image — a body lying in a spreading pool of thick, dark blood.

The voices around rged into a chaotic, nervous hum: soone scread, soone started calling for help, won hurriedly pulled their children away so they wouldn’t see the terrible sight. But it all reached as if through a layer of water.

I was srized by this monstrous mont, which happened so suddenly that my mind simply refused to accept it.

I stood there, unable to scream, move, or even breathe normally. Only silent horror gradually enveloped my entire consciousness, leaving a sticky, icy lump inside.

However, even after the gang leader had finished with his accomplice, who was undoubtedly dead, the man continued to strike his body again and again with so kind of wild, unnatural fury.

He seed completely oblivious to the blood, the screams around him, and the fact that a lifeless body had been lying in front of him for a long ti. It was a truly monstrous sight.

I could hardly believe that all this was happening in real life.

But the worst thing was that he didn’t stop there.

As soon as his hand froze — for a split second, as if he had paused to catch his breath — the bandit turned sharply to his second accomplice. And before the latter had ti to understand anything, the leader attacked him with the sa insane cruelty.

It all happened so quickly that I didn’t even have ti to blink.

A swing of the knife, a hoarse cry, a splash of blood — and the second man collapsed to the ground without uttering a word.

It seed as if their leader had completely lost his mind. His eyes, wide and glassy, did not even reflect what was happening — as if he were sowhere far away, driven only by a mad impulse.

And then, when there was no one left alive around him, he suddenly froze. Just for a mont.

Then he raised his hand and pointed the bloody knife at his own throat.

I didn’t even have ti to comprehend the gesture.

One quick movent, and the vagrant slit his own throat. His body imdiately went limp, staggered, and collapsed with a dull thud next to the other two.

Three dead bodies.

Three lives cut short in a matter of seconds.

I stood there, barely breathing, unable to believe what I had just seen.

People’s cries continued to co from all around, but I seed to have stopped distinguishing them. All sounds seed to be muffled, turning into a single hum, drowning sowhere in my head.

And only when the body of the last vagrant fell heavily to the ground, like a chopped-off sack, did sothing inside snap.

I blinked, air rushed into my lungs, and I finally ca to my senses — as if I had awakened from a bad dream.

Because I rembered Ruby.

I rembered that she had been standing nearby the whole ti, just a few steps away, and had seen the sa thing.

God... she saw it too!

I felt as if I had been doused with ice.

I turned sharply toward her, afraid to see horror or shock on her face, and my heart ached.

At that mont, my instinct as a human being kicked in, telling to protect the person I loved at all costs.

We had to leave.

Imdiately.

"Ruby..." I croaked, not even noticing how my voice trembled. "We have to leave. Now!"

I grabbed Ruby’s hand and, without waiting for any response from her, dragged her along with .

In the end, we ran as long as we could to get as far away from that place as possible.

And only when the streets around us thinned out, when there were no more screams or commotion in the distance, did I allow myself to stop. I stopped so abruptly that I had to put my hand on my knee to catch my breath. The air cut my throat, my lungs felt like they were on fire.

I turned to Ruby only when I felt I could at least try to speak.

"Ruby... are you... are you okay?" I gasped, still breathless, but my voice clearly sounded alard.

In fact, I didn’t fully understand what had just happened either. Everything happened so quickly and so unpredictably that my mind simply refused to connect what I had seen with reality.

It was like so kind of sudden seizure, a madness that flared up out of nowhere. It was as if this man had lost the ability to think in an instant and no longer understood what he was doing.

But whatever it was — madness, obsession, or sothing even stranger — it didn’t matter now. Much more than the horror of what had happened, I was disturbed by Ruby’s reaction.

Her condition now worried almost more than everything that had happened. After all, she had just witnessed a horror that not every adult could endure...

Although, undoubtedly, such a terrible sight left a deep mark on my mory, I still perceived what was happening differently. For , it was not so catastrophic. I was a grown woman with a stable psyche. And, one way or another, I knew I could handle it.

Besides, over the past few years, as the head of a villainous organization, I had repeatedly encountered things far more unpleasant than I would like to rember. Including murders.

But still... even for , what had just happened was the first such monstrous and senseless manifestation of madness.

It was unlike any conscious conflict or cold-blooded reprisal. It was sothing else, sothing I couldn’t even explain in words.

However, Rubiella...

I glanced at her cautiously.

She was still very young, and besides, her nature was so innocent and pure that my heart sank at the thought that such a sight could leave a deep and possibly incurable psychological trauma on her.

I was really worried about Ruby after everything that had happened. Her delicate emotional makeup seed too fragile to withstand sothing like this.

But, unexpectedly...

"I’m fine, Auntie," the girl said quietly.

I looked up and stared at her in surprise. Her athyst eyes remained calm, steady, and surprisingly clear. She seed even more composed than I was.

For a mont, I was truly speechless.

"But just now... Weren’t you scared?" I asked, still unable to believe her calmness.

"You warned that it could be dangerous on the edge of the empire," Rubiella replied softly. "So I was prepared for sothing to happen when we got here."

I blinked, tilting my head slightly.

"Really?" My voice sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Don’t worry, Auntie," she smiled slightly, comforting as naturally as if it had always been her role, not mine. "Maybe... that man was just out of his mind. These things happen.

Oh my God.

I looked at her and couldn’t find a single word to say.

I never imagined my Ruby would be so brave!

I was so stunned by her reaction that I was truly speechless for a mont.

anwhile, my niece looked up at again — calm and confident, as if the horror of just a few minutes ago had never happened. A warm, almost encouraging smile appeared on her lips, which for so reason made feel a slight tightness in my chest.

"Auntie," she said quietly, "if we’re done here, I think it’s ti to go back to the estate. The count is probably waiting for us."

I blinked, realizing that I was still standing there as if rooted to the spot, and only now was I fully returning to reality.

"Ah... well, you’re probably right..." I muttered, feeling my thoughts gradually coming together. "It really is ti."

Sohow coming to my senses, I finally nodded too, allowing myself to take a deep breath.

But as soon as we set off, I caught myself looking around anxiously again, as if I were afraid that soone or sothing would appear again. So, without thinking, I took Ruby’s hand, just in case. She blinked in surprise but said nothing, only squeezing my hand slightly in response.

For so reason, this small gesture cald more than any words could have.

So, holding on to each other, we slowly made our way back to the estate, leaving behind the street where sothing I would rather never rember had just happened.

However, disturbing thoughts would not leave alone. After a few steps, I involuntarily turned back.

I pressed my lips together.

The horrific scene we had just witnessed was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, as if the scene itself had been burned into my mory.

The thought haunted .

Was this man really just... crazy?