A Guide to Raising a Villainess Chapter 135: Together Forever

"Day One.

My na is Grace Weinstein. I don’t know who I really am. Sotis it seems to that I am not the person I rember myself to be. Sotis I have strange dreams — about another life, about another world, about a ga called Trembling Hearts 2.

But Ruby says they are just nightmares. She says I think too much.

But today I woke up and realized: I forgot sothing. Sothing important. I must write it down while I still rember."

The pages trembled in my hands.

I kept reading.

"Day Seven.

I rembered! I rembered that I ended up in the body of Aunt Grace from the ga! I know what Ruby’s fate was supposed to be — she was supposed to beco a villainess, and I was supposed to tornt her. But I don’t want that! I will love her. I will take care of her. I will do everything to make her happy.

The main thing is not to forget. The main thing is to rember who I really am.

The main thing is not to beco the person I was supposed to be in the original ga.

The main thing..."

After that ca empty pages. Many empty pages.

And then, closer to the end of the diary, the entries appeared again. In a different handwriting — more nervous, more hurried.

"I forgot again. I forgot again! This has already happened for the third ti. I wake up and don’t rember who I am. I rember only Ruby. Only her love. Only her eyes.

And then — a blank. And again the entries in the diary that I left for myself like a lifeline.

What is happening to ?"

The next entry.

"It’s her. I know it’s her! She is doing sothing to my mory! She is erasing , leaving only the part that loves her. The part that does not resist. The part that is happy to be in her golden cage.

I must run! I must rember who I am. I must..."

The last entry broke off in the middle of a sentence. And after that ca pages filled with the sa words, again and again:

"My na is Grace. I am from another world. I ended up inside a ga. Ruby is the villainess. I must save her."

"My na is Grace. I am from another world..."

"My na is Grace..."

Dozens, hundreds of tis. As if soone was trying to hold on to reality, while realizing they were already drowning.

I dropped the diary onto the floor.

My temples were pounding. My vision blurred. mories — mine? not mine? — were now crashing over in waves.

An oto ga. The villainess Rubyella. Aunt Grace, who tornted her niece. , who ca into this body to change everything.

, who wanted to save the child.

But in the end I was the one who raised a monster...

"Oh, Aunt."

The voice behind sounded so suddenly that I jumped.

Ruby was standing in the doorway of the office. In her hands she held a box of pastries. On her face was an expression of gentle sadness.

"I knew I shouldn’t have left you the key," she sighed, placing the box on the dresser. "But who could have known you would want to co in... I thought maybe this ti it would pass without incident."

I stepped back, pressing myself against the bookshelf.

"Ruby... what are you doing to ?"

"?" She tilted her head, and in that gesture there was suddenly nothing left of my sweet little hamster. Only sothing predatory and dangerous. "I’m taking care of you, Aunt. As always."

"You’re erasing my mory!" I cried out nervously.

"I remove the things that make you unhappy," she corrected gently, taking a step forward. "Those mories... they caused you pain. You were constantly afraid. Afraid for , afraid of the plot, afraid of the future. And now? Look at yourself. You are calm. You are happy. You love ."

"That’s not love! That’s... that’s..."

I fell silent because I didn’t even know what it was.

"Aunt," Ruby stepped almost right up to . "How many tis have you read this diary?"

"...What?"

"How many tis have you found it, read it, understood the truth... and then forgotten again?"

Cold ran down my spine.

"It has happened so many tis," her voice still sounded just as gentle, "that I’ve already stopped counting."

"What?!"

"Every ti you get scared. Every ti you try to fight. Every ti I co, calm you down, and you forget. And the next morning you wake up happy. And so — every ti."

My body began to tremble.

"Monster... you’re a monster!"

"No," she touched my face, and goosebumps ran across my skin from that touch. "I am your love. Your care. Your family. I am everything you have. And you are everything I have."

"Ruby..."

"Shh." She pressed a finger to my lips. "Don’t fight, Aunt. It’s useless anyway. I won’t let you leave. I won’t let you forget . I won’t let you be unhappy."

Tears glittered in her eyes.

"I just want you to be happy. Beside . Always."

"That’s not happiness," I whispered. "That’s a prison."

"For you — it’s paradise," she smiled through her tears. "You just haven’t realized it yet."

She embraced , pulling close, and I felt my body treacherously relax in her arms.

"Sleep, Aunt," she whispered into my hair. "And tomorrow will be a new day. And you will be happy again."

I tried to resist.

I truly tried.

But the warmth of her body, her scent, her voice — all of it pulled into so warm, soft emptiness.

The last thing I saw before I fell asleep were her athyst eyes.

Loving. Devoted. And insane.

***

"Has it happened again...?"

The boy with mismatched eyes slowly closed his eyelids and let out a bitter breath. One eye — cold, almost transparent, like a winter sky. The other — dark and deep, like a night without stars.

The Archmage.

And the only love interest of the ga who still continued to exist in this world.

Flal Erline.

He stood in the middle of a ruined hall. And once again — silence.

"I lost. It happened again."

The words sounded inside him like a silent echo.

His latest attempt to save this world from the villainess’s actions had ended in failure. He had calculated dozens of possibilities, interfered with fates, changed the sequence of events, sacrificed himself — again and again.

But every ti the result remained the sa.

Catastrophe.

This was the end.

And he was the only one who rembered it.

The only one who was reborn along with the tiline, retaining fragnts of mories from past cycles.

But for him it was more like a curse.

"How many tis already...?"

He had even stopped counting. Dozens? Hundreds? Or more?

Every ti he tried to change the fate of this world. But the villainess still reached the point of no return.

And the world perished along with her.

Worst of all — he could feel that the magic allowing him to return was weakening.

"This was the last cycle..."

That thought sounded especially clear.

Now... it seed everything was truly over.

Only emptiness.

His ti in this world had co to an end.

Flal slowly lifted his gaze to the sky, which was already beginning to darken.

He was the Archmage. The most powerful being in the empire.

And yet... even that had not been enough.

"I’m sorry..." he whispered to soone unknown. To the world? To himself? Or to the very girl he had never managed to save?

The wind swept through the ruined hall, lifting ashes.

If this truly was the end, then for the first ti he would remain here.

Without a restart. Without a second chance. Without the chance to fix everything.

This ti he was ready to accept his death.

***

Epilogue

I woke up from the sunlight pouring through the window.

Birds were singing outside. Fresh flowers stood in a vase on the bedside table.

I stretched in bed and smiled.

"Good morning, Aunt."

Ruby was sitting in an armchair by the window with a book in her hands. Seeing that I had woken up, she set the book aside and walked over to the bed.

"How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully," I truly felt rested. Light. Happy. "You’re already awake? What ti is it?"

"It’s still early," she leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Breakfast will be served in half an hour. I ordered your favorite dishes."

"Thank you, dear."

I looked at her and felt my heart overflowing with love. My niece. My caring, gentle, perfect niece.

"Ruby," I called when she headed toward the door.

"Yes, Aunt?"

"I love you."

She froze for a mont. Then she turned around — and her eyes were shining with happiness.

"I love you too, Aunt Grace. I love you more than anything in the world."

She left, and I leaned back against the pillows and closed my eyes.

A good day.

A happy day.

And sowhere very, very deep, at the very bottom of my soul, sothing scratched with a claw.

Sothing important. Sothing forgotten.

But I chose not to pay attention to it.

After all, I have Ruby. And I don’t need anything else.

Right?