The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

The lady had a troubled body.

She couldn’t walk on her own, and without someone’s assistance, she couldn’t go to the bathroom by herself.

In a world where people flew through the sky with magic and built abnormal physical strength through training, the lady’s body was now constrained, her movements restricted.

This world was not kind to those with physical disabilities.

Everyone here was healthy and strong.

Even in old age, those who had trained sufficiently rarely experienced the physical limitations that come with aging.

Of course, compared to their youth, their stamina and external appearance might not have been quite as robust, but it didn’t hinder them enough to cause major mobility issues.

This was one of the things that surprised me the most about this world. At the same time, I was shocked by the treatment people with physical disabilities received here.

The world I came from was a place where concepts like “consideration” existed. It was full of people who faced physical limitations due to aging, illness, or accidents.

It wasn’t that people here were devoid of compassion. Many would lend a hand to a middle-aged man who lost a leg during an adventure.

But this world lacked the concept of social welfare for people with disabilities. There was no system for them, no development efforts for things like wheelchairs—which the lady used—or rehabilitation systems. Society made no secret of its intention to abandon them.

They have prosthetic arms, sure. But perhaps because they could be turned into weapons through modification, the rest was hard to understand.

This world was harsh to those who had physical difficulties. In my youth, I thought such things didn’t concern me, observing them from a distance, but as I grew older, I began to feel that unfairness directly.

When the lady became disabled, I experienced a bitter realization of the forgotten discrimination.

Even acquiring trivial things became challenging.

Beds, which were commonplace in hospitals where I was from, were almost impossible to find here.

In a world where healing magic existed as a grand alternative, the concept of rest as treatment seemed present, but there was a severe lack of accommodations for those who couldn’t use magic. On top of that, the prices for such accommodations were outrageously high.

I still vaguely remember the time I left a shop with a bitter smile after seeing how absurdly expensive items designed to care for the sick were sold.

So, I began caring for the lady on my own.

I utilized the experience I had gained from nursing an elderly lady I was close to in a nursing home in my past life. It wasn’t my job. I wasn’t smart enough to go into healthcare, nor did I have the financial means.

Instead, I had picked up some crude techniques by watching over the shoulder of the nurses while caring for that elderly lady who visited our orphanage often.

Back then, I thought the experience would be worthless. But taking care of the lady made me realize it had been a valuable experience in many ways.

Life is unpredictable like that.

The lady was stubborn, especially after her illness. She had always been strong-willed, but after becoming disabled, she refused to listen to anyone.

-…

She grew depressed.

Disappointed.

And lost her drive.

I almost wished she would get angry instead of displaying her stubborn silence.

-My lady, you shouldn’t stay lying on one side for too long.

-Don’t worry about it.

-…

When I tried to reposition her to prevent bedsores from developing, she would snap at me with a “Don’t touch me.”

When I tried to help her up after she had fallen out of bed, she would push my hands away, saying, “Don’t pity me. Do you think I’m a joke too?” coldly rejecting my help.

I couldn’t understand her.

I never thought I could grasp the depth of her sadness, so I didn’t presumptuously try to understand her.

Instead, I stayed by her side as someone who silently helped.

Through this one-sided kindness, the lady gradually improved. Compared to the early days when she first lost the use of her legs, she spoke more and even had days where she smiled. She was steadily getting better.

Thankfully, I thought.

*

“Yaaawn…”

After helping the lady to the bathroom, I leaned against the wall and rubbed my sleepy eyes.

I had just used the Hand of Rehabilitation, so the fatigue seemed to accumulate far more than it should.

I felt like I could fall asleep the moment I closed my eyes, but then I heard the lady’s shy voice from inside the bathroom.

“Ricardo… Are you outside?”

Her voice trembled, afraid of the night.

I paused, thinking I’d tease her a bit.

“Ricardo…?”

“Eeek… You better not be gone. You know I’m scared of those toilet paper ghost stories…”

“Ugh…”

Hearing her murmuring in an almost tearful voice, her scared tone made me chuckle softly before I finally decided to respond.

“We don’t have any red or blue toilet paper ghosts in our estate, my lady.”

“Don’t joke like that! I almost thought you left me.”

“I see. Next time, I’ll answer even later.”

“Ugh…! You’re dead when I come out.”

“Then I’ll run away now?”

“I’m sorry.”

The lady, her voice trembling, almost sounded like she was whining as she whispered, asking me not to go anywhere.

“Don’t leave.”

“…”

“I’ll give you an allowance, okay?”

I could feel the corners of my lips twitching. She was adorably trying to bribe me to stay. I found her request so endearing that I couldn’t help but hum a little tune, imagining her grumbling inside the bathroom.

“Three bears living in one house.”

“…”

“The villainess bear. The butler bear. Just the bear.”

“Our bear never listens to me.”

“…”

“I might just eat him.”

“Gomtangi would cry if he heard you.”

“Let him cry.”

The lady seemed to have a lot of pent-up thoughts.

With a small smile, I spoke to her gently.

“In any case, there’s no need to worry. I need to use the bathroom too.”

“Is it urgent…?”

“I promise I won’t run off to hide in the first-floor bathroom, so don’t worry.”

“Sigh… But after I come out, don’t go in immediately.”

“Understood.”

As a skilled butler, ensuring the comfort of my lady was my duty, so I responded with a warm smile. Despite knowing her for over ten years, I was still touched by her consideration toward me.

The lady always took her time in the bathroom.

She had to fix her dress and take care of everything with her uncomfortable body, so it took her a bit longer than it did for others.

In a way, I was thankful for that.

If she had refused to do anything by herself, that would’ve been more troublesome. For her rehabilitation and mental health, I appreciated her stubbornness at times like these.

Normally, the lady didn’t ask to go to the bathroom often.

Having lost the sensation in her lower body, she tended to notice signals from her bladder later than others. And when she finally asked to go, it meant I needed to prepare her clothes in advance.

-Ricardo…

-I think pink would suit you today.

-…

-I’ve decided. That sky-blue dress doesn’t seem right to me.

-You’re right.

In the beginning, handling things like this had been quite challenging for me.

I had to figure out how to change her clothes without causing her stress while also finding ways to prevent mishaps.

Although I had developed a rough sense of timing for when she might need to go to the bathroom, those early days had been truly tough.

But she was making progress.

Both in my techniques for caring for her and her brighter attitude.

Things were much better than they had been in the past.

I believed that tomorrow would be brighter than today. The lady’s stubbornness didn’t allow her to remain stagnant.

A brief moment of time passed, and soon the familiar sound of flushing from the bathroom echoed through the night.

I carefully prepared the clothes I had set aside for her and ran through various phrases in my head.

‘What’s the best way to offer her these?’

It would be rude as a butler to force her to ask for a change of clothes herself. I had to come up with something more refined.

“Ahem.”

But at this late hour, my brain wasn’t coming up with anything clever.

Finding a reason for her to change clothes in the middle of the night was proving to be quite the challenge.

If it were summer, I could have excused it by blaming the weather, but it was only spring, so that wasn’t an option. Still lost in thought, I carefully clutched the clothes I had brought for her.

‘Maybe I should just hand them to her without saying anything.’

I decided to simply give her the clothes without making any fuss, and just as I was about to knock on the bathroom door—

With a sudden ‘clack,’ the door burst open, and the lady emerged with a bright, beaming smile.

The lady was openly grinning.

“Heheh…”

Her lips were pressed tight as if she was about to burst into laughter, her cheeks puffed out like a balloon.

Startled, I looked at her, unable to form words, but upon realizing she was already fully dressed, a large question mark hung above my head.

“Huh?”

The lady, still laughing, spoke brightly.

“I don’t need to change my clothes today!”

A sign of hope appeared.

A very small sign of hope was telling me it might be time to let go of my little sense of worry.

End of Chapter.