I Don't Want To Do a Romantic Comedy With a Villain! - Chapter 126

Episode 126

The only thing left was Marquess Trimidri’s amused chuckle at Vehen’s attitude.

“Well then, please confirm it for me thoroughly.”

“Just a moment…!”

After Marquess Trimidri courteously bid farewell, she rode away in her carriage.

Vehen chuckled at her strange behavior, but Marquess Trimidri was already gone.

Confirm it thoroughly. Does that mean it will be completely ruined?

As Vehen entered the office to reveal his identity, the chief hurriedly emerged and greeted him.

Surely this chief was the one who acquitted Tedric in the empress’ assassination case.

But seeing Marquess Trimidri lingering around, it seemed he had changed sides in the meantime.

Vehen looked at the face of the ambitious man full of desires and then turned away.

“I want to confirm the perpetrator of the recent series of noble murders.”

“Oh, my…! Your Grace came to visit, but I’m sorry…”

It was denied. Vehen frowned at the rejection.

The chief awkwardly smiled, trying to gauge Vehen’s mood.

“What is it?”

“Due to the nature of the case, outsiders are not allowed to enter… Please understand…”

“Will Marquess Trimidri be allowed?”

Even though his words were brief, the chief caught Vehen’s gaze.

Vehen knew his power well.

He also knew how to wield it.

Even if the crown prince had abandoned him, he was the best of the dukes, and his power rivaled that of the imperial family.

He owned soldiers and could make emergency arrests without royal permission as the lord of a duchy.

Vehen undid the buttons of his coat and took a deep breath.

Just that action alone felt threatening.

“Didn’t I ask? Marquess Trimidri can, but I can’t?”

If it were a Min-joo, she might have asked if he was being arrogant, but it didn’t matter.

Vehen looked at the pale face of the chief and smiled smugly.

“I just want to confirm a few things, so I hope you understand.”

Vehen put his hand on the chief’s shoulder and stared at him firmly.

The chief swallowed nervously.

“Yes, yes…”

Easy. Vehen followed the chief to where the culprit was.

* * *

As she arrived at the Hiltate building, a young girl, as promised, was sitting in the kitchen on the third floor, glancing around nervously.

The girl, presumably taken care of by Permette, was dressed in commoner’s clothes, but her body was covered in wounds.

Min-joo smiled gently as she sat opposite the girl, but the girl remained guarded.

The girl’s name was Hin.

She was a slave from Hitan and was only fourteen.

Her thin body looked pitiful, covered in countless scars.

The girl spoke.

“Pel came with several people. They kept persuading us that we needed freedom. I… don’t understand, I just liked being there.”

Sometimes she had to endure the owner’s tantrums quietly, but she had a place to sleep and didn’t go hungry.

And it was naturally Hin’s home.

Her mother was there, and she grew up there.

“Pel was very angry when he saw that my master sometimes called me out at night, and I don’t know why he was angry, but after he found out, he gathered a group of people and made a plan to escape.”

Min-joo felt deeply sorry for Hin, who was speaking numbly.

The child, who didn’t even know what was wrong, seemed so pitiful.

When Min-joo offered Hin cake and warm milk from the second floor, Hin hesitated for a moment before starting to spoon the cake into her mouth.

Trying sweet food for the first time, Hin eagerly ate the cake.

“It was a late autumn night. It was just the beginning of winter, and Pel and several people woke me up with their luggage. I didn’t understand anything and just followed.”

Half-asleep, Hin followed the people, peeking under the barbed wire and blindly navigating through the darkness.

She was running across a cornfield. Behind her, there was a repetitive sound of hoofbeats.

She felt frantic. Ropes sprung out from behind and grabbed the necks and shoulders of the people next to her, dragging them.

Screams echoed, and there was a dragging sound.

Hin blindly ran after Pel and her mother.

It felt instinctual.

She knew it wouldn’t end with just a few beatings if they were caught.

“Then a rope wound around Pel’s neck. And…”

As they were being dragged, they collapsed. Even in the darkness, Hin saw the scene.

Her mother tried to protect her but got caught, and Hin was thrown onto a transport carriage passing through the cornfield.

And that’s how they got here.

After listening to this story, Min-joo couldn’t say anything.

Tears just streamed down her face.

How could someone be so cruel to the same person?

She couldn’t understand how someone could do this to the same person.

Hin gulped down the warm milk in one go, leaving a white mustache on her lips.

“Am I going back now?”

At that innocent question, Min-joo finally burst into tears.

Her chest felt tight, and she felt like she was going to explode with anger, sadness, and pain.

Hin awkwardly glanced around, not understanding Min-joo’s sobbing.

“Why are you crying? Don’t cry…”

“…I’m sorry. I, I’m sorry…”

As Min-joo hugged Hin and cried, Hin awkwardly patted Min-joo’s back with a puzzled look.

“If you cry, the master will get mad. My mother used to say that crying doesn’t help.”

“…”

There was nothing Min-joo could say.

As Min-joo grabbed onto Hin’s clothes and collapsed, someone supported Min-joo and pushed her back.

It was Andy. The dark gray eyes sank deep into Min-joo’s as he stared at her.

“Andy, this sister is crying. The master will surely scold her if he sees her…”

“The master is not here.”

Andy furrowed his brows as if holding back something and answered simply.

Hin sensed the subtle atmosphere and fell silent.

Min-joo, who was holding onto Andy’s clothes and gasping for breath, smiled at Hin with great effort.

“Hin, was the cake… delicious?”

“Yes. It was so fluffy and melted smoothly. It felt like clouds!”

Tears welled up again. Min-joo couldn’t bear to look at the child and lowered her head.

“…If you go down the stairs, there’s a store. Eat whatever you want there… Eat.”

“Really?! What’s your name, sister?”

“…Min-joo. Park Min-joo.”

“That’s an unusual name. I’ll get you too, so stop crying now!”

Min-joo nodded and responded. Hin got up from her seat and went down the stairs sobbingly.

Only then did Min-joo swallow her sobs.

Andy quietly watched Min-joo for a moment, then sat down where Hin had been sitting.

“…Why are you crying? It’s none of your concern.”

Andy spoke in a firm voice.

It was truly incomprehensible.

Even if she had experienced difficult things, she now had money and proper status.

Even nobles followed Min-joo.

Such things were common stories for slaves.

Min-joo, who cried over it, was a strange person.

Even upon close observation, she was truly a peculiar individual.

Andy had met many people for slave rights, but Min-joo was the most peculiar one among them.

‘As if she were a lady…’

Min-joo answered with countless tears streaming down.

“The child, why should she go through such things… What’s wrong with seeking her freedom, why treat people like that? I’m so angry, I’m so sad…”

Is she any different? Andy looked at Min-joo, whose face was swollen from crying.

Even the reformist nobles who had contacted him ultimately saw slaves as means.

Promising freedom to slaves. They only bragged with their fancy mouths about making laws to protect them.

So, was there any real change?

What did they change with their prestigious status and position?

‘I’m not a fool.’

Slaves know a lot.

The habits, flaws, and tastes of their masters. Even elements that could be used advantageously in politics.

Andy, who led their community, was well-informed.

The fact that he eventually clung to reformist nobles was not because he was a fool.

He had no choice.

To change something, one had to borrow the power of the powerful.

Even if the weak gathered and protested, they would only be treated like bugs.

Ultimately, it was to have the right to live as a human being, and the right to choose what to eat.

“Crying won’t change anything.”

Andy said bluntly.

Nothing changes.

The tears of the weak are just juice that comes out when squeezing bugs.

Min-joo’s shoulders trembled as she breathed roughly.

Her red face was endlessly shedding tears.

What’s different about her tears? Can’t she cry because she’s not weak?

Is it because it’s the first time someone has shown sympathy that his heart is moved like this?

Andy rested his chin on the table and muttered as if speaking to himself.

“…I was a slave in a noble household. That noble household was a very peculiar place, and they were kind even to the slaves.”

Min-joo raised her head, tears streaming down her face.

Andy turned away from Min-joo and continued speaking.

“Because they treated slaves as a cherished daughter’s companion, that’s all there is to say. Thanks to that, the slaves learned to read, learned manners and learned many things. The mistress who kept us was affectionate and kind. When she returned home during the holidays, she would tell us many stories.”

About the teachers, her friends, how the classes were.

She would buy gifts when passing through town, and bring back a few books, saying her free time would be boring without something to read.

“When I became an adult, she said she would grant me freedom. Find someone you love and live happily. She told me to do what I wanted and live freely.”

So, he waited to become an adult.

He wondered how vast a world lay beyond the mansion.

It was the day when the beloved mistress returned during the holidays.

“The Emperor executed her. He stormed the mansion and destroyed the family. I had to watch the people I love fall in front of me.”

And then he was sold.

Because slaves are like livestock.

Because he wasn’t a member of the family.

He wandered, was sold, escaped, and was caught again, standing on the auction block.

Andy looked down at the cream-stained plate.

“Do you still cry this time? It’s pathetic.”

Finishing his words, Andy looked at Min-joo as if mocking her.

Min-joo clenched her teeth and held back her tears.

Even if she tried to hold back, the tears kept flowing like a river.

Andy thought Min-joo, who cried so easily, was peculiar.

It wasn’t ordinary to sympathize with every common and expected story and cry.

Andy tilted his head and looked at Min-joo.

“I know because I’ve experienced being loved. That the world is wrong.”

Min-joo raised her head.

Her swollen eyes felt insignificant yet affectionate.

“It’s not natural that this wretched life, where you can’t even choose to follow the person you love, where you have no choice, is not even a choice.”

Min-joo’s hand touched Andy’s cheek.

At the tip of her fingers, a droplet hangs.

Min-joo realizes that Andy loves that lady.

And that he harbors a deep resentment.

Andy slowly closes and opens his eyes. Tears silently stream down.

“I want to change the world.”

How much pain did he endure to come to this point?

How many dismal scenes did he witness before uttering the desire to change the world?

How many suppressed emotions poured out in these tears?

Min-joo nods and wipes Andy’s tears.

“Me too. I want to change this absurd world.”

The tears of the weak are filled with much suffering, anger, sorrow, and resentment.

Their tears may reveal the flaws of the country.

“We will change it. We can do it. We must.”

Min-joo hoped they wouldn’t cry.

She wished for a world where tears wouldn’t exist.