Chapter 23

The Villain's Ending is Only Death Chapter 23

“Ahh, Miss!”

When I finally arrived at the duke’s residence with Eclis, it was already morning.

The butler and Emily, spotting me walking from a distance, rushed over with pale faces.

“Miss Penelope. Just what...!”

“Where on earth were you last night!”

Emily, taking over for the speechless butler, asked as if screaming.

From their reactions, I instinctively knew that sneaking Eclis in was a failure.

“...Does Father know too?”

“Yes! The young masters have been leading the knights around all night looking for you, and since the early morning, slave traders have been coming to the mansion, turning it upside down!”

I clutched my forehead at Emily’s words.

The slave trader who had doubted my identity had come to claim his payment as soon as it was light, and he had even arrived before me.

Moreover, with the situation already tense, Derrick and Leonard had caused a commotion.

‘Damn... I shouldn’t have brought those guys along.’

I groaned, and Emily, jumping up, pushed me inside the gate.

“Hurry inside, Miss. Hurry!”

“Miss. Who is this person?”

The butler blocked Eclis, who had naturally followed me closely into the mansion.

“Eclis will be my dedicated bodyguard from now on. Please prepare a suitable room for him and make sure he can rest.”

“Ah, Miss! How can I...!”

He looked at Eclis, who was covered in wounds and dressed shabbily, with disgust.

“I can’t do that, Miss! How can I bring someone of unknown identity into the mansion...!”

“Butler. Has it been only a few days since you started thinking my words are a joke?”

After staying up all night at the slave auction, I was extremely tired.

I wanted to rush to my room and throw myself onto the bed, but there was a mountain of problems to solve. I had no time to deal with the staff leisurely.

“Please make sure Eclis can stay. I’m asking you.”

“...I understand, Miss.”

The butler bowed reluctantly.

Next came a threat. Fortunately, no further trouble occurred.

As we quickly entered the mansion’s entrance with them,

“Hey! You...!”

Reynold, who had been pacing anxiously in front of the entrance, was the first to recognize me.

At the sound of his voice, the duke, who had been sitting, jumped up.

“Penelope!”

“...Father.”

I involuntarily flinched under the duke’s stern gaze.

Seeing my reaction, the duke, like Reynold, was about to yell but held back. Instead,

“...Follow me to my study right now.”

The duke’s cold voice cut through the air as he disappeared into his study, leaving me to let out a deep sigh.

‘Sigh. What do I have to do now to beg for forgiveness.’

Was this all the hardship I had to endure just to get one Eclis?

Feeling a sudden resentment, I turned sharply to him, but then my anger cooled as I saw the ash-brown hair above his head.

[Goodwill 18%]

I had to hold back. He was my only way out, after all.

Meanwhile, Reynold, noticing Eclis standing closely behind me, growled menacingly.

“What’s this beggar doing here?”

“Follow the butler, Eclis.”

Afraid of causing unnecessary trouble, I quickly told Eclis.

“Follow the butler? Where! Why should I come in here!”

Reynold, losing his temper, looked like he had a lot to say.

However, perhaps because I had to go to the duke, he didn’t press the issue and just grumbled.

It was the same for Eclis. After looking at me silently, he moved his lips.

“Hurry, be good.”

He seemed to have something to say, but I firmly stopped him. There was no time for that now.

After handing the mask I was holding to Emily, I hurriedly followed the duke.

Click. As soon as I opened the study door and stepped inside, a cold voice cut in mercilessly.

“Penelope Ecart.”

“Yes, Father.”

I approached him and stood respectfully. The duke was sitting with his back to the desk.

“Explain everything from the beginning.”

The heavy tone of the duke made me shiver.

I couldn’t see his expression, so I wasn’t sure if I could handle this situation as well as I had before.

The reputation I had built up by improving my relationship with the duke didn’t matter if it affected the goodwill of my two brothers.

After much deliberation in a short time, I decided to use the method that had worked before.

“...I’m sorry for leaving without a word, Father.”

“That’s the most common thing I’ve been hearing from you lately.”

However, while it might have worked twice, it didn’t work a third time.

I was speechless as the duke’s words poured out.

“You only apologize in words, but it seems rare for you to actually reflect on your actions. What do you think about that?”

“That’s...”

Biting my lip, I quickly brought up the thing he had been most worried about with the previous Penelope.

“I swear I didn’t do anything to disgrace the family, Father.”

“I didn’t stay up all night just to hear that kind of nonsense!”

Bang! The duke, who had been about to lose his temper, slammed his armrest as soon as I finished speaking.

“Huh...”

I took a small breath.

The duke, who had always been indifferent to Penelope, was a sight I had never seen in the game, and fear suddenly washed over me.

‘What should I do!’

I was completely flustered.

Perhaps it was a mistake to think that I could easily get away with a superficial apology and pleading, as I had done with the crown prince’s incident.

“Let’s get to the point, Penelope Ecart. Why did the daughter of the Ecart family venture out into the night streets without a bodyguard?”

As I stood there in fear, unable to say anything, the duke took a deep breath.

Then, in a softer voice, he asked,

“What about those vulgar men who stormed the mansion this morning? What happened last night?”

I sighed quietly.

Given the duke’s serious attitude, it seemed pointless to beg for forgiveness any further.

“I went out secretly because I wanted to see the festival streets at night.”

“Why at night, when you could have gone during the day? And if you really wanted to go, you should have asked for permission!”

“I thought you wouldn’t allow it.”

“...What?”

“You always said I couldn’t go out casually unless it was an official event.”

It was true. That was the reason I had searched for Eclis through every hole and crevice to save him.

In the game, Penelope’s background was almost entirely limited to the duke’s mansion or ballrooms.

Although the details weren’t specified, I immediately noticed upon returning here that Penelope’s life itself was almost like being under house arrest.

To prevent her from causing trouble, she was confined to the mansion except for attending invitations in her name.

As a result, she didn’t even have a dedicated bodyguard, which was usually assigned to noble young ladies.

It would have been a waste of manpower.

“...”

The duke was speechless for a moment.

After a long pause, he urged me on with a low, restrained voice.

“...So.”

“I ran into my brothers on the way out. At first, they tried to stop me, but I begged so much that they eventually agreed to go with me. I couldn’t wake the family knights just to have one bodyguard, after all.”

“...”

“While we were enjoying the festival streets, we got swept up in a parade and separated from my brothers. I was wandering through a dark alley when I encountered a noble of poor character and almost got into serious trouble.”

“...What, what did you say!”

At that moment, the duke jumped up from his chair.

“Who was that guy! Who dared to...!”

“I, I was too flustered to know who he was.”

I was surprised by his unexpectedly intense reaction. The duke’s burning eyes made me feel like I had to reveal the identity immediately.

“I only heard something about ‘Clou’...”

“Clou, Clou, you say.”

I had tried to gloss over it with a vague reference to the pig, but the duke repeated the name ‘Clou’ several times as if trying to engrave it in his mind.

Even as he sat back down, he continued to mutter darkly, making me feel uneasy.

Afraid that something might go wrong, I quickly changed the subject.

“At that moment, Eclis, who was passing by, helped me.”

“...Eclis? You mean the guy you brought?”

“Yes. Eclis was trying to escape from the slave auction and was caught again.”

The mention of a slave made the duke’s brow furrow in displeasure. I quickly added,

“He’s a noble from a defeated country.”

The duke’s expression finally relaxed. I took a deep breath.

“I was able to buy him from the auction because I had the blank check you gave me and a button from Brother Derrick.”

“Did you pay 100 million gold for him?”

“I couldn’t turn my back on my savior.”

It was a story very different from the actual events, but Eclis was indeed my ‘savior’—or would be.

“Giving you a blank check wasn’t for you to buy a mere slave.”

The duke’s voice, barely containing his anger, was icy.

- How many dresses did you want to buy that you even asked for a blank check?

I could vividly recall his cheerful voice as he handed me the check.

However, if my story was true, there was no other choice.

“Because of me, he failed to escape and was caught and taken back to the auction.”

“...”

“Even beasts know how to repay kindness. How could I, bearing the name Ecart, turn my back on a savior in a difficult situation...”

At that moment,

Bang! The duke’s study door burst open.

And who appeared was

“Where the hell...!”

Derrick, drenched in sweat and pale, was the one who appeared.

“Where the hell were you hiding?”

He approached the study with a terrifying look, glaring at me.

“B, Brother.”

I was extremely flustered, glancing at the duke.

However, he seemed to be in a daze.

“I searched everywhere in the capital all night. I even scoured the red-light district! I was afraid you might have been kidnapped by human traffickers!”

“...”

“So, where were you...!”

Derrick, who had rushed over, grabbed my shoulders with both hands and glared at me as if he were about to devour me.

I had never seen him make such a face.

Moreover, looking above his head, I was even more stunned.

[Goodwill 13%]

‘What is going on here.’

I recalled the last face I saw when his sleeve button was torn off.

- Penelope!

The urgent face he had made, trying to grab me as I was being taken away.

Derrick had not only disliked Penelope but also despised and hated her. How else could his goodwill have dropped just by calling him ‘Brother’?

That’s why I had never even considered the Derrick route since coming here.

I had been relieved just to avoid a negative impact.

That’s why I hadn’t even thought about how his last face, when he lost me, was so unlike his usual self.

‘...But why?’

I stared blankly at Derrick’s face and the number above his head, forgetting about the duke.

Why are you, of all people, making such a desperate face?