Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 331

I found the spot where the window opened and threw it wide. The wind rushed in stronger than I had expected, whipping my long hair around.

I wasn’t exactly sure what floor this was, but looking down, it seemed like it could be around the sixth floor of an apartment building.

Even so, I wasn’t afraid at all. Just a moment ago, when I tried to jump from the ventilation duct that was only a few meters high, I had felt dizzy and terrified, even though someone was there, ready to catch me with open arms.

But now, even though I was much higher up, I felt no fear at all. In fact, I felt a strange confidence that I could easily jump from here.

“…Claude!”

I gathered all my strength and shouted at the top of my lungs.

Sure enough, even from a distance, Claude immediately looked up in my direction.

His eyes widened when he saw me.

I climbed onto the windowsill, continuing to shout.

“I’m going to jump now, so you can catch me, right?!”

I didn’t actually need an answer. I was sure that he would catch me safely, even without any warning. But I asked anyway, figuring he might need a moment to prepare.

But as I looked into his eyes, I didn’t see the joy or relief I had expected. Instead, he looked shocked, almost as if he were facing something terrifying.

I barely had time to wonder why before I threw myself out of the window.

I was so focused on him that I didn’t even notice that the door behind me had swung wide open.

I felt a sharp pain, like something slicing through my skin, and then the next moment, it was as if my ankle was on fire.

Blood gushed out, and I lost consciousness.

When I woke up again…

Maybe because I had wished so desperately, the face I had longed to see was right in front of me.

“Rose, please…!”

Claude, who was holding me, cried out in despair. I could only stare up at him blankly.

Is this a dream? Is this one of those visions people see right before they die, showing them what they most desire? His arms holding me, the warmth of his body against mine, and the way he looked down at me—all of it felt so vivid.

It was as if this was a comforting, bittersweet illusion, a final gift for the brief and fleeting life of Rose Valentine.

“Just hold on a little longer, I’ll get you to a hospital soon…”

His voice, sounding distant as if in a dream, made me think hazily.

A hospital… Are you hurt somewhere?

It was then that I noticed his arms around me were covered in blood.

Without thinking, I reached out. The blood on my fingertips was warm and smelled metallic.

I wish you weren’t in pain. No matter what happens to me…

With that thought, I must have drifted off again.

And then, I had a dream.

A dream I thought I had long forgotten, from so long ago.

***

〈Hey, tell me. What kind of sin did I commit in my past life?〉

〈…〉

〈What kind of sin must I have committed to have someone like you, to wither away before I even had a chance to bloom, and end up living like this?〉

Even when we were sitting down to eat, Mom often said things like that.

Mom was a single mother. She got pregnant as a bright-eyed college freshman, took a leave of absence, and had me. So while others were busy going to parties and on trips, Mom was making formula and changing dirty diapers.

Of course, I don’t remember any of that since I was too young, so it was always just Mom’s one-sided lament.

Mom resented me. From the moment she carried me, her life took a nosedive. And because of that, she never escaped a miserable existence through what should have been her dazzling twenties and into her late thirties.

Her complaints at the dinner table were always the same. That guy who liked her back then now makes a huge salary at a big company, and if it weren’t for me, she could have married him and lived a good life. The only reason she was living like this was because she got pregnant with me…