I'm a Villainess, Can I Die?-Chapter 108

A flicker of color returned to her lifeless eyes for just a moment. The emotion that brushed across her frozen face was fear.

Bell began to convulse after stammering out Melissa’s name.

Seeing Bell suddenly shaking in front of her, Melissa was visibly shaken.

Her limbs and face twisted and jerked uncontrollably, flailing like a fish pulled from water.

“Bell! Hey, Bell! What’s wrong? Bell!”

Melissa grabbed Bell’s shoulders, calling out her name in a panic. The others working nearby gathered around, murmuring “What do we do?” as they closed in.

“Get the doctor! Someone get the doctor! Bell! Hey!

Stay with me! Bell!”

Bell’s twitching body collapsed to the ground, completely limp.

Fortunately, Melissa had been holding her up. If she hadn’t, Bell would’ve slammed her head on the floor.

“Someone get a wet towel! Bell, hey!”

Through her fading consciousness, Bell heard Melissa’s voice.

‘How... did it come to this?’

Her distant mind drifted back to that day.

The day she reached out to the sweet whisper.

‘This is an advance payment. Just a small part of what’s to come. And this red bead is a gift from the god. If # Nоvеlight # you swallow it, you’ll receive power and divine blessing.’

The High Priest had said that to Bell, who had brought him his meal. He handed her a heavy pouch of gold coins, asking her to report on the goings-on in the mansion.

Bell’s eyes trembled as she looked inside the pouch. The High Priest’s lips curved into a smile as he watched her eyes darken with desire.

‘Power... and blessings?’

‘It means all your days to come will be blessed. Not just a servant’s miserable life in a noble house—no, enough blessing to become a noble yourself. As proof, if you swallow this bead, we’ll be able to speak through your mind. It means you’ll become a messenger of the god.’

He revealed the bead. A red orb, glowing with a strange, captivating light. Bell stared at it blankly as her lips slowly parted.

‘...All I have to do is explain what’s happening in the mansion, right? In my head?’

It wasn’t a difficult job. No need to meet face-to-face, no letters—just call the High Priest’s name in her mind, and he would hear her.

What sweeter temptation could there be? She’d gain absurd wealth, divine blessing—and all for playing the role of a spy without leaving a single trace.

‘I’ll do it.’

At her answer, the High Priest gave her a kind smile. Bell took the red bead from him and swallowed it without even a sip of water.

Yes, it started that day.

From that day on, she’d drifted into a fog, constantly calling the High Priest’s name in her head. Her mind had become filled with nothing but his voice.

“Khak... kha... Hi... High... Pr...”

That was the last thing Bell said.

She vomited blood like a fountain and died on the spot.

“Aaaahhh!”

A blood-curdling scream shook the kitchen. It wasn’t clear whose scream it was—perhaps it belonged to everyone present. Together, they cried out, and the mansion trembled with their voices.

It was just before 8 a.m. according to the clock. Jane would be coming to wake me soon, so waking up a little early didn’t bother me.

Yawning lazily, I stretched and shuffled toward the door.

Still in my nightgown, I didn’t open it. I simply pressed my ear to the door.

It was unusually noisy for this time of day, and I was curious.

“Writing... died... blood...”

“Not... something... strange...”

What are they even saying?

I could catch a few words through the murmuring, but not enough to make sense of anything. It sounded like people were heading downstairs while talking amongst themselves.

Whatever the commotion was, it seemed to be happening downstairs.

I pulled away from the door, wondering what the fuss was about—when there came a knock.

Judging by the time, it could only be Jane.

“Come in.”

The door creaked open. Just as I expected, it was Jane.

She looked surprised to see me already up, eyes wide.

“Good morning.”

Jane looked around with her large eyes, then nodded a little dazedly.

“Yes... Good... morning, my lady.”

Her voice was dragging. She looked drained.

Was she connected to the noise outside?

I glanced toward the door, but nothing could be seen or heard through the now-closed entrance.

Well, I’d find out soon enough.

I shrugged and changed into the indoor dress Jane had brought.

Jane got to work immediately. I couldn’t help but notice her slumped shoulders, so as I tossed my nightgown into the laundry basket, I asked casually:

“There was a lot of noise outside. What’s going on?”

The question slipped out easily, but Jane froze mid-motion, her hands still gripping the bedding. A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

So something had happened.

When she finally turned to face me, her eyes were slightly red, as if she might cry at any moment.

What’s going on with her?

“Um... someone died.”

I blinked, at a loss for words.

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Wait, someone died? In the mansion? Holy hell... that’s a lot more serious than I expected.

“Someone died? ...Who?”

When I asked, Jane’s brows furrowed even further. Her teary eyes reflected a mix of concern, pity, and sorrow.

No way... was that pity meant for me? My fingertips tingled as familiar faces flashed through my mind.

“Her name was Bell. I talked to her a few times... She was a kitchen maid. Witnesses said she suddenly vomited blood and died on the spot. There’s a huge investigation going on to find the cause.”

“Ah... I see.”

The unfamiliar name brought me unexpected relief.

It felt horribly selfish. I wasn’t unmoved by the death, but I still felt relieved that the deceased was a stranger to me.

Bell’s death was still a death. That truth didn’t change.

Sorry.

I clasped my hands together and blinked as I offered a short, silent apology to the girl named Bell.

“She just vomited blood and died?”

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“Yes. Scary, right? I just hope it wasn’t poison. If it was poison, that means someone laced something... and that’s terrifying.”

Jane turned back around and continued straightening the bedding. I nodded as I watched her busy silhouette.

She wasn’t wrong. If it was murder, that meant the killer was still in the mansion. Even I would be a little disturbed by that.

I fiddled with my fingers, trying to picture the maid’s face. Or more accurately, the silhouette of someone collapsing and vomiting blood.

Death felt so pointless, all over again.

Someone could just die out of nowhere, even while going about their normal day. Goosebumps prickled my arms. That dream from earlier came rushing back and left a sour taste crawling up from my toes.

“Was she sick or anything?”

“I’m not sure... but people said she’d been acting off for a month or so. Like she was... dull? I asked her to do something once, and even then, she was really slow to respond.”

Dullness... isn’t that a symptom of some disease?

Maybe. There are illnesses where your senses fade or your memory weakens and you become sluggish.

There are so many diseases in this world.

From widely known deadly ones to unnamed, incurable ones. I’m no doctor—there’s no way I’d know them all.

“Remember when the High Priest was here? When you were feeling really unwell and asked to be woken up for dinner? I had Bell wake you instead of me. Do you remember?”

As if I’d remember that. I can’t even remember what happened yesterday.

‘Do you know a maid with black hair and blue eyes?’

Ah, maybe it was then. When Lukas said something felt strange... was she the maid he meant?

“Does that Bell girl... have black hair and blue eyes?”

“Yes! That’s her.”

Jane glanced at me, surprised that I knew what Bell looked like.

“And... did she ever have strange eyes? Like, her focus seemed off?”

“Her focus...?”

Jane paused, seeming to think. Her eyes closed, hands hovering awkwardly over the blanket. After a short silence, she opened her eyes and slowly nodded.

“Now that you mention it... maybe.”

I got up from my seat. I needed to see her face.

When Lukas had said that, I’d thought, What kind of nonsense is that? What does it even mean for someone’s focus to be off? But if more than one person noticed it...

“Then I really need to see her face.”

“Bell’s? But the body’s already been taken away... only the scene’s left.”

“That’s fine.”

This wasn’t out of curiosity.

It wasn’t curiosity—it was more like unease.

I kept thinking about the look on Lukas’s face when he asked me about her. Sitting still felt unbearable.

And it just so happened that today was the very day I’d woken up at dawn, racked with horrible pain.

“Jane, that day you asked Bell to wake me. Why?”

As we walked down the stairs, I asked Jane what had happened that day. How had Bell ended up taking her place?

“Well... I went to the kitchen to check on your meal, and I ran into the High Priest.”

“The High Priest?”

“Yes. He asked me for something... oh, to explain the mansion layout and the rules. I thought it would be a quick conversation, but he had a lot of questions. It was hard to find a break to excuse myself, and since he was an officially invited guest... I ended up asking Bell to take my place. She worked in the kitchen anyway, so she already knew the meal schedule.”

“Ah... I see.”

So it really was just a coincidence?

Then again, if her sluggishness was caused by an illness, maybe that weird “focus” Lukas noticed was just part of it.

Even so, there was this prickling in my throat. Like I’d swallowed something I shouldn’t have.

I nodded slightly, and just as we reached the bottom of the stairs—

“My lady.”

A familiar voice.

“Aiden.”

“Are you going to the scene?”

Wow. Sharp as ever.

“Ah, yeah. You?”

From the direction he’d come, it looked like he was heading upstairs.

I stepped aside to let him through, but Aiden shook his head slightly.

“I was coming to see you, my lady.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Since something happened in the mansion, I figured I should stay by your side as your escort.”

Ah... right. They still didn’t know the cause of death.

As we said earlier, it could have been murder.

If so, then the killer might still be in the mansion—and of course, Aiden would want to guard me.

“Then come with me. I have to see the scene myself.”

When I said that, Aiden closed his mouth for a moment. He looked like he was debating whether or not to let me go.

But it didn’t matter.

No matter how long he thought about it, I was going. This was the only way to shake this feeling.

When I gave him a slight nod, Aiden sighed and stepped in beside me.