Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Chapter 5

Translator: Gina

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Two years later, Luka was taller than he was when he first arrived, and he was practically at the same eye level as me. He seemed more lively than when we first met, and he aided me in attending for the orphans.

My head was filled with a rush of thoughts. I designed an emergency escape plan that would never fail while watching Luka, who fell asleep again grasping my hands. During the lengthy years I lived here, I saw and heard a lot of things, but the thing that struck me the most was that there was no way out of this orphanage. Even more so when I remembered the episode in the original novel that ended in tragedy after attempting to escape through the library, resulting in Raiolla’s fury and Ravelia’s dire affliction. Luka, who discovered what appeared to be a secret tunnel on the floor of the library, attempted to flee overnight, but it was actually just an underground warehouse with no access to the outside world. Raiolla didn’t care for us at all, yet she controlled us with such dexterity that you’d be speechless.

I couldn’t tell how many people have entered her room over the past ten years, and even so, I was only able to glimpse a tiny fraction of that maze-like room. Perhaps the outside zone – Raiolla’s house – was first, followed by Troi Orphanage. Unless there’s another home beyond that door, it’s the only explanation for Raiolla’s almost constant confinement in the room. Also, whenever she walked out, she purposefully closed the only door so that we could all see it. The windows in the ceiling were too high to reach, and there was no ladder.

‘But even so… Only one person managed to flee.’ It was something Serin Unnie had told me. Something she witnessed when she was a child. A boy named Alex vanished without a trace seventeen years ago, when he was just seven years old. Miss Raiolla flipped the orphanage upside down, mobilizing all children to hunt for him whether he flew into the sky or vanished on the ground, not even a trace of dust was recovered. Serin Unnie was five years old at the time, and Alex, who was very kind to her, asked her one day, “Would you like to run away with me?” She said that she was so young at the time that she shook her head in dread even before she could be intrigued by those words. If she had known the kid would be successful in his escape, she would have followed him… I could still hear her voice saying so.

‘More, I should remember more.’

I was holding my head, tracing my old recollections when I heard a warm voice I had heard a lot as a toddler.

“If it hurts, Leah, you can cry. But do it discreetly so it doesn’t get into the ears of that old hag…“

“Ngg… hik–”

“A little quieter…!”

“Mmh…”

That was the first day I received corporal punishment from Raiolla. When I was young, I received Serin’s gentle treatment in this small room, and she said vague words just to comfort me.

“Someone treated me like this a long time ago. I’m not sure how Alex Oppa is doing these days. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was a naughty kid who demanded to play hide-and-seek in a steamy laundry room.”

‘Ah–!’ Along with Serin Unnie’s young, playful voice, a place flashed through my mind.

‘Right! The laundry area is unventilated, so the walls were usually moist and needed to be fixed every year– I’m not sure whether it paid off that children were in charge of adding boards to the room for over thirty years.’ If you demolished a plank-covered wall, you’d almost certainly find a decaying tree that couldn’t tolerate the humid circumstances.

After thinking that much, I carefully released Luka’s hand and left the small room immediately.

“Leah Unnie, is Luka Oppa okay?”

I sweetly replied to the children swarming around me, “Fortunately, I think he’ll be alright,” and pretended to take care of today’s duties as my feet slowly made their way to the laundry room. Fortunately for me, today was laundry day. The laundry was arranged to be done once a week, and no one was permitted to enter except on the designated days.

The laundry room’s door…

Clak-

It’s locked now, of course.

Raiolla would summon the kids on duty at any time of day and lend them the keys. This door must not have been locked seventeen years ago, when Alex fancied playing hide-and-seek. She may have begun locking the laundry room door after his escape, suspecting but not certain of the location.

‘Let’s see. Today’s turn…’

“Felix, hasn’t Miss Raiolla given you the laundry keys yet?”

I called Felix, who was playing block building with his friends. He was on duty to do laundry today.

“Ngh, Leah Noona. She hasn’t given it to me yet!”

‘Should I then wait a little longer?’ No, even if I wait, the door only opens in front of Raiolla, allowing Felix to enter alone. Then he needs to do the laundry, come out, and lock the door in front of her. What should I do?’

I felt the gears in my brain turning as I glanced at Terry, who was following me around.

“Terry, what are you holding in your hand?”

I looked at the toy held tightly in her hand, at first glance it looked like a butterfly.

“I picked it up in the trash room the other day! It looks a bit old, but it’s still usable, and it makes sounds!”

“Sound?”

Terry pressed the protruding part of the torn-down plastic toy. Then, amusingly, a ‘Beep-beep-‘ sound came out from the thing that seemed to break at any moment. It was probably a self-defense whistle that parents used to give to young children.

“Terry, by any chance…”

I crouched, hugged Terry, and whispered in her ear.

* * *

Miss Raiolla’s door finally slammed open and she came out. Everyone moved as far away from her as possible and played quietly. Only Felix waited for her in front of the laundry room door. As for me, I was hiding next to a huge laundry bag. There was a wall on the side, so other children couldn’t see me. Raiolla threw the keys to Felix and he, as if familiar with such manners, took it and inserted it into the door lock. Around the time when the smell of laundry soap started to come out through the open door–

Beep- beep- beep-

As a beep sound came out from somewhere, Raiolla glanced around the trash room.

‘Now!’

I took advantage of the brief moment when Felix’s gaze turned to the sound and went into the laundry room as if throwing myself in.

“What’s that!”

I was startled by her angry voice.

‘Did she see me? Did I get caught?’

“Where is this crappy sound coming from! Don’t let me catch you! How dare you make a noise!”

I quietly hid myself under an old blanket next to me, pressing my beating heart.

“Felix do the laundry and come out!”

“Ah yes! Miss Raiolla…”

He entered the room, pityingly lugging a big laundry bag, threw it into the magical washing machine, and left. As soon as the door banged shut and before a ‘click’ was about to resonate, I placed a wire I had in my pocket into the lock. From the outside, Felix was puzzled, wondering why the key didn’t fit into the keyhole, but Raiolla shouted, eager to find the culprit making the sound, so in the end, the child handed over the keys leaving the door unlocked. Whatever, even if she entered the trash room, Raiolla would only find a self-defense whistle making noise by itself, and eventually, she’ll think it turned on because of the garbage pressing on it.

“The moment Felix opens the door, you press the button and throw it in the trash room. Then you go and hide in the bathroom next door.”

Terry must surely be safe.

I was left alone in the laundry room with the washing machine spinning while listening to Raiolla’s hysterical voice. The time left was about an hour until Felix comes back to collect the laundry.

‘Now, where should I start looking?’

Usually, the laundry was done by the taller boys so I have never come in except for repairs. In a fairly large space, there were piles of clothes stacked since who knows when. Raiolla used to take out clothes that fit us properly as we grew up and throw the others away. Among the piles of clothes, I saw some of the outfits I wore as a child.

The walls were all covered with planks, so it was difficult to guess what the original shape of the room was.

‘Even Alex couldn’t have imagined there was an escape route in a place like this.’ For sure, it must have been a coincidence. The perfect place to play hide-and-seek, a place where a seven-year-old child could hide.

I went to the column next to the thumping magic washing machine and found a pile of clothes there. Suddenly, a wall covered with planks was visible. I removed the planks one by one. The repairs were done over several years, so the planks were endless.

“Haak- it stings.”

I cut my finger deep while removing the seventh plank.

‘Oh, it really hurts. It stings, but more than that…

Luka will scold me again.’

Thinking back on my condition of living in captivity with my younger brother, I started working again. It was impossible to remove all of this wide wall at once, so I had no choice but to dig to death. If not here, I’ll have to wait until next week and try again in a different place…

‘Oh?’

Then, as I took off two more, I heard the faint sound of the wind. Except for the time when I was a baby, my heart was beating faster than ever and my hands moved hastily for the first time in this life.

One, two, three, four, five… my hands moved so chaotically fast that I got scratches all over my palms, but I didn’t have time to worry about it.

“I’m going to hear a lot of nagging for this… Uh? Wait a…”

‘I finally found it! Alex’s escape route!’

I discovered a small hole through which only young children could crawl. The wind was blowing through the gap. At that moment, I felt a gentle spring wind in my heart. A long-forgotten hunger for freedom wriggled through me. More than anything, I wanted the children confined in this orphanage, who had become like family to me, to feel the same way I felt. Unblemished kids who have never sinned. I couldn’t stay here and watch kids become villains in the future because of the greed of such adults. Even if it goes against the flow of this novel world.

The sound of children’s laughing and the occasional yearning for freedom may be heard in it. Desires for what to do after leaving the orphanage, as well as questions about whether they would be able to live freely after they reach the age of fifteen.

‘No, when you reach fifteen, you become a pawn under Duke Kavlos.’ Something I couldn’t talk about. My eyes ached for a moment. However, I quickly regained my composure and turned to face the exit in front of me. I crawled into the passage where my body could fit easily. Sunlight shone not far away, and the grass was starting to appear in sight.

‘It’s really the outside world. I found it…’

Rattle~

‘Huh?’

At that moment I heard the sound of the key being inserted into the door lock.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I stopped hearing the thumping of the washing machine…’ Because I was so focused on finding the secret tunnel, I seemed to have lost track of time.

‘Damn it!’

I quickly returned and, before the door was open, I knocked down a heap of clothes next to me and buried myself in it, along with the area I had totally messed up excavating.

Creak~ The door opened and Felix’s footsteps drew closer and closer. The child faithfully left the room with the laundry in the bag. And just as the door was about to close again.

“Wait!”

‘Miss Raiolla? Why did she stop Felix from closing the door?’

“The clothes are so messy!”

‘When did you ever–!’ I wanted to shout, did she notice something? She kept complaining about the room being messy.

“Should we clean this all up today?”

At Raiolla’s words, each child groaned as if in pain. Of course, cleaning would be all up to the children.

‘You can’t. If you find the only way out, I will lose it, and Raiolla’s surveillance will be even worse. And…’

The novel’s original content flashed across my head.

‘I might break my leg. No, it will definitely break!’

All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind as I was hiding in the pile of clothes. Even if the kids found me and pretended not to know, I wouldn’t be safe under Raiolla’s supervision. As I was biting my lips and trembling, I heard someone’s voice.

“Let’s do it next week.”

Luka’s voice!

“Now the kids are cleaning the trash room.”

It seemed that Raiolla’s hysterical yelling was because of the trash area being cleaned.

“Hmm… Okay, it’s the priority. Phew! Can’t you be faster, guys?”

After those words, the door slammed shut as if it had never been open and–

Click-

The door was locked.

‘OMG, did you lock it?’

I crept out of the clothing pile, approached the front door, and cautiously turned the doorknob.

However, the wire I had placed to the door had fallen to the floor, and the lock was secured before I realized it.

‘Crazy– you mean I’ll be trapped in here for a week…?’