I Became the Villain’s Wife

After she left the room, the chief sighed.
He went back to his place and sat down, as if he had lost all the energy he had in his body.

His expression was staring at a corner of the wall as if he intended for it to tear apart.

The chief, who had not moved for a while as if he had been nailed to that posture, gave orders to the empty space in a hoarse voice.

“… Give the watch to that singer.”

From the corner, there was a small noise like wild animals or insects passing by.
The unanswered sound soon appeared in the form of a human, picked up the discarded gold watch in the middle of the table and put it in his arms.

Even after that, the chief did not move much as if he was a hibernating snake.

The candle holder, which melted and fell, shook, and hardened with the chair.
That much was kept as a shadow on the wall.

***

Eun-woo sighed and walked aimlessly down the hallway.
She couldn’t even think of stopping, as if she had a power device on her feet.

How long was she walking like this? She suddenly realized what she was doing and did not know where she was heading into.

She touched her cheek with her seemingly numb hand and just as she thought, there were tears around her eyes and they had been dripping like that for a long time already, making her chin drench.

Eun-woo suddenly collapsed on the path like a puppet whose mainspring had been released and burst out crying like a child.

She wanted to see him. 

For once, she missed someone so madly that she felt if this was even a normal behavior.
Anyway, it was like that.

The short time she had with the chief felt as long as she had looked into his life.
From afar, that short time with him felt as if she was confined in his closet and helplessly watched as he beat a young boy. 

(TN: I also had a hard time understanding this, but it only means that she is watching Tashian being beaten by the Chief while in a closet.)

It was the worst.
At the same time, her heart shattered with sadness.

Despite that only one part of him had spread through her body, it already felt as if her flesh and bones had melted.

That brief disaster came so harsh to her, how much more was his life?

Eun-woo grabbed her chest and buried her face on the floor.

She felt heavy.
The weight of her heart suddenly felt infinitely heavy.
And at the same time, the pain was already etched in her heart, so there’s no way for her to undo it.

Eun-woo lifted her torn sleeve and wiped her tears away.

Her bruised knee throbbed and her hand slashed open and from it, the blood oozed out.

She slowly got her body up.
She looked around, decided a direction, and started walking recklessly.

The surroundings were still dark, empty, and aimless.

That was then.
Eun-woo found something and moved her steps without hesitation.
She could see a faint light from afar.

The light she saw was faint but the more she approached it, the more it became radiant.
It felt as if the lava was running out, swallowing her, but soon, the lava became a face of a person?

“……  A candidate?”

She blinked her eyes at the voice she heard before her.

Irena, a member of the Senate who led the girls to the White Cathedral the other day, was in the middle of the hallway with a simple torch.

***

They walked silently for a very long time.
The hallway was as long as the road she came from, and it seemed like it would never end.

Eun-woo was momentarily worried that she might have walked into the interior of the Black Cathedral rather than the White Cathedral while walking aimlessly.
Knowing that the White Cathedral was just a small annex belonging to the Black Cathedral, this person beside her was still quite reliable.

Their silence had a reason.
Of course, the biggest reason was that the woman who served as her guide was quite reticent.

But other than that, the fact that the woman walking next to Eun-woo was a member of the senate was the biggest concern.
She had just met the chief and was on her way back.
With that excuse, Eun-woo deliberately tried not to be silent with this woman any longer.

However, Eun-woo’s efforts were shattered at one point with the words Irena uttered.

“… You don’t have to pretend to be a mute just because I’m wearing a priest’s uniform of the White Cathedral.”

It was a spit-out word.
But those words were enough to open up Eunwoo’s speech.

“… It was just that I was tired and exhausted.
I never acted mute.”

“You have no talent for lying.
Don’t even dream of going anywhere in the future to play tricks.”

She felt sobbing and laughing at the same time by the spewed inconsiderate words.
It was the same feeling she was having due to her legs, which became incredibly weak.

After walking for a while, Irena muttered again as if it wasn’t worth it.

“….
You must have met the heir.
People walking past this aisle always show up in the same manner.
Their heads were in a magpie’s house, and dressed like a rag, and begging like a man who’s been given a shady day.
Just like the people who went into the cave and came back to life.”

Eun-woo looked at her in surprise, as if her heart had sunk.

She had never heard of a white-robe priest who spoke such harsh words of the heir.
As if reading her expression behind her while moving ahead of her, Irena mumbled as she snorted her nose.

“It is only human arrogance to think that all branches bloom the same flowers just because they have the same roots.
Although there may be only one entrance to a single ant’s nest, there are tens of thousands of roads below it.
So, it should not be surprising that there’s a priest in the White Cathedral who’s saying harsh words to the heir.”

They walked silently for a long time again.

Eventually, Irena pinned the perch she was holding to the wall where she had stopped.
It was in front of a huge door.
Through the cracks in the tightly closed door, the roaring voices of women could be heard.

Even without seeing Eun-woo intuited that they were from the candidates.

Irena opened the huge door without looking back at Eun-woo.

Unsurprisingly, the 50 or so girls, each making a fuss, suddenly turned their heads to the intruding visitor.

 

Eun-woo was devastated by the sudden gaze on her.
She felt ashamed of her appearance, which was nothing more than a wretched beggar, and eagerly pulled the frayed skirt under her leg.

Then, from somewhere, she heard a voice calling her name.

“Eleanor…!”

Eun-woo raised her head with pleasure at the familiar voice.
Selena was running towards her from a distance of her, hurriedly passing through other girls.

“Selena…!”

Eun-woo ran to her with the illusion that her eyes were getting hot and buried her nose in Selena’s red skein of hair that was hugging her.
Selena looked down at her and blurted,

“I’ve been looking for you for a while.
I asked all the candidates here about the name Eleanor, yet all of them were talking nonsense that the knight in a white coat had taken you somewhere… I was really worried.
After you get hurt, you haven’t received proper treatment.
How about your hands…?”

At that moment, Eun-woo realized the sharp pain from the hand Selena was holding.

Selena hurriedly fetched a towel soaked in cold water in a basin, a clean cloth, and herbs needed for the wound from the infirmary in the White Cathedral.
In the meantime, several candidates, who seem to have become acquainted with Selena, also helped her to tend to Eun-woo’s wound.

“Thank you, I feel better.”

After treatment, Eun-woo thanked Selena and the other candidates.

It was only after such brief first aid was she able to turn her attention to the clothes Selena and the other candidates were wearing.

“Selena, what’s that outfit…?”

She said as Selena glanced down at her own clothes as she was wearing the pure white school uniform, and she replied.

“Ah… These are the clothes worn by the students of the White Cathedral.
The candidates for the Flora competition will also be wearing these clothes while they stay here.”

“Wait a minute, Lady Moller.
I’ll ask them to give you something you could change into.”

She added as the other young girl who had helped her tended to hastily get up.
It was a woman from an aristocratic family who had sat at the same table a few times to greet each other at a charity event the other day.

Eun-Woo looked down at  the white dress, which was different from her rag clothes.
She blushed shyly and thanked her.

“Eleanor, what happened?”

The attention of other girls were on her as they were still distracted by her clothes and when Selena asked in a serious voice.
Eun-woo thought for a moment but noticing that she was at a loss for words to say, Selena looked at her with her determined eyes.

“It’s okay if you don’t tell me.
But if you need help, just tell me.
I will be with you the best I can.”

 

Eun-woo noticed that Selena must have speculated about this strange competition.

Eun-woo saw Selena’s forehead creating a frown then looked at the young girls to the arms knights of the Cathedral, under the pretext of guarding the girls.
Selena was worried.

“There has never been a case in which the Knights Templar were mobilized for a Flora competition and brought young girls all at once to the dormitory, White Cathedral.
And even though Eleanor didn’t join, her dress shone white.
The Flora Contest was a contest where the participation and merits of the candidates shone purely voluntarily, without any coercion.
I don’t think this is… the right way.”

Eun-woo marveled at Selena’s insight, who made such a judgment in such a short time.
Eun-woo pondered whether she should tell her about the chief.

But seeing Eun-woo like that, Selena quickly opened her mouth.
She grabbed her wrist, her white, thin hand wrapped in a thin bandage.
Eun-woo faced Selena who looked at her with her round eyes and her determined gaze.

“Eleanor.
No matter what happens here..
know that, as your friend, I am always concerned about your safety.”

Selena’s eyes shone with utmost sincerity.

Eun-woo felt her earlobe burning and looked straight at Selena’s face.
As Selena urges her to speak again, she can be seen raising her eyebrows slightly.
Her hand, which was holding Eun-woo’s hand lightly, gained some strength and slowly released.

At that moment, Eun-woo hurriedly grabbed Selena’s hand, which was falling off from her hand, with both of her hands.

“Selena, I… I have something to tell you!”

Selena’s eyes widened slightly as she heard her urgent words.

At that moment, Eun-woo thought about the last time she remembered telling someone else her secret.
It was so long ago.

Perhaps it was the first and last confession that she said to Ye-jin, who was her only friend when she was still Eun-woo.
She said that the wound on her body was because of her father’s belt.

And the next day, Ye-jin brought a draft of her novel and asked Eun-woo to read it.
It was sloppy content that an elementary school student could write, barely caught on the winning streak, but she liked it.

 

It was a time when she could not help but be moved by even the slightest connection point that she shared Ye-jin’s secret and Ye-jin shared her secret with her.

She didn’t know why those feelings came to mind.

A friend.

Eun-Woo felt her sight was blurring, and found herself repeating the words Selena mentioned over and over again

“… Can you listen to me?”