A Fairy Tales for the Villains

Harris didn’t reply. He ignored him, turning around as if he was about to leave, and then Lettis rushed towards him.

“I said my sister is sick!”

Bam–! THUD!

The tray was kicked hard to the floor and knocked over. As Lettis pulled away from Harris, who had fallen on the floor outside the open door, another servant standing on one side of the hallway pulled the boy on top of the butler and violently threw him inside. At that, Venya left my side and stepped in. However, the opponent was a scary-looking stout adult, and Harris, who was as strong as his partner, was already standing. Venya was tossed away as well, right next to his brother.

Everything was far from ending. Harris, whose judgment twisted the next second, attacked by the boys again, quickly went inside and picked up the tray that was lying on the floor. The next thing I saw was that adult mercilessly struck Lettis, who was trying to get up, with that thing!! 

Not just once, but again and again and again!!

To anyone’s surprise, Venya’s judgment blackened as he saw his older brother being hit with a tray. He immediately got up and rushed to Harris shouting, but right then, the gorilla-like servant kicked him fiercely in the stomach and rolled to the other side.

“Venya!”

I, literally, felt like blood was rushing out of my body. I tried to get closer to Venya but, as if my legs had frozen on the spot, I couldn’t even move my pinky toe. That’s why instead, I clung to the arm that was right in front of me, Harris’ tray-wielding arm, as hard as he could.

“Don’t do it! Stop! I’m telling you to stop hitting him, you lunatic!!”

Harris jerked his arm as if trying to shake me off and then grabbed me by my head with his other arm. A scream broke out. 

Aaaaaaahhh! You damn psychopath, do you have any grudge against my head?!

Lettis, who was crouching on the floor with his arms wrapped around his head, moved and grabbed Harris’ legs. No, he tried to cling to him.

Thud! Along with a loud noise, strength drained from the hand that grabbed my head. Then I heard Harris swearing in a small voice. Venya had thrown a chair down and thrown himself at him again. But as before, he was stopped by the servant, who kicked him not once but several times. The agonizing, dull, and fricative sound that rang in my ears was dreadful.

“Stop it, you psychopaths!”

“…Aagghh! This crazy wench!” 

Fortunately, the gorilla-like attendant stopped kicking Venya. Instead, he grabbed my head, which was biting his arm with all my might, and threw me away mercilessly.

Bam!! A loud sound of crashing like an explosion rang, and my whole body tingled.

“Sasha–!”

Venya’s face, blank as a piece of paper, came into my tearful sight. Maybe it was because of all the kicking, blood was running down his cheeks and lips.

“Ve- Venya…!”

Everything happened almost at the same time. As I screamed, Venya tried to turn around, and right then, the servant’s leg flew towards us with all his might. Our arms went up automatically and covered each other.

Bang— It sounded like my eardrums were about to burst. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any pain. It took me a while to realize precisely what had happened.

“Nnn… uuh… aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

We looked up right away. Then I saw Lettis lying down in front of us, screaming horribly. Dark crimson blood was gushing down his face, which he was covering with his hand. A thrill of panic ran down my spine.

“Lettis!”

“Brother!”

Venya held Lettis’ body, twisting and struggling painfully, and pressed him down. I grabbed the hand that covered his face and tried to move it away. Behind us, Harris threw the tray and spat out,

“You’re all scum that will rot in this place. Tsk, people who don’t even know their place still think they’re noble young masters. Even if you die here, no one will know, nor be sad.”

Malicious words pierced our bones with every word. My hand grabbed Venya’s trembling arm with all my might. 

No more. If you jump in more than this, it might end with actual death.

The two psychopaths went out leisurely as if it had been their lifelong wish to beat a nobleman. There was some kind of sense of superiority in them. That was the first time in both lives I had the intention to kill someone.

“Oppa, Letty oppa. Take your hand so I can see. Mh?”

“…Eyes–my eye, Sasha, my… eye… hurt.”

Barely removing his hand, a tearful azure eye looked up at me anxiously. The other eye was still desperately clasped; blood was gushing out. I felt my heart sinking.

We carried Lettis to the bed and managed to remove the hand that covered his injured eye. The blood-stained eyelids were swollen, I couldn’t confirm what was underneath, but I knew.

Something was seriously wrong.

*       *       * 

A long and terrible day passed. For all of us, it was a day we wouldn’t want to remember ever again. Lettis struggled in pain all day, and to make matters worse, his temperature began to rise to 40 degrees. Venya and I took turns applying ointment to Lettis’ eye, changing bandages, and cooling his hot face with a towel soaked in cold water. One had to look after Lettis while the other took care of Estelle.

“Cough-cough…! Sasha, is Letty feeling sick? Does he have a cold like me?”

“…Mn. That’s right. He caught a cold and has a fever. You can’t move, so you can’t go down, got it?”

“I, cough-cough-! I don’t have a fever anymore.”

I gave her water, fed her yesterday’s mashed potatoes, wrapped a gown around her, and told her all the stories she liked. It was terrifying to imagine the shock Estelle would have if she saw Lettis’ appearance right now.

Estelle coughed until late at night and fell asleep. The rest of us couldn’t sleep. As Venya and I stayed alert, Lettis struggled with a high fever and lost consciousness several times throughout the night. If I could ease the pain even a little, I thought I could do anything. 

“…ther… mother… father…”

In the original I remember, Lettis’ both eyes were good. That fact alone was my only glimmer of hope. I prayed earnestly in my heart, holding onto the hand of the boy who was looking for his parents even with a high fever. 

Please, I beg you. Please spare our Lettis. Let his eyes heal. Why does he have to go through this kind of pain just because he rushed toward a servant for the sake of his little sister? Should he lose his eye because of his sister and the nanny’s daughter he prevented from being kicked like a dog? If he has to pay with his eye for such righteous behavior, just because he’s a villain– isn’t that utterly ridiculous?

As if God had heard my prayers, around dawn, the fever started to drop. When I came from washing my face, Lettis was still half-conscious, holding onto Venya and having some sort of conversation.

“…Hey… hey, stupither.”

“…Why do you keep calling me?” 

“What if I become one-eyed like this…?”