A Guide to Raising a Villainess-Chapter 123: An unpleasant encounter (3)

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

Everything around me seemed to lose its clarity: sounds became muffled, people’s faces blurred, and the air became heavy and dense, as if it were difficult to breathe.

I wanted to take a step back, but my feet seemed to be glued to the ground. The world before my eyes narrowed to a single image — a body lying in a spreading pool of thick, dark blood.

The voices around me merged into a chaotic, nervous hum: someone screamed, someone started calling for help, women hurriedly pulled their children away so they wouldn’t see the terrible sight. But it all reached me as if through a layer of water.

I was mesmerized by this monstrous moment, which happened so suddenly that my mind simply refused to accept it.

I stood there, unable to scream, move, or even breathe normally. Only silent horror gradually enveloped my entire consciousness, leaving a sticky, icy lump inside.

However, even after the gang leader had finished with his accomplice, who was undoubtedly dead, the man continued to strike his body again and again with some kind of wild, unnatural fury.

He seemed completely oblivious to the blood, the screams around him, and the fact that a lifeless body had been lying in front of him for a long time. It was a truly monstrous sight.

I could hardly believe that all this was happening in real life.

But the worst thing was that he didn’t stop there.

As soon as his hand froze — for a split second, as if he had paused to catch his breath — the bandit turned sharply to his second accomplice. And before the latter had time to understand anything, the leader attacked him with the same insane cruelty.

It all happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to blink.

A swing of the knife, a hoarse cry, a splash of blood — and the second man collapsed to the ground without uttering a word.

It seemed as if their leader had completely lost his mind. His eyes, wide and glassy, did not even reflect what was happening — as if he were somewhere far away, driven only by a mad impulse.

And then, when there was no one left alive around him, he suddenly froze. Just for a moment.

Then he raised his hand and pointed the bloody knife at his own throat.

I didn’t even have time to comprehend the gesture. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

One quick movement, and the vagrant slit his own throat. His body immediately went limp, staggered, and collapsed with a dull thud next to the other two.

Three dead bodies.

Three lives cut short in a matter of seconds.

I stood there, barely breathing, unable to believe what I had just seen.

People’s cries continued to come from all around, but I seemed to have stopped distinguishing them. All sounds seemed to be muffled, turning into a single hum, drowning somewhere in my head.

And only when the body of the last vagrant fell heavily to the ground, like a chopped-off sack, did something inside me snap.

I blinked, air rushed into my lungs, and I finally came to my senses — as if I had awakened from a bad dream.

Because I remembered Ruby.

I remembered that she had been standing nearby the whole time, just a few steps away, and had seen the same thing.

God... she saw it too!

I felt as if I had been doused with ice.

I turned sharply toward her, afraid to see horror or shock on her face, and my heart ached.

At that moment, my instinct as a human being kicked in, telling me to protect the person I loved at all costs.

We had to leave.

Immediately.

"Ruby..." I croaked, not even noticing how my voice trembled. "We have to leave. Now!"

I grabbed Ruby’s hand and, without waiting for any response from her, dragged her along with me.

In the end, we ran as long as we could to get as far away from that place as possible.

And only when the streets around us thinned out, when there were no more screams or commotion in the distance, did I allow myself to stop. I stopped so abruptly that I had to put my hand on my knee to catch my breath. The air cut my throat, my lungs felt like they were on fire.

I turned to Ruby only when I felt I could at least try to speak.

"Ruby... are you... are you okay?" I gasped, still breathless, but my voice clearly sounded alarmed.

In fact, I didn’t fully understand what had just happened either. Everything happened so quickly and so unpredictably that my mind simply refused to connect what I had seen with reality.

It was like some kind of sudden seizure, a madness that flared up out of nowhere. It was as if this man had lost the ability to think in an instant and no longer understood what he was doing.

But whatever it was — madness, obsession, or something even stranger — it didn’t matter now. Much more than the horror of what had happened, I was disturbed by Ruby’s reaction.

Her condition now worried me almost more than everything that had happened. After all, she had just witnessed a horror that not every adult could endure...

Although, undoubtedly, such a terrible sight left a deep mark on my memory, I still perceived what was happening differently. For me, it was not so catastrophic. I was a grown woman with a stable psyche. And, one way or another, I knew I could handle it.

Besides, over the past few years, as the head of a villainous organization, I had repeatedly encountered things far more unpleasant than I would like to remember. Including murders.

But still... even for me, what had just happened was the first such monstrous and senseless manifestation of madness.

It was unlike any conscious conflict or cold-blooded reprisal. It was something else, something I couldn’t even explain in words.

However, Rubiella...

I glanced at her cautiously.

She was still very young, and besides, her nature was so innocent and pure that my heart sank at the thought that such a sight could leave a deep and possibly incurable psychological trauma on her.

I was really worried about Ruby after everything that had happened. Her delicate emotional makeup seemed too fragile to withstand something like this.

But, unexpectedly...

"I’m fine, Auntie," the girl said quietly.

I looked up and stared at her in surprise. Her amethyst eyes remained calm, steady, and surprisingly clear. She seemed even more composed than I was.

For a moment, I was truly speechless.

"But just now... Weren’t you scared?" I asked, still unable to believe her calmness.

"You warned me that it could be dangerous on the edge of the empire," Rubiella replied softly. "So I was prepared for something to happen when we got here."

I blinked, tilting my head slightly.

"Really?" My voice sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Don’t worry, Auntie," she smiled slightly, comforting me as naturally as if it had always been her role, not mine. "Maybe... that man was just out of his mind. These things happen.

Oh my God.

I looked at her and couldn’t find a single word to say.

I never imagined my Ruby would be so brave!

I was so stunned by her reaction that I was truly speechless for a moment.

Meanwhile, my niece looked up at me again — calm and confident, as if the horror of just a few minutes ago had never happened. A warm, almost encouraging smile appeared on her lips, which for some reason made me feel a slight tightness in my chest.

"Auntie," she said quietly, "if we’re done here, I think it’s time to go back to the estate. The count is probably waiting for us."

I blinked, realizing that I was still standing there as if rooted to the spot, and only now was I fully returning to reality.

"Ah... well, you’re probably right..." I muttered, feeling my thoughts gradually coming together. "It really is time."

Somehow coming to my senses, I finally nodded too, allowing myself to take a deep breath.

But as soon as we set off, I caught myself looking around anxiously again, as if I were afraid that someone or something would appear again. So, without thinking, I took Ruby’s hand, just in case. She blinked in surprise but said nothing, only squeezing my hand slightly in response.

For some reason, this small gesture calmed me more than any words could have.

So, holding on to each other, we slowly made our way back to the estate, leaving behind the street where something I would rather never remember had just happened.

However, disturbing thoughts would not leave me alone. After a few steps, I involuntarily turned back.

I pressed my lips together.

The horrific scene we had just witnessed was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, as if the scene itself had been burned into my memory.

The thought haunted me.

Was this man really just... crazy?