I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand Chapter 129

While Merria was lost in confusion, the old woman pointed out another difference.  

 

“And the Grand Duke did not commit treason. He only avenged his parents’ enemies.”  

 

“Enemies… But it’s said he drew his sword in the imperial palace—”  

 

“Well, if his enemies were in the palace, what else could he have done?”  

 

The old woman shrugged and answered quickly.  

 

Merria stared blankly at her, speaking as if it were obvious—things Merria had never known.  

 

Thump. Thump—

  

Her heart pounded fiercely.  

 

What if this was the hidden truth she hadn’t been aware of?  

 

Merria resolved to uncover the buried truth.  

 

Swallowing dryly, she forced out the question, “How do you know the events of the imperial palace in such detail?”  

 

The old woman let out a dry chuckle, “Long ago—before time was reversed—I served as one of Helena’s hands.”  

 

“Helena… You mean the late imperial consort?”  

 

Another unknown fact.  

 

Merria clenched her fists and stared straight at the old woman.  

 

For a brief moment, their eyes met—until the old woman averted hers first.  

 

With a faint frown, she murmured, “Back then… I triggered the Grand Duke’s magical outburst, leading to the deaths of the Grand Duke and his wife.”  

 

Merria’s eyes widened in shock.  

 

If this wasn’t the truth, the old woman’s words were enough to send her straight to the execution block.  

 

And even if it was the truth, the outcome would be the same.  

 

The tragedy of the Grand Duke’s household. The old woman was openly admitting—daring to confess—that she had caused it.  

 

And here, in front of Merria, the Grand Duke’s lover.  

 

‘Is this really the same person who tried to help me twice?’  

 

Merria was certain the old woman had deep involvement in Reukis’ outburst.  

 

But she had never imagined she was the one who caused it. Because in all the information she had, the old woman had consistently been someone who tried to save Reukis.  

 

She had tried to meet the unconscious young Reukis, left a notebook of information for Gaishia, and handed Merria a ring.  

 

‘Then why?’  

 

How can you speak of Reukis’ wounds like this?  

 

Why now, in front of me?

 

Bloodshot veins spread across Merria’s eyes, and her teeth clenched.  

 

Yet all of it crumbled under the old woman’s next words.  

 

“In the end, the Grand Duke found out and stormed in, beheading the Empress.”  

 

“Reukis…”  

 

As she murmured her lover’s name, Merria’s face turned deathly pale.  

 

The old woman’s words, seeping helplessly into her ears, matched the ending she already knew.  

 

[Grand Duke Frederick, after invading the imperial palace and killing the Empress, sealed himself away in darkness.]  

 

It aligned perfectly with the exit of the hidden mastermind in Merria’s mind.  

 

Until now, she had believed Reukis raided the palace solely to take Shannon from Altheon.  

 

How could she not? The Grand Duke’s true motives had never been kindly explained.  

 

She thought the only thing Reukis wanted from the palace was Shannon. She assumed the Empress’s death—someone entirely unrelated—was just collateral.  

 

‘No. That wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all.’ 

 

Merria’s expression twisted violently.  

 

In the original story, Grand Duke Frederick had discovered the whole truth.  

 

That was why he personally took Helena’s life and then condemned himself to eternal punishment. He atoned for his sin by letting himself be consumed by endless darkness.  

 

‘Ah… So he was never saved at all.’

 

Until the very end, he writhed in agony before vanishing. 

 

She wished she had never learned this truth. Merria genuinely pitied the Grand Duke, who had perished in the original story.  

 

At the same time, she was terrified.  

 

Not because she feared he might kill Helena, as in the novel. But because she feared that Reukis, faced with this truth, might sink into irredeemable darkness.  

 

That she might never see him again.  

 

Yet, the thought of Reukis passing by without ever knowing this truth lingered in a corner of her heart. She felt adrift in an endless, pitch-black sea, unsure of what to do.  

 

Now that she knew of his tragic end, what choice should she make as his lover?  

 

‘Can I even embrace his heart? How dare someone like me… Could I really pull Reukis back from the abyss?’  

 

If Reukis howled in despair, she would weep beside him.  

 

Even if he killed Helena, Merria would hold him close, clasping his trembling hands.

 

It felt so pitiful that this was all Merria could do. But that wouldn’t be enough to obscure Reukis’s eyes.  

 

Reukis had the right to know the truth about his parents’ deaths.  

 

More than enough—overflowing, even.  

 

If he were to turn toward darkness, she had no power to stop him.  

 

‘So please.’  

 

All she could hope was that her existence would become a small pebble in his path, tripping him up.  

 

So that Reukis’s steps would slow, falter, and finally stop.  

 

This was her small selfishness.  

 

Merria clenched her trembling eyelids shut. Her heart refused to calm easily after the sudden confrontation with the truth.  

 

What remained after the anger faded was cold, seething contempt.  

 

“Because of you, Reukis spent his whole life drowning in guilt.”  

 

Even the formal speech she had maintained until now was gone.  

 

Because she knew his pain. 

 

Merria could no longer look at her with emotionless eyes.  

 

As if understanding her reaction, the old woman gave a slight nod.  

 

“If only you… hadn’t done such things…!”  

 

Merria slammed her fist down on her own knee and shouted.  

 

Any caution about waking the sleeping Shannon had long since vanished.  

 

The old woman didn’t want Shannon to wake. 

 

There was nothing good in Shannon hearing what was to come. She pressed down firmly on Merria’s shoulder and steadied her breath.  

 

“After Helena died, the Grand Duke tried to kill me too. The late Empress had already revealed everything before her death. That I was the one who caused the rampage.”  

 

“…”  

 

“Death… well, back then, I even wanted to leave this world, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The real problem was that the Grand Duke’s attempt to kill me only tangled things further.”  

 

The old woman began her story in a voice heavy with desolation.

 

💫

 

The day Reukis stole Helena’s breath, Arienne was unable to die.  

 

Instead, drawn by the Grand Duke’s lingering resentment, she became trapped in the darkness with him.  

And so, in that endless dark, she thought and thought.  

 

The consequences of what she had done circled endlessly in her mind. Had she simply died, she wouldn’t have been able to think at all—perhaps that would have been easier.  

 

Ariene, left alone in a space so silent she couldn’t even tell if time was passing, suffered.  

 

How many days had gone by like this?  

 

Just when she had begun to think counting the days was meaningless, she opened her eyes—and instead of pitch-black darkness, she was met with light.  

 

The hazy dawn forest welcomed her. She had returned to the point where everything began.  

 

But instead of feeling joy or relief, she cursed whoever had brought her here.  

 

“Who the hell would want to live this life again?”  

 

She had no desire to live again as Ariene. Though she didn’t know what force had granted her this second life, she knew it wasn’t out of kindness.  

 

Still, since she had returned, she decided to live freely.  

 

Even if, like the witch from a certain fairy tale who had her fleeting youth stolen, all she had left was a wretched body and half-shattered power.  

 

At first, she was content with this situation and enjoyed a peaceful life in the forest. But when that grew dull, she descended to the nearest village.  

 

And there, news reached her that seized her by the ankles.  

 

“The Ducal House has been completely destroyed.”  

 

“How?”  

 

“Who knows? A crime of passion? A power struggle? Or maybe some greedy bastard eyeing their wealth.”  

 

“Tsk, tsk. The end times, truly.”  

 

A chilling sensation ran through Ariene, and she immediately boarded a carriage to the capital.  

 

This couldn’t be. She had been holed up in that village, doing nothing.  

 

Who the hell could have done such a thing?  

 

In her past life, the one who had triggered the Grand Duke’s magical rampage was none other than her.

 

It was done under Helena’s orders, and she held no favor for the Grand Duke. She merely thought of him as one of the two great mountains blocking Helena’s path.  

 

That was why she had no hesitation in ruining the Grand Duke’s heir and aiding in the deaths of the Grand Duke and his wife.  

 

But this time, even she was innocent.  

 

After all, she didn’t even know the exact month or day she had awakened.  

 

While she was gathering her strength—her power halved and time distorted—the incident had already occurred.  

 

Realizing this, Ariene grew restless.  

 

The tragedy at the Grand Duke’s residence, which she had believed to be the beginning of everything, had happened again.  

 

Did that mean no matter how many times she turned back time, the axis of the past would not bend?  

 

‘No.’  

 

The future she had already experienced once spurred her into action.  

 

It had already been a week since the Grand Duke’s heir collapsed after the deaths of his parents, with no signs of waking.  

 

Since no one knew the reason for his collapse, it was only natural they couldn’t rouse him.  

 

In the past, Ariene had deliberately induced a controlled magical outburst, knowing Helena had no intention of targeting the young heir.  

 

As a result, Reukis had awakened on his own a few days later—though rumors said he suffered aftereffects.  

 

But this time, it wasn’t her doing.  

 

What if Helena had found another being like her elsewhere?  

 

And if that being had caused the heir’s magical outburst?  

 

“That would explain why the young Grand Duke hasn’t woken after so long.”  

 

Just whose fool had she enchanted with her tongue and eyes this time?  

 

Ariene’s teeth clenched involuntarily.