I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand Chapter 137

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Rows of identical chairs and desks were neatly aligned, and the person standing at the front was writing something on the board.

The smooth sound of pen on paper came through like white noise.

Inside that space, as she quietly gazed out the window, someone asked her:

“Hey, have you seen this?”

When she turned her head slightly, what came into view was a book with no title written on it.

“What is it?”

That was the only response she could give when handed a book with no title. The other person smirked and handed her the book.

“Read it. It’ll be really fun.”

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a situation worth refusing. But the class was boring, and studying was the last thing on her mind.

“Fine.”

She flipped open the cover and read the words written on the first page:

[Flower Path Before Shannon]

“Shannon?”

The name flowed naturally from her lips, and the person sitting next to her chuckled softly.

“Why…?”

She was about to ask why they were laughing.

It felt like she had heard some kind of answer, but—Her memory cut off abruptly there.

Who had handed her the book?

None of those finer details remained in her memory.

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Though her feet were planted firmly, there was nothing beneath them when she looked down.

A completely empty void—literally nothing.

Merria stood upon it.

No up, no down. No matter where she looked, she was alone in a vast, blank white space. She checked her own body.

Her hands, her feet—all there. Her eyes could see.

“Ah, ah.”

Her voice worked, and her ears could hear.

Finally easing up a little, she began walking aimlessly.

Was this a dream? Or my subconscious?

“Before I woke up, it felt like I was recalling memories from a past life—after so long.”

It was strange.

In the span of a human life, the moment of reading a book should be nothing more than a fleeting instant.

Even after being reborn in Merria’s body, the memories of reading books were the only ones that remained vividly clear.

But what was even stranger was that she herself had never felt curious about her past life.

Things like what her name had been, what she looked like, or how many family members she had—none of it had crossed her mind.

And now, realizing that fact only at this moment, she was surprised all over again.

Merria stopped in her tracks and asked herself, “Why wasn’t I curious?”

“You knew it deep down, didn’t you?”

Someone answered her murmuring.

Merria whipped her head around, searching for the source of the voice.

The figure she finally faced was truly unexpected.

“Emily?”

Yes. It was unmistakably Emily.

A question mark floated above Merria’s head as Serinia’s assistant suddenly appeared in a space she had thought was empty.

“Is this girl’s name Emily?”

Emily raised both hands and twisted her body around, as if wearing someone else’s clothes that didn’t quite fit.

Confused by the situation, Merria asked again, “Are you a witch too?”

Her face twisted in displeasure as she spat out the unwelcome word.

Based on her knowledge, only one kind of being could take over another’s body like this.

The one wearing Emily’s skin let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, I once explained to it that way to a man before.”

Her expression was as if she were recalling someone she had met long ago. Her existence—unleashing magic through the blood of living beings—was distinctly different from that of a mage.

So she had introduced herself as a witch.

“My real name is Arienne. I was trying to borrow another girl’s body, but… it was in such a mess.”

It seemed there was another body that would have been a better fit.

“It has to be someone with the same innate nature. At least this girl had witch’s blood in her, so it worked out.”

Emily—no, Arienne—poked her own chest as she spoke.

“I’ve heard stories before—about a mad witch who married a human. Could you be one of her descendants?”

Merria silently watched as Emily, with an innocent face, mused aloud to herself.

“Anyway, let’s get back to what we were talking about earlier.”

Emily suddenly shifted the direction of the conversation.

“Merria. Want me to tell you why you can’t properly remember your previous life?”

“…?”

“It’s because you are Merria.”

“Haa.”

Merria let out a sigh, her face betraying her confusion.

Was this how all witches spoke?

She almost pointed out how needlessly cryptic this way of talking was but decided against it.

“Are you saying my memories were cut off because I was reincarnated as the Merria from the novel?” Merria replied.

Emily shook her head slightly.

“I’m saying you are Merria.”

“Yes. I’m Merria.”

“No, I mean—you are the Merria from that [novel].”

This time, Emily exhaled deeply. Her bangs fluttered upward from the breath.

Merria tilted her head.

“Are you saying I’ve traveled back in time?”

The words of Arienne, with her elderly face, came to mind. She had definitely said something about traveling through time.

Not only that, but Arienne hadn’t even understood the things she was talking about—novels, protagonists, endings, things like that.

If, as Arienne said, the novel was a story that captured a past flow of time, then Merria couldn’t have become the Merria from the novel.

After all, she didn’t know the events that came after the novel’s story.

The only memories she had were of her life outside the novel and her current life.

“You’ve leaped across time. By my power.”

Emily’s eyes crinkled slightly.

“I am the one who knows all things in this world, who hears the hearts of all beings.”

As she stretched out her hand, a familiar untitled book from Merria’s memories materialized.

“In terms you’d understand, you could call me the ‘author.’”

“…?”

“Everything in this world has an end. And that will be the final sentence of this book.”

With a flick of Emily’s finger, the book vanished without a trace—

As if it had never existed in the first place.

“But when the hearts of those with strong desires, like yours, intertwine, it allows me to extend this world further. From that moment on, you will live your own lives. Not the ending I decided, but another life entirely.”

“…What does that even—”

Instead of answering, Emily reached out.

Tap—Her finger touched Merria’s forehead.

[If Her Grace becomes the next Crown Princess, the two of you will make a perfectly matched pair.]

[Lady Rackester. It seems our engagement will not proceed.]

[Your Highness do you truly despise me so much…?]

Countless memories flashed through Merria’s mind.

Sorrow, jealousy, affection, despair.

A tidal wave of emotions crashed over her. This wasn’t in the novel.

Merria’s crimson eyes trembled violently.

Vivid, emotion-laden memories swept through her mind like scenes from a film— Familiar, yet not entirely her own.

A strange sensation overwhelmed her.

“These are the memories you entrusted to me. Though they’ve faded quite a bit over time.”

“I… I was Merria?”

“You accepted death with serene detachment.”

“I was Merria…”

Like a child who had forgotten how to speak, Merria repeated the words numbly.

Then that meant… her death, her feelings for Altheon—all of it had been real. The memory of poisoning Shannon surfaced, and Merria covered her mouth in horror.

“Shannon…!”

‘Good grace.’

She couldn’t believe she had done such a thing. She wanted to deny it with every fiber of her being.

Watching Merria drown in guilt, Emily continued, “Merria Rackester. All your sins have been washed away with the passage of time.”

“No, no… I… Shannon, I…”

Merria buried her face in her hands, unable to control her emotions.

Then, a gentle voice echoed in her mind.

[The princess met my eyes at the very end. It was the first time… The first time she ever looked at me so directly. …Are you at peace there as well?]

Merria abruptly lifted her head.

“This is forgiveness given by Shannon from your past life. So, wouldn’t it be okay to accept it?”

Merria, who had been staring blankly into the air, finally let her guard down.

Emily, speaking softly, had deep, unwavering eyes—eyes that told no lies.

Suddenly, Emily furrowed her brows.

“And… I bear some responsibility for the way you met your end. I’m sorry, Merria.”

Merria slowly turned her gaze to meet Emily’s. She had always believed herself to be the hated one—

A mere villainess, not the protagonist, someone the author would never side with.

But she had been wrong.

The absolute ruler of this world had loved her just as equally anyone else.

Couldn’t those eyes tell her as much?

Emily awkwardly lifted the corner of her lips.

‘It’s been so long.’

She had rarely listened to the voices of the world’s inhabitants. Having lived for millennia and overseen countless worlds, human lives had always seemed fleeting and meaningless to her.

She loved every character, but if she so much as glanced away, someone would die, and the story would end just like that.

Yet, the reason she spoke these words with such sincerity now—Was to repay the ‘villainess’ who had, for the first time in so long, given her a reason to keep the world moving.

“Everyone wanted something different, so we had to find a compromise. The Archduke wanted to escape the darkness, Shannon wanted warmth by her side, and you… wished to forget the memories of your past life.”

That was why Merria had lived without remembering her past.

“But that only caused more problems. In the end, you were the only one who remembered your past life.”

Emily frowned, recalling how much effort it had taken to fix the mess.

“The world had already begun moving forward, so I had no choice but to send you outside for a while. During that time, I reshaped your memories into the form of a [Book], distorting them just enough to settle in your mind.”

Only now did Merria understand what Emily had meant earlier.

Even while living in another world—Even while her memories were distorted—she had known.

That this world was not her own. Her assumption that she had been reincarnated into a book had been completely wrong.

Slowly, Merria nodded.