I’ll Make It a Bad Ending Like a Villain

hen he read.
So when he was in his study, his family avoided approaching him as much as possible.

 

“I’m coming in.”

 

But Filina opened the door to the study without a care in the world.

 

Laura searched the study quickly with trembling eyes.

 

Gabriel was leaning back in his chair with her eyes closed.
He seemed to have fallen asleep when she heard faint breathing.

 

“Young lady, I think master is sleeping, why don’t you come back later?”

 

Filina ignored Laura’s words and walked slowly over to Gabriel’s desk.

 

All that could be seen in the large space was a single book open on both sides and a pocket watch.

 

With a relaxed gesture, Filina lifted the round-shaped clock.

 

Laura looked at her holding it with curious eyes and asked,

 

“The time isn’t right.
Is it broken?”

 

It was now no later than 9 am.
However, the minute hand on my pocket watch was pointing to 12:35.

 

“It’s not broken.”

 

Filina said as she put the watch back.
She stared quietly at the sleeping Gabriel.

 

“My father must have set it for twelve o’clock on purpose and then gone to sleep.”

 

The reason why he stopped by the study every morning was simple.

 

It was to get rid of some of the insomnia he had before.
Reading books can help him fall asleep.

 

“Is that so? I had no idea.”

 

Laura looked at Filina with an astonished expression on her face.

 

Laura’s reaction was not particularly strange.

 

Perhaps it was because the only person who knew about this fact was Filina at the Debussy’s residence.

 

In the original story, Gabriel explained that the reason why he was particularly more nervous than the others was because he was always suffering from insomnia from dealing with mountains of work in the ducal mansion by himself.

 

It was not an unreasonable statement.

 

Because the dukes of the five families in the Alvar Empire, most of them had a difficult personality.

 

Although it was not clear if their personalities naturally changed when they held the position of duke, or if they inherited that aspect from ancient times.

 

At least Gabriel belonged to the latter.

 

Filina smiled softly and walked over to Gabriel.

 

“It’s been more than half an hour since my father fell asleep, so he won’t say anything to me if I wake him up.”

 

 

The pocket watch acted as a kind of timer.

 

The minute hand returned to a constant noise and a very minute sound clicked as it pointed to exactly thirty minutes.
Gabriel used his pocket watch as an alarm.

 

From the very beginning, it was a terrible thing to wake up to that fine clattering sound, but anyone who knew his temperament, which was sensitive enough to notice small changes in this area of silence and stillness, could understand it.

 

It was always the same time when he went to sleep in his study.

 

Normally, he woke up on the half hour mark, but today it was five minutes later.

 

And even though there were two people in the study, Gabriel closed his eyes with a blank look on his face.

 

Apparently, he had fallen into a very deep sleep today, which was different from usual.

 

His constant breathing was the only thing that came and went in the quiet space.

 

He closed his eyes peacefully, but the deep wrinkles between his brows didn’t look too comfortable.

 

‘Why does he have such an angry face even when he’s sleeping?’

 

Filina stared at Gabriel’s face and cautiously opened her mouth.

 

“Father.”

 

Filina’s small hand lightly tapped Gabriel’s shoulder.

 

Laura’s face was tense as she watched.

 

It wasn’t long before she had a vivid picture of him opening his eyes and yelling at her.

 

“Get out!”

 

Filina shook Gabriel once more.
Soon, his eyebrows seemed to wriggle a bit, and then his eyes slowly opened.

 

Gabriel, who had the same red irises as Filina, stared at her.

 

“An hour has passed since I came to the study.”

 

He spat out a rough calculation of the time he had spent reading and sleeping.

 

Filina didn’t know what to expect, but she was well aware of Gabriel’s bad habit of getting angry.

 

Gabriel dropped his gaze and checked the clock on his desk.
He wanted to make sure that Filina was telling the truth.

 

“What brings you here?”

 

He said in a low voice with his hand propped up on his forehead.

 

He looked somewhat tired as he checked his watch.

 

Filina, who’d been silently watching him, opened her mouth with a soft smile.

 

“I’d like to ask father a favor.”

 

“…A favor?”

 

Gabriel stared at her, frowning.

 

Never before had Filina come to him to ask him for something.

 

And even more so to interrupt his time with something as private as today.

 

Gabriel put his hands on the table and stared at Filina.

 

Looking at the heavy gaze leisurely, a wistful smile escaped Filina’s lips.

 

“Please send me to that swordsmanship school.”

 

The air around them sank quietly for a moment at the sound of Filina’s voice.

 

Laura, who was standing beside her, stared at Filina with a shocked face.
Gabriel stared at her with a stiff expression, then quickly gave a twisted laugh.

 

“So you’re finally going crazy.”

 

Filina, who raised her lips slightly as if she knew he would say so, calmly recited.

 

“I’m serious, father.”