THIS IS HOW I BECAME A VILLAINESS

EPOILOGE

He stood over her lifeless body, the blood still dripping from his blade. Her final words echoed in his ears, "Th-tha-ank y-you... T-tae-tae."

Something about the way she said his name—so familiar, so heartbreakingly gentle—felt wrong. For a moment, he couldn't breathe. He stared at her lifeless form, her weak smile frozen in place.

Celeste—no, the woman he thought he loved—rushed to his side. "It's over now," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. "The monster is gone."

But her words didn't bring him peace. Instead, they felt like ice in his veins.

Later that night, as Taehyung sat alone in his chambers, guilt gnawed at his soul. His mind replayed Cecile's final moments, her fragile voice, her resigned smile. Something wasn't right.

His eyes fell on a stack of documents retrieved from the Earl's mansion after the chaos. Amidst them, a worn leather diary caught his attention. It was hers.

Compelled by a mix of curiosity and dread, he opened it. The words inside unraveled his world.

"My name is Cecile. My true name. Not Celeste. That name belongs to her, the one they call my sister."

Page after page, Cecile recounted the torment she endured. How she was stripped of her identity and locked away. How Celeste had spun lies, stolen her name, and painted herself as a victim. How she clung to hope, believing in Taehyung, the one person who might save her—only to realize he had been deceived as well.

"She called me a monster, but she was the one who made me one. Celeste. My dear, perfect sister. She spread the rumors, twisted the truth, and stole everything from me. And you, Tae-tae... You believed her."

Tears streamed down his face as he read. The weight of his betrayal crushed him. The woman he had killed wasn't the villain. She was the victim.

And Celeste—the woman he trusted—was the true monster.

The next morning, Taehyung stormed into the grand hall, where Celeste sat basking in her false glory. The courtiers praised her beauty and grace, but to him, she was a grotesque shadow of the truth.

"Taehyung," she said sweetly, rising from her seat. "What's the matter?"

Without a word, he threw the diary at her feet. "Read it," he commanded, his voice cold and lifeless.

Celeste's mask faltered. Her lips twitched, and her eyes flickered with panic. "What's this?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"Your lies," he spat. "Your cruelty. Everything you've done."

Her composure cracked, and she let out a bitter laugh. "So, you finally figured it out. Took you long enough."

"You destroyed her!" Taehyung shouted, his voice trembling with rage. "You destroyed everything good in her life. And I... I helped you do it."

Celeste's expression twisted into something monstrous. "Destroyed her? Cecile destroyed herself the moment she thought she could rise above her station. She was weak, pathetic, and easy to manipulate."

"You're the pathetic one," Taehyung said, stepping closer, his sword drawn. "You've hurt everyone around you, including me. I should end this now."

Celeste laughed again, though it lacked her usual malice. Instead, there was something desperate in her voice. "Then do it! Go ahead and kill me. Let's make this tragedy complete."

To Taehyung's shock, Celeste drew a dagger from her gown and placed it against her own chest. "If you won't do it, I will," she said, her hands trembling. "What's the point of living when everyone knows the truth? When even you hate me?"

"Stop!" Taehyung yelled, lunging forward. He grabbed her wrist and wrenched the dagger from her hands.

"You don't get to choose the easy way out," he said through gritted teeth. "You don't get to escape your crimes. You'll live with the consequences, just as I have to live with mine."

He called the guards, and they dragged Celeste to the dungeons. Her screams echoed through the halls as they shackled her hands and feet. "Please, Taehyung! Don't do this! I loved you!" she cried, but he didn't turn back.

"You'll stay here," he said coldly, standing outside the cell. "Locked away, just as you locked Cecile away. You'll have nothing—no sunlight, no comfort, no freedom. Only the darkness you created."

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months.

In her cell, Celeste was stripped of everything she valued. Her golden hair became matted, her once-fair skin turned pale and sickly. The rats were her only companions, the cold stone walls her only solace. The scraps of food tossed into her cell barely kept her alive.

And then, the hallucinations began.

Cecile's voice echoed in the dark, haunting her. "You did this to me," the phantom whispered. "Now it's your turn."

Celeste clawed at the walls, screaming for the visions to stop, but they only grew stronger. She saw Cecile's face, smiling as she had in death, her eyes hollow and accusing.

The once-proud woman descended into madness, tormented by the very darkness she had inflicted upon her sister.

Meanwhile, Taehyung lived in quiet misery. He visited Cecile's grave often, leaving flowers and sitting in silence. He whispered apologies to her, begging for forgiveness he knew would never come.

One day, a guard reported that Celeste was no longer screaming. Taehyung descended into the dungeons to see her one last time.

What he found was a husk of the woman she once was. Celeste sat huddled in the corner, muttering incoherently. Her golden hair was gone, her eyes hollow, her lips cracked and dry.

"You've become what you made her," he said quietly.

She didn't respond. Her mind was too far gone, lost to torment and guilt.

Taehyung returned to Cecile's grave that night, clutching the diary that had revealed the truth. He knelt before the headstone, his tears falling onto the cold earth.

"I'm sorry, Cecile," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry..."

And as the empire moved on, forgetting the tale of the villainess who wasn't a villain at all, Taehyung remained trapped in his own prison—a prison of guilt, regret, and love for the innocent girl he had destroyed.