Chapter 35

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: Chapter 8. Find the True Villain (3)

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Five years ago, that day.

No one came to the hideout Lucian had prepared.

As he stepped into the empty house, Lucian let out a hollow laugh.

Edelaine had stressed that it had to be a real injury to mean anything, and she'd taken a mortal wound.

Even if she'd taken paralytics and painkillers beforehand, a deep gash like that wouldn't have faded. What surprised him purely was that, with a body like hers, she'd tricked even him and vanished to who-knows-where.

The fact that she still had the strength to flee while clinging to life by a thread.

Well, she'd been a girl whose head was an utter mystery from the moment they met.

"You'll freeze to death sleeping there."

"It's fuckin' summer..."

"Oh, right, it is."

"Get lost if you don't wanna die."

"Can't do that. I need to live too. Better to rack up a life debt nice and easy."

"...What, is that a threat?"

The pale, soft hand extended before him carried a fresh, fragrant scent he rarely encountered. Lucian could tell right away that this girl, who looked at least five years younger than him, was no alley rat—she was some noble's daughter, totally out of place in a dump like this.

If his own body hadn't been on its last legs, he'd have killed her and robbed her blind by now. All he could do was regret that he was the one dying.

Unaware or not of his murderous regret, the girl flashed a grin, gave her name and status, and told him to come find her once he recovered. This was all just putting it on his tab as a debt—don't forget, she'd said.

Lucian lit a cigarette and took a drag.

He'd gone along with her absurd plan partly because he'd racked up that life debt, just as Edelaine figured. But beyond that, he was curious to see how far her half-baked scheme would actually work.

And why this girl—who had everything, no real ambitions, simple as they come—would throw it all away and orchestrate her own death.

He'd asked her outright once. Edelaine, her face gaunt and dark from sleepless nights, gave a perfunctory reply.

"That's my role."

"Who told you that?"

"Kinda."

Back then, Lucian figured she wanted out because of Shane's pressure.

The little duke who found the saintess must've gotten fed up with his rich fiancée getting in the way. Breaking off an engagement approved by the emperor was a hassle, so maybe he was just trying to kill her off.

But that wasn't it either.

The "really" ambushed Edelaine had been driven to the brink of death, and Lucian—disguised as a healer—had seen Shane wailing up close. If that was acting, the man belonged on stage.

And Edelaine's desperation to escape had been genuine too.

She'd staked her life on getting away.

Lucian realized that if things had gone just a bit wrong, he wouldn't have even needed the corpse he'd prepared—Edelaine's real body would've ended up in the coffin.

He hated how she'd laughed it off, saying he should've used a stronger paralytic. If Lloyd hadn't been there to watch her, he'd have at least ground his heel into her wound out of spite.

Though that probably would've killed her for real.

Lucian stubbed out his cigarette on the floor. No one would ever use this place. It wasn't worth more than an ashtray.

Life debt, my ass.

Lucian wasn't the type to pay debts honestly. In his mind, the debt he owed wasn't all that big. He'd squared it away long ago.

Still, he'd helped because Edelaine had said it only to him.

"Lucian. Help me."

Help me, with her dying face.

That was a plea she'd never made to anyone else.

Lucian took those words as payment for the job.

The priest's attack was unexpected and not in the novel either, but the ogre's appearance was different.

There had been a similar incident.

Early in the novel, set five years ago.

'The episode showing Genevieve awakening right after my death.'

In the novel, Genevieve soloed a monster summoned at a party and washed away her "fake saintess" stigma in one go.

Right after, the partygoers flipped their attitudes like pancakes, suddenly all kind. Seeing that two-facedness plunged her into disillusionment. She got depressed and ditched the crowd to wander the square alone.

'Buys bread because she's depressed or something.'

Edelaine couldn't for the life of her grasp how disillusionment led to heading to the square solo, but she just accepted the plot. When you're down, you wanna be alone, sure... Though she doubted the saintess's guards were that lax, maybe that day they were.

That day at the square, the heroine met the true villain for the first time.

Honestly, it barely felt like a first villain encounter. Visually, it looked more like meeting her third love interest after Edwin and Lucian. Well, being a healing romance, maybe she needed some romance-lite with the villain too—could've been essential staging.

The villain falls for the woman he has to kill, and the heroine pities the man out to kill her.

With five years already passed, she hadn't thought to leverage novel events.

But with a similar incident unfolding, it was worth gambling on.

The moment she saw the ogre, Edelaine recalled that episode—but Shane beat her to it, sending her straight to the Bertrand mansion. So she called Lucian first.

It pissed her off that the second she couldn't stay by his side, he'd hauled in her family as new jailers. But it was only natural Shane didn't fully trust her.

Edelaine hadn't explained a thing, hadn't given any solid clues.

She couldn't even say why she had to go to the square.

She'd tried to play nice and stay put like Shane wanted, but she couldn't pass up a shot at nabbing the true villain.

'Lucian's the best.'

Like my fairy godmother who sets me free.

Back in Delmuse, Edelaine felt true freedom for the first time.

In just one night, Lucian had perfectly prepared what she'd asked for.

A drug to induce fever, a slightly worn dress and flats, a not-too-thick coat. Lloyd got similar gear.

At dawn, she swallowed the pill and pretended to be bedridden with illness. Then, with Lloyd's help, she slipped out of the mansion.

It was pathetic that she couldn't even leave the house alone.

If only she'd learned magic, spirits, swordsmanship—anything. But Edelaine had zero talent for any of it.

If effort could've bridged the gap, she'd have poured money into lessons. The Bertrands had plenty. But magic and spirit arts? No talent meant no entry.

Swordsmanship went without saying. With stamina worse than a commoner's from sleep deprivation, swinging a metal rod was unthinkable.

Delmuse's central square teemed with people.

Fresh off the autumn harvest, food was plentiful, and Delmuse was wealthy besides—the square buzzed with energy. Crowded and noisy.

Edelaine sat at a café terrace overlooking the square and ordered the entire menu.

Just like Genevieve in the novel.

"Milady, this is a waste."

"Not if we eat it all."

"You plan to eat all this?"

"Yeah. You'll eat it."

"I don't like sweets."

Edelaine stared at him in shock. Lloyd sighed.

"Some people don't like sweets."

"No such thing."

"I'll eat if you insist, but forgive me if I puke."

"No... If you hate it that much, don't... I'll eat it then..."

Edelaine just wanted to tease, not torment.

Lloyd never asked why she wanted to come to the square.

Even when she said she'd call Lucian to sneak out, he didn't pry.

He never questioned her motives from the start. If Edelaine said do it, he just did—like it was obvious.

Lucian took money and ran, Lloyd asked nothing.

These two being her most comfortable company proved how selfish she was.

'Shane doesn't like sweets much either, but he scarfed down everything I gave him. Must've hated it more as a kid.'

A thirteen-year-old boy wolfing down treats from a nine-year-old girl.

He never showed dislike, but if she didn't feed him, he wouldn't touch them—clearly not a fan. She'd said no need to force it, but he'd grinned with crescent eyes.

"It's from you. How could I hate it?"

"Even poison?"

"Wanna try me?"

"Joking..."

Flirting with a nine-year-old? That thirteen-year-old boy...

Edelaine rested her chin on her hand, gazing down at the square, lost in thought.

Imitating Genevieve was all well and good, but if a warlock actually showed up and talked to her, that was a problem.

It'd mean the novel's plot had frozen for the five years she was gone.

Her escape had been meaningless...

And something tragic might unfold as scripted.

She'd resolved to hunt the warlock, but part of her hoped this attack wasn't the true villain's doing.

She wished the world she lived in was no longer the novel's world.

Then someone tapped Edelaine's shoulder.