How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 119: Loving

[Diana]

Bell loosened his grip on my wrist, but he didn't let go of me either.

My mind was screaming for me to run, to get away from him. But my body didn't comply as fear shackled me along to where he was guiding me.

"Hey. Sit down for a second," he ordered me as if he was about to give me a lecture and punish me.

My legs moved before my mind could decide whether to listen to the order.

"Sit," he repeated, his teeth sounding like it was grinding.

The couch touched the back of my knees.

The moment I hit the cushions, my spine locked as straight as an arrow. I had to dig my nails into my thighs, creating this sense of pain, just so I wouldn't whimper at his presence.

The shadow on his body hadn't decreased one bit.

Something was wrong with him. Something had happened and I didn't know what it was.

"Okay," he smacked his lips. "I'm not sure what's going on with you, but let's get you a glass of water. You look like you're about to pass out any second now."

He turned away and each footstep echoed in my ear.

Even as his back was turned to me, I refused to look in his direction.

I'm scared. Mom, please hurry and come back.

I tried to breathe proper breaths and regulate the speed of my body, but it refused to comply with my wishes.

Every little sound, from grabbing the glass to filling it up with water — it sounded loud, as if he was doing it right next to my ear.

By the time he came back, my heart was slamming so hard against my ribs that it felt like the bones were beginning to crack.

Holding a glass of water, he handed it to me and demanded that I drink it.

"It might help with your complexion. If it isn't enough to quench your thirst, I'll hand you the other drink as well. If you know what I mean." He was offering his blood, but it seemed like a part of him was scorning me, judging me.

This was the first time in a long while that the idea of drinking his blood did not seem pleasant.

Taking it from his hand, the glass was cool. But the instant my fingers wrapped around it, I was unable to control my magic and the cold mana in my palm exploded outward and froze the water.

I stared at it, and my pupils shook.

Bell made a small sound, "...Oh?" It sounded disappointed.

He stepped closer and the shadow not only swallowed him whole but the entire room. It felt like I was the only thing not being covered by his shadow at the moment.

My mind was unable to even imagine what the features of his face were anymore. The only thing that would pop up in my head was this deep blackness that consumed everything.

It was like staring into a hole punched through reality.

I couldn't see his eyes, but the gaze of them was burning me.

I couldn't see his mouth, but I could hear the sound of his teeth.

He didn't say anything for a full minute and his limbs were entirely still, not even moving a single millimeter.

I could feel his presence growing larger and larger. If he were a monster, I would've attacked by now. It was similar to how a monster's killing intent grew once they recognized you as a threat.

Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

My heart got faster, pounded harder, and was so loud that I knew he could hear it.

I wanted to say something but my mouth refused to move.

I wanted to get up and run but his presence was a weight that was squeezing me down into the couch.

Finally — his hand reached out and I flinched. Was he going to harm me?

His fingers touched my hand and tapped very slowly. The feeling of his touch was warm and was melting through the icy aura coating my hand. Yet, it didn't feel good.

He tapped for a little longer before coming to a stop. He took the glass out of my hand and scoffed, "Looks like this one is no good anymore. I'll get you another one." He paused for a second, and these next words sounded like he was warning me, "Try not to freeze this next one."

He didn't say it out loud, but I could tell what the next words were.

"Or else there will be consequences."

As he went back to the kitchen to grab a new glass of water, the shadow that covered the room didn't move with him. It stayed and surrounded me.

Waiting for it to disappear, I swallowed as it never did.

He came back to the living room and it took a thousand percent effort from me not to freeze it this time. I took a sip and swallowing it felt like I was swallowing needles.

My lips were twitching, but I forced them to move up.

I knew my smile was probably the most awkward smile to ever exist, but I kept it there for as long as I could.

Once I was unable to keep it there for much longer, I allowed it to drop and used an extreme amount of energy to finally say something. I was sweating down my back as I whispered, "Bell?"

The shadowy figure leaned closer and crouched down so that he had to tilt his head up to meet my eyes.

"Yes… Diana?"

Just the way he called my name sent spiders up my back.

I finally mustered up the courage to stare into his eyes. Well, where I assumed his eyes were.

"Why are you here?"

"That's a great question. Why… am… I… here…?"

He paused for a moment, then chuckled.

"My dear Diana, do you have any idea what kind of danger you're in?"

The word "danger" made the air feel suffocating. Danger? What danger?

My throat burned as I asked, "No. What do you mean?"

"Hahaha," he laughed as he stood up and stepped back. "Fun fact, Diana… the occupation of vampire hunters is not extinct, even with the lack of vampire appearances in recent years."

Vampire hunters?! W-Why is he bringing them up?

A part of me immediately had a clue about what he might be talking about.

"Somehow, someway… they know about you," he said in a voice so calm and casual that it was chilling and cold. "They're aware you exist, Diana. How?"

"..."

"...How?"

"..."

"How…?"

My fingers curled into the couch so hard that they stabbed through and were surrounded by the foam inside the cushions.

"How is that possible? How in the world… were you caught? You've been only drinking my blood, haven't you?" he asked, tilting his head. "Was it perhaps our friend Peaches running her mouth?"

Shaking my head at his last question, I shut my eyes and the memory of what might've led to the discovery of my existence flashed across my mind.

"When you were unconscious," I began to explain, "in the hospital…"

I looked up, wanting to see how he was going to react, but it was impossible because of the shadow.

"Since you didn't wake up for a week, I was starving."

The shadow around me trembled and it felt like I was sitting in the middle of an earthquake.

"I had to control my bloodlust somehow," I whispered, each word softer than the last as if I was scared of what he was going to say or do. "So I found another way."

"..."

Silence from his end.

"You drank… other people's blood?" he asked, his head tilting even further.

"No!" I shook my head. "I never drank their blood. I pulled it out of their bodies and then separated the blood and mana, turning the mana into pills."

My vision began to blur with tears as my nerves made my entire body shake.

"Why didn't you just drink my blood?" he asked. "There should've been plenty of time when Ichiko and the nurses weren't in the room."

"I… I didn't want to do it without you being awake. Drinking your blood isn't just… survival to me. It's… It's a moment of intimacy with you."

"...Hah," he laughed and the shadow surrounding him and the room vanished all at once.

The room felt light, and I quickly breathed in air as if I had been drowning underwater.

For half a second, I thought it was over. Then I looked at his face and froze.

He was smiling but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

For just a moment — a split moment that didn't even last a thousandth of a second, his expression twisted and my mind betrayed me; I didn't see Bell standing in front of me. I saw a demon.

I felt his mana activating and quickly raised my hand to defend myself.

But I wasn't attacked.

Instead, a massive mana bubble swallowed the entire living room. Although there was no presence nearby and the chances of us being overheard were basically zero, now there was no chance for someone to hear unless they broke the bubble.

It was just the two of us inside the space.

I could feel his emotions surge through our connection. Then again, nothing shortly after.

My body had fully leaned into the couch now, and I was shaking.

I was scared before that I couldn't see his expressions due to the shadow. But now that the shadows were gone, I wished that they would return.

On his face wasn't anger or disappointment.

It was emptiness. An emptiness so vast and endless that it felt like I was staring into a void that wanted to consume me from my skin, my flesh, my bones, my lungs, and even my thoughts.

I couldn't move or breathe and he just stared at me in silence.

Then—

Everything vanished. The bubble was deactivated, the pressure disappeared, and the emptiness returned to its usual dormant state as if it had never leaked out of him.

Bell blinked. Once. Twice.

Then he smiled. A normal smile.

"You did what you thought was right," he said softly. "I won't blame you for your decision."

I was sitting down and yet, it felt like my knees had almost given out.

"But I would've preferred if you drank from my unconscious body. Remember, before it is pleasure, it is survival. I should always be a blood bank to you before I am anything else."

He got down on one knee and took the glass from my hands, putting it down beside him. Then he grabbed my hands and held them, warmly wrapping his fingers around them.

He continued with a warm, reassuring voice, "But we can't regret the past. We just have to move on and focus on the present. And that means being more careful."

Resting one of his hands on top of my head, he stroked my hair and my face immediately became flushed with a bright red color.

"I don't want you to get caught. You mean a lot to me," he said as he pulled my hand towards his face and kissed the back of it.

I blushed even harder but for a split second, I felt like his eyes looked dangerous.

But it was so brief and he was so loving in that moment that I chose to ignore it.