The Baby Villain Dreams of Conquering the World

Chapter 9

Episode 9

If she hadn't had that strange dream today, she probably wouldn't have thought this deeply about it.

Flora wiggled her fingers.

Then, the black demonic aura blooming on her hand gathered into a sphere, and according to her will, it changed shape, forming a cone, a small square, a star, and so on.

"The source of the power seems to be the same as before."

Closing her eyes and concentrating on her mental image, she could feel the vessel she had created inside her body the first time she came into contact with demonic aura.

'The vessel that holds the demonic aura isn't growing. It needs to get bigger for the amount of demonic aura my body can accept to increase.'

Her original power still remained within her, but it was far less than in her past life.

'Is it really because I'm still too young?'

Flora judged that it was because her body was still that of a young child who hadn't grown yet, so power accumulated slowly.

Wasn't that why she planned to gradually regain her power as she grew up and, this time, truly inherit Beshart's will and bring about the world's downfall?

And someone like me is the descendant of Lucifer, who is called a hero?

Hahaha.

A hollow laugh was followed by a familiar sigh.

Aish.

"Fine. I won't think about it. I'm not going to follow him anyway."

From what she had observed so far, Athanas was clearly someone who would be a good father.

His disposition, his appearance, and the goodwill he held within were all perfect for a parent.

But he was a Lucifer.

She couldn't live flattering the descendant of the nemesis who killed her, could she?

Yes, that's right, but...

〈A child like you is the Great Demon? This is abuse!〉

Why does Etar's first words upon seeing her come to mind?

Her mind was so complicated that all sorts of thoughts she didn't want to think about kept popping up.

Flora let out a familiar sigh and raised her head.

Through the dense trees, she could see the clear, refreshing sky.

Now she really wouldn't think about anything.

She would quietly read her book and go down when the sunset came.

Flora, having given up on thinking, was about to lean against a tree and open her book.

"Uuugh."

If only a human sound hadn't come from not too far away.

Flora slowly turned her head towards the direction of the sound.

And she waited quietly.

To determine if what she heard was really a human sound or just her imagination.

As if telling her to listen, the sound came to her again.

"Ugh!"

It was a groan.

Flora was momentarily engulfed in thought.

Didn't helping Rosaria in a similar way lead to the connection lasting until now?

And while it was a different method, helping Athanas when he was in trouble almost led to another unwanted connection.

'What if this time it's also a descendant of my nemesis?'

Flora didn't want to form any new connections outside of Mrs. Finny, Lian, and the orphanage children.

She didn't want to give her affection anymore, nor did she have the confidence to do so.

'Let's not.'

She retracted her intention to go and picked up her book again to ignore whoever it was.

Yes, that's what she was going to do, but...

"Haa, haa."

The voice, barely able to exhale breath, trapped in terrible pain and unable to do anything else, was filled with a childlike quality.

"Damn it. Really."

Reason commanded her not to, to not move.

But her body moved towards the sound instead of listening to reason.

"Just a check. I'm really just going to check and come back."

Rustle, rustle.

Stepping on the grass covering the relatively flat path, she headed towards the sound.

The place she arrived at was thick with deep undergrowth, and a boy was lying collapsed there.

Damn it all, it was a boy around the same age as her orphanage unnis and oppas.

Blood flowing from beneath his short black hair had pooled on the ground, and through his torn clothes in various places, his wounded skin was visible.

Even one of his feet was severely swollen.

A sticky, death-tainted demonic aura enveloped the boy's foot; looking at the wound that seemed torn by deep claws, it appeared he had been attacked by a monster.

If Flora hadn't checked, the boy would probably have died here in the mountains, undiscovered by anyone.

"This is all to prevent scary rumors about a corpse being found on the back mountain."

Flora tried hard to rationalize it to herself as she raised her hand and summoned her familiar power.

Flora's demonic aura, of a higher purity than the monster's, drove out the evil energy.

The demonic aura that people considered a power of darkness.

Anyone seeing the energy clumped together in black would likely think so, but this power was part of the world's origin, a powerful force given directly by Beshart.

At the very least, it should be able to cleanly heal wounds caused by demonic aura.

The most basic source of the power lay in her desire.

"Heal."

A small black sphere emitted powerful energy and seeped into the boy's leg.

"Aaargh."

If a bone was broken, the shattered pieces would be reattaching; if a blood vessel was severed, the pain from reconnecting would cause him to groan involuntarily even while unconscious.

Flora, without moving, moved her hand above the boy's head.

"Here, just lightly stop the bleeding."

This time too, a small sphere popped out and hovered over the boy's wound.

Then, as if by a lie, the torn wound began to slowly close.

"Phew, that was hard."

It was a different difficulty from the time with Rosaria, but she did it.

'I ended up doing something useless again.'

She had even used up all the demonic aura she had carefully stored in the vessel inside her body.

A sense of accomplishment should have washed over her, but instead, gloom enveloped her again.

Anyway, since she treated him, the boy wouldn't die.

Normally, she would have waited for him to wake up, received his thanks, and smiled, but she didn't want to do that today.

"Fine. I'll just go."

Thinking she'd rather go and be thoroughly spoiled in Mrs. Finny's embrace, Flora was about to get up from her spot when…

Thud.

Her hand was grabbed.

'I should have left quickly.'

Just because he reminded her a bit of the orphanage children and she showed a little kindness, she ended up in a troublesome situation.

"Who are you?"

"......"

"I asked who you are."

Judging by his arrogant tone, he must be a noble.

'But his clothes look shabby for that...'

If the boy didn't have a sword at his hip, Flora might have thought he was a beggar.

When Flora lowered her head, her eyes met the boy's vivid green pupils.

They were a warm color, but his eyes were swirling with confusion and anger.

His gaze was very sharp, making his personality seem anything but ordinary.

Well, for someone like that, his state was too miserable.

Instead of sighing out of habit, Flora pushed the boy's arm away.

"Your savior."

"Savior?"

"I saved you when you were about to die, right? So can you put away that arrogant look?"

"......"

The boy blinked, then slowly looked down and examined his own body, making a greatly surprised expression.

"M-my wounds..."

"Are gone. I healed them all for you."

"How?"

"......"

If he asks so directly, there's no way to explain.

Should she say she used demonic aura to heal him and risk being taken away by the Executor Bureau?

As Flora said nothing, the boy seemed to realize something on his own and nodded.

"I see, you must be from the temple."

I'm not.

Contrary to what she thought, of course, she didn't make the mistake of saying it out loud.

The boy erased his bewildered expression and sat up.

"The head wound, the foot injury... they're all gone."