The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 122

Sunset (5)

I was too hasty.

Because of that baseless, idiotic thought that if I went a little faster, I might solve Lineta's problem, I messed things up and now seem to be in a difficult situation.Levina could be appeased somehow, but the Duchess was still alive.

And until the demons invade and everything falls apart, she's also a human who, while unable to kill me, can easily suppress me.

My mind was complicated, so I scratched the back of my head.

Then, Lineta, whose eyes were slowly losing focus, came into view.

She wouldn't die from just this, but I had to call a priest first.

Fearing Lineta might escape, I knocked her off the chair, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her out of the room.

And I called the butler who was lingering in the middle of the first floor.

As soon as the butler approached, he saw Lineta, whose arms and legs were completely broken while still held by me, and wore a look of horror.

"Wh-why, why is Li-Lineta in this state……."

At his words, I showed him my hand and said.

"I just asked her to lend me her body, and she tried to stab me to death with a knife."

At the same time, Lineta burst into tears.

"B-butler, sa-save me, please, please save me! Th-the Young Master is crazy!"

I released my grip on Lineta's hair, then stomped on her intact knee.

Crack.

A scream burst out.

Seeing that, the butler approached me, pushed me away from Lineta, and grabbed me by the collar.

"No matter if you are the Young Master of the Edelgard family, you've gone too far..!"

His hands were trembling, as if he might punch me.

Though it wouldn't hurt much if he did hit me.

"My apologies."

I easily freed myself from his grip on my collar and said.

"Anyway, Lineta wants to be saved. Go get a priest."

At my words, the butler looked down at Lineta worriedly once, then turned and ran out of the mansion.

I picked Lineta up again, threw her back into the room, and then approached her.

"The butler isn't much help either."

Lineta said, gasping.

I did not reply.

"Is this your way of trying to establish order?"

"Her appearance is the same, and nothing seems to have changed, so why is she different?"

Lineta glared at me, struggling to breathe, gasping heavily.

At the same time, her pupils widened slightly.

"Or perhaps you're someone who has always enjoyed hurting people like this."

"I don't particularly enjoy it."

"We're not even of the same kind, so why did we smell the same?"

"How would I know?"

"Are you going to kill me?"

I did not reply.

But Lineta seemed to take it in a slightly different way, and bowed her head.

"......Then run away from here right now. If you don't want to be devoured too."

Saying so, she wriggled her body slightly, then raised her head again and lunged at me.

Her eyes were slightly curved.

Lineta, as if her fangs had sharpened, tried to bite my neck.

I simply shoved my hand into her mouth, pulled down on her lower jaw, and at the same time, grabbed her index finger and broke it.

Perhaps due to the pain, the strength in her mouth also seemed to loosen.

"Where did the person who used to be here go?"

I took my hand away from Lineta's mouth, which I had been blocking.

Her eyes trembled, and her expression was somehow deranged.

"Answer me."

Saying so, I grabbed her middle finger this time.

Then Lineta tried to open her mouth urgently, but I blocked her mouth again.

"Mmph, mmph!"

Lineta shook her head.

Looking into her eyes, they were still like a reptile's.

When we walked together in the forest, sometimes ate together in the village, played in the river, or just held hands in the room, Lineta's eyes weren't like this.

We spent so much time together, so why do I know so little?

Because Lineta never answered anything.

I should have forced her to talk, even if it meant prying.

"Now that I think about it, I don't want to hear it.

As long as I don't hear it, whatever state she's in, it's just as I imagine it to be."

Saying so, I broke her middle finger.

With her mouth still blocked, she let out a desperate scream and writhed, but Lineta could do nothing.

I sighed and stepped away from Lineta.

And I put the dagger that had pricked my palm earlier, lying on the floor, into my pocket.

"Wh-why, why to me……."

I did not reply.

Footsteps were heard from afar, and before long, a priest arrived with the butler.

The butler was looking at me with a face full of displeasure.

The priest first treated my wounded palm.

Though not as fast as Estelle, the wound on my hand began to heal at a rather quick pace.

And after diligently checking Lineta's condition, he approached her and began to use divine power.

Her twisted and broken bones slowly began to reattach.

"......I will somehow speak to the master at the main residence about this matter."

"Ah, you should."

Saying so, I approached the priest who was struggling to continue the healing.

It wasn't the kind of speed a priest stuck in a rural town could display, so why didn't I notice it then?

Indeed, my mind wasn't in a state to care about such things.

Though because of that, I ended up in this state now.

I stood behind the priest, drew the dagger, plunged it into his neck, and then slashed it across.

With disbelieving eyes, the priest grabbed his throat and began to gush blood.

After gushing blood for a long time, he went limp.

The room was filled with smells.

Urine smell, blood smell, smell, smell. Smells everywhere.

Sometimes, I just wanted to be in a place full of fragrance.

Every time I die and return, I wake up in a garbage-like room filled with stale odor, cigarette smoke, and alcohol smell.

It was fine when I was at the academy, but when the demons invaded, there were many times I was steeped in stench in places where I couldn't even properly wash myself.

These days, I really hate smells.

It's not like I'm a demon, so what's with treating me like one just by smelling me?

It's not even about good smells or anything, not even saying I smell like an animal.

The butler looked at me with eyes full of fear, terror, and hatred, but couldn't utter a single word.

"You'll have to accept the blame for not even noticing the heretics crawling in and settling around you."

The butler met my gaze, then stumbled back, and finally fell on his backside.

And I looked around.

Everyone was looking at me with the same eyes I used to look at Levina with when I was little.

But it wasn't a surprised atmosphere.

It was somewhat unpleasant to be looked at as if I was the kind of human who would naturally do such a thing.

Those people didn't even know my face, and would only have found out today that the human named Lavin of the Edelgard family looks like this.

Anyway, it wasn't an atmosphere to remain in the annex.

At least I managed to get Lineta out somehow, so I had achieved what I wanted.

It didn't matter how many heretics rushing on all fours I killed, but if I were to accidentally crush Lineta to death with a rock, I would surely lose sleep.

I harnessed a suitable horse from the annex to a cart, put Lineta, wrapped in a blanket, on it, and brought her to the academy.

Since it wasn't my concern who would take the horse or cart, I left them carelessly nearby, then carried Lineta, wrapped in a blanket, on my shoulder, and was about to go find Estelle, but then I remembered Estelle and I were strangers.

But my steps were already heading towards that small academy church.

What should I explain?

Should I say she's a heretic, but a good heretic, so please save her?

As I was pondering that, someone was approaching in a place where people wouldn't normally pass by.

The sight of me carrying a girl on my shoulder, smelling faintly of urine and blood, probably wouldn't look very good.

"......Lavin?"

The voice sounded like Seraphina's.

Sure enough, footsteps slowly drew closer.

And beautiful blonde hair and remarkably blue eyes entered my sight.

"......Seraphina. Why are you here?"

"I went to your room to talk to you……but you weren't there, so I was taking a walk."

"Ah, right. Then, can't you just finish what you were doing?"

"Where have you been at this late hour?

"Just, somewhere suitable."

"The thing on your shoulder is wriggling?"

I put Lineta down from my shoulder and sighed.

Seraphina approached me.

"Even if I ask you to pretend not to see and just pass by, you won't, will you?"

Seraphina listened to my words and approached the Lineta I had put down.

And when she unwrapped the blanket, Lineta, lying down, was revealed.

Seraphina looked down at Lineta, who was groaning in pain, then looked at me.

"Is this why 'just the two of us won't work'?"

Her eyes were such that whatever I said, it wouldn't be accepted.

My head throbbed, so I reached for a cigarette from my pocket, but Seraphina slapped my hand away.

The cigarette, which contained quite a lot of tobacco, flew far away, a regrettable waste.

"Flirting with other women is fine. But this is……."

Lineta's state was not normal.

Having a girl unconscious from pain at my feet, with my fiancée standing before me, was a much more peculiar feeling than I expected.

It was the kind of feeling where a hollow laugh is all that escapes when you realize you're truly fucked.