The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 123

Sunset (6)

I took a step towards Seraphina, who was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.

Fortunately, she didn't step back.

Seraphina gazed at my face for a long time, then approached me a little closer.

And after looking down at Lineta below for a long time, she glanced at me and sniffed.

"Blood smell."

Only then did the look in her eyes, which had seemed ready to choke me to death, seem to soften a little.

"Lavin, what do you think is important to me?"

As I couldn't answer easily, Seraphina sighed.

"It would be a lie if I said I don't feel jealous when you meet other women, but you're not that important to me."Saying so, Seraphina placed her finger on my left chest.

And her finger slowly moved, scratching towards the right.

"I wish you would look at me. I wish you would tell me you love me."

Her finger moved upwards, past my collarbone, and pressed firmly on my Adam's apple.

"What's important is you, who loves me."

I swallowed, feeling Seraphina's finger directly.

"I love you who loves me.

I also love you who doesn't love me, but I think I'd love you a little less than the you who loves me."

Seraphina released the pressure from the finger that had been pressing on my Adam's apple.

"Do you love me?"

"Why something like that, suddenly."

My words were cut off.

Seraphina interrupted me and grabbed me by the collar.

Lately, I feel like I'm getting grabbed by the collar often.

"I'm asking if you love me, just answer. Lavin."

"......I love you."

"Most in the world, more than anyone else?"

As I hesitated slightly, Seraphina smiled.

"Tell me you love me most in the world, more than anyone else, Lavin."

"I love you most, more than anyone."

At my words, Seraphina let out a "hmm" sound, then released my collar.

"Tell me there was a reason."

"There was a reason."

"Tell me it just happened somehow."

"......It really did just happen somehow."

"Really?"

I nodded without saying anything in particular.

"Lavin, are you troubled?"

"How many people wouldn't be troubled in this situation?"

"If I just kill her right now and burn her, so no trace remains, you wouldn't be troubled, would you?"

Saying so, a small flame flickered in her palm.

"Let's just pretend nothing happened.

Everything from me bringing up the breakup, to you suddenly carrying a wounded girl, and even me doubting you and hating you for a moment."

I grabbed Seraphina's wrist and merely looked at her, without saying anything in particular.

At that, Seraphina sighed and extinguished the flame.

She squatted down and began to re-wrap Lineta, who was covered in a blanket, rolling her up tightly.

"Let's carry her together. If I'm with you, we won't attract much suspicion, right?"

I lifted the leg part without saying anything in particular.

"Oh, right. We're going to my room, so just know that."

I nodded awkwardly.

And so, we began to carry Lineta.

It looked to anyone as if we were carrying a human corpse, but perhaps because Seraphina was truly there, the few people we passed only greeted Seraphina, merely frowned at me, and didn't even ask what we were carrying.

We arrived at Seraphina's room.

Seraphina set the unconscious Lineta down on the floor, then was about to strip her clothes off but, noticing my gaze, dragged her all the way to the bathroom.

Hearing the sound of water, it seemed she was bathing her.

I sat perched on the edge of the bed and waited for Seraphina.

The sound of water stopped, and Seraphina, after grabbing a towel and some suitable clothes, re-entered the bathroom.

And a moment later, she dragged out Lineta, dressed in light clothes.

As I rose to help, Seraphina said.

"Sit down."

Seraphina walked past me, laid Lineta on the bed, then leaned back in a chair in the room.

"Lavin. Cigarettes, why did you say you smoked them?"

"Just, it just happened somehow."

"You said you smoked them when you felt bad or depressed."

Saying so, she flicked her hand.

I went to Seraphina and put a cigarette in her mouth.

Seraphina smoked the cigarette for a long time, then opened her mouth.

"The smoke isn't catching, how do you do it?"

"Try lighting it while inhaling."

As soon as Seraphina lit it, she coughed and took the cigarette out of her mouth.

"Honestly, I still don't quite understand why people smoke these. I'm feeling incredibly distraught right now. But I don't feel like anything is changing."

Saying so, Seraphina extinguished the cigarette and threw it into the trash can.

"Still, there must be some reason for smoking cigarettes, right?"

Seraphina shot a glance at Lineta, then opened her mouth again.

"And why you were bringing that girl in such a state."

"......Are you trusting me and listening to my story?"

"If I can't trust the person I love, who would I trust?"

Seraphina rose from her seat and approached me.

And she caressed my collarbone, bringing her face close. Had she sprayed perfume in the bathroom? The scent of lilac brushed past my nose.

"No matter how absurd the story, no matter if anyone would see it as a lie, if I trust you, you'll surely love me that much in return, won't you?

Because you were that kind of person. One who tried to give back as much as you received, and if you couldn't, you'd try to repay it with your heart......"

Seraphina uttered those words and brought her lips to mine.

After merely pressing her lips together and pulling away, Seraphina said in a low voice.

"And I don't know how to do anything but this, but Lavin, you know how to do many things.

Try doing half of what you did to that girl."

At her words, I laughed and replied.

"Then I'd have to do nothing at all."

Seraphina let out a hollow laugh.

Then she grabbed my face firmly and brought her lips to mine.

But as soon as I lightly mixed tongues, she blushed and pulled away in surprise.

****

I had no choice but to tell Seraphina about the heretic village.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to explain why I brought Lineta here like this.

I spoke of Lineta not as a member of the village, but as a victim who had become strange due to a curse on her head, but there seemed no other way to save her.

Because it's natural for heretics to be reported to the church and burned.

In fact, if it hadn't been Lineta, I probably would have just burned them without a second thought.

I couldn't answer the question of how I knew and brought her here, though.

Lineta was to stay in the Beluze family's servant quarters for a while.

The thought that she was being held hostage wouldn't leave my mind, no matter how much I thought about it.

Anyway, today too, I was on my way back to my room after attending class as usual, as if nothing was wrong.

Opening the door and stepping inside, this time Levina was sitting there.

"Lavin. Come and sit."

I sat across from Levina without saying anything in particular.

Levina was pouring and drinking alcohol from a small glass.

"You took all that money, and you brought back this tasteless alcohol?"

"Because I didn't spend it on alcohol."

"Even when the family was already planning to kick you out, you commit an absurd act against me,

And then yesterday, you went to the annex and committed an act of madness beyond imagination, I hear."

Levina rose from her seat and flung the glass containing alcohol at me.

The glass shattered, and it felt as if glass shards had lightly grazed my face.

"I always told you, know your place."

After throwing the glass, Levina met my eyes and flinched slightly, then painstakingly put on a defiant expression again.

"We've decided to expel you from the family.

You killed a priest, and then you took a servant from the annex, I hear? Where did you take her?"

"I brought her here."

"Stop talking nonsense.

I'll expel you from the academy and put you in a small room in the main residence.

It won't be a dungeon, but you committed a crime, so you'll have to be punished."

"She was a heretic."

I said, lightly shaking the alcohol from my hair.

"......You, I'm asking again, are you in your right mind?"

"More in my right mind than you."

"Don't call me 'you'."

Levina said in such a sharp tone, then sighed and continued speaking.

"A servant and a priest were heretics? It seems my head has gone wrong after not managing things for a while."

I pulled out a piece of paper from the drawer, which listed, as I recalled, the priests hiding in the church, the heretics hiding in the family, and the location of the village.

"The church side will be going soon. To burn down that damned village and the church that harbored heretics, all of it."

"……."

"So, wouldn't it be better to manage your affairs properly in advance so no one says anything later?"

Saying so, I approached Levina, who was holding the paper with a somewhat dazed expression.

Her eyes, reading the contents written on the paper, were trembling slightly.

I stroked Levina's head, then brought my hand to her cheek, caressed her lips with my thumb, and said in a low voice.

"What will you do if I sell the family to the church, huh?"

Levina's lips trembled faintly.