The Villain’s Ending

Chapter 87

Delusion (26)

Right before my eyes, Kyle collapsed. He had an expression of disbelief.

He opened his mouth as if to say something to me, but only bloody foam came out.

He collapsed before me, spilling blood. As he lay face down on the floor, his back was hollowed out with a gaping hole.

I stared down at Kyle, then lowered my hand, aimed the muzzle directly at Kyle's head, and cocked the hammer. Then, I pulled the trigger once.

Bang!

But far from embedding in his head, the bullet, as if it had struck an invisible wall, bent and carved a strange trajectory before embedding itself in the floor.

Only then did those present seem to come to their senses, rushing to Kyle and surrounding him. They flipped him onto his back and tried to stop the blood gushing from his chest, but it was futile.

Red blood relentlessly oozed out between their fingers and the makeshift bandages.

Several of them glared, alternating their gazes between me and Seraphina. I surmised it was likely because I had pulled the trigger on the fallen Kyle.A female knight with a familiar face grabbed Seraphina by the collar. She seemed like a completely different person from the one I had seen years ago, when she fled upon seeing me as I burned to death.

"Why, for heaven's sake?"

Her voice trembled with rage.

"T-this isn't what I meant to do... I just wanted to stop him... But I unconsciously..."

Seraphina was still crying, babbling incoherently. Her blue eyes were filled with terror and confusion.

"How could you, how could you do this to us? Kyle was our last hope! Is it because he's your trash ex-fiancé who threw you away? You f-fucking damn whore?!"

The female knight shrieked. Her face was contorted with hatred.

"No, no... This wasn't what I meant to... I'm sorry, I'm sorry......."

Seraphina, her eyes darting madly, gasping faintly and breathing excessively, repeated only 'I'm sorry' like a madwoman.

At those words, the female knight's face twisted.

She drew her sword. Then, she kneed Seraphina hard in the solar plexus, whose body was still stiff.

At the same time, Seraphina choked and sank to the floor. As she coughed painfully and looked up at the female knight, the female knight raised her sword and attempted to sever Seraphina's neck.

Seeing that, I raised my gun, aimed casually, and pulled the trigger. A series of gunshots echoed down the corridor.

The female knight reflexively raised her blade and deflected the bullets.

Simultaneously, a sharp clang of metal rang out. Without the slightest hint of panic, she deflected the remaining bullets as well. With her sword, as if deflecting bullets was the most natural thing in the world.

At that sight, dumbfounded, a hollow laugh escaped me.

The female knight, her face still twisted, hurled a dagger at me and, with sword in hand, charged forward.

It occurred to me that Lineta, still frozen in front of me, might get hit.

I tugged Lineta by the collar, pulling her out of the way. I twisted my body too, but a sharp pain shot through my shoulder. The dagger had embedded itself deeply.

Perhaps it was the thought that I might die like this, but I didn't feel much pain.

The female knight charged at me, her sword pointed my way. I barely blocked the blade she swung by pulling out the dagger from my shoulder. But the difference in strength was too great.

The dagger in my hand flew into the air. As the sword strike came at me again, the blade shattered right before my eyes.

It was Estelle. She kicked the female knight, grabbed her by the hair, and kneed her in the stomach.

The female knight collapsed without even a scream. Estelle, still holding the fallen female knight by her hair, slowly walked towards me, dragging her across the floor. The distinct sound of her face scraping against the floor was audible.

At Estelle's appearance, everyone present stopped moving. Only a suffocating silence flowed through the corridor.

"I think I get what's going on, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything, so stop causing trouble and go back to the battlefield."

Estelle said. Her voice had its usual languid tone, but it was very low and almost a growl.

"Anyway... even if we go back like this... we're all dead men walking........"

The female knight, still clutched by her hair by Estelle, moaned in pain, and spoke in a weak voice.

"It's the same if you stay here."

Estelle said in a low voice.

"Please... at least treat Kyle... Without this friend, the front lines will collapse in an instant........"

One of the people next to Kyle pleaded. He approached Estelle, knelt, and begged for treatment.

Upon hearing that, Estelle told those clinging to Kyle to move back a little. For a long time, she gazed at Kyle's wounds and his severed wrist.

Then, she simply placed her foot on his head and crushed it.

Crunch. A rather unpleasant sound echoed through the corridor.

"Well, daring to attack the Duke Edelgard and then, when things didn't go his way, trying to kill him, there's no justification for letting a bastard like that live."

Estelle said. She lightly scuffed the tip of her blood-stained shoe against the floor.

As she did so, she pointed a finger at Seraphina.

"You used it, didn't you?"

At those words, Seraphina looked around, her hands trembling uncontrollably.

"Just you, stand back."

She had bitten her lower lip so hard that blood was flowing. She hesitated, then slowly moved her feet and approached me.

****

Levina and Estelle, who had come upon hearing the gunshots, exchanged a few words, then, without another word, assigned some knights to forcibly remove those who had attacked the mansion.

Saying they wouldn't even think of coming back anyway, and that they were clearly doomed to die out there.

Levina pointed at Kyle's crushed corpse and said.

"No matter what that bastard did, he should have been kept alive. That way, we could have lasted a few more years, or......"

"He was already dead."

Estelle cut off Levina and replied. Levina listened to Estelle, then pressed her temples as if she had a headache, before spotting Seraphina.

"Seraphina? Why is she over there now?"

Seraphina flinched upon hearing that, but she didn't turn around.

This was because the servants, including Lineta who wore a complex expression, were blankly watching them clean up Kyle's corpse and wipe away the plentiful wet stains on the floor, all while retching.

Estelle told Levina to take care of the aftermath, then approached Seraphina, hugged her tightly, and said.

"Thank you for saving Lavin."

Then she looked at me and said.

"Lavin, it's your first reunion in a while. As a reward, please have a short talk with her, just the two of you. If you leave her like this, she's going to look like she'll just go somewhere and die, isn't she, hmph."

I heard those words and looked at Seraphina. Gastric fluid smeared around her mouth, tears seemingly flowing only from one side due to her missing left eye. Small scars scattered all over her body and remaining on her face. It was almost impossible to think she was the same person from before we parted.

"If possible, I'd prefer you not cheat on me."

Estelle said with a smile. After that, she took Seraphina's hand, who wouldn't follow even when called, and forcibly dragged her to the reception room.

She then made her sit on the sofa and instructed the servants to bring tea and snacks.

When the cookies, cake, and tea were brought out, Seraphina's one remaining eye widened considerably.

"S-so, they still have things like this here."

I didn't answer. Seraphina reached for a cookie, paused mid-air, and then didn't take it.

"There are plenty of cookies, so you can eat as many as you like."

At that, Seraphina shook her head and said.

"I don't have an appetite, so it's fine."

"It feels a bit strange to ask how you've been all this time."

"I wanted to, to meet you, but there was no way to meet you, and no reason for you to meet me, so I just lived, thinking about it."

Seraphina bent her right index finger almost to the point of breaking, her hand trembling uncontrollably.

"Though I wanted to meet you so much, I didn't want to reunite like this."

"What's wrong with meeting like this?"

"Ah, no matter how cornered he was, I never, never thought K-Kyle would do that."

"Because to me, he's a friend capable of even more."

Since the tea in Seraphina's cup was cold, I poured the tea from the cup into an empty saucer nearby, then refilled it from the teapot and pushed the cup towards her.

Seraphina accepted the teacup and, looking around nervously, drank her tea. After finishing all the tea, Seraphina composed herself and opened her mouth.

"La-Lavin. If you stay here, you'll die soon. B-because Kyle died."

Then she rose from her seat and approached me.

"W-while you're living peacefully here, it m-might sound like crazy talk, but let's r-run away! Since the Saintess is here too, we can go even f-further."

Seraphina sat beside me, took my hand, and pressing her body against mine, looked at me desperately with her one eye and spoke, all the while stammering profusely as if she still wasn't in her right mind.

"Where to?"

"Anywhere! I just don't want you to die! That's why, that's why I fought, seeing that mess there... I, I ruined it again, again with my own hands."

I gently pushed Seraphina away and stood up.

"It always seems to be like this, in this miserable state, and it feels like I ruin everything with my own hands, but still, I don't want you to die."

And then, after remaining silent for a long time, I replied.

"At least this time, it's fine."

I must have been slightly surprised when Seraphina approached. Feeling a slight catch in my throat, I drank a cup of tea and continued speaking.

"I told you last time that I've made too many missteps. Your becoming like this, the world turning into this mess, and Estelle suffering even while she's by my side, it's all my fault."

Saying that, I picked up the chocolate cookie on the plate that Seraphina had almost reached for but hadn't touched and handed it to her.

Seraphina, though hesitant, took the cookie and began to nibble at it.

For a long time, as if that one cookie was incredibly precious.