BJ Villainess

* * *

Damian watched the retreating figures of the Squire father and daughter with an expressionless face. “Strange.”

From Raul’s reaction, it seemed as though Clyde did not exist in this world, yet from Libby’s reaction, it appeared she knew something. She was even very cautious about the fact that Damian mentioned Clyde. This meant it was unnatural for him to know Clyde.

Damian had felt this sense of discord before, similar to when he realized he was a fake in the dungeon. And Theresa knew all the facts. Damian had a strange premonition that Theresa knew everything again.

Suddenly, he felt suffocated, as if he couldn’t breathe. Nothing was easy to understand, and amid all this, the fact that Theresa had held a wedding ceremony with Clyde infuriated him to madness. Moreover, she had now entered the dungeon with the emperor. If she were to spend time with the emperor just like she had with him…

“No, that can’t be.”

That should not happen. He could not allow it. He could not forgive it. But what exactly could he not forgive?

Damian’s head began to heat up with a mixture of love and murderous intent.

So, what should he deal with first? Even if the emperor held absolute power, in the end, he was just a human made of flesh and blood. He could just kill him.

His wife should be his alone. But why did his wife marry? And with Clyde at that. Where did that b*stard disappear to? How is this world functioning?

It’s strange. Everything seems to revolve around his wife. It feels like something exists in this world that he’s not aware of… Wait. Could he lose his wife to someone else?

“…”

At that moment, Damian’s and Ozworld’s eyes met. Damian felt a peculiar sensation as if the word ‘strange’ was perfectly suited for this moment. All the thoughts that had been tormenting him like a disease stopped abruptly when his eyes met Ozworld’s. What was left was pure instinct. He almost killed him. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was the imperial banquet hall where magic could not be used, he would have definitely done it.

It was truly bizarre. His body reacted as if he had experienced this before, which was eerily peculiar. Moreover, the fact that he found Ozworld’s face familiar was also strange. Where had he seen that face? It was impressively memorable, so why couldn’t he remember?

“You are Damian Kapento, right?”

A moment passed. In just a few seconds, Damian’s thoughts boiled over and then calmed down as if doused with cold water.

“Marquis Ozworld Vallensia. I regret not being able to greet you properly earlier.”

“No, the situation warranted it.” Ozworld glanced at the dungeon over Damian’s shoulder. “It’s a troublesome situation. To think Miss Theresa entered the dungeon with His Majesty alone.”

“…Yes.”

“Do you know what Miss Cecilia’s wish was?”

Damian looked at Ozworld without responding he didn’t know. It was because he felt taunted by his tone.

“Cecilia’s dream was to have loving parents. Perhaps the dungeon is a space to fulfill such wishes.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Why so passive? You won’t be able to fend off your rivals that way.”

“…I don’t understand what you mean.”

“It’s been a difficult reunion, hasn’t it?”

At those words, Damian’s eyes widened, and Ozworld smirked.

“I don’t understand what’s so special about this that you cherish and love it so much,” Ozworld muttered disdainfully and then stared off into space, making a gesture as if checking something.

Damian involuntarily followed his gaze, but there was nothing there. However, he vividly remembered Theresa often acting similarly. At the same time, a memory he had completely forgotten until now flashed through his mind.

Before meeting the real Theresa in the dungeon on January 31, during an unknown time, he had met this man. And they had made a contract. Ozworld had promised he could meet Theresa in reality.

The fact that he spoke of Theresa as if she were his possession irked Damian, prompting an involuntary chuckle.

“Now I remember. But I’m curious about one thing. Why are you here? And as my wife’s partner at that.”

“

, I’ve come to like this world quite a bit, so I’ve decided to live here. Partly because of Miss Theresa.”

Although Ozworld maintained a breezy attitude as if none of this mattered to him, Damian felt a very annoying premonition. The moment this indefinable entity took an interest in Theresa, things were bound to get messed up.

Damian, putting on a mask-like expression, asked Ozworld, “Did you approach me because you have some business with me? If not, I have things to do and must be going.”

“My business here is done as well.” Ozworld exaggeratedly made way for Damian.

Damian politely excused himself and then slipped away into a secluded part of the palace with a cold expression. Although Ozworld claimed to like this world, Damian did not. Even though he had smoothly maneuvered to become the head of the Kapento family, causing a division within it.

More troublesome issues were lying in wait. Strange fellows were all eyeing Theresa. It seemed he needed to clean up the trash first to be alone with his wife.

Damian spoke in an empty space, “It’s time to start a great undertaking.”

Then, members of the Stigmata, who had been faintly concealing their presence, dashed off in all directions.

* * *

Euges’s temperament was sensitive. Upon reflection, it hadn’t always been that way. There was a time when he had grown from an innocently naïve boy into a young man who was so kind and honest that it made his stomach churn. He had worked tirelessly not to be dismissed just because he was a young emperor.

There really had been a time when he cut himself down to be acknowledged as a wise ruler by his mother, the nobles, the temple, the courtiers, the people, and even the divine. But it was a past now gone.

Betrayal was painfully acute enough to completely change a person’s values, beliefs, personality, preferences, and more. Flames blazed all around. The surroundings, emitting black smoke, were terrifying and frightening.

Despite his screams, the Sun Palace remained silent. No one came. No one saved him.

Euges decided to gamble if he was to die anyway. He broke through the flames and shattered a window. His entire body was engulfed in flames. Unable to use magic in the Sun Palace, he slowly died like a fish out of water.

… he saw his mother. She was watching him die from afar.

He called out to her.  

But no sound came out.

Beyond the dimming vision, he saw others positioned around her. Someone approached him and declared him dead. That couldn’t be. He was still alive. He couldn’t be dead. He could see them so clearly. How could he be dead when those damn people who tried to kill him were looking down at him, alive and well? It can’t be that he’s dead, right?

“Duke Rodrigo.”

A tender and fragile voice tore through the old memories, drilling into his ears. His head throbbed, his eyelids burned with a searing pain, and he sweated coldly. He needed strong liquor.

“Are you alright, Duke?”

A woman in a pure white dress, showcasing her innocence yet flaunting her voluptuous figure, appeared in his blurred vision. He almost grabbed her hair.

Euges gritted his teeth, suppressing the surge of violence that always plagued him after such cursed dreams. He exhaled deeply, murmuring to himself.

As he redirected his thoughts, the current situation orderly arranged itself in his mind.

The woman in the white dress, who proclaimed innocence yet displayed her ample figure, was Joanna Mintzberg, a resident of the dungeon.

“

!” Excited screams from children echoed from beyond the terrace railing belonging to Cecilia and Abigail.

It was followed by a familiar voice.

“Stop there! I’ll catch you and plant you in the garden!”

“

Save me!

“

He chuckled at the ridiculous content. Hearing Theresa’s voice, his headache slowly subsided, and his breathing returned to normal.

As his tense nerves relaxed, he finally felt the pleasant breeze. The sound of leaves brushing against each other in the wind, the scent of grass and earth tickling his nose, the babbling of water. This was not the Sun Palace but the terrace of Duke Rodrigo’s mansion.