BJ Villainess

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Damian liked rainy days. The reason was simple. It left fewer traces of murder, making cleanup easier. That was all there was to it.

In fact, saying he liked it was a misnomer. If anything, it was his ‘preferred weather.’ But now, he could genuinely say he liked it. Because she liked the rain. He recalled the times they watched the rain together, he with warm tea, and she with a bizarre cold coffee.

The rain was Theresa. Every beautiful day, whether with stars, the moon, clouds, snow, falling stars, or refreshing wind, all reminded him of Theresa. She was in every part of the world that made up his existence.

It was the same for his body. His body was already imprinted with Theresa. The more he struggled not to think about her, the clearer she became.

How lovely she was when she lay with her head on his thigh reading a book. How joyful her smile was. How the soft and sweet scent of chocolate drove him crazy when he sneaked into her arms as she slept. How he feared she might leave him when she seemed one with the world under the moonlight.

A self-deprecating laugh escaped him. That fear back then wasn’t just a useless neurosis. He had always been anxious that some unknown force would take Theresa away from him. At the time, he thought it was because of their impending separation. But that wasn’t it.

Damian realized this after leaving the dungeon. The world itself was the force trying to take her away from him.

No, that’s not it, you idiot. How could you lose something you never had?

From the time he had distinct memories until now, everything about him was defined by her, and now he was abandoned. No day, whether with stars, the moon, clouds, snow, falling stars, or refreshing wind, was special anymore. And he no longer liked the rain. In fact, he hated it. Unless a miracle happened, he would hate it forever.

“Lord.”

A Stigmata member approached Damian, who was leaning against a tree so dense that raindrops couldn’t penetrate.

“As expected, the imperial wizards have taken the bait and are approaching. What should we do?”

“Kill them all or do as you see fit.”

“Understood. By the way, Theresa Squire is with them, as you predicted.”

Hearing that, Damian felt heat coursing through his cold body. It was a fifty-fifty chance. He thought Theresa, with her unusually good intuition, might not come personally. On the other hand, her boundless compassion and bizarre love for all things might make her willingly step into the trap. And Theresa came.

Damian shivered with both excitement and despair at this realization. He couldn’t be someone more meaningful to Theresa than this world. And now he had to confirm it in this terrible way.

Damian couldn’t understand why she acted as if she created the world. No, even if she were the creator, he didn’t want to understand.

Damian wanted purely personal happiness. He wanted her to find joy in him, to look at him, to love him. He wanted to live together, caring for each other. To live longer than her and kindly bid her farewell so she wouldn’t be afraid of death, then quickly follow her in death. To hold her cold body in the grave, kiss her, and reminisce about how happy they had been. He wanted to tell her he loved her. That was all Damian wished for, but she had become his enemy instead of his love.

“Where is Theresa?”

“She just entered the trap’s entrance. She’ll soon arrive at the bug pit. After hiding like a rat in the Sun Palace for a fortnight, using teleportation magic to destroy dungeons, we can finally kill her.”

The man’s voice was filled with hatred for Theresa, who had become a major obstacle to the nearly completed New World project.

“I’ll send the elite to take care of her immediately—” The man didn’t finish his sentence and collapsed.

Damian had detonated the small magic bomb implanted in the hearts of Stigmata members, killing him instantly. As if it wasn’t enough, he crushed the dead man’s head with his black boot.

“You filth, how dare you speak of my wife like that?”

Normally, he would kill such a fool cleanly and dispose of the body. But Damian was highly unstable and sensitive now. He couldn’t contain his rage.

The soil greedily swallowed the mangled corpse, erasing all traces.

“Theresa…”

Damian’s thoughts shifted from the despicable man to Theresa. He had been incredibly busy. His extraordinary genius and innate malice combined, creating bizarre things the world had never seen like this place.

Damian moved through the rain toward the intruders.

Theresa was coming. Theresa, who was staying in the Sun Palace under the emperor’s favor. She was receiving all her guests at the palace. The most respected and loved person in the empire was coming here.

Damian stopped abruptly in a position the intruders couldn’t detect.

… there she is.

He saw her for the first time in dark combat attire, her hair tightly braided. Even soaked in the gentle rain, she looked anything but shabby—she was overly enchanting. Seeing Theresa made his supposedly frozen heart beat uncontrollably. She was still lovely and beautiful, but he hated and resented her just as much.

Damian’s meticulously crafted bug monsters moved noiselessly toward their targets. Because of the white magic faintly covering the area like mist, the bugs were almost impossible to detect.

Soon, a swarm of larger animal-shaped monsters was expected to appear. While they were distracted by the animal monsters, the bug monsters would engulf and devour the intruders like a nightmare. Would Theresa, who always surprised him, notice this?

Theresa scanned the surroundings, knelt, and touched the soil. “It’s very faint, but I can feel white magic in the soil.”

The imperial wizards, trusting Theresa’s words implicitly, asked seriously. “We don’t feel it, but is it a problem?”

“Not in itself, but it seems like a trap setup.”

Indeed, she had come here knowing it was a trap. She probably came knowing the imperial wizards would be annihilated if she sent them alone.

“There are monsters over there. They look like the ones immune to purification magic.”

“Those vile things… cursing innocent magical creatures like this?”

“The monsters are wary of us. Everyone, prepare the new purification magic formula.”

The imperial wizards immediately prepared to face the monsters. Magic flared everywhere. Unbeknownst to them, this would serve as a catalyst to attract more bugs.

“Wait.”

Theresa was the first to notice something amiss. But it was already too late. If they didn’t use magic, the monsters would devour them.

“Be purified, you foul and unclean things!”

As the magic manifested, the bugs swarmed the wizards with a chilling noise.

“Block them! Block them all!”

“The bugs are eating the magic! The shield is breaking!”

Panicked wizards hurled magic at the bug monsters, but it had little effect. There were too many bugs and insects to handle with their magic.

Damian watched Theresa with cold eyes. Theresa used an enormous amount of magic to spread a thick barrier widely. But Damian had anticipated that and prepared a swarm of bug monsters at a disastrous level that could not be stopped.

As expected, Theresa’s barrier began to break. Theresa created new spells at an astonishing speed to fend off the bug monsters. Each time she replaced the barrier, the breach slowed, but the sheer number of bugs was overwhelming.

A bug scratched her white cheek. Trying to protect the essentially helpless imperial wizards, who were being overwhelmed by bugs, she sustained more and more injuries.

Damian unknowingly furrowed his brow deeper. Theresa could use teleportation magic. She could escape right now, but why wasn’t she? Based on her abilities, she could easily take the five imperial wizards with her.

Damian checked the monsters. The bug monsters reacted to magic. So they naturally reacted to the animal monsters, which were originally magical creatures and attacked them.

Theresa couldn’t leave because of the monsters. Out of pity. Wanting to save them. Believing she could protect everyone if she sacrificed herself. Having experienced this personally from her, it was all too easy to guess. In fact, the imperial wizards, except for their initial injuries, were now fine.

Why would you sacrifice yourself for such insignificant things?

Why all this, why?

Damian glared at Theresa, who was struggling. Then he touched the ground.

The white magic spread simultaneously throughout the area.

It was like raindrops reversing from the ground to the sky, and the bug monsters stopped moving. They soon turned into black smoke and began to dissipate into the air.