I’m Planning to be Killed by the Heroine

In a church building filled with quiet, cold air.
At the center of countless corpses emitting a putrid stench like the heat from freshly baked bread.
I was savoring the sound of her rushing up here, bathed in the red moonlight shining through the window.
Up the stairs.
Through the corridor.
When the echoing footsteps suddenly stopped.
Only then did I turn my eyes in that direction.
“Haa.. haa.. Aureli!!”
Welcome.
You came again today.
I’ve been waiting for you.
Golden short hair emitting a gleaming light and snow-white eyes blooming like flowers.
Her flushed face and unstable breathing, so out of breath, spoke volumes about her condition.
“Hello, you’re late.”
Me, who commits countless slaughters in the city, and you, the heroine who constantly opposes me.
You, Erica.
The calm and cold demeanor you showed when we first met is long gone.
Perhaps because this has been repeated countless times. At some point, all that remained was you glaring at me in a state of extreme excitement.
“……”
Yes.
It was those eyes.
Those beautiful orbs that radiate brilliant light, looking straight at me alone.
A body wrapped in overflowing righteousness, as if about to lunge at me at any moment.
Her unwavering belief that would never bend, even if broken, despite all the pain and sorrow I’ve scattered that she’s endured until now.
“You’re too late, I’ve already killed them all.”
I said that while gesturing towards the corpses that barely had any skin left.
“You…..!”
Are you angry?
Yes.
You must hate me.
As if all the world’s pain and screams were emanating from me.
As if the groans of original sin and evil were solely because of my existence.
Think that way, and condemn me like that.
Treat me with utter disdain with cold and decadent eyes.
And at the end of it all.
My eternal pain, and my life.
Someday, end it.

Cough, cough!
Leading my unwell body, I caught the blood pouring out with my hand.
Even with my pain and groans, you’d be happy, right?
“…It’s, it’s okay…”
What?
“What did you just····.”
Our eyes met.
I saw her pupils trembling.
No.
It can’t be.
I must have heard wrong.
A heroine worrying about a villain.
That’s something that should never happen, right?
“You’ve worked hard to come this far. The corpses, take care of them yourself.”
To you, who was somehow looking at me while trembling, I closed my eyes calmly and bid farewell.
Wrapped in countless vampire bats, I rose into the air and threw out my usual joke.
“I’ll miss you, Erica -”

Urp, puwahak!
Can’t I even make a cool exit?
As I was self-deprecating while looking at the blood clots that had thoroughly soaked my clothes.
“W-Wait····!”
“····?”
Suddenly, grabbed by her who had reached out to me.
My body was effortlessly held fixed in mid-air.
Naturally, as the surroundings became quiet.
I had no choice but to look at her face.
Why.
Why on earth does she have such a face?
Reddened cheeks and rough breathing.
A face filled with worry that anyone could see.
Even your hand that won’t let go of my arm.
No.
It can’t be.
It shouldn’t be.
“A-Are you in pain…?”
What on earth are you saying?
Since earlier.
Do you know what you’re saying?
I’m a criminal who has killed countless people.
You, the heroine who protects citizens in the city, should find me utterly detestable just by looking at me.
“Wh-Where does it hur-”
───Whoosh!
Even after I hastily shook off her hand, she was still looking at me with a worried face.
“Aureli..”
Please.
You are the righteous hero.

You should hate me, the villain, and despise me.
This isn’t a relationship where you should cling to me and harbor feelings that you should never have.
Where.
Where did it go wrong?
Was it because you developed misplaced sympathy from the few times you saw my sickly appearance?
Was it because we spent too much time together in my plan to make you hate me?
Or.
Was it because your interest in me, which had been showing for some time, grew abnormally?
I don’t know.
I really don’t know.
Even as unidentifiable lumps of filth were gnawing at my mind, I struggled to fly out through the shattered large window, squeezing out my remaining strength.
Avoiding her distant yet brilliant gaze, now hazy and obsessive.
“Next time.. Next time I’ll definitely.. catch you for sure..”
Barely ignoring your incomprehensible murmurs, wrapped in a twisted love affair arising from our relationship.
“Forever.. I’ll keep you by my side forever..”
Praying that the meaning behind those sentences wasn’t what I thought they meant, I could only disappear into thin air.