Chapter 222: Villain (2)

Karina blinked as if she couldn’t understand.

“A villain? You weren’t one originally.”

Then, as if realizing something, she let out a small sigh.

“Ah. Are you doing this because of your sister?”

Reina, whose body had been controlled by the demon Lilith, had once appeared on wanted posters in the Royal Dream as a murderer who assassinated key figures of the Frey Empire.

Karina was referring to that.

“If it’s that, don’t worry. I just need to issue a correction article saying that your sister’s actions were all the work of a demon. If that doesn’t work, I can just tell my father. The Royal Dream wouldn’t be crazy enough to ignore my words.”

Then, haughtily crossing her arms, Karina added.

“I don’t do this for just anyone. Rachel, you’re my classmate, so I, Karina, am taking special care of you. How is it? Do you feel a bit lighter now?”

No.

It’s getting heavier.

Rachel felt her insides burning.

She had made up her mind to reveal everything honestly.

But the more Karina acted like that, the more it felt like lumps of lead were being added to her heart.

“What is it? Why is there no answer?”

However, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut forever.

Eventually, at Karina’s urging, Rachel opened her mouth with a sad face.

“Thank you for caring. But, as I thought, I can’t go back to the Academy.”

“Why? I said I’d do my best to help with your sister’s matter…….”

“It’s not for that reason.”

“Then? What on earth is it for?”

“I told you. I’m a villain.”

In an instant, Karina’s eyebrows curved into an inverted ‘V’.

“Forget that crap and give me a reason I can accept!”

Rachel’s eyes went wide.

The corners of Karina’s eyes, glaring at her, were trembling with rage.

“You’re a villain? Hey, Yuria! Do you think so too?”

“No.”

“What about you?”

Gerard shook his head tactfully.

“Hmm. Same for me.”

“See? None of us think of you that way. If it’s because of the deal you made with that Skull Mask guy, you don’t need to worry about it!”

Rachel gave a bitter smile.

Right. These friends had been mistaken from the beginning.

That her becoming a Shadow was specifically because of a deal with Skull Mask.

‘The price for saving my sister from the demon.’

But the reality was the opposite.

It was Rachel’s voluntary choice.

“Hey. Are you perhaps unable to trust me?”

“There’s no way that’s it.”

“Then? Why are you going this far, even putting yourself down as a villain?”

Rachel closed her eyes tight.

And she said in a clear tone.

“A cleric belonging to the Darkness Council of the Beltus Cult. That is my original identity.”

“……What?”

Everyone looked shocked.

The Beltus Cult?

Why is that name suddenly coming up here?

In the midst of that, Rachel’s words continued.

“The Beltus Cult has been preparing for a long time to overthrow the Frey Academy, and I was a spy trained to infiltrate and operate inside the Academy. Of course, it was all to save my sister, but it’s an undeniable fact that I committed many evil acts in the name of the Cult and as a cleric of the Darkness Council.”

Having finished speaking, Rachel slowly observed the surrounding atmosphere.

There was no need to observe.

The air in the room had completely frozen.

If time had weight, how heavy would this moment be?

Rachel felt like she was suffocating in time that flowed that stiflingly and slowly.

‘I thought I would feel relieved, but I guess that’s not it either.’

Looking at the shocked expressions of her friends, she felt nothing but pain and apology.

“……I’m sorry. I deceived you. But my thinking of you as friends was sincere. That’s why it was so hard.”

“…….”

“Entering the Shadow was my voluntary choice, not because of my sister or a deal with Skull Mask. Because the only place Reina and I have to go is there. I’m not asking you to understand. But, the Shadow isn’t such a bad place.”

It was then.

A small smirk, “puhahat,” leaked out from in front of her.

It was Karina.

“Ha! Are you joking?”

“No. Everything I said is…….”

But Rachel couldn’t finish her sentence.

Zijing—

The fluorescent lights on the ceiling began to flicker and shake violently.

At the same time, the flow of air trembled roughly.

The cause was right in front of her.

It was a phenomenon that occurred as Karina, who had turned on her mana circuit, released her mana.

“Seriously. What? A villain? You dare, in front of me?”

“…….”

“Tell me even now that it’s a joke, Rachel. Or else, you won’t be able to leave here.”

At the sudden crisis, Rachel’s expression hardened rapidly.

She didn’t expect them to understand, but she didn’t think she would show hostility immediately.

A moment of life and death.

Gerard mediated Karina.

“Stop it there. The airship’s gonna crash and we’ll all die, hey.”

Surprisingly, Karina withdrew her energy immediately.

Then, the air became calm in an instant as if nothing had happened.

Karina was also staring at Rachel with her arms crossed, as if she had never been angry.

“……It was real? You weren’t just saying that. You really sincerely wanted to become a Shadow.”

“I told you. It’s my choice.”

Seeing her speak confidently, Karina’s brow furrowed slightly.

Right.

She didn’t want to believe it, but to anyone’s eyes, that appearance was sincere.

‘I hoped you would say it wasn’t…….’

That she was a cleric of the Beltus Cult?

Honestly, she could have covered it up.

Since it was the past.

Karina was surprised at herself for having such feelings and thinking of Rachel that specially, despite being raised in the Zain Family.

But.

Nevertheless, she hated and resented Rachel for continuing to push her away.

“The Shadow are villains. And villains are all trash who deserve to die.”

At those words, this time Rachel flared up and retorted.

“Don’t generalize. It’s true the Shadow is a group of villains, but you can’t say they’re all trash who deserve to die. In the first place, who is it that decides that? Aren’t they people just like us?”

Karina’s mouth closed in a straight line.

The criteria for deciding a villain?

It was a worry she had never even thought of considering.

Naturally, because all the villains she had met so far were those who acted against moral concepts and common sense—simply put, guys who deserved to die.

But when she put Rachel, who was before her eyes, into that criteria, surprisingly the result changed.

Is Rachel a villain?

She is.

Naturally, since she was a cleric of the Beltus Cult in the past, and even now she has become a thief of the Shadow, Rachel is an undeniable villain.

But.

If asked whether she, a villain, deserves to die——,

‘……That’s not it.’

Because they were close?

That could be it.

But, even excluding personal feelings, Rachel was not an evil person.

During the time that was short, while overcoming many obstacles together, Karina had accurately grasped Rachel’s disposition.

It could be an act, but Karina was not so lacking in intuition or stupid that she wouldn’t know if all of that was a pretense or not.

‘……Still, I cannot tolerate it.’

Zain is the fire that judges evil.

There could be no exception to that method.

She had already been given chances to reconsider several times.

But for the last time.

“……I’ll ask for the last time. That heart, it’s not going to change, right?”

She asked earnestly, but.

Rachel nodded her head heartlessly.

“Yes. It won’t change.”

“It’s not that you’re being threatened by Skull Mask? It’s entirely your choice?”

“Yes.”

Karina eventually clenched her fists tightly.

“Ha, fine. I get it.”

She jumped up from her seat.

And she looked down at Rachel with dry eyes.

“The next time we meet, we are enemies.”

“Karina.”

“I’m leaving. I have nothing more to say to a villain.”

Yuria tried to stop her, but Karina brushed off her hand and left the cabin.

“I’ll go with her.”

As Gerard followed after Karina, only Yuria and Rachel were left in the cabin.

Rachel apologized to Yuria.

“……I’m sorry, Yuria.”

Yuria stared at her intently.

“There must be a reason for it. I don’t think you’re bad like other villains. And it’ll be the same for Karina. She’s probably just confused.”

“…….”

“I’ll ask just one thing. Answer me honestly.”

Rachel met Yuria’s black pupils.

“Really. Was there really no coercion at all?”

“Yes. Really.”

“Then, is Reina of the same mind?”

At that question, Rachel hesitated for a moment.

However, she soon answered.

“That’s right. She’s the same as me.”

“I understand. I’ll be going too. It was good to meet like this at least.”

Yuria stood up from her seat.

“Wait a moment, Yuria. Can I ask you something too?”

“What is it?”

“……Do you still think of me as a friend?”

“Yes.”

There was not even a hint of hesitation in Yuria’s answer.

“Whatever it is, I support your choice.”

Before she knew it, she was alone in the cabin.

Rachel sat still and was lost in thought.

Regret flooded in.

Should she have hidden it until the end?

Or she should have worked a bit harder to persuade them that the Shadow isn’t such a bad group, that they are different from other villain organizations.

At the very least, she shouldn’t have gotten worked up and spoken aggressively.

“Sigh. I don’t know.”

Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like the atmosphere would have changed much.

And that the result would not have changed regardless of the choice.

Her friends would have been equally disappointed and angry.

“Since I couldn’t have hidden it forever anyway.”

If she operated as a thief of the Shadow, she would get involved with the Academy at least once.

Rather than being caught then, it was better in many ways to speak like this in advance.

“You’ve come.”

When she returned to the room, Oliver, who was with Reina, noticed her first and acknowledged her.

Then Reina asked hurriedly.

“How did it go, Unni?”

“What?”

“I heard from Mr. Oliver. You said you talked with your friends.”

“Ah,”

Rachel glanced at Oliver.

Oliver only shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s okay. Because the talk ended well.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

Reina smiled broadly.

However, even if she said the talk ended well, it wasn’t a difficult thing to guess that it wouldn’t have been a good atmosphere, given that each other’s situations and positions were split into extreme opposites.

So Reina’s smile was awkward, and Rachel, noticing her mood, smiled and changed the subject.

“Anyway, what were you two doing?”

“I was looking at her leg.”

“What? You pervert. Stop looking at my sister’s leg.”

“……Huh? What?”

Oliver blinked as he looked at Rachel with a blank expression.

“Puhuhu. It’s a joke.”

“Kiahahaha! Did you see his expression, Unni?”

“Yes. He looks like a fool.”

The two sisters laughed loudly seeing the flustered Oliver.

“What kind of unfunny joke is that?”

“So, how is my leg now? Mr. Oliver?”

“It’s no good. It’s ugly.”

“……I was asking about the condition of the leg just now.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

“It’s a joke! Why are you so innocent?”

“Th-that’s.”

“But what did you say? It’s ugly? Look again properly. Is my leg ugly?”

Now she was openly teasing Oliver.

“Ah, really funny.”

Rachel, who had been holding her stomach and laughing for a while, suddenly thought of something and asked.

“Ah. But Reina. Is that power okay?”

“That power? Ah. This thing here?”

“Yes.”

As Reina pointed to her side where Lilith’s red mark had been, Rachel nodded her head.

The red mark that Rachel had disappeared at the same time Lilith perished, but for some reason, Reina’s red mark remained.

To be precise, it wasn’t a red mark but a scar.

When she used her power, it would become hot with heat and the skin would turn red; that sight was quite ominous to those who saw it.

“That should be fine.”

Then Oliver said.

“I don’t know well about the source of that power, but I know that the nature of that power is trying to protect Reina.”

“Trying to protect her?”

“Yes. Just like it’s protecting its owner. When Reina was wandering between life and death due to being poisoned, what protected her was that power.”

The blood poison of the Death Horn originally had terrifying power, traveling through the blood to the heart at the same time as infiltration and then spreading to the whole body, destroying the circulatory system and all internal organs.

However, the poison that infiltrated Reina’s body could no longer go up above the injured left leg.

It was because the power left by Lilith was suppressing the poison.

“Time is of the essence for detoxification. Thanks to that buying time, I was able to easily detoxify the Death Horn’s poison using the Red Forget-me-not.”

Whatever the reason, Oliver’s diagnosis was that it would protect Reina if anything, and at the very least it wouldn’t have a harmful effect.

“Then is it a gift the demon gave me?”

That obviously wouldn’t be it.

Rather, it was more reasonable to see it as a part that was left over without being burned when Lilith was destroyed by the flames of Skull Mask.

However, Rachel didn’t bother to mention this fact.

How one accepts it is up to the person concerned.

Even if she looked bright on the outside, Rachel knew well that it was her sister’s way of hiding her painful inner feelings.

She sincerely hoped that she would heal at least a little of the wounds received from the demon by doing that.

‘Still, I’m glad she seems to like it.’

In a way, it was natural.

Magic enhancement.

If she hadn’t known, she wouldn’t have been able to get a proper sense of how much it was, but Rachel had already witnessed the miracle of dangling Gorian in the sky with [Telekinesis].

Thinking about it again, it was a truly absurd power.

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