TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 193
With excruciating pain, Yung removed his hand from Ricardo’s head. It was an intense pain, as if his own head were burning away.
“Aaaaargh…!”
Yung, experiencing this for the first time, looked at Ricardo with eyes full of incomprehension.
It was the first time he had encountered such a strong will resisting as if rejecting his attempt to read memories.
Normally, it would either end in failure or vanish without causing any damage, but this The Boy was entirely different.
And then.
The Boy, standing before him, wiped the blood from his lips with a sly smile.
“Done.”
In The Boy’s hand was Yung’s longsword. Somehow, in an instant, the boy had stolen the longsword hanging from Yung’s waist, as if he had anticipated Yung’s inability to read his memories, and charged at him with a sly smile.
It was dangerous.
Due to the pain, Yung, left defenseless, found it dangerous to block The Boy’s attack.
The Boy seized the moment and swung the sword straight at Yung’s neck. Yung, scrambling, barely dodged the sharp blade flying toward him.
“I won’t miss.”
Yung unleashed his mana to push The Boy back, but The Boy’s sword carried a stronger will than he had expected.
With a ‘sharpening sound’ as flesh tore, one side of Yung’s vision went dark, making him realize that things were going wrong.
The Boy let out a small laugh and flicked the blood off the sword.
“That’s one.”
He had lost one eye.
Because of a moment’s carelessness, he gave The Boy hope and spoke.
The Boy smiled. With a weapon in hand, The Boy now exuded a threatening aura, unlike before.
He resembled a beast. Watching Yung as if ready to tear into his nape the moment he saw an opening.
“I didn’t think it would work, but it did.”
“…”
“Damn… Is this already my limit?”
The Boy muttered softly and glanced at a spot.
Looking at where Mikhail, the Little Kid, had been lying, The Boy. The Boy, seeing Mikhail gradually regaining his strength, shouted loudly.
“Run away!”
“Huh…?”
“I said run away!”
“No, I can fight too…!”
“Stop being reckless and just run away!”
The Boy kicked off the ground and started running again. Only then did Yung understand what the boy was thinking.
Convinced that the boy intended to interfere with his cooking, Yung gritted his teeth and endured the pain that felt like it would tear him apart.
He couldn’t let him go.
Now that the Devotee had been chosen as the main dish for the cooking, he couldn’t let him go so easily. So Yung did what he could.
-Clang.
The Boy’s body rolled on the ground under the chilling flow of Yung’s dark magic, but he immediately got up, preparing to charge at him again.
It should have hit properly.
With that level of impact, he shouldn’t even have the strength to stand, yet Yung let out a small laugh and gripped his dagger.
“Ha… What an arrogant Kid.”
He had given the boy too many chances. Dragging out time just because he wanted to see a little more.
At this rate, with the boy charging in with such momentum, there was no way to stop him. He was too fast, and no matter where Yung aimed, The Boy would do whatever it took to cut off his breath. Yung ended his thoughts with a cruel smile.
‘Then I’ll throw out some bait.’
Yung threw the dagger.
Not at The Boy, but at Mikhail.
If The Boy had taken up the sword to protect someone, then he would produce the outcome Yung anticipated.
With confidence, Yung began to draw the next scene.
Thus, a slicing sound came from Yung’s dagger, and he let out a small laugh as he raised his head.
“Got you, didn’t I?”
The Boy had taken the bait Yung had thrown.
“Damn.”
“I knew you’d take the bait.”
“But to get distracted by someone else?”
Watching the drops of blood fall, Mikhail let out a foolish scream.
“…Huh.”
Because The Boy was standing in front of him.
A body so small it seemed fragile.
The Boy, tall and towering, looked at Mikhail with a smile.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah… Ah…”
“I’m not okay, though.”
“Ah… No.”
With a thump, The Boy collapsed weakly to his knees in front of Mikhail. He no longer had the strength to stand.
Because even the attack just now had been one where he had poured in all his remaining strength, leaving his body unable to move.
In the midst of the penalty from the limit break catching up to him, it had been his final attack.
With a thud, Yung’s kick struck The Boy’s shoulder. Watching The Boy roll on the ground, Yung let out a small smile.
“What a shame. You could have won.”
“F*ck.”
“What can you do? It’s your fault for having a weak heart.”
Mikhail, holding a stone, began running toward Yung.
“Stop it!”
At Mikhail’s feeble resistance, Yung burst into laughter and kicked Mikhail in the stomach.
It was amusing.
The Boy sacrificing himself to protect someone.
The kid, who couldn’t do anything, still standing up to him. Everything was entertaining, and it thrilled him.
Yung pulled out the dagger embedded in The Boy’s back.
Even though he knew The Boy would die from the flowing blood, it wasn’t something Yung cared about.
After all, the main dish wasn’t this boy.
Yung threw the dagger in front of Mikhail.
“Go ahead.”
“…?”
“I’ll let only one of you live.”
Yung liked this moment.
He loved when despair arrived. Even though the picture hadn’t been drawn exactly as he wanted, the flavor he was feeling now was so delightful that he didn’t care about the minor details.
“Why are you hesitating?”
“…I’ll kill you!”
“Who? Me?”
Yung began exuding a terrible killing intent toward Mikhail. To push him into action. Yung wasn’t such a heartless person, so he was offering a bit of consideration.
A gift from his weak heart. Since the choice was merely a tool to excite him, Yung felt thrilled as he watched The Boy and Mikhail, both trembling as they rose.
Looking at The Boy, whose eyes were unfocused, Yung spoke.
“You want to live too, don’t you?”
“…”
“Isn’t that right?”
Then, looking at Mikhail, he said.
“You feel the same, don’t you? If you stab him, you’ll survive. I swear!”
Knowing that the desire to live makes people desperate, Yung waited.
-Clatter…
Mikhail, the Little Kid, began to meet Yung’s expectations.
The Boy, with trembling eyes, looked at Mikhail and lowered his head. Seeing The Boy experiencing a sense of betrayal, Yung felt exhilarated and clenched his fist.
‘Yes…!’
This is what I wanted.
To abandon someone in order to survive.
Yung, savoring the taste of his heated dish, spoke as he relished the picture of betrayal—the betrayal of The Boy, who had been treated like a benefactor in the memories contained within the doll.
“I am a man who keeps his promises.”
To feel an even greater beauty.
*
Mikhail, with his head lowered, couldn’t hide his trembling shoulders.
I looked at Mikhail and thought, it was understandable.
I didn’t hold a grudge. Honestly, when the dagger fell before me, I had the same thought. In the novel, Yung was someone who always kept his promises.
Unlike Other Villains. Although his promises came with strict restrictions, I knew that if I stabbed Mikhail with this sword, I could survive.
But how could I? I had already struck a pose.
With a faint smile, I looked at Mikhail.
“I’m sorry…”
Mikhail bit his lip tightly, holding the dagger.
Seeing Mikhail trembling, trying to overcome his fear with shaking hands, I felt a sense of pity. Ending it like this didn’t seem so bad.
“I promised Mother she would come…”
“Yeah.”
“So…”
Mikhail turned around.
“If you meet our Mother instead of me, tell her I’m doing well.”
Holding the dagger toward Yung, Mikhail, with a face that looked like he could burst into tears at any moment, spoke in a trembling voice.
“Because you protected me every day…!”
“…”
“Because every single day, you took the hits for me!”
Mikhail’s voice wavered with emotion.
“So this time, I’ll protect you!”
Like a hero from a novel.
I let out a small laugh and shook my head.
“Is that so.”
And then.
I drove Mikhail’s Sword into my stomach. Yung’s screams echoed. Screams telling me not to ruin his dish.
Ignoring Yung’s cries, I embraced Mikhail’s neck and spoke.
“Then you tell her. Don’t make it a hassle.”
I patted Mikhail’s shocked shoulder.
“It’s okay.”
“…Huh?”
“Nothing happened.”
“…”
“Just think of me as someone who was never here.”
[!] Mikhail’s emotions are unstable.
“So. Forget me.”
And with that, I left Mikhail’s side.
*
I don’t remember what happened afterward.
There was Yung’s angry kicking.
Mikhail ran as I told him to, and I grabbed Yung’s foot, trying to buy some time.
And then.
A terrible time followed.
Yung’s angry voice, contemplating how to deal with the abandoned me, made my shoulders tremble. His plan to brainwash me and sell me to the Heretics terrified me.
But perhaps because I had lost so much blood, I realized I didn’t have much time left, so it wasn’t that scary.
I figured I was going to die anyway.
While cursing Yung with all my might, having lost the will to live.
A promise I had forgotten came to mind.
-Play with me today.
-No.
-I’ll buy you something delicious.
-No.
The promise I made with the Villainess.
I regretted not keeping it. I figured food bought by the Villainess would have been incredibly delicious.
Not that she’d come looking for me anyway.
It was a lonely life.
Both in the past and in my previous life.
A life where no one came for me.
As I was closing my eyes to the drowsiness that came over me, a familiar voice reached my ears.
-Damn it.
The familiar voice of the Villainess.
-Do you want to die?
She was speaking while exuding a terrifying killing intent. And the Villainess said.
-Kill him.
In a cold voice.
And so I.
-You’re just my servant now.
-…
-Don’t act up and stay put.
-Damn.
Became the Villainess’s Butler.