Episode 2: True Villain (8)

◃'◤⌌ Kairen’s POV⌍◢╨▹.

I smashed the door and entered father's room. With battered breaths, I glared at the obscene looking man sitting on his desk. The office reeked of alcohol, and there was a thick scent of perfume. 

“Where the fuck is Reene?” I bit my molars.

“Huhhh? That girl? Reene? Why the hell do you want to know?” He said with a gruff voice. The disjointed sentences told me that he was drunk.

“Just tell me where the fuck she is!” 

I just returned home for the week, only to find that she was gone without a trace. 

“That bitch had some value, so when someone offered, I decided to sell her for good money. You know, it’s tough keeping the mining business running.” He said with a sickening burp. “You miss her already? —hiccup*— I’m sorry boy, but you just got to do with the woman you have remaining. The amount they offered for her was too much to pass…”

I swung my fist down, the oak desk caved in. The disgusting man looked at me in shock. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” He gasped. “Guards! Guards!! Take him out… gasp*?!” 

I grabbed his collar and bashed his head against the table. After that I threw him over the ground. The blood running down my arm dripped from my fist. 

“Tell me where the fuck is she, don’t make me repeat twice.” I drew my sword from the scabbard and held it against his neck.

“S-Son, let’s talk! Let’s talk! W-We can talk it out right?!” His pupils trembled in fear as if he were facing death.

“Then speak, you asshole.”

“Y-Your sister! Right! Vaill Auction! That’s where the biggest deals are made, and that’s where she’ll be at. She’ll be bought by some big nobles, and she’ll be working for them. I don’t think it’s all that bad, she’ll become a maid, and eat good food while she’s at it…” His eyes turned towards the door. “Guards! Guards! Take my foolish son out of the room!”

Two guards, no—thugs—walked in holding oversized weapons.

I withdrew my sword from his neck.

They charged at me.

“You are a failure of a father.” I muttered.

With all intention to kill, they swung their hammers.

‘And I’m a failure as a brother.’

I severed their heads.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Kairen treated his sister like shit.

Given the abysmal family situation I was in, there weren’t many opportunities to improve my relationship with this iterration’s Reene within the limited time frame I had.

She didn’t trust me, and I can’t expect her to suddenly change her opinion about her asshole brother. Having reincarnated into his body only weeks before her disappearance, I knew it was impossible to heal the scars she accrued through years of maltreatment.

‘I hated myself for it.’

I was given this golden opportunity to prevent what I had failed to do in my previous life. Even though I onced saved her before her trauma burrowed too deep, she still suffered from the all horrible things destined for her in this damned story. 

Coming out of it alive, her forgiveness only added to my self-loathing.

Ever since I returned from the future, I never stopped thinking about it.

… This desire to save her in the truest sense. 

As someone who had once lived a rather modest life in the modern world, coming to this world for the first time and witnessing the cruelty, it was the first time in my life I ever truly thought that being weak was a sin.

‘Hah…’

Though it seems I’ve jinxed myself.

“I won’t… let you take her.” The mask fell off her face, and revealed behind it was the face of the war maiden of my previous life.

The last surviving member of the Winterfall family, Her Grace Astraea Winterfall.

“I see…” To think I almost killed her.

I wanted to apologise, I wanted to tell her it was a mistake. That I had no intention of purposefully hurting her.

‘I’ll remove my mask and reveal my identity. And then if she allows, I’ll strike up a deal to take Reene back.’

The whole plan was drafted within my mind in an instant. 

‘Hopefully she wouldn’t ask me to do something ridiculous in exchange…’

I was about to put my plan into action, when I parried a knife which fell from above. I took a step back, and following that a black shadow stood between us.

The black trench coat swept up by the windfall, and traces of scattering dust that lightly dramatised his entrance.

Raven black hair, and savage looking eyes. 

The one and only, psychotic, yandere creature—

“Run ladies, I’ll deal with him.” 

—The half vampire, Drew Raven just had to mess it all up.

Silently, I watched as Her Grace Astraea left with Reene.

“Now, shall we make a deal?” Drew said with a smile. “How about telling me who exactly you are before I take your head?”

His attitude was the worst, and it wasn’t like I had any interest in talking to a mortal enemy.

“It seems I’ve met a deaf man. Guess I’ll dispose of him.” He pulled out a black jian sword.

I raised my shortsword to guard against his attack.

The two weapons clashed, I found the weight of his attacks were much lighter and more straightforward than I remembered. It occurred to me that this iteration’s Drew wasn’t the same as the one I knew from my previous life.

Just as he was weaker, I too wasn’t in my prime. Still, the gap in skill covered up for my flaws.

Our blades clashed once, and we parted. 

“If someone took Astraea away from you, how would you feel?” I muttered under my breath.

‘Do you know how much I want to kill you right now, Drew?’

“Astraea?” He returned my question with another.

“What would you do if she was taken away?” I gritted my teeth.

‘You wasted my chance at saving her.’

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His expression deepened. 

“So that’s your answer huh…” 

‘Son of a bitch.’

Drew Raven’s figure blurred. I took in a deep breath and allowed mana to surge through me.

<Sensory Overclocking>. 

One shot. I had one shot.

The air stilled and the world slowed. Watching the scene play out as if a shuttering camera in monochrome, I bent my body and watched as his blade passed overhead.

Then grabbing his arm, I grounded my legs between the axis of his hips. Then in one smooth motion, flipped him over in one swift motion.

I twisted his wrist and forced his sword out of his hands. Then upon the clear ring of his weapon hitting the ground, I released him.

“You did a good job protecting her.” And ruining everything for me in the process.

I ran out of the alley. Removing my mask and destroying the robe, I chased after the traces of the runaway villainess.

‘Why was Her Grace Astraea here? Why did she buy my sister… it didn’t make any sense!’

I prepared everything I could for this day.

‘Was it the butterfly effect? Will Reene be safe with her? What about me? Does this mean I failed to protect Reene? Would she think I gave up on her?’

In the original, Her Grace Astraea never intervened in the action.

‘Please… please reach…!’

I promised Reene. 

I promised that I’ll never abandon her; that I’ll always be there for her.

Running, I forced myself to use <Spell Derivative: From Groundshift, Triangulation of Position>.

The magic probe barely reached a 10 metre radius before imploding from my lack of mana.

I was unable to make sense of the half-assed information I received from the failed spell. With all the other movements felt out in the open streets, it was impossible to pinpoint which was who.

I spat out blood and crumbled to the ground.

I didn’t know why any of it was happening. My head hurt. 

I felt the blight churn inside me.

In my dimming vision, all I could think of was this gnawing pain that wouldn’t stop.

‘…Make it stop.’

I blacked out.