Episode 2: True Villain (9)

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a beautiful mural plaque. Depiction of radiant figures bathed in celestial light defending the Kingdom times of Estelle from the sea of blight.

Amidst billowing black clouds, angels. Arose of ethereal white, their forms swathed in the soft light, aglow with divine radiance which drove the darkness away.

Crumbling obelisks and deformed demonic forms. The losing Northern Empire shown in its demise, and the final fate of the blackened emperor pierced by heavenly spears of the divine.

A timeless masterpiece of art and faith.

I carefully looked around and noticed many people like myself laying on white sheets. Healers and priests working in tandem, treating the sick. Sisters of the church moving about, providing comfort to the suffering.

It was the so-called community hospital for the poor. 

Here, the treatments were for the most part, free. Subsidised by the donation the church receives from commoners, nobles and even royalty.

‘Lowe used to work here on a voluntary basis.’ 

To think I’d see this place in one piece again.

Carefully, I sat up.

I examined myself. There were plasters around the wounds. My arms were wrapped alongside parts of my bruised body.

“You're awake! O’ God’s Grace!” One of the sisters noticed me and gasped in shock. “Y-Your condition isn’t stable. Please lie down.”

“My condition? I feel fine though…”

“No, no, no. You don’t understand. I’ll bring the doctor to check on…” She quickly notified the nearby healers about me. 

Very quickly, I was surrounded by a team of consultants. I felt like a specimen of curiosity to them.

“Sir, your name?” The healer asked.

“Kairen.” 

“Kairen, sir, how are you feeling?”

“For the most part… fine.” It hurt, but this amount of pain was still tolerable.

“I’m glad… Sir Kairen, there is something about your condition we need to talk about.” The healer said with a serious expression. 

Forewarning the bad prognosis, they began explaining why I was still in bandages.

Blight.

Blight was a chronic condition which can’t be cured by even the best of magic. It nullified the effect of healing magic, and anyone who contracted blight would die within a year, or sometimes in a few months. 

Any injuries incurred within the duration of the corruption will require the body to self-heal naturally as healing magic didn’t work. The process was gruesomely slow. It’s for this reason that I had to apply plaster and bandages to my crippling body. 

“Where did you contract it?” he asked.

“...I was leaving the bar at night, and a pervert stabbed me with a knife.” This was a lie. 

I didn’t ‘contract’ blight. Rather, I purposefully infused it into myself.

Not because I was some old northern empire descendent, rather, it was because of the Copper Bloodline ability I possessed.

Copper as a metal was a conductor. And this vague property of ‘conduction’ allowed me to store a ‘charge’ of some kind within my body—or more accurately, within my blood.

Foolishly, I once thought this mediocre bloodline ability could only enhance electricity-type magic.

It was out of sheer desperation during the Stygian War, that I discovered that I could control this essence of corruption as it spread within me.

So long as the blight within my body doesn’t exceed a certain threshold, I was safe. But of course, I needed to be careful as even in my blood, the blight will proliferate. 

There wasn’t much the healers could do by this point. After telling me to come back to seek help should the condition get worse, they allowed me for discharge.

“Ah! He’s safe?!” Then unexpectedly… a wild knight jumped into the fray. “Thank goodness!”

“Huh?” Seeing the guy running up to me in a hurry, I was suddenly smacked by old grudges.

Upswept burnished ochre hair, donning the regal armour of the church’s holy knight. His presence, dignified yet soothing. He had broad shoulders and a large masculine frame, but rather than imposing, it made one feel reassured. He shone like the male version of Mother Theresa.

One of the four male leads… Soren Amberheart.

“He is the one who brought you here after you passed out three nights ago.” The healer explained.

“I see…” To be honest, I don’t think I would’ve died even if I was left on the street like that. Worse comes to worst, I probably would’ve been sold as a slave, break out, and return to normal life, that’s all. “Thank you.”

“No… I was late. I couldn’t prevent the worst of it.” Soren looked forlorn, sympathising with my condition. “Don’t you feel sad?”

“...Not really.” There’s no reason for me to expose my secret. If word got out that I could wield blight, I’d be in trouble. “It’s not like I would die so soon.” 

“It’s admirable you could think that way.” Soren Amberheart, the holy knight patted my shoulders with his silver gloved hands. “Your unwavering spirit and faith may turn into a miracle, so don’t give up hope just yet.”

Soren used to be a cheerful lad like this before the cruel circumstances changed him. Seeing him like this made for a somewhat nostalgic reunion.

‘Regardless… he was the one who turned his back on me when it mattered the most.’

He was Lowe’s guardian, vowing to protect the Saint from all harm. 

And yet when she died, the blame was instead shifted onto me. I was branded the Lowe’s killer, he added to the testimony without concrete proof. 

‘Just because I was the last person to see Lowe, I was the one who killed her? Don’t fuck with me.’

The trust we built together shattered just like that. 

Just being in his presence made me nauseous. 

“Yeah. I won’t die.” I got up immediately, wanting to leave this hell of a place, far away from this traitor.

“W-Wait, you haven’t recovered, please.”

“Sir, I understand this must be hard to accept. But please listen to the doctors, they mean well…?!” Soren tried to force me back on the bed through physical means, but I grabbed his arm that was about to grab my shoulder. He couldn’t budge against my eagle grip.

“I’m fine.” I said, almost spitting while making eye contact with Soren. 

‘Why are you looking at me like I’m so pitiful huh? Why didn’t you believe me when I said I wasn’t the one?’

I let go of his arm.

‘Soren, I trusted you.’

“Where are my items? If you say I don’t have much time to live, then I better leave now to make the most of the time I have left.” I turned away and glanced at the sister.

“A-Ah… this way.” Frightened, she was unable to meet my gaze but nevertheless led me to where I asked.

“May God’s Grace be with you every step of the way.” Behind, Soren’s voice echoed faintly.

I wanted to laugh.

‘I never thought I’d hear him talk so kindly about God after abandoning his faith.’

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Get rid of the external factors and isolate Lowe from the story. If it were that easy I’d love to just assassinate the male leads.

But I can’t. 

Because during the war, they were humanity’s strongest pillars. No one held as much power as they did and if I got rid of them so early on, there’s no guarantee I’d find a replacement for them during the final fight.

Isodor Estelle bought almost half a year’s time, sacrificing everything he had to stop the blight from progressing past the Empire’s borders.

Glenn Twilight led the research in blight, and cooperated with me to come up with specialised spells that reversed the effects of the corruption.

Drew Raven worked in the shadows, manipulating the underground world, and preserving whatever he could of the crumbling social security.

Soren Amberheart assumed the role of General of the Army, coordinating plans and dispatching troops to fight against the monsters of spreading blight.

And she who stood in the centre of them all was Astraea Winterfall. Being the fiance of the empire’s late prince, despite being a duchess, she commanded authority that surpassed even royalty.

Even though I may hate them for their naive behaviour now, it’s for these reasons why I must not kill them.

‘It would only make things more complicated.’

The story was already unstable, to introduce divergent factors could cause even more trouble down the line.

‘Regardless, my role then and now remains the same.’

Prevent the end of the world.

Two nights had passed since I regained consciousness. When I arrived at my home, I found that it was surrounded by legions of knights. I wanted to sever my ties with the Copper Family, yet it seemed that someone had acted faster…

“Are you Kairen Copper?” The knight asked.

“Yes… I am Kairen Copper. What is going on?” From one boiling pan to another. I didn’t have a good feeling about this. 

“You are under arrest.”

‘...What the fuck?’

All the assets the Copper family once held were seized, the head of the family was sentenced to prison, and I was stripped of my rights to inherit any land and resources which my family owned.

My family was torn apart overnight. 

I don’t remember this happening last time, and can’t find any known reason for this happening. If anything, I was the one who personally tore the Copper Family’s business apart last time as no one cared enough to investigate all the corruption happening underneath this small-time merchant house.

It wasn’t a cause for celebration, but I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

The debt my father never paid, was taken away alongside the seized resources. I had instantly become debt-free as the new head of the house. Better yet, my study privileges as an Oben Academy student wasn’t affected.

They’ve taken away everything in the house, but most of my personal assets were stored within the academy, left untouched. 

Having to rebuild from scratch wasn’t that much different from what I did last round. In fact, with all the toxic people gone, so many things were made easier…

‘It was easier now, so what?’

I left the constabulary office with rain pouring down against my head.

I raised my head and closed my eyes, feeling the water soaking my clothes, wasting away at my body. My wounds throbbed, I relished the pain.

‘Reene.’

I had every advantage. Every knowledge, the will, the determination, the resources…

‘I’m sorry I lied.’

Yet in the end I couldn’t save her.

‘I’m sorry for failing as your brother.’

Life is cruel.