I Will Not Fall For the Villain’s Flirtations - Chapter 86

The moonlight streaming through a hole in the ceiling shattered over the man’s hair. Despite the tense situation, he sat leisurely on a pile of straw, looking like a god enjoying a game.

Even in the dark, his striking features made the surrounding dust seem like a deliberate backdrop. When our eyes met, Keene smiled softly and gestured around me with his chin.

“What are you doing playing with such strange friends?”

“……”

“Where’s your fiancé?”

Angered by his blatant disregard, one of the men shouted loudly.

“Who the hell are you?”

Judging by their numbers, they probably thought they had the upper hand. But their opponent wasn’t a mere healing priest struggling to maintain a barrier; he was the Master of the Magic Tower, likely the best in combat magic.

As expected, a mere snap of his fingers summoned a sudden lightning strike.

“Aaah!”

The lightning, accompanied by a large spark, struck the man who had addressed Keene. Trembling all over, he soon collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

Despite this, he seemed to have survived, likely due to Keene’s deliberate control. Such precision was truly remarkable.

“Your new friend is quite rude, don’t you think so, Du?”

Relief spread through my chest like poison at his casual joke. Perhaps that’s why my words, tinged with childishness, slipped out.

“……They’re not my friends.”

“Really?”

His eyes briefly gleamed. Landing lightly in front of me, he turned around and mockingly announced.

“Then there’s no need to show mercy.”

“……”

A chilling silence swept through the area. Momentarily stunned by his arrogant remark, the group soon regained their composure and tightened their grip on their weapons. As a large man in the front row charged with a sword, several others joined the attack.

Swordsmen for close combat, mages for long-range. Even a seven-year-old knows this basic battle strategy. Despite being terrified by their comrade’s fate, they charged bravely, likely recalling this strategy.

But I had already witnessed how fast Keene’s attacks were during his fight with Mullion. His magic was swifter than their blades.

“Aaah!”

With a single gesture, half a dozen were thrown back. Consecutive electric spells struck several at once, and the resulting vibrations knocked down even those in the back rows.

Seeing the group decimated in an instant, the old woman, who had been groaning, started to flee through the back door. As I prepared a binding spell to catch her, I noticed a man gripping his axe tightly, trembling.

“Ugh…”

Alternating his gaze between Keene and me, the man, seemingly determined, let out a scream and charged at me and Hemosi. His eyes were bloodshot, likely having lost his sanity after seeing his comrades half-dead. The axe he wielded was as large as my head, which made it terrifying.

Because a barrier might be too slow, I directed the binding spell at the man instead of the old woman. But something else reached him first.

Keene’s killing intent, which had been restrained until now, was overwhelming. His attack, unlike the merciful control he showed earlier, was ruthless.

It was like watching magma split the earth’s surface. The man, struck by Keene’s spell, writhed in agony as red lines of flame appeared on his body, including his face. Unable to endure the pain, he let out a high-pitched scream.

Unfortunately, that was his final cry. Watching his body crumble in seconds left me drained. Rather than feeling it was cruel, I lost all sense of reality, unable to react further.

“R-Run!”

The terrified group rushed toward the door. But Keene didn’t let them achieve their goal.

A gust of cold wind swept through. Keene, who had created several small whirlwinds, looked back at me while they took care of the gang on their own. Despite casting multiple large spells, he didn’t appear the least bit tired.

This was not a battlefield but merely a scene of subduing a gang of thugs, so he must have shown only a fraction of his true abilities. Watching him, I suddenly recalled what he had said not long after we first met when he shamelessly occupied my bed.

[Everyone thinks I’m a monster, but I’m human too.]

I could understand why he gained such a fearsome reputation shortly after rising to the position of Master of the Magic Tower. I also understood why the Pope was so wary of him.

He was indeed a monstrous man, fitting for the final villain of a story.

“You lost your shoes too. So clumsy.”

“……”

However, the man who met my eyes, at least in the way he looked at me now, was quite different from the infamous figure that made the Holy Kingdom tremble. The moment I saw the shoe he held, which I had dropped just before being kidnapped, tears welled up and streamed down my cheeks. It wasn’t out of fear or because I was suddenly terrified of this heartless man.

“……I’m sorry. I couldn’t control my strength for a moment. It must have been quite a sight earlier, right?”

“……”

Seeing my tears, the man, who seemed out of place hesitating, put the leather shoe on my bare foot and spoke softly. He stretched the shoe’s opening to fit it perfectly over my heel. Just as he was about to move away, I instinctively grabbed his coat.

“You’re late.”

“……”

“Why are you so late?”

The wind had already died down. The gang members, sprawled on the ground due to the magic, made no sound other than faint groans, leaving the surroundings silent.

Keene, who heard my tearful mumbling, seemed flustered and remained silent. Ridiculously, I whimpered like a child, with tears dripping down my face.

“You said you’d come in the morning.”

“……”

I knew it was an unreasonable complaint. Even if he had kept his word, all he would have received from me was a cold shoulder.

“Ah.”

Yet, once again, he indulged my illogical whining, just as he always did.

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t interrupt your date, Du.”

“……”

“It’s your first date, right?”

First date. That was the term Peidos used when he accepted an impromptu suggestion during a meal with the family.

[It will be our first date. I am honored, Miss Duna.]

A bitter laugh escaped me. Thinking of Peidos Carmel made me realize just how absurd my actions had been.

“I’m sorry.”

I uttered an apology. After moistening my dry lips with my tongue, I slowly lifted my head. I saw his face, with furrowed brows, seemingly trying to grasp the meaning of my words.

His features, strikingly handsome from the first time I saw him until now, were unique. I looked at him as if observing each feature one by one before lowering my head again.

“I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“……”

“A thank you would have been more appropriate, between us.”

Right after I uttered what sounded like an excuse, I regretted it again. ‘Between us’? Why did I add such a phrase?

“Du.”

As he called me in a lower voice, a thick thumb gently traced my face. It rubbed my cheek in a circular motion, then lingered on my lips for a long time.

His finger, sliding down my lower lip, slightly touched my teeth. The flesh where his warm touch had passed felt like it was burning.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“……”

I frowned at his ambiguous words. The faint smile on his neat lips seemed to deepen for a moment.

“We haven’t done anything.”

“……”

“The two of us.”

…The two of us. Those words that fell belatedly sent a tingling sensation down to my toes. I realized that I might have shown him something I most wanted to hide.

We haven’t done anything. A phrase that simply covered all the tangled past and present.

The fact that it felt like a provocation rather than an opportunity might have been a sign that I had already gone mad.