When the Villains Unite - Chapter 2; Part 4

When I opened the first locked room, they were stunned. They had no idea that someone had moved so much stuff to another place.

It wasn’t like I wanted to move it. It was all for your own good!

“I thought you were a petty thief, not a master thief…”

“What is all this? Did you really steal all this stuff?”

Ignoring the fact that they were so blatantly treating me like a thief, I continued my unfinished business.

“This should be enough, right?”

They had everything they needed to thrive. For the occasional shortfall, I will report to the Count and retrieve what they need. As I continue to contact the Count, I’ll get a sense of forces. While the boys remain in the annex, they’ll build their strength to escape.

* * *

I can’t believe that was eight years ago… How time flies.

In the original, I would have been killed by the Orca brothers by now. But, now I have an amicable relationship with them.

In fact, it’s more than amicable, as I’ve grown quite close to my confinement mates. I can tell by the way Damian is sprawled across my bed right now.

“You would think this is your room.”

“What the hell? It’s not like this is the first time I’m here.”

I stare at his shameless response, while his eyes fold into a half-moon shape, and smirks. Judging by his reaction, he’s well aware of my weakness to handsome men.

But after eight years of watching the Orca brothers, I’ve developed quite the immunity to good looks, and the Count was quite handsome himself.

When I continued to stare at him, Damian noticed my dazed expression.

“Why do you keep looking at me? Am I handsome?”

I couldn’t believe that the most infamous, incurable disease, Princess Syndrome, had struck my brother. It was a sin. He asked the question in a way that meant he already knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear it.

He was fifteen years old, in the midst of his second growth spurt, and was already over six feet tall. His hair shone golden and his eyes held the stars. His appearance was reminiscent of a storybook prince. People of all ages would probably like him, regardless of their preferences.

“Yeah, you’re beautiful.”

But flirting is flirting. My answer was dry and then I went back to sorting through the dossier of what Count Wright told me.

Four years ago, Bellamy became able to use magic, and a year or so after, he gave me a magic stone with a recording function. So, in addition to my verbal notes, we have a recording.

For some reason, the Count trusted me and talked about his unfiltered ambitions, increasing the efficacy of my evidence.

When I was done, I looked at Damian who had been silent. He was paying attention to anything I said, but for some reason, he was laying quietly on the bed. At first glance, his neck and ears were red.

Was he breathing?

“Dami…”

“I guess I’m not disciplined enough, then!”

Before I could say anything else, Damian stormed out of my room.

What’s wrong with him?

Damian was acting weird lately like he was going through puberty or something. Sometimes, he would run away like that when we were in the middle of a conversation. I can’t believe he’s so worked up over being called handsome…

That Damian?

I lightly chuckled to myself. It was clear he was red-faced with anger at his inability to suppress his villainous nature, not his adolescence.

Maybe it was because I answered so soullessly? If he wanted to hear how good-looking he was, he should’ve just told me.

But he didn’t take out his anger with violence like in the original. He trained to control his emotions when he was in a bad mood. His demeanor towards me and Bellamy has become more docile. I could now crack jokes with both of them without fear of being killed. It took a long time, but we were finally here.

The Orca brothers had come a long way in the last eight years. Damian has crossed swords with Bellamy and is now a Sword Expert, a genius who can unleash aura. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he is able to control it. If he could… he would be the youngest SwordMaster in the history of the Empire. He wasn’t that far off from being there.

Unlike Damian, who had a natural talent for martial arts, Bellamy’s genius had already turned him into a mage capable of wielding six circles of magic. The limit for humans was seven or eight, so to be able to do that, despite such limited resources, was nothing short of immaculate.

Yeah, that’s what it takes to create a tentacle monster. However, I’m not sure he’ll use the tentacle monster against Aria.

Having read the original, sex education books were high on my list of books to bring into the annex. I had a copy of Proper Sex Education in my room, which was one of the few good sex education books in this era, especially since most were written from a male perspective.

Neither Bellamy nor Damian had read any of the other books I’d brought, so of course they read the sex education ones. 

I was beginning to understand why they had raped Aria in the original story. One day, while exploring the annex, I came across a suspicious stack of books. They all had titles like The Secret Life of the Duchess, The Marchioness’s Walls, and The Morning Pilar, which all are not good for a child’s education. Perhaps the crazy duchess, who was said to be locked up here, used these books to pass time.

In the original, the brothers would have done this to Aria because they had nothing to do in this building and the unorthodox books were the only thing they had to read.

I threw them all into the fireplace and watched them burn. Of course, I read them at least once before burning them. 

Whoops.

Now, I’m confident that if either Orca brother falls in love with Aria, she won’t be afraid of them.

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