When the Villains Unite - Chapter 17; Part 1

Damian suddenly tried to lift his aching body. It was almost instinctive for my body to move toward him.

The choice he was talking about was the one I understood all too well. I knew how much it was taken for granted, and how much it could hurt.

I wrapped my arms around Damian, who was lying on the bed with his upper body up. His body collapsed backward under my weight, too weak from all the blood he lost earlier.

The blood leaking from his body soaked through my white dress. I put my hands on his stiff shoulders, trying to push him away.

I felt like I was trying to keep my eyes open, yet I couldn’t see anything. I was dizzy with the unpleasant thought that if I let go now, he might actually disappear.

I decided to hurt him before he could hurt me first.

“I-I’m leaving.”

I realized that no matter who said it first, it would always be like a dagger. The same was true for Damian as well.

The idea of me disappearing instead of him was a bad idea. However, I couldn’t even think it through as though a part of my brain was malfunctioning.

Maybe it was right. After all, I am a stranger, and Damian was the only one worthy of staying with the Duke of Orca.

“… What do you mean?”

“I can’t take it anymore… Ah… I, no, you don’t have to leave because of me. I’ll just leave it all…”

In a state of near panic, I stammered out my conclusion. At that moment, I felt the air in the room instantly change.

Damian was confused by my ramblings, but he understood what I was saying and turned to me with a scowl on his face.

“Pull yourself together and explain!”

Damian grabbed me by the shoulders as if to rip me out of his arms and stared down at me. My unfocused eyes couldn’t take in his face, so I couldn’t tell if the droplets of water at the corner of his eyes were actually his or mine.

My head was pounding, but I could see the emotion in his expression.

In his shocked eyes, I could see how he was looking at me. His eyes always so bright, were now dark with shadows.

“Sis, I need you to properly look at me, okay?”

“… Mmm… Hmph…”

“I did everything wrong… Please…”

His voice had gone from angry to pleading and back again while I was losing my mind, but it couldn’t end like this.

I raised my hand and pried him off my shoulder. Damian dropped his hand from mine, not wanting to give me any leverage. As dazed as I was now, he could only stare at my face as if he’d been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

I backed away from him and slid off the bed, but it wasn’t long before my weak body crashed to the floor, and he caught me.

The next thing I knew, we were both rolling on the floor. I couldn’t tell if this was planned or not.

All I knew was that I was compelled to get out of here, out of this mansion, and Damian instinctively grabbed me.

My voice lowered to a whisper, spoke the unexpected.

“… It was all a mistake…”

“… Shhh, I know.”

“I, keugh, pretended not to know.”

“… It’s okay, don’t cry sis. Please…”

“I like you… Ugh… I like you, Damian.”

As much as I was a mess of tears right now, I wondered if this was the Damian I knew.

His red lips were quivering as if he couldn’t keep up with my emotions.

Damian wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight as if I were a piece of glass, and leaned my head against his shoulder.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry, sis, it’s fine.”

“… I’m scared… Scared it’s going to happen again… I’m afraid I’m going to break you again…”

“I’ll never act like an asshole like today again… please….”

I don’t know if he was groaning in pain or if his voice was overflowing with emotion, but he sounded terribly distressed. Despite this, the gentle strokes from his hand on my back were filled with affection.

As I slowly exhaled to even my breath from the rush of emotion, I felt myself calming down.

“… I didn’t come here to cry. I didn’t have the confidence to look you straight in the eye. I didn’t want you to treat me like a stranger after how I behaved…”

“…”

“I should’ve just come right out and said it.”

Damian pulled me back and ran a hand down my tear-streaked face.

“I should have known that watching you cry would be harder to bear the physical pain of feeling like I’m going to die, like right now.”

“… Damian.”

“So… Tie me up so I can stay with you, sis.”

I never heard him say that before. Does he want me to put shackles on him? Is that what he’s saying?

Damian’s eyes were serious. His eyes, wet with tears, slightly fluttered.

Without further ado, I kissed him. He took me in his arms, pulled me around the waist, and kissed me deeper.

It wasn’t his usual display of excitement. It was more like an act of imprinting each other with our breath as if we were making a sacred vow.

My lips were dry from the many tears I’d shed, but they were quickly moistened by his kiss.

I ran my tongue over his teeth, pressed my mouth to his, and clasped my hands around his neck. Before I knew it, we both had stopped crying.

At my touch, Damian slowly pulled his head back, his eyes still closed, reeling in the afterglow of the kiss. He didn’t seem to want to wake up, acting as though this was a momentary reverie.

I opened my mouth, thinking he was going to keep doing this until I ran out of words.

“If you untie it, I don’t have the confidence to tie it back up. I…”

“… Any asshole who wants to live won’t try to suffocate themselves to death.”

I wordlessly looked at his face. His golden eyes stared at me in silence as he waited for my response. His pale lips twitched, red with blood.

“This is the last time.”

His eyes widened at my words, then narrowed. His head dropped, and he didn’t bother to lift it again for a moment.

I pulled him to me and leaned him against me. Damian’s shoulders slightly shook, indicating his condition, but he spoke in a stifled voice.

“If I try to run away again, you can kill me.”

“…”

“I love you, sis.”

“…”

I could only hum a silent “yes” to his words.

Damian rested his head in my arms for a long time. The small trickle of blood that had leaked out of his hunched body had become more noticeable.

I snapped out of it and realized I needed to get someone. In fact, I had intended to do so since the moment he opened his eyes, but I forgot because of the circumstances.

“Damian, just lie down for a second. I’ll get someone.”

“Can’t we stay like this?”

“No, we can’t. You’re bleeding.”

I pulled away from him and pushed myself up. I felt lightheaded, as though I was dehydrated. At that moment, the door opened, and a familiar head of midnight-blue hair peeked through the crack.

He walked over to me, looked at me from head to toe, then lifted me up and held me like a princess.

When I squirmed out of his embrace, he furrowed his brow and looked down at Damian, who was still sprawled on the floor.

“Brother…”

“I can’t tolerate any more of this.”

“…”

“And if you ever find yourself in a situation where you don’t know the extent of it again, it won’t end with this.”

As his icy voice rang through the room, Damian could only stare at his brother’s cold eyes.

The air between them grew colder, so I let out a weary sigh and leaned my face against Bellamy’s chest, closing my eyes.

The throbbing in my head from earlier seemed to be getting worse. I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment. In fact, as my eyes closed, I felt my consciousness slipping away.

Bellamy realized what was happening and led me out the door, and that’s all I remember of that day.

After that day, the three of us lived amicably in the mansion. Since they had been granted vacation by Kane, we often saw each other in the manor.

If there was one thing that had changed from before the Count was killed, it was that Damian always came to me with a low profile, as though he was a misbehaving child, and clung to me, unwilling to let go.

The biggest change of all was that the three of us never had sex together.

As time went on, I continued to be normal with them, but a wall had formed between Bellamy and Damian, and they seemed to be avoiding each other.

Kofi