There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 31

He was the only one who truly understood what kind of person Cassis de Millang was. Ryuseong could be certain of that.

Although, he had encountered a slew of behaviors he had never seen before since his regression, he at least knew the Cassis de Millang from before the regression.

He was a man who destroyed the world simply because he could.

The moment he spotted a single opening, he did not hesitate.

‘So I must not forget.’

Before him, if you slip up by even a single inch, he will bite you by the scruff of the neck. Your carotid artery will be torn, and your life will leak away.

To trample your opponent to avoid being trampled—that is the principle of the front lines. The only one who could push Ryuseong onto the battlefield with nothing more than a fit of anger was you, and only you.

In this world, there could never again be another person who must be regarded with as much caution as Cassis de Millang.

There was never again another who so captured Ryuseong’s gaze.

“If you’re not trying to have a life-or-death duel with me, I’d appreciate it if you stopped treating me like a dog in heat.”

“Aren’t I saying this because there’s no way you’d pull a stunt like this unless you were in heat? Did a whim strike you and make you want to start a marriage scandal? Did you suddenly go mad and feel like betraying the Korean peninsula?”

“Not even if you beat me to death and fixed me.”

Then what in the world is the reason, Cassis seemed about to demand, but he opened and then closed his lips. To Ryuseong, it seemed he had swallowed some words, uncharacteristically for him.

Ryuseong quietly looked down at such a Cassis de Millang. It is only natural that the de Millang’s Cassis would try to figure out the Halla Guild’s Ryuseong.

They were political enemies.

Even his pre-regression self would have reacted sharply if Cassis de Millang had acted suspiciously, so Ryuseong did not ask any questions. He simply executed the plan he had established.

“Weren’t you the one who wanted a romance? What’s the problem when all I did was grant your wish.”

“……”

Ah, Cassis’s face faintly contorted. Whenever he scrunched up his face, Ryuseong was often swept up in the uncanny sensation that the flowers were not falling and the moon was not setting. It was said that the classic beauties of old China were like that. Did not all of creation sing their praises, saying that every time they poked their faces out the window, flowers would fall and the moon would set?

You, too, live such a life. And what’s more, you even have power, so if you wished it, you could make a person’s life wither away like a setting flower.

Everyone fears you, yet they look up to you; they revere you, yet they despise you.

The monster’s shell is so very solid.

‘Is it solid because he is a monster?’

As you tried to forcibly maintain a blank expression, your lips, which were letting out a sneer, twisted and parted, and a memory that was best not recalled at this very moment insistently crawled up.

The moments he had desperately struggled to block out poured down like a meteor shower upon his sharply honed senses. They sparked like fireworks, making his vision flicker.

To describe his mental image, it is this.

‘What you feel like.’

What shape your lips crumple into when they are chafed and sucked on.

Ryuseong does not need to imagine it. Because he already knows.

“……It’s not even funny.”

Memories like that cannot be completely erased.

The mole beneath your lip, and your mouth, so narrow that if invaded with a tongue it would instantly jab all the way to your Adam’s apple.

He had wondered what it would be like to push in his own fingers, which were thick-knuckled unlike your long and elegant pianist’s hands, but he had not been able to do it.

Instead, he had endlessly traced the mole. He thinks that everything about you is sensual, but that mole in particular has a way of provoking a person. What’s more, Ryuseong even knew the moment Cassis de Millang became sensual.

Ragged breaths and an unfocused gaze.

When he finally reaches the end of the memory, there you are, being crushed within a field of ancient magic. The you created from Ryuseong’s trauma was elegant and aloof, even at that moment of being trampled and broken.

No, it was as if only at that moment were you finally liberated.

What kind of expression had he been wearing then?

The more he thinks, the more he feels he is defiling Cassis de Millang. It is not just a feeling. It is desire. He wants to defile you. He wants to rip open the seams of the buttons fastened up to your neck. He wants to grab the nape of your neck and press down, oppressing you with nowhere to go, and he wants to carve a bite mark into your pale white collarbone. He wants to make you sob, and to push you until your cheeks flush red and tear tracks form.

And…….

“Please, would you kindly equip yourself with some common sense and say something that makes sense? Judging by the way you’re spouting whatever comes to mind, it may be difficult for someone of your level, however.”

“Why doesn’t it make sense?”

“What do you gain from a rumor spreading that you’re dating me? If a rumor gets out that the heir of the Halla Guild is in a truly intimate relationship with a de Millang, you’re the only one who will be attacked anyway, so why would you take that risk and step up to do this pointless thing called dating for no gain? Do you see me as some moron who will gobble it up if I offer myself to you like some clueless rookie?”

The you before his eyes is so perfect, not revealing even a sliver of an opening.

He violates you in his mind because he wants to ruin such a you. Perhaps the reason he wants Cassis de Millang is to break him with his own hands. Because if not, he cannot interpret this thirst that surges so fiercely.

But he told himself.

‘You mustn’t.’

He focused on what must be done.

‘My purpose is to watch you so that the world does not break.’

He reminded himself of his vow.

He is the guardian of the world. To protect the world, his personal feelings must not interfere with the way he looks at Cassis de Millang. So even if you approach, he must avoid you. Even if you dare to tempt him, he must cast you off.

But it is difficult to watch you if he is not by your side. Ryuseong must stay by your side while avoiding you. This contradiction is what torments Ryuseong.

So, this is the only path left for Ryuseong.

“Don’t act as if that was your only objective. When you started the scandal, you must have had something to gain by exhibiting me like a trophy.”

“……”

“I’m saying I’ll give you that. Don’t be reluctant, just take it.”

Cassis de Millang is a calculating person. He is terribly rational and gives meaning to all his choices. There had to be a reason that such a you had chosen him, one he had not yet grasped. Ryuseong was not naive enough to think it was limited solely to matters of the night.

“……I believe I asked what your reason is for trying to give me such a ‘gain’?”

At this very point.

Ryuseong decided to deceive Cassis de Millang.

“A marriage proposal came in.”

“……Excuse me?”

“It’s a proposal that’s difficult to refuse. My father is involved.”

Cassis de Millang, with a confused expression, tried to take a step back, but Ryuseong gave him no time to collect his thoughts.

My apologies to my father, but…….

“Do you understand? I want to avoid the proposal. To do that, I need grounds to persuade my father.”

“No……”

“My proposal is that we act like we’re dating, and then break up when our mutual interests have been met.”

Because dating was the optimal condition for close-proximity surveillance without arousing suspicion.

Ryuseong intended to use this opportunity to gain a legitimate reason to stay by Cassis’s side. The reason he had also signed up for every single class that the pre-regression Cassis had taken was also for that. To be seen as a madman who, deeply in love, even follows him to magic classes despite not knowing how to use mana—even if it meant enduring that, he was trying to gain a justification to watch Cassis.

“……So, you’re suggesting we have a, contract relationship, is that it?”

“You could say that.”

“……Hah, wait a moment……”

But Cassis’s reaction was more intense than he expected.

“Are you saying that the heir of the Halla Guild is getting entangled with a de Millang just to avoid a mere marriage proposal?!”

Cassis, who had been grabbing his forehead and staggering, shook his head and then abruptly shouted.

“Why are you worrying about that. You’re the one who started it.”

“……You, crazy bastard.”

He even used profanity. It was a rare sight from Cassis de Millang; he had clearly not predicted that he would come out this way.

However, it was not that Cassis’s prediction had been lacking.

It was because the Ryuseong who had experienced the apocalypse had changed from before. By none other than Cassis de Millang.

“So you have to take responsibility.”

Ryuseong tried to smile affectionately. He did not know if he succeeded.

“So, you don’t want to?”

He deliberately spoke as if he could withdraw the offer at any time, and then.

“No, I’d like that.”

He accepted. Frowning, as if trying to size up what on earth his ulterior motive was.

“Let’s try this contract relationship thing, or whatever it is.”

Even though it was mutual, the one who really wanted to know your inner thoughts.

‘But seeing as you’re not hesitating, the gain you seek from me must be quite large.’

Whatever that may be, I will not let you destroy the world again. For that, anything was fine.

I have no fucking idea what that bastard is saying, but god damn it, I feel so incredibly wronged right now.

‘Hey! You’re misunderstanding!’

What I want from you isn’t a relationship!

‘It’s sex!’