There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 40

Anyone who understood what that meant would have no choice but to be devastated.

He has a resistance to poison, so he does not die easily.

‘Does that mean you have been poisoned so often?’

For what reason? Could it be, simply because he was a de Millang? Did those who targeted the de Millangs aim for the young master? Ryuseong hated the background that made him understand why he had to become this way. The life that made him comprehend why he was broken.

And at the same time, he was puzzled.

‘Why doesn’t de Millang actively protect their young master?’

He knew Cassis was someone who would skillfully make even his own injuries part of a scheme. But shouldn’t adults not do that?

Cassis de Millang’s family seemed to love him. His great-grandfather also seemed to cherish him.

Even if he tried to set a trap for himself, isn’t it an adult’s role to forbid it…

However, it seemed that even the butler who served him was not immune to feeling distraught.

Vincent remembered how sorrowfully his young master had held back tears the first time he was poisoned. He remembered the humanity he had to abandon to become so nonchalant. That’s why he felt a pain as if his heart were being honed on a blade.

Another adult, the medical professor, approached the pain from a different perspective. He knew what kind of pain is inflicted when a person’s internal organs melt. And the fact that the person who was so accustomed to pain that he couldn’t even recognize its level was just a cadet, a young man who had just become an adult who would have been enjoying college life like others…

It dug into his ribs.

*

I’m the one who was poisoned, but those folks are the ones with the long faces…

I don’t know what the problem is, but hmm. Right.

“…We should apply a styptic to the arm and administer the antidote first.”

Anyway, the situation improved!

Everyone still had grim expressions, but unlike before, they stopped fighting.

My homeroom teacher took a piece of ragged tissue from my arm and ran some tests, then said that such-and-such poison and so-and-so poison had been combined. Thanks to that, the butler, who received information on what medicinal herbs to decoct and how to administer them, wrote the details on a talisman and burned it. He said the message would then reach the pharmacist who had the twin talisman.

‘Wow, it’s so cool that you can communicate like that in a world with cell phones.’

Isn’t this the perfect setting for intrigues and schemes to fester!

It would also be great for secret lovers to exchange notes.

‘The dating market must be thriving.’

In the midst of that, there was something funny. The butler, perhaps not wanting to use the Arae-a infirmary’s styptic either, told me to have him unbuckle my shoulder holster.

But what could I do with one arm lost? After fumbling around, pretending to unbuckle it, I looked at Ryuseong, and he understood perfectly and started to feel me up. Does that sound perverted? I am a pervert.

“Yes, the one with the yellow sticker. No, that’s light yellow.”

“…”

I picked on him for no good reason, but Ryuseong just silently took out the styptic.

Actually, the butler seemed uneasy about even having Ryuseong of the Hanra-pa take out the styptic, but he shut his mouth when I gestured for him to stay quiet.

‘It’s a relief he has that much sense.’

Soon, the white styptic powder was sprinkled over my wrecked forearm. It’s annoying that it hurts more now after applying the styptic than before I treated it, but Cassis de Millang showing this much weakness? That’s something that just can’t happen, so I decided to grit my teeth and bear it.

“The surgical team for the arm…”

“We will prepare them on our side.”

The butler said, cutting him off firmly. I wondered why we came to the infirmary then, but I figured it was unavoidable to get a prescription for the antidote. We had to use the antidote as quickly as possible to avoid having to cut open my stomach and fix my organs under general anesthesia. In the original work, Cassis de Millang hated the fact that he didn’t know what might happen when he was unconscious. The butler must have thought he had to cater to his master’s whims.

But then A-Plus cut in.

“Excuse me. Vincent. I’ve been curious for a while!”

A-Plus said, smiling with a strange grimace as he looked at me.

“Weren’t you just attacked by an assassin disguised as a de Millang? Then couldn’t the people you thought were on the de Millang side have been replaced, and they could tamper with the antidote or the scalpel?”

“…”

“Hey, hey, don’t get angry! All I’m saying is that what you think is safe might not be all safe. You also have to consider whether what you think is unsafe is actually real. You should look before you leap. Isn’t that right?”

He had a point. There was no guarantee that personnel from de Millang would be safe.

Still, Cassis de Millang hates anesthesia, so, hmm.

“Perhaps, I can have surgery on the arm without anesthesia.”

“What?! Is Lord Cassis some kind of Guan Yu?!”

Does he really have to talk like that? Honestly, I almost laughed. I felt like my belly button was going to fall out, but I was forced into a try-not-to-laugh challenge, so I couldn’t say anything for a moment, and everyone else was looking at me with strange expressions.

But was that really such a strange thing to say?

“If I’m awake, I can be on guard against any tricks, no matter what the professor does.”

“…”

“My, what are you worried about? If I can’t bear it and struggle, pin me down, and if I scream, gag me.”

“No, what the…”

“What can’t one do to stay alive? Don’t squabble over trivial matters.”

I was being one hundred percent serious, but I don’t know why everyone’s reaction was as if they were looking at Guan Yu.

“…First, you must take the antidote. Surgery is a matter to be considered after that.”

Pop!

“Oh, it has arrived.”

“…”

Good timing, the antidote has been summoned!

The butler and I had a battle of nerves, but in the end, the homeroom teacher fulfilled her duty as a doctor. She requested to be allowed to test if it was made with safe ingredients before administering it, and the butler agreed on the condition that he would be the one to personally take a small sample for the examination.

For the record, I was in no position to state my opinion.

To be honest, I was wondering how I could trust the butler, but blood was starting to flow back up to my throat. Because I was forcing myself to gulp it down.

“Ugh.”

“Don’t hold it back.”

Just then, Ryuseong grabbed my chin. I coughed unconsciously, and thick blood trickled down between my fingers. Damn it. Once you start coughing up blood, the smell makes it even more nauseating.

The homeroom teacher’s hands became urgent as she tested the antidote. As soon as the results showed no problems, the antidote was immediately given to me, and I spat out half of it and swallowed the other half. Fortunately, they had sent a generous amount, so after a few attempts, I was able to drink a sufficient amount of the antidote.

But just like before, it hurts more after applying the styptic or the antidote than before. It feels like my insides are being pierced with a red-hot fire poker…

“Shall we begin the arm surgery?”

Everyone tried to stop me, but this was my complete and utter true feeling, with nothing to add or subtract. If it’s going to hurt, it should hurt all at once. It’s a problem if it hurts in separate installments for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While I was receiving the surgery, it hurt like I was going to die several times, but I endured it all and finally turned my homeroom teacher into a Hua Tuo.

Which means I really had surgery without anesthesia.

‘Hmm. A great achievement.’

Honestly, I almost died. I thought the pain in my stomach would make me forget the pain in my arm, but both my stomach and my arm hurt vividly. Still, I grit my teeth, didn’t make a sound, and didn’t struggle. Even I think I’m the king of grit.

‘I thought I couldn’t break character, so I managed to endure the whole song and dance.’

I couldn’t fall properly asleep because I was in an awakened state, but it was hard to distinguish between friend and foe. In that state, I was half out of my mind, and at a glance, it seemed like the moon had risen and then the sun had risen. Then when I opened my eyes, there was a zombie in front of me.

‘Whoa, holy crap, you scared me.’

It wasn’t a fake, but a real zombie. Which meant our principal was in front of me.

I wonder if it was obvious I was startled? But the principal didn’t say anything, so I thought it was a relief. Ryuseong was next to me, and the butler was at my bedside.

If I had been teased, I would have been so pissed I might have broken character.

“You killed a great many people.”

But instead, the comment was so direct that I started to wish he had just teased me… I rolled my eyes.

‘It would be difficult to pass this off as a joke, probably?’

Well, I didn’t know I would be so unhesitating about killing people either. I wasn’t shocked last time with the assassination attempt on the driver, but maybe because those guys threw the first punch, I didn’t give a damn.

‘Guilt is a load of bull.’

If you want to kill someone, you should at least have your own grave picked out. Isn’t that basic?

Perhaps, the principal also understood my feelings.

“It’s not that you were wrong, but it’s become too big to cover up. You’ll have to undergo a police investigation, and there’s a limit to how long we can ignore de Millang’s communications, so you’ll have to prepare soon.”

“Yes, I’ll take care of it.”

“…You almost died.”

“So, are you pleased?”

The principal stared down at me for a long time.

“You cheeky thing…”

I couldn’t care less what he was thinking. I confirmed that the butler was glaring at the principal from my bedside in a state of full readiness, smirked, and then said this.

“The butler who is trying to face Mr. Damyeon is pitiful, so how about you withdraw?”

“First, your injury has been handled as the butler said.”

“Pardon?”

“He said not to tell anyone.”

It seems Cassis had been hiding his injuries all this time. I didn’t know because he was caught a few times in the original work, but now that I think about it, you have to hide it to get caught. Ugh, how could I not have caught that simple fact?

Let’s use our brain, Mr. Jeong Ian, please.

“Are you really not going to tell your parents?”

You said he hasn’t told them until now, right? Then I should do the same.

“Yes.”

But the expression on the bowl-cut’s face—if such a thing exists—after hearing my answer somehow became complicated and miserable. No, should I say it became tragic instead?

‘…?’

What’s up? I didn’t break character, did I? I achieved legendary acting genius status, so what’s the problem?

‘Why is everyone being like this?’