How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 141

Then the two people with axe-like eyes raised their voices.

 

“Why is brother coming up here?!”

 

“Even if you bring Lord Endymion, my mind won’t change!”

 

I had expected some level of resistance, but the reaction was more intense than I thought.

 

‘I thought my eardrums were going to burst.’

 

Caught between the two, I calmed my startled heart and carefully opened my mouth.

 

“Your voices overlapped, so I couldn’t hear clearly what was said. Could you please speak one at a time, slowly?”

 

Because both of them suddenly shouted at the same time from either side, I genuinely couldn’t make out the content properly.

 

All I could clearly understand was that both of them were strongly opposed to my opinion.

 

The first to speak after that was Selene.

 

“There’s no point in calling Lord Endymion. Unless it’s just the two of us, I won’t say a single word.”

 

She spoke in a deliberately solemn tone, but I almost reflexively pressed my forehead.

 

The urge to facepalm came from realizing she was completely and firmly misunderstanding the situation.

 

“Wait a moment. I think there’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t bring Lord Endymion here to persuade or coax you.”

 

“Then why did you say you would bring Lord Endymion?”

 

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want other people hearing the contents of our conversation?”

 

“…That’s right.”

 

Perhaps because my probing question made her uncomfortable, she answered in a somewhat sullen tone.

 

“Yves is fine with just being present here, even if Selene and I have some private conversation, correct?”

 

“That is correct.”

 

I asked Yves a similar question right after, and received a calm, matter-of-fact reply from him.

 

At that, Selene instead turned to Yves in disbelief and asked back.

 

“Huh? You’re saying it doesn’t matter even if you don’t hear the conversation? Weren’t you wary that I might threaten Miss Laura before the trial?”

 

Her tone was sharper than usual, which had already felt a bit strange, and it seemed she had been kept in solitary confinement and still hadn’t heard the news about Huluppu.

 

Come to think of it, I had already assumed she probably knew everything anyway, so I hadn’t said a single word to her about how things were unfolding outside.

 

That must be why, from her perspective, it felt like I had come to exploit some weakness and negotiate before the trial.

 

‘So that’s why it felt off. No wonder she reacted so sensitively.’

 

Realizing that it wasn’t just Selene having a strange misunderstanding on her own, but that the order of the conversation had been completely wrong, I finally brought up the things I hadn’t gotten around to saying.

 

“Calm down. Lord Huluppu has awakened, and you’ll be released soon, too.”

 

I went on to explain that Huluppu had promised to prove her innocence, and even added some relatively unimportant details, that this visit was officially permitted by the Pope and not some secret meeting, until Yves, who had been silent until then, cut in.

 

“And the reason I said I would stay was that I considered the possibility that you might try to harm Laura in some way, just like what happened in the private prayer room.”

 

I was inwardly startled that he would openly state the reason he was wary of Selene, but I quickly composed myself and chimed in to back him up.

 

“That’s also why I mentioned Lord Endymion. If we borrow Lord Endymion’s sound-blocking magic tool, both of you will be able to accept the situation.”

 

Of course, there was also a part of me that hoped, if Yves and Selene started fighting, he would step in and mediate appropriately, but I had enough tact to leave that last sentence unsaid.

 

“…”

 

Selene remained silent, but her eyes were trembling violently, as if an earthquake had struck inside them; she couldn’t hide it.

 

‘She must be incredibly flustered.’

 

Still, fortunately, it seemed the misunderstanding had been cleared up.

 

As I once again keenly felt the importance of having the conversation in the right order, I remembered that I still hadn’t heard what Yves had shouted earlier.

 

“Oh, right, Yves, what did you say earlier?”

 

“I… It’s nothing.”

 

I was concentrating hard, perking my ears up to listen carefully, but for some reason, he just shook his head and brushed it off.

 

“No. Yves, it hasn’t even been that long since we agreed to be honest with each other. Why are you stopping mid-sentence again!”

 

When I flared up, Yves smoothly lifted the corner of his mouth and deftly changed the subject.

 

And precisely by bringing up the very topic I was most curious about.

 

“Anyway, there’s no need to go through the hassle of calling brother.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because I’ll be the one stepping out.”

 

That was unexpected.

 

‘I thought he’d hold out no matter what, even if the sky fell, and never leave.’

 

While I was wondering what change of heart had made him yield so readily, Yves continued.

 

“Even though I’m worried about what might happen while I’m gone, and it would be sad if you collapsed again like last time…”

 

Pausing as if to steady his breath, Yves looked straight at me and gently curved the corners of his eyes.

 

“But if something happens again this time, brother probably won’t call it overprotectiveness anymore.”

 

I was momentarily dazed, captivated by his softly folding eye-smile, before suddenly realizing this wasn’t something to just laugh off.

 

“W-Wait…!”

 

But before I could grab him, Yves coolly exited the room.

 

‘He just said something that sounded exactly like a line from a confinement-obsessed male lead… Is this really okay?’

 

Left with an unsettling aftertaste from Yves’s departure, I was lost in thought for a moment before belatedly noticing that the room had fallen into complete silence.

 

“Um…”

 

Even after waiting a little, there was no response, so I was about to speak first when,

 

“Me!”

 

Selene suddenly shouted.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Can I ask first?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

Her voice had risen just as sharply as when Endymion was mentioned earlier, which startled me a little, but I quickly calmed down.

 

It was because Selene, fidgeting right in front of me, looked far more nervous than I was.

 

After staring at me intently for a long while, Selene finally seemed ready to speak.

 

“You…”

 

She trailed off again.

 

As if she were worried whether she should actually voice the thought in her head.

 

‘Could she have realized something related to the regression, and she’s hesitating because of me?’

 

Since Selene was connected through the divine pattern, she could never escape Nanna’s surveillance network even for a moment.

 

Yet the question she actually brought up was completely different from what I had expected.

 

“Who are you?”

 

It was so far removed from the context of our conversation that I blankly asked back.

 

“What do you mean out of nowhere?”

 

“You’re not Laura Laurus.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“At first, I simply thought your personality had changed because some memories from before the time reversal remained. But that wasn’t it.”

 

Selene suddenly struck right at the vital point.

 

And now, of all times.

 

I was dumbfounded, but I forced myself to calm down first and ask for the reason.

 

“Why did you suddenly start thinking that?”

 

“It’s impossible to know in advance what will happen in Dilbart. You always died before I officially became a saintess.”

 

For a moment, I was speechless.

 

Because even in Dilbat she had never shown any sign of suspicion, I had completely let my guard down.

 

‘No. Of all things, why now…!’

 

While I was reeling in shock, Selene’s voice continued.

 

“Being alone here, I suddenly started wondering. Just because someone died once and came back to life…”

 

She spoke in a gentle, almost storytelling tone as if reading a fairy tale to a child, yet her gaze remained firmly fixed on me.

 

“Does having those memories really change a person this much? That was the question I kept turning over in my mind.”

 

“And you concluded it doesn’t seem like it.”

 

I replied as nonchalantly as possible, but Selene nodded as though she had already become convinced that I was not Laura.

 

“Yes. The Laura Laurus I knew would have come to find me before the Oannes viscount family’s party was even held.”

 

“Why is that?”

 

“To grab me by the hair and demand to know why I caused her death. Or otherwise find any way possible to brand me as a witch.”

 

I couldn’t hastily deny it. After all, I had also seen the original Laura’s memories.

 

Somehow, it really did feel like the kind of thing she would do, and more, so I couldn’t bring myself to flatly contradict her.

 

“Not cowering in terror like someone who tried to avoid fate at all costs only to be forcibly dragged to the execution ground anyway.”

 

Had I really been like that?

 

I couldn’t afford to dwell on it for long.

 

Because she didn’t stop talking, apparently, she really had been locked alone in solitary confinement, thinking only about Laura this entire time.

 

“Besides, Laura Laurus never once felt pity for anyone.”

 

“…”

 

That was also true.

 

From the very beginning, Laura had seemed like the kind of person who didn’t even know what pity was.

Both in the game and in her own memories.

 

“I’ll ask once more. Who are you?”

 

“Hm…”

 

I had thought that someday I might get found out.

 

There was also the problem that my emotions showed plainly on my face, and the quickest-witted person, Yves, was right beside me most of the time.

 

I was simply shocked because I never imagined that Selene, of all people, would be the first to figure it out, when I had somehow managed to hide it even from Fenrir, who could read thoughts.

 

‘But even if I tell her, is Selene really going to believe me so easily?’

 

I wasn’t at all confident that she, who already didn’t trust me much, would readily accept the truth even if I honestly admitted I was a being from another dimension.

 

So I stayed silent, hesitating.

 

“By any chance… are you an incarnation of a god?”

 

She said something completely off the wall.