How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 42

I reflexively asked, and immediately regretted it. 

 

The piercing look in his eyes made me feel like he was about to tell me everything.

 

‘Better just pretend I don’t know.’ 

 

Of course, he wasn’t the kind of person who would let me off the hook for faking it.

 

“…”

 

To my relief or misfortune, Yves didn’t speak, though his eyes were still searching my expression.

 

‘Isn’t it too late now?’

 

Still hopeful that maybe there was still a chance for me to stumble, I tried to change the subject.

 

“Can you show me the back of your… hand?”

 

“Sure.”

 

He took a surprising step back and held out the back of his hand.

 

‘Is this it?’

 

Normally, I would have been poking and prodding, sensing like a ghost that he was hiding something.

 

But I was also nervous.

 

I wondered if the curse had gotten so bad that he couldn’t focus on anything else,

as in the original, Yves was often tormented by the curse.

 

As I recalled the original, I also felt a sudden twinge of frustration toward Selene.

 

She knows how much Yves has struggled with the curse, having regressed several times herself.

 

Still, she purposely avoided him and didn’t purify him, which I could only assume was to spite him.

 

I watch as Yves removes his gloves, muttering to myself that Selene was being unfair.

 

‘What the hell did he do to deserve not to be cleansed…’

 

A plausible hypothesis flashed through my mind.

 

Perhaps leaving Yvette to suffer the curse was retribution for ruining her plans to meet Xenon by beheading me.

 

‘If that’s true, it’s so cruel.’

 

The side effects of having a part of your body turned into an animal weren’t physically painful, but they weren’t something to be taken lightly either.

 

The mental strain on Yves, in particular, was unparalleled by the other targets.

 

For example, the original Yves confessed to Selene, whom he had developed a crush on, that his life felt like he was walking on thin ice.

 

‘He told himself that if he took a single wrong step, the ice under his feet would crack, and he would drown in the cold water.’

 

I remembered that the more he struggled, the more the thin ice around him cracked. 

 

With no footholds to climb on and no rope to hold on to, he felt like he was doomed to a futile struggle, slowly drowning in the cold water as it took away his warmth.

 

And unlike me, who read it as text on a screen, Selene must have heard it in real life, face-to-face with Yves.

 

I wondered if she had begun to lack emotion through the tedious repetition of time.

 

Shocked that the heroine who had empathized with and wept over Yves’s childhood was now actually causing him to suffer, and wondering if the change was due to regression, I suddenly realized something.

 

‘Wait, but can we say that Yves sided with me in the trial?’ 

 

Yves’ intervention indeed overturned the trial, but when I think back on it, it’s a bit ambiguous.

 

During my imprisonment, he visited me, but only once, and on the day of the trial, he was barely present.

 

He said a few words to send me to the monastery.

 

Even the words he said then, in retrospect, could be seen as siding with Selene.

 

‘So Selene, who tends to trust the information she learns through regression, would never have thought that Yves would have helped me.’

 

I often make assumptions based on information in the game, but Selene’s were worse.

 

She saw my completely different demeanor and believed without a doubt that I had regressed, and even when things didn’t go her way, she was able to find the cause in the information she had accumulated during the regression.

 

The stream of consciousness from Yves’s curse flows through the questions of the trial and into Selene’s disposition.

 

“You don’t seem to be feeling well, so I’ll just turn in for the night.”

 

Yves’s voice came with a deep sigh.

 

He had put his gloves back on. He looked like he was going to leave the room at any moment, so I quickly stopped him.

 

“It’s okay, I just had a lot going on in my head, but would you mind showing me the back of your hand again?”

 

“You look tired, so don’t push yourself. I can wait.”

 

“I’m not going to push myself either, so just show me the curse.”

 

“No.”

 

He said it was urgent enough to barge in the middle of the night without permission.

 

I took hold of Yves’ reluctant hand.

 

“I don’t know if I can do this with gloves on, but I’ll give it a try.”

 

“Stop it! Have you already forgotten what happened to you last time?”

 

“I was a little dizzy.”

 

“Ha… You looked like you could have collapsed right then and there.”

 

Was it that bad?

 

‘Well, I definitely felt really dizzy, like I was going to throw up, and my hands and feet were cold and trembling.’

 

It had been so long ago that the pain had faded.

 

“So I’ll let you purify after you’ve fully recovered.”

 

There was genuine concern in his blunt voice.

 

‘You’re only making me feel more sorry for you than necessary.’

 

I was just really distracted, but I was in good shape.

 

It’s safe to say I was in the best shape of my life, thanks to the time I’d spent at the monastery.

 

“That’s today.”

 

I said firmly, still holding his hand.

 

“Besides, I learned a bit about divine power from Miss An, so I think I’ll be better than last time.”

 

“…”

 

Noticing the faint conflict in his silence, I seized the opportunity.

 

“Seriously, there’s nothing to be gained by lying to you about it.”

 

“…”

 

He slowly pulled off his gloves, as if my persuasion had worked.

 

“It’s not much different from what I saw last time, is it?”

 

“It’s a little different…”

 

I asked, shaking my head, not sure if he’d changed much from the last time I’d seen him, and Yves trailed off, averting my gaze.

 

She scanned him quickly, but she seemed to recognize the visible areas.

 

“Where is it, shall we start with the worst part?”

 

“…Are you sure you don’t mind?”

 

“It’s harder for me to keep giving the same answer, so stop asking and decide if you want me to cleanse the back of your hand or the new spot.”

 

“…”

 

Instead of answering, Yves began unbuttoning his shirt.

 

His hands were so fast that he was bare before I could stop him.

 

“Oh, my goodness, oh, you’re crazy! Why are you taking that off?”

 

I exclaimed, turning my head, startled by the flesh-colored glow that was revealed before I had a chance to prepare myself.

 

Yves replied in a mocking tone.

 

“Why are you so embarrassed when you’ve already seen everything?”

 

“Seeing is…”

 

I swallowed hard. The flesh-colored feast I’d thought I’d forgotten was on autoplay in my head.

 

‘You’re crazy!’

 

I felt the blood rush to my face.

 

“It’s been so long, I don’t remember any of it.”

 

Honestly, I didn’t have the body to forget once I saw it, but I was so embarrassed that I spat out the first words that came to mind.

 

“So you’re not going to look at it?”

 

“I don’t want to see it, just put it back on quickly!”

 

“…Okay.”

 

For some reason, Yves’s voice sounded sullen.

 

‘It’s probably just the heat.’ 

 

I shrug it off, concentrating on fanning my hands to cool off my rising heat.

 

“I think I’ll head back now.”

 

Yves says, sounding genuinely defeated as he buttons up.

 

‘Is he pouting because I didn’t look at his body?’

 

I shook the thought out of my head. It was unlikely that Yves, the least revealing person I knew, would do that.

 

Unable to comprehend the sudden change of heart, I grabbed Yves’ hand again, as if to pull away, and asked, 

 

“What happened to the purification and why are you suddenly going back?”

 

“Didn’t you just tell me to leave because you don’t want to purify?”

 

“What, me, when?”

 

“You just told me to put my clothes back on because it’s gross as hell.”

 

“What? No. Why would that be?”

 

I was dumbfounded.

 

One minute I was stunned by his ridiculousness, and the next I thought it might be a prank.

 

I’d been pulled a few times already, and nothing else made sense.

 

“Are you kidding?”

 

This time, Yves’s face crumpled into a grimace.

 

“I’m serious.”

 

“Really?”

 

“If you don’t like it, just say so, because I’d understand if you changed your mind after seeing it and didn’t even want to touch it.”

 

“Not to mention gross, I didn’t even see how bad the curse was.”

 

“Then why did you insist on getting me dressed?”

 

“Because I suddenly felt… hmm, no, I mean, don’t you usually get embarrassed when someone undresses without saying anything?”

 

“Well, since you asked me to show you which part, I thought you would understand.”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

We fell silent at the same time, each of us defending our positions.

 

When we spoke, we realized that we had a ridiculous misunderstanding, and we were quickly becoming embarrassed by the situation.

 

If you hadn’t said, ‘I’ve seen it all, what’s there to be ashamed of,’ I wouldn’t have lost my cool.

Although the conversation was going well, I felt bad for Yves.

 

It wasn’t that I had an obscene demon in my head, but rather that his words had overwhelmed my brain, causing the flesh-colored light of the present to overlap with the overwhelming image of the flesh-toned past.

 

‘And since Yves, who reads other people’s facial expressions like a ghost, said the wrong thing, it’s a double whammy.’

 

I swallowed hard, not daring to say it out loud.

 

After finishing my internal rationalization, I coughed lightly and spoke up.

 

“Hmm, let’s try again, if that clears up any misunderstandings.”

 

“Since you say you didn’t see it, I’ll mention it up front this time, but it might be gross, are you okay with that?”

 

I tried to spit out my irritation at his insistent biting, but this time I swallowed hard.