How a Villain Defies Destiny – Chapter 65

Author: Nikss

It was almost as if Selene, who had regressed multiple times, had somehow gained favor faster than she should have.

The current Endymion, on the other hand, seems to have learned from his mistakes and reflected on them after all of his regressions.

Like the protagonist of a regression who doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

Moreover, unlike Selene, his mental state was still intact, so he didn’t seem to be in an infinite regression.

‘Well, we’ll have to wait and see.’

Deciding it was too early to tell, I pushed the hypothesis to the back of my mind and focused on Endymion’s story.

“You, on the other hand, seem to think I’ve suddenly changed because I fell for a girl.”

“But given your behavior, that’s the only explanation I can think of.”

Endymion spoke as if he knew it all, and Yves retorted, his tone a little flustered.

“Exposing your weakness in front of the nobles at Miss Laura’s trial, being here without even a glance at politics to quell the disturbance that resulted, all for the sake of Lady Selene, wasn’t it?”

“I will not deny that. I would say, however, that my intentions are not what you fear.”

Endymion replied calmly, and Yves snorted and took another jab.

“It is said that those who fall in love are not blinded by love, but rather are stupidly in love. They consider it a noble sacrifice to give their all for love.”

It was a point that hit the nail on the head, even for me as an onlooker.

But Endymion didn’t seem to take the blow. No. In fact, he smiled with satisfaction and muttered to himself.

“It’s love at its best…”

Oh, it’s not good!

A lump rose in my throat, but I swallowed hard.

He was selfish even in his happy ending, and there were more than a few places I wanted to tackle him, but…

‘This is not the time for me to intervene.’

I grumbled to myself, looking at Endymion, who was so far removed from pure love and noble sacrifice, and Yves seemed even more offended by his seeming obliviousness.

“You admit it?”

Then Endymion wiped the stupid grin off his face once and for all.

“You have to admit, you are the best. Yves.”

“What do you mean?”

“You want to believe that what you’ve seen of me all these years is the real me, and that the person I am now is madly in love and making stupid choices.”

“Are you arguing that you weren’t wrong to abdicate your position and chase after a woman?”

“Yes, it wasn’t wrong, even though it may seem wrong in your eyes.”

“…That’s it, I’m not talking to you right now, and even if you regret it later, it’s your business, so I’m not going to get involved anymore.”

“You’re treating me like I’m so in love that I can’t see reality, no matter what I say.”

“Because that’s the way it is.”

“Anyway, I’m going to insist, so just listen to the end.”

Just as Yves was about to end the conversation, Endymion clicked his tongue lightly and added an afterthought.

“When I abandon a lifelong goal in an instant, it’s because I realize it’s worthless. Funny, because all I really wanted was a little happiness.”

Endymion’s face breaks into a gentle smile as he stares off into the distance and speaks in a calm voice.

It’s a smile I’ve never seen in an illustration before, a smile like a warm spring.

“I realized that spending a very simple day with people I cared about was the real happiness I wanted. I realized this after looking back and reflecting on the past.”

He looked strangely like Selene.

‘They say love makes you look alike…’

Endymion, who exuded a similar aura to the original Selene, shifted his gaze to Yves and spoke calmly.

“This is the real me, so I have no regrets about my decision, and I want you to know this, Yves, even if it still feels wrong to you.”

“…”

“I want you to know that I care about you as much as I care about Selene. You are my family, my only brother.”

Yves pursed his lips. There was so much more he wanted to say, but he didn’t know where to begin.

But Endymion didn’t give him a moment to collect his thoughts.

“And it’s not that I want to give you the throne right away. I’m just asking for your opinion again because I think I may have caused you to give up the title way too soon.”

When the conversation turned to the throne, Yves calmed down a bit and spoke up.

“If you don’t do this right, it’s going to fall to me, even if I don’t want it.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Will you… be able to handle him?”

His voice was full of concern.

‘Well, the current king is not to be trifled with.’

Their father, the current king of the Euphrates Kingdom, was an ambitious man who, as Endymion had mentioned earlier, was determined to make his kingdom strong enough to become an empire.

It was also the cause of the original Endymion’s extreme egoism.

‘From a young age, he instilled in Endymion, the man who would succeed him, that his only mission was to be the perfect king and turn the Euphrates into an empire…’

Endymion’s behavior was much like his father’s, from the way he treated everyone around him as pawns to the way he was willing to abandon his family for the sake of his cause.

So if Endymion deemed others unfit to serve the country, they would be discarded without hesitation.

Perhaps that was what Yves was worried about.

At Yves’s question, Endymion tilted one corner of his mouth up into a sly grin before he spoke dismissively.

“You have nothing to worry about, my brother is capable of that.”

“…”

As Yves fell silent, his face showed a hint of distress.

If this was the Endymion he knew, he would have believed him, but the current Endymion seemed to have a lot of misgivings.

“One last thing.”

Endymion said, rising slowly from his seat.

“I have come all this way to speak to you because I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize for what I did in my youth.”

“…!”

“I won’t use the excuse that I was young then. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

With that, Endymion left the room without listening to Yves’ reply.

“…”

In the silence that followed…

‘He’s just like Yves, saying what he needs to say and then leaving.’

My eyes scanned the room for Yves, careful not to let my breathing disturb him.

He was staring blankly at the door through which Endymion had exited.

It was a subtle expression that I couldn’t quite describe.

After a long moment of stillness, as if deep in thought, Yves’s gaze slowly shifted to me. There was a deep confusion in his silver eyes.

“Wait, will you hear me out?”

Honestly, I was baffled. I knew he had a lot on his mind right now, but I hadn’t expected him to come right out and tell me.

“…Sure.”

“You must be tired, thank you.”

Seeing that Yves’ complexion was darker as he said that, I pointed to the seat where Endymion was sitting.

“I’m fine, so please sit here for now.”

“…Thank you.”

We sat down across from each other at the small tea table, but Yves refused to budge.

‘I see you need time to gather your thoughts.’

In the meantime, I was thinking about making some hot tea.

Yves, who had been looking at the floor, began to talk.

“My brother was the first person to… show me affection.”

It was something I already knew.

The meeting between Yves, who grew up in indifference, and Endymion, who lived a suffocating life under his father’s strict education, had been mentioned in detail in the game.

His past was exactly as described in the game, but I listened intently.

“I shared blood with my parents, but my brother was the only one I felt like family with.”

They grew up supporting each other, but the more attention Yves received, the less Endymion wanted to be around him, and he told me all about it, including how he finally cut him off.

“I swore I would never consider anyone family again when I left the castle, but the moment he approached me in Dilbat, the walls I’d built up over the decades came crashing down.”

And I knew this, as well.

‘Because Yves has a heart.’

And it wasn’t just Endymion. Yves was a kinder person than he seemed, hard to cut off once he’d accepted someone as one of his own.

‘That’s why he sacrificed himself for Selene in the Adhad route.’

Most of the time, the rest of the characters don’t make much of an appearance once you enter the other targeted routes.

Although Yves and Endymion are siblings, so they often appear in their routes.

Adhad and Riqueia are the Crown Princes of different kingdoms, so the contact point disappears completely.

Despite this, in the Adhad Normal ending story, Yves willingly helps Adhad to rescue Selene from danger.

This allows Adhad to realize that Selene has been in his heart since the moment she purified Yves’s curse.

‘But this…’

As I listened, comparing it to the game, I suddenly realized something new.

No, it wasn’t new, but something he had been avoiding…