I Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target

“Thank you.”

“Ufufu. You’re welcome.”

My palm grew warm as I held the mug. When I brought it up to my mouth, I could smell the soft aroma of milk, and when I drank from it, the warmth gradually spread in my stomach and I felt a relieved sigh escape my mouth.

Luca’s anger also seemed to have calmed down for the most part, his expression softening as he drank the milk. However, those complex emotions — sadness, hopelessness, had not gone away.

Cindy sat down on an armchair and sipped from her mug. For some reason her expression was dark. That very same Cindy who was always smiling softly.

“Cindy, did something happen? You don’t seem to be in a good mood.”

She looked at me when I tried calling out to her. Though she gave me a smile, it seemed strained. Was it because of Nina’s past?

“Speaking of which, Cindy, you came downstairs without saying anything to Nina, didn’t you? Usually though you would have taken the initiative to comfort her.”

“Yeah… Zagan-kun noticed, as expected.”

“Zagan is very attuned to other people’s hearts, especially negative emotions. Maybe it’s because he’s Lune’s descendant.”

That might be the case. As I was a dark attribute user, a person who embodies negative emotions, it might be easier for me to perceive them than others. Furthermore, I was Lune’s descendant which means I was even more sensitive to negative emotions than other people with the same attribute. However, as I didn’t know the cause of these emotions, in the end I still had to ask the person involved.

When I nodded in complete agreement, Luca let out a giggle and kissed my cheek. Cindy also gave a wry smile.

“As Zagan-kun mentioned, I think I would have normally gone to comfort her. But I have always lived a peaceful and uneventful life… hearing a story like that, I didn’t know what to say.”

So you went downstairs?

Indeed, in the game, Cindy was the only one who had a comedy route from beginning to end. Since she herself said that she lived peacefully, then it’s unlikely she had a hidden past like Nina’s that wasn’t revealed in the game.

Born to an ordinary family, she started going to school at age seven and was accepted into the royal academy at fifteen without a problem. She graduated at eighteen and was employed at the 3rd city’s library. Without question, her life had been smooth sailing. But why did that matter?

“No matter what kind of life someone has led, they would have suffered at some point. They would have had a time when they were unhappy. Is there really any need to compare yourself to others?”

Luca said it earlier as well: that the idea that others should be miserable because you were miserable was a foolish one.

I was born with the dark attribute and imprisoned until I was nine. From the age of nine onwards, I lived in the Great Forest and was alone until I met Luca. From the perspective of other attribute users, that probably seemed like a miserable life. However, I didn’t feel unfortunate and didn’t see the need to compare myself to others.

“Nina talked about her past and Noel asked her about it because various things had stacked up on top of each other, causing Nina to have an outburst. I don’t think she wanted to make you guys feel guilty. So isn’t it ok to just comfort her without thinking too much about it?”

“But Nina-chan… wouldn’t she dislike receiving pity from others?”

“If it’s from the people close to her, she probably wouldn’t hate it. I was happy when Luca comforted me about my own past and am grateful to you guys as well. It’s a bit questionable though to be told stuff like that by someone you’re not close to.”

I spoke honestly to Cindy, and Luca gave me a kiss on the lips. As that soft sensation left my lips, I looked at Luca from close up.

“Zagan, thank you for enduring by yourself and doing your best to live. Thank you for making your way to me. From the bottom of my heart, I’m grateful for this miracle that has allowed us to meet.” He said these sweet words while smiling gently.

It made my cheeks flush.

There really was no reason to console me at the moment but I was happy, so I nodded back at him.

Cindy was looking at us with a grin on her face. 

I still hadn’t finished talking to her, so I averted my gaze from Luca.

“Anyway, wouldn’t she be happy if Cindy, her close friend, comforted her? She isn’t the kind of person who’d reject other people’s kindness. If she was the type to get carried away by her own misfortune, then someone as honest as Noel wouldn’t have gotten so close to her.”

Nina would only reject it if the sympathy she received was from me. This was because she thought that I, too, was miserable. It was highly likely that if I tried to comfort her, she’d think I was making a snide remark instead. As expected, not saying anything was the safer choice.

“The only thing I can do for Nina is to stop the discrimination and prevent others from going through what she did. The country must change so that no one will be forced to kill the child that they bore.”

“That’s right. This shouldn’t be a country where those who are kind experience misfortune. When I heard Nina’s story, I thought that it wasn’t just because of Zagan’s attribute, but that I too had some responsibility as a prince. For a loving husband and wife… for a harmonious family to have broken in an instant — it is too sad.”

“Then you owe Nina an apology.”

“Yes. The blood rose to my head and I said some terrible things in anger. If Nina apologizes to Zagan, then I will also properly apologise to her.”

Of course, I nodded. There was no reason for me to apologise to someone who said, for whatever reason, that they wished I’d been killed. As for Nina’s apology, Camilla said she’d get her to do it, so Luca and Nina should be reconciled by tomorrow.

“Ufufu. Indeed the future will be bright with Luca-kun and Zagan-kun there.” Cindy said cheerfully and I was relieved.

“We went into our own worlds in the middle there. Sorry Cindy.”

“It’s all good. The thing with Nina-chan has already been settled. Also, it would make me happy as well if there was no more discrimination.”

“Really? I’m not the reason, right?”

The only people who’d be happy when I became able to live a normal life would be Luca and Noel who had gone out of their way to express it in words. My thoughts probably weren’t that far off since Cindy gave an unapologetic, wry smile.

“Of course, I’d be happy if Zagan-kun wouldn’t be discriminated against, but… truthfully, in the last dungeon, a kid from the dark attribute users confessed to me. I think his name was Eloi-kun, hmmm… do you remember when we were being held captive, the kid with the glasses that restrained me?”

I nodded, recognizing who she was talking about. So that was glasses guy’s name? Outwardly he looked like a difficult person, but he probably had an unfortunate character on the inside as well. Well, since there wasn’t really any need for me to remember his name I decided to just keep calling him glasses guy.

Anyway, in accordance with the game scenario, we met glasses guy at the 10th dungeon, which meant that there’s a high likelihood that we’d encounter the female pervert at the 11th dungeon.

“I was really surprised — I didn’t think he’d confess in a dungeon, let alone in front of Luca and the others. He even gave me a big bouquet of roses. Despite that, his eyes were glued to my chest the whole time. Ufufu, it was rather amusing.”

Truly an unfortunate personality, that glasses guy. Though according to Cindy, that was what made him cute.

But he was a dark attribute user — a member of an organization that was trying to destroy this country. Which was why Cindy put her answer to his confession on hold. She said though that if there hadn’t been any discrimination, she would have liked to tell him yes.

“Seeing Luca-kun and Zagan-kun get along so well, I started wishing that I, too, had a lover. So, as one does, I tried imagining what kind of person would be a good fit for me. And when I did, for some mysterious reason, Eloi-kun felt like the perfect fit.”

I got it. Cindy was very tolerant and reliable, so rather than a muscular man, maybe an unreliable guy would be a better fit for her.

Also, she seemed to like the fact that he was faithful to his desires and wasn’t trying to hide them. Cindy was the type of woman who would invite someone to kinesthetic sex after all. There were all kinds of people in this world.

After that, Cindy shared a little bit more about her love story.

She’d actually first met with glasses guy back in June. She was researching about the goddess in the library and he’d called out to her. He told her she had nice, round glasses but his gaze was focused on her chest. It seemed they’d even gone out for lunch a couple of times.

Rather invested in his friend’s love story, Luca had completely recovered, and he rested his cheek on my head, occasionally humming and nodding at Cindy’s story.

However, there was one problem. Cindy had talked about when there would be no more discrimination, but I wasn’t sure if the Dark Organization would be left unharmed after they resurrect the Evil God. Although I had no intention to leave them to die in the first place, I also had no confidence that I’d be able to save them. I felt apologetic towards Cindy because of that.