The Reason I Have To Be A Villain

(3rd Person POV)

Horen, the capital of Konia, was known for having the tallest, largest, and longest-running clock tower that was popular even from the other kingdoms.

It was of course engraved with colorful patterns, and the clock on the tower was studded with invaluable gems, and the sound of the bell ringing at six o’clock in the evening was pure and pleasant to hear.

And now, at six o’clock this evening, the long-awaited bell had rung.

Ding! Ding! As usual, people would stop what they were doing as they listened to the clock’s bell ringing. 

The same was true for a little boy who was living in a house near the clock tower.

The little boy would run out of the house as soon as the bell rang, just as he always does.  Because If he ran until he lost his breath, he would be able to see the clock tower in the square.

Shortly thereafter, the little boy arrived at the square and looked at the clock tower against the backdrop of the setting sky, which was a mixture of scarlet and pink colors.

But today, something different.

A man with white hair was standing on the roof of a steep clock tower that no one could ever climb on.

Even though it was a dangerous place, the man spread his arms as if enjoying the wind.

The surprised little boy went straight home. “Mom, someone was standing on the clock tower!” he shouted.

While on the tower, that person who was standing on the top of the clock, noticed the little boy but heed not care about him. He just raised the corners of his mouth as if feeling good.

After a while, he opened his eyes.

Under the coral-colored sky dyed with twilight, his dazzling white hair illuminated the same color. However, the cold blue eyes gleamed with a cold light.

The pupils that were vertically drawn slightly expanded before returning to their original size. He had then murmured slowly.

“It’s strange that there are a lot of things getting in my way in this small country…”

The man, who stretched forward with his open arms, split the air with his arms as if conducting. He did all that, smiling.

“There was no need for me to be this bothered if I had killed that girl first.”

Stretching out a bunch of unknown words, he rolled up his right hand like a telescope and put it to his eyes. Between his rounded fingers, his blue eyes gleamed in a thrilling form.

“First of all, if you want to run wild, brother. You can kill the people who took your brother’s life, then kill the girl who made fun of you, or those humans who gathered like ants.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“But not the baby in front of you now.”

His shivered eyes narrowed. 

“Then, don’t do it. Since he has something to give…”

It was that moment he finished speaking. The wind that seemed like it would never stop had finally stopped, and the little boy who went into the house to call his mother came out holding his mother’s hand. And pointed to the clock tower.

“Look over there, Mom! Someone is standing over there… What?”

“Sigh, what are you talking about? You know that mom is busy.”

Somehow, there was no one above the clock tower the little boy was pointing to.

Without a trace, everything the little child saw from the beginning seemed to be like a dream.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Renée’s POV)

The person who received my apology opened his eyes as if surprised. It was then that I noticed his left cheek was swollen.

‘Is he the guy named Zion? The one Diwen spoke of?’

Seeing the still swollen cheek, I suddenly felt guilty.

After a while, he made a gentle expression.

“Don’t apologize. Didn’t I break your precious mirror first?”

He and Diwen twisted their swords at the same time to shake ‘it’ off.

Afterward, Zion reached out to me, as he grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me in, making me suddenly fall into his arms. He, then, immediately looked at ‘it’.

Then ‘it’ suddenly stood still.

No, to be precise, It was staring at Diwen and Zion vaguely. It was a pretty lukewarm reaction compared earlier, when I first mentioned the Knights of Hugo.

Diwen let out a deep sigh and swung his sword lightly in the air a few times as if checking to see if the sword was intact. Then he pointed to the banquet hall.

“Renee, it’s dangerous here, you better go inside now. If other people try to come out, block them.” 

It was a very reliable statement. After all, it was none other than the  Dragon Slayer’s reassuring words as if assuring me that they would subdued this monster casually.

Still, I couldn’t run back to the banquet hall. Because I’m still worried, for Catherine who was still unconscious right now.

I couldn’t even dare to go inside because of that sudden mission that I accepted unintentionally.

Of course, I know that the two of them can definitely block it’, and that would prevent it from coming after me to the banquet hall.

However, in the realm of possibility that the two of them might miss ‘it’ and chase after me?

Death.

I shook my head to erase the nasty ideas that were blooming in my head. Zion, who stood in front of me and remained vigilant, opened his mouth.

“Lady, please hurry up….”

His words were not finished. It was because the air around him became so heavy that it took his breath in an instant.

Gasp. I was surprised and raised my head, and ‘it,’ which seemed to be out of shape until earlier, was looking at me with its eyes wide open.

‘It was finally back to his senses.’

“We’ve finally met again, you b*stards!”

It roared so much that my ears and skin tingled. Yes, the roar was so loud. It wasn’t at a level where I could dare to say that it was just a simple shout.

Without realizing it, I covered my ears and looked at ‘it’ blankly. I couldn’t move at all as if my feet were stuck to the ground. The moment I stepped forward, an intense feeling came to me as if death was coming.

“You dare kill me? You, a human being, an insignificant person, have the audacity to kill me?!”

‘It’, who had been raging like crazy,  swung his sword in the air recklessly. Everytime it happened it felt like the heavy air was tearing my skin apart.

If Zion hadn’t shielded me, I might have collapsed already.

I couldn’t help but ask in a trembling voice.

“That… No, what is that thing talking about? Who killed whom?”

“That’s not a person. It’s a half-dragon.”

A half-dragon?

“Remember the dragon bones I talked about before?”

I was puzzled as Diwen asked those in a calm voice.

Instead of answering, I looked at him silently, and he pulled back the hair that had been clinging to his forehead from sweat. At first glance, there was a torn wound on his forehead. The blood was wiped clean, though.

Why did he come when it’s clear that he was still unwell? It wasn’t just a torn forehead, he also seemed to have a fever.

“It contains the spirit of a dragon. Externally, it is called dragon magic.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a dragon spirit. When a dragon dies, it tenaciously does not disappear, and its spirit resides in its bones. And when those bones fall into human hands, they encroach on them like that.”

Diwen took a deep breath and continued.

“Hey, can you see that glowing light?”

He pointed to the handle of the sword held by ‘it’ with a thin-bladed sword. Precisely, it is the jewel on the end of the handle.

“Are you familiar with that jewel?”

“Oh, that’s….”

“Yeah, it was on the cane earlier.”

Certainly, as he said, that jewel was the black jewel that was embedded in the handle of the Count’s staff.

“What? Why is that jewel on the sword?”

“When a dragon spirit encroaches upon a human, the bones change. So that wand turned into a sword. Perhaps that stupid Count took back the wand he had stolen… It must have been engulfed in the spirit of the dragon.”

“Encroachment?”

“In other words, the spirit of the dragon we killed last time has entered the Count’s body.”

“…… Why the h*ll did the Count have such a dangerous thing?”

I couldn’t understand, so I asked again, but Diwen noticeably changed the topic.

“Anyway, it was dangerous, so I confiscated the cane from the Count, but he must have stolen it from Hazard again. But I was amazed at how he’d managed to do that.”

‘How can he praise him now?’ I have this urge to retort back, but I restrained myself.

Anyway, I’ve understood the circumstances a while ago. For example, having scales on its body, or talking by himself as if two people were talking.

It makes sense to say it’s all because of the dragon. I thought strongly that maybe the reason why its arm that had been cut off had sprouted again was also due to that.

“Then the two of you can easily defeat that?”

Given that Diwen mentioned that ‘they’ killed it, Zion must also be a dragon slayer. Since the shell belongs to a human being, it would be easier to subdue it.

But for some reason, neither Diwen nor Zion answered my words.

I wasn’t supposed to ask again, but I felt anxious due to the situation.

“Why aren’t you answering me? Am I wrong? Both of you are the dragon slayers, right? Aren’t you those people who kill dragons like you’re eating?”

“Do you know why?”

The people I asked were Diwen and Zion, but the answer came from ‘it’, the half-dragon.

When we turned our heads in surprise, the half-dragon giggled and lowered his back like a beast again. Rough hair that reached down to his shoulders slid down.

“It’s because they’re not confident, those savage things.”

The half-dragon smashed the ground. At the same time, Diwen, who was nearby, ran out. The moment they clashed, a piercing metallic sound rang out. It was surprisingly their agile reaction speed.

Even if he didn’t answer me back. I was relieved to see Diwen easily block the half-dragon’s attack.

“I want… to take Catherine with me…”

Instead of moving my feet in a hurry, I pulled the hem of Zion’s robe. Watching the Dragon and Diwen confront each other, he looked like he was willing to help. He followed me silently as I pointed to the fallen people.

“It looks like a lot of blood pooled from those three people, but their wounds are not that fatal. It seems like everyone just passed out in one blow.”

He glanced at the three of them quickly and said reassuringly.

“What about the open wounds? Shouldn’t we stop the bleeding?”

“It will be fine since the wound was above the heart.”

“Don’t say nonsense. These are ordinary people, not knights who have gone through all the extreme experiences like the Lord.”

“But the only cloth we had to help suppress the blood is this little handkerchief.”

A cloth to suppress? As he said those words as if he was embarrassed. I pulled up my skirt and ripped it off, without a second thought.

Zion was startled for a moment, however, he immediately tore a few pieces of the cloth that I gave him and stopped the wounds from bleeding.

I ran my finger across Catherine’s forehead filled with sweat. It was not a fatal wound, so my heart felt lighter.

Then, I heard the sound of the fabric being torn in my ears again.

When I raised my head, Zion bit the small handkerchief with his teeth and tore it in half.

‘Eh? All three of them stopped bleeding already though?’

I stared blankly at him, and he tore off the blood-stained hem of my clothes and wrapped a handkerchief over my wound. As the throbbing sensation came back to life, I realized then that I was hurt too.

“Fortunately, it does not appear to be a deep wound. However, this place is still dangerous, so you need to hurry up and evacuate.”

“…Uhm, are you going to force me to go inside, even if I didn’t want to?”

After hesitating, Zion rolled his eyes and anxiously stared at me. He seemed to be in a very difficult position. I was startled by those eyes and started to feel embarrassed by my unexpected words.

“If I go to the banquet hall right now, the half-dragon may chase after me, then everyone in the banquet hall will die, right?”

“……..”

“If I’m destined to die… -then so be it. If so, it’s better to die here than to get others involved……. This may sound strange to you but…”

‘Just what am I talking about?’

Lowering my eyes, the end of my speech was blurred. Now that we saw each other again, I realized that the first meeting is the worst. The second time, I’m saying useless things to him.

I can feel that at this rate, I might be able to tell him that I possessed a character inside a novel.

“Who’s going to die?”

He suddenly asked indifferently. When I looked up to that dignified question, I saw Zion’s blue eyes.