Playing the Perfect Fox-Eyed Villain Chapter 123

Episode 123. Doubts, Suspicions (1)

As he felt the night air gradually getting colder, Oben instinctively felt that one of the boring seasons was coming to an end.

The first thing he did upon arriving at his home after finishing his duties at the Imperial Secretariat was to head to the tomb of his concubine, Milena.

“Your Majesty, if you leave without even stopping by your parents’ house, Lady Siliona will be disappointed.”

When the old knight who was following him offered words of advice, Oben secretly looked at him from behind.

“Ehark, is that your long experience?”

“Ahem, I only love my wife. I don’t give much love to my concubines.”

“Those are painful words.”

Oben smiled bitterly at the unexpected counterattack by the old knight Ehark.

'They say you don't give much love to your concubine.'

Because he knows that those words are being spoken to him.

“Siliona and I were brought together through a political marriage anyway. There’s no way we could have love, right?”

“Even if Lord Oben thinks so, Lady Siliona may think differently.”

“You’re talking too much today, Ehark. If you’re going to talk like that, don’t come with me.”

At Oben's firm words, Ehark pretended to close his mouth.

It was a gesture that did not suit his large size, but Oben just smiled and headed back to the graveyard.

Soon after, Milena's grave came into view.

It is neat and tidy, as the servants are instructed to take good care of it, but it is very small compared to the tombs of other members of the Cryphat family.

“Do you still think it’s not enough? Don’t you know? Even if you are the head of the household, Lady Milena is a concubine. Because of the family’s custom of despising collateral blood…….”

“Ehark, have you forgotten what I said a little while ago?”

Ehark quickly closed his mouth and made a gesture of tightly closing his lips.

Oben walked slowly towards the place and was about to place the bouquet of flowers he had brought on the table as usual.

"hmm?"

I could see that there was a flower there that wasn't my own.

“I guess there was a guest before me. Did Herand come and go?”

Ehark shook his head from side to side in response to Oben's question.

“Then who are you?”

“They said Yurian came and went.”

“……Yurian?”

Oben was taken aback by the unexpected name.

The fact that Yurian, who had never visited her parents' home since 'something happened', came here.

'Have you finished organizing your thoughts?'

A flower left behind by Yulian.

The way he maintained his dignity and radiated his presence alone reminded me of Yurian.

Oben, who was looking at the flowers, places the bouquet he brought on the seat next to them.

“What do you think?”

“What are you saying, Mr. Oben?”

“Let’s bring Yulian back to his hometown and take away the name ‘Prason’.”

At Oben's sudden words, Ehark coughs in vain.

“Its reputation has been improving recently, but I think it is still premature.”

“Is that so……?”

“Can I just say something bitter?”

If it were earlier, I would have told him to keep his mouth shut, but I nodded at Ehark’s unusually serious expression.

“If you had taken good care of Yurian since childhood, our relationship wouldn’t have become so twisted. Are you trying to be his father now?”

“……It’s too bitter.”

A relationship that has become more than just friends because we've been together for a long time.

But because of that, Ehark's criticism was harsh, and Oben's bones ached when he heard it.

Although he knew that he was a poor father, he couldn't help but think of the dead Milena when he saw 'Yurien'.

In the end, it wasn't he who killed her.

Oben, who had been mulling over such thoughts, ended up just watching Yurian grow up in a strange way.

“What I’m trying to say is, just let him open his heart first.”

“It feels completely different from when I was criticizing Yulian.”

“If it were in the past, I would still think it makes no sense. But!”

but?

“I’ve been thinking differently lately.”

“You are the royal hunting dog, haven’t you always criticized Yurian?”

“Yes. I don’t like it, but I think it couldn’t be helped since I was doing it on behalf of the royal family. And……”

"What more can I say?" Oben thought as he looked at Ehark.

“Honestly, when the guy grabbed Oben’s hand and broke it, I felt a little… relieved.”

"hmm……."

Oven let out a sigh.

I feel like my perception of Yulian is changing like this.

Moreover, his closest aide is saying this.

Oben felt as if Yurian's change was his own, and his shoulders felt tense.

***

After Yurian learned how he acquired the traits of the villain known as the "Demon King's Vessel", the scenery that the "Honseok" had shown him disappeared like a mirage.

“A memory of a mixed family, how fascinating.”

This is my first experience like this.

It's the same here, and it's the same in the game.

This is something I have never heard of or seen before.

Because of that, perhaps because of the vagueness, my fingertips began to feel numb and my eyes turned red for no reason.

But there were no tears to shed.

The tear ducts of the cross-eyed villain were dry, so there was nothing emotionally to flow from.

Perhaps… …it has to be that way.

That way, I can survive as a ‘Yurien’ in this place with so many variables.

'Yurien' must be 'Yurien'.

I stared at it quietly, feeling a foreign sensation in my hand.

“This is…….”

A necklace with a missing soul.

I think Yulian would be against throwing this away, and it also goes against my Confucian ideas.

I decided to put it back in my jewelry box and later replace it with another similar gem to decorate it.

“But where is Sombra?”

I looked around, but the sticky shadow was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sure there will be.”

The mana blood within the body clearly sensed the presence of 'Sombra'.

After eating 'Honseok', is your body still in the process of healing itself?

“I guess we have no choice but to wait.”

If all goes as planned, Sombra will be cured. I don't know when though.

All I have to do is wait.

'So what do we do now?'

Unfortunately, I only have one way to kill time.

'Yurien's' hobby. No, it's just 'my' hobby.

I open the door and go out to find the butler who knows everything that goes on in the house.

“Did anyone water the plants today?”

***

“Because it’s a house where no guests come, the living room ended up being used as a flower bed.”

It was a good choice to put the flower pot here. It gets a lot of sunlight and the room is spacious.

'……hmm?'

At that moment, I felt something moving inside my body.

This is definitely Sombra's presence.

“What happened?”

As if responding to my words, 'Sombra' raised her head from the shadows.

'But, something seems strange?'

It's a similar color to the shadow, just like the usual 'Sombra'.

“……Your eyes…… are running.”

Several of those too.

“It’s gross.”

Looking at the 'Sombra' with multiple eyes, I expressed my honest feelings.

Multiple eyes hanging in pitch-black shadows.

I just stuck my tongue out at the atmosphere that a 'final boss villain' would often use.

“Why did it turn out like this…….”

Could it be related to the soul stone embedded in the relics? I think about it carefully, but I can't come up with an answer.

I have never had an experience like this while playing this game.

– “Crunch.”

At that moment, the eyes that had been floating on 'Sombra' began to close.

Could it be that he was responding to what I said?

'No, of course not.'

Sombra is a demon. She doesn't seem to understand human emotions or speech.

Trying to protect my body is just something I do to survive, and it's ambiguous to call it an emotion.

Tsk tsk tsk──.

But Sombra's subsequent actions made one wonder, "Does this guy have feelings?"

His eyes and body, which had been so confident, began to shrink as he became discouraged by my words.

“……Looking at it closely, it looks good. It looks like I’ll be able to see a lot of places, so it seems quite useful.”

I spoke a little louder so that Sombra could hear, thinking, 'No way', and the guy opened his eyes again and started growing bigger.

He looks more confident than before.

“To think that by absorbing the soul stone, one could achieve such a sense of self…….”

surely.

As the number of horns a demon has increases, it tends to become more intelligent.

If that's the case, then 'Sombra', who is parasitizing my body, may also gain higher intelligence by accumulating magic energy through the soul stone.

“But if we become more intelligent, wouldn’t it be a loss for us?”

Even with intelligence, a demon is still a demon.

Generally, these guys, who are like half of a demon, harbor ill will towards humans.

Even though I am currently in a situation where I have the 'upper hand', as 'Sombra' becomes stronger, there is a risk that things will turn around.

“If you become stronger, are you willing to look down on my body?”

If you're smart enough, you might be able to listen.

Even though I said that with that thought in mind, 'Sombra' just tilted her head with her eyes wide open.

Are you pretending not to know, or are you really not aware?

Leaving the guy behind, I picked up the watering can and started watering the flower pot.

Soon, when they reached Angelica's flower pot, Sombra climbed onto it and wiggled.

“Get out of here.”

All the way──!

As I opened my mouth to reprimand him, the puffed-up guy started swallowing Angelica's flower pot as if he was angry.

“What are you doing?”

Feeling uncomfortable at the sight, I immediately tried to cut off the mana supply to Sombra.

Meanwhile, Sombra began to inflate and take shape.

pot.

That too.

“Ah, Angelica…….”

Even though it was pitch black and had some slightly imperfect parts here and there, I could still see it.

A leaf with slightly cut edges.

The shape of the flower pot.

Everyone is just as affectionate and missed as ever.

No one would understand. This act of caring for an orchid and even naming it.

“Do you… understand?”

It was so touching to know that someone in this world sympathized with me having such a lonely hobby.

Although it is hard to call them 'humans', aren't they creatures with some kind of intelligence?

“No, just wait a minute.”

Suddenly, I noticed something strange. The flowerpot where 'Sombra' used to be was gone.

'Is this possible?'

Just as the questions in her head were starting to give answers, 'Sombra' stopped mimicking.

Tsutsu──!

The flower pot reappears with a squirming sound.

Perhaps 'Sombra' had it stored inside her body.

“Are you able to store your items?”

When I handed him the 'Moon Jang Sword' and its scabbard to clear up his doubts, he naturally put them away in his bosom.

Ability similar to the inventory seen in other games.

It seemed like this was an ability Sombra had acquired by absorbing this 'spirit stone'.

“Oh…….”

It's a pretty decent ability.

Because it created a place where you could hide things like 'holy relics' that couldn't be displayed outside and had to be kept secret.

however.

“……Please give me back my sword.”

I think I have a tendency not to return things I like.

***

“Arch Bishop, Eleanor, are you here now?”

Tenelon looked at himself with a face covered in blood. At his feet, in a pool of blood, someone was lying down.

“I can't hear your voice.”

Tenelon, who was looking down at the fallen Bishop with a blank expression, then turned his gaze to Eleanor.

“What voice do you mean?”

“The voice of the demon. His voice that always gave me good advice.”

After ascending to the position of Patriarch, Tenelon's behavior became strange.

“So I guess I have to find a way and pave the way myself.”

He was obsessed with the idea of a 'voice', insisted only on loyalty from his followers, and did not care about disposing of anyone who went against his ideas.

What on earth is that 'voice'?

“Tell Yurian, let’s have a meal together.”

Eleanor had thought that she had sacrificed a lot for the survival of the 'Dawn Society' until now, but with this scene, the doubts she had been holding in her heart turned into certainty.

Tenelon, Patriarch of the Dawn Order.

Is he really the right person to lead this group?

If not, I guess I'll have to cut it out.