A Villain's Survival Guide

Leomaris had secured Charlotte Greenwood’s alliance, and better than he’d imagined at that. She carried herself around him now as though her life were a debt she owed him. He found he had no complaints about that.

Triumphant as the encounter had been, Leomaris hadn’t forgotten the loose end. Hazel brought him to the Forge of the Ninth Bell, Raine was there, and he had questions.

At the shop, however, what greeted him had him rooted to the spot. He caught sight of the seven-foot behemoth blacksmith first, but that hardly held his attention the way Raine did when he looked at her.

An overwhelming presence loomed over him. At the top of Raine’s head, a massive glowing blue eye floated in a stormy void. The iris looked mystical, with intricate circular patterns around the pupil radiating cold light into the room.

Beside it was a terrifying red eye, much more violent in tone. Its pupil was narrow and intense, surrounded by rough, blood-red textures that made it look demonic.

"What the...?" The words left him in a panicked tone as sweat began running down his face.

"Are you okay, sir?" The blacksmith approached him in panic, wondering what had dawned on him all of a sudden.

Leomaris steadied himself. He read the room. Hazel, the blacksmith, Raine, and Ren, and he found the same thing on every face. Confusion. None of them had seen what he had.

’I see now. Those eyes are part of Raine’s ability. I’m the only one who can perceive it because of my ability, Mystery.’

A relieved sigh left him, his nerves quietly settling. Then his attention found the blacksmith.

"No need to worry, sir. I was just surprised by my fiancée’s appearance."

The blacksmith’s smile came out awkward, the smile of a man unused to being spoken to by someone like Leomaris.

"Right. Welcome to the Forge of the Ninth Bell." He gestured vaguely at the shop around him. "Anything you need."

Tae. Leomaris remembered him from the novel, the one who would build all of Raine’s equipment. He had no intention of poaching him. Only Raine could do that, bring out what was actually in him.

He didn’t linger. The heat hit him the moment he stepped further in, and he found himself moving toward Raine’s side without much deliberation, drawn there as much by the air conditioner as anything else.

"What was that for?" Raine’s eyes narrowed. "Why act as if you’ve never seen me before?"

Ren was already on her feet by the time he reached them, vacating her seat without fanfare. "Have a seat, young master."

Small talk wasn’t why he was here. And the eyes above Raine’s head made it difficult to pretend otherwise. They hadn’t stopped moving, sweeping the room with a presence that sat heavily on everything it touched.

’Vision, huh? Such a terrifying ability.’ He thought and took his seat.

The tension in the room didn’t move his gaze. He kept his eyes on Raine’s, on the crimson that was slowly leaving them, and said nothing yet. He knew why it was happening. It was, in fact, the very reason he’d come.

Leomaris ignored her entirely. "Your eyes," he said, without preamble. "They look different. What happened?"

Bewilderment crossed her face, and her hands moved before she could think, reaching instinctively toward her eyes. The cup caught the motion, tilting, tea spreading quietly across the table.

Leomaris was already wiping the spilled tea before it could reach her clothes. Raine barely registered it. What held her attention was something else entirely, the fact that he had noticed. The change in her eyes. Something Ren hadn’t caught, and Ren had been her maid for over ten years.

Her chest tightened, just slightly, but enough.

Countless questions came with it, pressing in all at once. She didn’t want Ren to know, so Raine looked toward Ren and Hazel, composed, as if the conversation had simply moved on.

"Can the two of you give us some space? You can go outside and spend some time on your own."

Hazel bowed slightly. "Yes, my lady."

Ren didn’t reciprocate, she said nothing at all, her face quietly full of suspicion.

Leomaris read the atmosphere easily enough. In the novel, Raine had never let Ren see her fragility, and Ren, for her part, had never suspected a thing. But the suspicion written plainly across Ren’s face now told a different story.

Another thread Leomaris’s presence had pulled loose.

She frowned. "I didn’t expect you to notice the change in my eyes. Do you have an ability that lets you see that or something?"

Leomaris smiled at that. "Not at all. I’ve always paid attention... enough to notice something like this."

Raine gave him a measured look, then exhaled. "I suppose there’s little point in hiding it from you. You are my fiancé, you’d find out sooner or later."

Her hand trembled as she reached for the cup. She steadied herself, or tried to.

"I formed a pact with the Seer Entity and gained Vision. The price is blindness. With every rank I climb, my sight fades further. I’m currently 10% blind."

’This part hasn’t changed from the novel. For someone like her, trying to restore her family’s honor, ranking up is a must, but losing her sight after each rank would make it pointless... but are the others still the same?’

Leomaris’s expression gave nothing away. "That doesn’t sound good," he said.

Then, after a moment. "What do you plan to do about it? Prevent it altogether?"

Genuine confusion crossed her face. What Leomaris said sounded like gibberish, and for a moment, she was starting to believe he was every bit as stupid as the rumours said.

"What are you going on about? Costs are unavoidable and irreversible. There’s nothing I can do about it."

This was what Leomaris had feared, and it showed in his eyes. In the novel, one of Raine’s goals was to prevent her blindness by searching for a particular relic, but that was no more. He had known this had changed when the question of contractual costs arose, unavoidable and irreversible as they were.

The pretence left his expression quietly, replaced by something that looked very much like genuine concern, as though something inside him had given way. Raine noticed. Her own concern grew in response, though she couldn’t have said why.

"What’s the problem? How bad is yours?"

His mind moved through many things at once, none of them particularly encouraging. This part of the plot had changed, he was certain of it now, and the hope he’d carried in with him was quietly thinning. Then Raine’s question reached him, and something eased.

’I can’t give up. I need to confirm whether the Ascension Chest truly doesn’t exist, but I can’t do that without Raine. I have to make her believe we’re on the same side.’

"I will lose some of my memories after each use of my ability." He smiled softly, which sat oddly against the weight of what he’d just said.

"But don’t worry. I know how to stop it."

Raine’s heart skipped a beat. Her posture shifted slightly into something more serious. And her eyes, whatever she intended, told the truth of it. She was curious.

"What do you mean?"

Leomaris smirked, smugness settling into his expression as naturally as breathing. "I know something that can help. Reduce the harshness of the costs, at least by fifty percent."

Something shifted in Raine, different from the hope of moments ago, nothing so generous as optimism. She was simply wondering, with some seriousness, whether Leomaris was quite right in the head.

Leomaris shrugged. "I need your help. For some reason, I feel you’re the one who can help me. Can you help me look for it?"

"My ability is Vision, so I can help to some extent. But if a loop like that existed, wouldn’t someone have discovered it in over 1,500 years?"

Leomaris reached across the table to Raine’s side and helped himself to her tea. It had long since gone cold. He drank it anyway, unbothered.

Raine wasn’t wrong. If the Ascension Chest existed, they wouldn’t be the only ones looking. But that was no reason to stop. Even if it went unfound, the search itself might turn up something worth the trouble.

"How about I make you an offer? Forget our engagement for now and think of this as comradeship. Help me locate the relic, and as long as I live, I’ll dedicate myself to restoring your family’s honor. But understand this, you’ll only get the very best of me if we never find the relic."

Raine was taken aback. Whatever she had expected from Leomaris, it wasn’t that, not words so earnest, not from him.

"Are you implying you would refuse servitude to the St. Claire family?"

Leomaris smirked. "I am a noble, ma’am. The son of a Duke."

His eyes didn’t waver. "I have pride. I will be a sworn ally, not a servant."

Raine turned it over. "I don’t fully trust you yet. You are different from the rumours, I’ll grant you that. But different isn’t enough to walk a dead end with someone."

She met his eyes. "I’ll observe you for now. Impress me."

Leomaris found her eyes. The coldness she’d adopted during the train incident had returned. Coupled with the massive eyes floating behind her, her presence was threatening. Leomaris only smiled.

"Don’t worry. I intend to leave quite the impression."

Raine didn’t show any emotion. Instead, she stared.

It wasn’t the Vision Leomaris was after, not primarily. What he wanted was something rarer. An innate ability born of her contract. Divine Aura. Only a handful of those who contracted with Divine Entities ever acquired it. Raine was one of them.

’As far as I know, only she, my father, and two others possess Divine Aura. With power like that, she’s practically unreachable as an ally.’

After quite a long moment, Raine spoke:

"You tied with Emerald for fifth place, correct? I heard the tie would be settled through a duel tomorrow..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "...assuming both of you make it to the opening ceremony."