A Villain's Survival Guide

Leomaris’s POV:

"What are you doing here?"

The chill and weight in Raine’s voice were unmistakable. Charlotte panicked for just a moment, her eyes finding Leomaris’s straight away.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Leomaris offered an awkward smile in return, but before a word could leave him, Charlotte bowed slightly in a polite manner and spoke.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"I am sorry."

Raine seemed taken aback for a moment, and Leomaris understood why completely. Charlotte, after all, had been the one to trap him and nearly get him killed.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Don’t worry, Raine. She was under control."

Raine frowned. "Controlled?"

Leomaris nodded positively.

"Emerald’s ability, Confession, briefly took control of her."

Taking in the confusion written across her face, Leomaris thought it best to elaborate.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Emerald’s ability allows her to present situations to others and compel them to reveal their feelings regarding them. In Charlotte’s case, she was shown a memory involving Emerald’s father. The moment Charlotte considered my actions in that situation to be wrong, the ability forced her to perceive me as an enemy."

Leomaris furrowed his brow. "Hope you understand."

Raine didn’t look like someone ready to let go of things so quickly, and Leomaris understood that, but it was fine.

He didn’t plan on letting the two of them work together, and any deepening grudge between them would only hurt their chemistry. Which was fine by him.

Leomaris’s expression grew dark. He had come to know Emerald’s secrets after turning his ability on her, but her situation was a strange one. Many things had shifted from what the novel told, but this was entirely new.

Confession shouldn’t have been Emerald’s ability at all. It belonged to Diana Jones, a character the main character was supposed to face during his confrontation with the Unholy Priests.

’Wait... can she be the same person?’

Emerald’s connection to the Unholy Priests mirrored Diana’s, and since the original Leomaris had died and never enrolled at the academy, Emerald wouldn’t have been there either.

He let out a sigh. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

’If Emerald was the final villain... will the Omniscient Arc even happen?’

Almost immediately, he shrugged it off. That was a problem for Lucius, not him.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

His attention turned to Charlotte, and when he spoke, it was almost exclusively to her.

"I hope you brought me an answer, Charlotte."

She motioned positively.

"I will join."

Leomaris grinned, already feeling rather proud of himself. He had known she would agree, after nearly getting him killed, that was the least she could do. All the same, he had wanted it to feel like her own decision, not something he had steered her toward.

"I take it you’ve agreed to enchant my sword as well."

Charlotte nodded, looking innocent.

After his second death, a realization settled over him. He had been so consumed by the need to survive that he had forgotten actually to live, and that obsession had led him to make ridiculous decisions, threatening the Crimson Order among them.

But now he wanted to live. His first life had given him little energy for anything beyond getting by, but this life was different.

Death was inevitable, and unlike before, his ability might not carry him through the next time it came. So he intended to enjoy what he had. When the end came, he didn’t want to be carrying any regrets.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

’I’ll grow stronger and build the biggest underground organization... enough to satisfy Godfrey, protect me, and enjoy it.’

His gaze moved through them. One person was unaccounted for. Hazel. He hadn’t laid eyes on her since he woke, and even with her around, their numbers were still lacking. As was their strength.

"What are you thinking about? Are you going to leave us in the dark like this?"

Raine put the question forward, and his attention moved to her at once.

"Actually, I think I know a way to help all of us become Sorcerers sooner."

Raine and Charlotte both frowned, a part of each of them clearly doubting Leomaris. Ren, on the other hand, lacking magical abilities as she did, remained thoroughly focused on her snacks.

"How exactly are you going to do that?"

Then again, he couldn’t very well tell them he’d read about the situation that had helped them achieve perfect personality synchronisation.

"How’s that a question? Just trust me on this."

Leomaris’s golden eyes found Raine’s red ones.

"Your answer?"

Raine took a deep breath, exhaled, and turned to Ren.

"How’s Ren supposed to help? She doesn’t even have a grimoire."

Leomaris’s expression darkened. Ren wasn’t supposed to have a grimoire, and to make matters stranger, the way Raine had achieved personality synchronisation was through her attempt to rescue Ren when she was kidnapped.

More than anything, Ren was Raine’s emotional support, not a character he had much knowledge of.

"I don’t want a grimoire. That’s why I went for customized weapons."

Worry etched across her face. Raine’s attention shifted to her. "You still haven’t told me why you took so long, though."

Ren drew a slow breath, eyes drifting across the faces around her as though weighing each one carefully, wary of something, or perhaps someone. Then, at last, she spoke.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"I was kidnapped... but I managed to escape, and Sebastian came to save me."

Raine’s body trembled slightly. "Kidnapped?"

"I’ll tell you more about it... just not right now."

Their conversation carried on, but Leomaris had already heard enough. He rose quietly to his feet and began making his way out, taking Raine’s words as a sign that she was ready to join his pursuit of dominance over the underground world.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"We will be leaving."

With those words, he and Charlotte walked out.

He knew the reason behind Ren’s kidnapping and why speaking it aloud wasn’t easy for someone who had spent more than half her life as Raine’s maid. It wasn’t supposed to happen this early, but this wasn’t something Leomaris wished to interfere with.

—

Before long, Leomaris and Charlotte reached the grounds of Rosay’s mansion, and Leomaris had one thing on his mind: having Charlotte place a spell on a sword he had just purchased.

This was his ticket to greater strength, a way of compensating for what his ability couldn’t offer. The process would forge the sword into an artifact, and using it would come at a cost, but he no longer cared about that.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The moment the horse carriage drew to a halt at the mansion’s entrance, however, he was greeted by someone who left him quietly baffled.

He hadn’t seen her since he came to, five days ago, and from what everyone else had said, she had been missing for over two weeks.

There she stood in her butler uniform, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and gentle blue eyes as calm as ever. It was Hazel.

She bowed gently, as though expecting her absence to simply be overlooked.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Welcome, young master."