Became the Patron of Villains

With a paching—! sound, Yutia’s shattered heart went blankly blank as she thought.

Huh?

Where am I?

Who am I?

Her intelligence, which had dropped off a cliff in an instant, handed Yutia those questions—but only for a moment.

Soon, as she came to her senses, she stared at Alon with trembling eyes.

Alon looked exactly the same as she remembered.

The expression he was making was also the usual blank one.

It didn’t look like anything had changed, either.

And yet... clearly, it should’ve been.

“.......”

Yutia lowered her gaze and looked at Alon’s hands.

Those hands gripping Penia’s chair held a wariness anyone could see at a glance.

A situation she couldn’t understand at all.

But Yutia Bloodia, with her characteristically sharp mind...

had no trouble finding the true culprit behind all of this.

“Hic—”

The moment Yutia’s eyes turned toward her—

Penia, unable to even look away, let out a reflexive hic—!.

Anyone could see it.

She was obviously guilty.

Yutia curled her lips into a smile.

“Lady Penia?”

“Y-Yes, yes—!”

“Could you please tell me... just what, exactly, is, going, on...?”

A question snapped into choppy staccato, her emotions slipping out of her control.

At that, Penia’s eyeballs started rolling this way and that as she looked toward Yutia.

A face that screamed she had a lot to feel guilty about.

Yutia was about to press Penia again, harder—

“Uh, um—”

—but unfortunately, her mouth was blocked by Alon, who’d been quiet until just now.

“I, I think you should calm down first....”

At Alon’s continued voice, Yutia’s smile vanished.

He wasn’t wrong.

And she had no intention of arguing with that.

But Yutia’s mood plunged straight to rock bottom in an instant.

Because it sounded exactly like he was stepping in to protect Penia from her.

“Ha....”

Yutia let out a hollow laugh without meaning to.

It was absurd.

She turned her head and looked at the trembling Penia.

The source of all of this.

The one who dared...

to make Alon treat her like an enemy.

“It feels like our relationship has become irreversible. What do you think?”

Penia instantly sucked in a sharp breath—hheok—.

For a split second, a question flickered through the corner of her mind—Did I even have a ‘relationship’ with Yutia in the first place?—but...

it wasn’t important right now.

Because she was currently feeling a vivid, enthusiastic threat to her life.

‘H-How do I fix this...?’

So Penia desperately agonized.

Where on earth she was supposed to start, and how she was supposed to explain any of this.

“Th-There, Lady Penia hasn’t done anything wrong...”

But as if to make Penia’s desperation feel pointless—

Alon took her side again.

At that, the light vanished from Yutia’s eyes, which had been filled with contempt for Penia.

“Ah—”

She didn’t say anything.

But Penia knew.

She knew exactly what those eyes—eyes with no highlights—were telling her.

‘So now we’re enemies?’

That was what they meant.

At Yutia’s gaze, tears welled in Penia’s eyes.

Even then, Penia rolled her eyeballs around frantically.

Of course she did.

She didn’t want to die.

And so, Penia—who’d been rolling her eyes around like her life depended on it—

“L-Lord Marquis? You can’t say it like that. Th-That’s Lady Yutia...!”

—shouted in a trembling voice, urgently.

Only then did Alon’s eyes widen slightly, like he was surprised despite his blank face.

Now Yutia was nearly emotionless, leaking out a strange mana.

Alon looked at her for a moment, then—

“Uh... um... I’m sorry.”

—offered an unenthusiastic apology.

But Yutia’s anger was not something that could be soothed so easily.

Even though she’d stepped into the marquis’s estate in a good mood today...

not only had she met an Alon who didn’t remember her, she’d even been treated with hostility by him.

Her anger was the kind that would never be resolved no matter how much Alon apologized.

And if it was going to ease even a little—

it would have to be with Penia ending up in a miserable state—

“Yutia... sister?”

O-Only...?

“......Yes?”

“Excuse me?”

“Th-What did you just say?”

“......I’m sorry?”

“......No, after that.”

“Yutia sister...?”

“.......”

Sister....

Sister, huh....

Hmm....

Light returned to Yutia’s eyes, as if she’d gone back to normal.

At the same time, a smile rose over her stiff mouth.

“Teacher, could you say it one more time?”

“......I said sister?”

At that word—

Yutia clutched at her chest without meaning to.

For some reason, a warm, swelling emotion churned around inside her, stirring her up.

And after a short while—

“Mm—looks like, as always, we can still be good friends.”

“......Yes?”

At Yutia’s suddenly radiant smile,

Penia—still teary-eyed—made a brain-dead face like her mind had crashed, but—

“Still, I think this situation needs an explanation.”

“Y-Yes—yes, of course...!”

At those words, she nodded hard, at least.

She had no idea what was going on, but thinking, I’m alive, she did.

After a bit of time passed.

After hearing the whole story, Yutia said,

“So to put it simply, you drank a Regression Drug to find the weak points in your magic?”

“Yes......! Up to that point, there really wasn’t any problem. There were no errors in the magic memories, and the imprint went in properly, too. But—”

“......Even after two weeks, it still hasn’t lifted?”

At Yutia’s sharp point, Penia quietly averted her gaze.

“Th... yes.” 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Normally, once two weeks pass, it’s supposed to lift automatically, right?”

“Yes. I-I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with the drug. Just in case, I even tested it.”

“Tested it?”

“Yes—just in case. At the time, there happened to be a mage from the Blue Mage Tower at the estate, so I had that mage take it at the same time as the marquis. In case there was some kind of issue.”

“......And that mage returned to normal once the two weeks were up?”

“Yes. Strangely, only the marquis—”

Making a uugh— face as she sighed, Penia lifted her eyes and checked Yutia’s expression.

“H-However, even so, you don’t need to worry too much.”

“Why is that.”

“Of course I thought it was strange too, so I checked all kinds of things...... and it seems like it’s because of the marquis’s unconscious.”

“......Unconscious?”

“Yes.”

Penia once again started rattling off this and that to Yutia.

“So... in the end, Teacher is deliberately preventing himself from coming back?”

“Yes. It looks like he found some method and is intentionally trying to maintain this state longer.”

“But is it possible to unconsciously stop yourself from returning?”

“Normally, it’s close to impossible... but...... it’s the marquis, so.”

Yutia nodded like she understood.

She’d grasped the overall situation now.

“So Teacher right now... is Teacher from before he knew us.”

“......That’s right.”

“Who knows about this?”

“For now, Evan and Blackie...... and Basiliora, I guess? Aside from them, nobody else knows. It’s not really good to let it get out to the outside in the first place.”

At Penia’s words, Yutia turned her gaze aside for a moment and looked at Alon.

After confirming that the green badge on his chest was shining vividly—

“It feels like there’s one more person who knows.”

“Huh?”

“Well, even if someone figures it out right now, it doesn’t really mean anything.”

To the green badge—

No.

To someone who was ‘stealing’ a look at this place through that badge, she said that.

Then she seemed to think for a moment.

“Anyway, I understand the situation.”

She smiled—a smile that looked a little ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ dangerous.

Alon, the third son of Count Palatio.

No—Alon, head of the Marquis Palatio family, felt that even after nearly a month had passed, the current situation was still extremely awkward.

Why was it awkward?

It was obvious.

From Alon’s perspective, it was like this:

Not long after he’d realized this was the world of Psychedelia—

he closed his eyes, opened them again, and it was suddenly now, like some kind of hidden-camera prank.

And that wasn’t all.

He was supposed to be living peacefully in Rodmil, but he’d become the head of that vicious Palatio count family—no, marquis family.

And Penia Crysinne, the unmistakable Hysteria King, was living together with him in the marquis’s estate—

in a position similar to his right-hand person.

On top of that, through Penia Crysinne, Alon had also heard what had happened—what kind of circumstances had led to the current situation.

‘To reinforce my magic....’

As if that wasn’t a lie,

even though roughly thirteen years of memories had been erased from Alon’s head, his knowledge about magic alone remained perfectly intact.

What had disappeared was memory itself.

And—

‘Memories of Psychedelia, huh.’

More precisely, every record related to magic that came from Psychedelia, and all combat records, had been completely erased.

As if someone had deliberately carved out only that part.

......Anyway, even though he’d heard the whole story from Penia...

the situation was still awkward for him.

Like how the Palatio count family had become a marquis family.

Like how he was in a situation where he could even declare a kingdom.

Like how he’d become a god, and all that....

To Alon from thirteen years ago,

there was just no way he could imagine how so many things had piled up and tangled together to create a situation like this.

Even Yutia Bloodia, whom he’d seen today, was like that.

Of course, he’d heard some explanations from Penia in advance about Yutia and the others.

Even so, deep down, Alon had been startled.

Because the Yutia Bloodia he’d met in person was even more beautiful than he’d imagined.

Of course, he’d seen her face in Psychedelia, too, but—

back then, the sins had all been somewhat assimilated with their sins, so he hadn’t been able to properly see their faces.

That was why, even after hearing explanations from Penia, Alon had recognized Yutia late.

“Hoo—”

Alon let out a quiet sigh.

Today had already been confusing enough, but he instinctively sensed that tomorrow would be even worse than today.

Because tomorrow was Marquis Palatio’s birthday—Alon’s birthday.

‘......They told me it’d be better not to get found out.’

That was only natural.

A being who could declare a kingdom, who could even become a god, losing their memories overnight?

All kinds of things could happen.

That was why Alon planned to hide his memory loss as much as possible—aside from Yutia.

......Separate from what he wanted, though, he didn’t know if it would go well.

‘......I need to hide it well.’

While Alon was thinking that—

Outside the Marquis Palatio estate, on a hill.

“I’m busy. I have to bring a new statue.”

“......So? Why did you suddenly say it was urgent and gather all of us?”

“What is it. You said you had something to talk about related to Teacher?”

“Seriously.”

“I already got everything ready for big brother’s present, so it doesn’t matter.”

“I’m busy.”

“Mm—well, I am free, though.”

Everyone except Yutia and Rine had gathered in one place.

After confirming that, Magrina took a breath, then opened her mouth.

“I hear Marquis Palatio’s memories have returned to when he was young.”

““......What?””

Rine’s desperate move to stop Yutia’s one-woman show... had been played.