Fated to Be Loved by Villains

“…Are you really going to go?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Viscount Armin replied with a flat tone as Leonid asked with a stiff expression.

It had been several months since he had brought this person into the Tristan Duchy, yet he couldn’t help but feel upset upon hearing that he was leaving now.

Actually, the reason why he held this particular viscount here for so long wasn’t for a grand reason or anything.

He just wanted to give a warning to that bum Dowd Campbell—the person who had seduced his precious granddaughter. At the same time, he also thought of ‘disciplining’ the viscount so that he’d know his place.

Eleanor would try to push through with the marriage no matter how much he tried to dissuade her due to her strong will. That was why Leonid thought of using the viscount—the closest family member to that punk Dowd Campbell—to dissuade the punk instead so he would be the one to back down from the marriage instead of his precious granddaughter.

However, during the viscount’s stay in the duchy, his plan derailed to the opposite direction of his original plan.

Because there were quite a lot of times where he was impressed by the viscount’s personality.

…His sincerity is something else…

He thought as he smacked his lips inwardly. The viscount was exactly the kind of person that Leonid wanted to keep around.

It was to the point that he couldn’t understand how did this man produce such a bum of a son.

He wasn’t the only one who thought this way either, as proven by someone else who said exactly the same thing not long after the viscount gave out his previous answer.

“Are you really going to leave?!”

“…”

After seeing the expression of the person who burst through the door and barged into the room, Leonid’s and Armin’s expressions stiffened at the same time.

This person was none other than Bella Myers, Eleanor’s personal maid.

“…Bella, you need to knock before coming in.”

A maid barging into her lord’s room without knocking could easily be taken as an outrageous offense.

However, Bella completely ignored Leonid’s scolding and continued questioning Armin with a shocked expression on her face.

“How could you not say anything to me…?!”

“…Miss Bella.”

Armin called out to her with a forced smile.

Considering all the things she had done in the past few months to stalk him, he was showing a considerably impressive-level of self-control.

“Please don’t be so discouraged. We will definitely meet with each other again in the fu—”

“But you haven’t responded to my feelings…!”

“…”

Hearing those words, Leonid’s gaze towards Armin turned into one that was filled with admiration.

Is this really the same Bella Myers whose heart would only move when she stands up for Eleanor? This is…

To be able to make a woman way younger than him to act like this towards him was such a great accomplishment to the point that it was hard for other men to not respect him. ṛ

“…It appears that the bum’s talent in seduction is something that runs in the family.”

“Pardon me?”

“Don’t mind me.”

Armin, who tilted his head as if he had just heard something weird, soon cleared his throat. Then, he brought up the original topic.

“…I must go to the Imperial Palace.”

Hearing his words, both Leonid and Bella’s expressions considerably worsened.

“The situation looks serious, Viscount.”

What Leonid said afterwards justified their expression’s drastic change.

“According to the information at hand, there’s a high chance that the place is enveloped in the kind of chaos where no one could afford to even watch their backs anymore. If you were to go there, you’d fall into the middle of a fierce battle in which anyone wouldn’t be able to help but get swept in.”

The empress, the chancellor, and the Upper Nobles Association’s leader all had gathered in that place. No one had the leniency to protect anyone else there.

What exactly could Viscount Campbell—who had zero fighting capabilities, and such a low-level of Mana Mastery—accomplish in such a place?

That was what Leonid was trying to say underneath his lengthy words.

“I already knew that, my lord.”

But even so, Armin just replied calmly.

“But that just means I have more reason to go there.”

“…How so?”

“Because my son is stuck in such a dangerous place.”

“…”

“If I had no idea about it, I wouldn’t even think of going there, but now that I know, there’s no way I could just leave him alone.”

Hearing that answer, Leonid let out a deep sigh.

“And what exactly are you going to do when you get there, Viscount?”

“I’m his father.”

Armin answered as such with a smile.

“That’s why I have to protect my son.”

“…”

This man…

Despite his ordinary look, he has the talent to impress others easily like this.

It’s one thing if he’s just all talk, but his will is unshakeable as his resolve as he made that talk.

In truth, his answer was something that Leonid had already expected. After all, he immediately made up his mind that he’d go to the Imperial Palace the moment he heard that his son was there.

Finally, he was able to see how this man who looked like a typical nobody could marry a professor of the Magic Tower.

“Although, I’m a little worried that something serious is going to happen…”

“…”

“But I’m sure it will work somehow.”

Leonid couldn’t be so sure, but…

He had a feeling that the bum probably inherited his loose lips from his father.

●

A heavy silence filled the meeting room.

All of the leaders of the empire had gathered here.

The empress herself, Cecilia the 11th, and her guard, the Sword Saint, Radu Varphon.

Chancellor Sullivan, who was widely considered as the number two person in the empire, right after the empress.

And the leader of the Upper Nobles Association, Marquis Bogut.

You could call this lineup an all-star lineup or a dream team.

“…”

But, there was one thing that I couldn’t understand.

What the fuck a bum like me was doing here? I clearly didn’t belong in such an amazing lineup.

[Well, in terms of influence, you’re actually the most powerful out of everyone here, no?]

Nah, no way, you’re exaggerating.

[Seeing everyone is being wary of you, I don’t think I am exaggerating anything here.]

…

He had a point.

In fact, Marquis Bogut let out a smile the moment he saw me taking my seat.

“Alright, since the key person is already here, why don’t we start now?”

His words only further proved the point.

The way he acted implied that he had been waiting for me because I was the most important person out of everyone in this meeting.

“…I can’t help but acknowledge the amount of guts you have, Marquis.”

The empress said so while letting out a deep sigh.

I understood what she was feeling. After all, only a lunatic would enter the enemy’s line the moment they found out that he had no more available means left.

“Let’s get to the point. What do you want?”

“Hmm.”

Marquis Bogut scratched his cheek, casually shrugged his shoulders as he opened his mouth.

“…Why don’t we consider this as a draw?”

“…”

“…”

“Well, let’s just pretend that the Upper Nobles Association has never tried to start a civil war and call it even. In exchange, let’s punish some people as an example and move on instead of hurting innocent people just to purge the bad apples.”

The moment such words left Marquis Bogut’s mouth, both the empress and the chancellor stared at him dumbfoundedly.

“…Just one lunatic is already enough. We already have Dowd in our kingdom…”

“…”

I tried to ignore what the chancellor had said. The empress then opened her mouth, her expression was stiff.

“…Marquis Bogut. Please tell me you aren’t being serious.”

I know, right? That was a bold request for someone who had been cornered to the cliff’s edge.

“There’s no reason for me to joke around at this stage, no?”

“…I know that you aren’t right in the head, but I truly didn’t expect that you’re the kind of person who’d say something so stupid. It’s as if you have zero abilities to make a judgment.”

She continued with a sigh.

“You need to be able to offer something to us, or else this wouldn’t be a negotiation anymore.”

“But why?”

“…Are you making fun of us, Marquis Bogut? If this is all just part of your one big joke, I’m going to arrest you immediately.”

“No, no, you’re mistaken. You see, I’m not trying to negotiate here, I’m just offering you a suggestion. It’s up to you whether you’d listen to me or not.”

He replied indifferently while yawning.

“Since in the first place, I didn’t gather you guys here to have a chat with each other.”

“…What?”

Her Imperial Majesty the Empress asked while letting out a hollow laugh, Marquis Bogut smiled.

“As I’ve stated earlier, the key person here isn’t you or that half-regressor sitting over there.”

“…!”

As Marquis Bogut said so while pointing at Chancellor Sullivan—whose expression stiffened the moment she heard it—he turned his gaze slowly towards me.

“Dowd Campbell.”

“…”

“I’m here to bring you a present. You don’t need to thank me.”

He told me that with a wink, prompting me to send him a glare.

…Come to think of it, I heard that he insisted on me being present here.

I thought he was going to talk about something related to that, but seeing how things had gone so far, it didn’t seem to be the case at all.

“…What are you even on about, Marquis?”

The moment I replied as such, someone burst into the meeting hall and barged in.

“Mr. Dowd!”

“…Victoria?”

I called out the person’s name in a daze the moment I saw her face.

Her breath was in a complete disorder, and her face was flushed. Her normally neat-looking clothes were clearly in a mess, as if she had to bust through her way as he rushed all the way here.

I could see the guards who were following her across the door, looking very taken aback.

It seemed like she had come here after getting rid of all of them.

However, the most noticeable thing out of them all…

Was the unusual ‘anxiety’ in her eyes.

Whatever it was, it probably had something to do with the reason why she shouted her next sentence as if her life depended on it.

“Avoid it—!” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

There was no time to ask what she was about.

At that moment, someone else in the room flinched before standing up from his seat.

As if he sensed a ‘threat’ that the others hadn’t noticed yet.

“Your Imperial Majesty, bend down!”

After the Sword Saint said so, at the very next moment…

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[ Encounter with ‘Middle Boss: Predator’! ]

[ Entering the chapter’s boss battle right after! ]

Such windows popped up, and accompanying them were…

-…

-…

-…!!!!

The sound of the entire ceiling of the meeting hall exploding.

And through the center part of it…

Something that looked like a ‘lump of flesh’ dropped.

“…”

Its appearance was terrifying.

As it had lost its human shape—with its skin looking as if it had completely melted and stretched out, as if it had been drowned into toxic substances for a long period of time—it looked absolutely disgusting.

No one could tell that this was once a human. Hell, let alone thinking of it as a human, no one would be able to define this thing even if they were to scour through the dictionary to find the words that could describe it.

However, that didn’t apply for me…

Because I knew who the hell this fucker was.

The moment I saw it, I instinctively knew…

“…Count Nicholas?”

There was no way I couldn’t recognize him.

Especially after seeing the trace of ‘fanaticism’ in his eyes, even though his body had turned into a lump of meat.