Fated to Be Loved by Villains

If Victoria had to ruminate on all of her memories with her sister, then she’d have to go a long way back in time.

Way, way back in time.

Back when she and Seras were known as the most harmonious sisters of the Wolfman Tribe Village.

They had been together since they were born, and had been using the same room ever since. Back then, they got along extremely well.

Both of them played together, trained together, practiced together…

And more importantly, they relied on each other, as if they couldn’t live without each other. That was how close they were as a family.

Yes, a family.

In other words, allies who could trust and rely on each other the most in this world.

“Unnie.”

Like other kids her age, back then, she was afraid of a lot of things.

At times, she imagined that there was a monster under her bed, and that led her to be scared of the darkness.

She didn’t remember the reason, but one day she got extremely scared to the point that her whole body was shaking. Back then, she asked her sister a question that she could still remember to this very day.

“You won’t leave me? No matter what happens?”

“Yes!”

She asked as such while peeking from the bottom of the bunk bed, to see her sister smiling down from the top bunk.

The memory of her smile was still vivid in her mind.

“I’ll never abandon you.”

She remembered that she fell asleep comfortably upon hearing that sentence, despite having experienced a horrible fear that kept her awake for the night.

Even after that…

She believed in those words…

Until the very end…

Even until the day when all the people in the village died, burned, cut, and bled…

The oppression against the Cardinal Humans in the empire had never been mild, but the ‘purge’ of the Wolfman Tribe was especially terrible even compared to the other ones.

What came into Seras’ and Victoria’s view on their way back home after they finished their training as usual was a testament of that.

They could see a red flame covering the blue sky.

And the village that had turned as red as the flame.

Chopped corpses, pieces of bodies scattered around everywhere.

Blood. Blood. More blood.

Blood was pouring in all directions like a flood.

-Purge all the captured survivors. As for the ones who still survived, well…

Victoria could still remember the drowsy expression of the person who seemed to be their leader, as he was making such insane remarks.

-Check if they have family.

-If they do, what should we do?

-Torment them before killing them, if possible. That way, their family would 77⁹i0iii0o the survivors.

-So?

-…

That hell went on for several days.

She somehow managed to hide from all those people, but the moment the entire village was purged by them, she couldn’t do anything but to hide silently.

Her family, acquaintances, and friends were killed right before her very eyes.

And she had to watch them die without being able to even lift a finger.

She could still remember the sight as they opened their mouths weakly.

And the unidentified sounds that sounded like a scream and a groan that came out of their mouths in vain.

Unnie…

Protect me.

Stay by my side.

You said you’d always be by my side.

So why…

Why did you abandon me?

I need you.

I want you to be by my side more than ever.

“…”

She begged, and yet she never heard an answer.

Even after that, she had no chance to ask her sister such questions again, as fates drove them apart.

And when they finally met again, too much time had already passed for her to ask all those questions again.

…Why…?

Even so, the questions lingered around her vocal chords, even until this day.

Why did you abandon me?

The questions that she had yet to say out loud due to her own hesitation that had been holding her back.

●

And now…

Some bum asked her to let him fondle hers and her sister’s breasts at the same time.

“…What?”

She asked with a stiffened face, but instead of replying to her, the bum, Dowd, glared at Count Nicholas, who was scattering its wriggling pieces of flesh in all directions again.

It had been a while since the sly look on his face when he requested such an absurd thing disappeared without a trace.

“Your Imperial Majesty, with all due respect, could you please use your power right now?”

“…I’m repeating myself but, you’re probably the only person who’d request the empress of the empire to follow your biddings, you know?!”

As she said so…

The Dragonkin’s Magic Power pulsated into the room.

The Magic Power of the Ruler. The overwhelming Divine Power that could erase all weaker Special Abilities just with its existence alone, soared in all directions.

“What about the command?”

“I’ll tell you the direction! Block the attacks that’s going to come from that direction!”

Upon seeing that,

Something clicked in Victoria’s mind.

She realized that the situation was probably way more serious than she thought.

“Victoria.”

After sweeping his hair, Dowd came in front of her and said in a calm voice.

“Please.”

“…”

“If you’re late, Her Imperial Majesty, me, everyone else is going to die.”

Then what she had to do was also clear.

Two minutes. She had to bring Seras here and help that man out in two minutes.

“Go, quickly.”

As if Dowd’s words became a signal…

Count Nicholas began to advance towards them while letting out a horrible shriek that gave people the urge to rip off their eardrums.

Seeing that, Victoria gritted her teeth while turning her body away.

She didn’t know what would change if she were to bring Seras here with her, but at the end of the day, it was this man who had requested it. There was no way that he’d order her to do something without thinking it through first, especially in this kind of situation.

“…I’ll be right back!”

Fortunately, as a Grand Assassin, it wouldn’t be hard for her to keep her word.

She flew over the open ceiling with acrobatic movements.

Then, she kicked the vertical walls before running at full speed along the thin support that ordinary people would find difficult to step on. Before long, she managed to go through the place that was full of rubbles and debris without stopping even once.

“…”

However, as she moved faster than she had ever been…

Thoughts that didn’t quite fit the urgent situation occupied her mind.

This…is just like before…

It reminded her of a certain memory.

The memory of her training with a certain someone back when she was a child.

…He told me to reconcile…with Unnie…

Prior to this, Dowd Campbell had consistently told her that she had to reconcile with her sister.

Even now, when Count Nicholas’ ‘resurrected’ body appeared before them, he insisted for her to bring her sister along.

He probably thought that this was the perfect time to reap the result of his constant pestering.

As she thought so, at some point Seras had appeared before her eyes.

“…Uh, Victoria?”

Seeing her sister called out to her so awkwardly, Victoria bit her lips, as if she was upset.

Even though it was her who had initiated a conversation with her first a while ago…

There was still a lingering hesitation in her heart.

“…Follow me.”

But that was one thing.

Dowd had clearly said that he wouldn’t be able to solve this situation without this person.

So, she had no choice but to drag this woman with her.

“Um? Where…?”

“There’s no time to explain, just follow me quickly!”

She roughly grabbed the confused Seras’ wrist.

Just like her, this woman was also one of the best assassins on the continent, so even if she were to use the harsh route that she had taken, she would be able to follow her just fine.

In fact, she was doing exactly that even though she was confused by all this.

…He told me to reconcile…

Victoria clenched her teeth so hard that it started to bleed.

She still wasn’t ready mentally.

It was a valley of emotions that had been caving in over the years. There was no way it could be healed so easily.

The deeper she dug into it, the more she realized that the matter was more complicated than she thought.

And that was the biggest mistake she had committed today.

“—Toria. Victoria!”

Such thoughts occupied too much of her attention to the point that she failed to react to something that she ‘normally’ could react to.

“…!”

It was only after she heard Seras’ hurried call that she came back to her senses.

In a normal situation, she would definitely have reacted properly and dodged it.

But the combination of her concentration falling apart, the fact that she hadn’t expected the battlefield to spread all the way here, and the opponent’s speed that was beyond common sense…

Made her body stiffened.

Her ability to sense energy that had been developed to the extreme instantly conveyed the situation she was in to her brain.

And the conclusion that she got from all that information was…

The fact that she was on the verge of rolling down into the mouth of a catastrophe.

“—!”

Before she even moved her body, tentacles of flesh stuck out through the floors, walls, and ceilings from all directions.

She didn’t know if it was because the monster still had the ability to think, or if it was because it was out to attack all lifeforms nearby indiscriminately, but…

Whichever it was, the timing of its attack was simply the worst.

The tentacles created a perfect prison that she couldn’t dodge. There was no gap for her to escape as her fate was completely sealed.

She could feel the whisper of death sweeping down her shoulders as her expression stiffened.

However, at the next moment…

“It’s dangerous—!”

Her body was tossed from the ‘trajectory’ of the attack.

“…Huh?”

She let out a dumbfounded sound.

Seras’ body came into her view…

Pierced by the tentacle of flesh, after she pushed her body away…

“..H-Huh?”

Even though she was facing such a thing, that was the only reaction she could let out.