Fated to Be Loved by Villains

“...Haa.”

My shoulders had turned stiff.

Which meant, the consecutive fierce battles were exhausting me more and more.

“...”

I looked down at the doll ‘modeled after Faenol’ that I had just knocked down.

Actually, it was hard to say that it was powerful when accounting the power of the ‘original’.

As someone who had survived the Crimson Night Incident and directly faced the Red Devil, the difference was like that of a huge forest fire and a match fire.

However...

—That fucker.

I glared at Mobius, who was sitting in the control seat, while feeling a tingling sensation in one part of my head.

Unless that punk was an idiot, there was no way he didn’t know that something like this wouldn’t be able to even put the brakes on me.

However...

This shit was enough to piss me off.

He really went out of his way to make this thing unnecessarily resemble Faenol’s appearance in every way—even her voice and behavior.

When I knocked it down, it even made an expression that looked as if I had betrayed it.

It was as if he was setting this up in such a way that it would give me the impression as if I was killing the ‘people around me’ with my own hands.

“...”

I pushed the emotions that were gradually piling up and boiling up into the corner of my head.

[...This could get a little dangerous.]

What?

[Exhaustion and anger will blur your judgment. That will make it easier for you to fall into his tricks.]

I know.

[You said that, but you’re still losing your mind after seeing these cheap provocations.]

...

Hearing what Caliban said, I took a deep breath and organized my messy thoughts.

Yeah, he was right.

Only an idiot would fall for the enemy’s trick even though he knew of its nature already. If he knew all that, and still fell for it anyway, it would make him a moron.

[Be honest with me.]

What?

[...Have you ever experienced ‘this sort of thing’ before?]

What do you mean by that?

[I’m asking if you’ve ever seen people around you die with your own eyes.]

With how stiff and serious his voice sounded, it was clear that Caliban wasn’t trying to tease or mock me.

He was asking me a genuine question.

That just showed how precarious the state I was in.

[That’s probably the reason why your mind is so shaken after seeing ‘things that resemble’ people close to you die.]

...I don’t think this is a good time for psychological counseling.

[You know the answer already, you just refuse to acknowledge it. Which meant I hit the sore spot, didn’t I?]

A gunshot.

Bloodstain.

White hospital gown dyed red.

A few twisted, ripped apart, faded images came to my mind.

“...Not now, Caliban.”

However, those shouldn’t be the thing I’d need to concern myself over for now.

Even more so, when the ‘enemy I had to get rid of’ was standing before my eyes.

[...Fucking hell.]

I could hear Caliban clicking his tongue upon seeing my firm attitude.

He must’ve realized what I was trying to imply from my attitude...

That said memory was something that was placed in ‘the deepest place’. It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about in the slightest.

[You’re walking into a trap. Just keep that in mind.]

I know that already.

That’s why I’ve prepared a countermeasure.

I thought so while looking at the chancellor who was standing behind the stage.

She looked at me worriedly, clasping her hands tightly as she asked me by moving her lips silently...

—Are you going to do it?

Instead of answering her, I let out a light smile.

Of course I am.

And this time, I wouldn’t fail.

Having failed once in the past is enough for me.

●

Eleanor couldn’t remember when, how, and what kind of thing that she had gone through until this happened.

Every single one of the memories that Eleanor was swimming in originated from Dowd’s consciousness. So, there was no way that she’d be able to properly perceive things that even Dowd himself couldn’t remember properly.

All of the memories related to how the girl was kidnapped only faintly flashed by. Which meant, such details weren’t important to this man.

But, the reason why the kidnapping happened wasn’t so hard to guess.

Just like in the world she lived in, in Dowd’s world, rich people also accumulated a lot of enemies. In order for them to accumulate their wealth, honor, anything, in the first place, they had to compete with countless people, and those competitions tended to drag people to their lowest point.

The reason why the girl was kidnapped was probably related to such dirty things.

One of their competitor’s dirty tricks over a business.

As said earlier...

Such things were not important to Dowd.

There were memories that remained clear even among the remnants of these decades old memories.

All ‘information’ regarding the situation when he broke through the building where the girl was locked up after her kidnapping...

The structure of the building that he was briefed of in advance, the number of enemies inside...

Every gravel, brick, even how the dust looked—everything was still fresh in his memory.

As if showing how important it was for him to do away with the situation at that time.

In a way, this showed just how important that girl was to this man.

How he fiercely used all the ‘skills’ that had been built up through years of education proved it.

No wonder he somehow seems so familiar with fighting.

Eleanor let out a chuckle as she followed behind Dowd.

Ever since she fell in love with this guy, she had already finished her secret investigation.

What she found out was...

The Campbell Barony, where Dowd was born and grew up, was never the place where this man could develop the judgment in emergency situations he had shown so far.

It was a matter of course, but someone who wasn’t used to fighting would never be able to pull off something like that.

However, if such skills were built before he was ‘born’ as Dowd Campbell, that answered all the questions she had.

But, there was a stark difference between him in this memory and him that she knew.

There’s no reluctance in his movements.

If there was one word that could represent Dowd Campbell’s modus operandi, it would be ‘planning’.

He was someone who’d move forward by leveraging the information superiority he had while carefully going through variables that would come up later.

But...

“B-Block him!”

“What the fuck is wrong with this bastard?”

Dowd from his memory was like a rhinoceros. He knocked, shot, killed, and crushed everyone in his way down while rushing into the building.

Even though he knew that what he was doing was reckless, he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything, not the aftermath, not himself, only his goal that was right around the corner.

...They are similar in that sense.

The way he’d do anything to achieve his goal was exactly like the Dowd whom Eleanor knew.

Except that this Dowd seemed...

Desperate.

It felt as if he was desperate to not to lose what he had in hands.

The color of mental image that was dyeing this whole memory was one that was in line with the word ‘urgency’.

It represented his struggle as someone who was born in the slum and had nothing, his struggle to protect what was precious to him for the first time in his life.

That was probably why he became so impatient.

He forsook his own safety, putting his judgment all behind, and moving forward while sacrificing everything just for the sake of his goal.

...Is that not dangerous?

She had seen him do this a few times before.

Apparently, going into something without caring about his surroundings the moment he found out that people around him were in danger was his innate personality.

The way he somehow succeeded to reach the ‘end’, even though he kept advancing without caring about his safety, was the same as she remembered.

Then, his memories advanced in a flash.

She could see how there were tens of people standing to guard the building, but Dowd still managed to break through them.

And at the end of such a situation...

The girl’s figure came into view, and a gun was pointed at her temple. Eleanor could also see Dowd standing in front of the girl.

But, it was the one who took the girl hostage who was nervous, not him. It was only natural since in front of him was someone who was showing such monstrous combat power.

“D-Don’t come closer—!”

Dowd blankly looked at the girl and the man alternately as the man took the girl hostage with trembling hands.

“Stay there for a moment.”

Dowd said in a raspy voice.

He continued calmly while reloading the gun in his hands.

“...You—”

Meanwhile the girl barely managed to stand with faint eyes—as if she had been drugged.

She seemed to have come back to her senses upon hearing his voice, and only then did she realize that Dowd was there, right in front of her. Her eyes widened.

Then, tears welled up in her eyes.

“...Why do you look like that, you stupid?”

Seeing that, Dowd’s whole body flinched as if an extreme pain struck him.

Then, a mocking voice entered his ears.

“Ha... Ha! You can’t even stand properly, why are you acting tough?!”

Anyone who saw him would act that way.

Because it was a reasonable reaction after seeing his state.

However...

What truly happened was not like what he thought.

—Ah, I see.

And Eleanor knew that.

She could completely understand what was going on in Dowd’s mind.

He could endure his body being sick, his mind being pushed to the limit, his body being wrung dry of its energy...

But, he couldn’t endure seeing people who he had grown fond of be sad even for a bit.

Eleanor knew what kind of feelings she had whenever she looked at him.

And now, Dowd was expressing the exact same feeling as he saw the girl in front of him.

Indeed. This girl had touched the part of his heart where Eleanor and the other women had never been to.

“...”

Which meant...

She could find the reason here...

The reason why the Devils could never enter the deepest place in his heart.

As for why she thought so... It was because the color of the mental image that dyed the end of the memory she was treading on right now.

A terrible black.

To describe it in a word...

‘Sense of loss.’

The origin of the ‘trauma’ he had was here, at the end of this memory.