Fated to Be Loved by Villains

Iliya Krisanax evaluated herself as someone with common sense.

Which meant that she didn’t have a distrustful personality, but also wasn’t naive enough to be easily convinced by anything people told her.

Hence why…

“—Do you think I’d just believe that?”

Just as she said…

She didn’t believe the claim that the person before her eyes had stated—she didn’t believe that she was ‘her future self’, and that meant she had no reason to listen to what she wanted to say.

“What a shame.”

The woman shrugged as she said that. Nevertheless, her appearance backed up her claim.

After all, the woman looked exactly like Iliya if she had longer hair and aged a few years.

Even so, that ‘proof’ was still too weak.

After all there were more than plenty of ways to impersonate someone. There was a high chance that this woman also—

“When you were a child—was it when you were five? You received a doll’s house as a birthday present, right?”

“…”

But then Iliya heard what the woman in front of her suddenly said, prompting her expression to stiffened up slightly.

That information was undoubtedly a private one.

One that only her extremely close friends would know.

But the woman didn’t stop there as she went even further than that.

“You shoved your face into it because you wanted to ‘become a giant’, right?”

“…”

“But then your head got stuck in it, and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t get it off. After that, you rolled on the floor.”

“…”

“Eventually, you cried to your brother, asking him to take it off your head.”

Iliya’s face flushed at a terrifying speed.

Somehow, it became hard for her to breathe. Shame that she couldn’t hide was welling up from the bottom of her heart.

“…How the fuck do you know that?!”

The answer she got struck her even more mercilessly.

“Your diary.”

“…What?”

“You know, the diary you wrote when you were seven.”

“…C-Could you not say it out loud—”

“The same one where you wrote your ideal type on its first page. ‘A reliable and dependable Prince Charming who always looks at you’.”

“…”

“Hm, what was it that you wrote next? Ah, right, you dreamed of a prince with a cape, showing up with a bouquet of roses on a unicorn, bravely proposing to you in a place where you could hear all the spectators’ clapping their hands for you. You spent a whole night coming up with that, didn’t you?”

Iliya’s body began to tremble.

“That wasn’t all, of course. You even wrote down ten romantic lines you wanted to have with the prince. I’m sure the first one was… ‘Please forget me, Prince’, ‘What does that mean?’, ‘I’m saying I’d like you to stop liking me’, ‘How am I supposed to do that?’…”

“…T-That was when I was a child…! C-Can you stop talking about things like that—?!”

“Indeed, that was when you were a child. Now, it’s different for you, isn’t it?”

“…”

“If I remember correctly, around this time, you had the habit of indulging yourself in the delusions of your Mr. Dowd to the point that your sheets goes wet—”

“Stop—!!”

Iliya screamed with a quivering voice, wobbling, almost losing her balance. It wasn’t the correct reaction to have for sure, considering that she didn’t know whether this person before her eyes were enemies or not.

“So, what do you think? Do you believe me now?”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t even ponder whether to believe her or not. Her mind was filled up with the thoughts of wanting to beat the person in front of her to death.

Good Lord, such a wicked enemy still exists?! A wicked enemy who could use this kind of psychological attack exists?!

“Actually, it doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not. I came to you because there’s something I want to show you.”

“…What?”

“You lost your first family to the Devils, right?”

Iliya froze at the woman’s sudden statement.

Probably because her words cut so deep into her heart, but more than that…

It was because ‘something’ was being played before her eyes as the woman’s words fell.

Images flashed by.

The memory of the Crimson Night Incident.

The burning village, collapsing house…

The dead bodies of her parents…

Iliya gritted her teeth so hard that it almost felt like she was trying to crush them.

These were the scenes she couldn’t forget—they still appeared in her nightmares.

“But now, it seems like you’re getting along well with the person who caused such a situation.”

“…”

Iliya went silent at the sarcastic sentence.

—I.

Iliya believed in her own discernment.

Having observed Faenol Lipek while hanging out with her, she genuinely thought that Faenol wasn’t that kind of a person.

No matter how she looked at her, she really didn’t seem like someone who’d intentionally get innocent people to caught up in bad things

“…The ones who killed my mother and father are the bastards who followed the Devil, not the Devil herself.”

“Ah, right, you’re still so lofty during this time, huh? Well, it’s admirable how you can make such an objective assessment even to your parents’ enemies. Of course, I agree with you. Being a Devil’s Vessel doesn’t mean that they’re inherently a bad person. However…”

Accompanying such words…

“Have you thought of the possibility that you’d lose the ‘second’ family you’re going to make in the future to the Devils?”

Another image popped up.

“…”

Faces she had never seen.

A series of images of kids that shared part of her appearances flashed through her eyes.

She could feel the emotion this woman held as she saw those kids.

The woman regarded them as her entire world.

My children… My precious children…

I’d do anything to protect them… My second family…

Hence why…

The next image of the children ‘dying’ was like a curse that stuck to the back of Iliya’s mind.

“Tell me, Iliya. You’ve seen it before, so you must also know it well.”

The children’s bodies were mashed.

All of their bodies had lost their shapes after being crushed by the Devils’ Demonic Auras as they went berserk.

She didn’t know the hows or why, she didn’t even know who these children were.

But somehow…

Just by looking at them…

It felt as if someone was cutting through her lungs with a knife.

She didn’t feel any physical pain, but a phantom pain that felt as if it was engraved in her soul.

“How would you feel if you were to see your own family dying before your eyes?”

Iliya didn’t even know who this woman was.

Nor did she know the reason why she was showing her these things, or who these children were.

But, she could give a clear answer to that question.

Her feelings right now…

If the woman before her felt the same way as her…

Then, she’d give her the same answer.

“—I’d rather…”

Above her lips, where blood was coming out because she had clenched them too hard, clear water was mixed there.

It was her tears falling.

“I’d rather die.”

“Right?”

Hearing Iliya’s words, the woman—the Prophet, replied calmly.

Anger, longing, hatred, remorse, and regret that was piercing her so deeply that it was engraved on her bones.

Such feelings bundled together, eroded in the passage of time. That would be the closest description of the emotions behind her reply.

“If you don’t stop now, those images will become your future.”

“…”

“Listen carefully, Iliya Krisanax. Right now, you’re moving steadily towards your own destruction. Luckily, you’re a damn Hero, so always keep that in mind.”

“…”

“—That’s alI I wanted to tell you.”

After saying those words, the woman quickly turned her body.

Then, she said her last piece before her body disappeared in a cold sneer.

“—In any case, if you want to help your ‘friends’, go quickly. After all, they are in quite a difficult situation right now.”

Iliya couldn’t even reply to her.

She could only stare helplessly at her disappearing back.

●

“…Hmph…”

I snorted, realizing that I was put in a difficult position.

“Doppelgangers, huh?”

[Seeing how they copied the others’ appearance, it seems so.]

Since I couldn’t move, I sent this guy to look around the surroundings.

From that, I got to know that the Devil’s Vessels were scattered around, and were now facing doppelgangers who looked exactly like them.

Apparently, the doppelganger completely copied the Vessels’ everything.

[From their abilities, Demonic Auras, even equipment, they’re all the same. I don’t even know how they did that.]

“That sounds…serious. Doesn’t that mean both sides have the exact same capabilities?”

[Pretty much. Unless they somehow got a ridiculous power up mid-battle, I could see them fighting forever.]

If that was the case, casualties were bound to happen.

…You said you’re just testing the water.

That punk set up quite the wicked trap, huh?

I thought so while narrowing my eyes.

“…”

Then, I let out a deep sigh.

Since she pulled up such a wicked move, I had no choice but to take extreme measures.

“Well, there’s one way to get a ridiculous power-up in an instant.”

[No.]

“…What?”

[If even the fucker who’d unhesitatingly use weird measures think twice about this thing, then the measures would be beyond weird. It would be right to stop you right away instead of letting you say another damn thing.]

“…”

As expected of someone who had been with me for a long time.

He understood me like the back of his hands.

“Caliban.”

[Whay?]

“We have no choice.”

[…]

See? He understood. I only needed to say that for him to give in with a sigh.

[… Alright, fine, do whatever. Not like you’ll listen if I stop you. So what are you going to do?]

“Well…”

[Say it quickly, are you trying to piss me off?]

“I’m going to kill myself.”

[…]

***

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