Misunderstood Hero: My Family Are All Villains

Ding!

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║NEW HOLY RELIC ACQUIRED!║

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[Holy Relic — Stranger’s Necklace]

[Description: Salvation in Death. Increase the Rune’s output by a single Class.]

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’Huh... a single class? Then how did Wahum’s attacks increase by two? He must’ve had something else. And why is it called a Stranger’s Necklace? Did it change its name once I became its owner for a little while? Was that the prerequisite? Hm.’

While Malik was lost in thought, many a man knelt before his throne, while a small number stood together.

A few were familiar... the soon-to-be-guillotined king’s family.

Their faces were enraged, barely stopping themselves from screaming their lungs out at the man who was so obviously ignoring them or, at least, dismissing them as nothing.

Behind Malik were his family, his wife, Layla, and his daughter, Amal, who couldn’t take the tension anymore and tapped her father’s shoulder.

"Father! Please look at them already!"

Malik let go of the necklace, letting it fall on his chest, finally bothering to look down at the traitors.

"What is it that you’ve come here for?"

The king’s wife stepped forward, but a man spoke before she could, seeming to be their leader:

"You think too little of us, Sultan. We are a coalition of kingdoms. In other words, we have the soldiers of multiple kingdoms under our name. Unlike your soldiers, ours haven’t been spread thin and are in top shape, ready to attack at a moment’s notice."

Once he was done revealing their strength, the traitor pointed at Malik.

"If we wish, we could take this—"

"My Sultan, forgive me for arriving late."

Azeem all but materialized in the hall, interrupting the traitor.

"Please, continue speaking, Ghadar."

Their apparent leader, Ghadar, scoffed.

"As I was saying, we could take this Holy Palace if we—"

"Watch what you’re saying, traitorous scum!"

Once more, Azeem interrupted him, though this time intentionally, earning a giggle from Amal.

"You! Damn—ha..."

Ghadar sighed, giving up on facing Azeem.

"Sultan, give up the Holy Palace and let us lead!"

"Oh, really? You and that little army?"

Those words didn’t come from Azeem, but Sinbad, who flew in and landed on Amal’s head, gently blocking her ears with his wings, not wanting her to hear what he was about to say next:

"A coalition of kingdoms, yes? How dreadfully quaint. You’ve mistaken quantity for quality. You strut in here like a peacock with a limp, threatening a man whose throne room has seen more genuine power in a single breath than your entire bloodline has mustered in a century."

He tilted his cute little head.

"You are what happens when ambition borrows a brain and forgets to return it. A waste of perfectly good oxygen—and I should know; I control it."

It was a good thing he covered Amal; no child should bear witness to such an incredible dismantling.

"The trees must weep every time you inhale. Now kindly shut your mouth before you lower the room’s average intellect any further."

Ghadar had almost lost his mind with anger at those ridiculous words but still somehow managed to compose himself.

"Regardless of what your kin say, you and your sultanate are over. This regime cannot protect Devil’s Maw any longer!"

Everyone in the hall glanced at Malik, wondering how he was taking this, but they saw no reaction.

That seemed to tick off Ghadar further.

"Did anyone tell you that we never saw you as our Sultan?"

He thought that with this, finally, he would get something.

But even then, Malik only stared at him and the rest, utterly unfazed.

Of course, that didn’t apply to his kin.

"Did your mother ever tell you that she should’ve kept her legs shut?"

Especially not Azeem, the most currish of the lot.

"You! You—!"

"Do you think you can do any better?"

Following sweet Dunya were Kabir and Noor, the last of whom joined the trend of cutting Ghadar off.

"Let’s speak objectively for a moment. Never mind the fact that you lot have zero experience in leading an entire nation of people... how would you last a single day?"

The grand vizier seemed to have changed clothes before coming here, now in a dress.

"Do you have a greater strength? No. Do you have a force ready to face the Demons or the invaders? No. Are any of you ready to bear the weight of the crown? How about all the other responsibilities you must manage? No. What would the new government be like? What would its systems be? Do you have any idea? Can you build those systems before the people die, or—in the impossible case you survive—the people revolt due to mismanagement?"

Noor sighed at the end, utterly flabbergasted by them.

"Did you truly think you had any chance here? Or did you act before you thought, desperate to save that traitorous king? Actually, I must ask, have any of you put ANY thought into this?"

Ghadar was beyond stunned at that point.

His people would’ve dug holes to hide in if they could.

They were shut down before they could even do anything.

"No... no..."

But Ghadar wasn’t going to have that!

"Your Sultan is weak!"

Ah... it seemed that this was what gave them the courage.

"It’s true! It’s why he doesn’t fly around everywhere like he used to with his Devil’s Steps! He must be using some sort of miracle drug! And since it wasn’t long since he last fought, I guarantee you all that he can’t fight now! Even I can defeat him!"

Everyone in the hall, except Ghadar’s fellow traitors, stared blankly at him.

One of those people was, of course, Malik, and he almost laughed out loud.

’Oh, how right but wrong you are~!’

He was far from nervous but rather enjoying this development.

Malik always expected that someone would doubt him; it was only natural. Sure, he could mimic his previous mannerisms, but he simply could not mimic the constant display of strength.

That was simply impossible for the current him.

So since he expected this, he was already mentally prepared for it. But, with the entrance of another of his subjects, it seemed that he didn’t even need to speak.

"I’ve made the same mistake of doubting the Sultan."

It was Zafar, his Lucky Soldier.

"I had betrayed him... many in this hall did."

Those words lowered the heads of nearly all of Malik’s people.

Only Sinbad, Kabir, and Dunya remained with their heads held high, proud to have believed in the Misunderstood Villain till the end...

Even if that ’end’ was one that they deeply regretted.

Amal, who wasn’t even born at that time, did the same simply because, well, she had nothing to do with whatever happened!

"Yet, despite that, despite everything, the Sultan still allowed me the honor of kneeling to him and serving in his army. Becoming his Lucky Soldier. I’ve yet to ask him for forgiveness. I don’t deserve that. So I remain as I am, hoping that one day, I can do something to earn that forgiveness. I believe most of us here hope for that."

Again, many nodded, completely agreeing with his words, Layla first amongst them.

"You’ve heard the boy soldier. You’ve heard the others. Cease your traitorous ways, and my husband just might show you mercy."

While Ghadar seemed on the verge of imploding, Malik almost raised a brow.

’My past truly seems a lot more complicated than I once thought.’

By now, what he knew was that Devil’s Maw once saw him as the vilest of men.

A Villain who genocided, who fought and killed the Former Sultan, Huda’s very uncle.

Yet, all of Malik’s "evil" was a misunderstanding, hence his previous Title, Misunderstood Villain.

Zafar, it seemed, formed a coalition to face him and end his reign, inviting many of Malik’s own family to face him.

Sweet Dunya, Sinbad, Kabir, and the Guard of the Fifth were the only ones against this.

Layla, it seemed, had stayed out of it. Huda, judging by her brash nature, was likely involved, as was Noor with her arrogance.

Malik didn’t know about Safira, but judging by her gentle nature, she was likely a bystander in all of it as well.

What stumped him was Azeem.

He knew the man to be incredibly loyal; he’d die before betraying Malik. So why did he show the same sadness as the others?

’Just what did I do to make him betray me?... Or did I order him to?’

Once more, Malik had too many damned questions and too few answers.

"Since we’ve reached this point, I must ask..."

Sighing out loud, he straightened and stood up from the throne.

"Who among you wants to be Sultan?"