Villain: 10x Rewards Begins With The Protagonist's Mother

Natasha was still staring at him.

He was sleeping peacefully, his face lit by the faint sunlight coming through the window.

Dante couldn’t bear her stare any longer so he had to do something.

[Mission "Sleep With Dante" completed.]

[Dante has been permanently freed from his nightmares.] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Her eyes finally moved away from his face to the blue screen in front of her.

She looked at the notification. There wasn’t a trace of relief or satisfaction on her face.

She felt nothing.

’Why can’t I smile? Shouldn’t I be happy that he won’t be tormented by nightmares anymore?’ She frowned, her face twisting. ’And that no more accidents will happen from now on?’

The answer was already clear to her.

’I should go.’ She swung her legs off the bed and stood up. Her body felt heavy even though nothing was physically wrong with her.

She straightened her clothes, pushed her hair back with one hand, and walked to the door without looking back.

’Goodbye, Dante.’ She thought as she turned the handle.

The early morning sun was coming through the windows at the end of the corridor, casting a warm orange glow across the floor.

Natasha stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

Then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Natasha looked up and her eyes widened.

A young woman with ice blue hair flowing past her shoulders appeared at the top of the staircase, pulling a suitcase behind her with one hand.

She was wearing a white silk blouse beneath a tailored black blazer with a pencil skirt that hugged her figure. Despite coming off a long flight, she looked like she had walked straight out of a magazine.

She looked up at the same time Natasha did.

Their eyes met.

"Master?"

"E-Emma?"

Emma froze on the last step. Her gaze moved from Natasha’s face to the door she had just walked out of.

Dante’s room.

Her eyes moved back to Natasha.

"Master... why are you coming out of Dante’s room?" She asked in a questioning tone.

Natasha’s heart stopped for a second.

"He... had a fever last night." She blurted out the first excuse that came to her mind. "I was taking care of him."

She immediately regretted it after the words left her mouth, but she couldn’t think of a better excuse at this moment.

And she was right.

In fact, this was the best excuse she could have given.

Emma looked at her for a long moment. Her expression was completely neutral, which only made Natasha more nervous.

"A fever?" She repeated.

"Mm." Natasha nodded, keeping her face blank and hoping that would sell it.

"He’s better now. He’s sleeping."

Emma’s face turned sharp all of a sudden. She let go of her suitcase and started walking toward Natasha.

’I should have known it wouldn’t work! This girl has always been sharp when it comes to things like this.’ Natasha thought nervously as she watched her approach.

’And what kind of crazy coincidence is this?! Why do I have to be seen walking out of his room by HER of all people?!’ She had decided to bury her feelings for Dante and wanted to make a quiet exit, but it seemed like fate wouldn’t even give her that much.

But Emma’s next move caught her completely off guard.

"Thank you for taking care of him this whole time, Master!" Emma said, bowing deeply to her.

’Wha... what? She actually believed that?’ Natasha looked at her with some surprise. But Emma wasn’t done.

"I know he must have caused you a lot of trouble while I was gone." She straightened up, but her head was still slightly lowered. "He can be really difficult sometimes and I’m sure he didn’t make it easy for you, Master."

She paused, her fingers tightening at her sides.

"About the fight he had with you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop him. If I had been around, I would have knocked some sense into him before it got that far."

In her mind, the fight was understandable but ungrateful. Yes, they hid his condition from him. But it wasn’t out of malice. They did it because there was nothing he could do about it and they didn’t want him to spend whatever time he had left drowning in despair.

But more than that, this was Natasha they were talking about.

The woman who found two orphans rotting in the slums and gave them a life. Without her, Emma and Dante would have died in a ditch somewhere before they turned ten.

Everything they had, everything they were, started with her.

And Dante’s response to finding out about his condition was to scream at her and threaten to leave.

The one person who had done more for him than anyone else in this world. Infinitely more than even his own parents who left them in the slums.

Emma understood his anger. She really did. But understanding it didn’t make it right.

And instead of holding any of that against him, Natasha was still here, taking care of him and spending her nights by his bedside when he had a fever.

That was the kind of woman their master was.

***

Inside the room, Dante had been watching everything through the feed. It was like being a director watching his own film and finding a scene he never wrote.

’The timing is insane.’ He didn’t plan for Emma to arrive at the exact moment Natasha walked out of his room. For that to happen, either he was god or Emma was a paid actor.

Seeing Emma apologize to Natasha for his actions, he felt like a kid sitting outside the principal’s office while his mom went inside to bow her head on his behalf.

Then a thought crossed his mind and a shiver ran down his spine.

’If she ever finds out everything I did to Master...’ He swallowed hard. ’And the things I’m planning to do to her...’

’Forget the principal’s office. She’d drag me straight to the cemetery.’