Becoming the Terminally-Ill Villain Who Torments His Disciples - Chapter 46.2
After Cielo entered the imperial palace and physical distance was put between them, they began spreading outrageous rumors to isolate him.
“An omega so shameless he’d spread his legs for his own brothers.”
“A violent madman who’d kill at the slightest provocation.”
They were just rumors, but people believed them easily. And whenever they saw Cielo, they whispered behind covered mouths.
“That one—he’s the Esteban family’s delinquent. Don’t make eye contact. You never know what he’ll do.”
Of course, there were a few who didn’t believe the rumors and still approached him. But before long, those people were either expelled from the palace or caught in unexplained accidents.
With time, everyone pointed fingers.
A cursed one. A cruel one. A shameless one.
All the vile words were directed at Cielo.
Yet Cielo had done nothing. Truly—he had done nothing deserving of such hatred.
“But the real ‘Cielo’ did abuse Oscar.”
The novel had said so, and even just after his possession, it was the same. Cielo had clearly abused Oscar—enough to leave him trembling in fear.
Cielo turned to look at Oscar’s back, which now covered him completely. It was a reassuring, solid back, like a boulder shielding him from any incoming arrows.
Slowly leaning against that back, Cielo murmured,
“…Why did I start abusing you?”
“….”
“Whose image did I see in you that made me act that way?”
At Cielo’s whisper, Oscar spoke in a quiet voice, still not turning around.
“You only started getting angry at me… after you learned I might present as an Alpha.”
“….”
“Looking back… I think, when we were alone, you just told me not to get in your sight. I don’t think you ever hit me or yelled at me.”
Oscar murmured as he sifted through his memories.
Back in the day, he would’ve suffered just like Cielo, barely able to breathe. But now, those memories no longer brought pain. They were just fleeting moments from the past—shadows in contrast to the present he shared with Cielo.
“When you stopped scolding me, one of the Esteban twins came to see me.”
Cielo’s eyes widened.
He placed a hand on Oscar’s shoulder, as if asking what he meant, and Oscar calmly continued.
“He asked me if you were still mistreating me.”
After that question, Oscar found himself narrowly avoiding disaster several times. Had someone nearby not intervened, he might’ve lost an arm or a leg.
Ryan had been the first to notice and stepped in to protect Oscar from further harm.
“Cielo won’t know anything. He doesn’t remember—so don’t tell him.”
“D-Don’t tell him what…?”
“That you were threatened just because Cielo showed you kindness. Let’s keep that as our secret.”
At first, Oscar thought it was a lie.
The rumors about Cielo were too vicious—too detailed to be considered mere exaggerations about things that never happened.
But the more time he spent with Cielo, the clearer Ryan’s words became.
Cielo, who did nothing, was constantly treated like a villain. Even when he saved lives, he was still condemned.
“There was a time I was imprisoned in the western tower. I’d made a mistake while attending to the crown prince… and Lord Esteban claimed I tried to assassinate him. I was beaten to the brink of death. Maybe it was guilt, or maybe I just looked like I’d die—he spared my life in the end.”
Even after saving someone who had nearly been tortured to death by the crown prince, the words thrown back at him were cruel.
Cielo had lived in a world like that. A world built on lies.
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