Becoming the Terminally-Ill Villain Who Torments His Disciples - Chapter 61.1
Cielo had a dream.
In the dream, he wandered through an endless maze, carrying Oscar on his back while his own body was shattered and broken.
With every step he took, the ground beneath his feet began to melt, making it impossible to walk no matter how much strength he tried to muster. The melting ground gradually swallowed him, eventually trapping his legs completely.
But it didn’t end there.
Vines shot out from all directions, wrapping around Oscar’s body and dragging him away.
“No… Oscar. No, no!”
Cielo screamed for them not to take him, but no one listened.
He had failed to protect him.
Because he was weak and powerless, he ended up letting go of the person he most wanted to protect.
His chest ached as if it were being torn apart.
Even when he opened his mouth to breathe, grief surged in so fiercely it made him gag.
“Hkk… Hic… O-Scar… Oscar…”
The only sound that escaped his lips was the desperate cry for Oscar.
The earth that had swallowed his legs began to pull him downward—lower and lower—as if inviting him to sink and die together. His knees, his thighs, his chest, and eventually his face were consumed.
He was completely swallowed by the ground.
“…Hah!”
Cielo gasped for breath and suddenly opened his eyes. The moment he tried to sit up, searing pain shot through him, and a scream burst from his mouth.
“Aagh! Hah… Huff…!”
His eyes flew open, and saliva dripped from his parted lips.
As he struggled to catch his breath, overwhelmed by pain, he heard the door slam open and a familiar, urgent voice call out.
“Master!”
It was Oscar’s voice.
Cielo lifted his head sharply and stared at Oscar with wide, trembling eyes.
“O-Osc… Oscar. Oscar…”
He reached out and gently caressed Oscar’s cheek as he approached. His body still ached terribly, but that wasn’t important anymore.
“Are you alright? Is there anywhere you’re hurt? I… I tried to heal you, but it didn’t work. You must’ve been in pain… Are you okay now? Is anything still hurting?”
Oscar couldn’t hold back his emotions as he spoke.
Even as tears blurred his vision and streamed down his cheeks, what mattered most was hearing Oscar say he was okay.
“I’m alright. Really, I’m alright,” Oscar assured him.
“Really… you’re okay?” Cielo asked again.
“Yes. I’m okay. You need to take better care of your body than mine right now.”
Oscar spoke gently and wiped the tears from Cielo’s eyes.
“Come on, lie down again.”
He carefully laid Cielo back onto the bed. While doing so, he checked him for injuries and quietly wiped away the tears that kept falling.
“I’m sorry, Master. I wanted to heal you too, but… I couldn’t use my ability either.”
“Then how…?”
How was he still alive?
Now that he thought about it, just before he lost consciousness, it felt like he had seen someone…
“Ahahaha! Long time no see, Esteban.”
At the sound of the familiar voice, chills ran down Cielo’s spine.
The moment he tensed, pain shot through his leg and a groan escaped him. Oscar quickly grasped his hand tightly.
“I didn’t think you’d be so glad just to hear my voice,” said the man.
The voice’s owner laughed heartily and stepped toward Cielo.
But he only took a few steps before stopping in his tracks, intimidated by Oscar’s sharp gaze, and backed off a few paces.
“C-Crown Prince…?”
Was this a dream?
The Crown Prince had disappeared long ago in the northern mountains. How could he be alive and here now?
As Cielo sat in shock, speechless, Eli swept back his ash-grey hair and said,
“If I’d been even a little later, things could’ve ended badly. What were you thinking, trying to walk through those dangerous mountains alone? Do you have any idea how reckless that was, Esteban? The path you were taking is known for bears—vicious ones, even by this forest’s standards.”
“…Ah…”
“Well, thanks to me going out to find you, you’re still alive,” Eli added, lifting one corner of his mouth in a smirk.
Something about him seemed very different from how he had looked back at the palace. Cielo, a bit dazed, muttered awkwardly,
“Th-thank you…?”
“Well, well. I’ve lived long enough to hear Esteban say thank you. Guess it pays to live a long life.”
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