Becoming the Terminally-Ill Villain Who Torments His Disciples

And Ryan was the one who waited for Cielo and showed him his heart. He gave Cielo unwavering love and certainty to the point that the thought “Why would someone like him love someone like me?” never even crossed his mind. Both of them gave Cielo the strength to stand up from his past.

“So, I’ll try to live. Ah, and about… having an heir…”

“…”

“If… if you want an heir, then I’ll try to… put in some more effort…”

Cielo mumbled in a hesitant voice.

Of course, he loved Ryan and Oscar. But giving birth as a man was still something hard to accept.

It was a world where such things were possible, and he did have a body that allowed it… but knowing something is possible and accepting it are two different things.

It’s embarrassing too…

Even though it wasn’t the first time he had shared a bed with them, for some reason his face grew warm.

“Having a child isn’t something that can be done with effort alone.”

“…Ah, I know. You must be even more concerned because of the state of my body. But once this current situation is resolved, my body should recover a lot, so then maybe…”

Wouldn’t it be alright?

Even just a little, wouldn’t the chances of not dying increase compared to now? Even as he spoke, uncertainty made his voice gradually fade.

Just as Damon was about to say something while looking at Cielo,

“That’s enough. You’ve heard everything you wanted to hear, haven’t you?”

Ryan, who had been quietly standing at Cielo’s side, stepped forward and spoke while extending one arm in front of him.

As if he didn’t want to see Cielo shrinking in front of Damon any longer. And as if he found Cielo, who had gathered his precious words and spoken them from the heart, to be incredibly dear.

Ryan’s face, unable to hide all the emotions he felt, made Damon let out a short laugh.

“We’ll be leaving now.”

“…”

“It’s no use stopping us anymore. Both Cielo and I… we’re sincere about each other.”

With his cheeks slightly flushed, Ryan left those words behind and took hold of Cielo’s wrist. Without waiting for Damon to say they could go, he turned around and walked away, still holding on.

Damon stared at their retreating backs with an incredulous expression.

It was because the way Ryan looked at Cielo seemed so full of joy, as if nothing could make him happier.

“…Huh.”

It almost felt like looking at someone else.

It had been six years since Ryan first came to him and declared he wanted to marry Cielo. Back then, Damon had brushed it off as nothing more than the naive talk of a child who didn’t know any better.

“I want to marry the youngest of the Esteban family.”

“Do the two of you love each other?”

“I want to get your permission first.”

They weren’t in love. It had been one-sided. Ryan had fallen for him, while Cielo had been an illegitimate child of the Esteban family.

Being illegitimate wasn’t the real problem. What Damon had worried most about was whether Cielo, who had a bad reputation, might end up using Ryan, who had been blinded by love.

He had lived long enough to know that the more blind the love, the deeper the wound when things fell apart.

“But…”

Damon’s gaze shifted from Ryan to Cielo.

Cielo, who had tied his long hair back in a single knot and was smiling, looked surprisingly bright for someone who had just come back from the brink of death.

He had assumed Cielo would be trembling with fear after nearly dying. He expected him to curse the siblings who had driven him to the edge and try to kill them no matter what.

Because he was Typhon’s son.

That was why Damon had deliberately provoked him with sharp words. He had thought poking at Cielo with hopeless remarks would make him expose the truth he was hiding.

But Cielo had defied every one of his expectations.

“A future without regrets, huh…”

Even if death were to come, making a choice that one wouldn’t regret in the end. That was what Cielo had said he would do.

And Ryan, even knowing that, clearly wanted to stay by his side.

“You’re choosing a difficult path for no reason.”

Muttering to himself, Damon clicked his tongue. But unlike before, a look of quiet satisfaction settled over his face as he turned away from the two who were walking off in the distance.