The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 83.1
It felt as if the entire world had flipped over in an instant.
Maybe he had misheard. Was Blue really speaking right now?
That was how shocking Blue’s words were.
When Leslun stood up abruptly, the chair toppled backward. The loud thud against the floor made Blue, who had been about to leap out the window, turn back.
“What do you mean by that?”
Leslun turned to face Blue.
“So you mean… His Highness doesn’t actually like me?”
[You would have to ask him that yourself.]
“When you said you shook him at first, what did you mean?”
It felt as though someone was squeezing his throat. When he forced the words out, his voice trembled.
“There wasn’t even the slightest bit of His Highness’s true intention in it?”
It was not just because of a sense of betrayal. Leslun asked as though desperately clutching at an invisible straw.
He wanted it not to be true.
His curling fingers made a harsh sound as they crumpled the page of the book.
Startled by the noise, Leslun quickly lowered his gaze. He pressed the wrinkled edge of the paper flat with his fist.
He remembered how deep Kailos’s gaze had been as he looked at him that day.
Leslun could still recall Kailos’s expression from that moment with perfect clarity. Those eyes had been filled with emotions that could not be put into words, and the heat that pooled between them had warmed Leslun’s chest.
He had not walked away from it unaffected. That had been the first time his heart truly wavered.
And now he was being told that it had not been the Crown Prince’s true feelings, but an illusion created by someone else?
He was angry. Leslun slowly turned inward and examined his feelings.
His emotions toward Kailos had already spilled over beyond the point of no return.
Directionless anger began to rise within him.
Then who was he supposed to be angry with?
The sacred beast that was simply following its destiny?
Or the Crown Prince, who had been swayed by the beast into seeing him that way?
No, neither.
The one most at fault was himself, who had helplessly fallen for the sweet temptation.
The person Leslun needed to be angry with the most was himself.
How foolish of him to have his heart flutter over the word mate and to expect Kailos’s love.
What had happened at the academy was simple. It was merely the result of their circumstances colliding. There was no reason to dwell on it or be upset about it any further.
Even the pain he felt now was something he had brought upon himself when he let himself fall for Kailos.
Who was he to dare expect the Crown Prince’s affection?
As he sank deeper into these thoughts, Leslun’s body seemed to shrink in on itself.
Blue silently watched him the entire time.
After a moment, Leslun straightened from where he had been leaning on the desk. He called to Blue again, his face now blank.
“Can I help His Highness become Emperor? Me?”
[If it is you, you can.]
“Not just an Emperor… a good Emperor.”
Just like when Kailos had said he wanted to become a good person for him, Leslun wondered if he too could prove his worth through this.
Perhaps because Blue was such a mysterious being, a sacred beast felt as if it were the very embodiment of destiny itself.
[Yes. If it is you.]
“If it’s me…”
Leslun echoed the words, then let out a bitter laugh.
In the original story, he had not even been a side character of any importance. And yet here he was, being told he could make someone Emperor.
Could he really turn someone who had once been destined to be a tyrant into a wise ruler?
“I guess I really am a special person.”
Leslun murmured words he did not actually feel. Somehow, saying it aloud felt necessary.
He wanted to do everything he possibly could for Kailos.
Just as Kailos had given him and his family a new life, Leslun wanted to give him a gift in return.
…That way, even if he had to leave Kailos one day, he would have fewer regrets.
“What do I need to do?”
He asked Blue.
Blue stepped closer to him again.
[Can you do everything I tell you to do?]
“So there really is a way.”
Blue nodded.
***
Leslun barely slept a wink that night. Whenever he closed his eyes, the conversation he had shared with Blue swirled through his mind like a storm.
Everything had been wrong from the start.
He had been interrogated in prison before being released and treated by the imperial physician.
He had been forced to take the test Kailos set before him, and he had passed.
And as he kept solving the problems set before him, he had ended up here.
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