The Villain's Sister - Chapter 95

Tristan’s clenched fist turned pale white, and I gritted my teeth just as hard.

If I could gather all the city’s fog that vanished like a mirage in the morning sun, how heavy would it be?

The eyes of someone who had suffered and agonized enough to break could hold even me, drifting helplessly like wind-blown dust, firmly in place.

The solid weight pressing down was compassion and concern.

His voice trembled as he continued, “My brother has to pay for his sins too. I’ll be the one to arrest him.”

“Even though it’s not your responsibility?”

“I became a cop because I couldn’t comfort the kid who couldn’t handle his loss back then. I felt sorry… so I couldn’t turn away. I became a cop to catch him myself.”

The reason he hid behind a helmet was because he was that kind of officer.

The man’s sense of justice was so overwhelming, so damn upright, that it only made everything more painful.

Because I knew exactly the torment Tristan must have gone through.

“You’ve carried responsibilities that weren’t even yours.”

“…Trying to put Raphael in prison was….”

The sweet chocolate ice cream melted in my mouth, but my throat was so tight I couldn’t swallow.

I forced the ice cream down and set the tub aside, burying my face between my knees.

Raphael was my original sin.

But what if he wasn’t my sin after all?

No. That house I lived in was never Eden to begin with.

A large hand slowly reached out and patted my back.

So I curled up even tighter. My shoulders trembled.

“That was the only way I knew how to love Raphael.”

If Raphael went to prison, every moment of my life would be painful.

Missing him, feeling guilty, worrying about him—sometimes I’d regret, sometimes I’d weep.

But it was still better than a life where Raphael died.

A world without Raphael was hell, a wasteland stripped of hope.

That kind of life wasn’t living. It was just existing.

That was why I decided to send Raphael to prison.

“I couldn’t stand watching him fall apart. I was scared because every day he seemed closer to death. Every time I thought about someone suffering because of him, every moment became unbearable.”

To the world, he was a demon, but to me, he was my only family and my savior.

The moment I pointed a gun at him left an unbearable scar.

“But… I shouldn’t have been the one to shoot him.”

“What’s so wrong about that? You know how many brothers punch each other over money or women once they’re grown?”

“….”

“He didn’t want you to suffer. When I met him at the hospital, he asked me for something.”

Tristan went on.

“It was about your life. What he wanted was for you to live freely. To betray, to hate, to struggle—all of it.”

“Ugh.”

My runny nose wouldn’t stop. It was irritating.

An only brother really had a way of making someone ugly. I didn’t even look human anymore.

“No matter how I think about it, I still believe Raphael belongs in the underground prison. He’s committed too many sins to be forgiven.”

If sending my own family to prison meant living a life of sorrow and hiding forever, then that would be the price of my sin.

Even if I wasn’t responsible for the birth of Death Adder or Raphael’s life, I still had to atone for living off that dirty money.

That money had been soaked in the pain and cries of this city’s citizens.

Tristan carefully pulled me into his arms and comforted me.

Maybe because I’d eaten something cold, the sudden warmth felt like thawing frostbitten skin. It hurt in a strange way.

But it wasn’t unpleasant.

He was the only one who could understand me, the man whose burning sense of justice made my eyes sting.

In the end, I cried in Tristan’s arms until I couldn’t breathe.

***

Raphael turned his back on the mysterious wizard who had proposed his escape.

“If you want to protect your sister, you’ll have to leave this place and return to the organization.”

“Liam’s outside. Even if he ignores my orders, there’s someone else.”

Johan. A man with skills and eyes sharper than his skills.

He’d returned even after getting the information he wanted, so he must be bound to Giselle by something else.

He didn’t look like a man of low character, so Raphael decided to trust him.

“Do you really plan to go to the underground prison?”

“I’ve seen plenty of people like you. Those who don’t have the courage to achieve their ambitions on their own, so they drag others down with them. Joining hands with someone that base would be a disgrace.”

“In that case, there’s nothing more to say.”

Raphael watched as the light in the cell disappeared.

Cracks formed in the suddenly darkened space, and through them flowed gas that resembled the universe itself.

Unlike the blue gas circulating on the market, this one was black, with a heavy, viscous texture.

“…So you were the distributor.”

With a flick of the Black Cloak’s finger, the gas wrapped around Raphael.

Before his eyes, the universe unfolded.

Within the universe flowed infinite possibilities—past, present, and future all at once.

But Raphael couldn’t exist anywhere within it.

And yet, the universe was made of everything that formed Raphael himself.

The time that had disappeared within him began to circulate.

As someone reversed time, forgotten memories vividly resurfaced.

“Oscar. When I graduate, I’m planning to join the army.”

“Really? Then you’ll have to play the big brother for a while.”

Oscar Jackniper.

Since a time so distant he could hardly remember, Oscar had lived next door.

They’d attended the same elementary, middle, and high schools, always together like twins.

When Raphael’s mother passed away, Oscar took care of the siblings, and later, Raphael used his military salary to pay for Oscar’s mother’s surgery.

Though the surgery failed, and while Oscar stood watch outside the operating room, Giselle fell into a coma, they were still brothers.

“If you escape from prison, you’ll be a fugitive.”

“Then I’ll form an organization. In this damned city, the only way to survive is to rule over it.”

“Really? Then your right-hand man will be me.”

“Are you serious?”

“After going to prison for drug distribution, there’s no way I can make an honest living again. Might as well follow my brother.”

After escaping, they built an organization together, spreading their infamy across the city.

They didn’t have extraordinary abilities like Big Bear or Sunshine’s genius for drug-making, but they had each other, and that was enough.

Together, they took down Sunshine.

Then Giselle began to be severely stalked by the wizard known as Black Cloak.

“Raphael. I think Black Pistols has joined hands with Red Shadow.”

“There’s no way. That guy’s famous for opposing Red Shadow.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling. You’d better be careful.”

Oscar’s intuition was right.

“…This man in the photo we found at Sunshine’s office, Tristan Lindbergh. Doesn’t he look familiar?”

“Isn’t he the cop we clashed with a few times? I remember he had a nasty temper.”

“Look closely at how he’s holding the gun.”

Black Pistols’ real name was Tristan Lindbergh.

He was Sunshine’s twin brother—Myers Bernadette’s twin—and a week earlier, Raphael and Oscar had joined forces to hunt Sunshine.

“He must be furious. Before he comes for us, we should strike first.”

But that evening, it happened.

They were hunted down by Black Pistols and Red Shadow, just as they had hunted Sunshine. Hearing the news, Giselle chased after them.

“No! Kill me instead!”

The stalker, Black Cloak, joined in. Wizards clashed, and explosions erupted.

The world flashed with light.

Crackle—Boom!

Cracks spread across Red Shadow’s mask, revealing a familiar face beneath.

In that burst of light, Oscar’s shocked expression was vivid.

Oscar was being sucked into somewhere unknown.

At the same time, a horrible pain struck him. That was Raphael’s final memory.

When all those past memories flooded back into Raphael, the gas dispersed beyond time.

“Kh, hahhh.”

Drenched in sweat as though he’d been in a storm, Raphael gasped violently.

“It’s been a while, Black Cloak.”

From Raphael’s twisted lips came a sound that resembled a beast’s growl.