This Villain Is Mine Now - Chapter 123

Marquis Redwood scoffed as he watched Lyle dash up the stairs in a hurry.

If it were him, he would have chosen to avenge his enemy first rather than save his wife. He had thought Lyle had grown up cold and unfeeling, shaped by the battlefield, but in the end, it seemed he couldn’t escape his father’s soft-hearted nature.

In any case, it was a fortunate turn for the Marquis. When he descended the tower, no one was there. Of those chasing him, only Lyle Grant had found this place.

The Marquis burst into wild laughter. With no witnesses to testify, and Lyle having gone up the tower to save Elaina Grant instead of apprehending him, he seemed all the more foolish.

“Idiot.”

Soon after, the Marquis galloped away on horseback. In the dark night, his eerie laughter echoed through the sleet-blown forest like the scream of a ghost.

***

She couldn’t breathe. Though the window had been broken, her injured leg kept her from rising to get air.

Amid the acrid smoke, she tried to stay conscious, but her mind was slipping away like her blurred vision.

“Elaina!”

In her haze, she heard Lyle calling her name. Elaina struggled to turn her head toward the door. Sparks flew, and the smoke made it hard to see.

“Don’t—don’t come.”

“Elaina!”

“Danger…”

She wanted to tell him this place was dangerous, to stay away, but her parched throat couldn’t form proper words.

Bang! Bang! A booming sound rang in her skull, and finally something cracked, and the broken door crashed to the floor.

Lyle rushed to Elaina.

By the time he had broken the lock, Elaina had already lost consciousness.

“Elaina, stay with me. Okay?”

Holding her in his arms, Lyle mumbled desperately. But Elaina’s limp arm dropped powerlessly to the floor.

His hands, cradling her, were smeared with blood. Lifting her skirt revealed a dagger embedded in her thigh. It was a serious wound, even at a glance. Lyle gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t carry her down the tower with the dagger still inside. Lyle tore off his shirt and ripped it apart.

“I’m sorry. Just hang on.”

Even knowing she couldn’t hear him, he apologized. It was all his fault. For not finding her sooner, for failing to protect her from the Marquis.

Lyle drew the blade in a single motion.

“Aaagh…!”

The unconscious Elaina let out a scream. As she writhed in unbearable pain, Lyle quickly bound her thigh with the cloth.

A scream burst from Elaina’s lips as she briefly regained consciousness. As she writhed from the unbearable pain, so intense it made her vision flash, Lyle quickly bound her thigh with the cloth.

Meanwhile, the flames crept ever closer to them. Lyle began his descent down the tower with Elaina in his arms. With every movement, her wound opened more, blood pouring out in gushes.

Hearing her sobbing moans, Lyle clenched his jaw.

“I promise. I will never let you die in a place like this.”

For the first time in his life, Lyle prayed.

To him, God had been a worthless concept. If God existed, He had watched the Grant family be destroyed without lifting a finger—no better than a devil.

But as Elaina’s life ebbed away, Lyle frantically called out to God.

If God existed, please save Elaina. He would never again resent his own misfortunes if only she could be spared. Please, don’t take her away.

“Please. Please… Elaina, open your eyes. Okay? Elaina, stay with me…”

He whispered to her over and over, but there was no reply.

It had taken far too long to find the path through the forest.

She had inhaled too much smoke.

She had lost too much blood.

The gradually fading sound of her breath drove him mad.

He had never been so afraid in his life. As he descended the tower, Lyle’s face had gone pale as a corpse with panic.

“Your Grace!”

Outside, his companions had arrived, but could do nothing more than stamp their feet anxiously, unable to enter the blazing tower.

Leo, upon seeing Elaina’s grave condition, ran up at once. He checked her pulse and leaned in to listen for her breath.

Lyle blankly watched Leo’s actions. His mind was completely consumed by thoughts of Elaina, leaving no room for rational thought.

Please.

If God exists, please.

Don’t take Elaina away from me.

I need her.

Give her back to me.

The moment passed as slowly as eternity. The tower engulfed in crimson flames resembled a giant torch.

Elaina, lying flat beneath it, looked so serene—so unlike the urgent atmosphere around her—that she seemed merely asleep.

“…She isn’t breathing. Her heart isn’t beating.”

Leo cried out, his voice trembling. As if he couldn’t believe it, Colin rushed over and placed his fingers beneath Elaina’s nose.

But Colin, too, wore the same dazed expression as Leo as he collapsed to the ground.

Lyle already knew.

While descending the tower, he had felt Elaina’s life slipping away. He could clearly feel her dying in his arms.

Leo did everything he could to revive her. He pressed firmly on her chest over and over, hoping her heart would beat again, that her lungs would draw in air. But Leo’s efforts were in vain.

“Please, stop… Captain…”

Unable to watch any longer, Colin pulled Leo into an embrace.

“Let go! Let go! Elaina!”

Leo howled, unable to accept Elaina’s death.

Watching Leo break down, Lyle closed his eyes. He didn’t even have tears left to cry like Leo. Whether his eyes were open or closed, he saw only endless darkness.

***

It was dark. The woman looked around.

She couldn’t remember her name, nor what she had been desperately waiting for.

As she glanced about, a familiar sofa and table came into view. The table and sofa—she knew them well.

There was a book resting on the table, just as always.

Its black leather cover read Moonshadow.

The woman opened the book. The cozy sofa embraced her gently.

「Elaina Winchester could not leave the unfortunate Diane Redwood alone. Upon spotting Lyle Grant approaching Diane, she found herself walking toward him without realizing it.」

The woman frowned.

Was the book… always like this?

Tilting her head, she continued reading.

The protagonist, Elaina Winchester, befriended the unfortunate Marquis’s daughter.

She danced with Lyle Grant in her friend’s stead.

She stormed into his mansion and proposed, then accepted his dull proposal in her family hallway.

They held a small wedding in the warm spring with family.

They went on a honeymoon devoid of any romance.

She visited the North and became friends with a dragon.

Inside the book were every detail of Elaina Grant’s past year.

「Lyle ran into the flames to save Elaina. Seeing the dagger embedded in her thigh, he looked devastated. Feeling his wife dying, Lyle Grant descended the tower stairs.

‘…She isn’t breathing. Her heart isn’t beating.’

Lyle closed his eyes. Elaina’s death plunged Lyle Grant into endless despair.」

As she continued reading, the woman realized it.

Her name was Elaina.

Elaina Winchester.

The name her father gave her, telling her to become someone like the warm sunlight.

Bit by bit, her hazy memories returned.

Elaina slowly read on.

Diane. Nathan. Knox. Father and Mother. Sarah. Anna. Colin. Leo. Marion. Kyst and Drane.

And Lyle. Lyle Grant.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Elaina couldn’t bring herself to turn the final page. The words describing Lyle’s despair at her death felt like they were ripping her heart apart.

Just then, a light turned on in the opposite corner that had been dark.

The once solitary sofa now had another of the same size facing it. A man seated opposite smiled warmly at her.

“At last, we meet.”

Even in the darkness, his silver hair shimmered. His hair was so long it cascaded down to his waist like a scarf.

Gentle violet eyes were framed by softly rounded lids.

Though it was their first meeting, Elaina instantly knew who he was.

“You’re Propheta.”

Just as Kyst had described back when they were in Mabel.

At Elaina’s words, Propheta gave a playfully elegant bow.

“I’ve wanted to meet you at least once.”

“Why?”

Propheta tapped the Moonshadow book with his finger.

“This ‘novel’ is the only work I ever left behind, and you’re the only one who’s read it. Mind if I ask your thoughts?”

“It’s the worst novel ever.”

Elaina stated firmly.