I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 802: Belle Falkrona SS [3]

If anything, it only made him more endearing to me.

There was something attaching in the way he carried those two selves together, not perfectly, not without contradiction, but sincerely. And perhaps because of that, I found myself wanting to know more. I even began urging him to tell me about his past life, partly out of curiosity, partly out of affection, and partly because understanding that other self felt like another way of understanding the boy I had always cared for.

And each time he spoke to me, even if only briefly and with that faint reluctance of his, I found myself smiling without meaning to.

It was a strange feeling.

At times, it almost felt like deja vu, though I could never quite say from where. I would simply sit there and watch him talk, listening as he complained in that blunt, irritable way of his about stories from his past life, and all the while I would be looking at him with the kind of fondness I did not even try to hide. There was something almost endearing in the way he spoke of such impossible things with annoyance rather than grandeur, as though having lived another life were less remarkable to him than being inconvenienced by it.

And somehow, that only made me happier.

I had never been closer to Edward than I had been during this past year.

For so long there had been distance between us, years of hurt, silence, misunderstanding, and that wall he had once built so strongly around himself. Yet now, after everything, we had come to this strange and precious closeness, one that I sometimes found myself cherishing more than I knew how to admit aloud.

If I were ever to have a son of my own, I think I would want our relationship to resemble the one I had with Edward now.

And I think, selfishly perhaps, I would want that child to be a little like him too.

That hopeless boy. Stubborn, dense, quick to anger, forever carrying himself as though the world were one irritation away from exhausting him entirely, and yet soft when it came to the people he truly loved. Especially that sweet Mary. For all his sharp edges, he had a tenderness in him that surfaced so easily around those he held dear, no matter how much he tried to hide it beneath his temper and his pride.

As I was lost in that thought, a small sound interrupted me.

A stomach growling.

I turned my head and found Orlin blushing beside me, his embarrassment so plain that I could not help but smile. Really, he was far too adorable for his own good.

I reached over and gently stroked his hair.

“All right,” I said, rising from the couch. “Let’s eat something good.”

I made my way toward the kitchen, and Orlin followed at once.

After tying up my long hair, I slipped on an apron and began preparing lunch. It had become such a natural routine now that I hardly thought about it anymore. Orlin, as usual, hurried to help me, taking up his little tasks with an earnestness that always made me secretly proud. He stood beside me to cut vegetables, concentrating so seriously on the work that one might have thought we were preparing a royal banquet rather than an ordinary meal.

Before he came into my care, I rarely spent time cooking myself. There had always been cooks and servants to handle such things, and I had never needed to concern myself with the kitchen beyond passing through it. But life had changed since then. Until recently, I had lived here alone, and solitude had made me careless in ways I only noticed after it ended. Having a child in the house changed everything. My habits, my routines, even the rhythm of my days had softened and taken on new shape.

And I found that I did not mind it at all.

By the time we were done, the kitchen was filled with the warm smell of fresh food, and together we set the table. We had only just sat down when the sound of the bell rang through the house.

It came from the front entrance.

I rose and walked to the door, and the moment I opened it, exactly what I expected happened.

“Belle!”

A young girl around Orlin’s age launched herself straight at me, wrapping her arms around me before I had even fully stepped aside. I let out a small laugh as I caught her easily.

Tihana, with her bluish-white hair and bright amber eyes, beamed up at me without the slightest trace of hesitation. There was a resemblance between her and Orlin that was impossible to miss. I

Anyone looking closely would guess they had been born from the same parent.

Unlike her brother, however, Tihana was far more assertive.

“Now, now, Tihana,” I said with a sigh that held little real reproach, returning her hug all the same. “Did you jump over the gate again?”

“It takes too long to wait outside, Belle,” she said brightly, pulling back just enough to grin at me.

From just behind her, another figure approached with a more apologetic air.

“I’m sorry about this, Belle.”

Brida Teraquin stepped into view.

She looked faintly tired. As Tihana’s caretaker, she had long since grown used to her little escapes, though I suspected that did not make them any less exhausting.

“It’s fine,” I said with a small chuckle. “Come in. Your timing is perfect. We were just about to eat.”

“Right! It smells amazing,” Tihana declared at once, already slipping off her shoes and stepping inside.

“Oh. Tihana.”

Orlin had appeared from the hall, peeking out with visible surprise the moment he saw her.

“Orlin!”

Tihana rushed to him immediately and threw her arms around him with all the force her tiny body could muster.

“Ugh… you’re choking me…” Orlin managed, though he was smiling as he hugged her back.

“You’re still too weak, Orlin!” Tihana said proudly.

A second later she let out a startled little cry as I reached over and tugged her ear.

“Don’t bother your brother,” I said.

“Okay…” She mumbled, sulking for all of two breaths before scampering off toward the dining room and claiming a seat at the table as though nothing had happened.

Brida joined us soon after, and the four of us sat down together for lunch. For a little while the room was filled only with the gentle sounds of eating, small chatter, and Tihana’s occasional bursts of energy. It was such an ordinary scene yet it made me nostalgic.

After a while, I looked toward Brida.

“So,” I asked, “you’re leaving again?”

It was not exactly surprising. Whenever she came, it was often to leave Tihana in my care for a while before going back out.

Brida gave a small nod. “Yes. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” I replied. “I don’t mind having Tihana here. Far from it.”

I smiled as I said it, and I meant it. But after a brief hesitation, I asked the question that had truly been on my mind.

“Did you find any clue about Kleah?”

The warmth at the table dimmed slightly.

That was the reason Brida spent so much time away these days. For half a year now, she had been searching for her younger sister, who had disappeared without a trace. I could not imagine how exhausting that uncertainty must be, to search and search and still have nothing solid to hold onto.

Brida shook her head.

“No,” she said quietly. “But I have to keep looking.”

“Edward said she joined Ante-Eden,” I reminded her, though gently.

Brida’s expression tightened, but she did not look angry, only pained.

“I’m following every clue that points in that direction,” she said. “But I refuse to believe my sister would have done something like that willingly.”

That, at least, I could understand.

No one wanted to believe such a thing of someone they loved.

Still, I doubted Edward had lied. Whatever else could be said of him, he did not invent matters like that lightly. If anything, he had seemed burdened by the truth rather than eager to reveal it. There had been something complicated in his expression when he spoke of Kleah.

Perhaps I should have asked him more back then.

Perhaps I still should.

Because if there was more to that story, Edward almost certainly knew it.

“What about Dad?!”

Having overheard Edward’s name, Tihana shot upright in her seat so suddenly that her chair nearly scraped back. Her amber eyes were wide with hope.

“Is Dad coming back?” She asked.

“Not yet,” I said gently. “He won’t be back for at least a few months.”

The light in her face dimmed at once.

She sat back down, her small shoulders drooping with such visible disappointment. Beside her, Orlin looked at his sister for a moment, then slowly turned his gaze toward me. There was hesitation in him, as there always was when it concerned Edward.

“Does Dad hate us?” He asked softly.

“Of course he doesn’t,” I said at once, shaking my head. “He loves both of you very much.”

“Then why did he leave us?” Tihana asked, still sounding wounded.

“Circumstances took him away, Tihana,” I replied.

It was the only answer I could give them, and even as I said it, I hated how weak it sounded.

How was I supposed to explain the truth to children? How could I tell them the full ugliness of it, the injustice of it, the kind of world that would punish Edward after everything he had suffered? Even I still struggled to accept it. Edward had killed the man responsible for my innocent niece’s death, the man who had taken Elona from us, and yet somehow Edward was the one made to bear the blame.

Even now, the thought of it filled me with bitterness.

I was really disappointed in Charles.

There had been moments when I had wanted nothing more than to walk there myself and give voice to every furious thought in my head. But Edward, stubborn as ever, had only told me that things would be fine. He had asked me instead to take care of Orlin while he was away, and in the end, however reluctantly, I had accepted.

“T—Then he could at least come see us!” Tihana protested.

“He will,” I said with a sigh, softening my tone. “I promise you, you’ll see him again.”

Tihana had always been especially attached to Edward. Ever since her birth, she had clung to him since then. When he left, she had cried and cried, asking over and over where he was, when he would return, why he had gone. It had taken quite some time to calm her.

As for Orlin, his feelings were quieter, but no less deep.

I knew that poor boy wanted to see Edward again just as badly. He wanted to be closer to him, wanted to bridge the distance that still lingered between them, but he was simply too shy, too unsure of himself, to say it with the same force as Tihana.

“Poor boy,” Brida muttered with a sigh. “Of all places, being sent to Sancta Vedelia…”

“There’s no need to sound quite so grim,” I said. “He is an Olphean royal, Brida. He should be fine there.”

Brida gave me a look over the table.

“He isn’t truly going there as an Olphean royal,” she said. “He’s going there as a criminal.”

“Dad isn’t a criminal!” Tihana burst out immediately.

Brida blinked, then let out a small chuckle. “Right, right. He isn’t.”

There was no real malice in her words, only bluntness, but even so, I could feel Tihana bristling beside me.

“You had it rough there yourself, didn’t you, Brida?” I asked, remembering well enough that she had been born there too.

“You have no idea,” she replied. “My House was harsh enough even toward someone half-blooded like me.”

“Hm.” I smiled faintly. “I’m not particularly worried about Edward in that regard.”

And I wasn’t.

Not truly.

“Yeah!” Tihana said at once, brightening again. “Dad’s the strongest anyway!”

I let out the smallest breath of amusement at that, though strength was not the real reason for my confidence.

More than strength, I trusted Edward’s ability to endure.

The last time I had seen him before his departure, I had noticed it clearly in his eyes. He was no longer the broken child we had once failed. He had become someone who could stand alone if he had to, someone who could walk into difficult places without losing himself.

He would be fine.

He had to be fine.