Raising Villains the Right Way

”......‘Don’t touch him, he’s mine,’ is that what she said?”

”Yeah. That’s what she said.”

Alon’s expression turned rather peculiar.

Because the scene Siyan described was simply unimaginable.

‘Yutia, who expresses her emotions so blatantly...’

Alon pictured Yutia in his head.

Yutia usually wore a gentle smile on her lips.

No—she always did.

But now she was humming and turning her head side to side?

She showed her emotions so openly?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t really picture it.

Alon looked at Siyan.

”So this is what you meant to tell me the other day.”

”That’s right. A story I kept hidden to make you come quickly. Though it seems you weren’t particularly moved by it.”

Siyan stabbed at his conscience whenever she got the chance.

Alon, at a loss for words, discreetly shifted his gaze to the side and asked,

”Just to be sure, what kind of outfit was Cardinal Yutia wearing in the memory?”

”Now that you mention it, she wasn’t wearing her clerical garments like she does now.”

”Then...?”

Siyan thought for a moment before answering.

”......She was wearing a robe.”

”A robe?”

”Yes, a rather antique robe in black and red.”

Watching Siyan lift her eyes to the air as if sifting through memories, Alon fell into deep thought.

‘What on earth is going on?’

He had already been puzzled when he first heard that Yutia appeared in Siyan’s memory.

Specifically, the mystery surrounding Siyan’s golden eyes.

From what Alon knew, the golden eyes were a power of inheritance.

A power that inherits the abilities and fragments of memories of the previous monarch.

A power that becomes stronger the more generations it passes through.

But precisely because of that—

The memories passed down through the golden eyes had to be from the past.

So then, why was Yutia appearing?

Alon continued pondering.

Truthfully, it had been strange from the beginning.

Not only did he appear in Siyan’s memory,

But the stories of the past that she conveyed, which someone must have seen or heard back then, were somehow helpful to him now.

Still, he hadn’t bothered to dig into it.

There was no need to investigate every detail of the distant past.

But now even Yutia was appearing?

Of course, even if Yutia appeared in the inherited memories—

There was no urgent need to uncover the context.

It wasn’t like it was causing any immediate problems.

Still, the growing questions in his heart were real.

And to top it off, his and Yutia’s behavior in the memory was kind of strange(?), too.

‘...Don’t tell me I’m going back to the past with Yutia?’

The hypothesis that suddenly came to Alon’s mind sounded oddly plausible.

After all, he had already been to the past once.

And he also knew how to get there.

......Of course, he didn’t know when in the past he would end up.

In any case, the point was—

Alon could travel to the past and return to the present.

Thinking along those lines—

If Yutia and Alon had gone to the past for some reason, and left those memories in the mind of Asteria’s king out of necessity—

Then Siyan’s memory wouldn’t be so illogical after all.

After all, Alon had already left traces in the past once before.

‘Even the words she’s shared so far, based on those memories, have all helped me.’

He thought maybe his future self had arranged things in advance for a reason.

......Of course, it’s weird how free my expression was, and how expressive Yutia was with her emotions.’

Still, he judged that it wasn’t entirely impossible.

The future is something no one can predict.

Someday, Alon might reclaim those expressions, and Yutia might become close enough to reveal such emotions.

Alon, having organized his hypothesis, called out to Siyan.

”Your Majesty.”

”Yes?”

”May I share my thoughts?”

Alon began to explain the inner workings of the current matter—something that, save for a few, no one else truly knew.

After listening attentively for a while,

”......If what you say is true, then it might indeed be something that happens when you go to the past in the future.”

”It’s not certain, but I think it’s possible.”

”Hmm~”

Siyan stroked her chin and closed her eyes, seemingly reviewing Alon’s words.

How much time had passed?

When she opened her eyes again, Siyan looked at Alon.

”So you’re saying, the ‘you’ in my inherited memory could be your future self?”

”As I said, it’s not certain, but it might be.”

After nodding for a moment, Siyan lightly shrugged her shoulders.

”Well, we can discuss that again later. Let’s move on to the main topic.”

She leaned forward.

”Can you travel to the Holy Kingdom?”

”The Holy Kingdom?”

”Yes, it seems there’s something you need to do there.”

”......Something I need to do?”

”Of course, I wasn’t told the details. Just vague memories remain in my mind.”

Siyan tapped her own head a few times.

”......Understood, for now.”

Recalling the Holy Kingdom, Alon accepted the order for now.

After some brief small talk, just as Alon was about to stand—

”Oh, right.”

He awkwardly sat back down at Siyan’s exclamation.

”What is it?”

”You’ve been receiving quite a few gifts lately, haven’t you?”

”......Gifts?”

”Yes.”

Alon nodded cautiously.

There had always been many, but recently, even more gifts had been arriving at the Marquisate of Palatio under various pretenses.

”Indeed, I’ve been receiving quite a lot lately.”

”Ah, that’s not the kind of gifts I meant. I’m talking about gifts from people of other nations.”

At Siyan’s words, Alon let out a quiet ”ah” of realization.

‘Now that I think about it, I really have received quite a lot of stuff.’

The volume was so great that he couldn’t open every gift individually.

Still, he made a point to check who sent them.

Even if Alon wasn’t particularly interested in the social customs of the nobility—

He knew that taking too much without giving back would cause trouble.

So he had started drafting a list of noble names to reciprocate accordingly.

Lately, he began seeing royal names popping up more frequently on that list.

”I have received them, but……”

When he answered that way, Siyan stared directly at Alon.

A gaze that seemed to demand something.

Alon quickly understood what Siyan wanted.

”Please don’t worry, Your Majesty. I have no intention of defecting to another nation.”

He bowed deeply with proper etiquette.

In truth, he had no intention of leaving for another kingdom.  

Maybe in the past—but now, the Marquisate of Palatio had become an inseparable part of him.

The dedication he had invested, the time he had spent—it was all too deep.

”Is that so……”

Perhaps she sensed Alon’s sincerity.

”Your answer puts my heart at ease.”

Siyan wore a rare smile that seemed almost pleased.

After the audience ended, Alon left the palace and headed straight for Rosario without delay.

He had originally planned to stop by the Holy Kingdom anyway, so he figured this would be a good time to do it.

‘I also need to meet with Yutia and Yuman while I’m at it.’

He had already met with everyone else, but Yutia had been too busy, so their only contact was through exchanged letters.

Wanting to greet her properly, Alon began his journey to Rosario—when Evan brought him a strange piece of news.

”Marquis.”

”What is it?”

”Speaking of the Holy Kingdom, it reminded me—  

Apparently, things over there have been a little... unstable lately.”

”Unstable?”

”Yes.”

”Did something happen?”

”It’s not so much that something new happened.  

More like something that was bound to explode finally did.”

”Something that was bound to explode?”

”Yes.”

Evan began to explain in more detail,

”......So in summary, it’s that no new clergy in Rosario have been able to receive blessings for quite some time now.  

Is that it?”

”Yes. At first, everyone just kept it quiet, but as time passed, the issue started surfacing.”

Was there ever a case like this in Psychedelia?

Alon thought for a moment but then shook his head.

There was no need to ponder it too long.

As far as he knew, such a case had never occurred in the Holy Kingdom before.

Which meant—

‘……What is going on now?’

Alon’s expression turned strange, but he resolved to investigate the truth once he arrived in Rosario.

And a few weeks later, Alon arrived in Rosario after passing through several villages.

However—

”……It really is unsettled here.”

The atmosphere in Rosario was far more chaotic than before.

***

At the same time Alon arrived in Rosario, Inside the palace of Asteria, having finished all her official duties, the Queen of Asteria, Siyan, sat alone in her office, gently stroking her chin with a strange expression.

The reason was the conversation she had with Alon a few weeks earlier.

The hypothesis Alon presented was quite plausible.

He had, in fact, traveled to the past before.

So it was a credible theory that could arise from logical reasoning.

”……The future seen from the past, huh.”

A soft murmur echoed through the room.

And yet—

There was a strange uncertainty lingering in Siyan’s eyes.

Because from her perspective, there was still an unresolved question.

To be more specific—

A question that no one else could even begin to judge, except for Siyan herself who had the fragments of that memory.

Clearly, it was a question that only occurred to her after Alon had left.

‘The Yutia in that memory... she looked a bit younger, didn’t she……?’

Siyan recalled the Yutia from the memory—her expressive face, yes—

But she also looked even younger than she did now, which made it difficult to believe she was from the future.

With that image in her mind, Siyan tilted her head slightly in thought.