Raising Villains the Right Way

Kwa-jik! 

With that sound, Yutia’s heart shattered, and she thought blankly.

‘Eh? Where is this place? Who am I?’

Her intelligence dropped for an instant and prompted such questions in Yutia’s mind, but only for a moment.

Soon regaining her senses, she looked at Alon with trembling eyes.

Alon looked exactly as she remembered.

The expression he wore was the same emotionless face he always had.

There didn’t seem to be anything different about him.

And yet, somehow, something was clearly wrong.

Yutia lowered her gaze to Alon’s hands.

In those hands, which were gripping Penia’s chair, anyone could see the clear tension.

A situation that made no sense at all.

But Yutia Bloodia, with her characteristically sharp mind, had no difficulty identifying the root cause of all this.

“Hiccup—”

The moment Yutia’s eyes turned toward her, Penia let out an involuntary hiccup, unable even to avert her gaze.

Anyone could see she was the culprit.

Yutia smiled.

“Lady Penia?”

“Y-Yes?”

“How, exactly, did this, happen?”

Her voice broke into sharp fragments, unable to regulate her emotions.

At that, Penia’s eyes began darting rapidly in all directions.

She clearly had much to feel guilty about.

Yutia tried to press her further—

“E-Excuse me~”

Unfortunately, her mouth was covered by Alon, who had been silent until now.

“I-I think it would be best if you calmed down first…”

At Alon’s following words, Yutia’s smile vanished.

He wasn’t wrong.

She had no intention of arguing against him.

However, Yutia’s mood plummeted instantly to rock bottom.

Because his words sounded as if he were defending Penia from her.

“Ha…?”

Yutia let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

She felt empty.

She turned her head to look at Penia, who was trembling.

‘This woman.’

The one who dared to make Alon treat her like an enemy.

“It seems our relationship has become irreparable. What do you think?”

Penia gasped sharply.

For a brief moment, she wondered if there had ever even been a relationship between her and Yutia, but that hardly mattered right now.

Because she could feel the threat to her life more intensely than ever.

‘H-How do I fix this…?’

So Penia desperately thought.

Where in the world was she supposed to start explaining this?

“L-Lady Penia hasn’t done anything wrong—”

But before she could finish, Alon once again took Penia’s side.

Seeing that, the light vanished from Yutia’s eyes, which had been glaring at Penia with contempt.

“Ah—”

She said nothing.

But Penia knew.

She knew exactly what that lightless gaze was saying to her.

’We are enemies now, aren’t we?’

That was the meaning.

At Yutia’s stare, tears welled up in Penia’s big eyes.

Even then, she desperately rolled them around.

It was only natural.

Because she absolutely did not want to die.

Desperately trying to think, Penia blurted out,

“M-Marquis? You can’t say things like that. T-This is Lady Yutia we’re talking about!”

Her trembling voice cried out urgently.

Only then did Alon’s eyes widen slightly, as if surprised, breaking his usual stoic expression.

Yutia, now radiating strange mana as though all emotion had been erased, was glaring at him.

Alon looked at her for a moment and then said,

“Um… I-I’m sorry.”

He offered a plain apology.

But Yutia’s anger was not so easily soothed.

She had entered the Marquis household in a good mood today.

But not only did Alon fail to recognize her, he even treated her with hostility.

Her anger was the type that could never be resolved simply with an apology.

At the very least, Penia would have to suffer miserably for it even to begin to fade—

“Sister Yutia…?”

…Would have to—?

“...What?”

“Yes?”

“W-What did you just say?”

“S-Sorry?”

“No, after that.”

“Sister Yutia …?”

Sister…

He called her sister…

Hmm…

Yutia’s eyes regained their usual sparkle.

At the same time, a smile returned to her stiff lips.

“My Lord, could you please say that once more?”

“S-Sister?”

At that single word—

Yutia unconsciously clutched her chest.

For some reason, a warm, soft feeling bubbled up within her.

After a moment,

“Mm— It seems that, as always, we can remain good friends.”

“Huh?”

At Yutia’s sudden radiant smile, Penia, who had been on the verge of tears, now froze in stunned confusion.

“But I still think this situation needs some explaining.”

“Y-Yes, of course…!”

She nodded vigorously.

She didn’t know what was going on, but for now, she believed she had survived.

***

After a short while.

Having heard the whole story, Yutia spoke.

“To summarize simply: you drank a regression potion to identify flaws in magic, correct?”

“Yes…! Up to that point, there were no issues. There were no errors in magical memory, and the inscriptions took properly. But—”

“It hasn’t worn off even after two weeks?”

Yutia turned her gaze slightly away at the pointed question.

“Y-Yes.”

“Normally, after two weeks, it should automatically wear off, correct?”

“Yes. Th-The potion itself definitely had no issues. I even ran experiments just in case.”

“Experiments?”

“Yes, since a mage from the Blue Tower happened to be at the Marquis estate at the time, I had him drink it at the same time as the Marquis. I thought there might be some kind of unforeseen issue.”

“…And that mage returned to normal after two weeks?”

“Yes. For some strange reason, only the Marquis—”

Letting out a weary sigh, Penia glanced nervously at Yutia.

“B-But you don’t need to worry too much.”

“And why is that?”

“Of course I found it strange too, so I checked a few things… and it seems this is caused by the Marquis’s subconscious.”

“Subconscious?”

“Yes.”

Penia continued explaining to Yutia at length.

“So… in conclusion, it means the Marquis himself is intentionally preventing his return, correct?”

“Yes, it looks like he’s found some way to voluntarily maintain this state for a longer period.”

“But is it even possible to subconsciously stop the effects from wearing off?”

“Normally it would be almost impossible… but this is the Marquis we’re talking about.”

Yutia nodded as if she understood.

At the very least, she now grasped the overall situation.

“So right now, the Marquis is essentially the version of himself from before he ever met us.”

“…That’s correct.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“For now, Evan and Blackie… and maybe Basiliora? Other than that, no one else. It’s not exactly something we want the public finding out.”

At those words, Yutia briefly turned her gaze to Alon.

She confirmed that the green badge on his chest was clearly glowing.

“I believe there’s at least one more person who knows.”

“Huh?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, even if they realized it.”

She spoke—not to the room—but to whoever might be secretly watching through that green badge.

After a moment of thought, she smiled slightly, a smile that looked just a bit dangerous.

***

Alon, the third son of the Count of Palatio.

Or rather—Alon, head of the Marquis of Palatio.

Even though nearly a month had passed, he still found the current situation extremely awkward.

And why wouldn’t he?

From Alon’s perspective, it was as follows—

He had only just realized this was the world of Psychedelia a few months ago, and after closing his eyes for what felt like a moment, he woke up to this situation, as if he had stepped into a hidden camera prank.

And that wasn’t all.

He had planned to live peacefully in Rodmil, yet here he was: the ruthless head of the Palatio Marquisate.

And living in that estate with him was none other than the absolute queen of hysteria herself, Penia Crysinne.

Not only that—she was now positioned as something like his right arm.

Moreover, Alon had heard from Penia about what had happened to lead to this state.

’To improve magic… huh.’

As if to show she wasn’t lying, even though Alon had lost about thirteen years of memory, his knowledge of magic remained completely intact.

What had disappeared was solely his personal memories.

And—

His memories of Psychedelia.

To be precise, all records and battle memories related to the magic originating from Psychedelia had been entirely erased.

As though that section alone had been deliberately carved out.

…Even though he had heard the overall situation from Penia, this still felt unbearably strange to him.

For example, the fact that the Palatio County had become a Marquisate.

The fact that he was perhaps on the brink of being crowned king.

The fact that he had become a god…

To Alon as he was thirteen years ago, none of this was within the realm of imagination.

He could not comprehend how any series of events could have led to such an absurd outcome.

Even seeing Yutia Bloodia today had shocked him.

Though Penia had given him a prior explanation about Yutia and the others, Alon still found himself startled internally.

That was only natural—because face-to-face, Yutia Bloodia was even more beautiful than he had imagined.

Of course, he had seen her in Psychedelia too.

But back then, most of the Sins had already partially fused with their sins, so he had never clearly seen her face.

That was why, despite Penia’s explanations, he hadn’t recognized Yutia right away.

“Haa…”

Alon let out a quiet sigh.

Today had already been more than enough confusion.

And yet instinct told him that tomorrow would be even worse.

Because tomorrow was Marquis Palatio’s birthday.

’I should avoid being found out if possible.’

It was only natural.

If the one who could declare a kingdom—no, who could even become a god—suddenly lost his memories overnight, there would undoubtedly be consequences.

That was why Alon intended to keep his memory loss a secret from everyone except Yutia.

’Whether it would work or not was another matter entirely. I need to hide it well…’

While Alon was deep in thought—

On the hill outside the Marquis estate—

“I’m busy. I need to bring a new sculpture.”

“…So? Why did you suddenly summon us all here for something urgent?”

“What’s going on? You said it was about Master?”

“Indeed.”

“I’ve already prepared my gift for Brother, so I don’t really mind.”

“I’m busy.”

“Hmm~ well, I don’t mind since I’m free.”

Everyone except Yutia and Rine had gathered in one place.

After confirming this, Magrina took a breath and spoke.

“Marquis Palatio’s memories have returned to his childhood.”

“...What?”

It was Rine’s desperate move to stop Yutia’s solo rampage.