I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 794: Layla Adriana Tarmias SS [3]

[“Why are you still running away from me, Nyr?”]

[“Maybe because I don’t like stalkers.”]

[“You know, most people would feel honored to be stalked by me.”]

[“Don’t compare me to those imbeciles with no self-respect.”]

I giggled as I watched the exchange through the golden sphere floating above me, its surface shimmering softly as it replayed one of my favorite memories, Edward and Ephera, bickering the way only they could.

No matter how many times I watched it, I never got tired of it.

Never.

Honey had been so sharp in that previous world, so cold and prickly and easily rude when he wanted to be. I loved that side of him. Maybe even more than the rest. He was cutest when he was irritated, and somehow even cuter when Ephera was the one dragging that side out of him.

He had tried so hard back then to play the harmless nobody, the weak random student quietly blending into that academy, or school, or whatever that place even was, but of course it had never lasted. It was obvious it wouldn’t. He had apparently managed to keep that act going in his previous schools, but this time Ephera had ruined it for him. She kept pulling at the real him until he had no choice but to show himself.

“Ahh… I’m so jealous.”

I rolled over onto my stomach on the bed, hugging the sheets beneath me as the golden sphere drifted obediently through the air and settled right in front of the headboard. Resting on my elbows, I kicked my legs lightly behind me and kept watching, smiling to myself before lazily flicking my hand to change the memory.

The image rippled.

Then another scene appeared.

[“Get away from Ephera.”]

“Oh…”

This time it was that idiot.

What was his name again.

Payce?

Gayce?

I saw these memories hundred of times but I always forget his name.

I will call him Gayce.

A complete nuisance from the very beginning.

He had always been such a pain for Honey, always hovering around with that pathetic hostility, acting as if he had any right to be angry just because Honey had gotten close to Ephera. As if that could be helped. As if anyone with eyes wouldn’t notice Honey. If anything, I was more jealous of Ephera than he could ever dream of being. She had gotten so close to him. She had left such a mark on him.

But third-rate idiots like Gayce would never understand why Honey drew people in like that.

They didn’t understand him.

I did.

“Move.”

At that point, Honey had mostly stopped pretending. You could hear it in his voice, see it in the way he stood. He was already in a sour mood before Gayce even came over. I knew why, too. I had watched this memory hundreds of times already. He had just come from speaking with that dreadfully boring man, Marcel and it had clearly annoyed him.

Bad timing for Gayce.

I watched with growing delight as Gayce reached for Honey’s shirt, trying to grab him as if he had the right. But Honey reacted instantly. He caught Gayce’s wrist, twisted it off him with ease, and then drove a kick straight into his shin, sending him down to his knees.

Gayce’s face had been priceless.

The shock in his eyes, the disbelief, the humiliation, he looked up at Honey like he couldn’t understand what had just happened. It was the first time Honey had truly retaliated against him without holding back, and it showed.

Honey released his wrist and simply looked down at him.

That was all.

He didn’t even need to say a word.

That gaze alone said everything.

So cold and dismissive!

Gayce’s whole face flushed red with anger and humiliation under it, and then he could do nothing except leave.

I immediately rewound the memory a little and zoomed in closer on Honey’s face.

On his eyes.

My cheeks flushed seeing them.

“Honey, you’re so hot~”

I flopped back onto my back again, clutching my pillow to my chest as I stared up at the golden sphere, at those beautiful green eyes of his.

God, Honey.

I wish I had existed and known you in your previous life.

I wish I had been born there too, at the same time as you.

No, more than that, I wish I had known you even earlier. Back during that first school. Before all those idiots. Before all those useless people who got to stand beside you when they didn’t deserve it.

You were so cute even back then.

Cute when you bullied that blind girl.

Even cuter when you acted like you didn’t care about her at all, while still caring in your own stupid, obvious way.

If I had been there, I would have stayed by your side all the time.

I would never have left you alone.

I would never have betrayed you the way that traitorous friend of yours did. Never. I would have stayed loyal from the beginning to the end. And that disgusting man who spread those filthy rumors about you? I would have killed him myself.

Honestly, Jeanne should have been grateful.

If people had started rumors about me and you, I would have embraced them immediately. I would have made them worse on purpose. I would have confirmed every single one with a smile and gotten together with you on the spot.

I still don’t even understand what Honey found so interesting about that woman in the first place.

Maybe it was her face, I admit she was not bad but you aren’t the man to fall that easily are you Honey?

Perhaps then it was because she defended you from that pointless bullying.

Maybe that was enough for you back then.

Oh, Honey…

If I had been in her place, those people would already be dead!

I was about to switch to another memory when a knock sounded at my door.

“Lady Layla, your bath is ready.”

I let out a soft sigh and reluctantly pulled myself away from my sheets, dismissing the golden sphere with a flick of my hand before heading toward the bath chamber. Much as I would have preferred to stay in bed and keep watching Honey’s old memories forever, I could not afford to be late to the academy.

After my bath, I stopped briefly at my desk and glanced over the letters Honey had sent me. They were neatly arranged, exactly where I wanted them, and just the sight of them made me smile. I would have to write him another one tonight. I was already thinking about what to say, what he might like to read, what might make him think of me a little more than usual.

Still smiling, I left my room and headed for the academy by car.

When the driver opened the door for me, I stepped out with grace and looked toward the great stone building ahead of me, the Royal Eden Academy.

What a dull place it had become.

Without Honey, everything felt unbearably boring.

The difference between last year and this one was so obvious it was almost insulting. Last year had been brighter simply because he was there. More entertaining. More alive. How stupid I had been not to understand it sooner. I had been sitting with a golden feast laid out right beside me and, instead of appreciating it, I had wasted my attention on a broken, inadequate prince.

Truly pathetic.

Still, I suppose it was good that I had finally corrected myself.

Now I could see clearly, from the proper perspective, just how far ahead Honey stood compared to every other man around me. There was no comparison. None at all. The boys at this academy only ever gave me those same disgusting, lingering gazes as if I were something to be consumed.

Though… I would not have minded such a gaze from Honey.

That thought made me smile to myself.

As I walked, I waved lightly to some of the girls nearby, returning their greetings with easy charm. I had done well winning over the freshmen in particular. They were simple enough to sway if one knew what to say. And, obviously, I spoke of Honey often. Someone had to correct the filth being spread about him. Someone had to wash away those stupid, ugly rumors meant to stain his name.

All of this just because he killed Aurora’s uncle.

Honestly.

That man had reeked of evil from miles away, and after what he did, after what he dared to do to Elona, Honey should have been rewarded, not banished. But instead, they cast him out. I suppose Alfred truly inherited more from his father than people liked to admit.

And just thinking about Alfred made me embarrassed a little.

How embarrassing it was that I had once shown him affection. Truly humiliating.

I had wasted an entire year while Honey was right there.

An entire year.

If I had acted properly from the start, I could have been flirting with him much earlier. By now, we should have already slept together at least ten times. Perhaps I might even have been pregnant already and used that as an excuse to avoid attending this tiresome academy altogether.

Really.

The shame of my own poor judgment was difficult to overstate.

When I stepped inside the academy, the first person I saw was Carla.

An unpleasant sight to begin the morning with.

“Layla,” she said with that smile of hers, “alone again, I see. Though I suppose no one could have expected otherwise.”

I smiled sweetly.

“Well, I would rather be alone than accompanied by the Horny Apostle over there.”

I did not even bother looking at the figure beside her. He was also giving me sometimes quite intense gazes, to not say filthy gazes out of respect for Carla.

Carla’s face darkened immediately.

“Stop calling him that! He is the Apostle of Lumen. You should show him some respect!”

God.

My opinion of Carla had truly fallen beyond repair ever since she chose that man of all people to attach herself to.

Jayden reached for her arm in an attempt to calm her.

“Come on, Carla, it’s fine,” he said.

I let out a soft giggle and lifted my hand in a graceful little wave, as if this had all been a perfectly harmless exchange.

“Then let us do our best not to see each other for the rest of the day, if possible, Carla… Lord Horny Apostle.”

And with that, I walked past them, leaving Carla’s offended voice behind me without the slightest interest in hearing the rest.

Truly, it was a magnificent feeling to know that my Honey was, without question, the best man in this world.

And I, much obviously, was the luckiest woman alive.