I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 86

 

Kyle was lost in complicated thoughts as he looked at his father and brother.

However, startled by an unexpected voice, he glanced around.

The high-pitched, cheerful tone was unmistakably familiar.

Soon, his eyes fell on the small, active figure of the rabbit, Brody.

Kyle couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Just moments ago, she had been clinging to his back.

But now, there she was, bouncing forward, cheerfully greeting the wolves with her infectious laughter.

Kyle wasn’t the only one dumbfounded. The wolves, who had been glaring at each other with hardened expressions, now wore blank, confused looks as they stared at the rabbit.

Yet Brody, utterly fearless, paid it no mind.

She hopped right up to the wolf who looked the most intimidating and ferocious, clasped his massive paws with her tiny front ones, and looked up at him with a bright smile.

“You must be Mr. Kyle’s father, right? Wow, you two look so much alike! I couldn’t possibly mistake you!”

Kyle squeezed his eyes shut at the sight of the rabbit not only finding his father but also acting brazenly and laughing as if she had no sense of danger.

Standing nearby, Fabian clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath.

“I figured she wasn’t normal when you said you were dating her, but this just proves it.”

But the most shocked of them all was Alexander.

The wolf who rarely showed surprise in any situation now found himself stepping back as a tiny rabbit babbled excitedly at him.

“Oh, right! My introduction is way overdue! I’m Brody! I’m Kyle’s girlfriend!”

“!”

Her words, punctuated with a playful wink, landed like a second bombshell, leaving Alexander and the other wolves stunned.

Watching this unfold, Kyle finally let out a long sigh and walked over to her.

He felt Zelda’s gaze following him, but he ignored it. Grabbing Brody’s backpack with his teeth, he lifted her up.

“Kyle!”

His father called out to him belatedly, but Kyle didn’t stop. He left without a word, leaving the stunned wolves behind.

As she dangled from her backpack, Brody squirmed and protested.

“Kyle, where are we going? I didn’t even get to properly greet your father!”

“You don’t need to.”

Kyle’s cold reply silenced her.

He carried her to an isolated spot, finally setting her down gently on a soft patch of grass, then immediately started checking her condition.

“Are you okay?”

He was worried about the toll her time-reversing ability might have taken on her body, knowing it left her weak and bedridden for days afterward.

Brody, however, just shrugged casually.

“It doesn’t affect me that quickly. If it does, it’ll hit me tomorrow or the day after at the earliest.”

Kyle stared at her, his blue eyes filled with guilt. He remembered shouting, “No!” when he saw her reverse time to save Zelda earlier.

In that moment, he hadn’t been worried about the dying Zelda but about Brody, who would collapse for three days after saving her.

This realization unsettled him.

He had returned to confirm Zelda’s feelings and intentions, yet now, standing before her, those thoughts felt insignificant.

He couldn’t understand why he no longer cared about Zelda’s feelings.

Instead, it was Brody’s emotions that preoccupied him.

He wondered why she had chosen to save Zelda. Among all the wolves who were dying, why her? Could she have known Zelda was the woman he once loved?

He couldn’t bring himself to ask, and the unanswered questions gnawed at him.

As Kyle struggled with his tangled emotions, he sighed again, picked Brody up by her backpack, and resumed walking.

Brody, dangling from her pack, turned her head to look at him.

“…”

She could tell Kyle wasn’t in a good state of mind. Meeting Zelda, his father, and Abel all at once—it was no wonder he seemed so troubled.

But Brody knew the source of his turmoil was likely Zelda.

She thought back to the woman she had met earlier. Zelda Arsha, the protagonist of this world and the woman Kyle had loved.

As described in the original story “Blue Wolf” and as Kyle had once mentioned, Zelda was the most beautiful and formidable warrior among the wolves.

She was impressive enough to earn the love of the two brothers, and even Brody couldn’t help but admire her.

Yet, seeing Zelda in person made it painfully real.

This incredible, beautiful woman had been loved by Kyle—a fact that left Brody feeling unexpectedly bitter.

Despite all they had endured together, Kyle had never given his heart to her, but he had loved Zelda.

That thought stung.

Brody recalled the moment she reversed time to save Zelda. Her decision hadn’t been driven purely by the desire to save a dying person.

She had done it because she feared Kyle would grieve.

She had done it because she couldn’t bear to see him despair.

But she wasn’t sure if it was Kyle’s sorrow she had feared or the pain she herself would feel watching him suffer.

Was her decision to save Zelda for Kyle’s sake, or was it for her own?

Brody was just as confused and conflicted as Kyle.

With both harboring their own tangled emotions, they eventually arrived at Kyle’s house in the forest after crossing the bustling village.

Standing in the garden, Kyle looked up at his home.

It was unchanged from when he had left, as if everything had continued without him.

Somehow, that familiarity didn’t feel comforting.

As Kyle stepped into the garden, the memories of his last moments here resurfaced.

Abel and Zelda’s engagement, the moment when he was overpowered by the soldiers after attempting to kill Abel, and the humiliation of being dragged away.

The memories made his face harden in disgust.

It was a recollection full of shame, as though he had been covered in filth, making his blood boil with hatred.

However, he pushed those memories aside like trash and entered the house.

Inside, a woman was struggling with a maid as she climbed the basement stairs.

“Madam, you can’t go out now! How do you plan to fight in your condition? Please, go back to the basement!”

Ignoring the maid’s pleas, the woman staggered down the stairs, only to meet Kyle, who had just entered the house.

Upon recognizing him, his mother, Eliza, paled, and the maid beside her sat down, shocked as though she had seen a ghost.

Eliza couldn’t find her voice as she stared at him in disbelief.

“Kyle…!”

Kyle, silently meeting his mother’s gaze, felt a cold, detached expression fill his eyes.

While his father had abused him under the guise of heir training, his mother had simply stood by and watched.

From the moment Kyle realized that his mother could not provide him with solace, he stopped confronting her.

Even when she later tried to mend their relationship, the wounds were too deep, and he rejected her. The resentment still hardened his heart.

After several months, when he finally saw his mother again, Kyle didn’t offer any greeting.

He averted his gaze and, noticing Brody trying to move forward again, turned around to stop her.

Despite hearing his mother call out to him repeatedly, Kyle ignored her, just as he had his father, and made his way upstairs to his room.

 

***

 

Brody, not only breaking the awkward atmosphere but also following Kyle without looking back, left behind a confusion that lingered between Alexander’s group and Fabian’s group.

Fabian, feeling the weight of the tense air finally lift, sighed and turned to Albert.

“It’s time to go.”

The two brothers did not exchange any words.

Even though Fabian had forgiven his younger brother, it was still difficult to greet him warmly, given their past.

Furthermore, the questions, doubts, wariness, and anxious gazes from his kin made it hard for Fabian to speak. His response was bitter.

Without lingering, Fabian turned to leave, while Albert tried to stop him.

He knew their father had wanted a reconciliation with his younger brother, but before Albert could intervene, Alexander, who had been silent until then, spoke to Fabian.

“What are you really after by coming back?”

“…”

No matter how he heard it, it was an unpleasant question. But Fabian didn’t get offended.

He knew the meaning behind it. The question was simply asking why he had helped. It was a typical way of speaking in this family, where nothing was ever straightforward.

Fabian turned toward Alexander and answered.

“I don’t want anything. Your eldest son saved my boy, so I’m just returning the favor.”

Alexander furrowed his brow at Fabian’s indifferent reply.

Kyle had saved his son? How? The questions seemed to multiply. But now was not the time to focus on how Kyle had ended up at Erbe’s highland.

Without hesitation, Alexander fixed his gaze on his older brother.

Fabian’s words didn’t sound like lies.

Moreover, Fabian wasn’t the kind of person to lie.

His older brother had always despised dishonesty and couldn’t stand deceitful acts. Even now, he seemed unchanged.

But still, Alexander couldn’t fully trust Fabian’s words.

Even if Kyle had saved his son, it was an extreme response to bring an army to help him. And after everything, Kyle knew that helping him was akin to helping the brother who had taken everything from him.

With his suspicions still unresolved, Alexander continued to eye Fabian warily.

He knew well that Fabian had done enough to deserve death, and for more than twenty years, he had lived in fear and distrust of him.

Alexander found it hard to believe that his fears and unease were unfounded.

And so, he asked his brother once more.

A bonus chapter from me to enjoy the fluff and laughter in the first half of the chapter (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠).