It's A Misunderstanding That I'm Dating The Villain

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but our Young Master lost his parents, the Duke and the Duchess, during his childhood.”

“…Yes.”

“That was… because of a demonic creature.”

“….”

I fell silent. I knew that the late Duke and Duchess of Kassen had passed away early while dealing with an incident that occurred in the territory.

However, I didn’t know that a demonic creature was involved in the cause of their death.

“Forgive me if I’m being rude but…. I heard that Captain Weyburn was a bit reckless when she confronted the demonic creature.”

“…Yes.”

Since Orthros is a demonic creature that is commonly not faced alone, it was true that I had acted recklessly.

“That is the reason why… I think the Young Master was worried.”

“….”

“This old man has been talking quite a lot. If you’ve finished, may I take my leave?”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

The butler didn’t say anything more and cleared the dishes before leaving the room.

I looked down at my right hand with a complicated feeling. It had healed completely in the meantime.

‘As long as I don’t die, I thought it’s okay, but….’

The death of his parents may have been a trauma to Ludger.

But I dared to fight a demonic creature recklessly in front of someone like that, ended up getting my hand mangled, and then, after fainting, started talking about work right after I regained consciousness.

I was in the wrong without any doubt. If I were in his position, I would have been worried and angry too.

Of course, there were aspects that were beyond my control. After all, I am a knight.

At that moment, I was doing what I was supposed to do, and even if I were to return to that time, I would act the same way. (Though I might change the cheap sword for something a bit better.)

When I recalled the demonic creature’s attack earlier, I felt guilty for even briefly suspecting that it might have been something Ludger orchestrated.

I had no idea about his parents’ entangled past.

‘Perhaps that trauma was triggered, leading Ludger down the road of a villain.’

However, in the end, Ludger Kassen was also a human with a principle of action.

He wouldn’t spread black magic without context overnight and plunge the Empire into darkness.

‘The current situation might actually be an opportunity.’

Although it wasn’t intentional, I would inevitably be entangled with Ludger in the future. He would continue to watch over me to ensure I didn’t reveal his true identity.

Then, wouldn’t I also be able to watch Ludger in return?

To see if he had any inklings of idea to do something ominous with black magic.

‘My memory of the original isn’t perfect, but let’s think about what I can remember first.’

Firstly, the male and female leads get entangled in an incident caused by black mage.

Secondly, black magic has the power that transcends human power and can go beyond common sense, such as manipulating people.

Thirdly, while the true identity behind the dark magic incident was never revealed in the original, there’s a suspicion that it might be Ludger based on circumstantial evidence.

‘And….’

With the keyword ‘black magic’, the vague information of the original became clear, and new memories surfaced to mind.

The ultimate goal of black magic, which has been passed down since ancient times, was to ‘control people on a large scale and overthrow the system of the Empire’.

However, it was impossible for black mages to exert that much power. This was because the relics in the Empire were suppressing the rampage of black magic.

Therefore, black magic could only function to manipulate a few individuals or cause small-scale incidents.

Because of this, the black mages attempted to destroy those relics in order to exert their full power, however, the protagonists unintentionally crushed the plot without knowing this fact.

‘There were two relics that were revealed in the original.’

One of them was the ‘Silver Magnolia Branch’ kept in the Royal Palace.

And the other was the ‘Golden Lily Flower’ hidden by the Duke of Kassen.

In fact, this was one of the reasons why the proposition ‘Is Ludger really behind in the incident of black magic?’ was so dubious.

It was a sacred object that his family has been safe-keeping in his own manor, so it would have been better to just destroy it.

However, I couldn’t come to a conclusion with that alone, so I decided to act based on the hypothesis that Ludger might be a black mage, or an accomplice who might be cooperating with the black mages even though he doesn’t use black magic himself.

A knight’s job is to operate based on the assumption of the worst-case scenario..

In that case, my next move would be….

‘Determining whether Ludger is truly involved with black magic and ensuring that the artifacts are not destroyed…’

Even if dark mages caused localized incidents, I could at least still prevent the worst-case scenario from happening.

‘But why did the details come to mind so clearly all of a sudden?’

While thinking that human memory really works strangely, but nonetheless, I felt a bit more at ease after confirming my goals.

The original was twisted already, but there was a way to prevent the worst.

What I saw was only Ludger purifying black magic. Since he hadn’t done anything wrong with it yet, there was still a chance to prevent the path to the bad ending.

I still have some lingering regrets for the route where the female lead influences him… but what good would it do to cling to the original which has already gone off course?

If Ludger falls in love with Elisa later, that’s fine, but if he doesn’t, then that’s fine too.

‘First of all, when I meet Ludger later, I should apologize for being a bit reckless because of the demonic creature and try to make amends. That’s the first priority.’

Just at that moment, there was a knock on the door outside.

“Sir Weyburn, the healer has arrived. May I invite her in?”

“Oh, yes. Please do.”

Soon, a healer wrapped in a familiar white robe entered. Healers are definitely the number one profession you encounter often in a knight’s life.

However, after being demoted to the Ruby Knights, the frequency I used to meet them has lessened.

“Sister, may the grace of the God of Heaven be with you.”

“May the grace of the God of Heaven be with you as well.”

The healer recited a set phrase, which can be considered a formal greeting, and took hold of my wrist to examine my condition. She furrowed her brows and muttered in surprise.

“Oh my… You’ve really recovered a lot. How are you feeling?”

“My body feels a little heavy, but other than that, there’s no pain.”

“When I first examined you, I thought you might not wake up for more than two weeks. Seriously… Please take more care of yourself, Sir.”

“Yes, I’m sorry….”

I apologized without thinking and confirmed what I was curious about.

“However, I’ve never fainted while using the blue sword technique during training. Is there another reason why I got seriously injured like this?”

“Oh, of course, training and real combat are completely different! How can a protected environment and an urgent situation be the same?”

“But… During training, there were times when the blue sword energy which I released was even longer than this time. That’s why I thought it was a bit strange.”

“Well, from our side, we can only assess the condition of your internal injuries. According to my observation, there have been cases where using the blue sword energy for extended periods required up to a month of recovery.”

“….”

“Therefore, this Sister can assure you that you can actually be considered a special case for getting up after just two days. It’s quite remarkable that you didn’t collapse during training.”

As someone who has never fainted before, this information was a bit surprising.

“Well, then, I’d like you to just take my next words as a hypothesis.”

“Yes.”

“That… Is there any possibility that something could go wrong during the healing process, causing my internal injuries to worsen?”

Feeling a bit guilty towards Elisa, the original female lead who became a subject of suspicion, I asked the question. The healer shook her head in response.

“The healing power granted by the God of Heaven only has the power to embrace the sick. Even if the caster had a shortcoming, the individual just won’t heal properly, and it won’t make the injury worse.”

“I see….”

I apologized to Elisa inwardly. I felt guilty for suspecting someone who tried to help me.

“Never again! Please don’t engage in such reckless acts from now on. Understood?”

“Yes…..”

“Even with your right hand. It seems you relied too much on the healing power, but it’s just how knights are, they don’t take care of themselves…”

I smiled faintly at the familiar nagging and activated the skill of listening with one ear and letting it flow out the other.

* * *

Thanks to my amazing recovery speed, I received a definite answer from the healer that I would be able to move right away tomorrow morning. I definitely need to go to work tomorrow morning.

But before that… I had to get over the obstacle, which was Ludger, who commanded me not to bring up work.

‘I have decided to apologize for what I need to apologize for….’

When I casually asked the butler, he mentioned that Ludger had gone to work right after confirming that I had woken up.

Then when I asked if that meant Ludger hadn’t gone to work yesterday and had been taking care of me instead, the butler replied with a gentle smile. I couldn’t believe it.

 

 

T/N: Hello readers! I’ve recently opened a discord server to help you discuss novels translated by me. So if you would like, you can join the server by clicking here.