Since When Were You The Villain?

Chapter 79 

   

Empress Beatrice was a brilliant and quick-witted person.  

Just as she had killed Fideut and Percel, she could kill the infant and disguise it as another incident, making it difficult to be held accountable for the crime.   

Even if, by some stroke of luck, the child survived and entered the palace, it would still be a problem.   

Despite being the emperor, he did not have the power to protect the child.  

The birth mother, Gwyneth, had humble origins. She was a woman of low birth, a slave brought in as a war captive.   

Since the child’s mother had no noble lineage, the child would not receive support from the nobles.   

Furthermore, Mikhail was excelling in his role as crown prince and had strong support. Therefore, there would be no one willing to take the risk of supporting the lowly infant.  

In the end, the emperor chose not to search for the child at all.  

“The master hopes that the child will be adopted and live well in a good home.”   

Perhaps that was the best choice the emperor could make. It meant the child would find happiness in someone else’s warm embrace, even if it wasn’t his own. 

The emperor had sent the child to an unknown place, where no one would ever know the truth about the child’s heritage.   

“However, not long after the child was sent away for adoption, the atmosphere at the grand duke’s household began to change.”   

Killian may not have known because he was too young to understand it at the time, but his father, Grand Duke Howard Rivelon, had already sensed that he would be in danger soon. He knew how perilous his actions were.  

“Do you remember the day the master passed away?” Hank asked.   

“Yes, I remember it vividly,” Killian replied.   

“On that day, master intended to send you to a safe place.”   

Hank said that on the day the grand duke told him to leave and gave him a large sum of money, he heard him worrying about his son, Killian.  

‘Before engagement, I had no fear, but after falling in love, I find myself fearing so many things,’ Killian mused. (T/L: He really accepts it.) 

Killian bit his lip hard. 

A burning desire for revenge simmered in his chest. He felt like he could confront the empress right now and plunge a sword into her back.  

“Your Excellency, you must not move hastily.” Hunk said, gripping Killian’s clenched fist and trying to calm him down.  

Killian knew. He knew how powerful the royal family was. And there was also ‘Rosary.’ (T/L: The poisonous seed.)  

So, once again, he had to bury his seething anger deep within him, allowing it to fester and endure until the time was right.   

He had to let the rotten core of his heart be the nourishment for a growing tree, patiently waiting for it to establish its roots and flourish.  

Killian bit his quivering lips and asked, “Do you happen to remember anything about that child?”  

He wanted to know. He wanted to know who the child was that his father had gone to such lengths to protect.  

Killian needed to know if the child was still alive, whether his father’s sacrifice had been in vain, and if that mysterious figure connecting the deceased was still safe. However, Hunk shook his head.  

“It’s been nearly 20 years,” Hunk said.   

He had spent less than a month with the child.   

“All I remember is that the child had beautiful green eyes. Later, I found out that the emperor’s eyes were green, which means the child inherited that trait from his father.”  

Green eyes. But how many people in the world have green eyes? Even among the people he knew, there were easily close to a hundred.  

At that moment, Hank opened his eyes as if he remembered something more and slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.  

“Ah! That’s right. There was a scar.”  

“A scar?”  

“Yes, a scar. I thought it was strange for such a young child to have a scar like that. I even worried if it might be an issue when the child was  adopted. 

Hunk had mentioned that there was a small scar on the child’s back.  

It seemed like it might have been a scar acquired during the process of the Grand Duke secretly rescuing the child.   

An adopted child in a noble family, with green eyes and a scar on the back. She would be around twenty years old now. 

Suddenly, every condition fit perfectly with a woman who came to Killian’s mind: Estelle Niore. (T/L: OHHH Mann, this story never disappoints. Such a plot twist.)  

The young woman, who had been adopted by the Niore family when she was a child, had beautiful green eyes. And…  

‘…I saw a scar on her back beneath her dress.’  

An old, faint scar… 

As this realization struck Killian, he turned his head, feeling a chilling sensation run down his spine.  

‘Someone is here…!’   

Kilian quickly put on a mask and draped a robe over Hunk, who was with him.  

“You have to go back now.”  

Kilian gazed in the direction where he sensed a presence and urged Hunk to leave first.  

Hunk, realizing that someone was watching them, quickly covered his face and left the place.  

“…One, two. Just two of them.”  

Kilian surveyed his surroundings beneath the mask, rolling his eyes. He placed his hand on the concealed sword at his waist.  

Suddenly, figures emerged from the darkness. They seemed to be chasing Hunk.  

But Killian had no intention of losing Hunk.  

He drew his sword and blocked their path. They, too, were wearing black robes and concealing their faces.  

“The Black Moon.”  

They recognized Killian’s mask and addressed him in a hushed tone.  

‘Do they still not know my true identity?’  

If they did, they would have addressed him differently, perhaps as ‘the Grand Duke.’  

Killian quickly organized his thoughts and checked their wrists.  

As if confirming his suspicions, red beads were visible beneath their sleeves.  

“…Rosary”  

Indeed, it was them.  

Killian sensed a tangible threat emanating from the Rosary members before him. (T/L: So here’s a clarification of the confusion: Killain is no doubt the ‘Black Moon’ and the murders are ‘Rosary Members’.)  

He realized that they intended to kill both him and Hunk tonight.  

Simultaneously, questions swirled in his mind.  

Who could it be? The one who leaked information about Fideut, Percel, and Hunk to the Empress.  

Was it Garfield? Did he secretly read and return the letter?  

Nicholas? No, he couldn’t access my personal letters.  

Or could another spy have been assigned to them?  

Considering that they didn’t know his true identity, perhaps they were the ones who had been exposed first.   

Fideut had also mentioned that someone seemed to be trailing him before he died, and Percel had said he was personally investigating the illegitimate child.  

So they might have been easy targets for the other side.  

Hunk, too, might have… 

A multitude of thoughts swirled in his mind, but there was no time to dwell on them. Before him were the Rosary members.  

The ones who had killed his parents and their helpers.  

The Rosary members stood before him, silent, their faces concealed in shadow, and then they drew their swords.  

The thin, sharp blades glistened faintly in the darkness.  

With just a few subtle movements, Killian sensed that they were not ordinary individuals.  

His hand, gripping the hilt of his own sword, trembled slightly.  

Tension, fear, and anxiety, emotions that had tormented him for so long, miraculously melted away as soon as he faced the Rosary members. 

Yes. In truth, he had been waiting for the day of revenge for a very long time.  

The day he would cut through their wrists.  

(T/L: From now on, I will change ‘Rosary Members’ to ‘Rosarphi’).  

* * *  

The lounge, divided into several rooms, had a small sign hanging by each door.   

If the sign with the white flower was turned to the side with the red flower, it meant that someone was using the lounge, so you shouldn’t enter.  

People often used the lounge to fix their clothes, redo their makeup, toss someone who had had too much to drink, take a quick nap out of exhaustion, or share passionate moments in seclusion.  

In any case, many unexpected things had happened in the lounge, so it was considered a great breach of etiquette to enter a room with a red sign.  

Sophia had changed the sign on the door of the most remote room to one with a red flower and was tapping the carpet with her high heels.  

The ball was in full swing, and there were plenty of empty rooms in the lounge, so very few people ventured to the secluded corners.  

She didn’t want to go to the party because Rubisella was there, and she didn’t want to go to the dance hall either because she didn’t have a partner.  

And she didn’t want to perform ‘Sophia’s Messy Dance Show’ without Kilian.  

Despite being a grand and lively party with plenty to see, it felt dull without someone to enjoy it with.  

‘But where is Kilian…?’  

Sophia glanced at the clock.  

The minute hand was approaching 10, beyond the number 9.  

“Why is the Empress talking for so long?” Sophia muttered under her breath, slamming the armrest of the red sofa in frustration.  

‘Why does she need to gossip about me like this?’  

She told herself not to get irritated, reminding herself that it might be a misunderstanding.   

She repeated this in her mind over a hundred times, but Kilian’s words kept coming back to her.  

‘In my opinion, I’m not sure if Sophia is a suitable match for me.’   

No matter how she thought about it, that sentence was just infuriating!  

She tried to see it in a positive light, but it just didn’t sound positive to her.  

‘What if he follows the original story and switches to Estelle?’  

“Ha! Go ahead and switch! Who’s afraid of that?”  

Sophia was determined not to let it bother her, but her mind was still racing.  

‘I really, really don’t regret it at all. I’m so glad I got rid of the black sheep.’  

‘If you get along well with Estelle, then I’ll get along well with Mikhail…!’   

Bang! Bang! Bang!  

As Sophia clenched her fist and stood up from the sofa, the sound of someone knocking on the window startled her, making her body tense up.  

“What a surprise!”  

Startled, Sophia cowered and turned to look at the window.  

Outside the darkened window, she saw… 

“Killian…?”  

In the dead of night, Sophia had been wondering if it was the wind or some wild animal, but the familiar face leaning against the window left her wide-eyed.  

“Why are you out there?” 

 

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