The Villain Dreams Of World Peace

Episode 03: I seem to have been possessed in a novel.

 

Muriel felt a chilling and unpleasant gaze scanning her entire body, causing her to shudder. As she looked through the crowd, her eyes met with the man who’d been staring at her.

 

A blue glow flashed through his dark eyes.

 

“Kaiton Ur…”

Muriel quietly whispered his name.

 

People here knew him as Kai Crawford, who’d hailed from a different continent, but Muriel knew his true identity.

 

The Demon King, Kaiton Ur.

 

Of course, labeling him as a Demon King was merely a malicious stigma attached by the Sharans. In the first place, the idea of a Demon King passing down from generation to generation was absurd. Would a Demon King settle down, become a father, and pass on their position to their child? Then wouldn’t that make the demon too human…!

 

The war between the Sharans and Ur was just a long-standing conflict between the respective founding families. The Sharans emerged victorious, and Ur was defeated. History had been written to suit the victor.

 

As Muriel looked at the man who inherited the name of that defeated family, she made a vow.

 

She had to avoid him to not become a casualty.

She must avoid getting entangled with him as much as possible.

 

Kaiton was the true cause of Muriel’s destruction of the world in the novel. He was the one who tempted her to use evil powers, and he was the one who killed her, awakening her as the true Demon King.

 

If she got caught up with Kaiton, she wouldn’t become a Demon King just in name, but a real one!

 

‘Why are you staring at me like that…?’

 

Muriel wondered if he was looking at Rovelia, so she distanced herself from her, but his persistent gaze was directed precisely at her.

 

She was flustered.

 

Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she kept looking at Kaiton. She turned her head away, avoiding his gaze, but as if she was enchanted, eventually turned her head to look back at him.

Of the many people, only Kaiton seemed to be visible. It felt like he was right in front of her, despite the far distance between them. She could even see the subtle movements of his pupils.

 

He was like a black hole, absorbing the light surrounding him. Sharan, who was not far from him, sat on his golden throne and seemed to emanate light, but Kaiton showed a more intense presence.

 

At least, that’s how it felt like for Muriel. Kaiton seemed like a beast quietly lurking in the darkness waiting for the right time to strike, or even the darkness itself hiding the beast.

 

“Ahem…”

 

The long eye-contact between Muriel and Kaiton ended only after the high-priest, with a fake cough, blocked her view to introduce himself.

 

“Greetings, lady Muriel. I am High Priest Nicholas Neville. I am the one who found the lost oracle, haha…”

 

‘Woah.. I would believe it if he really was a Demon King.’

 

Muriel let out a long sigh, finally releasing the breath she had been holding. The tension had made her hair stand on edge, causing her skin to tickle. The unexpected staring contest had made her eyes sting and her ears numb.

 

“…and therefore, we’ll determine who the real saint is by using Pacio, the breath of God. Do you agree, lady Muriel?”

 

“…”

 

“Lady Muriel?”

 

“…”

 

Still caught up in the aftermath of the intense eye contact, Muriel responded belatedly.

 

“What did you say? I didn’t hear.”

“Oh, it seems the young lady is very nervous. I understand. I asked if you agree to measuring your Pacio with the Unet.”

 

“Yes, please get it over with quickly.”

 

Nicholas chuckled and tilted his head as if he had heard something funny, even though it was just a simple remark.

 

It was a patented laugh he had developed since his days as an idol in the kingdom who used to drive fangirls mad. It was a fan service-like laugh that existed solely to show off or entertain.

 

The priests who had been with him for a long time had seen this laugh thousands of times. Throughout those thousands of times, the laugh remained the same, as if it were measured by a ruler. The angle at which he tilted his head, the number of teeth he showed, and even the shape of the finger covering his mouth were all eerily identical.

 

Nicholas only showed that laugh to someone he had something to gain from. The priests were surprised because they were aware of that. They had expected an unimpressive saint to appear, but their leader was putting in so much effort.

 

Was there something going on?

 

The eyes of the confused priests began to sparkle.

On the other hand, Muriel was extremely uncomfortable with Nicholas.

 

Even though they had just exchanged greetings, she couldn’t help but dislike him. She disliked his glistening eyes and his overly friendly attempts to get closer.

 

‘I didn’t even say anything funny, so why are you laughing so much…’

 

At that moment, the priests entered the banquet hall carrying a massive stone. It was the magic orb used to measure Pacio, the Unet.

 

Since Muriel and Rovelia lacked the obvious abilities of a saint, they were trying to find the true saint through alternative means. Saints usually possessed twice as much Pacio as ordinary people, which allowed them to use the power of prophecy.

 

Nicholas pushed aside the priests who were in charge of the Unet and personally took hold of it, creating a dramatic scene that instantly captured everyone’s attention.

 

“It’s time for destiny.”

 

A memory flashed through Muriel’s mind.

As expected… this was a novel wasn’t it?

 

She’d already seen this scene in the novel.

The exaggerated and over-the-top gestures were chillingly identical.

 

“I, High Priest Nicholas Neville, am honored to play a humble yet significant role in the reappearance of a Saint.”

 

Whether his role was considered humble or important, the words seemed to be twisted in a way that was both full of humility and self-importance.

 

If it continued like this, Nicholas would soon stumble on his own priestly robes and fall. It was because of his desire to seize all the attention for himself and refusing any helping hands.

 

The Unet would shatter into pieces, and the task of confirming the two candidate’s Pacio would fall to Kaiton, since wizards were usually able to identify a person’s remaining Pacio through magic.

 

Muriel, who wanted to avoid facing Kaiton directly and hold his hand, quickly reached for the Unet as Nicholas began to fall. She had to prevent it from breaking.

 

Sure enough, the Unet slipped out of Nicholas’ grasp and rapidly plummeted to the ground.

 

“Ugh…”

 

Muriel’s arms were too short. The Unet shattered upon hitting the ground. Unable to stop her momentum, Muriel also crashed onto the floor.

 

The shrapnel of the Unet deeply embedded itself into Muriel’s hand as she hit the ground. In an instant, her pale hand became stained with red blood.

 

But… It strangely didn’t hurt!

 

When Muriel pulled out a fairly large glass shard from her hand, blood oozed up, but all she could feel was the warmth of the blood.

 

“Huh…?”

 

Muriel bit down hard on the tender flesh inside her mouth to confirm. She could feel the sharp teeth tearing into the flesh, but once again, it didn’t hurt.

 

It felt like she had fallen into a world where there was no pain at all. This wasn’t just tolerance, it was a complete absence of it.

 

No pain? What was this?

 

“Lady Muriel!”

 

Nicholas, floundering about his thin arms and legs buried in his long priestly robes, approached her and knelt down on one knee. He didn’t forget to swiftly sleep away the glass shards on the floor before putting his knees down.

 

“Are you alright? Oh… I’ve made an unforgivable blunder.”

 

“Would you like to try hitting me once?”

Nicholas, who had been flailing his arms like a paper doll, flinched at Muriel’s sudden words. Hit her? Was she being sarcastic? Was it some kind of teasing unique to nobles?

 

“What?! Lady Muriel, what are you talking about…”

“No, I mean, it’s just in case, so hit me hard once. You can even pinch me if you want.”

 

Muriel pressed her hand, from which blood was flowing steadily, but no matter how hard she pressed, it didn’t hurt.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Seeing the blood, Nicholas’s expression involuntarily twisted. The fairly deep wound made him shudder just by looking at it. But Muriel, on the other hand, seemed nonchalant… It was incredibly eerie.

 

“Oh, did you also hit your head when you fell? Oh no… If that’s the case, it’s a big problem. I will personally use my healing powers to treat you.”

 

Her pale face, that had been staring at her own wound for quite some time, raised with fierce gaze. Her face looked too evil to belong to someone blessed with a saint’s star.

 

“Oh…!”

 

Startled by her sudden momentum, Nicholas quickly lowered his head.

 

“I misspoke, young lady Muriel. I’m not saying that you’re crazy…”

“That’s okay. Just hit me a little.”

“…What? …Ah, I see! That kind of thing…”

 

Nicholas Neville’s face, which had been crumpled just in case he’d offended Muriel, brightened at once. Ever since he became the youngest high priest, he’d captured the hearts of many young women. He was well aware that among them, there were those with peculiar tastes who found pleasure in pain.

 

“Hmph!”

 

His pale and slender hand struck Muriel’s wrist sharply. It was a level of flailing that could be expected from someone with frail hands who’d only ever prayed in his life. Even if it wasn’t someone who couldn’t feel pain, they would probably also say it didn’t hurt.

 

“Is this enough?”

“…No, just pinch me. With more force!”

“Ah, of course…!”

 

Perhaps fueled by confidence, Nicholas pinched Muriel’s wrist so hard that it left a red bruise.

 

“Oh…”

“How about it, lady Muriel?”

 

Nicholas asked triumphantly, as if he had forgotten that he was feeling down just a moment ago. Nicholas, who was waiting for a compliment, was struck by Muriel’s reply like a thunderbolt.

 

“It’s very unpleasant.”

 

Her expressionless face showed no mercy. Nicholas cried out, feeling wronged.

 

“T-The young lady told me to hit her!”

“And… It really doesn’t hurt at all….”

 

Muriel muttered in disbelief. Nicholas was already talking to her about something she didn’t care about, but then he suddenly looked at her with a determined gaze.

 

“If that’s the case, I will hit you more sincerely.”

“It’s unpleasant. Step back. I’m very, very uncomfortable.”

 

Nicholas sealed his lips at Muriel’s cold words.

 

The first thing she felt when Nicholas pinched her was discomfort. Goosebumps rose on her skin as soon his hand touched her. It was the same instinctive reluctance she felt towards Sharan and Rovelia. Her stomach churned and she felt sick, but that was all.

 

Her wrist was swollen red, but there was no pain.

Just as she’d suspected. She’d… 

 

Muriel knew the power of the Saint was prophecy. For a moment, she considered that the novel she remembered might’ve actually been a prophecy of the future.

 

However, did there exist a person who didn’t feel pain? The fact that she couldn’t feel any pain made her face the fact that she truly had assimilated into a novel.

 

The absence of pain must be some kind of error that occurred when she became immersed in the fictional world. It was like a synchronization error, so to speak.

 

Well, everything had been weird since the moment she opened her eyes. Her sense of reality was incredibly strange. It was as if an invisible, thin vinyl film was wrapped around her body. It felt like she couldn’t really… permeate into the world.

 

Muriel became a little depressed. She knew from the beginning that this was a novel. Yet, even though she knew this wasn’t her world, the fact that she wasn’t the saint, but the villain who would bring about the destruction of the world made her unable to not feel gloomy.