I Became the Master of the Villain

There were a few individuals who could be suspected of being behind the assassination.

The first person who came to mind was Uncle James.
If I, my father’s only blood relative, were gone, Uncle James would become the most likely heir to the title.
That alone gave my ambitious uncle enough motive to try to kill me.

Besides, during the spinning factory strike incident, I had taken the side of the workers.
Holding a grudge over that, my uncle might have made up his mind to harm me.
A few other relatives who had ambitions toward succession came to mind as well, but again, all I had was suspicion.

“I have suspicions, but no proof. If Sir Hans wakes up, we might be able to ask him about the assassin…”
My voice trailed off. That was my way of saying that for now, there wasn’t much we could do.
“For now, let’s wait for Sir Hans to regain consciousness and gather what evidence we can.”

“Yes.”
I nodded at Father’s words.
I didn’t know who had targeted me, but I would find them and make them pay for their crimes.

That would be the best I could do to honor the people who were lost…
“Setting that aside, Olivia. Would you take a look at this?”
Father pulled out a letter from inside his coat.

“While you were asleep, someone from the imperial palace came by.”
I opened the envelope Father handed me and checked the sender first.
Imperial Court Mage Commander, Aron Tobias.

I slowly read through the letter.
“……”
It was a request for me and Kian to visit the imperial mana testing center as soon as possible.
After I finished reading the letter and set it down, Father spoke.

“When Kian regained his mana, the imperial knights were dispatched to assess the situation.”
The Royal Guards I had seen before losing consciousness. They must have reported to the Emperor.
If so, then it made sense.

Anyone born as a mage in the Empire is required to visit the palace and undergo a mana measurement.
It’s like a birth registration, but only for mages.
The Emperor, having learned that Kian had become a mage, had followed custom by sending people.

If he didn’t know Kian was the prophesied mage from twenty years ago, this could very well happen.
“You haven’t gone to the palace yet?”
When I asked, Kian gave a slight nod and answered.

“I couldn’t make such a decision on my own without your permission, Master.”
Even though he had awakened as a mage, he still called me Master.
Now that he had obtained such tremendous power, there was no longer any reason for him to serve me.

I felt I needed to let him know that.
But before that…
I should deal with this first.

The letter from the palace had even included my name.
The reason the Imperial Mage Commander had summoned me along with Kian was probably because he was still officially my slave.
At that moment, Father spoke up.

“Olivia, what do you plan to do?”
“That is…”
His gaze fell on Kian. He was probably asking whether I intended to keep Kian as a slave.

Of course, I intended to free Kian. He surely wouldn’t want to remain a slave either.
But would Father accept my decision to release him so easily?
When I hesitated to answer, Father smiled kindly and said,

“Don’t mind me. Just do what you want.”
Was Father always like this? He used to be much stricter.
It seemed he had changed a lot since I narrowly escaped death.

“Thank you, Father.”
“What for? It’s not like you need my permission for that.”
Father stood up, supported by the butler.

“I’ve kept you too long. Get some rest now.”
After Father and the butler left, I let out a breath of relief.
It was a good thing that things were following the original story, but with some changes.

In the original, Kian had come into conflict with the Emperor immediately after awakening.
It wasn’t because the Emperor knew he was the prophesied mage.
It was because Kian had torn Grand Duke Balthazar to pieces after the man tried to have him taxidermied.

The Grand Duke was the Emperor’s younger brother.
The Emperor had tried to kill Kian to avenge his brother, but it hadn’t gone his way.
Even with the army deployed, and with the Empire’s greatest warriors sent after him, no one had been able to kill Kian.

As I was lost in thought, recalling the original story, Kian called out to me.
“Master, would you like me to bring you something to eat?”
After sleeping for so long, I was indeed hungry. His offer couldn’t have come at a better time. I smiled and said,

“Thank you. Please do.”
Kian disappeared in an instant.
A moment later, he reappeared holding a tray of food.

A delicious aroma wafted from the warm soup.
“Magic really is convenient.”
“I think so too.”

Kian smiled as he placed the soup in front of me.
“It’s hot, so please eat slowly, Master.”
“Okay.”

I took a spoonful of soup, then said to Kian,
“You must be tired. Why don’t you go get some rest?”
“I’ll go after you finish eating.”

Even though I said it was fine, Kian stayed with me until I finished every last drop of the soup.
When I looked at Kian’s face, gazing at me with gentle eyes…
I couldn’t imagine that he was someone who would ever blacken.

He was still the Kian I knew so well.
I couldn’t help but believe that.
***

After Olivia finished eating, she fell asleep again.
Though she had regained consciousness, she still shouldn’t overexert herself.
She needed to fully recover her strength.

Kian stepped outside so she could rest comfortably.
He headed toward the northern garden, far from the main building, where the servants rarely passed.
The garden, now in spring, was brightly blooming with flowers of many colors.

Kian walked through the quiet garden at a pace that was neither fast nor slow.
With each step he took, the lushly blooming flowers wilted.
Taking life was that easy.

So too was taking a human’s life.
Staring at the withered garden, he recalled the moment he regained his mana.
It hadn’t been power that flowed in from outside.

It was definitely a power that had been inside him.
A power he had been born with.
He had originally possessed an enormous amount of mana that never seemed to deplete no matter how much he used.

He remembered the sensation he felt the moment mana spread through his entire body.
It was the feeling of something inside him—something that had been sealing his mana—shattering.
At that moment, he realized.

The reason he hadn’t been able to sense mana all this time was because it had been sealed away.
Who had sealed his mana—and why?
If the reason he had to live as a slave for twenty years had been someone’s scheme…

He would find them and make them pay.
Twenty years spent living as the lowest form of human.
That time could never be recovered.

So they would have to pay for it with their lives.
To do that, he needed to uncover a mountain of truths.
The first master who had bought him. He would find that man and learn which slave trader had sold him.

Once he had decided, he would act.
In an instant, Kian’s figure vanished from the garden.
As if nothing had happened, the flowers in the garden were blooming in full once again.

***
The noise that had filled the day was ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) gone, and in the silent night, only the chirping of crickets could be heard.
In the room where the master and mistress of the estate slept soundly, a human shadow fell.

The guards who should have been keeping strict watch had long forgotten their duties and wandered in dreams.
Thanks to that, the intruder was quietly standing over the sleeping couple.
More precisely, his gaze was fixed on the man.

The master of this mansion—Count Douglas.
A flash of blue light sparked from the intruder’s fingertips, and Count Douglas’s body suddenly separated from the comfortable bed.
The Count, who had been in a deep sleep, fell from the bed with a dull thud.

Still not fully aware of the situation, he raised his head in a daze—and saw the unfamiliar figure.
“Wh-who are you?!”
The startled Count shouted. With such a loud noise, his wife should have awakened—but she didn’t move at all.

It was because a sleep spell had been cast over the entire mansion.
Even if her husband were to be murdered right before her eyes, she would continue sleeping.
“Is no one out there?!”

Realizing the presence of an intruder, the Count glanced nervously toward the door. But there was no response from the guards beyond it.
The man stared coldly at the anxious Count and spoke.
“It’s no use. Everyone’s asleep.”

The Count quickly pulled out a dagger hidden under the bed and pointed it at the man.
“Who are you? Who sent you?!”
Realizing the room was a bit dark, the man flicked his hand.

Every candlestick in the room lit at once, and the surroundings instantly brightened.
The strange phenomenon made the Count gasp.
“A-A mage…!”

As the Count staggered back in fear, the man commanded,
“Look carefully. See who I am.”
The Count stared at the man’s face without blinking.

The face revealed under the candlelight was breathtakingly beautiful.
Though many years had passed, it was a face he could never forget. And when he saw that rare silver hair, he was certain.
“Kian…!”

The Count’s eyes trembled as he uttered the long-forgotten name.
Kian gazed down at his former master with cold eyes.
“If you’d pretended not to remember, I was going to jog your memory… in the same way you used to do to me.”

“T-that was…”
The Count’s complexion turned pale. The vile things he had once done to Kian flashed through his mind.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t come for revenge.”

Even so, the Count could not feel at ease. He gripped the dagger as if it were his last lifeline and said,
“Then why have you come to see me?”
“There’s something I want to know.”

“What on earth…?”
“Twenty years ago, you bought me from a slave trader. Do you remember who that trader was?”