I Became the Master of the Villain

The military minister of the Ews Kingdom, the mercenary commander of one of the continent’s top three guilds, and even an envoy from the Lin Empire of the Eastern Continent…
Just hearing their titles was enough to know how important they were, and such people formed a line all day long.

The servants were completely overwhelmed from attending to the unending stream of guests.
So many had come that every guest room near the drawing room had to be used without exception.
The drawing room resembled a job interview venue.

People from all over, of every shape and kind, tried desperately to catch Kian’s attention.
“If the Archmage accepts our proposal, His Majesty Louis III of the glorious Kingdom of Valerian has promised to grant a title above duke, two hundred tons of gold bars, and the southern breadbasket territory.”
A top-class mage possessed enough power to face tens of thousands of soldiers alone. If they could recruit someone like that, there was nothing they wouldn’t give.

Perhaps because they all came with that resolve, every offer was more extravagant than the last.
Not a single person actually received an answer from Kian, though.
In any case, it was truly an exhausting and eventful day.

At the tail end of that day came a piece of news I hadn’t expected.
It was after the sun had set and all guest receptions had ended.
Butler Albert came running to me with a face full of urgency.

“Young lady…!”
“What is it, Albert?”
He was panting heavily, having clearly rushed over.

“S–Sir Hans has regained consciousness!”
The moment I heard it, I headed straight for Sir Hans’s room.
And when I urgently opened the door to his chamber—

I saw Sir Hans leaning back against the bed, receiving a medical examination.
“Sir Hans!”
When I called his name, Sir Hans turned his head—and his eyes widened.
“Young lady…!”

I quickly approached the side of the bed.
“Thank goodness you’re safe…”
Looking at my face, he murmured in a sigh-like voice.

Even just after waking up, he was thinking of my well-being first.
Really, just this once, he should worry about his own condition more.
“I was really worried. I kept thinking, what if you didn’t wake up?”

“My apologies for causing you concern, young lady.”
I gently shook my head and asked,
“Is your body doing okay?”

Healer Christine, who had been silently listening, answered in his place.
“Sir Hans is fine. Though he was stabbed in the chest, it narrowly missed the heart, so he was able to avoid a fatal injury.”
At her words, Sir Hans’s face darkened for a moment. But then, as if nothing had happened, he smiled brightly.

“Looks like I got lucky and survived. Honestly, I don’t know how I can face those who went before me.”
It seemed the butler had already informed him of the escort knights’ deaths.
He was pretending to be fine on the outside, but inside, he must be torn apart.

Sir Hans was the kind of person who would feel guilt over surviving when his fellow knights didn’t.
I sat down on the chair beside the bed and said,
“Sir, I absolutely have no intention of letting this incident slide. I’ll find out who’s behind the assassination attempt, no matter what it takes, and make them pay.”

For the sake of the knights who gave their lives. I had no other way to repay their loyalty.
Sir Hans, who had been listening quietly, bit his lip.
As if swallowing his rage, he clenched his fist tightly and spoke.

“I saw the bastard’s face.”
“Really?”
“Yes. During the fight, I managed to tear off his mask.”

Realizing this could be the key clue to exposing the mastermind, I asked quickly,
“Do you remember his face?”
“I’ve etched that bastard’s face clearly into my memory.”

Sir Hans began describing the assassin’s features, recalling them one by one.
He spoke without pause, but then suddenly fell silent.
And then he made an unexpected request.

“Young lady, could you please bring me pen and paper?”
I immediately ordered a maid to fetch the materials.
“Thank you.”

Sir Hans received a quill, paper, and ink from the maid and spoke. He then got out of bed and moved to the table.
He dipped the quill once into the ink bottle. Then he began moving his wrist smoothly.
“Age, around the thirties. There was a mole beneath his left eye. His nose and lips were…”

Right there on the spot, he completed a drawing.
Christine and I couldn’t help but admire his artistic skill.
“Sir… was your dream to be an artist?”

“My father is a painter. When I was young, I used to draw a lot, following him around. Even now, I draw as a hobby.”
“A hobby, huh? With that skill, if you hadn’t become a knight, you’d definitely be a painter.”
Sir Hans scratched his head sheepishly and said,

“Please stop complimenting me. I’ll end up thinking you’re being serious.”
Thanks to his unexpectedly good drawing skills, we were able to share a brief laugh.
I carefully took the sketch of the assassin’s face.

For now, this was our only lead.
But it was by no means a small gain.
Though it was a drawing based on memory and might contain some inaccuracies, it was probably the most precise depiction of the assassin’s face we could get.

With a clue like this, the information guild should be able to identify him.
The moment I left Sir Hans’s room, I called for Butler Albert. I handed him the sketch and asked him to request an investigation from the information guild Raven.
“Offer whatever reward they ask. And tell them that if they identify the target before the deadline stated in the contract, we’ll triple the payment.”

“Yes, young lady.”
After bowing, the butler stepped away.
If we could uncover the assassin’s identity, it wouldn’t be impossible to track down the one behind the attack.

So now all that was left was to wait patiently for results.
***
“Kian, congratulations on your freedom!”

In front of the bar table lined with premium liquors, Nicholas raised his glass.
Clink.
A crisp sound rang out as the ice cubes in the glass clinked together.

Kian lightly tapped glasses with Nicholas and moistened his throat. A strange thirst had come over him, so he drained his glass right away.
As Nicholas refilled Kian’s empty glass, he said,
“Come to think of it, there’s more than one thing to celebrate. You became a mage! And not just any mage— a top-class mage at that!”

Kian sipped the amber-colored liquor and said,
“Is that such a great thing?”
“What do you mean? And let’s not forget all those people lining up from every direction to recruit you.”

Nicholas leaned toward Kian and asked,
“So, have you given it any thought?”
All those countless scouting offers. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about which one to choose.

The first ones he eliminated were the offers from foreign countries.
Any place that would require him to be too far from Olivia was excluded.
In the end, only proposals from within the Empire remained.

But none of them ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) truly appealed to him.
‘What I really want is to be Olivia’s escort.’
But that offer had already been rejected.

When Kian remained silent and kept drinking, Nicholas spoke with a sly tone.
“Looks like you’re torn, huh?”
Kian stared at the people under the dim lights, each lost in their own stories as they drank, and said,

“To be honest, yes.”
Not having a place he wanted to go to—maybe that was a dilemma in itself.
Nicholas took a long drag from his cigarette.

Whoosh.
He exhaled the smoke and said,
“It’s good to be cautious, but don’t overthink it. Just figure out what you really want. Once you know that, it’s simple.”

What he really wanted…
Kian mulled over Nicholas’s words.
There were two things he wanted right now.

One was to find the person who made him live as a slave and take revenge.
The other was to stay by Olivia’s side.
“Excuse me, may I sit here?”

Lost in thought, Kian suddenly noticed someone approaching.
It was a young woman in a velvet dress with blonde hair.
She had a dazzling appearance that instantly drew the eye, and a seductive smile played on her lips.

She said,
“If you’ve got time, how about a drink together?”
Kian understood exactly what she meant.

He politely declined in a calm tone.
“Sorry, but I’m waiting for someone who hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Really? Then how about just until your friend gets here?”

Kian glanced at his watch. Then he smiled lightly and said,
“They’ll be here soon.”
A gentle but clear refusal. The woman, visibly disappointed, turned away.

As she walked off, Nicholas muttered regretfully,
“Was someone else supposed to join us?”
“No.”

“What? Then why’d you lie! Do you even know who she was?!”
“Who?”
“That was Celine Claudel! The hottest actress right now. Getting a chance to drink with her isn’t something that happens every day, you know!”

Nicholas seemed genuinely indignant.
But whether the woman just now was Celine Claudel or someone even more famous, Kian didn’t care.
Nicholas narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“You… do you have someone in your heart?”
Someone in his heart.
At those words, one face immediately came to mind.

The person who had shone light into a life filled with nothing but resignation and despair.
The happiness he had barely managed to grasp.
He didn’t want to give up his place beside her to anyone else.

If he had to put a name to this emotion that felt like greed…
Soft music filled the room, and a singer’s voice flowed through.
Interpreting Kian’s silence as confirmation, Nicholas smiled and asked,

“So who is it?”
Kian touched the cool surface of his glass with his fingertips.
“It’s someone I don’t dare harbor feelings for, given my status.”

“Hm? That’s not a problem for someone like you anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you forgotten? You’re a mage now. One of the Empire’s few top-class mages. Gaining a noble title? That’s easy for you.”

That was true.
He hadn’t done it yet, but he felt he could probably wipe an entire kingdom off the map with little effort.
Even among top-class mages, few could do that—if any.

He instinctively knew that he was the only one with power of that level.
So if he decided to wield that power, there would be plenty of people who followed him.
Come to think of it, a noble from some kingdom had once come in secret and knelt down before him, saying:

—Please, Kian-nim. Help me build a new kingdom.
But Kian had no intention of doing something as bothersome as founding a country.
Maybe after he found the one who had sealed his magic and took his revenge—then he might consider it.

Besides, if he became king, it would actually cause a problem.
Olivia was destined to become the Duchess of Ashford.
If he were to become the ruler of a nation, how could he ever confess to her?

She might not welcome the position of queen.
—Sorry, Kian. I appreciate the sentiment, but I have to carry the responsibility of the Ashford Duchy.
Kian fell into thought. Then, suddenly, he remembered Aron’s proposal.

‘I’ll need to earn a title first.’
Now that he had become a top-class mage, a title wasn’t strictly necessary.
Still, when standing by Olivia’s side, it would be better to have a respectable title.

He couldn’t afford to look shabby beside her.
Kian emptied the rest of his glass. That strange thirst that had been burning his throat was already long gone.