I Became the Master of the Villain

I laughed softly and said, “You're joking, right?”
“It’s not a joke. I’m serious.”

Kian, smiling with a gentleness that seemed like it could melt, stroked my cheek.
His hand was large and firm. And warm.
It was a pleasant temperature. I instinctively nuzzled my cheek into his hand.

In that moment, a flush of heat appeared in his blue eyes.
Was my action just now what aroused him?
“……!”

Like a starved beast, Kian urgently wrapped his arms around my waist.
He lowered his head and devoured my lips.
He persistently ravaged them as if trying to satiate a hunger.

He gave me no room to breathe, and soon I was short of breath.
When his tongue stimulated a sensitive spot, a shiver ran down my spine.
“Mm…….”

He skillfully tangled his tongue with mine.
The sensation, spreading like a fever throughout my body, made my knees go weak.
Eventually, unable to endure it, I staggered, and he carried me to the bed.

I ended up lying down as if collapsing, starting from my waist.
In Kian’s eyes looking down at me, a thick, unresolved desire remained.
“I was going to stay just for a moment… but then you started acting all cute.”

He shifted the blame onto me with his long eyes narrowing.
Kian looked at me as if I were lovely. And then kissed me again.
He teased and brushed over my tender inner mouth, stimulating me.
The kiss continued for quite a while.

“Haa……”
It was just as our lips parted to catch our breath.
I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

Hadn't Kian already learned that Alexis had been at Obelice’s mansion?
Kian slightly lowered his head. I said, “Wait a moment,” and placed my hand over his lips.
“Kian. There’s something I’d like to ask of you……”

“Please, go ahead.”
“Could you keep it a secret… that His Highness Alexis was at that mansion?”
Kian furrowed his delicate brow. He spoke with displeasure.

“What if I say # Nоvеlight # I don’t want to?”
“Then His Highness would be in trouble.”
“Do you dislike the idea of the Second Prince being in trouble?”

Just a moment ago, his eyes had been dripping with honey, but now they turned somber. I spoke to soothe him.
“I know what you're thinking, but I don’t have any feelings for His Highness.”
“No. You don’t know what I’m thinking right now.”

His voice sounded slightly angry.
“Please don’t let any other man enter your eyes but me.”
I tried to say that I hadn’t, but I couldn’t say anything. Because he gently pressed his lips against mine.

After another long kiss, he lifted his lips and said,
“Don’t be kind to him either.”
He tucked my hair behind my ear and buried his face in my nape.

The moment his breath touched me, a sharp pain ran through me.
He bit my neck lightly and growled like a beast.
“You thought I wouldn’t be bothered after seeing you with another man?”

I knew Kian was wary of Alexis, but I hadn’t expected it to be to this extent.
Had I made Kian uneasy without even realizing it?
I stroked his smooth silver hair and said,

“You know, right? The one I like is you, Kian.”
How could I reassure him?
I hesitated for a moment, then wrapped my arms around his neck. I pulled him close until our breaths touched.

And then, starting from his forehead, I kissed the bridge of his sharp nose, his well-shaped lips, and his pearlescent cheeks one by one.
“I only think about you… What do I have to do to make you believe that?”
As I spoke in a soothing voice, Kian seemed slightly less angry.

His eyes grew clearer. He spoke gently.
“Do what you did earlier, please.”
This time, his hand rested on my lips. His fingers were well-shaped, but they were a man’s, thick at the joints.

I nuzzled my lips against those fingers. Kian smiled with satisfaction.
In his blue eyes, I was reflected.
My gaze was completely unfocused, and my cheeks were flushed red.

As if reading my expression, Kian said,
“Do you want me to kiss you?”
I nodded obediently. Kian let out a short laugh and bent his waist.

As if savoring sweet ice cream, he licked and sucked on my lips.
As I parted them slightly, his tongue invaded as if it had been waiting.
The kiss grew fiercer. My breath escaped in short, excited pants.

A tingling sensation crawled up my spine.
His lower body, pressed against mine, was hard.
Only after a long while did our lips part. But the heat hadn’t cooled at all.

On the contrary, it felt like a flame that had only just begun to burn.
Eventually, I wrapped my arms around his neck and said,
“What about… doing it in the bathroom next?”

At that moment, Kian’s blue eyes caught the lamplight and shimmered purple.
He smiled like someone who had received a very tempting offer.
“I won’t decline your seduction.”

After saying that, Kian gently lifted me up.
***
Lying on the bed, I slowly caught my breath. A languid exhaustion took over my body.

The afterglow still lingered, and I felt dazed, as if wandering in a dream.
Kian’s silver hair was damp with sweat, glistening, and so was his skin.
Looking at his even more beautiful face, I asked,

“Do you feel a little more reassured now?”
“A little.”
Kian stroked my cheek. It felt nice, but also ticklish.

“That’s a relief.”
“Still, please don’t be too kind to His Highness Alexis. He might get the wrong idea.”
Alexis? I laughed, thinking there’s no way.

“His Highness has no feelings for me. He just finds me comfortable, that’s all.”
Kian shook his head slightly and said,
“This is why I can’t feel at ease.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”
“……Never mind. It’s better if you don’t know.”
Kian pressed my cheek lightly with his finger and smiled.

Is there something I don’t know…?
But I stopped myself from thinking too deeply.
Maybe I had gotten too carried away, because my whole body felt drained.

I didn’t even have the energy to think, so I closed my eyes while lying in Kian’s arms.
***
A few days passed after Obelice was arrested.

In the underground prison of the Imperial Palace, intense interrogations were conducted daily.
The royal torturers used every inhumane method possible to make Obelice talk.
On the third day of interrogation, the Imperial Family finally obtained a confession and made an announcement:

–Obelice used forbidden magic to temporarily awaken sleep disease patients.
At first, the families of the patients didn’t believe the announcement.
But soon after, the patients who had been treated by Obelice began collapsing one by one.

Starting with the first patient who had awakened, the others also lost consciousness one after another.
The Imperial Family’s announcement had been true.
The families of the patients fell into deep despair, and Obelice was sentenced to capital punishment for the use of forbidden magic.

I sat at my office desk and set down the newspaper I had been reading.
I took a moment to reflect on what had happened.
In the original novel, there had been no mention of a character named Obelice. Perhaps he hadn’t been important enough to describe.

Could he have discovered a treatment for sleep disease that was impossible even in the original story?
When I went to Obelice’s base, I had briefly thought that might be the case…
‘So in the end, it was forbidden magic.’

I felt like a fool for having gotten my hopes up.
I let out a small sigh and picked up the newspaper again. I scanned through the headlines.
–“Obelice is innocent!” Protesters block roads: over 50 family members of sleep disease patients
–Obelice’s fanatics flee from the Imperial Family’s pursuit

Every newspaper had Obelice-related articles on the front pages.
Other than that…
–This summer’s trending color: “Classic Blue”
–Illegal magical device market growing… emerging as a social problem

Nothing else seemed particularly noteworthy.
I folded the finished newspaper and placed it at the side of the table. Rubbing my eyes, I leaned back in the chair.
The Obelice case had concluded, but the truth behind the sleep disease still hadn’t been revealed.

And that fact continued to bother me like a splinter stuck under my nail.
***
After spending the night at the Ashford Ducal Mansion, Kian returned home in the morning.

What awaited him was unexpected news.
There had been a message from Aulos’s son, the slave trader.
–I’ve found the woman you spoke of.

The woman who had called him “young master” in the memories of Count Douglas, his former owner.
In the letter sent by Aulos’s son, her location was written.
Kian teleported to the place.

The distorted scenery gradually became clearer.
Soon, an expansive cotton field spread out before his eyes.
He had arrived at a large plantation in the southern part of the Empire.

People were picking cotton under the scorching sun.
Chains were fastened around each of their hands and feet.
A slave overseer, holding a whip high, shouted furiously.

“Too slow! Move faster!”
The overseer, eyes glaring as he paced back and forth between the rows, suddenly came to a halt.
“You! Why did you stop working?”

The person being scolded was a middle-aged woman. She bowed her head and said,
“I-I’m sorry……”
Kian stared at her intently. It wasn’t out of cheap pity for her situation.

In Count Douglas’s memories, there was a woman who had appeared—this woman’s face resembled hers.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, the woman turned her head and looked at Kian.