A Villain's Will to Survive novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Name (3)

In the Capital’s cemetery—where the land met the peaceful whisper of nature—stood a lone grave, set in what people often called a sunlit resting place.

“You know, Woo-Jin.”

As I looked at the headstone, a voice from some distant memory whispered in my ear, gentle as a breeze.

“Woo-Jin. “

I remained silent.

“Hey, Kim Woo-Jin. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

The woman who stepped into the darkness when I was alone in that small room, carrying light in her presence.

“What is it?”

Only after I answered did she smile softly.

“... You know.”

The woman looked into my eyes—her voice clear, her lips trembling, and her breath unsteady.

“Do you want to get married?”

... I never gave her an answer that day. Maybe I wasn’t ready. Maybe I’d misunderstood her heart. After my younger sibling passed—taken too early—I wandered through life like a mechanical doll that had lost its key. I moved as if something inside me had broken. And from time to time, I found myself drowning in feelings that never lasted.

And so, I thought she pitied me. Maybe she was afraid I couldn’t keep going without her—that I’d fall apart completely, break beyond repair. I mistook that fear for love. I believed she wanted to stay by my side because she felt sorry for me.

“... I’m just kidding. Don’t take it so seriously.”

The woman tried to laugh it off, but I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want her to waste herself on someone like me, someone so clearly broken. I wanted to show her that I could stand on my own, that I wouldn’t fall apart without her.

“Hey, Woo-Jin! What are you doing?”

On another day, she tapped me on the shoulder and set something down beside me.

“Here. Look.”

It was a brand new tablet computer. I stared at it, not sure what to feel—only aware of the way my brow had drawn tight.

“What is this?”

“It’s yours.”

“... Isn’t this kind of expensive?”

“Yeah, it was pretty expensive.”

“What... Didn’t you say you were saving up for something? I thought there was something you wanted to buy.”

Then she smiled—that silly smile of hers, like nothing was wrong at all.

“Hehe. This was it. This is what I wanted. I wanted to give it to you.”

I turned the tablet computer over in my hands. It wasn’t something cheap—you could tell just by its weight. The woman kept stealing glances, then rested her head on my shoulder.

“You know, they say there are two kinds of happiness—one is giving it, and the other is receiving it.”

“... Yeah?”

"Yeah, if happiness only came from receiving, the world wouldn’t work. The algorithm is perfectly designed—just like the one in our game."

Then she pulled me into her arms as she said it.

“... So I guess I just like giving—especially when it’s to you, Woo-Jin.”

What she said was so soft and sweet, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lucky me. I like being the one who gets to receive.”

I opened my eyes again. The memory had been vivid, but the world around me hadn’t changed. Maybe I’d thought of the tablet computer because it was what I used to design for this game. I knelt before her grave, my eyes on the stone, placing a single flower upon it.

Yuara von Vergiss meinnicht

But no tears came. Maybe it was time to let her go. A year felt long enough to let her fade into memory—at least, for Deculein.

However...

"Even now, there’s still a part of me that wants to see you, even if only once," I said as I pulled off my gloves.

I ran my bare hand over her name, but all I felt was cold stone beneath my fingers.

***

“... Woah.”

Epherene stood just a short distance away, watching Deculein. There was nothing to be nervous about, yet her hands wouldn’t stop sweating.

“D-Did you hear that, Your Majesty?”

Epherene wasn’t alone, of course—a small red Munchkin cat curled in her arms, warm against her chest.

"Hmph, I heard," replied the cat.

The cat lifted its tail, and the flicking tip brushed against Epherene’s nose and she wrinkled it, trying not to sneeze.

“Achoo!”

“Hmph. Even now, he still hasn’t let go of her,” muttered the cat, shaking her head.

It was a thought she knew was improper—but to Epherene, the sight was almost irresistibly adorable.

"And here I thought the Professor was above all that.”

“... Are you disappointed in him, Your Majesty?” Epherene asked, pretending to be casual as she let her hand rest on its back, the fur softer than she had imagined—almost impossibly so.

“Hard to say,” replied the cat. “I’ve never had my heart pulled in that direction.”

“Mmm... I see, Your Majesty. Mmm...” Epherene said, absentmindedly petting the silken fur beneath her hand.

"However, a life like that doesn’t seem like the worst way to live."

"... It doesn’t seem like the worst way to live, Your Majesty?"

“Indeed. If a noblewoman were fated only to live inconspicuously and die forgotten,” the cat said, resting her chin on a tiny paw with a faraway look in her eyes.

The cat was so adorable that it made Epherene’s chest tighten.

“Then perhaps becoming someone a man like Deculein would never forget wouldn’t be such...”

Epherene agreed before she even realized it. Of all the souls she’d ever met, Deculein seemed the farthest from love—and yet, for someone to remain that deeply in his heart, perhaps it meant more than words could express.

“Then I shall take my leave. The lecture begins shortly, and Yeriel won’t stop chattering in my ear.”

“Sorry? Oh, yes, Your Majesty..”

The reason Sophien ended up coming in her cat form had everything to do with Yeriel. On her way out of the university, Yeriel had spotted Sophien—disguised as a student—and, in a blur of cheerful insistence and confused chatter, had pulled her along, saying that it was almost time for their class.

Watching someone speak to Her Majesty so informally had left Epherene speechless. But revealing the truth felt like opening a door to something far worse, so she said nothing and stood there, stunned into silence.

"May you return safely, Your Majesty."

“I shall.”

There had been a faint smirk on the cat’s face, but then it faded, and what remained was just a cat, staring blankly into the air, signaling that the Empress was gone and her possession had ended.

“Phew. Finally—”

“Meow—!”

The cat meowed.

“Hey! Easy, easy. Hold still, will you...”

“Meow—! Meooooow—!”

The cat scratched at Epherene’s arms—clawing, twisting, doing everything it could to escape.

“Hey! Stop it...?”

At that moment, a shadow stretched across the ground—and with it came a creeping sense of anxiety.

“Gulp—”

Squeeeak—

Epherene swallowed hard, and with a stiff creak of movement, she looked up at the source of the shadow—and her breath caught in her throat.

“... Oh.”

Before she realized it, Professor Deculein was standing over her, looking down at her in silence. Even the cat, perhaps intimidated by his presence, stilled its paws and fell silent.

“Oh, umm, Professor—”

“What business do you have here?” Deculein inquired, the hostility visible in every line of his face.

Epherene, her heart pounding, clutched the cat tightly to her chest like a shield.

“N-No, it’s not like that—I didn’t mean to watch. I really didn’t—”

“Glitheon.”

“... Sorry?” Epherene murmured, her eyes widening as she quickly turned over her shoulder. “... Oh.”

And just as Deculein had said, Glitheon stood there. Sylvia’s father, a man whom the Luna family had long called an enemy. Epherene's expression tightened, her eyes narrowing—but then her head tilted slightly. Something wasn’t right about him.

“... What happened to him.”

There was something strange about Glitheon’s face—no, more than that. The weight he used to carry in a room had withered.

When did he get so thin, to the point of becoming nothing but skin and bones? Epherene thought.

“Deculein,” Glitheon said.

“Even now, there’s still a part of me that wants to see you, even if only once.”

This girl meddles more than her brother ever did, Sophien thought.

However, this girl overlooked the most important part. No—she probably never even thought to question it, as my disguise magic is far too precise. And let’s be honest, who in their right mind would believe the Empress is wandering around a university? Sophien thought.

As expected—close, but not quite right.

“Umm...”

A letter? Since when did Deculein write to his sister? Sophien thought in silence.

Deep affection?