I Am a Villain, So What?

Chapter 239: Upcoming Storm

The walk back to the estate was suffocatingly silent.

The estate was completely quiet when we slipped back through the rear gate. I guided Alicia straight into my ground-floor study, locking the heavy oak door behind us.

With a flick of my wrist, the magical lumen-lights flickered to life, casting harsh shadows across the room.

Alicia stood rigidly in the center of the plush carpet.

Her clothes were soaked in dried blood and putrid sewer water. She looked incredibly small, keeping her crimson eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

I walked over to the mahogany desk, pulled out my chair, and sat down.

I didn’t say a word.

I just let the heavy, suffocating silence stretch. I let the ticking of the grandfather clock fill the room, letting the tension build until she couldn’t bear the weight of it anymore.

"I’m sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking in the quiet room.

"Sorry? You could have died, Alicia," I said flatly, crossing my arms.

She flinched as if I had struck her.

"What had gotten into you?" I demanded, my tone sharp. "First, you’ve been acting completely lost for the past few days. Then, tonight, you sneak away into the lower districts. And when I finally track you down... you are backed into a corner, bleeding out, being hunted like an animal."

I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing. "Sorry won’t cut it, Alicia. I need an explanation. Right now. Who were those people?"

Alicia swallowed hard, her hands trembling at her sides.

"It started a few days ago," she began, her voice barely a whisper. "In the market. I stumbled upon a cloaked man. He bumped into me."

She looked up, her eyes filled with a lingering disbelief. "On his sword... I saw the insignia of the Valemont Royal Guard. The silver phoenix with broken wings."

"The Royal Guard?" I interrupted, my brow furrowing. "But I thought the Valemont army was entirely wiped out trying to fight the dungeon outbreaks fifteen years ago?"

"I thought so too," Alicia replied, her voice shaking. "That’s why I was so confused. It was eating away at my mind. I thought I had hallucinated it from old trauma. Since I wasn’t sure... I didn’t want to say anything."

"So you decided to investigate on your own," I stated coldly.

She gave an embarrassed, shameful nod. "I saw another man making hidden patrol gestures. I knew how the Valemont guards left tracking symbols and markings. I had been following those traces for the last few days. And I finally found their stronghold."

"So tonight... you sneaked into the sewers, following their traces. It led you straight to their subterranean stronghold."

I let out a harsh, disbelieving breath.

"How can you be so reckless, Alicia?" I scolded, my voice rising slightly. "Walking into an unknown organization’s stronghold completely alone? Do you have a death wish?"

"I don’t know!" she cried softly, tears welling in her eyes. "Maybe... maybe I lost my mind. I was just hoping... hoping there were actually remnants of my kingdom still alive."

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "And? What did you find?"

Alicia took a shaky breath, dropping a bombshell that made my blood run cold.

"I saw my brother there."

My hand froze.

I stared at her, absolute astonishment washing over me.

A brother?

My mind raced frantically through the game’s lore. The wiki explicitly stated that Valemont was destroyed and only one royal survived. Was there a hidden setting in the game that I missed? Or was the timeline already warping this badly because of my interference?

"Leon," she continued, her voice thick with emotion. "He is alive."

Before I could even process that massive deviation from the plot, her expression completely shattered into despair.

"But he is in terrible danger, Boss," she pleaded.

"What are you talking about?"

"The people down there... they call themselves the Valemont Restoration Army," Alicia recounted rapidly. "They consist of the remnant soldiers and ministers who escaped the dungeon outbreaks. They have been hiding and growing their numbers in the shadows for the past decade."

I narrowed my eyes. "And what is their goal?"

"Their plan... is to take a piece out of the Aurelian Empire."

I stared at her for three seconds.

Then, I burst out laughing.

It wasn’t a laugh of amusement. It was pure, unfiltered frustration at the sheer absurdity of it.

"Take a piece of the Aurelian Empire?" I scoffed, shaking my head. "It would have been much easier if they decided to march north and reclaim the completely dungeonified Valemont Kingdom!"

I stood up, pacing behind my desk.

"Do they even know how many absolute monsters are walking around in this Empire?" I demanded. "Even the Valemont nation in its prime couldn’t dream of taking a piece of Aurelian territory. And now, some sewer-dwelling remnants think they can pull it off? Do they have a collective death wish?!"

Alicia bowed her head, tears finally spilling over her cheeks.

"I think so too," she sobbed. "They have gone completely mad. My brother... he thinks he is the leader. He thinks he will become king. But he has been brainwashed since he was a child. He is nothing but a puppet to the Chancellor and the Knight Commander."

She looked up at me, her scarred face pale with sheer terror.

"They have joined hands with Infernus."

I stopped pacing instantly.

"What?" The word left my mouth like a block of ice.

"Yes," Alicia gasped, gripping her bloodstained tunic. "I heard them talking. They are planning something very terrible. They are planning to sacrifice Leon. They are preparing a ritual to summon a high-ranking demon."

I couldn’t stay calm anymore.

Using royalty as a sacrifice to summon a demon. What were they trying to summon?

A Demon King.

In this world, royalty or nobility wasn’t just about status, wealth, or birthright. It meant bloodline. Every royal bloodline possessed unique, heaven-defying traits. They possessed purer, denser mana than anyone else.

Just look at the Aurelian royals. Princess Celestia was an unparalleled ice mage at a terrifyingly young age. Princess Rumina possessed absolute, overwhelming mana. The Crown Prince Valerius was a monster in his own right.

And Alicia herself? She possessed Level 9 Fire Magic Comprehension at age seventeen.

The purer the bloodline, the higher the tier of the summoned demon. And Leon was a direct, male lineage of the Valemont royal family.

My mind was spinning.

Alicia wasn’t aware of my inner turmoil. She kept talking, her voice frantic.

"They are not planning to fight the Aurelian Empire head-on, Boss. Their plan is to cripple the Empire from within."

"Cripple the Empire..." I muttered, the pieces suddenly clicking into place. "How?"

"They are planning an attack on the Academy."

The words hit me like a physical blow.

The Academy.

Of course. Most of the noble families’ heirs were currently gathered at the Imperial Academy for the second semester.

Whether it was the heirs of the Four Great Ducal Houses—Ariana, Elisha, Mariella, Bordon. Whether it was the youngest princess, Celestia, or the Golden Boy protagonist, Kael.

If they launched a coordinated terror attack and summoned a Demon King directly onto the Academy grounds... they wouldn’t just kill students. They would wipe out the entire future foundation of the Aurelian Empire in a single day.

The lingering, intoxicating pleasure of exchanging love with Ariana just a few hours ago completely evaporated.

My mind was filled with absolute horror.

And here I was, just an hour ago, foolishly thinking that my life had finally become quite peaceful.