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Chapter : 16
“Heh. Uhuh. Hehehe!”
The man who had been struck by a sudden windfall of money no longer seemed to have any interest in the child at all.
I turned my gaze to the boy and frowned.
The more closely I examined him, the less I liked what I saw.
Unlike the plump cheeks reflected in my mirror, his face was gaunt—so thin it made even a goat look well-fed. Those hollow cheeks kept tugging at my nerves.
No wonder a perfectly normal kid ended up becoming the final villain.
There were still wounds that looked fresh, blood not yet dried.
If they got infected, that would be trouble. Once we got to the imperial palace, the first thing to do would be to wash him properly.
Then apply ointment, feed him well, let him sleep properly. And then…
“……”
As I mentally counted off everything that needed to be done at the princess’s palace, I noticed the boy staring fixedly at the man.
Before I could even think it through, the question slipped out.
“Do you want it?”
The boy gave a faint shake of his head.
“Then why? Because you hate him?”
“……”
For a brief moment, complicated emotions flickered across his lowered face.
He didn’t answer, but unlike before, this silence didn’t feel like a clear denial.
Eventually, I spoke quietly.
“Want me to kill him?”
Even I was surprised by how calm my voice sounded.
When I whispered the question, his clouded eyes silently met mine.
What could he possibly be thinking inside that small head of his? I was curious—but taking care of the child came first.
“Put this on. It’s still cold.”
At my glance, Renherten draped a small cloak around the boy.
Startled when the large man approached, the boy flinched, but soon obediently fastened the front.
That looks better.
Feeling slightly relieved, I held out my hand.
“Let’s go. Home.”
His small, dirty hand was exposed to the cold wind. It looked painfully cold.
“Give me your hand.”
I took off my fur gloves and slipped them onto his tiny hands. Then I grabbed his hand firmly.
The startled villain flinched, his body trembling.
The boy’s hand, now wrapped in fur gloves, was soft and small—like a tiny animal puffed up with fur.
For some reason, I liked the way it felt. Quite a lot.
After we got into the carriage, I tossed a blanket over the villain, who was stiff with tension, his metaphorical fur standing on end like a stray cat.
That was when Betty, sitting across from us, hesitantly spoke up.
“Um… Your Highness.”
“What is it?”
“No matter how you look at it… wasn’t that a bit excessive…? I mean—one million gold…”
“It’s fine. This is relief aid too.”
“Even for a piece of trash like that?”
Such bluntness—very Betty.
“See over there?”
I chuckled and gestured out the window.
“What do they look like to you?”
“They look jealous. Sigh. Honestly, I am too.”
Betty glanced sideways at the man. To her, he probably looked like nothing more than a lucky bastard.
“Well. To me, they look like starving ghouls drowning in greed.”
“What?”
Was it three days later?
The one who tried to buy this child was probably Duke Eberhardt.
Trying to take back the son he abandoned.
That man would never survive the enraged duke.
No—before that, he’d be killed by the people in the streets once they saw that enormous pile of gold.
Only later would they discover that most of the sacks underneath were filled with stones.
Whether chaos erupted over the remaining money, or whether they cursed the imperial family for stuffing rocks into gold bags during a transaction—
I stopped caring about what happened afterward.
There was no contract. He brought it on himself.
Really. He shouldn’t have beaten the kid. If he hadn’t, I might’ve at least protected him.
Resting my chin on my hand, I gazed out the window and murmured softly.
“It’s relief aid.”
At those quiet words, I felt the boy look at me with unreadable eyes.
* * *
“Wow.”
Covering her mouth with both hands, Betty exclaimed in awe.
“He looks like some noble young master.”
Once scrubbed clean and dressed in neat clothes, the grimy villain looked like a completely different person.
The fact that he was tall yet painfully skinny still bothered me, but that could be fixed by feeding him well and letting him sleep properly.
“Betty. Fione. Good work.”
“It was nothing.”
Unlike Betty, who was drenched in sweat after scrubbing his skin like she was waxing a floor, Fione remained fresh and smiled brightly.
“……”
The villain fidgeted, tugging at the hem of his clothes, seemingly uncomfortable with the shirt that wrapped his skin so softly without any roughness.
“Dante.”
That was his name. The one Duke Eberhardt had given him when he bought him.
“Dante.”
When I called him again, recalling the novel, his gaze shifted to me.
Definitely…
He had the looks of a romance-fantasy male lead.
Dark blue-green hair that shimmered like golden starlight under illumination. Eyes as deep and dark as a slice of the night sky.
A clear forehead and sharp nose unbefitting a child. Shadowed eyes framed by delicately embroidered lashes.
And noble lips like camellias fallen onto snow.
I honestly wondered how much more handsome he planned to become later.
But…
“Dante?”
“Yes. Dante Everton. That’s your name.”
The surname sounded like a knockoff of a ducal house’s name, but I couldn’t exactly give him the real one. It was a compromise.
At hearing his name, the villain’s expression turned vicious.
“I don’t need a name like that.”
His eyes, now sharply focused, burned as if he might tear me apart at any moment.
That reaction was far too intense to be just about a name.
“What don’t you like about it?”
“……I have no intention of becoming one of your collectibles.”
“Collectibles?”
“Are you seriously asking? You’re royalty—don’t tell me you don’t know what ‘Everton’ is.”
Suddenly, a detail from the novel crossed my mind.
That’s why it sounded familiar.
Everton. It was the name of a jewelry business run by Duke Eberhardt’s family.
And in Sword of the Firmament, Dante hated his father, Duke Eberhardt.
“Sorry. My mistake. I’ll just call you Dante. How about that?”
He looked at me with a strange, wary gaze for a moment—then quietly nodded.
“……”
Looks like I’d caused a misunderstanding. Though I wasn’t sure exactly what kind.
Watching the villain bristle even more than before, I spoke again.
“Got. Give Dante—”
Food and a warm room. Just as I was about to dismiss them—
Dante suddenly spoke.
“I’ll take my clothes off myself.”
“Hm?”
“If you like undressing me, go ahead. I’ll accommodate your tastes.”
For a split second, a curse burst from my lips before I could stop it.
“Are you insane?”
What kind of lunatic says that kind of crap to a kid?
“You prefer it rough? Then—”
I went completely speechless, staring blankly as Dante calmly held out both hands.
Looking down at those tiny hands, my face twisted in frustration.
“I don’t know what that man used to say to you, but you don’t need to do that. I don’t have any of those disgusting, perverted hobbies—”
Hobbies like that…
Do I?
No. At the very least, not toward a kid like this.
Finishing that internal thought at the speed of light, I continued.
“…Anyway, forget it. You don’t seriously think I’d be stupid enough to pay a million gold just to do something like that to an empty shell like you, right?”
“Then what do you want?”
Dante frowned, genuinely confused.
“Eat well. Sleep well.”
“What?”
For the first time, a clear expression appeared on the villain’s face.
“You don’t need to repay me. I’m not asking you to be a saint.”
I wasn’t expecting eternal gratitude.
Just… ordinary. If he could grow up ordinary enough not to deliberately dig into his benefactor’s life, that alone would mean my purpose in picking him up had been fulfilled.
At the very least, I wouldn’t fall for him like the princess in the novel, nor would I live like some reckless trash.
I won’t be stupid like the real princess.
Eirensia must’ve survived by bristling like a hedgehog. I understood that feeling well—I’d lived it myself.
The difference was that instead of blindly lashing out like a cornered dog, I honed my abilities and gathered people around me.
I won’t live isolated, getting cursed at like this forever.
The effects were already showing.
Lately, I could feel the attitudes of some palace servants toward me changing.
They were friendlier. Their tone softer.
Still a long way from satisfaction—but progress.
So you change too, Dante.
“Don’t deceive others. Don’t exploit them. Just grow into an adult who treats people like people.”
Don’t become like the villain who used the princess’s feelings for his own benefit—then killed her.
Meeting his gaze directly, I said,
“That’s your job.”
The villain curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“Didn’t know the one who brought me in was a clown.”
“Your Highness.”
Got approached me, his face stiff.
Without taking my eyes off Dante, I raised a hand.
“I mean it.”
“So you really spent a fortune just for such a ridiculous reason? To buy useless trash whose only value is his face?”
“Yes. I bought the safety of an abused child for one million gold.”
Dante’s lips twitched in confusion. Then, as if understanding, he let out a scoff.
“Hah. Then you’ve adopted a pet. Don’t get it twisted. I have no intention of becoming a dog that wags its tail and rolls over.”
…As expected of a future villain. Suspicious to an exhausting degree.
Still, considering Dante’s upbringing, it couldn’t really be helped.
This damn novel tried so hard to preserve the madness and trauma of its male leads that it was almost impossible to find a single normal adult in it.
