I Failed to Oust the Villain!

Chapter 1

The Opening Page Present Day

“Ahh!”

“H-help!”

“Please! No!”

“S-sir!”

People were dying in front of her eyes. Severed legs were splayed across the floor—legs of the people she had seen walking around only yesterday. Others were on all fours, attempting to crawl away.

The man who was once her father sat at the table, still as a statue. A sword pierced his heart, and his eyes were glazed over in pain. Of course, none of his limbs were left intact. One of his eyes was an empty void filled with blood, which dripped down his cheeks like tears.

Valeta tried to move her immobilized legs again. She wanted to run away, but she couldn’t move—her legs were caught in mysterious black shadows. This wasn’t fear and she wasn’t frozen with terror. She felt no pity for anyone in this household. They all deserved to be punished for what they had done. It’s just that if something went wrong now, there would be no way for her to escape.

No matter how hard she tried, Valeta couldn’t lift her feet or turn her head. She could only stare straight ahead as if she’d become a statue herself. However, even though she couldn’t move a single finger, she could control her eyes.

“Sir? In all my time here, I’ve never heard that word before directed at me.”

Valeta’s ears pricked up at the mild voice tinged with laughter. The owner of the voice had long hair, an extraordinary shade of silvery-white, that hung over his shoulders and swayed slightly above his waist.

Once upon a time, his red eyes had reminded her of rubies. Now, they reminded her of blood, burning with madness.

Bang!

The heavy door to the dining room burst open with a loud noise.

“Ahh!”

Two maids and an attendant came flying through the crack of the door. Two men in black robes trailed after them, pushing the servants onto their hands and knees like dogs.

“P-please, spare us!”

“Monster! You’re a monster! Nooo!”

“Quiet.”

The man’s smile vanished in an instant. It was not just his voice but also his gaze that was laced with madness—a gaze that was now directed toward the three people who had just entered the room. The servants’ mouths snapped shut at the sound of the man’s chilly voice.

Finally, Valeta got a glimpse of the owner of the voice. The three shivering figures were pathetic, but she did not pity them. She wasn’t in the position to pity anyone.

“These are the only survivors left in the mansion,” said one of the robed men. There was no way of telling which one of the two had spoken. The only thing that Valeta knew for sure was that the speaker sounded utterly indifferent, as if he had no remorse over the entire situation.

“Perhaps it’s because it’s such a large mansion, but there sure are a lot of pests to exterminate,” said the silver-haired man. He strode toward the paralyzed Valeta with light footsteps and smiled brightly at her. He poked her cheek with a single bloodied finger before turning on one of the maids who had tried to flee.

Valeta squinted at the man as he walked past and caught a glimpse of a pair of shiny, well-polished shoes. She noticed that the tips of his shoes had blood on them—no wonder she was starting to get goosebumps. She felt the urge to wipe her cheek where he had just touched her.

“I’m starting to get tired of this. I want to move on to the delicious main dish,” the man said, glancing behind him at her.

Valeta could only look ahead. She wouldn’t have been able to see what was happening in the corner behind her even if she had tried. Still, it wasn’t hard to tell what he meant by “main dish.”

“P-please, spare us. W-we’ll do anything, sir!”

“Ahh! Eeek!”

“I never thought I would live to see the day you call me sir. You used to call me vermin.” His scarlet eyes crinkled into the shape of crescent moons. One of his bloody hands slowly reached up to the maid’s cheek, using her face to wipe off the blood from his slender fingers.

“It’s a pain to kill you one at a time, so I’ll kill you all in one go,” he said warmly, almost as though he was being merciful.

At the snap of his fingers, a spear of ice appeared out of thin air. In truth, it was more of a large icicle rather than a spear—if one ignored the tip, sharp enough to kill a man as it was.

Whoosh.

Valeta heard a whistling noise, followed by the sound of a person being stabbed, one after another. The three gathered servants died without uttering a sound.

Satisfied with the silence, the man smiled and spun around on a single foot as if he were a dancer. Valeta could hear his footsteps drawing closer behind her. It was as if an invisible grim reaper was approaching her. She felt a chill run down her spine and swallowed hard.

This is why I told them to get rid of him while we still had the chance! None of this would have happened if they had just listened to me. I should have found a way to escape from this mansion when they refused to get rid of him. I shouldn’t have stayed here!

Valeta mentally willed her limbs to move, but it was fruitless. In reality, there was nothing she could do. Suddenly, the mysterious force that had held her rooted to the spot like a statue disappeared. She found herself losing her balance and falling forward.

Huh?!

Taken by surprise, she quickly attempted to steady herself, but she was a moment too late. As she squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the pain to follow, someone grabbed her by the shoulder and waist. Her head seemed to be resting on someone’s chest. Yes, it was as if she was caught in someone’s embrace.

Ah... Valeta groaned to herself. She had a feeling she knew who it was, but she didn’t want to open her eyes to find out.

“My cruel master. You tried so many times to get rid of me and begged your dim-witted father every day. How is it that you’re here in my arms?” cooed the voice in her ear.

Feeling his breath tickle her ears, Valeta hurriedly stood up and pushed the man away. He yielded without a fuss.

He was even more beautiful up close. She wondered if he was really from this world. His mesmerizing voice was at once cool and sweet, and he spoke as if he were a fae creature that had just stepped out of a fairy tale. But Valeta knew full well that those were all lies. This was a man who, with a smile upon his face, could exchange pleasantries with someone one moment and then kill them the next without any qualms.

He was the lord of darkness and the head of the Magicians’ Tower. And until only a moment ago, he had been Valeta’s slave. If master and slave was the best way to describe their relationship, that is.

“Now, you’re the only one left, master,” he said in a sweet voice. He stood so uncomfortably close that Valeta wanted to make a run for it, but the two hooded figures blocked the dining room’s only exit.

“Do you want to live?” the man asked.

There was something devilish about his tone, the way he was extending a hand as if he were offering salvation. Valeta took a step back. The man took a step closer as the woman withdrew. However, his stride was larger than her much smaller one, bringing them closer together than before.

His crescent-shaped eyes slowly widened. There wasn’t even a hint of amusement in his gaze.

“Take a seat, master,” he said, turning his eerie red eyes onto her. He snapped his fingers, beckoning her to sit. Those were the first words that Valeta had ever said to him. She stiffened before taking another step back. She had to get away somehow. She held her breath and took two more steps back before her foot caught on something.

“Ugh!” She fell, tripping over one of the many corpses that lay sprawled all around her. The man grinned and leaned over, bringing himself level with her. His hair spilled around him and dangled precariously over the bloodied floor.

“Well done, master,” he said. The man reached out with a blood-crusted hand and stroked Valeta’s auburn hair, as if praising her.

I knew he was crazy, but I didn’t know he was this crazy. Anyone could tell that she hadn’t meant to find herself on the floor. She had fallen!

Valeta wasn’t looking down on him for being a lunatic. She knew the man was crazy, but she also knew that he was no ordinary madman. This was why she had constantly begged her father to get rid of him! However, her father had insisted that he would be useful when he grew up and refused to let him go, believing that the younger man was firmly within his grasp. He had never expected that this man was planning something nefarious behind his back—and this was the result.

The whole family had died in the novel, Valeta included. Yet, Valeta was the only one who knew what would happen. In order to prevent this from becoming a reality, she had attempted to be nice to him, but that didn’t change the way the crazy man looked at her.

Valeta quickly abandoned that strategy and started pleading with her father to get rid of him instead. What else could she do? The people in the mansion had no idea how terrifying this man would become, and so they treated him poorly. How could they not? Perhaps it was because of his beauty, uncommon for one who held the lowly status of a slave, that made others feel as though they could look down on him.

Not only that, but he also had a sweet tongue and was capable of keeping his anger hidden.

I should’ve just run away! If everyone was going to be killed, I could have still saved myself. What did I have to feel so guilty about?! She screamed inwardly, holding her breath.

The man who had been staring at the frozen Valeta reached out for the necklace that hung around her neck.

Snap.

The way the necklace broke apart so easily seemed like a forewarning of what Valeta’s future had in store for her. In his hand was a red coin-sized glass bead. It was a shackle carved into the madman’s heart. When the bead was squeezed tightly, he could not disobey orders from his master because of the seal on his heart.

This was the nature of “human sorcery.” One could control their opponent by using their heart as a lifeline. If the opponent disobeyed, all one had to do to control the other was to squeeze the bead, and thus squeeze their heart, causing immense pain.

If he didn’t want to feel the pain, he had no choice but to obey orders. It was a terrible spell, one that Valeta had never wished for. There was only one way for her to escape from this place.

I didn’t want to reveal my abilities in front of this madman. But it was better to reveal her power than to be caught and killed by him. Escaping was her only priority.

“Gene!”

At the sound of Valeta’s cry, an intense whirlwind descended into the empty space around her. The man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. This was something he couldn’t have anticipated.

“The great wind elemental?”

“She’s an elementalist?”

The hooded figures near the doors murmured to one another in confusion.

“What’s this? Why would you summon me to this carnage?” the wind elemental asked.

“Please help me. Please take me away, somewhere far away. It doesn’t matter where,” said Valeta.

“And what will you give me?”

“I’ll give you my blood,” replied Valeta.

The transparent falcon spread its vast wings in an apparent sign of agreement. A gust of wind enveloped Valeta, and for a brief moment, she was suspended in the air. Just as she reached up to grab onto the falcon’s wings, an intense pain shot through Valeta’s heart.

“Aaah!”

The unexpected and terrible pain clouded her vision. At the same time, the transparent falcon she had summoned vanished. Valeta fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

“Dear me. I’m sorry, master. I was so startled, I…” the man started.

What’s happening? Valeta clutched her heart and shivered on the floor, covered in a cold sweat. The pain was slowly subsiding, but her body continued to shudder from the remnants of it.

“You are remarkable, master. I’ve noticed you talking to thin air before, but I never imagined that you were an elementalist,” said the man as he crouched in front of her. He reached out a hand and stroked her hair affectionately. Valeta, on the other hand, was still writhing in pain with her hands clasped to her chest.

“Forgive me. I went too far,” he said.

Valeta forced her head up upon hearing the man’s pretentious voice. “What was…?”

“Oh, your father’s… I transferred the seal from my heart and placed it on yours. You see, I was afraid that you would abandon me,” the man said as he reached out, grabbing a strand of her hair and kissing it.

“Say my name, master, and I’ll put you to sleep,” he whispered. The gentle look in his eyes and how he had bent to one knee reminded Valeta of his time as a slave. She saw the red marble roll across his palm.

Damn it. Why hadn’t she run away? She sighed, still deeply regretting her actions.

“Come now,” the sweet voice whispered in her ear. Her eyelids were getting heavy. She slowly opened her lips instead of fighting to keep her eyes open.

“Rein… hart…”

“Good girl. Sweet dreams, master,” Reinhart said as he continued to stroke Valeta’s hair. How could she describe what was wrong with this man? She didn’t even know where to begin.

Valeta eventually sank into unconsciousness, unable to forget the pain.