The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings-Chapter 210: Contradictions, or was it? [2]

"Who am I?" Leon repeated her words, then chuckled on his own, "Do you–"

Alice didn’t let him finish.

"No, don’t try twisting the words now." She sharpened her gaze.

One or two of these could be acceptable, but the more she gets to know about this guy named Leon Valentine, the more questions start to surface in her head.

A genius in spellcrafting and formulation, a rare affinity user, wielder of the Moodblade, and now suddenly providing an elite level engineering of a brand new weapon...

Yeah, anyone with the right mind would question it.

At first, Alice thought all these years that Leon might have hid his skills and powers in his childhood. She roughly believed that part.

But, there was a limit to one thing.

In no way one could possibly master that amount of knowledge at such a young age.

And it’s not like Leon’s theories were all vague and vivid.. No! They were so well refined that one could not raise a single question to tackle it. And if one could, he would simply answer them with even more clearance.

Understanding did not frighten her.

What frightened her was knowledge that arrived without struggle, as if it had never needed to be learned in the first place.

"You have been stating things as if you knew about all of this. Your research, and this as well. I am sorry, but I can’t help myself to question this."

Alice paused, looked at Leon’s face, genuinely expecting an answer. "Where are you getting all of this knowledge from?"

Previously, she asked the same thing. And Leon brushed it off after saying he read about this in the library of Blood Tower.

But when she herself went to that place, and asked the maids around, none ever said of Leon’s earlier visit to Veronica’s office, where the library was.

That time was the first he had been ever allowed to enter that place along with Alice.

And from what she had observed after having dinner with Leon’s mother, that she was shocked too by Leon’s growth.

Her overly proud face and the looks she was giving Leon were all pointing out to the fact that, even Leon’s own family was unaware of his sheer intelligence.

That was terrifying.

Why were they acting as if nothing ever happened?

Did they ever question him of how he suddenly got his skills and capabilities of understanding everything out of the blue?

Because Leon Valentine she had heard about was a third rate, unwanted son of a noble family who got criticized and compared by every other person.

"You are seriously asking me this now?" Leon asked with his golden eyes terrifyingly fixed on her.

Alice saw his eyes glowing faintly, and as it does, she forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Without averting his gaze, Leon crossed one leg over the other, resting both hands calmly on his knee. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Knowing won’t help you," he said quietly. "Am I wrong?"

Alice’s mouth opened on its own.

"What?"

Leon looked up at her.

There was no mockery in his eyes. No teasing. Only a cold intent so deliberate that it sent a faint chill through her spine.

"Alice," he said, making his voice low, "does it really not anger you?"

She stiffened to her very core.

"Don’t you ever feel like it’s enough?" Leon inhaled slowly, then continued.

"Do you not want revenge for what they did to you?"

"..."

This was not persuasion, but simply an exposure.

Leon was not exploiting her weakness out of cruelty, he actually understood something far more fundamental.

Suppressed desire, unresolved resentment, and quiet loneliness were not flaws.

They were leverage.

And those who learned to confront them early gained control over their own fate. Those who did not were crushed later, no matter how brilliant they appeared on the surface.

Alice had masked it well with her sharp tongue, her arrogance, and that constant air of superiority wherever she goes.

Not giving a fuck to eveything wasn’t an optimal option in all cases.

If you get hit, then you need to hit back.

No matter how many papers she published, no matter how much praise she earned, what she truly wanted would never be handed to her that way.

After Raizen, no one in her family would even bother to look at her.

In the game, her character learned this the hard way much later. After losing almost everything.

But Leon would not wait that long.

He had made that decision long ago, back in the carriage that night, returning to Eclipse from the Blood Tower.

He would not let her fall just to understand what strength truly meant.

Extending his hand towards her, he calmly asked.

"Grab my hand, and in return, I will help you get whatever the fuck you want."

"...why..." She ended up muttering. But, as those words escaped her mouth, she noticed her hand was already grabbing his.

"Huh...?"

"Great decision." Leon tilted his face and nodded in a caring manner.

Leon almost chuckled at the irony.

A character he never cared much for had somehow become someone he refused to abandon.

Alice stared at their hands for a brief second.

Her gaze shifted from his fingers, to his calm smile, then back to their hands again.

She jerked it away suddenly and pressed it against her chest, taking two steps back.

"You are acting insane today," she spat.

There was a clear disgust in her eyes.

Leon noticed it. But it did not stop him.

Instead, he gestured toward the blueprint lying on the desk.

"You already promised me in class," he said calmly. "And with the amount of information I added to that sheet, it should be easier for you to make it."

Alice clenched her jaw.

Leon stood up from his chair and faced her on the same level.

He met her eyes directly.

"I will not make you regret this," he said quietly. "So don’t make me regret my choice."

— — —

[One hour passed.]

Leon was gone.

Only Alice remained in the club.

Her work was already finished. The papers were stacked neatly on her desk. Yet she did not leave for now.

Her mind was racing.

Memories resurfaced all at once, crashing into her without warning once again.

She sank back into the chair slowly, her hand rising to her chest on its own, and her fingers pressed against the fabric, right over the spot she knew too well.

The burn mark.

It was healed, yet it still felt fresh to her.

She remembered clutching it back then, trembling, searching desperately for something cold to dull the pain. Anything to make it stop.

"Kehuk..." she let out through clenched teeth.

Her eyes shut tightly, hand er pupils trembling beneath her eyelids.

"Die...!" A familiar voice irked her mind up.

"Ghaaah... haaah... haaah...!!"

Her own voice snapped her back to reality.

Her breath became ragged.

She recalled a pair of red eyes which once haunted her.

But, now, the same eyes pisses her up more than anything in this world. She stood up and kicked the chair beside her.

"AGHHHH!"

It slammed into the wall with a loud bang.

She thought she had buried it.

She thought she would never awaken it again.

"Sniff... sniff..."

A drop fell onto the scattered papers on the floor.

Her hand trembled as she stared at her palm. The same hand that had grabbed his just moments ago.

"Fucking idiot..." she muttered. "Idiot..."

"Fuck..."

.

.

[A/N: Chapter felt random? I think so too. But this is important, and I thought today would nice time to foreshadow Alice’s PTSD (will dive deeper in future). Anyways, expect another Chapter in 4-5 hrs.]