The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 273 - Wedding Crashing!

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It was like she’d fast-forwarded the timeline straight to the wedding, two and a half weeks later.

Here in this small forest clearing, the overgrown weeds had transformed into a pristine, manicured lawn, stretching towards Treya who stood opposite him. She waited beneath a beautiful white archway, her silhouette slightly blurred by the dazzling sunlight.

“W-Wedding?” Will murmured.

He realized that after two, nearly three weeks of relentless torment, he’d actually built up some ‘resistance’ to mental-type skills. At least now, even though his surroundings had once again been dragged into a dreamscape, he wasn’t immediately losing clarity like before.

But... this particular dreamscape, and the dress Treya wore... why...? Why was she so fixated on creating this specific wedding scene?

Thinking back... There was something crucial...

After his first two escape attempts, Treya had hypnotized him again, then immediately prioritized doing one thing. It wasn’t keeping him asleep. It wasn’t locking him up directly. She hadn’t even dealt with Eugene, the most dangerous and likely-to-rebel person in her own circle.

Instead...

She announced their engagement and set the ‘wedding date’ for a month later.

She pushed this through even during the ‘first seven days’ after her father’s death—did this Western-inspired world setting even observe that tradition?—she still insisted on doing it. Glossing over the mourning period, determined to announce her joyous occasion during her own coronation ceremony.

Why?

“Heh. Treya... you... are you really the type who loves me so much you absolutely must have a wedding?” Will mused aloud, finding it strange.

Carver probably couldn’t wait to get Will off his hands. This cold half-elf Empress, successfully molded by him into a cunning little villain wielding demonic power... she actually had plenty of leeway, plenty of options.

In the blink of an eye, Will saw... ‘flower children’ running past beside him. One held a basket overflowing with petals, scattering them `fshhh fshhh` on the ground as it dashed by.

“Groom... Prince Charming, hurry up! The princess has been waiting for you for ages—”

A voice.

Will heard the flower child speak.

In previous dreamscapes, he almost never heard voices from ‘non-existent’ people. What was going on?

He looked up again, focusing on the ‘flower child’.

He—no, it—wasn’t human. Red demon horns sprouted from its head, its skin was purple, and though clad in a tiny white suit, a long demon tail snaked out from behind. “Demonic Pageboy? Cute.”

“Will, this sword you gave me as a gift, I like it very much,” Treya suddenly spoke.

Her voice drew nearer, yet Will didn’t see her move. It felt as if he was the one walking forward.

“The fact that you came looking for me, I like that very much too.”

Her voice was sweet, devoid of its usual coldness, just like in the earlier dreams. But Will knew she was no longer the sweet little princess—he himself had twisted her into a ruthless Empress.

“Because the cloth wrapped around this sword... it’s a symbol of contract and identity found in every Demon Castle.”

“You must love me so much to have obtained such a precious item for me. That’s precisely why I need you to love me back.”

“Have you heard the legends of demons, Will?”

“Actually, the most crucial aspect of demons isn’t their sensitive control over others’ minds, nor their illusions... it’s... contracts.”

“All rituals, ceremonies, festivals... they are forms of ‘contract’. Including the Coronation Festival every fifteen-year-old Entark child used to participate in.”

She drew closer, her voice nearer, yet it sounded ethereal, overlaid with a strange echo.

“Congratulations, Will. As your father, I never thought I’d see this day,” a familiar, not unpleasant voice chimed in. Will slowly turned his head. Carver stood just outside the clearing, applauding, watching him.

“Congratulations,” said another voice... his ‘mother’, whom he’d never actually met, who died the day he was born, wearing the clothes he’d only seen in portraits, also clapping.

“Such a good student, congratulations to you,” said Leah—Will knew the real Leah would never say this; she’d charge in and try to tear Treya limb from limb.

“Congratulations, Young Master,” said Eir—Will felt she shouldn’t be here either, although... he could almost imagine Eir saying something like this, sadly. freewēbnoveℓ.com

“Congratulations!”

“Wishing you a joyous wedding!”

“Best wishes—”

Everyone he remembered ever meeting gradually materialized around him, even classmates whose names he couldn’t recall. Everyone, everyone had come to attend this ‘wedding’, everyone was ‘congratulating’ him.

`[Demon Castle Zero, through its contract with the Entark family, can bypass the usual limitations of dungeon location and power supply to manifest within the royal palace.]`

The voice he heard in his head wasn’t Treya’s anymore; it was his own. Like his own thoughts speaking directly to him.

Treya extended her hand towards him, a black-gloved hand, formally welcoming her groom onto the steps leading towards the altar for the ‘vows’.

`[Once you also sign a contract with the demons—requiring only a ritual, like walking past a certain point, or entering into a marriage contract with someone—you too can become one of ‘us’!]`

“Haha, it truly is a joyous occasion.”

“Hurry along now, handsome groom.”

“The demons will surely bring you happiness.”

Now, even the Monarchs of the dungeons he’d conquered—Rockfire Citadel, Moonlit Frostfang, and the Tenth Demon Castle—appeared along the steps of the red-carpeted aisle.

`Red carpet... right, when did a red carpet appear on the grass?`

`[This is the demons’ blessing. Accept it all. You will feel the might of this power.]`

This wasn’t a ‘blessing’. The wedding was just the ‘form’, just like the Coronation Festival was the form for Entark children to sign contracts with demons. Once he signed this ‘contract’ with the ‘demons’, with Treya’s side... he truly would be ‘unable to escape’.

From the moment this knowledge about the ‘contract’ was forced into his mind, he felt the mental assault intensify instantly. It carried an overwhelming sense of ‘compulsion’. If the previous mental attacks merely aimed to alter his memories, this one sought to fundamentally change his ‘thoughts’. Even without the ‘beautiful’ fabricated memories, he would still choose to rely on Treya, still choose to sign the contract with the demons of Demon Castle Zero.

`Don’t tell me... I’ll become some kind of ‘elite monster’ belonging to Treya’s ‘Demon Castle Zero’?`

Will took a deep breath. Two minutes had passed since he first saw Treya. It should be about time—

Pshht—

A sharp hissing sound emanated from his palm. He looked down.

When Shuna pushed him down the stairs, he’d realized how he used to wake from dreams, and that he could replicate it now. Falling, horrific sights, even injury could snap him awake. But his mentally controlled state prevented him from harming himself directly... however...

He could set a timer.

A delayed-action spell, set for two minutes. As long as his mind didn’t cancel it within that timeframe, it would deliver a nasty burn to his palm.

`Like this, I should wake up, right?`

But...

No pain. No heat. Not even warmth.

His palm, which should have been scorched, showed no mark. Instead...

A blooming rose rested there, gently placed in his hand by Treya’s black-gloved fingers.

“The priest must have been waiting for you a long time too. Let’s go forward,” Treya murmured.

`Treya...` `Treya severed... severed my sense of pain.` `Not just pain, but the fear triggered by seeing blood... also severed...`

He sighed internally.

“Once you recite the vows before the priest, we can become ‘demonic’ husband and wife,” Treya’s hand closed around his, offering a disquieting sense of security and warmth.

It became increasingly difficult to control his own consciousness, his own steps. He moved forward, one step after another.

Standing in the nascent morning light was a small archway. Within it stood a tall priest, his shadow stretched long and distorted by the dawn.

“You’re still wearing the token I gave you,” Treya reached out, gently brushing her fingers against the earring on Will’s ear.

Starting from the earring, a thick, black, viscous ‘magic’ flowed inwards, merging with some internal magical structure within it.

“Without it, finding you would have taken much, much more time and effort.”

“But, it seems you didn’t realize... the things I gift you are already branded with the demon’s mark.”

“It shouldn’t be necessary now, though. You can’t escape, and no one can save you.”

`—So, it was true. The earring I couldn’t remove did contain Treya’s tracking magic.`

`—I lost.`

`—Lost again.`

`—This time, I didn’t lose due to miscalculation, or lack of information... I lost because...`

`—Because I actually care about her, didn’t want to hurt her, and that’s why I didn’t throw away her gift.`

`—Falling captive to a yandere’s love... that’s the most despairing thing. Once that happens, you can never escape.`

`—And now...`

`—I’ve already stepped one foot right into it.`

`—Just waiting for my whole being to sink into despair.`

Will turned his head, looking at the ‘priest’.

The priest was a towering demon, a pair of massive black wings blotting out the sky, dripping with highlights the color of fresh blood, like the feathers of a fallen angel from legend.

It parted its grotesque lips, reciting the simple, heartwarming vows in a bizarrely sharp, alien tone—

“Do you vow to obey—whether in reality or dream, whether living or dead, whether active or passive...”

“...promise to love her, comfort her, honor and protect her? And remain faithful to her throughout your lives?”

But all Will felt now... was that these lines sounded exactly like what a ‘gentle’ priest would say, and he should... he should give the affirmative answer.

“I do. Right, Will?” Treya spoke first, her voice soft.

She gazed at Will, particularly at his earring. She seemed very satisfied with his current state. He couldn’t escape. So what if rescuers came? That seemingly ‘S-rank’ everything lady adventurer wasn’t she utterly defeated by her? So what if he escaped the palace, escaped the area where her demonic power was strongest? He couldn’t even discover the secret within the earring she gave him. In the end, he still had to complete this wedding.

She believed one thing.

Only... someone similar to her, could truly love her.

Now was that time.

She turned her head slightly.

Ding—

The earring on Will’s ear emitted a clear, crisp chime.

The ‘contract’ was progressing. Once this wedding ceremony concluded, it would be equivalent to completing the ‘contract’. Right now, it was about one-third complete.

“I do...” Will heard himself say.

Treya smiled, satisfied. Even without the false memories, under the influence of the demonic wedding, his very thoughts were beginning to align with hers.

Ding—

Two-thirds complete.

Treya looked into Will’s eyes. His left eye, normally blue, now had a deep purple hue slowly blossoming within it, gradually staining the deep blue iris entirely purple, matching hers.

“Then—I invite the newlyweds, under the witness of ‘God’, to share a deep kiss.”

“...” Treya nodded, reaching towards him.

He was very compliant now, tilting his head slightly, awaiting her kiss as she rose onto her tiptoes.

But...

Treya’s eyes widened.

She noticed something.

Her black earring, and Will’s white one... they were now... on opposite ears, mirror images.

But she clearly remembered putting the earring on Will’s ‘right ear’, the same as hers.

She reached out, her fingers lightly brushing the earring. It felt... like it had a layer of shielding magic, weak, not high-level, completely useless against demonic magic.

“...?”

She stared at the somewhat vacant-looking Will, her fingers sliding across his cheek. In that split second of hesitation, she didn’t deliver the kiss.

`Will... Will hadn’t ‘failed to notice the earring’. Quite the opposite. He knew. He even put shielding magic on it.` `He just... hadn’t thrown it away.`

“Why?”

Treya didn’t need to ask. She knew the answer.

Even after being treated like this, he still considered this token she gave him ‘important, something not to be discarded’.

“Miss, please—?” the elite monster ‘priest’ prompted, urging her to proceed with the next step to finalize the demonic ‘contract’ ritual.

“Alright,” Treya nodded, lowering her hand.

But...

At that very instant.

She felt a chill.

Here, in the warm ‘wedding venue’, under the bright sunlight, an unnatural coldness swept over them, carrying the force of a blizzard.

“Someone else broke in...?”

“Hm?” Will also looked up.

“THAT—GATE—CRASHING—MARRIAGE—I DISAPPROVE!”

From the far end of the ‘wedding venue’, beyond the red carpet, amidst the field of white flowers, snowflakes began to drift down.

Then, in an instant, a bone-chilling cold, powerful enough to shatter the ‘cold dreamscape’ constructed by the demon, surged forward like a blizzard, aimed directly at the altar where they stood.

`—Can’t move.`

Will found his body completely frozen... as if time itself had been locked solid by the frigid aura.

And in the distance, at the source of the voice, stood the silhouette of a maid in her dress, wolf ears standing tall, holding aloft a massive shield.

`...Eir?`

`She...`

`She came to crash the wedding?!`

The piercing cold, paradoxically, felt like a symbol of hope.

Sweeping towards them.

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