I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[Elena POV]

Ugh... My head hurts so badly...

I slowly opened my eyes. It seemed I had lost consciousness after being struck by that strange spell Raul used. What kind of magic was that, anyway?

"Elena, you're awake?"

I heard a familiar voice from beside me. A green-haired girl was walking toward me.

"Valeria...? Why are you here?"

She smiled before crouching beside me.

"How are you feeling? Can you move?"

I tried moving my arms and legs, but both felt heavy and stiff. I also noticed tiny blue spots scattered across my entire body.

"What happened to me, Valeria?" I asked, still confused about what had happened.

"Can you tell me what happened to your group first?"

Hearing Valeria's question, I began explaining everything that had happened when we encountered Raul inside the tunnel, including how he seemed to have prepared the tunnel so that it would collapse easily after destroying only a few support beams.

"He's always one step ahead of us..." Valeria muttered after listening to my explanation. "And I think I know what happened to you after hearing your story."

Valeria then pulled aside the uniform I was wearing and took hold of my left arm.

"Your mana circuits have been disrupted, Elena. You won't be able to use magic until your mana circuits recover," Valeria explained, pointing toward the blue spots scattered across my skin. "I once read about a spell called Reject Impact in my father's library."

Valeria then began explaining the spell Raul had used against me.

Reject Impact was a spell designed to disrupt someone's mana flow by injecting the caster's mana directly into the victim's mana circuits. However, despite the spell's powerful effect, the caster's arm would suffer a similar consequence.

That was because the shockwave produced by the spell would paralyze the nervous system of the arm used to cast it.

"However, this spell is extremely difficult to master and carries a very high risk when used," Valeria said, her expression difficult to read.

"Why is that?" Just how difficult was it to master the spell Raul had used? If I could use it myself, perhaps I would have a much better chance of defeating powerful mages.

"My father said that among all the mages and Knights he had known throughout his life, only two people were capable of using this spell," Valeria revealed.

"Huh? Is it really that difficult to master?"

I was quite shocked by Valeria's explanation.

"No. It's more that people aren't willing to risk training themselves to master it. If they fail, their mana circuits will be destroyed permanently, and they will never be able to use magic again."

Hearing Valeria's words sent a shiver down my spine.

How had Raul managed to master this spell and use it so effectively despite knowing the risks he would face if something went wrong?

"Here, Elena. Try to rest for now," Valeria said, handing me some water contained in a coconut shell. "It turns out there's a river flowing through this underground mine. It seems to be connected to the main river on the island."

I see...

Did Raul know about this as well?

Was that why he had chosen this place as his hideout? Because it provided him with an abundant source of water to survive?

"Valeria! We found something interesting in the river!" one of the Clan members shouted as he approached us.

Hearing this, Valeria helped me stand and supported me as we walked. My body still felt weak.

When we arrived at the river he had mentioned, we found a blond-haired man who appeared to have been swept away by the current.

"Ugh... That idiot Brian..." Valeria muttered, holding her head as though she were trying to suppress her frustration. "He must have fallen for that perverted man's scheme again and lost all the members he was leading."

Valeria approached Brian, who was lying unconscious, and kicked him hard in the leg.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

—Bam!

"WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT!"

"Aghhhh! I'm drowning! Damn it! Swim, swim! Cough... Cough..."

Brian suddenly woke up, his hands desperately reaching for something.

It seemed he had lost consciousness when he nearly drowned after being carried away by the current.

"Ugh... What exactly happened?" Brian asked, looking utterly confused.

"We should be the ones asking that," Valeria replied irritably. "What happened to the group you were leading, Brian?"

Brian looked at Valeria, who was staring at him coldly.

"Ugh... Raul knocked me into the river again..." Brian answered quietly.

"We already know that without asking. What we want to know is what happened to the group you were leading."

Brian merely turned his face away. It seemed he had no idea what had happened to them after he fell into the river.

"Honestly... How many times have I told you not to let yourself get provoked by that perverted man's schemes?" Valeria said, holding her head as though she had a headache.

"How could I not get provoked? He said he had defiled Ariel with those filthy hands of his right in front of my face!" Brian shouted defensively.

Judging from Raul's behavior so far...

I didn't think he would actually do something like that to Ariel.

However, his behavior since the beginning of the first stage of this examination had grown increasingly terrible. And for some reason, imagining Raul defiling someone as innocent and kind as Ariel made me feel slightly irritated.

"All right. I only found Elena not long ago. We'll rest and spend the night here, waiting for you to recover, Brian. Then we'll fight that perverted man," Valeria said before approaching me again to help me walk.

---

[Raul POV]

After defeating the ten members of the Clan led by Brian, I returned to my hideout.

I was quite exhausted after fighting ten people at once with only one functioning hand.

This would have been much easier if both of my hands were working normally.

"You're back."

Ariel looked at me with a blank expression. She seemed incredibly bored from being alone here.

"Yeah," I replied briefly as I sat down and leaned against the stone wall. "I just encountered Brian's group."

Hearing this, Ariel's eyes widened as she moved closer to me.

"Really? Where is he now?"

"Well... I knocked him into a river again and defeated the members he was leading," I answered flatly.

"I hope he's all right," Ariel said hopefully. "But I believe he'll rescue me sooner or later."

Seeing how much hope Ariel placed in Brian made me wonder.

Did Ariel love Brian already?

In the game, Ariel would realize her feelings for Brian near the end of Chapter Two, after the end-of-year competition. However, that dense idiot Brian wouldn't confess his feelings to Ariel until Chapter Three, when Ariel cried after witnessing the academy students being killed by Raul, who had sold his soul to the demons.

At that time, Brian told her that he would always remain by her side no matter what happened and that he would always save her whenever she was in danger.

But now, I didn't know whether the world's storyline would remain the same as the game after I had disrupted several important events.

Did I also have to make Ariel fall in love with Brian?

As I thought about it, I looked at Ariel's face as she smiled, imagining that Brian would rescue her soon.

She then glanced at me and became awkward when she realized I had been staring at her for quite some time.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that, Raul? Is there something strange on my face?" Ariel asked, covering her face with both hands.

"Hey, Ariel..."

"Y-yes?"

"Do you really love Brian?" I asked sincerely.

I wanted to know how Brian and Ariel's relationship was developing.

In the game, whenever they fought together, they were practically unbeatable.

Every man in the world would be immensely jealous of Brian for having the Saint as his lover—a woman whose beauty was said to rival that of the Goddess Diana herself.

"Eh? Wh-why are you asking me that now?" Ariel asked, looking embarrassed as she fidgeted with her fingers.

I simply stared at her, waiting for an answer.

Ariel seemed to struggle with putting her feelings into words.

"I don't know," she finally answered. "Even though he's often childish, he's responsible and always helps people in need. I want to stay by his side for now."

For some reason, Ariel's answer reminded me of my final conversation with Liana before I was transported into this game world.

It made me yearn to return to the past, back to the days when we were still together.

Well...

Judging from her expression as she talked about Brian, I suppose the romantic storyline between Ariel and Brian would remain the same as it had been in the game.

And yet, for some reason, seeing the happiness on her face and that sweet smile whenever she talked about Brian made my chest ache.

It had been more than a month since I had entered Raul's body, yet his feelings for Ariel still surfaced and mixed together with my own emotions.

Raul's jealousy whenever Ariel spoke positively about Brian.

No...

These emotions belonged to me now.

I was only telling myself otherwise because I was still in denial about the feelings I had developed.

"What's wrong, Raul? Your cheek... It's wet with tears," Ariel said, reaching toward my face.

I caught her hand, stopping Ariel from touching me.

Come to think of it, I had cried like this after hearing Liana's final words as well.

I...

I missed her.

I missed the days when we were still together back in college.

Her smile.

Her warmth.

Her affection.

I was an idiot for choosing to create this game instead of living together with her.

And now...

She was probably happy with that man, wasn't she?

Maybe they were together right now.

Having dinner.

Watching a movie.

Talking together as a couple.

"Ra-Raul, could you let go of my hand?"

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Ariel's voice.

Her face looked confused as she stared at me, seemingly unable to understand why I had suddenly started acting so strangely.

"What's wrong... Raul?" Ariel asked.

"It's nothing. Sorry for suddenly acting strange like this," I replied before standing up and leaving the hideout to be alone somewhere else for a while.

I was glad Ariel was an innocent woman.

If she were Liana—my former lover—she would have immediately understood what I was feeling and thinking just by looking at my expression.

That was how close we had once been.

I walked toward a small stream where I usually went to get drinking water. There, I washed my face and stared at the reflection of Raul's face in the clear water.

"That was seriously uncool... Crying in front of Ariel even though I've been alive for twenty-five years."

If Liana had seen this, she would have lectured me for hours.

Remembering the memories I shared with her was both beautiful and painful when faced with the reality I was living in now.

"Hah... All right. I'll forget about the past for now. Tomorrow, it's time to teach them another lesson through this examination."

I regained my resolve.

For now, I still had to keep moving forward and slowly make this world a better place.

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