The Villain’s Ending

Sunset (25)

Kyle seemed so consumed by hatred that she couldn't even pay attention to the fork piercing my hand.

With her trembling right hand gripping the fork that had gone through my hand, and the other hand holding a teacup to smash Lineta's head.

Still, I managed to grab her wrist, so we avoided the disaster of cleaning up a corpse in the café.

I slowly lowered the wrist I was holding and applied a little force to make her release the fork handle.

Leaving the fork in place, since pulling it out might cause blood to spill all over the café.

Kyle glared at Lineta as if he would kill her, then stared blankly at the fork stuck in my hand for a long time.

Different emotions began to seep little by little into her eyes, which had been burning with rage.

I slowly placed my hand on Kyle's shoulder.

She began to slowly steady her rough breathing.

The interval between inhales and exhales gradually grew longer.

I sat Kyle down in a chair.

She sat down without resistance, following my lead.

It was fortunate, if anything, that there were no other customers since it was still morning.

Only the noise from outside the window could be heard in the distance.

Kyle sat down, pressed her eyes with both hands, and let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry, Lavin."

Her voice was small and choked.

"No."

"…Give me your hand."

I held out my bloodied hand.

The fork was still stuck in it.

Kyle took my hand.

Her hand was cold.

"It's going to hurt a little. But bear with it. I'm sorry."

Kyle grabbed the fork handle.

And very slowly, he began to pull it out.

The unpleasant sensation of metal scraping against flesh and bone transmitted to me.

At the same time, something warm flowed from the tips of Kyle's fingers.

It stung quite a bit, but surprisingly, the wound began to close slowly.

The torn skin fused together, and the bleeding stopped.

"…You can do this kind of thing too?"

"It just. This, it just came naturally."

Kyle completely pulled out the fork, then pressed the spot where the wound had been once with her thumb.

A faint white scar remained.

"…There's a scar."

"It's fine."

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was slightly wet.

I looked at Kyle's face, then lowered my head deeply.

"I'm the one who should be more sorry."

Kyle looked at me as if she didn't understand.

Her eyes were full of questions.

"……I was the one who asked to let me meet Lineta."

"You said some harsh things before."

"I've forgotten all the things I said before! Like being an uneducated commoner from some backwater village… things like that."

Kyle said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Yeah, I've forgotten it all."

I answered like that.

I really have forgotten everything, so I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it.

Kyle trembled slightly, then opened her mouth quietly.

His gaze was fixed on Lineta across from him.

"Lineta."

"Yeah, brother."

Lineta answered.

She was still poking the crushed cheesecake with her fork.

"The best decision of my life was grabbing my teacher's pant leg the day he passed through the village and begging him to please take me with him."

Lineta narrowed her eyes and glared at Kyle.

The strange emotion that had flashed in her eyes disappeared in an instant, replaced by a complex expression.

"And the thing I regret most now is that I didn't kill all the village humans myself before Lavin did."

Kyle's voice was calm, but it was filled with deep hatred.

"You couldn't have done anything, could you, brother? You've always been scared, timid. Always living cowering."

Lineta continued speaking while putting the crushed cheesecake into her mouth.

"Far from killing, you would have been too busy trembling and running away.

Why, remember that big dog that used to wander around the village without a leash?

Even when a kid small enough for it to bite approached, he would lower his head first and lie flat on the floor, begging to be petted.

"In the end, when it bit someone, you beat it to death and fed it to the livestock."

Kyle replied calmly.

"Makes me think I shouldn't have bothered getting close to you."

Kyle looked like he was about to burst into tears at that, but then she composed her emotions.

"Why? Because I didn't grow up to be a disgusting person like you?"

"Well, for someone like that, you seemed to like what I gave you that day quite a lot, brother."

"Don't call me brother."

Lineta bit her lower lip.

She looked pained.

For some reason.

"Don't come near me from now on, don't talk to me. Don't even utter my name."

Kyle said that and got up from her seat.

She looked at me once, then met Lineta's eyes again, and began to walk away.

After the sound of her going down the stairs and the sound of the door opening and closing was heard, Lineta still sat still in her seat.

She picked at the cheesecake, then began to tremble slightly.

And soon, she cried.

Not sobbing, not making loud noises.

Only tears, flowing down her cheeks.

"Young master."

"What."

"I learned about right and wrong. About what is correct, what is good, what actions are right.

The people who raised me, and who loved me, taught me."

Lineta fidgeted with the empty coffee cup, then picked up the fork with cheesecake on it, looked around, and calmly put it down.

"But when I came outside, it turns out we were cockroaches that had to live in hiding.

Turns out the world wasn't just the village… rather, outside… I was… a pest.

And it seems the people who taught me knew that to some extent."

I got up from my seat and approached Lineta.

I grabbed her chin, turned her head to face me, and looked into her eyes.

I have no idea how it is.

Her round eyes.

Is Lineta still here?

The words of Lineta come to mind, that she never wanted to be forgotten by you at your most beautiful.

Literally, Lineta at her most beautiful is not forgotten.

She still remains.

In my mind, before my eyes.

But she is nowhere.

"So?"

"…So what? When a girl is this gloomy, shouldn't you comfort her or something, young master?"

Lineta said that and spread her arms as if asking for a hug.

I looked at that sight, then slapped Lineta's cheek.

I want to get close, but I feel like I shouldn't.

It's scary because the Lineta before me sometimes seems to be the Lineta I know, but sometimes seems to be a Lineta I don't know.

Because I might mistakenly think I'm getting close, only to delude myself into believing I'm meeting that child from back then again.

The gloomy-looking girl I knew would be fixed with just a slap on the cheek.

From what I heard her say to Kyle, the two seem similar, so Lineta should probably be fine after a hit too.

"I don't particularly want to think of a heretic who cooked her parents into a stew and fed it to her childhood friend as an ordinary girl."

Her head turned from the slap, but Lineta showed no particular reaction.

She didn't clutch her cheek or curl up, still keeping her arms spread.

"Is that so?"

"What's the point of saying anything."

"Still, I wish someone would hold me tight. I wish they'd hug me and tell me everything will be alright.

When I lived in the bug hole, it was fine in its own way, but I've been alone ever since the young master forcibly dragged me out into the world."

"You said it yourself just now. You're a pest. Who would hug you?"

"Young master. You spared my life and didn't burn me, didn't you?"

And a memory came to mind.

When I was pointed at by the family, when everyone looked at me with terrible eyes and treated me like trash, a cripple, a disgusting vermin.

The memory of Lineta, who was by my side, holding me tight and telling me everything would be okay.

Somehow, I held Lineta tight, who still had her arms spread with a pitiful expression.

A faint tremor could be felt.

As if she would disappear if I threw her away like this.

I felt like I understood why Lineta back then approached me, hugged me tight, and told me everything would be okay.

Because I felt like she would scatter if I let go of her hand like this.

After that, I soothed Lineta appropriately and sent her back to her room, then moved my steps toward the training grounds.

Whenever Kyle had something unpleasant or was dissatisfied about something, she always seemed to be swinging her sword at the training grounds.

But all I saw were ordinary students whose names I didn't know, no Kyle in sight.

So this time, I also went to Kyle's room.

Even pressing my ear to the door, I couldn't feel any sign of life, so I used a spell to open the locked door and went inside.

As expected, Kyle wasn't there.

It's hard to gauge what kind of mood she's in, what she's thinking.

Except for my mother, who left me first when I was young, to me, parents were nothing more than the esteemed Duke who couldn't even properly protect a young child, and the Duchess who threw a fit because she couldn't kill one little brat.

To the point where even using the word parent for the Duchess feels disgusting.

As I was walking along thinking such thoughts, the bench where I had talked with Kyle at night suddenly came to mind.

So I walked toward the bench, which was in a very secluded place surrounded by bushes, and Kyle was holding a worn-out bag as if it were very precious, embroidering.

Even at the sound of me approaching, she didn't lift her head.

Kyle turned her head slightly and spoke.

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"There's no other place you'd be, really."

I said that, sitting down next to Kyle.

"I'm Kyle."

Kyle suddenly said.

"......Yeah, right?"

"It's a common man's name you can find anywhere. When I came to the Academy, besides being a commoner, my teacher was quite famous, so there are many people who think I'm obsessed with the sword. I just, I felt like if I didn't do it now, I never would, so I just worked hard."

She was slowly sewing a floral pattern on the cloth.

A delicate hand movement.

"I want to laugh and talk with someone, like ordinary people. And get along well. Strangely, whenever I just open my mouth, the atmosphere suddenly goes cold for some reason. I don't know which part is the problem, but at least I know that I am the problem."

Kyle stopped sewing, neatly arranged the needle and long thread into a small cloth bag, and stroked the worn-out bag as she spoke.

"Lavin, you are my friend, right?"

"What else would we be if not friends?"

"That's a relief. Then, as a friend……."

Kyle hesitated, then slowly continued.

"Um…be my ordinary."

"Ordinary?"

"I'd like you to give me a name. Not a common boy's name like Kyle."

"I grew up as a boy, I've lived as a boy.

The name, the appearance, everything I do… I'm at the point where I'll forget the original me completely.

So, you, my friend, name me."

At those words, I thought of a suitable female name without much thought and tried to say it.

But before I could even open my mouth, Kyle brought her finger to my lips.

Her fingers were cold and soft, unbelievable for someone who swung a sword every day.

"Think about it. Keep thinking, and give me the best name you can think of. The kind of name a friend would give with all their heart."

Kyle smiled brightly.

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