I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 204
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Casian’s sword flew far away and stuck into the ground.
One Nephas lunged at the neck of the dragon that was fighting dozens of monsters.
The other monsters didn’t miss the opportunity and climbed up onto the dragon.
The staggering dragon fell to its side with a thud.
The entire sky turned pitch black.
“Really, it’s hard to understand.”
Frater’s face became gloomy in an instant. A fierce wind swirled around him.
“What I find regrettable is that your abilities are such a waste.”
The fighting soldiers hesitantly stepped back.
The aura emanating from Frater made them instinctively retreat.
“I would have understood if incompetent and therefore useless ones had raised weapons against me.”
Frater looked around at all the soldiers.
“In the world I rule, only those with value survive. And they live enjoying all the good things in the world. Those with power should rightfully do so.”
He looked down at Estelin, who had collapsed unconscious on the ground.
He also looked at Rosette, who was bound by black thorny vines and groaning, and Duke Haren, who stood frozen in place staring directly at him.
Frater’s gaze touched countless other soldiers as well.
“If you had not opposed me but prostrated yourselves and sworn loyalty. Instead of dying here, you would have become the new masters of paradise.”
“…”
“You would have enjoyed everything you wished to enjoy and obtained everything you wished to obtain. There would be no such meaningless blood and slaughter there.”
Frater’s voice sank as if with regret.
“It’s a world where everything has found its proper place. There are no wronged ones, no grieving ones. But why did you…”
Frater, who had trailed off, slowly stared straight ahead.
“Your end is truly regrettable.”
At that moment.
“We will not meet our end, Frater.”
My voice echoed through the frozen space.
The rift that had been open in the sky was slowly closing.
It meant Frater’s power was exhausted.
With that as the finale, a massive light rose in the pitch-black sky.
The light that began from my body grew larger and larger until it finally swallowed everything around.
And then.
[Frater.]
A voice that resonated within my body flowed out through my mouth.
My pure white vision slowly became clear.
At my call, I saw someone turn around.
It was a boy with snow-white silver hair.
[You still seem to be upset.]
When I spoke affectionately, the boy’s brow furrowed slightly.
The boy opened his small lips.
[Sister. The humans curse you.]
[…]
[You shaped them, gave them a place to sleep, and shared food with them, yet they curse you.]
The boy, Frater’s gaze slowly lowered.
He clenched his small fist tightly.
[They say they don’t understand why you just leave the village at the river estuary alone. They say those people harvest more grain than they do.]
[…]
[The people living gathered on the hilltop say they lack livestock. I saw them drinking and making their livestock fight each other, killing several.]
Frater looked up at Fluma.
[Sister, why do you cherish humans? I was happiest when it was just you and me together.]
Instead of answering, Fluma smiled gently.
[That’s not a reason to hate humans, Frater.]
[Why not? Humans are arrogant. They don’t know gratitude. No matter how much you give them, in the end they curse and blame you!]
[…]
[Now they take your favor for granted. They’ll covet more and more things in the future, won’t they? Look even now. They’ve started committing terrible acts among themselves.]
Frater frowned deeply.
[In the west, a fight broke out just to claim more fabric. They threw stones at each other.]
[…]
[You know what’s ridiculous? In the end, both sides blamed you. They said if you had originally created a more abundant paradise, they wouldn’t have had to fight over fabric.]
Frater’s gaze trembled with disgust.
[…I hate humans.]
Fluma, who had been listening, placed one hand on Frater’s head.
And spoke soothingly.
[Frater. Even we resemble those humans.]
[…What?]
Fluma smiled.
[Feeling that they are arrogant, and therefore having hateful feelings toward them.]
Frater’s face slowly hardened.
[No!!]
[Frater.]
[I just, I just find it detestable that they curse you…!!]
Fluma opened her mouth lovingly.
[Frater. Do you know why I created humans?]
[…Why?]
[Because even you like this are dear to me.]
Frater froze for a moment.
[I was alone in the vast darkness. Then when I created you, everything changed.]
[…]
[I watched you cry, laugh, get angry, and throw tantrums. Sometimes you made right choices, sometimes wrong ones.]
[…]
[But I found all those aspects beautiful. Every process of you changing because of me, and me changing because of you, felt precious.]
Frater stared up at Fluma blankly.
[I… resemble humans?]
He had never once thought such a thing.
He was the soul that transcendent Fluma had created first.
The soul that had first received her grace.
The soul that stood highest among all living beings in the world except for her.
[No! How could I be the same as mere humans?]
Shaking his head with all his might, Frater spoke with a pale face.
[That can’t be, that can’t be. I can’t be the same as those selfish things. Sister… Sister…!!]
Fluma smiled faintly.
[Frater. All emotions are like waves.]
[…]
[They become calm and then quickly ripple, surge fiercely and then subside in an instant.]
[…]
[They come to you in different forms each time, every moment. And they make you choose.]
Frater frowned. He couldn’t understand his sister’s words at all.
But his sister continued speaking. While gently caressing his cheek.
[When those choices come together, they become tomorrow. And the tomorrow created that way…]
[…]
[Even I, who am absolute, can never change it.]
Fluma slowly knelt down on one knee in front of Frater.
And looking into his eyes, she spoke.
[That’s the reason I leave humans be, and the reason I love them.]
[….]
[Those who threw stones and killed livestock will eventually face the tomorrow their own choices created, even in this abundant paradise.]
[….]
[On the other hand, someone will surely forge a different future from them. I like that humans live that way.]
And someday, I want to live that way too.
That’s my only wish.
Fluma smiled brightly.
Frater unconsciously clenched his fists.
Fluma’s voice continued as she gently stroked his hair.
[Frater. Creating you was my first choice.]
[….]
[Until the moment I disappear from this world, I won’t regret it… My satisfying, very first choice.]
The wind blew.
“Even now, that thought hasn’t changed, Frater.”
I felt my body floating in the air. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks.
All of Fluma’s emotions, thoughts.
It felt like everything she had seen, heard, and felt over the years was being assimilated.
“…Sister, sister really is.”
Frater’s voice trembled slightly.
In an instant, his hair, which had been deep black, gradually turned silver like Fluma’s.
Prince Xenon’s appearance covering his exterior scattered as glittering powder.
Finally, Frater’s true face was revealed.
Like the final battle in ancient times, the two stood facing each other.
“Why did you create me like this.”
Frater said. His eyes were red and heated.
“So why exactly did you make me resemble these things.”
“….”
“I didn’t want to admit it. That I, this me….”
“….”
“Feel the same emotions as them, act the same way as them, just like them… just like them….”
He smiled self-deprecatingly.
“That at some point I was resenting sister.”
I felt a throbbing pain in my chest.
Frater’s voice gradually sank deeper.
“…I wanted to prove it. The fact that I’m different from them. The fact that I’m much more noble and far above them.”
To do that, I had to make a choice.
As Fluma said, standing firm against emotions like crashing waves.
Frater spat out a harsh word.
“Sister. My choice was wrong from the beginning.”
“….”
“At some point I realized it. That the tower I had built was rotten from the roots. But still… even knowing it would all be swept away someday….”
Frater collapsed to the ground and mocked himself.
“I couldn’t stop.”
Fluma slowly approached him. And spoke calmly.
“Yes. Choice begets another choice.”
“…I know.”
“There’s no going back now. You’ve sacrificed too much.”
“That too… I know.”
The magic energy that had been surging from Frater’s body loosened.
Like spreading mist, that power hovering in the air slowly began to be absorbed into my body.
“…I should have known, I should have known this would happen….”
Frater repeated the same words in a trembling voice.
His fingertips, dropped powerlessly, were burning black.
Like a branch completely burned by fire, his skin slowly began to crumble.
“…I had a premonition. From thousands of years ago, when sister left me that prophecy.”
The words about giving rest instead of hatred.
Sister’s final words, seeming to resent him yet unable to truly resent him at the same time.
“Sister always fulfills exactly what she says… so this would happen….”
A single tear trickled down from Frater’s eyes as he lifted his head weakly.
Past his hands, up his arms, Frater’s body scattered blackly into the air.
That’s when it happened.
“Ah, aah—!! No!!!”
A heart-wrenching scream was heard from among the people.
When I slowly turned my head, I saw someone running frantically toward us in a disheveled state.
“Xenon! Xenon…! No—!!”
Grace Belmart grabbed Frater’s crumbling body with a distorted face.
Blood flowed endlessly from her bare feet where her shoes had come off.
With half his face remaining, Frater stared blankly at Grace who was holding him.
She had been a toy.
One he had carelessly consumed when he was tired of fearing and agonizing.
“…Ha.”
A short laugh escaped from his mouth.
And Frater completely disappeared.
With that sight, my vision went completely dark.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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