The Male Lead Is the Villain, and I'm the Only One Who Knows - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The male lead’s true identity is the mastermind, and only I know it — Episode 42
“Um, well… Master. Would it be possible for me to be of help somehow?”
Hmm? Help? At this unexpected remark, I tilted my head, and Chahil met my gaze with quite a resolute expression.
“I… I want to become a servant who is useful to you…”
“Mm. I already find you quite sufficient, but I’m curious—what made you think such a thing all of a sudden?”
It was certainly a touching sentiment, though admittedly rather sudden. If the rumors had bothered him, shouldn’t he have kept his distance from me all the more?
As I regarded him with puzzlement, Chahil swallowed nervously and opened his mouth with caution.
“Because of… false rumors… I feared you might abandon me…”
White pupils wet with inexplicable dread trembled aimlessly downward. The way he gnawed at his lower lip so roughly that blood pooled there was truly pitiful to witness.
‘Could he actually be anxious?’
So he’d started doing things he didn’t normally do because he feared being abandoned?
‘This looks like an opportunity.’
Lest I bungle matters by approaching too hastily, the reward for my patience—for all the distance I’d maintained—seemed finally to have arrived.
If the timing was right, I might be able to glean advice from Chahil about Dimensional Magic.
Since he’d already said he wanted to be helpful, there was no reason for me to refuse!
“Why don’t we go inside and talk? It’s still winter—the night wind is bitter.”
Now that I noticed it, Chahil’s clothing was entirely unsuited to the season. At a glance, the fabric was far too thin for weather this cold.
A material thin as paper, through which the chill could seep all too easily, draped precariously over his solid, massive frame.
Especially those exposed shoulders…
‘Like last time, does he prefer clothes with all these holes in them?’
Hmm. It wasn’t unpleasant to look at, but for a servant’s attire it was quite bold, and I found myself concerned in several respects.
‘Though if he’s content with it, I’ve nothing to say.’
His defined skeletal structure and lean, taut musculature lay entirely exposed—there was quite a lot to look at, quite varied… well, perhaps I should stop here.
“Chahil, that outfit looks terribly cold. Are you certain you’re alright?”
“A Warmth Spell is cast on it, so… I’m fine.”
Chahil, who had been observing me carefully for a moment, extended his hand slightly, offering to cast the spell on me as well. Was he asking me to take it?
The moment I placed my hand atop his palm without thinking, my entire body, which had grown rigid in the cold wind, suddenly warmed as if by magic.
This was no trivial lower-level spell that offered only fleeting warmth—it was an Upper-Level Mage’s Warmth Spell, one that required considerable expenditure of mana.
I thought he’d known how to keep his strength carefully hidden all this time, so it was unexpected that he would so readily display his true power.
As if he were trying to prove his worth to me.
“Thank you. I can hardly feel the wind now. But is it really alright to show your power like this? If His Majesty learned that you’re an Upper-Level Mage, it could become troublesome for you.”
On that day when nobles gathered to receive their spoils of war, every mage present had been uniformly incompetent.
The capable ones had long since been executed or turned over to the Magic Tower as test subjects.
Chahil had survived by hiding his strength.
“Do you… intend to turn me over to the Imperial Court?”
“I don’t know. For now, your Foot Washing Skill is quite serviceable, you see.”
I smiled faintly and led the way forward. Chahil cried out that he’d do his best and hurried after me. I know that his awkward demeanor is an act, but…
He really is adorable.
“Master, I’ve prepared your nightwear. Shall I have it sent to the Ruby Palace?”
As I stepped into the bedchamber, Sis, who had been waiting for me, glanced at Chahil and spoke.
“Yes, please.”
“Very well, then.”
Sis bowed her head and left the chamber. I was turning around to bring up the matter at hand when it happened.
“…Chahil?”
Chahil had drawn very close to me without my noticing, and pressed his forehead against the nape of my neck.
Inhale…
Suddenly the sound of a deep breath stimulated my hearing. Through my hair, Chahil—his nose buried there—drew a long, deliberate breath that trailed out thinly.
He looked exactly like a beast scenting its prey.
“Chahil! What are you doing?”
“…! Oh, I’m so-sorry. There was an unfamiliar scent on you, Master…”
When I called out to him once more, Chahil, belatedly realizing my gaze upon him, started violently and stumbled backward. He seemed genuinely flustered, stammering his words in confusion.
“…Scent?”
A chill ran up the back of my neck, and I raised my hand to cover it, then paused.
Shock.
I… do I smell? That can’t be right. I washed very thoroughly today…
As my eyes wavered desperately—on the verge of losing all human dignity—Chahil looked at me with an anxious, flustered expression, saying that wasn’t it.
“N-no, I meant…! Master, you have the scent of an Evil Entity on you…!”
“…An Evil Entity?”
At this unexpected revelation, my breath caught as if stopped short, and my body went rigid.
I had my suspicions.
‘Chahil sensed Iban’s magical power?’
If it were an Evil Entity, there’d be nothing else for it. But that couldn’t possibly be…?
‘How? Even for a Dark Mage, detecting the aura of a demon at Upper-Level or beyond would be no simple matter.’
I steadied my racing heart and asked in an even voice.
“What kind of smell are you picking up?”
“Something… a sharp, dangerous scent. Like the kind that would drift from a frozen winter forest…….”
He was even quite accurate about it. A winter forest scent was precisely the fragrance I’d always sensed from Iban.
“And that’s probably─”
The next instant, Chahil’s fingertips touched my neck. More precisely, they traced the line above the Bandage hidden beneath my hair.
“It seems to be coming from here.”
“……!”
As warmth brushed against that sensitive spot, my entire body shuddered and went numb.
Accuracy is fine, but this is a bit too accurate, isn’t it?
“Ah, I’m sorry for touching without permission……! Before I realized what I was doing…….”
— Screeeee!
As I stood frozen in confusion over what to do about this, Dust, who had been quietly hidden inside my sleeve all along, suddenly burst out.
With a piercing cry, Dust launched into the air with familiar ease and, before I could catch hold of it, stuck itself firmly to Chahil’s nose.
‘Surely not again?’
And then.
Thwack! Thwack-thwack! Thwack-thwack! Thwack!
‘Wow, quite the spectacular display of violence…….’
Dust set upon Chahil with practiced ferocity, beating him soundly. Caught off guard, Chahil could only surrender helplessly, offering up the bridge of his nose without resistance.
“M-Master? What is…….”
“That’s Dust. A Familiar Spirit I’ve raised. It doesn’t usually come out, but when something bothers it, it emerges and commits violence.”
I sighed and tried to peel Dust away, telling it to stop tormenting an innocent person. Or rather, I tried to.
“……?”
What was that expression?
“Truly…… a perfect familiar…….”
Having learned combat techniques through Iban, Dust’s cotton fists carried more force than one might expect. Even just looking at Chahil’s nose bridge, which was slowly turning a deeper red despite the slowness of the blows, made that abundantly clear.
Yet indifferent to what became of his own nose, Chahil’s pale eyes gleamed with an unsettling intensity as he watched Dust.
Hmm. He had peculiar taste in clothes, and now it seemed he took considerable interest in familiars. Especially since I’d heard that remnants like Dust were scorned by everyone else, dismissed as garbage not worth a second thought.
“It must eat quite well. Not long ago it seemed much smaller than this…….”
“Well, yes. It eats just about anything. Especially sweets like candy or cake.”
Must be fond of sugar, I thought, nodding along lightly, when suddenly my head tilted to one side.
‘……Not long ago, you say?’
I’d never introduced Dust to Chahil before…?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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