The Male Lead Is the Villain, and I'm the Only One Who Knows - Chapter 84

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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 — Chapter 84
“You have good eyes.”
Instead of answering, Iban gazed down intently at Dante’s brown eyes.
In that moment.
“Ugh……!”
Suddenly Dante blinked his left eye several times, then squeezed it shut urgently. His breathing came in sharp, pained gasps as his entire body trembled violently.
Without warning, intense agony flooded through his left eye, and his vision in that eye vanished in an instant.
As Dante crumpled to the floor, unable to speak and only groaning, Iban seemed to lose interest. He pushed himself off from the wall where he’d been leaning.
“Take care of it.”
He tapped Barnel’s head lightly, conveying his meaning—erase the “problematic” memories entirely.
It was too soon to kill Dante, the cardinal. A broken toy could be repaired and used again. It wasn’t difficult at all.
Once Barnel understood and bowed his head, Iban turned toward the Prison entrance with an impassive expression.
Then from behind, a savage, strangled voice came scraping across the floor.
“Ugh……. Your Highness, you will surely regret this……!”
Whether curse or prophecy, his words were ambiguous. Even though a demon possessed demonic energy, a cardinal was still a cardinal.
There was a faint but unmistakable power of future sight woven through Dante’s words.
“How fortunate.”
Iban’s footsteps stopped abruptly. He turned back to face the wretched visage glaring at him, and his lips curved gently upward.
“I rather enjoy regretting things.”

* * *
An afternoon of intense struggle passed under the guise of “Mental Education.” It was called education, but in truth, Chahil couldn’t resist once and was beaten by Lion the entire time.
Whether Chahil didn’t want anyone to discover he was a demon, or simply because Lion was my brother—in any case, he took his beating remarkably meekly(?).
As the sun set and a crimson twilight slowly consumed the sky, Lion, who’d been sprawled across the sofa, crept over to my side.
“Princess. Even though it’s the first day of Foundation Day Festival, you’re going to stay here the whole time? We’ve already caught the culprits, and the auction house is gone anyway.”
The Imperial Palace was dull, dreary, and full of boring people, Lion complained, constantly poking my ribs. It was unspoken pressure to go enjoy the festival.
He’d apparently lost interest in Chahil already. Come to think of it, Lion really does have quite the demonic side…….
“But I’ve been noticing something—your Communication Orb keeps getting messages since earlier.”
Even if I didn’t want to look, the bright blue light of the small Communication Orb glowing in Lion’s arms was far too intense.
When I pointed at his glimmering possession with my chin, Lion pulled out the Communication Orb with an irritated expression.
“Sigh. Persistent fools.”
The moment he answered with weary eyes, mysterious bursts of sound came flooding into the quiet Reception Room like a wave.
– Lion, the Demon Beast Core from the Western Continent you mentioned has just arrived. But this thing…… it’s alive!!
Bang, crash!
The sound of something shattering came through, followed by the anguished screams of mages.
– Ahhh! My ten years of research notes……!!
– Help me, please, Lion! Lion!!
– Wait, we’re not supposed to touch that thing!
Boom, bang! Clang!
Thud—.
The cacophony of voices beyond the Communication Orb suddenly cut off.
The sudden silence that followed was terrifyingly vicious, and utterly precarious.
“Go quickly. If you leave it like that, the entire Mage Tower will collapse.”
Festival or not, it seemed Lion’s place was the Mage Tower. As I looked at him with pity, a tragic light flickered in his pink eyes.
“Rene, I’ll be quick…… I’ll finish and come right back……!”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“…You’ll go with His Highness and that one. Don’t go alone. Understood? I’ll contact you when I’m done.”
In the end, Lion didn’t promise to return. Instead, he opened a portal to the Mage Tower and vanished quickly.
I glanced at Chahil—called a dog by Iban and “that one” by Lion.
Since his true nature as a demon was revealed to me, he no longer wore that oblivious expression like before, but Chahil still often let his guard down with that soft face in front of me.
“Master, shall we go out together, just the two of us?”
Chahil seized the moment and ventured the suggestion. But just as I was about to respond, the Reception Room door swung open at the perfect moment.
“Your role is finished. Return to the palace.”
Iban made a decisive gesture before Chahil could even answer. Then a group of imposing guards who’d been waiting in back came forward and immediately dragged Chahil out.
“What? No, Your Highness. Wait a moment…! This isn’t right. Common decency…!”
All Chahil had done was follow Iban’s orders to dispose of the Demon Beast in the Underground, and get beaten by Lion all afternoon under the guise of Mental Education. His aggrieved voice faded into the distance once more.
“There won’t be any more children abducted from now on.”
Before I could even ask what he’d done, Iban laid out his conclusion. I’m not entirely sure, but it seems he resolved something while he was away.
“Did you handle it well?”
“Yes. I’ve ordered the imprisoned children to be released, so they’ll all be going home soon.”
“That’s a relief.”
I’d known for some time that Iban had little genuine interest in saving humans. If he’d been sincere, he would have taken me out into the field the moment he learned I could use Filthran.
But he’d waited patiently for me to awaken to my power and master it with skill—as if it were of no great concern to him.
‘That such a demon would step forward to save children…’
It was a good change. He himself didn’t seem to realize it much, but regardless of his motives, the fact remained that he had chosen, of his own will, to save humans.
“Speaking of which—about the Underground burning down—the Imperial Palace won’t lodge a protest, will they?”
“Who would dare.”
He sneered at my tentative question and poked my cheek sharply.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s amusing how much that small head of yours concerns itself with such things.”
As the evening wore on and I chattered away to Iban about how Lion’s Mental Education had progressed, Barnel quietly drew near and whispered the next appointment to me.
“Your Highness, it’s time you departed on reconnaissance.”
Though Iban had cleared his official schedule for Foundation Day Festival, his covert operations were another matter entirely—capturing the humanoid Demon Beasts to bind Parmer’s hands, and ultimately rooting out the entire Demon Realm Rebellion Forces.
It was his most crucial appointment, the very heart of his purpose.
And this time, perhaps…
“Rene, come with me.”
“Yes!”
At last he would keep his promise to take me along.
‘There won’t be any more times when the newspapers call him a slaughterer.’
Because I’ll be there. Ahem.
I rose with a firm nod, and Iban himself dressed me in the Robe, pulling the Hat low over my head.
“Now not only the Demon Beasts but the Demons themselves have their eyes on you. So keep your face hidden outside as much as possible.”
“I understand. Just trust me.”
I lifted the edge of the Robe and looked up at him. As I brandished the Short Sword I’d drawn and answered with grim resolve, Iban laughed softly, then bent low to meet my eyes.
“Yes, I’ll trust in you alone.”

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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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