Baron silently watched Arkle Cayenne and Lize, who remained tightly embraced with no sign of letting go.

‘……’

He thought seeing Lize in another man’s arms would be painful, but for some reason, he found himself smiling.

He turned away.

Now he seemed to understand.

The girl who had congratulated him on becoming a holy knight was truly gone.

The Lize standing there was a different person with her own life.

After looking at her face one more time, he quietly left the room.

At that moment, he felt as though he heard a faint voice.

[You really kept your promise to protect me.]

Baron stopped in his tracks with a start.

His face contorted with longing.

He was about to turn his head to look back at Lize, but he bit his lip tightly.

Looking ahead, he muttered as if to himself.

“……Actually, what I really wanted to say back then was that I loved you.”

Though he was staring into empty space, it felt as if someone was listening right in front of him.

“I’m satisfied just having said it now.”

Baron lowered his gaze and smiled.

Though no voice came to him anymore, he felt as if he had received an answer.

“I’m happy.”

‘She would surely say that with a smile.’

Just like that day.

With that thought, Baron smiled gently and took a step forward.

Now that his name had been cleared, it was time to move forward again.

❖ ❖ ❖

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

Arkle said those words about a hundred times before finally letting me go.

I smiled broadly and responded for the hundredth time.

“Thank you, Arkle, for following my words without doubt.”

To be honest, I had been worried whether he would readily follow my plan when I explained it.

‘After all, asking someone to wear protective gear because I’m going to stab them as soon as we meet isn’t something just anyone would agree to….’

As expected, Arkle nodded slightly.

“It was difficult. Having to watch you go to another man……”

‘That was the difficult part?’

It was slightly different from what I had thought, but I didn’t feel bad about it.

“So you were jealous? My, you’ve become quite the fox while I was away.”

I teasingly said it mischievously, wanting to see him embarrassed after so long, but Arkle instead answered without hesitation, his face full of smiles.

“Yes. I was jealous. Very.”

“……!”

Now I was the one blushing and feeling embarrassed.

“Ah, it was a joke, but you really have become a fox. I miss the innocent Arkle…!”

“Wh-what?”

Of course, I immediately succeeded in counterattacking right after.

As I giggled and teased him, I heard a small cough from beside us.

“Ahem.”

It was one of the black-clothed group that Arkle had brought.

“Um, shouldn’t we be leaving now? If we linger any longer, we might encounter guards……”

“It’s fine.”

I smiled brightly and spoke confidently.

“It doesn’t matter if we meet guards. Right, Heinrich?”

I turned my head sharply to look at Heinrich.

“You’ll let me and these people leave safely, won’t you?”

“Yes, Master.”

Heinrich answered docilely. He looked more innocent than ever before.

‘Is that what happens when someone falls under mental control?’

It was somewhat chilling to think that I might have become like that.

‘Good thing I prepared thoroughly.’

For ten days, I had used all the knowledge from every tragic novel I had read to gaslight Heinrich, and on top of that, my final trump card had been the stabbing act I performed with Arkle.

‘After going that far, Heinrich must have believed that I truly chose him.’

In reality, it was a play I had arranged with Arkle’s cooperation ten days earlier.

In that state, Marvin, who had also agreed to cooperate with me beforehand, executed the mental control technique.

‘Heinrich never would have dreamed.’

That I was actually in the user’s position, and Heinrich was in the target’s position.

I gave Marvin a thumbs-up.

He still stood in the corner looking frightened, watching Arkle cautiously.

“I heard you helped my wife.”

“Ah, I, I……”

When Arkle spoke, Marvin trembled with his head bowed.

He seemed terrified because of his past betrayal of Cayenne.

Arkle silently signaled to one of the black-clothed figures.

One of them approached Marvin with determined steps.

“……!!”

Marvin jumped in surprise and covered his head.

But the black-clothed figure placed one of Marvin’s arms over his shoulder and supported him.

“Your leg seems injured; this will help you leave.”

“Th-thank you, my lord.”

“I don’t know if my sister will let you off so easily……”

Arkle muttered to himself, but Marvin already looked grateful.

‘That worked out well.’

As I watched the scene with satisfaction, I suddenly asked.

“By the way, where’s Baron? I should thank him.”

“If you mean a reward, I offered him compensation, but he refused.”

Arkle said.

“He said he would return immediately after confirming you were safe.”

I felt a bit sorry for making him suffer all kinds of hardships by mistaking him for the final villain….

‘And I wanted to explain everything clearly.’

It seemed only right to explain who the ‘Lize’ he had met was, and therefore that he and I had no connection.

‘……Well, I can tell him someday when he wants to hear it.’

I thought quietly while looking at the open door.

‘Now it’s time for me to return too.’

I turned to look at Heinrich and spoke each word clearly.

“Heinrich. We’re going back to Cayenne now. Even after I leave, don’t hold Cayenne responsible for anything. Never touch Cayenne again.”

“Yes, Master.”

“This will be the last time you see my face. My final command is for you to become a great emperor.”

I’m not sure if Heinrich understood and obeyed my words, but I continued to the end regardless.

“Isn’t that your dream? To become a great emperor loved for ages. Do that. Do your best to make a good country for me and my family to live in until we die. But don’t even dream of receiving my love.”

“Yes, Master.”

Heinrich answered obediently.

“Oh, and I’m sorry, but I never understood you, not even once.”

Even when I honestly confessed, he just looked at me with docile eyes.

“Being with you was disgusting, and let’s never see each other again.”

“Yes, Master.”

Leaving Heinrich who readily agreed, we left the room.

Having heard my order to let us leave safely, Heinrich commanded the knights to guide us, and so we proudly exited the palace through the main gate.

Arkle had tied horses in the forest next to the imperial palace.

The black-clothed group he had brought bowed and quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest.

I heard they were the most outstanding warriors from an assassin guild that specialized in underworld affairs.

After riding for a while in Arkle’s arms, I saw a familiar landscape.

‘It’s Cayenne Territory.’

We had finally returned home.

As we entered the mansion, all the people I had been longing to see were gathered.

“Lize—!!!”

Naran, who finally burst into tears when our eyes met, rushed over hurriedly.

“We were worried.”

Juan, pushing up his glasses, spoke honestly for some reason.

“I swear. I will never walk ahead and leave you behind again.”

“The same goes for us.”

Sylvia, who had to leave me at the imperial palace, and the employees who couldn’t do anything, knelt in turn.

“Welcome back.”

Martha, who had been standing with her hands behind her back, gently embraced my shoulders.

Naran sniffled over Martha’s arm and wrapped his arms around me again, and I beckoned to Arkle standing far away.

‘Arkle, come here too.’

Arkle approached slowly and awkwardly placed his hand over Naran’s arm.

We remained embracing each other in layers for a while.

The emotional reunion ended unexpectedly quickly.

Arkle extracted me from Martha and Naran’s arms and lightly lifted me up.

“My wife needs to rest.”

Even Naran, who shouted in an irritated voice asking what he was doing, and Martha, who clicked her tongue as if it was an eyesore, eventually had to surrender to his most resolute declaration ever.

“Arkle, I’m fine.”

Regardless, Arkle silently climbed the stairs while carrying me.

“Just as I kept my promise to behave…… you must keep your promise too.”

‘Huh?’

This is bad.

‘What promise did I make before leaving? What do I do, I can’t remember at all….’

I had urged Arkle to keep his promise throughout my imprisonment in the imperial palace, but I forgot the promise I made myself.

I smiled awkwardly and silently buried my face in Arkle’s chest.

❖ ❖ ❖

Arkle brought me to my room and carefully laid me on the bed.

‘It’s my room. I missed it….’

Lying on the comfortable bed after so long, I felt fatigue pouring over me.

I was about to close my eyes drowsily with a small yawn when….

“This time, there will be no ‘next time.'”

With a low, deep voice, Arkle approached, almost mounting over me.

“What do you mean— oh.”

Only then did I recall the conversation, the ‘promise’ I had made to Arkle before leaving.

“My makeup might smudge, so this is as far as we go for now.”

“‘For now’…… means there will be another next time?”

“If you behave and wait quietly without causing trouble.”

‘……I dug my own grave.’

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Arkle stared at me without taking his eyes off me.

His face came closer.

I quickly closed my eyes, but…..

“I’m truly grateful.”

The place where his lips gently touched was not my mouth, but my forehead.

“That I could have this time with you, that we can promise a next time…… how fortunate I am.”

Even without sharing breath, it was a kiss that conveyed how precious I was to him.

I slowly caressed Arkle’s cheek.

“I think I’m fortunate too. I was worried about you every moment.”

“……”

“Whether you were worrying too much about me, whether you desperately needed my help.”

“If it was because of the magical resonance, there was no problem.”

Arkle, who had taken my hand, kissed my fingers.

“I haven’t suffered from that power recently.”

“Perhaps……”

A thought flashed through my mind.

It felt like the final puzzle piece had fallen into place.

[That man has already become complete. So you don’t need to worry.]

The goddess’s final gift to me.

The person who receives my love will become a ‘complete’ human, she had said.

‘Could it be…… that’s what it meant.’

“Arkle, when was the last time you felt pain from that power?”

Despite the somewhat abrupt question, Arkle thought for a moment and answered.

“I haven’t felt any pain since returning from Kelston.”

‘In the carriage returning from Kelston, I….’

I had confessed my love to Arkle.

I felt like my mouth would drop open.

‘So that’s what it was.’

I confessed my love to Arkle, and he had now become a complete human.

Not a body suffering from demonic power, but a ‘complete’ human.

Now I could truly tell him that the curse inside his body had disappeared.

“Arkle, listen carefully……”

I held his face and told him everything in a solemn voice.

From the story of the goddess who had watched over the world alone for ages, to the three gifts she had given to the girl whose body she had borrowed.

And when Arkle heard that thanks to that final gift, he had become a ‘complete’ human….

‘I wonder what face he’ll make.’

I looked at him with anticipation that I would finally know this time.

‘……!’

But once again, I couldn’t find out.

Because Arkle overlapped his lips with mine.

It was such a passionate kiss that all strength left my body.

‘……Well, it doesn’t matter if I don’t know this time.’

As Arkle said, our current moment has a next time.

And after that, there will be another, and yet another.

As I was immersed in happiness, I heard a deep voice in my ear.

“I’m sorry if I was too rough, it’s hard to restrain myself……”

“You shouldn’t underestimate me.”

I sat up and pushed against Arkle’s chest.

In our suddenly reversed positions, I looked down at him and grinned.

After all, I’m a woman who loves to see villains suffer.

Is It So Wrong that I Like Seeing the Villain Suffer? FIN