Is It So Wrong that I Like Seeing the Villain Suffer? - Chapter 3

‘I read <Red Moon> because I liked this kind of thing.’

While she was thinking that, she looked at Naran, only to find his expression was strange.

His large eyes grew even rounder, and his lips were slightly parted.

“…What did you say?”

“I said I like it.”

When I said it casually, Naran’s eyes grew even wider.

‘Does he also think my taste is strange?’

Well, I currently have Lize Allenheim’s face.

That means I possess an infinitely pure and holy appearance.

I understand if he finds it hard to believe I have such contradictory, sinful tastes.

“I know it’s hard to understand.”

“……”

“But I really do like it. I’m not lying. Really.”

I sent him a sincere look.

‘I mean, my favorite movie when I was young was Friday the 13th.’

Liking gore doesn’t necessarily make someone bad.

Of course, one should distinguish between reality and fiction.

I simply enjoy the thrill that can only be experienced through fiction.

So please respect my preferences.

Naran silently stared at me.

I gave him a gentle smile.

“Won’t you show me? How you use it.”

‘I’d like to see it once.’

“…You like it?”

“Yes. It’s hard to believe, but I really do.”

“……”

Naran turned his gaze away and slowly opened his mouth.

“…Never mind.”

“Huh?”

“It’s become boring.”

What?

Was my reaction that disappointing?

I had such high hopes, and now this…

However, without showing my disappointment outwardly, I spoke sweetly.

“Okay. If you ever want to show me again, make sure to tell me, okay?”

With these types of people, it’s pointless to push them.

‘I’ll be here for three months anyway, so I’m bound to see it at least once.’

Just then, my stomach growled loudly.

Right, I haven’t eaten yet.

That’s why I came here in the first place….

While feeling a bit embarrassed and dejected due to lack of energy, Naran, who had been staring at me intently, spoke up.

“You said you were looking for the kitchen?”

“Yes.”

When I nodded, Naran started walking and said,

“It’s this way.”

Gasp.

“You’re going to take me there?!”

When I asked happily with a smile, he narrowed his eyes.

“This corridor is deliberately designed to be difficult to navigate. The tortured… no, invited guests shouldn’t be able to escape easily.”

“So that’s why you’re guiding me?”

“Lize is a precious hostage after all.”

Naran smiled sweetly.

He had returned to being the Naran Cayenne I knew.

After arriving at the kitchen, Naran called over a red-haired woman who appeared to be the head maid.

“Will you take responsibility if the hostage dies of starvation?”

“I apologize, young master. I will make sure to pay attention to this matter.”

Naran gave a beautiful smile to the head maid who was bowing apologetically.

“You better. If anything happens to Lize, your life alone won’t be enough to atone for it. You may go.”

Before the pale-faced head maid left, she glanced at me and muttered.

“If you stay in your room, we’ll bring meals to you on time from now on.”

Thinking she got scolded because of me, her eyes held a hint of resentment.

“I’d love it if you could bring dessert too.”

Regardless of her attitude, I smiled brightly as I spoke, and she let out a small scoff of disbelief.

Watching this, Naran quietly giggled.

“Now, let’s go back.”

Naran said, looking at me.

“No matter what, it’s not okay to wander around the mansion as you please.”

I obediently followed him.

Even as we left the kitchen and climbed the stairs, Naran kept watching me with an unreadable expression.

❖ ❖ ❖

Not long after returning to my room, a maid brought in a tray with food. This was my first meal here.

While munching on bread, I reflected on what had happened earlier.

‘To think I’d meet Naran….’

Among the three Cayenne siblings, the youngest, Naran, was an angelically beautiful boy, but in reality, he had the most twisted inner self.

It was because he harbored tremendous feelings of inferiority toward his brother and sister, especially Arkle.

Although Naran himself possessed an extraordinary mind and sharp intuition, making him far from ordinary, it was just that Martha and Arkle were too overpowered.

The eldest daughter Martha was the Cayenne family’s greatest ambitious figure. She’s skilled in politics, negotiations, and all sorts of external power plays.

The second son Arkle, while not ambitious like Martha, was undisputedly the strongest being in this world.

And Naran, it seems, grew up enduring all sorts of comparisons and discrimination from them since childhood.

Since Jean Allenheim was the protagonist of the original work, the Cayenne family’s past wasn’t described in detail, but it could be understood through Naran’s dialogue in the middle and latter parts of the novel.

Jean, who had infiltrated the Cayenne family, first wanted to deal with Naran, who had animal-like intuition, by spreading false rumors that Naran was planning to kill his siblings and become the head of the Cayenne family.

Even Martha, who didn’t believe it at first, eventually fell for the fake evidence fabricated by Jean and ended up executing Naran.

Just before his execution, Naran laughed at Martha and said:

“Foolish sister, do you really think I did it?”

“To your clever eyes, everyone must look like fools. Naran, I knew you’ve hated us since you were young.”

“Haha…. Yes, I hated you. Enough to want to kill you. If I had known this would happen, instead of cursing myself, I should have really…! Is it my fault that I’m not as good as you all?!”

It was the scene where Naran, who always wore a composed smile, lost his composure for the first time and screamed like a madman.

Afterward, Martha, saying this was the last thing she could do for him, personally beheaded Naran.

‘Back then, I only thought it was just an intense scene….’

It felt strange to think this was the ultimate fate of someone I had met in person.

‘He didn’t seem like such a bad kid…’

Reflecting on Naran’s final words made me feel strange.

Perhaps his retreat into that ‘workshop’ was his desperate attempt to cling to his own world.

‘……’

Somehow, Naran’s psychology didn’t feel unfamiliar to me.

After all, I too had turned to other worlds to avoid being crushed by the helplessness of reality.

‘Besides, Naran is still young…’

Right now, he’s just a torture device ‘collector’ who hasn’t hurt anyone, but in a few years, he grows up to become a real torture maniac.

A weirdo who constantly suspected the disguised Jean and persistently wanted to torture him.

Though that’s why he was eliminated first by Jean….

Anyway, I thought that with proper attention, Naran might not have gone that far.

‘Oh, come to think of it.’

Naran said he personally cleaned the ‘workshop’ every morning.

‘…Should I offer to help?’

It was quite a large room, and having an extra pair of hands would make it much easier.

If I could gain Naran’s favor this way, life here would become much more comfortable.

While I’m at it, I’d like to spend more time examining that place, and also….

‘It must be lonely to be alone.’

Actually, having someone break into my solitary daily life was something I had wished for too.

❖ ❖ ❖

The next morning.

After waking up, I quietly left the room.

Today, as usual, there was no one guarding the door.

‘I should return before they bring breakfast.’

I went down the stairs and crossed the wide hall, trying to recall my way.

‘I think it was around here…’

Just then, as I was carefully looking around…

“Lize?”

When I turned around, Naran was looking at me with a puzzled expression.

He was holding a basin with cloth pieces in it, apparently on his way to the workshop.

After looking perplexed for a moment, Naran smiled amusedly.

“I’m meeting you here again. You really are a willful hostage.”

“Are you going to the ‘workshop,’ Naran?”

Naran made an expression wondering how I knew that, so I quickly explained.

“I happened to hear about it. That you clean it yourself every morning. So I was thinking…”

I looked at Naran with the most innocent expression I could muster and said.

“I want to help you. Would that be okay?”

“Help clean the workshop? Why would you want to?”

I obviously didn’t tell him that I wanted to gain his favor to live more comfortably, and more importantly, that I felt sorry for him.

“I told you yesterday. Because I like it.”

At times like this, it’s best to emphasize my preferences, right?

I smiled gently at Naran who was standing there blankly.

As I said yesterday, I share your tastes.

As a ten-year gore movie enthusiast, I was confident I could clean Naran’s collection items spotlessly without causing any damage.

These must all be incredibly expensive, considering they’re real items rather than props.

“…Haha.”

A small laugh escaped from Naran as he looked at me with a strange expression.

With a cold smile on his lips, he looked at me with slanted eyes.

“Why do you keep saying things I want to hear since yesterday?”

“Huh?”

“Now I get it. You want something from me, right? But it’s pointless.”

He smiled with lowered eyebrows, looking regretful. It was an artificial smile that seemed fake.

“No matter what, I can’t let you go, Lize.”

“I’m not asking to be released.”

“If not that, then what’s your purpose? I admit I might seem easier to deal with than Arkle or Sister Martha. Well, I’ll listen first, so tell me.”

“I told you. I want to help clean your workshop.”

“But why– Ah… never mind.”

Despite my unwavering responses to his sarcastic remarks, Naran sighed with a “Hng.”

‘Does he still not believe that I like that kind of stuff?’

Both his lukewarm reaction last time and this – it must be because of my appearance. It’s this face that looks like it belongs in G-rated content that’s the problem….

Since it’s come to this, I should make it absolutely clear one last time.

If he still doesn’t believe me after this, I’ll have to recite my favorite scene from my favorite gore movie. Then he won’t be able to help but believe me.

I spoke slowly and clearly, enunciating each word.

“It’s because I really like–”

I was about to say ‘your workshop’ when,

“Stop, stop–!”

Naran suddenly exclaimed, cutting off my words.

“Don’t lie. You want something, don’t you? Otherwise, why would you…”

Naran, looking confused, roughly messed up his bangs with one hand.

“I don’t understand…”

He muttered as if talking to himself, lowering his gaze.

His face was flushed red beneath his disheveled black hair.

“How could anyone like someone like me…”

Huh?

I wasn’t talking about you….

But Naran, unaware of my thoughts, still wore an expression of disbelief.

“Why would anyone like a trash like me…”

There it is, that low self-esteem.

“That’s not true.”

Naran flinched at my words and smiled as if he had expected this.

“See? Those lies about liking me…”

“You’re not trash, Naran.”

“What…?”

Naran quietly looked at me.