Inside a dark and damp prison.

A woman sat there, her long hair disheveled and unkempt.

Her once honey-glossed blonde hair was now as lifeless and pale as a corpse, and her once soft body had become gaunt and emaciated.

Then, a voice heavy as black ink called out to her.

“Calliphe Offensa.”

“……!”

Calliphe jerked her head up.

Through the iron bars, a man was looking down at her.

He had silver hair and beautiful features, but strangely, his impression was so vague that it wouldn’t remain in one’s memory.

Calliphe rose as if to lunge forward and grabbed the bars.

“You…! You really came!”

“Thank Noah for that. If it weren’t for Noah’s request, I wouldn’t have appeared here.”

“Ha, haha. Well, you can’t just stand by when your benefactor is falsely accused, right? After all, I’m the benefactor who took that child out of the orphanage?”

“……”

The man’s lips stiffened.

But Calliphe had no leisure to notice such changes.

She pulled out something that looked like handcuffs from her chest.

“I know you’re on the verge of losing your sight. I also know that your eyes are in tremendous pain right now. You’ll need this, won’t you?”

“That’s…?”

“A magical artifact for controlling magical beasts. You were looking for this quite desperately before, weren’t you?”

Her chapped lips curved into an arc.

“Noah told me. That this is needed to fix your eyes. Though I don’t understand what connection this has with eyes.”

“You don’t need to know.”

“That just makes me more curious, you know?”

The man let out a shallow sigh as if annoyed.

“Indeed, I needed that.”

“…That’s past tense?”

“Because I’ve already lost my sight.”

His tone was indifferent, as though he was speaking of someone else’s matter.

But the hand touching his eyes revealed an undeniable lingering attachment. Strangely, it also seemed like guilt.

“But Noah misunderstood something. I wasn’t searching for that magical artifact because it could fix my eyes. I hoped it could stop the pain in my eyes.”

“A magical artifact that controls magical beasts can stop your pain…?”

The man didn’t bother to respond to Calliphe’s muttered thoughts.

He had no intention whatsoever of revealing his vulnerabilities to someone like Calliphe.

However, unexpectedly, Calliphe’s eyes gleamed mischievously like a cat’s.

“Ah. I see. I get it.”

“…?”

“You don’t actually have a problem with your eyeballs. It’s not your eyes that are the problem, it’s your mana. Right?”

“…!”

The man’s gray-blue eyes widened slightly.

“Your silence confirms it. This is really quite easy to figure out.”

“…How can you be so certain?”

“Because I know how magical beast control artifacts work. At its core, it’s about controlling mana.”

“……”

There was no response, but Calliphe was confident. An alluring smile spread across her gaunt face.

“A magical beast control artifact forcibly stops the beast’s mana flow to immobilize it. That alone is powerful, but the fact that you tried to obtain an illegally modified one capable of controlling even stronger mana means…”

Calliphe smirked.

“That there’s a serious anomaly in your mana. To the point where you need to forcibly stop its flow.”

“……”

“Your blindness is also an effect of the mana abnormality, isn’t it?”

She had pinpointed the issue in just a few words.

Their expressions were so contrasting that an observer might have mistaken which one was actually imprisoned.

But the man’s agitation was only momentary.

“You talk too much. Are you aware of your current situation?”

“Hmph, thanks to you. I haven’t forgotten that I’m to die tomorrow. And because of false charges, through… horrific torture.”

Her excited voice quickly turned cold and trembled slightly.

But instead of acting submissive, she raised her chin higher. That was her pride as the last direct descendant of House Offensa.

Even if others didn’t acknowledge it.

“Help me survive.”

“Why should I?”

“If this magical artifact isn’t strong enough for you now, we can make it stronger. I can find a way.”

“……”

“If mana is the problem, you won’t just stop at blindness – you’ll lose your life soon too. And quite painfully at that.”

“……”

That was true.

Even now, he was experiencing extreme pain in his eyes.

While Calliphe’s proposal was quite tempting…

“No.”

The man rejected it outright.

“Once freed, you’ll have nowhere to go except to Noah. Noah would have to deal with both you and your enemies.”

“I, I can fix everything!”

“You, who neglected and hurt Noah?”

It was laughable.

Look. Even now, she shows no sign of remorse toward Noah.

This would only cause Noah to suffer again.

“I hope you realize what you’ve overlooked.”

The moment after the man drew his sword.

“Kugh…!”

The sharp blade tip went through the bars and pierced Calliphe’s chest. Right where her heart was.

The man whispered quietly.

“Even if it’s after death.”

“Keurgh, Ugh……”

“This is the last favor I can give you.”

The sword was gently withdrawn, and the life completely faded from Calliphe’s wide-open eyes.

As the screen darkened, an ending number appeared.

[Number 16. The Villainess’s End]

* * *

My shoulder jerked violently.

“Huk, what the f…!”

The hand supporting my chin slipped and I snapped my eyes open.

Unlike the damp prison in my dream, the scent of fragrant tea and grass tickled my nose.

Across from me, Noah was gripping his pen, diligently writing. He seemed too focused to have heard my sleep-talking.

‘It was a dream!’

Thank goodness!

It was such a vivid dream that my heart was still pounding.

Who knew a scene from the game could feel so real.

‘Maybe it’s because I’ve been obsessing over how to seduce the silver-haired man lately?’

Though the dream was unpleasant, it reminded me of some good information I’d forgotten.

Namely, that the silver-haired man’s blindness stemmed from a mana abnormality.

The medical book I was reading before dozing off had related information.

“Mana is a force essential for life activities.

For this reason, people with congenital or acquired mana abnormalities unconsciously try to make contact with things rich in mana.

Particularly severe cases are called mana thirst……”

Mana thirst.

‘So it’s like how a thirsty person seeks water.’

While I couldn’t be certain if the silver-haired man was really suffering from mana thirst, the best solution would be to make his mana healthy again.

‘But I can’t do that when I’m not even a mage.’

No, perhaps no mage could.

Being able to nurture someone else’s mana to health – that’s impossible, right?

Anyway, there was only one thing I could do.

‘An illegally modified magical beast control artifact.’

I needed to use that as bait to negotiate with the silver-haired man.

I had ideas about how to get my hands on the control device.

But the problem was tracking down the mysterious silver-haired man.

I had been attending every noble party, big and small, for the past few days.

But forget the silver-haired man, I couldn’t even find anyone similar.

People were too nervous around me and kept avoiding me.

‘And it’s even more frustrating since the only clue I have is his silver hair.’

Eventually, I started grabbing anyone with silvery hair to check, but with no success.

How am I supposed to meet this event NPC who used to show up randomly in the game?

Making me suffer like this, I won’t let this slide…

While pointlessly resenting the silver-haired man.

“I’m done, Lady Calliphe.”

Noah held out his notebook with a nervous look after finishing his dictation.

I started grading with a red ink-filled pen.

“This is amazing?”

“…?”

“You got nine out of ten correct?”

Perhaps because of that third-rate swordsmanship instructor, Noah seemed wary of other tutors.

So I decided to help with his studies for now. It was good for me too, since I needed time with Noah.

‘When we first started, his grades were terrible.’

Noah struggled most with writing quickly, so I was giving him time to think and revise like now.

But to already achieve near-perfect scores – as expected of a protagonist, he learns fast.

“As expected of someone I’m sponsor—”

I instinctively reached out toward Noah’s head.

Noah visibly flinched.

When I froze mid-motion, Noah became flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“I-I’m sorry.”

No, it’s not your fault. I bit my tongue.

‘That was a mistake, a mistake.’

Reaching out suddenly to a child who’s still afraid of me. I tried to change the subject as if nothing happened.

“Hmm. Since you got one wrong, I’ll confiscate just one chocolate today.”

The penalty for dictation was giving up one snack for each wrong answer.

I hadn’t planned to continue this, but Noah’s sulky face was just too cute like a rice cake.

But before I could take it, Noah stretched out his short arm first and held out the chocolate.

“H-Here!”

The chocolate stopped trembling right in front of my lips.

“Are you trying to feed me?”

“Earlier… it wasn’t because I disliked it…”

Noah hung his head with bright red cheeks.

‘That embarrassed face definitely means!’

His voice became too quiet to hear the rest, but I fully understood Noah’s feelings.

So I spoke as understandingly as possible.

“You don’t need to explain.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. Everyone has things they’re afraid of.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re just embarrassed about showing such a cowardly side just now, right?”

Putting myself in his shoes, that had to be it.

‘Now he’s even trying to act tough. How precious.’

Look at him now.

“……”

Staring at me with such strangely dissatisfied eyes.