Fated to Be Loved by Villains

Chapter 323: Before the Ceremony (1)

“Wow-”

Iliya poked the stiffened Mobius’ cheek with her finger.

Considering his usual demeanor, such an action would normally result in him chopping off her wrist, but he showed no reaction whatsoever, still frozen stiff like a cardboard.

This was most likely the result of whatever it was that Dowd did to him earlier.

“Is he even alive?”

Hearing her question, Astrid, who had been silently observing, let out a heavy sigh.

Unlike her usual mechanical body, this time she was in a body made out of flesh and blood.

Stroking her waist-length hair, she slowly scanned Mobius from head to toe.

“...Fascinating, his original personality is intact, but his body is completely frozen stiff.”

She murmured as she circled around Mobius with something that looked like a scanner in her hand.

“His personality intact?”

“You can say that his mind is alive, but he has no control over his body.”

She didn’t even know if she should classify it as mind alteration or personality modification.

It seemed like his senses were overwhelmed by the horrific amounts of information it received, and that caused him to experience a total ‘system crash’—

“Ridiculous, how the hell did he do this?”

Mobius was someone who could control the countless facilities in this massive structure with just his mind.

And yet Dowd used such a straightforward method—overwhelming someone like him by forcing a ludicrous amount of information into his brain—to paralyze him.

“I don’t even know how he managed to combine Demonic Auras like that, but... It’s impressive, to say the least. There hadn’t been such a case in history when it came to someone ‘handling’ Demonic Auras. No matter how you look at it, his case is peculiar.”

“What do you mean? Why is it peculiar?”

“Well, there’s no being in any dimension that could ‘force’ the Devils to do such things. Even the Angels couldn’t do that.”

What she was trying to say was...

It was as if the Devils were voluntarily lending their power to him from the start..

As if they were willingly saying, ‘It’s okay if it’s you.’

Tracing the roots of these Devils—the beings who transcended time and space—would lead to a singular, bizarre conclusion: They had all been in love with him ‘from the start’.

“—It’s like these Devils fell in love with my son all ‘across the timeline’ and are giving him everything they have, guts and all.”

The Yellow Devil that showed up recently gave off that exact vibe.

Dear Lord, for a Devil to give up her Authority and cross over to the past to appear in person? That’s some next-level devotion right there.

—Then, if we talk about the roots of the devils—

As Astrid was about to continue her train of thought, Iliya, who had been glaring at her with arms crossed and eyes narrowed, dropped a blunt sentence.

“...You seem to be bothered about something.”

“...Hm? Not really. It’s just, there’s something I don’t quite under—”

“By the way, you’re way hotter than I expected.”

“Ignoring the fact that you’re saying that out of nowhere, that compliment comes out like you’re constipated.”

“I just feel like I should keep my guard up around you.”

“...It’s all in your head.”

“...”

There was a brief silence before that answer, wasn’t there?

Thinking that, Iliya looked Astrid up and down with a furrowed brow.

No, seriously.

She’s a genuine bombshell.

From her jet-black hair, the beauty mark beneath her eye, and the curves that were practically weapons of mass destruction...

Compared to the women around Dowd, her ‘mature’ vibe was on a whole other fucking level.

“...”

Iliya suddenly looked down at her own chest, then raised her head to look at Astrid’s.

“Fuck me.”

“What...? Why are you suddenly...?”

“Fuck! Men always prefer the bigger ones, aren’t they...?!”

“...”

Astrid let out a sigh before running her fingers through her hair.

During that motion, the two big fruits bounced heavily, turning Iliya’s eyes bloodshot. But this time, the sentence that came out of her mouth was something even Iliya had to pay attention to.

“The fact that he didn’t kill Mobius and just left him in this state... It seems like he still has some use for him.”

“Use?”

“More precisely, not for the man himself, but for the facilities in this tower.”

Immobilizing Mobius, someone who had full control of the tower, essentially meant taking over the tower’s control itself.

“Come to think of it, he’s done similar things several times before, right?”

“...”

Indeed.

Back with the Tribal Alliance, he had created a leverage so that he could summon them to his aid at least once.

And although it hadn’t been properly formalized yet, he had put the empress in massive debt by nipping the civil war in the bud.

This basically meant he could get support from both the Empire and the Tribal Alliance at once.

“...What the hell is he stockpiling all this power for?”

He had basically secured the protection of most of the powerful forces in the continent, and now he acquired the tower on top of that?

Just who on earth is the enemy he needs to face with all this?

“Using the process of elimination, there’s only one place left, right?”

At Astrid’s words, Iliya let out a sigh and answered.

“The Holy Kingdom.”

“Exactly.”

The only ‘enemy’ that hadn’t made a move yet was the Holy Kingdom.

Or more precisely, the pope who was sitting at the very top.

“Do we really need to be that cautious? Looking at the enemies Teach has taken down so far, it doesn’t seem like they’d be anything special.”

She has a point.

But still...

“...I have a bad feeling about this.”

Astrid said in a gloomy voice.

This wasn’t just her gut feelings. Considering the influence the pope can exert, his actions so far had been questionable.

The fact that he had been terrifyingly quiet so far was the biggest red flag.

He must have known that Seras, Yuria—essentially his trump cards—and the saintess had switched sides.

And yet, he hadn’t made any interference, retaliation, or even attempt of sabotage.

As if none of that mattered in his eyes.

“Really?”

“...What with the lukewarm reaction?”

“It’s not that I’m dismissing your concern, it’s just...”

As Iliya said so, her gaze wandered...

...to Dowd, who was desperately making excuses, gesturing all sorts of things to Eleanor, who gave him an absolute zero stare.

Judging from their voices, apparently Eleanor was furious that he had a ‘first-time’ with someone without telling her.

That guy is always like that...

Actually, Eleanor’s control over Dowd was relatively loose. She tended to accept everything and moved on quickly as long as he dedicated his ‘firsts’ to her.

But this time, he crossed that line. Which was why she was so angry.

“...You think he’ll survive?”

“...If it looks like he won’t, we should probably stop her.”

The fact that Iliya and Astrid were having this conversation should show how bad the situation this time was.

...Come to think of it, it’s strange.

As Iliya looked at this spectacle, one thing came to her mind.

The fact that he lost his ‘first experience’ to someone else entirely. But, for some reason, Eleanor hadn’t gotten angry about that yet.

Considering her usual personality, there was no way she’d forgotten, or let it slide easily.

Unless someone else deliberately diverted her attention elsewhere—

“Professor Astrid.”

Iliya, who was lost in thought, was startled by Dowd’s voice that came from right in front of her.

The effects of Eleanor’s grilling were evident; he was completely drenched in cold sweat, and looked clearly exhausted.

“...”

Somehow, he looked even more worn out from this than from fighting Mobius earlier.

As she was observing him like that, Astrid’s disappointed voice entered her ears.

“...Can’t you call me mother?”

“I’ll do that when I get used to it. Anyway, I’m gonna have to call you that soon...”

“...What do you mean by that?”

As soon as Astrid’s question fell, a serene expression came across Dowd’s face.

It was the face of someone who had steeled themselves mentally and spiritually for the shitstorm that was about to come.

“Well, you see, Eleanor and I had an agreement.”

“About what?”

“The date for the ceremony.”

At that moment, everyone, who was scattered around, minding their own businesses, snapped their heads toward this group’s direction, as if their necks were broken.

Astrid and Iliya’s jaws dropped.

“...”

“...So, uh, I think we should start arranging a meeting for the parents from both sides to see each other.”

They said when a bombshell statement was dropped, the air trembled.

This time, it was no different.

The air, indeed, trembled.

But, this particular case was a little special...

As it wasn’t figurative. The air was literally being torn apart.