I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 38.

When everything was tidied up, Mei returned.

What the hell happened overnight……?”

“Well, that’s the thing.”

I’ve had an accident, but what can I say?

The room looks like it’s been on fire all night, and we don’t look normal.

I’m trying to figure out what to say and how to make excuses, but Mei claps her hands together.

“Oh, did you catch a mosquito or something?”

“Mosquitoes?”

How can these marks look like mosquito bites? Normally, mosquito bites don’t look this red.

Looking at Mei’s still-innocent face, Iros and I let out a long, nervous breath.

“Heh, I heard mosquitoes are so vicious these days. You must have been bitten a lot. Ew, that’s going to itch.”

“Hahaha, yeah. I was up all night swatting mosquitoes with Iros, and I accidentally broke my bed.”

“It’s okay, we’ll just have to buy another bed!”

“Yeah. We’ll order another one when we go out today.”

I shrugged my shoulders in response to Mei’s enthusiasm. It’s times like this that I’m glad Mei’s so clueless.

* * *

Iros patted his chest and started getting ready to go out as usual.

As he did, Mei sneaked up on him, raised her crow’s feet, and whispered in his ear.

“Guardian, next time, please don’t try to break the bed. Our saint’s bed is a luxury, and it’s going to break the budget.”

“Mu, what…….”

Iros blinked wide-eyed in embarrassment, pulling away from Mei in anger.

Mei narrowed her eyes at Iros’s reddened ears.

“Did you think I didn’t know, I’m a big girl after all, and I can’t tell the difference between a mosquito bite and a kiss mark?”

“……!”

“I thought you didn’t want to be found out by me, so I just pretended not to notice.”

“Sorry, no, thank you, May.”

Mei’s eyes turned to axe-eyes as Iros thanked her with a flush of embarrassment.

“But make no mistake. Next time, I won’t let you get away with it. I can’t believe you bit our deer-like saint’s neck like that!”

“I’m the one who’s been bitten, though.”

Iros muttered under his breath.

He was covered by his clothes now, but underneath his robes, he was covered in what could have been ladybugs.

Unable to say that her neck was in better shape, Iros ducked her head grimly as she adjusted her collar.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to pick out a dress for you today that covers your neck, eh?”

“My bad.”

“Good to know, and you should wear something up to your neck today, Guardian. I can see all the marks on your shirt right now.”

“……!”

Iros hastily raised his hand to cover his neck, thanked Mei for the reminder, and ran to the closet.

Mei clicked her tongue as she turned around and saw that the nape of Iros’s neck was as red as a camellia flower as he hurried away.

“Tsk tsk. You’re going to be all over the place if you go out today, even though rumors of your relationship are already abundant.”

But how did they end up in such a relationship? Mei wondered.

* * *

“Saint, here are your clothes.”

“Yes. I’ll change by myself today.”

“Because of the mosquito bites?”

“Ugh, huh?”

“Well, I’ll stay outside the screen, so you can change in peace.”

“Uh, okay. Thank you, May.”

As I was changing, Mei asked me a question from the other side of the curtain.

“By the way, I’m curious, how long has the Saint been like that with the Guardian?”

“Kuck.”

I glanced around in confusion, but Iros wasn’t there.

I lowered my voice to a whisper and asked.

“Did you notice?”

“It’s weird not to notice, the bed is broken like that. I tried to pretend not to notice, but it takes a certain amount of breakage to pretend not to notice!”

“Ahhhh.”

I let out an awkward laugh and remembered the first time Iros had ordered me to undress.

“I didn’t realize it was going to turn into this at first. He’s only two years older than me, and he’s acting so grown up. It was annoying, so I thought I’d tease him.”

Little by little, like a mean boy teasing a girl he likes, I teased and rattled Iros, and it became a habit.

In hindsight, maybe it was my way of showing affection. A very ugly, very perverse form of affection.

“I didn’t mean to do this, but Pink was talking to some maid, giggling and giggling.”

“The guardian? He was laughing?”

“Yeah. You can’t believe it, can you?”

“Yeah, I thought you didn’t know how to laugh because you always had such a stern look.”

“Sigh. Really?”

Iros chuckled at the plausibility of the statement, even if he did wear a stern expression all the time.

“Whatever. He’s flirting with someone who’s never smiled at me, which is why I have horns.”

I didn’t know what was so unsettling at the time, and I was busy clutching at the thing in my hand as if it would slip away like sand.

So I held on to Iros, thinking that he might be taken away by someone else.

Then he would be tied to me forever.

Iros cried a lot then.

I think that was the first time I felt regret in my life.

“I was not used to cherishing things. I didn’t know because I’d never been cherished, and that’s how I treated Pinkie.”

“Ah…….”

“Now I know what it means to be cherished and how to stop it.”

My time in Korea as Kim Sowon has made me that way.

So now I wouldn’t bully Iros with night watchmen or use punishment as an excuse to keep him tied to me.

“Come to think of it, I’ve already broken both of them, haven’t I?”

Once in the room of mirrors, and again from last night to this morning.

The only difference is that this time, Iros wanted me first.

“So now the Saint and the Protector are going to be lovers, huh, Kyaa?”

“Huh? Not really.”

“What?”

I blinked, looking at Mei in confusion.

I’m becoming a lover? With who? With Airos?

“That’s not right. You’re supposed to be with someone you love.”

“You don’t love each other?”

Mei cocked her head as if remembering something.

“We don’t?”

I said, puzzled.

“There’s no way Iros likes me, let alone loves me.”

He’s always bullying me, he gets into trouble, and he has a nasty personality.

If only I hadn’t given him to you in the first place, I wasn’t the owner.

In the room of mirrors, you are mine, you must always be by my side, you love me, you would never have liked me if I hadn’t brainwashed you.

A brainwashed emotion can’t be love.

“And I’m not exactly in love with Iros either, am I?”

Being raised as an illegitimate child, I had no idea how to think about a normal romantic relationship.

An abandoned mother, a neglected child, an earl who would touch and discard new women, I grew up with it all.

So, I didn’t believe in love.

The kind of eternal love you hear about in poetry and song, the kind of love that is pure, unwavering, and life-giving.

Because no matter how much you whisper that love, it’s thrown away and replaced like a ring.

“You don’t have to like it, do you? I like it the way it is, where we use each other for convenience rather than whispering unnecessary, unbreakable love.”

“…….”

“I don’t want to be tied down to a shallow relationship that could change at any moment, but I do value you, so that’s good enough for me.”

I shrugged and walked out, and Mei bowed her head deeply, her eyes in wistful manner .

“You’ve been so hurt by people that you don’t trust love or people.”

“…….”

I only don’t trust so as not to be hurt.

I said cheerfully as if to wipe the somber mood from my memory.

“By the way, where’s Pinky been all this time, Pinky, let’s get to work!”

“You called for me?”

“Yep. Have you changed your clothes?”

“Yes. I’ve also called the carriage in advance.”

“Good, then let’s go. Mei, what are you doing, let’s go.”

I smiled broadly as I held out my hand to Mei, who bowed her head deeply.

I don’t like a somber mood, so smile brightly too, Mei.

“We’re off to investigate the magic circle!”

* * *

The black figures looked down through the glass windows of the tall building as the carriage sped out of the temple and onto the road.

“Do you mind if I send the holy woman back there if she finds out anything about the magic circle…….”

“The Magic Circle has already been dealt with. No matter how much they investigate, they won’t be able to interfere with our work.”

“Then I’m glad to hear that.”

“The saint will die anyway. So even if we struggle until then, it won’t change anything.”

Inyoung spoke up, her face dark with anger.

“It’s not a hindrance. Everything is according to the will of the Devil.”

“All things are as the Devil wills.”

The black spirits in the room muttered in unison, and the shadows faded away.

* * *

Inside the temple, black sprouts sprouted from the carriage.

“Who will be in charge of the magic circle?”

“The one who fought with Eldrakis to the last two spots during the selection of the Guardian Wisdom.”

The one who competed in the Wisdom Trials?

“Well, he must have a good head on his shoulders. A candidate for Wisdom must have studied every discipline in existence.”

“Yes. He was very learned, but he was more interested in magic than in the gods, so he was rejected and now lives as a scholar, studying magic.”

I wasn’t sure how serious he was about magic, but he certainly seemed to know a lot about it.

Meanwhile, the carriage glided along smoothly, arriving in front of a huge mansion.

“Does he live here? Is he a scholar in the employ of the noble family?”

“No. He is the owner of this manor, and, um. A viscount at the same time.”

“A nobleman?”

There hadn’t been a candidate for Guardian in generations, so I’d expected a commoner, but he was a noble himself, with a title.

There hadn’t been a candidate for Guardian in generations, so I’d expected a commoner, but he was a noble himself, with a title.

Iros seemed to know the man quite well, and after a brief exchange of greetings with the guards, the carriage was allowed through.

This allowed us to alight in front of the manor’s gates.

“We’ve arrived.”

“The mansion is quite large up close, isn’t it?”

“Saint, I’ve never seen a mansion this big before!”

As soon as she stepped out of the carriage, a man with untied hair ran up to her with his arms wide open and a big grin on his face.

His crooked round glasses were a sight to behold.

“You’re finally here!”

“I can’t believe I’m feeling déjà vu.”

“I see I’m not the only one.”

Iros agreed, remembering Viscount Ellis, the lord of Elotta.

“So he can be trusted, right?”

I don’t trust him at all.