I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 60.

Sierra hesitated, then asked.

‘Do you still like me?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Why? I’m the evil woman who killed you, who killed your family, who betrayed you.’

‘You were my wife.’

Sierra couldn’t understand how anyone could love her for that reason, but perhaps the crown prince felt differently.

‘I loved her until the moment I died, so how can those feelings just disappear in an instant, and they just stay with me like a habit, haunting me.’

As is his habit, when he wakes up in the morning, he looks for Sierra next to him, and when he realizes what’s happening, he buries his face in his hands.

She’s not there. The peaceful days are now an irreversible illusion, and the emptiness and misery are indescribable.

‘I miss her, and sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream.’

The words of apology rolled around in her mouth, but Sierra couldn’t speak. But the crown prince seemed to know.

‘I know. That’s why I’ve hated you to no end…….’

The crown prince raised his head and smiled a hollow, empty smile.

‘You’re so lovely again, I don’t know what to do with myself.’

‘…….’

‘What shall I do with you, Sierra?’

Please give me an answer.

‘I wonder sometimes if there will ever come a day when I hate you completely.’

I hate her and I love her and I hate her.

The whirlwind of emotions was too difficult, too vast, too delicate for a mere mortal to break.

‘If you want one thing. I want you to see me for who I am, for once.’

‘…….’

Sierra’s mind raced.

How could they be having this conversation so close and face to face?

And why is the crown prince saying he still likes her, that he still likes her?

‘Is that possible? Is love such a great emotion that it can stand side by side with hatred?

I couldn’t understand.

The illegitimate son of the Earl of Elgraton, abandoned by the Earl and raised by his dead mother.

I grew up seeing with my own eyes how fleeting love is.

So I wondered. What is this thing called ‘love’ that people crave so much and so different from person to person?

Dizzy, I squeezed my eyes shut, pressed my head into my hands, and opened my mouth.

‘I don’t believe in love, I don’t know it, I don’t know how to see, I don’t know how to do it.’

The crown prince chuckled softly at the faint hint of nervousness in her voice.

‘I pity you. You don’t know love.’

‘…….’

‘And all who love you.’

Poor? Why?

Isn’t it a good thing to not be driven by love, to be more rational, and not risk your life on useless emotions?

I glared at him, thinking that was not something a crown prince who died for love would say.

‘Lord Iros must be quite troubled.’

‘Why is Iros suddenly appearing here?’

‘If you don’t know already, Lord Iros was in love with you before the regression, and he’s still in love with you now.’

‘…What?’

‘How can you be so insensitive to love, this is why we’re all going to die together.’

The crown prince stroked his chin at Sierra’s dumbfounded expression.

‘It’s not that I’m deliberately playing dumb, but I’m bad at love. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before, but every time I see it again, it’s new.’

He set down his wine glass as Sierra continued to shake her head and press her temples as if she were dizzy.

‘So whoever gets it first wins, love, I’ll tell you what.’

‘What?’

Sierra asked as if she was talking nonsense, but the crown prince was having none of it.

‘To win back this heart that hates you and loves you simultaneously, I’ll have to teach you to love first.’

‘No. I’m not learning to love.’

In instinctive revulsion, Sierra pushed him away, but he lifted her chin lazily with long fingers.

‘Let go of me.’

‘Do you still have the presence of mind to refuse me, dizzy and all?’

The crown prince glanced at the wine and muttered to himself.

‘Perhaps she’s a saint, and therefore impervious to poison.’

‘Poison?’

At the mention of poison, Sierra shoved the crown prince and untied his hair.

Poof! Red, lustrous hair cascaded down from the ceiling and off the crown prince’s shoulders.

Sierra’s heart dropped with a thud at the crown prince’s appearance, like a striking rose in a flower bed.

She felt like she’d seen this before, like it had happened before, somewhere.

‘……!’

‘You liked my hair. It’s dark red, like a thorny rose, dangerous and enchanting.’

The crown prince whispered, deep and dark as the veil of night.

‘I know what you like, and I still remember the hours I spent trying to please you.’

‘Let go of this……. Ah!’

I jumped to my feet, my heart racing, and my head spun dizzily.

Dizziness overcame her and she tried to sit up, but the crown prince caught her.

As Sierra, swept up in his embrace, raised her head to push him away in anger, the crown prince crashed his lips against hers, his golden eyes shining.

Sierra felt her hair stand on end and clamped her hands over her lips.

‘What do you think you’re doing……!’

‘I want you to love me this time.’

‘What?’

‘When you love me, I’ll crush your heart and teach you how it feels to hate. This is my revenge on you.’

Whispering, ‘This is my way,’ the crown prince licked Sierra’s fingers, trying to hide the emotion in his eyes.

The searing, wet heat made her stutter in embarrassment.

‘No, I-I-I don’t…….’

Impatient, Sierra drove her fist into the crown prince’s abdomen. With a popping sound, the crown prince went limp.

Sierra drove her fist into his face as he rolled across the floor.

‘Kuck?!’

‘I said no, you red bastard!’

‘Kulkulkulk, you’re not attacking me out of nowhere……!’

Sierra, wobbly from the alcohol, stood upright and stared down at the crown prince through blurry, already drunken eyes.

Hugging his stomach, the crown prince felt a strange cold sweat break out and looked up at Sierra, his eyes trembling.

‘…A saint?’

‘I.’

‘…….’

‘I said no, you slimy red.’

Sierra picked up the wine she’d opened, poured it all over the floor, and snorted.

‘Looks like ordinary wine, nothing sickly about it. Did you put poison in it or not?’

‘I don’t know anything about it.’

‘You said earlier, you’re a saint, you’re impervious to poison. If you’re trying to kill me, I’ll tell you up front, saints don’t die from poison.’

‘You look like you’re getting drunk.’

‘Because alcohol isn’t poison, huh?’

My head spun in a dizzying circle, and my vision grew blurry.

The last thing I saw of the crown prince was a sobbing, shaking Iros.

Her sweet puppy is cute and gentle and with separation anxiety.

Sierra closed her eyes with a whimper, not recognizing the man in front of her.

Oh, how I would regret this the next day.

* * *

Iros had been searching for a book in the old library, and he hadn’t closed it until after the sun had set and it was pitch black.

The tattered tome was titled The Observations of a Half-Human Half-Horse.

It contained all the information Iros needed.

‘I wonder if Sierra knew about this.’

Of course, she knew. She’s a saint. She’s smarter than anyone, even when she’s pretending to be an idiot.

‘Ha.’

My head ached from the sigh I let out, unable to hide the complexity of my feelings.

With a heavy heart, I was walking along, trying to figure out how to ask Sierra about my identity and explain it to her, when Mei ran in front of me.

‘Guardian! Guardian!’

‘What’s wrong, Mei, why aren’t you with the Saint and…….’

‘That’s not important right now! The telegram just Came to say that the Saint has gone to the crown prince’s palace, and she’s just been sleeping……!’

‘……!’

Iros immediately snatched the letter from Mei’s hand and read it quickly.

She immediately threw down the book she was holding and ran.

‘Oh, Guardian, oh, my God, it’s raining so hard outside, aren’t you going to get wet?’

Mei stomped her feet and clung to the window.

Outside the window, she could see Iros flying high in the sky on his dragon.

‘If he’s afraid of heights, he shouldn’t fly like that. I hope nothing happens to him.’

Iros gripped the reins tightly as he flew towards the Imperial Palace, flying so fast and high that Mei’s prayers were out of reach.

‘Sierra, why did you leave me and go to the crown prince’s palace……! That bastard, if he touches her, I’ll kill him.’

As they traveled across the rainy and thunderous sky, a bolt of lightning
struck right next to them, causing Long Yongyi to shake with fright.

‘Eh! Calm down!’

‘Eek!’

‘Eek.’

‘Kick!’

Yongyong went straight to the ground, hiding his face behind a rock and curling his tail.

Iros, who had fallen straight to the ground, rolled in the mud and came to a screeching halt against a wooden post.

Puck!

‘Hmph!’

‘Keeeeeee…….’

‘Shit. Get up. Move. Move!’

‘Chieh-eh.’

Iros limped to his feet and grabbed Yongyong’s reins, pulling, but the terrified dragon didn’t move except to whimper.

‘…Pfft.’

Just as I was thinking, ‘How can things be so bad when it’s so urgent,’ I heard a shout from the side.

‘Who is it!’

‘Mmm. It’s me, Leo.’

‘The crown prince’s knight?’

Brown hair, brown eyes. Suspicion flickered in Iros’s eyes at the familiar face.

‘Don’t look at me like that, I snuck out of here to help you.’

‘Why would you?’

‘Because I don’t like what my lord is doing. I don’t like it personally.’

Thinking that the crown prince’s strange obsession with the saint was crossing the line, Leo sneaked out of the castle to find Iros.

‘I’ll teleport you back to the palace, I think we should get going before it’s too late.’

‘Helping me would get you in trouble.’

It’s against my beliefs enough to risk that. Let’s go, Guardian.’

Iros took Leo’s hand with a determined look on his face.

When he closed his eyes and opened them, he was already standing in the palace corridor.