I Plotted The World Destruction With The Male Lead - Chapter 20

The grass on the ground swirled into the air as the vortex sucked in the black flock of birds that had gathered around the carriage and the sky.

In an instant, the whirlwind shredded the birds into a thick, viscous black liquid.

The liquid, now flowing toward the base of the tornado, seemed to realize that the same method wouldn’t work again and began to gather itself into a single mass.

Just as it started forming a new shape, Hugo, the knight commander, raised his voice.

“What are you all standing around for? Set it on fire!”

His shout snapped a nearby female mage out of her daze. With a snap of her fingers, a small spark ignited, instantly transforming into a whip of blue flames that coiled around the black liquid.

Two more mages followed suit, unleashing their own spells.

Each spell was different in form, but all used fire magic.

The black mass, which had begun rising in the shape of a giant, melted back down under the assault of the flames.

Kiiiiiiek… Kiirrrrk…

With a sickening noise and a foul stench, the entity burned away.

The knights let out sighs of relief.

Since the fire had been conjured with magic, it did not spread beyond its target, nor did it extinguish.

As the last of the liquid burned, its color shifted from black to an unsettling shade of red.

Van briefly broke contact with Eleanor and opened the carriage door.

A fist-sized chunk of black matter, caught in the swirling wind, was flung directly into the flames.

As soon as it touched the fire, it let out another disturbing screech before being completely consumed.

“…Is it over now?”

Someone asked, exhaustion evident in their voice.

Hugo turned to his knights, ordering them to assess the wounded and report any casualties.

“Are the two of you all right?”

Hugo asked, looking toward the carriage.

Van glanced at Eleanor.

She was still nestled in his arms. Though she had been startled, she wasn’t hurt, so he assumed she was fine.

“I’m all right,” she replied.

Van, reassured, pulled Eleanor closer once more before looking back at Hugo.

Eleanor seemed flustered, likely because they were in front of others, but Van had his reasons.

It had been dangerous.

And the enemy had undoubtedly been targeting Eleanor.

“If the same kind of attack happens again in a town or city, the guards won’t be able to handle it.”

Hugo agreed.

The key to surviving that assault had been the presence of mages.

Small towns and villages had almost no such individuals.

“We’ll press forward as quickly as possible,” Hugo said.

“If any of the wounded can’t keep up, have them ride in a carriage and send them to a nearby village,” Van instructed.

Hugo nodded in agreement.

Van had made the offer, but he was fairly certain that none of his knights had sustained serious injuries in the attack.

If there were, Hugo would report it.

Soon, one of the mages stepped forward and repaired the damage to the carriage.

With that done, the convoy resumed its swift journey toward the capital.

*

Thud!

Carlyle hurled the crystal orb across the room.

He had just witnessed Van and Eleanor’s kiss through the orb, and the sight had been unbearable.

He had known Eleanor would guide Van—but knowing was different from seeing.

He, of all people, had never once kissed Eleanor.

An unfamiliar, seething rage overtook him, a fury so intense that he felt the urge to destroy everything around him.

This should never have happened.

Eleanor was his guide.

Even if he had chosen another woman as his official guide, Eleanor still should have belonged to him.

“Get out.”

Carlyle ground his teeth as he spat out the words.

The mages, who had been anxiously watching him, hesitated for a brief moment before slowly inching toward the door.

The grand mage, standing closest to him, tried to speak—

“I SAID NOW!!!”

Carlyle’s wrath made the very air in the room tremble.

Terrified, the grand mage didn’t dare utter another word and bolted from the room, the others quickly following suit.

Only one person remained—his longtime attendant, Lance.

“Your Highness, please control yourself. You must not use your power…”

The elderly servant knelt before him, pleading.

Carlyle’s fury had already begun to manifest—objects in the room groaned under pressure, cracks forming as if they might shatter at any moment.

Clenching his jaw, Carlyle tried to push the scene from his mind.

But the thought refused to leave him.

Eleanor was his.

She had no right to act that way with another man.

Yes, he had done things to her—things she might resent—but that was because she had failed to trust him!

Carlyle had no regrets about keeping Eleanor as his fiancée while planning to make Charlotte his empress.

After all, he had become emperor.

And an emperor was meant to have many women.

Emperor Dael might have been foolish enough to keep only his guide as his wife, but Carlyle saw that as weakness.

“A man like me was never meant for just one woman. You should have accepted that.”

But Eleanor… Eleanor had betrayed him.

Carlyle had been emperor once, and he would be emperor again.

No woman—especially not his woman—was permitted to stray from him.

Yes, guides in the past had been allowed to take multiple royal spouses to preserve the royal bloodline.

But that was the past.

Carlyle had no intention of permitting such an arrangement.

He might take multiple guides if necessary—but he would never allow the same for them.

His thoughts turned to revenge, and the crushing force pressing down on the room slowly receded.

The game wasn’t over.

He had already broken Van before. He had already captured him once.

“I need a new plan.”

The same methods wouldn’t work anymore—his intentions had already been laid bare.

Now, only riskier options remained.

*

Inside the carriage speeding forward without hesitation, Eleanor was checking Van’s condition. Having used his abilities extensively, a considerable amount of corruption had accumulated in a short time.

Eleanor understood why he had to use his powers while being guided. He had never properly wielded his abilities before, so he couldn’t gauge his limits.

If he wasn’t careful, the corruption could become severe enough to kill him. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrifying that must be.

In the original story, this was why neither Carlyle nor Van used their powers freely. Most of the abilities Van used while escaping with Eleanor in the novel were related to physical enhancement. He had rarely ever used wind-based abilities like he was now. It was clear that this particular power of his accumulated corruption the fastest.

And sure enough, despite receiving Eleanor’s guidance while using his abilities, the corruption had advanced significantly.

‘It’s a relief that I guided him with all my strength last night.’

As planned, it seemed best to continue guiding him inside the carriage. There were still several hours left before they reached the gate where the teleportation magic circle was installed, making it all the more necessary.

But deep inside, she couldn’t shake the thought that she had become somewhat pathetic.

When she first guided him in prison, it was purely out of a desire for revenge. She had only offered the bare minimum—a touch at her fingertips—and had no intention of doing more.

Even after entering the secret passage, she had guided him again, but holding hands wasn’t all that different from before in terms of sensation.

However, after spending the night with him, engraving the mark, and now guiding him again after the recent battle, she couldn’t help but feel like a mere tool.

At this rate, how was this any different from when she was Carlyle’s fiancée?

A wave of fear washed over her.

Even so, Eleanor’s expression remained calm, as if unaffected.

She kept reminding herself that this was something she had already resolved to do. After all, she had begun to feel drawn to Van, and he was showing emotions that went beyond mere affection.

So, this wasn’t something to think of as a bad thing. It was necessary.

“Eleanor.”

Van, lost in thought, reached out and grabbed her hand as she moved to remove her clothes. Though they had been ambushed not long ago, another attack wouldn’t come immediately. Their enemies also needed time to regroup.

Van and Hugo, the commander of the ducal knights, had predicted a couple of likely ambush points. The next one was far enough away that they wouldn’t reach it until tomorrow afternoon.

There was no need to rush.

Van figured she was worried that she could only guide him in small amounts at a time.

But he didn’t want her to feel obligated to throw herself into his arms.

After all, this wasn’t just any act—it was an act of love.

Of course, Van enjoyed receiving Eleanor’s guidance.

But more than that, he didn’t want her to be hurt.

“…Would it be possible to just have sex, without the guiding?”

Eleanor, who had mentally prepared herself, was momentarily convinced she had misheard him.

“What…? What are you even saying right now? You know what kind of situation we’re in.”

Carlyle had kept an enormous order of mages hidden from the emperor. In his previous life, Van had only discovered this fact too late and had fought numerous battles against them before finally crushing their forces.

But his own forces had suffered great losses as well. In the final battle, most of his knights had perished, and he himself had been captured.

Right now, Carlyle’s power was still growing. No one knew exactly how much he had absorbed, but their current situation was undoubtedly even more dangerous.

Van knew, rationally, that the right thing to do was to receive Eleanor’s guidance.

But still, he wanted this.

He would just push himself a little harder. That was better than hurting Eleanor’s heart.

He was already used to pushing his body beyond its limits—he had done it countless times in his previous life.

This much… he could endure.

“I know,” Van said, his voice steady. “But I don’t want our relationship to feel like an obligation. More than receiving your guidance, I want to touch you. I want to feel you.”