Saving You, Villain - Chapter 87

The first time Camian turned back time and brought her back to life, he was overwhelmed with indescribable joy, and hot tears poured down his face. He embraced her small, fragile body with all his strength. He didn’t regret even for a moment the hundred years in which his body and magical powers had been exploited by the Demon King—his mother—and the gods of the Celestial Realm.

How could Camian revive Liv? To understand, we need to go back to the moment when Liv first died. Not only did Camian destroy the Middle Realm, but he also went so far as to kill his mother, the Demon Queen, who had come to stop him, and his father. It wasn’t until he saw his father’s red blood gush like a fountain on a summer day that the weight of his actions hit him.

No matter how much he raged in fury, Liv wasn’t coming back. But then, miraculously, a chance was given. The interests of the Celestial Realm, which needed to maintain the order of the Middle Realm, aligned with the desires of the Demon Realm, which wanted to bring its dead ruler back to life.

The Demon Queen, Celiana, made an offer to Camian.

“I’ll give you the chance to bring your woman back to life. Will you do as I say?”

“I’ll do anything. Anything!”

“I will use your body and magic to turn back time. If you obediently become the material, you’ll be able to get what you want.”

The Demon Queen saw her son, Camian, as nothing more than a tool. She watched dispassionately as his body was torn apart, piece by piece. The world devoured every part of Camian. It separated his body and drained the magic within him to twist time itself. After enduring a hundred years of agony, Camian was finally able to return to the time when he first met Liv.

However, there was an unexpected problem. During the hundred years that Camian was reversing time, Liv had reincarnated in another world—and worse, she returned with her memories intact. Unable to adjust to this world and suffering from her illness, she took her own life within a month.

Desperate, Camian destroyed the Middle Realm and killed his father in hopes of another chance to turn back time. Once again, the gods and Celiana had no choice but to use him as the material to turn back time. After enduring another century of his body and magic being torn apart, Camian successfully returned to the past once more.

During his second attempt, rather than reveling in the joy of reuniting with Liv, he focused on extending her fragile life. He needed to bind his soul to Liv’s by drinking her blood, ensuring that when her life force ran out, she could draw from his. But such a bond between master and servant wasn’t something that could happen overnight. It would take time for their souls to fully connect, and by the time Liv’s life force began to fade, the bond would just barely be completed.

Yet, before the soul bond could be established, Liv took her own life again. This time, instead of jumping from the top of the academy, she repeatedly slashed her wrists until she left Camian’s side once more. Camian, devastated, buried her mangled body with his own hands and placed a single white lily on her grave.

His blood-soaked shoes stood before the gravestone. The withered chrysanthemum scattered in the gentle breeze.

This was Liv’s third grave. In her third reincarnation, Liv lasted seven years. Though she carried a deep depression like a shadow, she no longer attempted suicide constantly as she had before. This was because Camian had given her a false sense of purpose. Unaware that she had reincarnated and thinking she had merely been transported to another dimension, Liv was led to believe there was a way to return to her original world.

Camian planted fake books about dimension travel in various libraries, and when Liv asked about it, he would vaguely reply, “There were wizards who claimed to have traveled between dimensions, though no one ever believed them,” giving her hope.

Watching Liv brighten day by day, Camian felt a deep sense of relief. He believed he could finally lift the shadow of death that loomed over her. But it was all an illusion.

The day after he, feeling relaxed, confessed his feelings to her, Liv greeted him coldly from her bed, her body lifeless. Empty medicine bottles lay scattered on the floor. The sight of her pale, lifeless face shattered Camian’s heart. He wept uncontrollably, caressing her cold cheeks. Ah, it’s no use. I can never stay by Liv’s side, not in life, and not even in death.

He had turned back time three times, and all three times, he had failed to save her.

“Sigh…”

An endless wave of self-loathing swept over him. Every time he saw Liv’s pale corpse, the emotions that had kept Camian going—his pride, his desire, his obsession—slowly faded away. But his love for her remained unchanged. The flame that had once sparked had only grown bigger. Camian didn’t know how to stop loving Liv. It was beyond his control. Even if he died a thousand deaths and was reborn a thousand times, this feeling would never fade.

Camian couldn’t erase Liv from his life. He could endure his body being torn apart again and again, but he couldn’t bear to see her take her own life again.

The path Camian chose was death. He believed that after endless cycles of reincarnation, he would eventually meet her again. He prepared to end his life, thrusting his hand into his chest. With a sickening sound, he pierced through his skin and bones, clutching his heart as it beat fiercely. But at that moment, his body began to break apart, piece by piece. With bloodshot eyes, Camian stared desperately at the wooden ceiling. It was then that he heard someone shouting. It was his mother, Celiana.

“Stop! What are you doing?! Stop it!!”

Celiana knew exactly what was happening to Camian’s body. Time was reversing.

“I didn’t kill anyone, so why?!”

Celiana, who had never shown an ounce of affection for her son, didn’t feel pity for his choice of death—she lamented the loss of his power. Though she found it pathetic that he would throw away his life for love, it was more advantageous for the Demon Realm to keep his power intact rather than let it disappear in vain. After all, even the Celestial beings feared Camian and wouldn’t dare invade the Demon Realm because of him.

Taking advantage of the moment when Camian’s body was weakened, Celiana quickly dismantled his body and redistributed his power to the world. After a hundred years of work, Camian was once again sent back to the past.

But this time, the past was different from the previous ones. The god, the only being capable of crossing dimensions, could no longer stand by and watch as time continued to repeat itself in the Middle Realm, so they decided to intervene.

“Listen well, you pitiful, foolish son of the Demon Realm.”

“……”

Camian, whose jaw was shattered, could only glare fiercely into the void, unable to utter a single word.

“This is the first and last chance we are giving you. Just as stagnant water rots when its flow is blocked, so too does time. The world, which has had its time stolen by you for too long, will twist to restore the flow. When that happens, a human who was a newborn yesterday might turn into an elderly person on the brink of death within half a day. We have a duty to prevent such chaos in the world.”

“…”

“Judging by your eyes, you’re as good as dead already. Even if you don’t achieve what you desire, it seems unlikely you’ll try to turn back time again. However, if the person you’re trying to save dies this time, the Demon Queen will intervene, and we will destroy her immediately.”

If he could, Camian would have loved to punch these gods, who were spouting nonsense, straight in the face. But his body was disintegrating, and several parts were already gone, leaving him unable to act on his rage.

“No matter how weak the Demon Queen may be compared to you, she’s still a Demon Queen. Many celestials will have to bleed for it. After long consideration, we decided to help you. Rejoice.”

Idiots. If only his tongue worked, he would have said just that.

The gods, basking in their own sense of mercy and power, continued speaking. Their plan was being engraved in Camian’s mind bit by bit. The more they repeated the phrase “last chance,” the more Camian’s rebellious resolve began to waver.

He didn’t want it, but time was going to be reversed anyway. This was the last opportunity to see Liv alive again. Yes, the last. There was no point in being consumed by anger right now. The chance had been forced upon him, but it was still a chance.

This time, he would succeed.

The gods helped Liv adjust to her pre-reincarnation world by placing a novel in her hands—a story set in the world she had lived in before. They crafted the plot and assigned characters tailored to Liv’s tastes, ensuring she would become deeply absorbed in it. Liv fell for the story just as the gods had intended, though the gods, who resented Camian, subtly influenced the story to make her detest him.

The reincarnated Liv believed she had been inserted into a novel. Although she was confused, just as she had been during previous lives, she wasn’t in such despair that she immediately sought death. The world wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her; she had read about it countless times in her mind.

Camian, aware that this was his final chance, didn’t sit idly by. He used his past experiences to prevent Liv from being consumed by depression.

“If only I could enter the novel, I would stop Camian from becoming corrupted, no matter what.”

Camian manipulated her dreams, planting a sense of purpose. He made Liv believe that if she didn’t die, Camian wouldn’t fall into darkness and that she could return to her original world.

In contrast to his previous reincarnations, where he treated humans as less than insects, Camian realized Liv needed a supportive environment and people to connect with. In earlier lives, Camian’s focus had been solely on Liv, ignoring everyone else. But now, Liv needed a warm household and people to rely on. If Debra and Jax were trembling in fear of him, how could Liv ever feel comfortable?

Camian worked to change his indifferent personality, pretending to be a kind and compassionate human. The strategy worked perfectly. Liv approached him more easily than ever before, showing him smiles and even occasionally teasing him. The joy Camian felt was so overwhelming that it scared him.

He feared that, like in the previous life, Liv would suddenly leave him the day after he confessed his feelings. The mere thought of it filled him with terror. It was as if the fear was choking him, making him feel as though he might suffocate.

“Camian, are you sick?”

Her large eyes, filled with concern, gazed up at him lovingly. At that moment, all his anxiety vanished like a mist. Camian felt a surge of uncontrollable emotion.

“Ugh! I can’t breathe! What’s wrong with me? Why am I acting like this?”

He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Liv to death again. Never. She belonged to him.

***

As soon as Liv reached adulthood by human standards, Camian sank his fangs into her neck and increased the amount of blood he drank. Though the process was slow, he could feel his soul becoming more tightly bound to hers.

As long as things kept progressing this way, everything would be fine.

But then, an unexpected problem arose—something he hadn’t anticipated. Liv, in her own way of trying to prevent Camian from falling into madness, had chosen to make him stop loving her.

She had been repeating, “I don’t like you,” for several days now… so that’s what it was all about. Camian couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh at the absurdity of it.

“Does she really think that’s possible?”