When the Villains Unite - Chapter 15: Trace (5)

It was late, but a tea break seemed like the best way to loosen the oppressive mood.

Moments after I gave my instructions, the maids quickly entered, setting up the table with practiced efficiency before leaving just as silently.

Now seated together, the three of us faced each other. But as we sat in silence, I found myself unsure of how to begin. My hands idly tapped against the teacup in front of me, earning their watchful gazes before I finally spoke.

“As you probably expected, I wanted to talk about… that incident.”

“……”

I knew why they had hidden the Count from me, and I also understood how absurd their reasons were.

But I wasn’t angry. I had no reason to be disappointed in them. When I chose to stand by their side, I had already accepted that the simple, unconditional sense of goodness I had once clung to would inevitably be shaken.

This wasn’t about morality—it was about trust.

If I started to believe they no longer trusted me, then our relationship would only continue to falter like this, over and over again.

“I thought the plan had completely fallen apart, but it turns out it was still going on—just out of my sight, wasn’t it?”

“That’s…”

“I know,” I interrupted before they could respond. “I know you probably thought there was no point in telling me. That I wouldn’t have been of any help even if I had known.”

Keeping the Count imprisoned and torturing him—that much, I had known was part of the plan. The issue wasn’t the act itself but the fact that, for three years, I had been completely excluded from it, left in the dark while they carried it out.

Even if they had told me the truth back then, three years ago, I doubt I would have stopped them.

At that time, I was consumed with my own hatred for the Count. And on top of that, I had still clung to the faint hope that I might one day return to my original world. With that mindset, I had distanced myself from anything related to the Orca household, believing it was their responsibility to handle such matters, not mine.

I hadn’t bothered to involve myself—so how could I blame them now?

As I reflected on my own naivety, a self-deprecating smile crept onto my face. The Orca brothers remained silent, their expressions unreadable.

“Belhark. Damian,” I said softly.

“……”

“Did you enjoy leaving me in ignorance all this time? Watching me trapped in my little fantasy, thinking everything was fine—was that easier for you?”

The sharpness of my words seemed to catch them off guard, and for a moment, I wondered if I had gone too far.

But something about their reactions struck me as odd. When I said the word ‘fantasy,’ both of their gazes grew noticeably sharper. Their reactions weren’t what I had intended, but I couldn’t deny that their refusal to express themselves properly still bothered me.

I sighed heavily in front of them, breaking the tense silence.

“But there’s no need for that anymore.”

“…What do you mean?” Belhark asked, his tone low and wary.

“Exactly what I said,” I replied. “And… I’m sorry. For everything.”

I was fully aware of how much the Orca brothers had gone out of their way to shield me, to accommodate me, over the years. But that one-sided protection was something I could no longer accept.

“I know it’s ridiculous to say this now, but… I can’t—”

“Wait.”

Damian, who had been silently listening until now, suddenly raised his hand and interrupted me, his expression dark and unreadable. Without hesitation, he stood up from his chair.

“Can you take responsibility for what you just said?”

“…What?”

“How could you come to that conclusion? Fine. You must be sick of it—so sick of even looking at us that you can’t take it anymore, right?”

Wait—what was he talking about?

“No, you’re misunderstanding—”

“How easy is it for you, huh? What do you think of me, for it to be that easy to—”

What is he going on about?

Before I could correct him, Damian strode toward the window, his long legs covering the distance in seconds.

Wait—why the window?!

I shot to my feet, panicking as Damian abruptly threw the window open with rough hands. My movement accidentally knocked over the teacup on the table, sending it crashing to the floor.

“Damian, stop—!”

Before I could grab him, Damian leaned forward and threw himself out of the window.

“Damian!”

The falling teacup and its contents were halted mid-air by Belhark’s magic, suspended in place. But at that moment, I couldn’t care less about a shattered cup.

I bolted to the window and looked down, my breath caught in my throat.

There was no sign of him.

This was the third floor. Should I be relieved that I couldn’t see him below? At least that meant he wasn’t lying there, lifeless. He must have landed safely… somehow.

I collapsed by the windowsill, gripping its edge as I tried to steady my racing heart.

Behind me, a cold voice cut through the room like a blade.

“Rose, this time, you were reckless. There were so many other ways you could have handled this—why did it have to be like this?”

“Belhark,” I snapped, still staring out the window.

“……”

“Do you think telling Damian not to keep secrets anymore could really hurt him that much?”

Was it so unbearable to hear that he’d rather run away?

I spoke in a tone laced with disbelief, my eyes fixed on the empty space outside. When I turned back to face Belhark, he looked caught off guard, almost stunned.

Then, he quickly approached me. He bent down, lifting me to my feet, and placed his hands firmly on my shoulders, locking eyes with me.

“…Then explain this. Why have you been avoiding us all this time?” he asked, his voice steady but charged with frustration.

“Explaining will take a while,” I replied, gripping his hands tightly with my own, my voice trembling. “But I can tell you one thing—it’s not what Damian thinks. That’s why I wanted to talk about it today, but…”

“……”

“You’re not going to run away too, are you?” I asked, my voice heavy with desperation. If Belhark left me now, I wouldn’t know what to do.

For a moment, he looked at me, his expression softening. Then he pulled me into his arms, resting his head against my shoulder.

His hunched posture looked awkward and uncomfortable, but he didn’t move.

“Don’t move,” he murmured.

“……”

“I’ll listen to everything. Just… let me stay like this for a little while.”

We stayed in that embrace for a long time. The thought of Damian’s sudden escape gnawed at my mind, but the steady rhythm of Belhark’s heartbeat against me somehow kept me grounded.

After Damian had fled, Belhark and I spent over two hours talking. The entire time, we held hands tightly, as though letting go would shatter the fragile calm we had managed to find.

Perhaps it was the shock of Damian leaping out the window that made physical contact feel like the only thing keeping us tethered. It seemed Belhark felt the same way.

“I don’t blame you for sending the Count away,” Belhark said at one point. “Everything we did to him… it was because we couldn’t forget what he did to you.”

“And the practice sword…?”

“That was the Count himself… trying to end it. Sorry. It’s not something you really need to hear.”

So, that wound hadn’t been Damian’s doing.

According to Belhark, the Count had attempted to take his own life during the torture. In his desperation, he had grabbed the broken, blunted practice sword and stabbed himself.

How dire must his circumstances have been for him to use a shattered blade to try and escape through death?

“I thought you and Damian were carrying out an eight-year-long revenge,” I murmured.

“……”

“And I assumed you were both still trapped in that past, unable to move on…”

“I won’t say that those days left no scars on me,” Belhark admitted. “But because you were there, they weren’t entirely filled with misery. If the Count hadn’t tried to harm you, if he’d kept his hands to himself, we might’ve shown him mercy and sent him to another continent. But he dared to covet what he should never have touched, and he got what he deserved.”

Right. A rapist deserves nothing less than death.

Belhark met my gaze with an unwavering intensity as he spoke. Then, lowering his eyes, he intertwined our fingers and squeezed them tightly before releasing the pressure, only to repeat the motion a few times.

Curious, I tilted my head and looked down at our hands. When I glanced back up at him, I caught a flicker of hesitation in his expression, but it quickly passed as he spoke again.

“Honestly… if there were anyone who tried to harm you now, I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t do it all over again.”

“……”

“So don’t look away. Keep your eyes on us—just us. If anyone else so much as dares to misinterpret your gaze as hope, I’ll want to kill them all.”

He wasn’t even attempting to hide his emotions anymore.

Belhark’s possessive gaze locked onto mine, and for a moment, it felt like invisible chains were wrapping around me, binding me in place.

I gently pulled my hand free from Belhark’s grip and brought it to his face. Tracing my fingers along his cracked, chapped lips, I wondered what he had been doing during these two weeks to leave them in such a state.

Without much thought, my finger instinctively slid along the cracks, as if searching for some hidden wellspring. Slowly, it found its way into his mouth.

“See? It’s always been like this.”

“……”

Belhark’s gaze lingered on me for a moment before his eyes fluttered shut. He began to savor the movement of my finger against his tongue, his reaction as unflinching as ever.

“Damian told me he wanted to lock me up,” I said, my voice calm but teasing. “Compared to that, this is tame.”

His brows knitted together, and a flash of irritation passed over his face. His lips, now glistening and restored to their natural reddish hue, parted as he scowled.

Grabbing my wrist with his large hand, he lightly bit down on my finger, his eyes narrowing.

“When did he say that to you?”

“Last night, when he came home drunk. He wasn’t in his right mind, so don’t look so angry.”

“Hah… At the very least, he should’ve told me.”

“He fell asleep right after. Anyway, don’t bring it up with him—I’ll handle it.”

Belhark gave me a skeptical look, the doubt written plainly across his face making me chuckle.

That expression—it had been two weeks since I’d last seen it.

For the past two weeks, it had felt like I was stuck in the calm eye of a storm, while the Orca brothers were being battered by the raging winds around them. The guilt of leaving them to face that alone had weighed heavily on me.

He had clearly been worn down by his own worries; he looked leaner than before, his face more gaunt.

I withdrew my hand from his lips and leaned in, pressing a soft, fleeting kiss against them.

Belhark’s expression shifted instantly, his features softening as I brushed my fingers across his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“If things get out of hand, I’ll call for you.”

“Do you need anything now?”

“Prepare a carriage for me to visit the palace tomorrow. It seems like Damian won’t come home unless I go to him first,” I said firmly.

“I’ll go pick him up—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted.

Why are the Orca brothers always so insistent on fetching me themselves?

At my resolute refusal, Belhark frowned slightly and countered by saying he’d assign a knight to escort me instead. His tone left no room for argument, his unwavering stance making it clear that he wouldn’t back down on this point.

Left with no choice, I pressed my lips together in silent resignation.