Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 43: The Confrontation

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Confrontation

"Camella," a voice called out to her. She looked up to find a black-haired young man with wine-red eyes standing beside her table.

She promptly ignored him and continued with her meal.

"Mella," he said again, and she felt someone grab her wrist. She didn’t need to look up to know who it was. She simply placed her fork down and spoke with deadly calm.

"Don’t touch me." Ver voice was extremely cold, the first time since Auston knew her, that she had spoken this way.

The next instant, her hand turned so cold that the young man felt like he was literally holding ice.

"Not until you listen to what I have to say," Auston spoke with firm resolve.

She finally looked him in the eyes. "Let go, Auston." Her words were deliberate, each syllable sharp as a blade.

"No," he said, his wine-red eyes glowing slightly as his ether encased his hands, turning them red-hot to counter her now-crippling ice-cold grip.

"Who do you even think you are?" she asked, standing up. The temperature around her dropped several degrees as her irritation reached its peak.

The loss of Azalea hurt her more than she had ever thought possible.

Now, thinking back to the time she’d still had with him, she realized he had never really been... happy. During those moments when she could ’politely’ make him accompany her on dates—supposedly disguises to catch some nonexistent stalker—she would notice how he often drifted off into his own thoughts. In those moments, he would look so utterly lonely that it was painful to witness.

As they’d shared more time together, she’d found herself growing increasingly attached to the young man. At first, she hadn’t understood what was wrong with her. But seeing him constantly following Isabella around, acting like a complete simp, had annoyed her so much it always ruined her mood. With time, she’d realized it was because she herself, while trying to understand who he truly was, had unintentionally fallen for that crybaby without even knowing it.

She hadn’t believed it at first. She’d even stayed away from him for a while to see if it was just a phase, but the feelings never left. Her heart would race whenever he looked at her, and her anger would boil when he acted like a lovesick fool toward her friend—who didn’t even like him back.

He had been weak, constantly mocked and ridiculed. In fact, he was barely even acknowledged by the childhood friend he was so obsessed with. To this moment, she regretted not taking matters into her own hands and making him hers. She could have made him fall for her. Maybe, with time, he would have forgotten Isabella. He could have shared her feelings. Maybe, just maybe, none of this would have happened. He wouldn’t have disappeared and been presumed dead.

He had been essentially a baby—a big baby. Whenever things overwhelmed him and he became emotional, the tears would come. He’d never had the decency to control himself. Before she’d fallen for him, she’d been as irritated by that trait as Isabella’s other friends were. They’d found his behavior nauseating and unbecoming of a man. He was weak—yes, he was smart, but he was weak. So weak, in fact, that she could literally beat him senseless without using a spark of ether.

But after that day, after that clumsy attempt at saving her, she’d become interested in him. And that interest had turned into...

Love.

She loved him. She’d tried so hard to deny it, but she couldn’t. She truly loved that idiot. That crybaby. Her crybaby.

It hurt so much to know he was gone, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t forget him. She couldn’t forgive any of them, either. After all, she’d always known they’d never really cared about him—not even Auston, for all his supposed saintliness, had ever liked Azalea. Perhaps it was because the young man had always been close to Isabella, and maybe that had irritated him.

Azalea had never joined them for lunch, no matter how much he’d liked being close to Isabella. He’d always stayed away from their group, and even when she’d tried to force him, he’d never budged. He’d always seemed to intentionally avoid... Auston.

Back then, she’d thought he was intimidated by Auston, but with time, she’d developed a feeling there was something more to it. After all, he’d always been a box of mysteries.

"I am your friend," Auston said, as though the very words gave him some sort of authority over her.

"That, you are not. Now let go," she replied coldly. At this point, they were already making a scene, but neither of them seemed to care.

"Why are you acting this way? Please, let’s just talk," he said, sounding genuinely hurt, but it had no effect on her.

"Let. Go. Auston," she repeated, each word falling like ice.

"Is it because of that traitor Azalea?"

At this, she trembled slightly, and he sensed something was very wrong.

She didn’t respond.

"He attacked me, Mella. Why are you acting like he’s the victim here?" Auston asked, looking genuinely annoyed and frustrated.

Silence stretched between them.

"Mella," he said again, but she remained quiet. Her hands had already returned to normal temperature, but her hair now obscured her eyes as she looked down.

"Mella, come on, listen to—" He was about to grab her shoulder when another hand seized his wrist.

"That’s enough, bug," came a new voice.

Auston frowned in annoyance. "Well, if it isn’t Mr. I-Can’t-Mind-My-Own-Business," he said, looking at Aden with obvious disdain.

"Let go of her," Aden said calmly.

"Nah, I don’t think so," Auston replied. Suddenly, he manifested a sword in his free hand.

Aden scoffed, and his spear materialized in response. "Fine, then we do it the hard way."

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A/N- Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation! Also, if you have enjoyed the story so far perhaps you can try dropping a review, the author would appreciate that, thanks!

Villain, out!