Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 62: Failed Missions

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Failed Missions

"You can rest easy, she’s stable now. Just make sure she doesn’t do... whatever it is she was attempting that caused the problem," said a woman dressed in a black-violet gown with a white coat over it. A symbol at the top of her left pocket displayed her role in the infirmary.

"I will, thank you," the young man replied to the healer, who simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"You should head back to your dorm. You have only a few minutes left to be here. You would be penalized if you stay any later than this—you’ve already missed roll call," she warned. But the young man said nothing, his grip on the unconscious girl’s hand tightening slightly.

She sighed, shaking her head at how affectionate the boy was toward the girl. Youthful exuberance, she thought to herself.

She then left them alone.

"We failed again," the young man said, his voice heavy with resignation.

This wasn’t the first time they had failed on a planned mission. The first failure had been during their final exam in second year—a mission that was supposed to prove their capabilities. A student named Azalea, who was oddly proficient in Runes, had been brought in by Vena to help with the plan. Azalea wasn’t a new face to him, though. After all, who wasn’t aware of the simp who always followed Isabelle around?

But that day when he appeared before them, he looked different from how he always appeared in class. Cold and calculating, his presence was unsettling. His gut told him not to trust the young man, but Vena for the first time since he knew her actually sounded confident about someone. She said she trusted him completely. And that had annoyed him back then—he didn’t like the fact that she had gotten so close to the young man that she actually TRUSTED him. But he didn’t let his emotions dictate his decisions, so he accepted Azalea into their group.

And the young man delivered. At the peak of the mission, the barrier placed by the dean mysteriously broke and monsters invaded the academy grounds. While the staff and authorities were scrambling to contain the chaotic situation, they were able to sneak into the vault of the academy to steal a certain relic they had been tasked to retrieve.

But then something unexpected happened. Some strange psycho intercepted them and stole the relic right from under their noses! He was angered beyond all bounds that day, watching their careful planning crumble in an instant. But luckily, the authorities didn’t notice anything suspicious about their presence, and with a splash of luck, Azalea became a scapegoat for the barrier’s failure.

He wouldn’t lie—some part of him was satisfied with what happened to Azalea. But that didn’t change the fact that they had failed their mission. At that point, his superiors were getting impatient with his lack of results, and he had to do something to prove his worth. And something he did.

With some luck, his group discovered that the necklace a crippled girl called Natalia occasionally carried around was actually the Eyes of Urobus—a relic connected to a certain demonic creature his superiors were trying to revive for reasons unknown to him. So he tried to retrieve it as compensation for his previous failure.

The moment the lady working at the restaurant confirmed that the young girl was in possession of the relic, they had swept into action with renewed determination. But once again, they failed. However, this time it was worse—a member of his team was affected and now lay unconscious before him.

"Please, wake up," he whispered with a small, pained smile, his thumb gently stroking her knuckles.

...

...

"Something definitely happened to him," Maria muttered as she paced around her dorm room, sighing in frustration and pure annoyance. Though he looked different—like completely different from what he used to be—she could sense it through the bond they shared. That young man with silver hair and violet eyes was definitely Azalea. But something had happened to him, something that had changed him fundamentally.

"Ugh," she groaned in frustration, running her hands through her hair. She recalled the sight of him hugging that crippled girl she always saw with Austin’s sister. A sight that enraged her beyond what words could explain. Azalea was supposed to hug only her and her alone. His arms belonged around her, not some random girl.

’I have to make him remember somehow...,’ she thought desperately as she walked toward her wardrobe. In a secret slot, she brought out a photo they had both taken that time they snuck out of the Academy and went to Albion to kill a certain nobleman Az had said would be an ’annoying variable’ in the future.

But before they did the job, they had gone on a date—a perfect evening that ended with a lot of blood and a lot of fluids, one being his fluids filling her. The memory of that night still made her heart race and her body ache with longing.

"Az... you bastard... you can’t just change like this and leave me behind. I won’t let you," she whispered fiercely, hugging the photo tightly to her chest before collapsing onto her bed.

...

...

"Anna?" Austin said, looking up from the food she had cooked for them.

"...Huh?" She looked at him with distant eyes, as if she had been somewhere else entirely.

"Your food," he gestured toward her untouched plate. She looked down and realized she had been playing with her meal the entire time, not taking a single bite.

"Ahh... I got lost in thought for a bit," she said, giving him a resigned smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

"Clearly," he said gently. "What’s wrong?" he asked, and she sighed deeply.

"It’s nothing," she said, but her voice lacked conviction.

"You know it’s not nothing," he replied softly, and she just fell silent, unable to meet his concerned gaze.

She truly didn’t know why she was feeling this way. Did she love Austin? Yes, she clearly did... or rather, hoped she still did. He was kind, protective, everything she could want in a partner. So why was that scene of Azalea hugging that girl disturbing her so much? Why did it feel like a betrayal when she had no claim on him whatsoever?

Perhaps it was because of what both Vivian and she had gone through in that Legacy world.

’Sighs,’

She sighed, there was something she wanted.

But she was yet to find out what it was.