I Became Close to the Villain - Chapter 23-1

TL/N: I give up trying to match the chapter version with the volume version. I’ll just use the volume version now.

It was the evening when I woke up again. I could see that it was raining heavily through the small window.

It was dark inside, so I grabbed a candlestick and a match to light it.

It was a good thing I told Liliel some of my plans in the morning. At least she’s not surprised right now. I wonder how she handled the day.

What about Marquess Lahrat? I thought Idris said a few things that would make her feel bad, but she wasn’t too shocked, right? I was worried about a lot of things.

“The day is long…”

I took a deep breath and got up from the bed.  I wandered around a bit and take a look around the room.

The room was so spacious and luxurious, it was fun to look around.

‘Idris, even though he’s the villain, he’s thriving.’

As I was walking and thinking about various things, I saw a large fish tank in the corner.

It was a rectangular glass tank that was long enough to occupy one part of the wall and was quite high.

“Is there magic in it?”

Even though there was no device, water bubbles were coming up from the corner. It looked like an expensive fish tank.

“Huh?”

There was a fish inside. I brought the candle holder to take a closer look.

It was a beautiful, elongated fish that had a white body. Its sky blue tail was very pretty.

 It was about the size of my palm. Giving this whole big tank to the little fish, it must be a rare species.

“Hi?”

It couldn’t answer me, but I tried to talk.

The fish swam towards me as if it had seen me.

“Hi.”

Then, it replied.

“Crazy.”

I was startled and took a step back.

“This b-“

Without realizing it, I almost used profanity.

“Crazy?”

The fish tilted its body.

W-what kind of fish could talk?!

“No, it’s a fish. It didn’t say that.”

I tried to calm down and said that.

The fish moved up and down, as if it was  nodding.

“My name is Siezion.”

“Uh, I see.”

“I can speak when I become a fish.”

“That means you can transform…?”

“Of course. Of course.”

The fish got up from the tank. The water splashes, so I turned my head for a while, and then looked at the fish again.

Suddenly, there was a white cat in front of me.

I’ve stopped trying to understand this with common sense.

“Meow.”

 ‘……Cute. Oh, I shouldn’t be fooled by its cuteness. You know what it is…… but it’s cute.’

“Meow.”

A cat ran between my legs and rubbed its body.

‘Ah. It’s cute!’

“Kitty, do you like me? Your name is Siezion, right?”

I lost.

I put down my candlestick and held the cat carefully. A bunch of fluffy and soft fur was now in my arms.

Then I heard someone’s voice.

“Vianne, what are you doing?”

Startled, I turned around.

Idris opened the door and was just entering the room.

‘He changed his clothes.’

It was the first time I saw him wear something different.

“Oh, I’m taking a look at your fish.”

I said awkwardly. Seems like Idris didn’t understand me.

“That’s not a fish.”

“Yes, it has changed into a cat. But what is it?”

“A creature for maintaining the barrier that protects the entire island.”

It was an unexpected answer.

“…….”

I stayed rooted to the spot.

I felt like I heard something I shouldn’t have heard here.

I had to ponder over his words one more time.

“So, there’s a barrier on the island, and the centre of that power is this fish, right?”

“… Vianne, I thought you knew it.”

It looks like I repeated his words very accurately.

I need to get used to the strange things here from now on.

I merely smiled.

“Even the animals here…”

“Vianne?”

“There is a legend since the beginning that it was a fish that was born with the power of a demon. It has been reborn many times.”

“Is this cat also one of the reincarnations of that fish?”

“That’s right.  But Vianne, where have you heard of this?”

“Just somewhere.”

In my previous life.

“No way. It’s a story that only exists on the mage’s island.”

“… I’m sorry. Don’t ask any more.”

“… Yes.”

I stroked the cat calmly in my arms carefully.

‘You are just like me. You were sacrificed like me in my previous life.’

Sacrifice was a thing in my previous life.

Someone in my past life must have written this book. They may have created this world.

That’s why there are some resemblance here and there in this world, compared to my previous life?

‘A living barrier.’

People in my previous life called it that way.

Where I used to live, there was no such thing as a white divine fish.

A living person was used as a barrier for the whole country.

The person will be trapped in abeautiful and high tower.

The person who is born with a special mark will live as a barrier until all of their vitality is sucked away.

One who must never die until a successor is born.

I was the ninety-fifth living barrier on the records.

“… Siezion.”

I called out the name of the creature.

The cat meowed at me.

“Idris. Can this creature get out of this room?”

I asked the question dryly. Idris felt that my tone of voice was unimportant, and gave a simple answer.

“Yes.”

“Did you say it was ancient? Then it would have lived a very long time.”

“That’s true.”

“Hey, can I play with it sometimes?”

 “As long as you don’t take it out of the island.”

“Okay.”

I felt like I was going to cry. Facing this existence itself reminded me of my previous life.

At the top of the desolate and cold tower, I lived my whole life trapped like a princess in a fairy tale. The princess in the fairy tale was rescued by a warrior, but I didn’t. When I asked the reason when I was young, the knights merely looked at me with pity.

I made friends with some of those knights.  I heard stories from them about the outside world.

I was taught about a lot of things too. One day, after the enemy spy almost took my life, they taught me the sword. They also taught me how to use a gun, bow, and play chess.

I still remember the things I learned back then.

I lived like that and died.

Still, I have quite a few good memories of my childhood years.

Everyday, I would read a lot of books, filling my huge bookshelf with it.

However, as I grew older, my memories were filled with pain and crying.

Even before I turned 20, my vitality reached the bottom.

When I was sick, the barrier became unstable. So I was afraid of even getting sick.

If I collapse, the country will too. The weight that I carried was too heavy.

It has been that way before.

One day when the rain fell so violently as if it was about to topple the tower, my best friend who had been protecting me for 7 years, secretly came to me with a sword.

“Remember?”

“What?”

“I said that the princess could escape from the tower without a hero.”

“…… I remember.”

 Flash!

Lightning struck out the window behind me.

In the world of that time and now in Vianne’s world, only the sound of rain filled my ears.

 “I’ll take down the tower, so that the princess can get out.”