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Chapter 80




The Villain's Ending is Only Death Chapter 80
Despite my efforts to hide it, the tension in my body seemed to betray the trembling that was passing through me.
‘Shaking like a dog!’
I grimaced at the lowlife's crude choice of words.
Then, losing the energy to be angry, I replied listlessly.
“...It’s not just because I’m cold.”
“Then what?”
The Crown Prince pressed on like a hound on the scent.
“Just...”
“Just?”
Trying to brush it off didn’t work with his relentless nature.
I held his large cloak tightly, rubbing my intermittently shivering, cold hands, and forced a casual tone.
“Closing my eyes... keeps bringing back what happened earlier.”
“Earlier?”
The Crown Prince frowned, pondering, then seemed to recall something, exclaiming, “Ah.”
“...When we fell off the cliff? Ah, you must have fainted right after falling, so that can’t be it.”
“...”
“Are you talking about when you almost got hit by the bear because you recklessly stepped forward?”
“Ha... Yes.”
I was too exhausted to react to every comment.
“Thinking about almost getting hit by the bear is making my body shake like a dog.”
I muttered in a voice that was anything but calm for someone who was supposedly trembling with fear.
With a deep sigh, I exaggerated my admission, and the Crown Prince fell silent.
I expected him to sneer, “Do mad dogs do that?” But he didn’t.
Surprising.
A moment of peace settled in the cozy cave, warmed by the fire.
Indeed, as I gradually regained consciousness through our conversation, the cold and trembling that had overwhelmed me began to subside.
But in its place, a heavy fatigue settled in.
I leaned my head against the thick arm that was wrapped around my ear.
‘Since he embraced me without consent, he should at least serve as a pillow.’
As I slowly blinked, on the verge of dozing off, a voice like a sigh came from beside me.
“...When I was a child.”
I was too lazy to turn my head, so I just shifted my eyes to look.
The Crown Prince, with a subtle expression, looked down at me before continuing.
“I think it was when I was nine or ten.”
“...”
“I once encountered a bear of similar size to the one the lady met today in this forest.”
“...A bear?”
“Yeah.”
I was puzzled by his sudden story, but I listened silently.
“There was a time when the hunting tournament coincided with the second prince’s birthday. That was the first time I met my younger brother.”
The Crown Prince’s eyes seemed to soften as he recalled that moment.
It made him seem a little more human.
But it was fleeting. Calisto’s lips twisted into a fierce expression.
“Thinking I might harm a newborn baby, the empress kept him tightly guarded for years, so I never even saw a strand of his hair.”
“...”
“All the nobles gathered for the hunting tournament, but that was just a formality. Gifts for the second prince lined up throughout the tournament.”
“...”
“I was the only one who attended empty-handed.”
His face, muttering, suddenly looked hollow. On closer inspection, he seemed a bit dejected.
“I wanted to give my only younger brother a splendid gift.”
“...”
“So, despite my father’s opposition, I secretly took a bow and sneaked into the hunting grounds.”
“...”
“I planned to catch a small animal like a rabbit and give it as a gift, just like you.”
Calisto quickly regained his composure, as if the dejection had never been there.
His face, turning to me, was mischievous.
‘This guy had such an innocent and tragic childhood...’
It felt strangely fascinating.
I looked at the Crown Prince, who was telling me his story, with a sense of unfamiliarity.
I was so busy trying to survive that I lacked information about the main characters from the hard mode era.
To survive, it was better to gather and use any information I could.
So, I listened intently to the Crown Prince’s account of his childhood.
“I found a suitable prey, but it was too quick, and my arrows kept missing. Chasing it, I ended up deep in the forest without realizing it.”
“...”
“And then I encountered the bear.”
I was a bit surprised. The story was very similar to what I had experienced today.
Noticing my interest, the Crown Prince continued without pause.
“Unlike the lady, I couldn’t even shoot an arrow at the bear running towards me.”
“...”
“It was terrifying. I barely managed to dodge its paw just before it hit me.”
“...But Your Highness was much younger when you encountered it, unlike me now.”
I blinked, responding to Calisto’s self-deprecating tone.
I was still trembling from the fear of encountering the bear, even though I was on the verge of adulthood.
At just nine or ten years old.
How terrified must the Crown Prince have been to face such a massive beast at that age?
I ended up offering a word of comfort, but Calisto shook his head firmly.
“The heir to the throne doesn’t care about age. The emperor must always be flawless.”
“But...”
“Besides, I didn’t completely avoid it. Stupidly, my arm was grazed by its claw. If I had been a bit slower, my arm would have been torn off. I was lucky.”
“Hmm...”
He lifted his left arm, and the cruel description made me shudder.
Finding my reaction amusing, the Crown Prince smirked.
“While I was running frantically to escape the pursuing monster... suddenly, arrows flew from the opposite direction.”
“Were they the royal guards?”
“I thought so at first.”
The Crown Prince’s brow furrowed.
“But when I ran towards them, assassins in black clothes shot arrows at me.”
“Assassins?”
“To kill a mere ten-year-old, they sent a horde of assassins.”
I gaped at his calm explanation.
It was hard to believe that sending dozens of assassins to kill a child in the hunting grounds was normal, even for the current Crown Prince.
I recalled the twenty assassins I faced today.
‘...This must happen often.’
No wonder the Crown Prince, who suddenly encountered assassins in the middle of the hunting grounds, remained surprisingly calm and composed.
The tyrant’s childhood, not detailed in the game, was more unfortunate than I imagined.
“...Who sent them?”
“Who knows. The investigation was inconclusive, and the person who hired the assassins was never identified...”
He stroked his chin, then his crimson eyes flashed.
“It must have been the empress or her relatives. At that time, the second prince was a struggling child who couldn’t even read properly.”
The way he casually referred to his only younger brother as a “struggling child” revealed no affection.
I suddenly felt worried.
“But... is it okay to tell me all this?”
“What does it matter? You’re not going to side with the second prince now. Even if you did, I don’t see how it would be useful.”
It was true, but it still made me angry. Why did my fists clench?
‘Given his upbringing, it’s no wonder his personality is so thoroughly broken...’
I nodded in understanding of his character formation and urged him to continue with my eyes.
“So, what happened next?”
“Anyway, while I was running towards the assassins to escape the bear, I was hit in the chest by an arrow and fell down a slope.”
“H-Hit in the chest?”
“Yes. Fortunately, I didn’t die thanks to the heirloom I was wearing around my neck.”
I instinctively looked down at Calisto’s neck.
But there was only a bare, muscular chest, not even a scrap of cloth.
“It’s not there now. I can’t use it anymore, so I keep it stored separately.”
The Crown Prince smirked mockingly.
“Are you done with the act of intimacy?”
“Cough!”
My face flushed. I cleared my throat and quickly turned my head.
“So, what happened next? What about the bear chasing you?”
Trying to change the subject, I asked, and the Crown Prince, smirking, played along.
“Funnily enough, falling down the slope saved me. The bear, chasing me, ran past me and attacked the assassins.”
He twisted his lips, recalling the moment.
“It was a bloody fight. That bear was incredibly intelligent. It fought skillfully against a dozen armed men.”
‘Roar!’
It sounded like a bear’s roar echoed somewhere.
I imagined the young Crown Prince, watching in silence as the massive, raging bear swept away the assassins with its paws.
“...So, who won?”
The Crown Prince answered expressionlessly.
“They both perished.”
“Both...?”
“The assassins had the numerical advantage but didn’t carry close-range weapons to minimize traces.”
“...”
“Conversely, the bear, though victorious, died from the poison on the arrows.”
In the end, the only survivor in that brutal scene was the young Crown Prince.
“What did you do next?”
This time, the Crown Prince suddenly asked me.
“...”
I moved my lips but couldn’t answer.
What could I have done?
If it were me, I would have fled desperately and already escaped the forest by the time the bear and assassins clashed.
“I cut off the bear’s head and took it with me.”
But the young Crown Prince, as described by the man himself, did something I never would have imagined.
“And I proudly claimed victory in the hunting tournament.”
“...”
“After the ceremony, I threw the bear’s head on top of the pile of gifts for the second