Becoming the Villain’s Family - Chapter 267
Chapter 267
“I wonder if you can kill me with such weak power.”
“Don’t bother asking for forgiveness later.”
Tristan thought as he looked at the defiant child with an angry ace.
It wouldn’t be so bad if this small and cute child, whom he saved, took his life.
Indeed, this seemed to be the more fitting destiny for Valentine.
Lloyd simply lived with the flow.
He rejected and pushed away everything, refusing to accept it.
As a result, his desires gradually faded, and even his emotions became faint, making him indifferent to most things.
The dull days continued.
“Lloyd.”
One day, even while Sabina was suffering, she called out to her son.
“Don’t give up on anything.”
“….”
“Your dreams, your life, your future, your talents, your potential, anything.”
Lloyd glanced briefly at the hand on his shoulder.
A hand that was excessively thin and weak.
A hand with the looming darkness of death.
“Do not let them go, even if you have to sink your teeth into them like a beast. Those are things you must reclaim, even if you have to kill whoever tries to take them away or make you give up on them.”
Although her hand was touching him, her words did not resonate at all with him.
Lloyd thought with an expressionless face, as if all emotions had been completely eradicated.
‘Why bother with such things.’
That’s why Mother ended up like this.
She, who was skilled enough to defeat a Black Falcon, ended up unable to even lift a sword.
Whether it was Mother or Duke Valentine.
By giving up on life, giving up on the soul, and giving up on relationships, they could completely break free from the curse, but they couldn’t give up on such trivial things…
“Yes, Mother.”
However, regardless of his inner turmoil, Lloyd responded obediently. He simply waited for the day when he would become an adult and fully inherit the power.
Until the age of fourteen, the day he would meet Aria.
“It’s yours. Your heart. Don’t give up. Whoever tries to make you give it up, take it away, reclaim it even if you have to kill for it.”
The words he had scoffed at inside when he heard them from his mother. The moment he uttered those words himself, Lloyd realized that the intense desire to live still lingered within him.
From that moment on, he vaguely sensed that he would follow the same path as his predecessors.
Love, dreams, and the future.
He couldn’t give up on such trivial things, and he realized that he wouldn’t be able to break free from the curse.
Admitting that was both excruciating.
And damningly sweet.
“I want to live. With you.”
After much suffering and wandering, he ultimately raised the poisoned chalice.
And willingly swallowed it.
“…Aria?”
Lloyd could no longer continue the story. Because Aria was shedding tears.
He awkwardly pulled his sleeves and wiped away her tears.
“Why are you crying so sadly?”
He had anticipated this reaction that was why he tried not to say anything. He didn’t want to provoke her emotions further and cover up his mistake.
“No, sniff, I didn’t want to cry either, but, heup, my emotions are just all over the place right now.”
“Ah, right. I won’t say anything.”
It’s my fault. Lloyd hugged Aria, patting her back.
“It’s not really a sad story, in my opinion. I just made the best choice I could.”
Maybe it wasn’t a sad story from his perspective, but was it not a sad story that he couldn’t realize it himself?
Aria thought as she buried her face in Lloyd’s embrace.
The five-year-old Lloyd she had heard about seemed no different from the ten-year-old Aria who couldn’t eat properly and vomited everything.
Fortunately, Aria gradually improved with everyone’s love, affection, and comfort. But Lloyd had chosen to sacrifice himself and give up everything.
The result was undoubtedly devastating.
If Aria hadn’t gone back in time and come to Valentine.
“Aria, I still think you’re a miracle.”
At his next words, Aria paused and looked up.
“And miracles are just fleeting.”
Nothing more than fragile illusions.
“I learned that countless times when I was young.”
Lloyd hugged her even tighter.
As if her warmth and familiar scent were tranquilizers, they calmed his anxious thoughts.
Yet he still sometimes saw the hallucination of Aria disappearing like smoke in his arms.
Because she was Valentine.
“Valentine.”
Lloyd recalled the words his father used to mutter.
“They’re truly disgusting people.”
He repeated the choices made by his predecessors.
The poison that the miracle held was so sweet that he couldn’t bring himself to let go of anything.
“Lloyd, I’m here.”
Aria held onto his waist tightly and spoke in a soft voice.
“It’s neither a delusion nor a fantasy. Soon, our child will be born, and they will grow up in this room.”
In response, Lloyd said,
“…What else could it be if not a miracle?”
“Because it’s happening to us in real-time.”
“I know it’s real. It just feels like a moment stacked up with cards.”
Every happiness he achieved together with Aria seemed like it could crumble in an instant with the slightest touch.
He no longer wanted to be greedy and wished to firmly grasp the present moment. Even if it meant doing anything.
“There will definitely be one future that I’m going to face. The curse’s chains are likely to repeat itself.”
“….”
“The world won’t allow me to be happy.”
The thoughts continued one after another.
From the beginning, Aria turning back time and going back to the past, was because she and him had met and connected.
A child came between them.
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