Becoming the Villain’s Family - Chapter 363
Chapter 363
The zealots, unable to comprehend basic reasoning, were no match for her. But they just kept trying to mess with the kid?
They had already made a move on the sister, and now they were shamelessly trying to reach for the brother as well?
Her patience snapped, and it was inevitable that her eyes would start to burn with rage.
She blocked the man’s path as he reached for Astin.
“Touch the kid, and see what happens.”
Then, as if chanting a curse, she muttered darkly,
“If you’re going to speak, make it make sense. Shameless zealots.”
“What?”
“What about the girl? Let me guess. You brainwashed the child into thinking she’s the chosen one of God for some ritual, right? You’ve been blocking me at every turn, keeping me from going, because you’re hiding something you don’t want me to know.”
“Wha, what?”
The man, trembling with fear, was stunned by her unexpected outburst. He had underestimated Maya, and now, caught off guard, he couldn’t hide his confusion.
“A zealot?! What kind of nonsense is that?!”
His voice rose, and as his face reddened with rage, Maya’s voice grew louder.
“Nonsense? Have you been stuck in this backwater for so long that you can’t see the truth? Go outside the village and ask ten random people what they think of you! If you’re not a bunch of zealots, then I don’t know what else to call you. Your so-called God, who chooses people like you, is no god at all. If this God accepts people who do nothing but harm others, then what you’re worshiping isn’t a God, it’s a devil!”
“This loose mouth…”
“Right! My mouth is loose, so I’m gonna say what I need to! What? Lead you to paradise? To hell? You abuse children and then want to go to heaven? The only land you’re being led to is hell, you demon worshipers!”
Ugh… The zealots looked pale, clutching their necks as if they were about to collapse.
But it was only for a moment.
Soon, they were trembling with a fury like nothing Maya had ever felt in her life.
‘Oh.’
Regaining her senses, Maya quickly covered her mouth. But it was too late. She had already said everything she needed to.
‘Damn it, I should have sweet-talked my way in and infiltrated the village quietly…’
If she got kicked out now, she’d be useless. Worse yet, if the furious zealots caught her first, she might not survive to even leave.
She’d never been good at talking her way through situations, and she knew she could never keep up with their crazy beliefs.
“Heretic!”
“No, she was a heretic from the start! That deceitful witch tried to trick us into letting her infiltrate the village!”
“Kill her! Tear her apart!”
“Tear her limbs off and offer them to the altar!”
“No! We should burn her alive to purify her!”
The violent cries rang out from all directions.
Maya swallowed hard, pulling Astin tightly into her arms.
With the wolf rendered useless, she was the only one who could protect the child now.
She quickly unscrewed the lid of the precious potion she had been holding tightly in her hand and immediately poured it onto the wolf.
“……?”
What the hell is going on here?
The zealots were momentarily confused, but they quickly dismissed their doubts. It was more urgent to deal with the heretic who had insulted them and their God.
“The most miserable and painful judgment awaits you!”
Just as one of the men reached out, roughly grabbing Maya’s hood, the wolf struck.
“Kuaghh!”
The man’s arm was torn away with brutal force, shredded by the wolf’s teeth.
Maya, horrified by the blood spraying around them, instinctively screamed, “Uwack!” and hurriedly covered Astin’s eyes.
“What—what is happening?”
“We just sprayed the potion…!”
They had only recently discovered that Elaina could control beasts, and after realizing that, they’d carried around a special potion, regularly spraying it on themselves.
The potion was supposed to create a fear in the animals as if they were facing a top predator in the food chain.
It was a special concoction, distributed only to this small village for the past five years. It helped solidify their belief that they were chosen by God.
But now, the potion’s effects were gone, vanished in an instant.
Maya trembled as she muttered through gritted teeth.
“You, you idiots… I made that potion. Of course, I made the antidote too…”
“…!”
Maya rarely left her house.
And when she did, she wore her hood low, keeping to herself, knowing no one would welcome her.
Did the neighbors come to greet her? Of course not.
The adults avoided her openly, whispering behind her back, and the children threw rocks at her, calling her the ‘Witch.’
But there was one person who was different.
‘Just one person.’
Every year, an old man came to see her.
A kind man, with a long white beard.
He introduced himself as the village chief of the small rural settlement.
“Our village is surrounded by forests and is isolated, so we don’t have easy access to goods. Plus, with the small size of our village, the population is also quite low. That’s always been a concern.”
The chief feared that wild animals would attack the village.
Though the temple currently protected them from the beasts, he wasn’t sure how long that protection could hold up, especially with the ongoing famine.
‘What do the temple and the beasts have to do with each other?’
But this was an era where belief in God and faith were considered a way of life.
Maya secretly scoffed at it, but didn’t voice her opinion.
Regardless, the situation was dire.
“If it’s just to prevent wild beasts from getting near the village, then that’s possible.”
“Is that really true?”
“Yes, well…”
She willingly handed over the first potion she had developed as an alchemist, without asking for any payment.
She had done this every year for the past few years.
But did she ever imagine that the villagers, who feared wild beasts, would be a group of zealots kidnapping children to use for their cult rituals?
‘Damn old man, lying to me.’
Maya, who rarely left home, never thought she’d have to go all the way out to this remote village to check on the situation herself.
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