Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Is Broken, He Can’t Like , Right?

Duke Livi shot Viktor a furious glare and left without a single word.

As for Viktor, from beginning to end, he had never had any intention of explaining himself.

Helping Duke Livi had been nothing more than a convenient act in passing. While he did genuinely need the Duke's family's strength for certain purposes, there was no need to say any of that to Duke Livi.

Viktor had a better candidate in mind.

He waited outside the city gate for a short while, and before long, Gwen ca jogging over.

Gwen looked as urgent as soone chasing after another person, and only ca to a stop when she spotted Viktor.

"I have been waiting for you."

He said it to the arriving Gwen as though he had always known she would co looking for him.

But Gwen had no pleasant expression to offer Viktor.

"Do you not have anything you want to explain to ?"

Viktor noticed that many Mages who had yet to leave were looking over in their direction from the surrounding area.

"Let's talk later."

Viktor signaled to Gwen that they were in a public place with many people around, and that certain things were better told to her in private.

Gwen caught his hint and gave a nod.

"Get in my Carriage."

"Alright."

Gwen agreed without a second thought.

The 2 of them walked side by side to the Carriage, and Viktor extended a hand toward Gwen.

Gwen did not understand what it ant and paused for a mont.

Seeing her reaction, Viktor shook his head and explained: "When inviting a lady, this is a basic courtesy that is expected."

"What a tedious courtesy."

Gwen muttered under her breath, not even noticing the curious stares from those around them, and placed her hand on top of Viktor's.

Led by Viktor, the 2 of them boarded the Carriage together. The door closed, and the Carriage soon set off and drove away.

Viktor gazed out the window, and the complex array of expressions on the faces of those outside filled him with quiet satisfaction.

After that, he drew the curtains shut.

No doubt, after this encounter, tomorrow's public chatter would find a new direction to flow in.

He turned his head back to look at Gwen.

Gwen, however, was the first to reach to her waist and produce a small pouch.

"This is what you asked for."

She handed the pouch to Viktor. Viktor was a little puzzled, but took it all the sa.

He opened it to find an assortnt of red crystals inside, each one a different shape.

He suddenly recalled the reason he had given Gwen before.

Viktor was sowhat surprised—he had not expected Gwen to still rember any of that.

He did genuinely need these things to craft certain rather special magical items, though that had only ever been a secondary consideration.

When he had left the volcano, he had felt a faint twinge of regret at not having collected so, but had put it out of his mind.

He had not expected Gwen to have gathered a portion for him.

A warmth stirred inside Viktor's chest—though he was not the type to be sentintal about such things—and he tucked the pouch into his Player-exclusive Inventory.

"Thank you."

Gwen glanced at Viktor with a look of faint amusent, her tone edged with a hint of mockery.

"I never thought I would hear a 'thank you' from you."

"Well then—now it is your turn to explain."

Viktor gave a nod and said:

"I have already said everything in front of the Emperor."

"You were present. You should be able to tell whether what I said was true."

Gwen suddenly fixed him with a cold look and said:

"You should understand that what I want to ask is not that."

She and Viktor had grown up together since childhood. The idea that Viktor was kindhearted enough to want to stop the volcanic eruption and save everyone—

Gwen did not believe that for even a second.

Viktor had revealed his cold-blooded side from a very young age.

When it ca to making necessary trade-offs, even if it ant sacrificing an entire town's worth of people, he would choose to secure his own interests.

"You triggered the volcanic eruption. What was your purpose?"

"My purpose, you ask….."

Viktor gave it so thought. Why had he decided to follow along the mont he heard the news that Gwen was heading to the volcano?

He could have gone on his own afterward.

Without the Knight Company in tow, Viktor might have been able to carry out the whole thing far more discreetly.

By the ti the Royal Capital caught wind of it, everything would already have been over and done with.

It would not have caused such an enormous uproar, nor would it have drawn every 3rd-Tier Mage in the entire Royal Capital into the ss.

But……

"Perhaps it was because of you."

"Because of ?"

Gwen was suddenly taken aback, and even her Heart of Justice trembled with it.

With her Heart of Justice keeping watch, Gwen could tell that Viktor was clearly not lying.

Which ant he genuinely felt that way.

Wait, if it really is because of …..

He had gone alone to the Crater, solely to challenge the magical beast within the volcano.

And it turned out it was for her?

Gwen could not quite work it out. Did Viktor think she would run into so kind of danger?

That Viktor, to actually think like that……?

Gwen pressed one hand to her chest and could plainly feel her heartbeat quickening considerably.

Even soone as emotionally dense as her found herself with a certain suspicion forming in her mind.

Could it be that Viktor liked her?

How else could any of this be explained!

He heard she was going sowhere as dangerous as a volcano, ca running in the middle of the night just to go with her.

Shared the sa room with her and indulged so many of her unreasonable demands.

To prevent anything dangerous from happening up on the volcano, he had personally gone ahead alone in advance to suppress the magical beast beneath it.

"This, this……"

Gwen's rational mind told her she should not be thinking this way—there was no way Viktor could have feelings for her.

He was clearly such a selfish person…….

And yet her Heart of Justice had never once been wrong.

If he really does like , then what am I supposed to do?

Gwen's heart was thrown into disarray.

As for Viktor, he was still mulling things over on his side.

Hmm….. it really is because of her.

On one hand, Viktor genuinely had wanted to square off against the Molten Fiend—he wanted to test his current self and find out how long it would take him to defeat it.

On the other hand, Gwen was heading out on a mission and would be away from the Royal Capital for quite so ti.

That was an extrely dangerous situation as far as he was concerned.

As long as Gwen remained within the Royal Capital, he could still track her movents through Leah.

But if Gwen went to the volcano—

Who could say what kind of opportunity she might stumble into out there?

Viktor let his imagination run a little wilder and figured it was not impossible that Gwen might suddenly tumble off a cliff, accidentally rouse the slumbering Molten Fiend, end up in a battle with the lava beast, and co away with a portion of its power.

That was not beyond the realm of possibility.

Since the in-ga Gwen had survived all the way to the very end, under normal circumstances—without his interference—this mission of Gwen's would absolutely not have gone wrong.

To prevent his own death from coming to pass, he needed to keep Gwen as suppressed as possible.

At the very least, as long as Gwen was always acting within his line of sight, he could feel at ease.

So it was true that because of Gwen, Viktor had chosen to insist on going to the volcano with her, to defeat Gulton in advance—it was not sothing he said lightly or without aning.

Both of them harbored entirely different thoughts. Viktor had no idea what Gwen was thinking, but this explanation ought to be enough to satisfy her.

After all, it was also what he genuinely thought.

"Do you have anything else you want to ask?"

"No….. actually, wait—where did you disappear to all these days?"

Gwen suddenly spoke up and asked.

That was the question she wanted answered most.

During those days while Viktor was missing, nearly everyone had assud he had fled in fear of punishnt. So had gone even further, spreading rumors that he had already died in the volcano.

Throughout the days of his disappearance, the Clavena Family had also found themselves in a very difficult position.

Their business had co under attack from rivals, and day after day, the Manor was besieged by crowds of people hurling all manner of things into the Courtyard.

It was easy enough to imagine just how deeply Viktor was despised—so much so that even after his supposed "death," there was still a mob of people coming to take revenge on him.

It had been hard on Leah, holding things together all on her own for so long.

"I was injured and found sowhere to recover."

Viktor explained.

Strictly speaking, that was not a lie either—the 3 days and 3 nights of fighting Gulton had indeed left him with wounds.

The injuries were not severe, but as a reason for recovering they were perfectly plausible.

And besides, after the battle had ended, he really had been unconscious for 3 days and 3 nights.

As long as it aligned with the truth, Gwen's Heart of Justice would not flag it as a lie.

"That magical beast…… was it really that strong?"

Gwen had not expected that even with Viktor's strength, he had sustained such serious injuries.

Needing so many days to recover—the sheer implication of it made the beast's power seem nothing short of monstrous.

At that mont, she suddenly recalled what the elderly woman in Sanchez had said:

That sealed within the volcano was the Volcano God itself.

Such legends could not necessarily be taken as hard evidence, but if sothing could be called a god, its power was naturally not to be underestimated.

Viktor closed his eyes and used magic to craft a vivid impression for Gwen.

Red magical energy began to coil through the air around Gwen.

Gwen felt the scene around her shift with dizzying speed, and the sky plunged into darkness all at once.

"It was very strong."

He synchronized his own experience onto Gwen.

The temperature inside the Carriage surged sharply. In that mont, Gwen felt as though she were truly there—and saw the beast with her own eyes.

Flas roaring sky-high, as though a demon god itself had descended.

Viktor dispersed the magic, and Gwen was left feeling sowhat dazed.

Viktor had…… defeated that thing…… for her sake……

"……I have no more questions."

Gwen was at a loss for words.

"Then I will take you ho."

Viktor activated a magic spell—1st-Tier Magic was as effortless as breathing water to him now.

A streak of green magical energy shot out from his fingertip and coiled around the carriage wheels.

The Carriage changed direction and began heading toward Gwen's ho.

That was the beauty of being a Mage.

Riding in the Carriage—no Coachman needed at all.

After that, the 2 of them sat in silence.

Before long, they arrived at Gwen's Manor. Viktor watched as Gwen stepped out of the Carriage.

"One more thing."

Just before she left, Viktor called out to Gwen.

"Thank you for covering up my lie in front of His Majesty."

Gwen turned her head back and had just opened her mouth to say sothing.

But the Carriage had already turned and gone.

She stood in a daze at the entrance, watching Viktor disappear into the distance, her feelings a tangled, complicated ss.

The Maidservants who saw Gwen stepping out of the Clavena Family's Carriage could not help but look surprised, and broke into hushed whispers amongst themselves:

"Didn't our Lady hate Viktor the most?"

"And yet she ca back in Viktor's Carriage this ti?"

"Could it be……"

Their chatter grew more and more animated, and when it reached the most critical part, their cheeks even flushed red.

None of them noticed at all that the sound of footsteps had crept up behind them.

"What are you all chatting about? Sothing interesting—why not include ?"

The Maidservants turned around, and a woman with a bright smile on her face walked out from inside. They quickly lowered their heads.

"S-sorry, Young Mistress."

The woman stepped out with that sa smile still on her face and said:

"Now now, no slacking off during work hours."

"Alright—I am going to go and welco my dear little sister whom I have not seen in quite so ti."