I Will Fulfill the Role of the Villain-Chapter 169

Dante’s face turned ashen. Sweat dampened his hands, and he kept rubbing them against his clothes. A bulging vein throbbed visibly on Theo’s forehead. The blood vessels in the whites of his eyes, strained and burst, were stark evidence of his intense fury.

Even though Dante knew that rage wasn’t directed at him, he couldn’t help but feel a visceral fear for his life.

“Yes, it’s just as you said.”

Theo pressed a small kiss against the back of Luke’s hand before rising slowly to his feet. He left Dante with a curt command to stay put and keep a close watch over Luke, then exited the room.

Without a moment of hesitation, he headed for the quarters of the imperial knights.

Behind the main structure of the Welharun Palace was an annex, and to the side of that, the knights’ quarters were attached. Theo, having just left Luke’s room, had now arrived there.

At Theo’s sudden appearance, every knight inside the quarters tensed up. The entire knightly order, including the commander himself, stiffened at the sight of Theo. His imposing build and the intense aura radiating from him were enough to command attention.

The knights, who had only heard rumors of the mighty commander-in-chief of Hainere, now found themselves face-to-face with him. They exchanged uneasy glances.

“What brings you here, Commander?”

The knight commander quickly stepped forward, his voice steady but taut.

“I’m here to go down to the basement.”

“Ah...”

The commander glanced toward the stairs leading downward. Below lay the detention cells, and at the moment, the man responsible for all the recent chaos was being held there.

“He’s still too weak to talk. I understand you’re anxious, given the emperor’s condition, but...”

“I only intend to have a conversation. And we can’t keep coddling a criminal forever, can we?”

The sharpness in Theo’s gaze made the knight commander swallow reflexively. So this was what it felt like to be overwhelmed by someone’s sheer presence.

“...Understood. I will escort you.”

The knight commander turned around, leading the way. The further they descended into the basement, the more the air grew damp. As they moved through the clammy hallway, the commander pulled out a ring of keys from his belt.

The lock rattled, and with a screeching, grating noise, the iron bars swung open. The commander stepped aside, allowing Theo to enter.

“I’ll be waiting outside. Call if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Theo said it out of courtesy, but the commander couldn’t shake the feeling that his presence wasn’t really necessary. After all, what could he possibly do for the commander-in-chief of Hainere, a man whose military prowess was known throughout the continent? He took a few steps back, positioning himself at a distance from the cell.

Inside, Theo scanned the space. It wasn’t particularly small, but the cold stone floor, devoid of any bedding or furniture, was hardly a place fit for a human to stay.

“Urgh...”

A faint, grating noise echoed from the farthest corner.

Theo’s eyes settled on the figure huddled there. Despite the darkness, a single candle burned on a stand, offering enough light to make out the man’s face.

“Felix.”

At the cold utterance of his name, Felix let out a raspy groan, shifting slightly.

Now stripped of his disguise as Prince Heath, Felix was bound at the wrists and ankles with enchanted ropes. These ropes, brought in from Hainere, were specifically designed to suppress mana, rendering the wearer unable to cast any magic.

Now exposed, Felix’s true face was visible — a face that, despite its crimes, was surprisingly delicate, with sharp, striking features. Of course, it was marred by bruises and cuts, remnants of the fight with Luke.

“Can you speak?”

Felix fixed his bloodshot eyes on Theo, glaring daggers at him. His gaze was filled with venom, but Theo merely scoffed.

“You still look as though you think you’re the victim here.”

“...You still need me.”

His voice was dry and raspy, like cracked earth after a long drought. Every syllable seemed to scrape against his throat. The knight commander’s earlier words about Felix’s weakened condition were not unfounded.

“The emperor... and that little rat... they both need me to live...”

BANG!

A deafening crash echoed through the cell. Theo’s fist had struck the stone wall, leaving a deep, fist-shaped indentation. Stone fragments crumbled to the floor, and a spiderweb of cracks spread outward from the impact site.

Hearing the commotion, the knight commander rushed toward the cell, but Theo quickly waved him off, signaling that everything was fine.

“It would be best if you didn’t let that filthy mouth of yours speak Luke’s name,” Theo said, his voice dripping with malice. “And if you think you’re still holding the key, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Felix’s hands trembled slightly. He was furious with himself for flinching, for showing any sign of fear. His fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.

“If you refuse to purify them, I’ll make you do it. There are plenty of ways to force you. People are incapable of enduring pain forever.”

Felix lowered his gaze. His hands shook violently. Theo’s cold, merciless threat had gotten to him more than he cared to admit.

“I’m not sparing you because I have any sympathy for you,” Theo said, his voice icy and calm. “I’m giving you a chance to atone. Nothing more.”

“Atonement? Ha! What a joke.”

Felix threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing hollowly against the stone walls.

“You want to talk about atonement? It’s not me who should atone. It’s you Hainere bastards! It’s that scumbag Loelard!”

His strained voice cracked as he shouted. Even as he coughed violently, his glare remained fixed on Theo.

“All my suffering started because of that man!”

“You mean the war? Losing your homeland?”

“Yes! But what would you know? What could you possibly understand? To you people, it’s just a war. To me, it was everything!”

Blood spattered from his mouth as he coughed again, crimson droplets staining the stone floor. Felix’s voice grew hoarse, but he continued to shout, as if releasing years of pent-up fury.

“Vite.”

Felix’s entire body went rigid at the sound of that single word. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated with fear.

“Sahar people.”

“No... Don’t say that name. Don’t speak of them in front of me!”

His voice trembled, more a desperate plea than a command. It wasn’t anger; it was fear.

“So, you were one of their test subjects.”

Theo’s expression remained cold. Before coming here, he had contacted his father, Chester Redrick, to ask about the explosion that occurred in Vite ten years ago. What Chester revealed was beyond anything Theo had imagined.

“Some Sahar scholars secretly continued conducting experiments on mana, using living subjects as test subjects.”

Felix’s lips trembled. He bit down so hard that blood welled up in his mouth.

“Their ultimate goal was to artificially create mages out of those born without mana. And you... you were one of them, weren’t you?”

Felix had not been born with the ability to manipulate mana. He was merely a failed experiment, a product of their twisted, inhumane research.

The explosion in Vite a decade ago — that catastrophic incident was caused by one of the test subjects going berserk.

“NOX began operating ten years ago. That explosion... that was you, wasn’t it?”

Felix said nothing. A cold silence settled between them, and then, suddenly, Felix laughed.

“Those stupid bastards. They never saw it coming. They didn’t think their little lab rat would bite back,” Felix said, his laughter echoing through the stone walls. Blood dripped from his lips as he grinned, his eyes blazing with manic glee.

“They had no idea what kind of monster they were creating.”