I Am Troubled That My Fiance Is A Villain Chapter 20

The violence and bloodshed from last time will continue. The next one is a less intense interlude, so please proceed at your own risk.

What did I just say…?

That ‘interrogation is a team effort.' There's no way something that brutal is a team effort. Wait, well, if this continues, then I'll have to go through with it.

I felt like there was a better way.

Since I'm the victim, I wanted to properly settle things on my own, or exact revenge myself — things like that.

I wasn't sure whether it was because I ran or because I blurted out something weird, but the ma.s.sive amount of sweat on me was awfully cold.

Though I'm not sure why Bern was overcome with emotion, I took advantage of the situation and let him be to move closer to the guy.

Thanks to Ionius' efforts, the blood on top of the desk was wiped off, but it was still a terrible sight to see.

When I looked at his goggling eyes shining with hate in the dark at the time of the attack and even in the light, his eyes were big compared to his skinny face. If anything, all I get from him is an unreliable impression.

Looking at his orderly appearance, tidy clothes, and tan-less face, there's a high possibility that he's a n.o.ble.

The guy was tied to a chair that came with the club room, but the desk seemed to be different from the stacks that were left in the corner of the room.

It wasn't that big, but it looks pretty well-made, with several places on the deep, grainy wood having dark stains. Furthermore, there were several somewhat round dents, similar to stamping seals, gathered in one place. They're probably impressions.

I pushed aside Ionius who was indirectly trying to keep me away and squared off with the guy as I put myself in between him and the desk.

I pushed out my chest so that I wouldn't be underestimated and tried to look down at him while copying Bern's cold, expressionless gaze. Even if I could do it pretty well, I don't look particularly scary.

Bern wasn't just overcome with emotion, but it looks like he's also more or less watching over what I was planning on doing. As I felt his gaze on my back, I took a deep breath to calm my rapidly beating heart.

Being face-to-face, the first thing that I felt was anger, as I expected. However, when I looked at his miserable-looking face, that also naturally settled.

I didn't feel fear. Seeing the guy in the light, he looked shabby, but above all, it's because Bern and Ionius were here as well.

If I calm myself down, talked to this guy with extreme composure, and leave this place without any more bloodshed, then that would be great.

It's fine, I can do this.

Remembering villain mode Bern's way of speaking and the air of intimidation around him whenever he managed the Hidden Student Council, I slowly said as I tried copying him.

“Thanks for earlier.”

I think I was able to properly let out a low voice. This is good, just like that, me.

Not being able to see my face, the guy's sight wandered about, and his mouth stiffened.

“It looks as if my fiancé did some horrible things, and I apologize for that.”

These are my true feelings.

Since I wasn't able to say something mean, it sounded sarcastic instead!

‘Let's see,' I thought as I folded my arms. After confirming what he's been single-mindedly hiding, I'll then get to the main point.

“After using some method to break into the women's dormitory, you then attacked me, but was that your purpose? Or did someone order you to? Like for example, Alois, or Lila…”

“She has nothing to do with this. It was all me.”

Immediately after I mentioned Lila's name, the guy shouted, cutting me off instantly.

After the timid behavior that he had up til now, he grinned, as if threatening me.

“You, since you made her sad, I'm her knighttt! I was going to eliminate you, the evildoer. I was going to make all her sadness disappearrr!”

S-scary…

I unconsciously bent my upper body backwards since spit was flying as he screamed.

What the h.e.l.l's with this guy… Somehow, he was giving off stalker vibes.

Wait, what if he really is Lila's stalker?

Now that I think about it, he's close to our age — don't tell me he's a Royal Academy student?

What if Alois agitated this guy, Lila's stalker? Or something along those lines.

In any case, I have to get information out of this guy, the perpetrator, about his relation to Alois.

That's where I want it to lead to, but the guy is excitedly screaming out how he's right, so it seems that I won't be able to peacefully ask about his story.

What should I do? Should I clap my hands in front of him as hard as I can?

The very moment that I was to proceed with my nekodamashi* strategy, Bern stealthily materialized beside me. I thought he was going to put his hand on my back, but he instead moved my body away from the desk a bit.

‘Are we switching players already?' I thought in surprise as he disregarded me. He looked down at the lively shouting guy and kicked the desk hard with his long leg.

The desk jumped up and made a rattling sound against the floor as it landed, and I felt the m.u.f.fled impact through the soles of my feet.

When he kicked the desk, Bern commanded the room and had the guy come to his senses in an instant.

S-Scary…

I had been too surprised to react, and Bern smiled at me, as if saying, ‘Here you go.' However, his look was careful, trying to see if I felt any disgust or hate for him.

My senses are now numb since too many things happened again, and thought, ‘Since he only kicked the desk, that much is fine.' Hmm? That's not good, you say?

Concluding that I was only surprised, Bern's eyes softened, seemingly happy, and shyly said.

“Team effort, right?”

Hahaha… L-leave it to me…

Somehow, Bern has broken through his inner fear of committing violent acts in front of me, but it's true that he did help me out just now.

The guy completely withered, and his mouth, which had been moving so much until now, was tightly shut.

For just a bit, it felt like I was finally let in for the first time to a part of Bern's world that he didn't want to show me, and for some reason, I was encouraged by that.

“…I have two proposals for you.”

As I timidly thought that he would obediently accept the proposals, I continued.

“I won't accuse you if you provide us with information and never show up in front of us ever again.

But, a crime's a crime. If you announce that you'll be giving up your n.o.ble rank, we'll let you live as a commoner. If you say no, you'll be barred from n.o.ble society if I accuse you. When that happens, there's the possibility of you being disowned. Would you rather live a second life in peace or live with the humiliation? Decide.”

I'm not a saint, so I don't plan on telling him that I'll let everything go if he gave us information. After I say, ‘That's cause I forgave him,' the Hidden Student Council won't be able to do anything, and this guy will be able to live a peaceful life.

The guy let out a tight smile. He looked as if he was trying to put up a bold front as much as he could.

“Are you stupid? I! W-was a commoner from the start.”

But you said that with a stutter, you know?

Seems he's sorta the type that's bad at lying. And maybe to scare him, Bern told him the truth.

“Regardless, we'll be handing you over to the patrol after this, so we'll immediately know more about your background.”

‘Please, just cooperate peacefully,' I said.

“D-don't look down on me! As if, as if anyone would listen to you guyss! …Hehehe, it's not like you can kill me. Since you're just taunting me, if you want to do just that, I'll let you…! Since the ones who'll be meeting a painful end will be you guys.”

Y-you–!!! Idiot–!

‘You can't kill me,' you're negotiating with us even though you're not used to it, and desperately attacking our shady club just because you might get killed, now you've done it!

Give up, and just obediently say yes! What's that? ‘You won't yield with just that,' you say? You want me to give you candy-chan as well!? Ahhnn!!?

Ah! This is bad. The yakuza in me was awakening.

Since I was the person beside Bern, the guy seems to be underestimating us a bit.

While surprised, I couldn't even get angry at his slightly, stupid-looking face.

Hmph. You'll show that you can weather through anything with the power of love, huh? For your information, you're definitely misunderstanding things.

In the first place, why am I the bad guy, and the one who made Lila sad?

However, I wonder what he meant by us meeting a painful end. Even if it's certain that Alois was helping this guy behind the scenes, why is he that confident in himself?

I decided to do it the slightly harder way.

“Bern, lend me your knife.”

As if startled, the guy looked at me. Incidentally, Ionius, who was restraining the guy from behind him, was also surprised.

It seems he wanted to say, ‘Aren't you deviating from your character?' It's fine. The knife is just a prop. I won't do anything with it. No, seriously.

I don't know for what reason Bern has a knife on him, but if it's him, he definitely has one.

Although I told him to lend me his knife, I haven't properly thought out what to do after that.

However, I couldn't think of any other way to help stop the guy looking down on us right now.

I mean, it's cause I seriously said to lend me the knife in front of everybody. ‘I'm somewhat resolved to do this,' I just hope I can convey that…

As I was deeply lost in my thoughts on what to do, something warm was unexpectedly put on the palm I held out. Surprised, I looked, and what was there wasn't a cold knife, but Bern's hand.

If you looked at us from the side, we looked like an owner asking their dog to shake hands.

As I stared up at him in puzzlement, Bern said, as if gently persuading me.

“You don't have to do that.”

He gently lowered the hand I held out, and poked me between my eyebrows. Ouch. It seemed that he poked between my eyebrows because I unconsciously had a severe expression.

“I'll do it. Since we can't have you feeling unwell, just wait with Ionius in the next room.”

I have a feeling that he definitely misunderstood me.

With Bern looking at the pitiful student with merciful eyes, the bad feeling I had was at its maximum.

I mean, for me, it's not because I actually thought of doing the revenge or negotiating. I just thought that I had to show that I don't propose things half-heartedly.

“H-hey, Bern.”

He tilted his head to one side, just like an owl, and looked at me in curiosity as if saying, ‘Did something happen again?'

“…I'm staying here, so be gentle.”

This is the most I can do right now.

Guy whose name I don't know, if you were to blame someone, blame it on your own stupidity.

“Okay. Then I'll try doing this without spilling any blood, ‘kay?”

Ah, without spilling any blood? If it's that, then it'll unexpectedly be fi–

“Ionius, hammer.”

As if having known why Bern had his hand out right from the start, a hammer was quickly given to him.

Exactly like asking for a scalpel during a surgery scene in a medical drama! ‘Here!,' that kind of dialogue.

Eh, wait, just where did that hammer come from?

Although Ionius wasn't instructed to, he gave Bern the hammer like he knew what he was thinking of and then stood still, as if waiting for the next instruction.

“Well then, Donald Mackin.”

Surprised, the guy's shoulder jumped exaggeratedly.

“First off, it's impossible to break into school from outside by yourself. Plus I've memorized all the students' faces in this school. You think anyone can completely hide themselves from me?”

Are you serious? This person's definitely a student from this school. Plus, it's a lie when you said that you remember everyone's faces, right? Even for me, there are some who I have the same cla.s.ses with whose names and faces I can't match together.

“Staying silent, huh? Well, whatever. Which one's your dominant hand?”

“Eh…?”

“Dominant hand.”

With the mood making him unable to even say yes or no, Bern had gotten his name right, and the overwhelmed guy — or rather, Donald, unconsciously mumbled.

“R-right…”

“Okay, left then.”

Ionius skillfully untied Donald's bound arm from the chair.

I wonder what he plans on doing.

For a moment, hope showed on his face as he was released, but felt uneasy as he didn't know why his other arm was still bound. He looked at Ionius, Bern, and the hammer in Bern's hand, multiple times in turns.

“Let's see.”

Bern striked the hammer on his palm as a slightly, idiotic smack noise resounded.

As if that was the signal, Ionius gripped Donald's unbound left arm and tightly held down his shoulder and wrist, with his palm on top of the desk.

“Eh? Eh?”

The guy's face rapidly turned pale.

By the way, mine rapidly turned pale as well.

“Let's hear what your answer to her proposals are.”

Bern casually asked, as if he just asked him what he wanted to eat for breakfast, with hammer in hand.

“H-haha… L-let me see you try to kill me! If you do that, I'll–!”

Thump!

A m.u.f.fled sound resounded, as if something was crushed.

That was the sound of Bern crushing the tip of the guy's forefinger.

The hammer perfectly hit his fingertip, just above his first knuckle.

“…!!?”

A silent scream gushed out from his throat, straining against the pain. His eyes grew open as much as they could, with his cheek muscles stiffening. By the way, I also unconsciously let out a scream.

His whole body suddenly stiffened, and his mouth opened and closed multiple times, looking as if he was wriggling from the pain, but because he was tied to the chair and Ionius was holding him down from above, he looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He complained as he shook violently in pain, the chair rattling.

“Next, I'll crush your middle finger. You change your mind yet?”

The guy fainted again from the pain, unable to speak.

Unconcerned about that, Bern lightly striked the hammer on his palm again and asked with a calm face.

I've heard from somewhere that because the fingertip has a lot of nerves and is sensitive, it's extremely painful.

H-hey, Bern. It's true that you're not spilling any blood. You're not, but, see…

“…Guaa…hicc…”

The male student physically started shedding tears, and as if he wasn't troubled by it, Bern shrugged his shoulders.

“If you're not gonna answer, then there's no helping it.”

He's a demon. There's a demon here right now.

Bern raised the hammer overhead again, and the guy, antic.i.p.ating what's to come, screamed, with his eyes wide open and spit flying.

“I'll cooperate! I'll cooperateeeeeee!!”

Already too late, the hammer was brought down, and couldn't be stopped anymore.

Smash!!

I unconsciously closed my eyes tightly and prepared for the sound of flesh and bones being crushed. However, because I didn't hear him scream at all, I quietly looked at the situation, and the hammer was embedded on the desk, just barely grazing the tip of his middle finger.

Seems that his middle finger was salvaged.

Hahaha… Looking at the dent on the desk, it seems that it's possible to dent it if you do that.

Having indeed been used to this, Bern and Ionius moved perfectly in sync.

Donald was covered in large amounts of sweat in extreme terror and repeatedly took in heavy breaths, as if he was hyperventilating.

How should I say this? It feels like the me earlier looked like an amateur compared to these pros.

Hmm. I feel a little embarra.s.sed now.

I mean, what I did wasn't in vain. Rather, to be honest, so many emotions were already going through me from the start, I wasn't thinking straight.

With the hurdle of the violence disappearing in front of me, scared of Bern and the hammer, Donald started talking little by little.

As I thought, Donald is Lila's fan.

But the one who actually instigated and helped him out was Alois. Saying that Lila was so shaken, that she couldn't even come out of her room.

Alois whispered to Donald, who had been worried about her as she was acting weird after having been pushed down the stairs.

‘The only one who can dispel Lila of her sadness is you. It'll be fine. As she'll be the future queen, she won't forget her grat.i.tude towards you if something happens.'

Finally, Donald was successfully deceived by Alois, that his rival, His Highness, has been running wild with his love towards the gloomy Lila.

It didn't cross his mind that if he had the courage to do something like that, he should have confessed to Lila instead.

While it's unfortunate, a day in my life where I could understand his feelings may never come.

He hung his head as the story ended, and as I looked at Donald, who was definitely covered in wounds, I murmured in my head, ‘For some reason, this looks like it's from a yakuza movie?'

‘Whatever, it's fine since he didn't die…!'

*nekodamashi – a sumo move where the wrestler claps their hands in front of them.

THAT WAS INTENSE. I had one moment where I went “HIIIIIIIII” in pain just from what I was translating. But ya know, Bern is so innocent, and adorable. He blushed just because of what Lizia said. They're so cute. Also, Bern x Ionius? jk, but they feel like best friends.

E/N: That would certainly be scary to see in real life. I probably would react like like Lizia. Well, actually, I don't think I would scream since I hardly make noise or talk, but the same emotions would be there.  Also, the hammer… that would probably hurt. A lot.

Name's Erika. For some dumb reason, I decided to major in Physics. I'm stuck in this major now. I used to translate manga and light novels a few years back, left, then came back cause I found some good novels to read. I'm the only TLer on my site, so rip. I'm apparently also good at drawing, and I also like kpop (BTS, I mean, I have Hobi as my pic). I don't bite, so feel free to chat me up on here or on NU @adorkablehiko. If you see my translations on other sites, please do consider reading it on my Wordpress @ c.r.a.ppya.s.stranslations.