CH 25

<Taylor’s Home> was a fantasy novel, not a romance novel.

Therefore, the story revolves around the main character, Evan Taylor, and there is no heroine – although I don’t know if that was the author’s preference.

The female characters had a very limited role.

However, despite the lack of a love interest, there were at least two candidates for Evan’s love interest in the readers’ minds, one of which was Permetis Winchester. The other was a man, the Lord of the Magic Tower, Casillion.

Permetis Winchester, the only daughter of Zestia Winchester.

She is raised by Zestia to be a wicked villain, but when she meets Evan Taylor as a teenager, she is swayed by his righteous ideas.

She eventually befriends him, passing on confidential information about the vicious Winchesters to him, and is instrumental in Evan’s capture of the Winchesters.

For the Winchesters, it’s a stab in the back.

The real twist here is her relationship with Othello Winchester.

He became obsessed with her to the point where he would do anything for his eighth cousin, Permetis. 

The moment he became obsessed…… was after Permetis got lost in the summer and nearly died because of his mistake.

~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~

It seems to have been after she hugged him and said, “I’m glad you’re okay, brother,” when Othello offered an insincere apology.

Anyway, even on death’s doorstep, after learning of Permetis’s betrayal, Othello says to her, ‘I’m glad you’re safe as well’.

Othello, a sociopathic psycho and one of the story’s main villains, dies on a very emotional note.

It was an episode that had a lot of comments about how it was a love story and how people shouldn’t glorify crazy villains.

But this kid…… is that Permetis?

“…….”

There was something ominous about my reflection in her red eyes.

“She can’t talk yet; she’s a baby. Awww, she’s so cute.”

It was foreboding.

Before she met Evan Taylor, she was raised to be a villain. And after falling for Evan…… she becomes a traitor in the eyes of the Winchesters.

As a reader, hearing Permetis say that she was skeptical of Winchester’s brutal, dark life and now wanted to bring light to the world was quite welcome, but…….

I am a Winchester. Sasha Winchester. A character who, in the original series, rose and fell with the Winchesters.

Of course, I would eventually escape and become independent somehow, but she was not a welcome character to me. I had an instinctive reaction.

“Don’t…….”

I reflexively took two steps back and grabbed Othello’s arm.

He turned to me with his eyebrows raised.

“Ba……by?”

I could see Permetis’s eyes waver a little.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be friendly with you.’

“I won’t. Geez!”

Jin observed the awkward pause for a moment, then spoke.

“You’re a stranger, Peri.”

“A stranger? What’s that, brother? You don’t hate Peri, do you?”

Permetis asked, looking at Jin with concern in her eyes.

“She’s just wary of strangers, and I’m sure you’re a stranger to Sasha.”

“…..I…. I see. Do you think Peri was like this as a baby?”

“Mmh.”

The usually bubbly and cheerful Permetis looked a little embarrassed.

“Peri wants to get to know the baby, too, so we’re going to spend some time together at the summer mansion…….”

She glanced up at Othello.

She looked at him for comfort, but instead he grabbed my hand.

“Come here. You don’t have to put up with this.”

Permetis’ eyebrows twitched as he turned away from her with me. Then she froze, looking at me as if she’d been hurt.

I stumbled to my feet, dragged by Othello, and heard Jin soothing Permetis behind me.

“Oh…… brother…….”

“He doesn’t like it when Sasha cries. Peri should stay out.”

“Yes…… yes. But I’m so…….”

I stumbled forward, barely managing to match the quick steps of Othello.

The angle of his eyebrows and the look of annoyance, same as always. I wonder what he doesn’t like so much.

I’m sure he’ll grow to like Permetis later anyway…….

Othello’s lips parted.

“I don’t like her, and I don’t like her mother.”

He’d come to like her later, but it would be a sad end…….

“Don’t you dislike her, too?” A pausing Othello asked, his eyebrows furrowed in displeasure, and for some reason my heart thumped as I remembered his future.

* * *

Recardo Winchester didn’t show up until late in the party.

Which was a pretty good choice, considering the mood of the party subsided as soon as he showed up.

He was not dressed in formal attire for a party, but in a battle suit with a long cloak. The heavy sword sheath that gleamed with a dull light at his waist made a rattling sound.

All eyes turned to Recardo as he took his seat at the head of the table, reeking of blood as if he had just killed a man.

Even the armor of his aide, Rowen, was spattered with blood.

“The music is dull.”

The orchestra leader flinched and bowed as Recardo took his seat.

The music stopped, and the conductor’s hands were visibly shaking.

Recardo smirked and muttered in a low voice, “I just came here from hunting, but everyone looks at me like a monster.”

The black flames behind him were thick, though no one could blame him.

Whether the hunt was for animals or people was unknown.

~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~

Zestia’s expression, which had been haughty and arrogant as she greeted him, has darkened.

“Give me a drink.”

Recardo Winchester, the man who all the attendees fear, admire, and are wary of……, the head of the Winchesters.

“…….”

Taking the goblet from his aide, Rowen, Recardo cleared his throat and spoke again.

“Play me something pleasant enough to wash away the smell of blood, for it would be a shame for the host to spoil the mood on a good day.”

“At your service, your Excellency,” The maestro replied in a high-pitched voice and began to gesture vigorously.

The grand but calm song has been changed to a cheerful but warlike song.

The people who had been watching him like mice began to speak up, but it was a far cry from the atmosphere before his arrival.

As I ate the fruit Maya was feeding me, I stared blankly at him.

Recardo Winchester was clearly the most powerful of the Winchesters.

Not only because of his good looks, which outshone every other adult male and female, but also because of his intense Black Flame presence.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt overwhelmed the moment he walked in.

“……Hiccup.”

“Miss?”

And I started to hiccup when the harsh-looking gaze of Recardo turned to me.

There were a lot of people, and I was a good distance away from him, so I didn’t expect him to look at me.

Our eyes met.

I hiccupped and quickly turned my head away. I thought I saw the corner of his mouth lift for a moment.

When I looked at him again, cautiously, he was talking to the Winchester nobles who had approached him.

They looked like they were bending down to ask him for something, and he was looking high and mighty.

Ugh. Turning my attention to his sword sheath, I shuddered.

“Hiccup.”

“Oh, are you cold, Miss?”

Maya draped the shawl she’d brought over my shoulders.

Othello was a couple of feet away, sipping lime juice.

Three or four kids my age came close to us, and when Othello glared at them, they gasped, turned around, and disappeared.

Maya looked at him and chuckled, “Your debut in society may be a long time away, but your debut in the clan is a success, Young Miss.”

I didn’t respond to the incomprehensible remark.

“I can’t believe the young masters themselves would escort you here.”

I had heard that no matter how direct one’s lineage is, if one is weak or out of place, one can be ignored and bullied.

The book Maya had read to me said something similar.

But the moment I arrived, escorted by Jin and Othello, people seemed to have lost the will to say anything about me.

Perhaps today’s me was strongly imprinted on everyone’s minds.

And then I heard Maya whisper, “For your information…… His Excellency the Duke has ordered it.”

I couldn’t help but gasp a little.

“Hiccup.”

I looked at Duke Recardo.

In the original, and even now, he was a human being far from attentive. A ‘dark king’, born in darkness, raised in darkness, living in darkness.

If he did something, there was a sinister reason for it all.

Was he really looking at me favorably? Having read the original, I was not convinced.

So, until I could figure out what he was thinking, I would keep my guard up.

He was alone, emptying his glass, and there was darkness in his eyes.

Suddenly, a status window popped up in front of me, one that I remembered seeing before.