CH 5

It was not revealed why Vincent killed his adoptive father in the original work.

He just spat out a few words as he slashed the sword over Cardien’s chest while Cardien was wilting like someone destitute after not being chosen by Celestina. 

‘I’ve never thought of you as my father, not even for a moment.’

I leaned my back and head against the tree and looked down at the duke’s mansion.

‘Cardien Mercedes…..’

Three male leads made appearances in <Everyone loves the Saint>.

There were the main male protagonists, crown prince “Hystellion Raer Lagranasia” and the holy knight “Eden Achillium”, who were tirelessly loyal to the female lead. 

And, of course, there was the other sub male lead, “Cardien Mercedes”, who was shrouded in darkness – a hidden villain. 

Hystellion, the true male lead, and Eden, the paladin, were able to easily occupy the side of the female lead and receive love without difficulty, thanks to their position and rights.

However, the circumstances of Cardien, the villainous sub male lead, were a little different.

‘An existence that was not loved, even by the heroine.’

The inclusive and altruistic saintess, Celestina, treated Cardien – who everyone reluctantly called a madman – without discrimination.

When Cardien suffered from mana overload, she used her ability to help him escape from the pain and whispered kind words by his side, soothing his terrible loneliness.

Cardien couldn’t help but to fall in love with Celestina.

The reason why he became a “villain” was because he quietly and secretly dealt with Celestina’s stumbling blocks behind the scenes.

However, after the story was over, all that was left for him was a terrible sense of loss. He would have been better off if he hadn’t tasted any of the kindness or sweetness that he couldn’t bear to be without. And to twist the knife, that sense of loss was ended with the terrible death of being murdered by his son.

The current time was before he met Celestina.

Cardien first saw Celestina at the Emperor’s birthday banquet, which was to be held shortly after the baptism.

Before that, Cardien had no interest in Celestina.

“……Then you must be very tired and lonely right now,” Livia mumbled.

Just like her.

Suddenly, he and Livia felt somehow similar. 

Lonely, forlorn, sick.

Soon after, she was so dumbfounded by what she had thought that she burst out laughing.

“I feel a sense of kinship with the Duke of Mercedes?”

No matter how dark his death was going to be, how could he be in the same situation as her, a homeless and terminally ill person struggling to live, without at least losing his house first? 

It was clearly an insult to Cardien.

‘All right, let’s stop thinking.’

Livia shook her head to shake off her wandering thoughts and looked up at the sky.

It appeared like the rain would stop soon. The heavy downpour had weakened a lot.

She didn’t think Vincent would come.

It was a waste of effort, but she had no regrets.

It was because this was better than Vincent suffering in the rain alone.

And she had found a good place.

The moment when she was about to stand up, thinking to herself that she should come back on a sunny day…

Rustle.

She heard a sudden sign of movement and turned her head, her face inadvertently hardening.

‘Silver hair?’

Through the shroud of rain, which had been lifted to some extent, Livia could see soaked silver hair.

Was it Cardien?

In <Everybody loves the Saint>, the silver hair symbolized Cardien, so Livia reflexively thought of him.

But she shook her head straight away.

It was too small to be Cardien.

There was a bit of a distance and she couldn’t see the shape of the person at first glance, but considering everything, it was too small to be Cardien.

Then there was only one person left.

Peering towards the silver hair with her eyes, she smiled a little and pushed her body and tried to get up from her seat by the tree.

Then, the shape was startled.

Before long, the hesitating figure approached her way.

Finally, his face was clearly visible.

A boy with rain-soaked silver hair, plump white cheeks flushed red, and bright red eyes reminiscent of rubies.

She knew it!

It was Vincent Mercedes.

The only heir to the Dukedom of Mercedes, and the one who would later kill his adoptive father, Cardien.

They really met.

Of course, Livia came running here with the intention of meeting him, but when she had just given up, he suddenly appeared, causing her head to freeze.

‘Agh, what should I do?’ Livia wracked her brain, trying not to panic.

First of all…..

“Ah……Hi?”

She greeted Vincent as carefully as she could so that he wouldn’t run away.

Flinch.

Vincent, who was surprised by her action, took a step back.

Livia was troubled by the appearance of a small animal that seemed to have met a natural enemy, and then continued slowly.

“So, I’m, uh, in the same boat as you.”

“………?”

Vincent, who had taken an attitude of running away at any moment, showed weak curiosity at her words.

Without missing the moment, she smiled innocently and said, “It suddenly started raining, so I tried to avoid it, and so I ended up here.”

Of course, the place she claimed to have ‘ended up’ at, the west hill, was not accessible enough to come to in the rain and accidentally get lost at.

But, what was the point in worrying about the details?

It didn’t matter.

The important thing was to break Vincent’s boundaries.

If Livia introduced herself as a tutor, he would definitely run away, right?

Vincent’s current resentment toward the tutors must have reached its maximum.

Being careful not to say unnecessary things, she spoke to Vincent.

“Please, you don’t need to stay there – you can come here.”

“………..”

But Vincent did not readily approach her.

To determine whether she was a safe person or not, red eyes were examining furiously.

‘Yes, yes. Explore as much as you want.’ Livia sighed internally. 

She deliberately did not look at Vincent, placed her hand on the ground for support, and leaned her upper body back in a comfortable position.

But it was only her posture that was relaxed; all her nerves were focused on Vincent.

He wasn’t really going to run away, was he…..?

Before the start of the class, she needed to get close to Vincent.

A relationship between the human beings Livia and Vincent, not between the tutor and the student.

Originally, she didn’t plan to do this.

Her original plan was to get closer during class using the information from the original work that she knew.

It would take quite a while, but the goal was to slowly get closer to Vincent by working out his trauma during class.

She thought that would be fine.

But……

When Livia knew that Vincent would get caught in the rain alone, she couldn’t ignore it.

In addition, if this opportunity could lead to a more special relationship, not just that of a tutor and a student, there was no better result than that.

Of course–

Livia looked at Vincent while pretending not to.

Vincent was still hesitating, wary of her.

Her efforts might fail.

She looked back at Vincent with her head tilted; when their eyes met, Vincent was startled again.

She grinned and patted the seat next to her.

“You’re here to avoid the rain, right?”

“……..”

“If you don’t like my presence, I’ll move away.”

Vincent’s eyes shook at his own preoccupation.

Although Vincent was known as the “Little Devil of the Mercedes Dukedom” among nobles, his behavior may be because he vaguely knew the process of his growth.

He didn’t look so vicious in Livia’s eyes.

“……That’s okay.”

Vincent, who answered stiffly, slowly approached her.

Livia just looked at Vincent like that.

Vincent, in his gradual approach, hesitated and then finally sat a little away from her.

At first glance, the tip of his ear was bright red.

Although Vincent kept a distance from her, the trunk of the tree was so big that it supported their backs without any difficulty.

Vincent gathered his knees, wrapped his arms around them, and curled his body.

Vincent’s eyes turned to the duke’s mansion.

Thanks to Vincent not looking at her, Livia was able to appreciate Vincent’s profile.

‘So cute,’ she admired internally. 

All children at that age were cute, but Vincent especially showed off a more exceptional cuteness.

Besides, it was a look with a very promising future.

She resisted the urge to pinch his chubby cheeks.

‘If I do that, I will never be able to approach Vincent again,’ Livia reminded herself, firmly. 

She tried to look at Vincent with a calm gaze.

Vincent Mercedes.

In the original work, Vincent was a supporting character who did not appear very often.

But every time Vincent appeared, he showed terrible loneliness and resentment.

And eventually, his father…..

Vincent was 13 years old when he killed Cardien.

Three years from now, this little kid would kill his father with his own hands.

What happened to Vincent?

It bothered Livia even more because she was not fully aware of the darkness inside Vincent.

Vincent, who felt her gaze, turned towards her.

Their eyes met unexpectedly.

Flustered by the unanticipated encounter, she opened her lips to say something.

But before she could say anything, Vincent quickly looked away.

At first, she thought that he was embarrassed or offended by the fact that she was staring at him.

So, she tried to apologize.

However, the thought soon changed.

Trembling. He was trembling.

“Ah……..”

The moment Livia found Vincent trembling with a pale complexion, as if he was engulfed in fear– 

She realized the fatal mistake she had made.