"..."
Rotsard was leaning against the carriage's window, staring in silence at the passing landscape with reddened eyes.
The previous day turned into a blur for him.
Lila received a proper burial, at least that part he was certain about, but anything else… not so much.
He could not explain anything properly, and he was quite certain that after his shameful display of repeated apology, the villagers thought he was the one who killed her.
It was more than likely that it singlehandedly ruined whatever good opinion of Rotsard those people had.
But… should that even matter to him…?
It shouldn't, right?
But it did.
Was it so strange that Rotsard wished that at least some background characters without any involvement with the story would have a positive opinion of him after he dies?
The story required him to be the villain, a corrupted, selfish noble who would become a stepping stone for the hero to one day save the world.
He was going to be remembered as the failure, traitor who let his heart be taken over by the seduction of a deofol and succumbed to gedwyld.
…but even though Rotsard accepted his role, he still…
"...haaaaa…"
Rotsard let out a bitter sigh and looked away from the window and at the opposite seat with the emptied hidden compartment.
He straightened his back and took a deep breath.
Although the legacy of grandeur and honor were the backbone of aristocracy, giving the reason for its existence, what good was any of it without any survivors able to pass those stories on?
If he needs to be labeled as a loser and a failure for the world to even have a future, so be it.
But will he take it lying down?
What did noblesse oblige even mean to him?
Was he simply going to accept his own death, playing into the hands of a deofol of all things?
No.
His mother hid him away because she wanted him to live.
Lila tried to help him because she wanted him to live.
Mira researched and brewed him potions because she wanted him to live.
Marlene and Gerard were happy that he was alive...
And he was supposed to let go of his own life because a foul creature that supposedly never lies but always tries to deceive humans had told him that it was the only way for the rest of humanity to survive?
As if!
For now, he will play along the story.
He will make sure that the events match on the outside.
All while increasing his own strength, all while preparing...
Preparing to take down the Arch Deofol itself!
That foul thing will forever curse the name of…!
Rotsard Vallhall.