I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 173

‘He really tried to kill me.’

Suddenly, a cold blade seemed to tear through his skin, starting from his neck, cutting down across his chest and sides. At the same time, the purple eyes that looked so beastly gleamed brightly from beneath the eyelids.

“…Hah!”

Aiden was so shocked that he sprang up, gasping.

“Cough, cough…”

He choked on his breath, unable to stop coughing, and his stomach turned in protest. His mind was completely scattered. Aiden tried to move, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate. He had to crawl, to get away somehow.

‘Herix… he’s going to kill me!’

Aiden, now only fifteen, quickly flipped onto his stomach and grabbed the ground, preparing to crawl away. That’s when it happened. The soft sound of fresh grass being crushed under his hand.

‘…Is this… grass?’

His mind came into focus. Aiden looked around in a panic, his eyes darting to his surroundings.

This was not a place he recognized.

It was spring.

The very essence of spring was all around him, spreading out in a warm, fragrant display. In the distance, he saw a figure.

Long, pink hair cascading to her waist, a gentle, surprised look in her wide eyes as she gazed at Aiden sitting there. And in those eyes was the same green that he himself had held.

The ruler of the green eyes, the one who owned them.

“Ah, you’re awake?”

Her voice was soft, her expression tender, but there was something divine and awe-inspiring about her beauty, something unreachable.

“No… Nov… Nov…”

“Nie. Novnie. I am Novnie.”

The God, Novnie.

“How… How did I get here…? Where is this place…?”

Aiden spoke stumblingly. No matter how hard he thought, this place did not feel real. It was too beautiful, too much like a perfect spring day, with animals playing in ways that seemed straight out of ancient books.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

‘I clearly… was wounded by Herix…’

But no matter how much he searched his neck and chest, there was no wound, not even a torn piece of cloth. Moreover, he had been at the palace right before losing consciousness.

This sudden change in location, the disappearance of the wound, and the appearance of the God before him… It was all too hard to believe. But after some thought, his confused mind concluded one thing.

‘I… I must be dead.’

Understanding is often completed in words. Tears streamed from Aiden’s dark green eyes as realization sank in.

A deep, distant sorrow and despair clouded his young face, only fifteen years old. He wanted to tear at his heart, but the pain only deepened. The one who killed him was none other than his beloved younger brother.

‘Herix… he… he killed me…’

There had been no hesitation in those eyes, no sign of emotion when Herix drew his sword. He had attacked Aiden without a second thought.

Aiden refused to accept it. He couldn’t believe it, couldn’t understand it. It was Herix, of all people. Herix had… killed him. His mind was consumed by this thought, the only thing he could focus on.

‘How could you do this to me?’

What have I done for you? To bring you into the light, what have I sacrificed? It was all for a sense of compensation. Aiden felt betrayed by Herix. Some might call it natural, but to Aiden, the sense of betrayal and compensation made him nauseous.

‘I didn’t… I didn’t try to break the curse for something in return from Herix.’

He never thought, “Since I’ve worked so hard, Herix will do something for me, he’ll recognize my efforts, he’ll look up to me like I do him.” He never thought that, not even a little. But now, he was not so sure.

‘Did I really not want anything in return? From Herix, truly nothing? Then why… why do I feel betrayed by him?’

He wanted to be pure, but couldn’t, and it tortured him. He felt like a shallow person. He felt disgust and contempt for himself at the same time.

But,

‘How could you? I hate you. How could you do this to me? Not someone else, to me.’

He hated Herix for killing him so helplessly. The tears that fell in sorrow began to fill with rage. But that anger did not spill out in tears.

On the contrary, it built up within Aiden, eating him alive from the inside. The young boy could only feel consumed by his emotions.

“Ugh, …kuhh… Ah…”

Aiden cried, unable to do anything but weep.

The more he hated his brother, the more he hated himself, and the more he hated himself, the more he resented his brother. His emotions lost their way, rampaging mercilessly. His clenched teeth couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping.

He didn’t know whether he was angry about something or crying from sadness, unable to stop the tears. He was only fifteen, too young to name the tangled emotions that overwhelmed him.

Had he become so immersed in his emotions? The grass he held in his hand had already turned yellow. If someone else had been there, they might have pulled him into their arms.

But instead, the God who introduced herself as Novnie laughed loudly at him.

“Ahahaha!”

The clear laughter echoed through the space that was pure spring itself. Ha! Ha ha! Novnie laughed, tilting her head back, mouth wide open, as if she had experienced something so joyful and funny that she couldn’t help but laugh.