I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 177

‘Come to think of it, Novnie did everything with that pink orb.’

It was the orb that created the food he ate, the one that gazed upon the mortal realm, and the one used for all the magical tasks and more.

This led Aiden to think:

‘If I possess that… can I gain the power of a god too?’

Could he truly become a god?

The first thing Aiden would want to do if he became a god was not to seek brutal revenge against the ungrateful Herix who had struck him with a blade, nor to understand why his younger brother had so desperately wanted him dead, nor even to make a triumphant return as a mighty being to the world after being believed to be dead by all.

‘I just want to be equal.’

Aiden wanted to stand side by side with Novnie. He wanted to become not just a guest staying briefly in the abode of spring but its master. He wanted to become a human who married Novnie and became an ancestor of the Questiago line.

But Aiden didn’t realize something.

The very desire to possess something, to want something, was fundamentally a human trait.

‘If I become a god, then… what does the mortal realm even matter?’

Humans began to seem trivial to him, as insignificant as ants. Their struggles, their fights, their fierce lives—they were nothing more than a spectacle for Aiden now. A game that could be ended with a single press of his hand.

Realization and knowledge sometimes consume a person. The younger they are, the more easily they absorb and are influenced by everything. That’s why they say not to even drink cold water in front of children.

At just fifteen years old, with the history of his father’s bloody ascension to the throne, Aiden was naturally soaked in these provocative and intense desires.

Like the Pope, Aiden wanted to become a ‘god.’ Like Arnold, Aiden wanted to hold the ‘position’ of being loved by Novnie. The same greed that Aiden had once despised in them was now taking root in him.

“What kind of emotions will Herix show me?”

Aiden knew in his mind that just because Herix was his enemy, it didn’t mean he was Novnie’s enemy, nor should he want that to be the case.

But his heart could not accept it. In the end, Aiden and Herix were just descendants of the same lineage. Aiden swallowed a bitter laugh.

‘Herix, we really are brothers bound by fate.’

A person he had loved so much, now a figure of extreme betrayal, leaving him numb to any feeling toward him.

Why had he tried to kill him? Aiden hadn’t even considered understanding that. He and Herix were the same in not wanting to recognize the truth, each of them unwilling to face what they had to know.

‘I’ll start over from the beginning.’

This time, the emotions that would build up would be pure hatred and disgust. A vile, bitter feeling filled him as he thought about it, yet what could he do?

Aiden had come to desire Novnie.

Meanwhile, Novnie knew all of this. Though she couldn’t empathize with Aiden’s feelings, she wasn’t ignorant of his thoughts. After all, wasn’t it a god’s role to listen to the desires of humans?

It’s one thing to listen to and fulfill a wish, but another thing entirely.

‘I see, so Aiden has come to think like this.’

However, this didn’t become a major concern for Novnie. Her only rival was chaos itself. Even if the humans she created harbored the darkest thoughts, they would never be a match for her.

‘Humans are such fickle creatures in a short time.’

They can love so deeply to the point of death, then quickly grow cold and fall for someone else. They can suffer greatly, only to recover and continue their lives.

All of this was due to the wisdom and intelligence of animals that Novnie had infused into humans—one of them being the ‘short memory,’ or ‘forgetfulness.’

Thus, Novnie thought Aiden’s feelings toward her would eventually change with time.

‘Humans place so much importance on camaraderie and belonging.’

Perhaps it was because they lacked relatives of the same family, genus, or species? Even though everything traces back to Novnie herself, humans would still create divisions, class distinctions, and try to form groups by separating themselves.

‘Surely, after some time, Aiden will long for that sense of belonging and return to humans.’

But this was a deeply God-like thought, one that didn’t quite apply to Aiden, who was, after all, so human.

If Aiden truly ‘loved’ Novnie, he would surely have changed eventually. But Aiden didn’t love her—he wanted to ‘possess’ her.

For him, desire and longing were the sorts of passions that only faded once fully consumed. Until then, it was an unchanging, unwavering feeling.

Even if Novnie eventually came to realize this, there was nothing she could do about it.

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“As long as I have this, I can become a god.”

“Aiden, what are you…!”

“Ah, just wait a little longer, Novnie. Now, we’ll be equal! I’ll become another god.”

In the brief moment when Novnie turned away, Aiden, who had been waiting for the opportunity, snatched the pink orb.

“No, Aiden. Even if you take that, you’ll never become a god!”

Aiden’s idea was that the orb was the source of Novnie’s power was half right, but also half wrong. Novnie had stored her power in the orb after calming the chaos, but she had not drawn strength from it.