"W-what…?"

Belle's mask of bravado broke as Ralyks made his statement. Her eyes were wide open as she looked at the darkness before her.

"There's no need to hide it. I see through you, you know?"

More chuckles of amusement echoed from behind the mask as Ralyks drew closer to her by shifting his body forward.

Belle felt like she wanted to retreat, but there was nowhere to run to.

She could only watch him approach.

"S-so what if I am?" She found herself asking.

This would be the time where she was meant to deny what he was saying, but here she was digging a deeper hole for herself.

'I've never been this honest with anyone before.'

Belle didn't want to stop, but she also understood how dangerous her current disposition was—especially if she was found out.

'I can't let everything come crashing down! I can't be found out!' She panicked as she tried to look away from Ralyks.

"There's no need to worry."

The calm words that came from Ralyks seemed to embrace her and draw her body closer to him.

Belle suddenly felt at ease.

"I won't tell on you. In fact, I find your personality refreshing…"

"W-what are you…?"

"I mean that I quite like you, Belle. You're very much my type."

"I-I don't understand…"

Belle was so confused, yet something within her felt happy to hear those words.

She felt her cheeks grow hot, and she felt herself sinking deeper into the gaze of a man whose face she didn't even know.

"There's no need for you to understand. I understand it all—your thoughts, your emotions, and your current dilemma."

Ralyks said it before, but it was only now that Belle believed it wholeheartedly.

'He can see through me!'

Her heart raced even faster as her body trembled in his presence.

She didn't know what to say next.

"Am I… evil?" She asked the man before her.

"Pardon?"

"I placed all my classmates under my mind control, and let them do my bidding. If it wasn't that Conrad went to make his announcement so suddenly and in public, I would have controlled everyone and forced them to remain in the Royal Estate for my sake. But…"

"Is that all?" Ralyks' tone seemed to hint at boredom.

It puzzled Belle.

Surely, her actions would be considered despicable by most, yet this man wasn't even moved by it at all.

"I-I also… in my homeland, I caused a lot of people to suffer for defying me or trying to compete with me."

"And? What else?" Ralyks asked once more.

"I plan on making Alicia and Adonis suffer for outshining me. Even after knowing that they're good people, I can't help but desire to see them suffer."

A few seconds of silence elapsed, and Belle began to breathe heavily.

'Surely this will be enough…' She thought to herself as she maintained eye contact with the man before her.

His eyes did not flicker for a moment, though.

"Are you done?" As Ralyks asked her this question, Belle felt a sting within her.

She couldn't believe the look of disappointment that oozed from the eyes of the man who stared at her.

His crimson stare was cold.

Too cold.

"You're going to remember this conversation a lot differently, so I suppose there's no harm telling you…" Ralyks' tone was dangerously low.

It felt like she wasn't even hearing him with her ears, but he was speaking directly into her mind.

"I have laid entire civilizations to ruin. I have consumed several worlds and caused the end of countless innocents."

Belle's thoughts became blank as images of horror played through her mind.

What she saw was unspeakable.

She couldn't even understand most of it. The end of it all, however, was darkness.

"Do you really have the right to call yourself evil? No… you're not."

"I am… not evil?" Belle asked, her eyes widening the more she uttered the words that were imprinted in her mind.

"You are not evil."

"I am not evil." She repeated with a smile on her face.

"Indeed. You did all those things simply because you thought they were right. We all make mistakes when we're young and we learn to grow out of them when mature." Ralyk's voice filled her mind.

"Let's just say you have grown more mature now. You understand things better… don't you?"

"Yes. I understand things better."

Ralyks nodded his head and patted Belle on her head, his fingers coursing through the beautiful yellow strands of her hair.

"What matters most aren't our intentions, but our actions. Despite your sociopathic tendencies, you chose to stay behind and save this world. Right?"

"Yes. But that is simply due to my selfish desire."

"But you'll be recognized as a hero. As someone who selflessly charges into the battlefield."

"Is that who I really am, though?"

"Does it matter? Are you good because you help people, or do you help people because you are good? It's a paradox."

Slowly, Belle began to understand.

She wasn't evil in the slightest—at least, not ever since she matured.

"I just have to do good deeds to compensate for the darkness within."

"Indeed. That darkness… that innate selfishness… you can't let it die. It is your greatest ally."

Belle nodded like an obedient child. She understood the wise words that Ralyks fed her mind.

"Is that why you are helping us? Why you do so much good to us?" She asked, her blank eyes staring at his deep crimson ones.

"Hmm?"

"You possess a much deeper darkness than I can see. Yet you assist us. Why do you do so…?"

Chuckles began to respond in Belle's head. They contained nothing short of dark amusement.

His laughter was so condescending, as if he mocked her question—no, her very existence.

"I only help you all because it is the will of my Master. If I was free, I would have consumed this world as well."

"Why… do you serve your Master?" Belle asked.

This time, there was no laughter.

No amusement whatsoever leaked from the lips of the blackened one.

Only clarity echoed from the depths of his mind.

"Because Master has a deeper darkness than mine—much deeper than he realizes."

Belle could not understand these words that she was hearing.

No one could.

"I await the day when that darkness awakens."

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Thanks for reading!