A Villainess Should Be Strong

If Heine dies just like this, a huge part of the world, the secrets that laid within it everything will be buried in one go. Heine's plans and the means he used to achieve those, Estelle still had to interrogate him on that matter.

Estelle gritted her teeth as she withdrew her finger away from Heine's neck, releasing the black marks and letting it disperse to wherever they wanted to go.

Instantly, she felt her mind clear up.

She was shocked beyond normal. What was the suffocating feeling she had experienced?

She just came in contact with the black mark for a short while, surely it didn't take over her mind in that period of time?

Estelle shook her head as she felt all the negative thoughts clear up.

Her reasoning and logical thinking came back.

"I.." Estelle's lips trembled as she thought about the dangerous plans she managed to come up with during the dazed session.

It was like piles of negative energy was actively corrupting her mind and soul. She found it hard to get out of the trapping sensation.

She laid Heine to rest on a stable surface as she cleared her own mind up until she was sure that the dark thoughts went away.

[..So that wasn't me.] Estelle heaved a sigh of relief. During that time, she was completely convinced that those thoughts were uttered by her own self. That she believed in what she had said.

It was only now that Estelle learned that what Heine experienced was the price for his deeds. To trespass over the unthinkable. He was not afraid of death if it meant that Estraea would be salvaged.

He was dealing with these dark thoughts all the time? Estelle had only touched over the black mark for some seconds, whereas Heine hosted those marks inside him. How much worse could it be?

Estelle had to admit, this kind of maniacal devotion was quite admirable.

"Hein- Astarte," Estelle hurriedly corrected herself. Her current persona was that of Goddess Estraea. In order for her safety, she was willing to play this role.

She now had memories of her past self, and although it wasn't going to be an easy feat, she could manage to play the role well. She saw some scenes of Estraea directly taking action and could make an educated guess on what her habits were.

She mused internally. It seemed like there was something inside Heine that caused him to harbor unpleasant thoughts.

If she could extract and separate Heine's thoughts, would anything change? Could he be her comrade, or would he stay the person that Estelle has already marked him to be in her mind.

Will he be able to redeem himself?

More importantly, would she allow him to redeem himself?

Estelle watched as Heine squirmed painfully, his eyes tightly shut and his expression crumpled.

Estelle was all too familiar with the sensation of pain. She struggled to hold back the rage she piled up herself after knowing that Heine was the cause of her troubles.

[Serves you right, jerk.]

Negative thoughts still flew across her mind. Only, this time it was based on her natural feelings and not forced.

The experience she felt after touching Heine's marks were completely out of the question. It was hundreds of times worse.

Only by touching it, she felt like she had lost her way of thinking and was influenced by those bizarre things.

What were the marks? How did they come up?

Estelle's gaze darkened as Heine went through another painful round. He had seizures and was on the verge of losing his mind.

Estelle began to think. Did he experience events like this even when they were together? Was he silently enduring it all this time?

If so, this  time the elapse seemed to be much more serious than the previous times. Heine couldn't even get up.

Estelle chose to observe the man a bit longer. She will learn about whatever she can learn, and the things she would do from there will have to depend on her final decision.

The marks were still scattering about. With each minute, they started to get darker in color, approaching a pitch black tone.

Estelle wanted to puke whenever she saw the marks squiggle around. They were like blood vessels. Or perhaps, the correct description was worms. These disgusting worms were eating at Heine's life from the insides.

Estelle gagged as she watched the marks worsen. She froze in her steps, watching it all unfold.

"Akh.. st-op. Stop it, stop it... Pleasepleaseplea- AHHHHHH!! STOP ITTTT!!!" Heine screamed for his life, coughing blood and other mysterious substances out of his mouth in one go.

The contents of his bile were blackened blood, gooey clumps of unknown material, and black sand.

"What on Earth- Heine!" Estelle finally couldn't take it anymore as she approached Heine, who was still vomiting out these unexplainable things.

"Astarte, get a hold of yourself!" Estelle knew that somehow, her actions had an effect at whatever was going on inside Heine.

She wanted to examine him thoroughly, but did not know how.

What was this? What kind of cursed thing did he do in order to get such a punishment?

"I have to.. I have to do this, I can't fall now- ugh," Heine mumbled weakly, wiping the mess from his mouth.

"Yes, yes, you can't fall now. Since you get it, hurry and focus at me!" Estelle exclaimed, turning Heine's head to face her

"Sis..ter," Heine broke into a sleazy smile. A childlike hue that covered him. "You must be disappointed in me,"

Heine giggled, still gagging over his conditions.

Estelle saw the marks from all over his body sprint upwards and starting to gather at his neck. She then began to realize the identity of his vomit.

It was these marks. They wanted to escape from Heine's body. To do that, they had to be vomited out.

No wonder they were all so concentrated at the neckline. It was because they were waiting.

Estelle took a deep puff as she knew what Heine had to do if he wanted to stop hurting.

"Have you gone through this before?" She calmly asked, straightening Heine's back as she supported him.

She had the power to restrain the marks, but she couldn't act rash. The slightest bit of action hurt Heine tremendously. Even as an outsider, she could feel the agonizing pain he felt.

"..I have," Heine replied in a hoarse voice. His throat was all parched and dry as a result of his vomit session.

"And what did you do to resolve it?"

"Vomit it all out... urk- Get away!" Heine pushed Estelle aside, covering his mouth as he continued gagging and choking over the vomit that fought to exit his body.

The contents were simply too harmful to be anywhere near. When placed inside, they corrupted one's mind and hurt them from inside. When placed outside, they had to be removed using barbaric methods of vomiting, which made the pain even worse.

"Astarte. My brother. Are you willing to go through some pain?"

"Of.. course. I already went through so much pain to recover you, what would a little bit more pain do?" Heine chuckled in defeat, as if mocking himself for his crazed actions. "Although.. the pain this time is a little bit unbelievable," He added.

He kept turning his head away as impulses to belch out the black marks' contents rose up within him without stopping. It was plain torture.

"Then, can you remove these restraints on me?" Estelle's eyes softened as she pointed at her restraints.

Heine looked bewitched for a split second, but he immediately recovered his sense right after that. It seemed like he was deeply invested in his plans to the point where he could bear anything and everything.

"Please. I need it to do something. Astarte, don't you trust me?" Estelle tilted her head with a smile, trying to play it off as best as she could.

However, instead of receiving the preferred reaction she was expecting, Heine snapped instead.

"Ahh, you really piss me off," Heine said with a grave tone, shocking Estelle who immediately became wary.

In the next second, Heine yanked her limbs and apprehended her with ease assisted by the restraints he had placed over her.

Estelle moaned in pain as she felt Heine straddle her, causing a great deal of pain. She was coming in contact with the marks too this way, although not exactly in the prime spots.

She could feel Heine's rampaging emotions as she was made breathless by a blow delivered by Heine.

"First of all, my sister never calls me Astarte. She calls me Arte. Second of all... well, there's no second of all. Just that one thing is able to convince me that you're not my sister," Heine looked at Estelle murderously as his hands stretched down to the girl's neck, pinning her down.

Heine chuckled in a mocking way.

"Now tell me. What is it that you want? Revenge? My life? Or.. are you someone who wants to break my plans apart? Do you want to distance me from my sister? Huh?"

"I wonder... which one is it?" Heine strengthened his chokehold as his eyes gleamed with a shade of red, as if he was possessed by an unsightly being. "Estelle Clareste. You're similar to my sister. Really similar. But you're not her. You're not my sister, the one I've been looking for all this time!!"

Heine raised his volume, making Estelle wince as she was in close quarters with him.

She couldn't speak because of the strong hold Heine had on her.

Heine's eyes were cold, but Estelle could see faint traces of pain on his flashing expressions.

Taking this as her chance, Estelle decided to make use of a loophole she found that could make her gain an advantage over the man.

Her eyes glimmered with a set of negative emotions as she latched her arm onto Heine's own.