I Became the Patron of Villains

4. Until Becoming the Count’s Dark Secret (4)

Time passed, and it was the second year since Alon had saved Yutia and started exchanging letters with her regularly.

“We succeeded again this time.”

“Really?”

Alon could hear the good news from Evan.

“Did you send them to the orphanage?”

“Yes, this is the fifth time.”

At Evan’s words, Alon nodded.

In the slightly over a year that had passed, Alon had succeeded in saving all three of the sins he had originally intended to save.

‘It was a bit difficult to save the sin of greed.’

The third sin he saved, the sin of greed, now known as Rine Groff, was difficult to find, but not particularly difficult to save.

The same was true for the other sins.

It only took a few months for everyone to find it, but with the knowledge from playing the game, Evan was able to find it through hard work.

Alon spoke to Evan, who had been running around for the past year to save the Five Great Sins according to his orders.

“You can rest a bit now.”

“Is it over now?”

“It’s over.”

“…That’s a relief.”

Evan, who had sighed in relief, looked at Alon and spoke.

“But, young master, aren’t you happy?”

“Of course I’m happy.”

“For someone who’s happy, it doesn’t show on your face at all.”

“…Really?”

At Evan’s words, Alon turned his gaze to the mirror.

There was the now all-too-familiar face of Alon.

‘Indeed…’

The man reflected in the mirror was expressionless.

No, if you looked closely, the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, but the change in expression was so subtle that you wouldn’t notice unless you looked very carefully.

Alon tried to force a smile, but seeing his not-bad-looking face turn into something bizarre, he stopped.

‘It feels like only the skin on my face hasn’t possessed properly.’

Unlike before, when his emotions were clearly visible, Alon’s body no longer showed emotions on his face.

Even if they did show, it was excessively subtle.

‘It’s not a bad thing, though.’

Of course, Alon only had a slight regret about this fact and didn’t think much of it.

The people who would feel uncomfortable because emotions didn’t show were others, not himself.

‘Anyway, with this, what I have to do right now is over.’

Alon smiled as he thought of the five candidates for the sins gathered at the orphanage.

‘I didn’t expect things to go this well.’

In fact, Alon hadn’t thought things would go this well from the beginning.

The Five Great Sins all had enough potential to become sins, and no matter how hard Alon tried to save them, he couldn’t save them before anything bad happened.

In other words, Alon’s only worry was that he could only save the Five Great Sins in a broken state, but contrary to his worries, the Five Great Sins were all growing up normally.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“When you went to the orphanage last time, you said there didn’t seem to be any particular problems, right?”

“At that time, before sending them to the orphanage, Rine and Seolang were in poor condition, but by the time I visited, they had returned to normal.”

“Really?”

“Yes, in Seolang’s case, when we first rescued her, she was like a completely broken doll, doing nothing and just staying still. But at the orphanage, she was doing well. Similarly, Rine, who initially kept her eyes closed as if she didn’t want to see anything, was reading a book with an interested expression when I saw her last time.”

At Evan’s words, Alon nodded.

It was not much different from what Yutia had written in her letter.

‘I didn’t expect Yutia to do so well.’

In fact, the reason Alon initially left Yutia at the orphanage was partly because he didn’t want to keep her close, but also because there was a setup that she had some attachment to the orphanage.

However, he couldn’t be sure that she would take good care of the other children as well, so he originally planned to send Evan to check on the situation and, if anything seemed off, to bring in professional help.

‘But now there’s no need for that.’

Alon smiled.

Things had gone much better than expected, and thanks to Yutia’s good work, there was only one thing left for Alon to do.

‘To develop the ability to protect myself to some extent.’

Of course, as the third son of the Count of Palladio, he wouldn’t be in any life-threatening danger if he didn’t take any special actions.

Especially since Evan was by his side.

But considering that this world was based on dark fantasy, it was essential to have the ability to protect oneself, so he was contemplating learning magic.

“Oh, by the way, have you heard about the ‘Blue Moon,’ young master?”

Lost in thought, Alon responded to Evan’s words.

“Blue Moon?”

“Yes, it’s an organization that has recently become very famous in the eastern region. I’ve heard they hunt other organizations.”

“…An organization hunting other organizations?”

“Yes.”

“Then they’re doing a good thing.”

Alon answered bluntly.

Having already adapted to the dark fantasy world, what came out of his mouth was praise.

If the Blue Moon were massacring ordinary people, it would be a frown-worthy issue, but if they were hunting organizations, the story was a bit different.

After all, Alon had never seen or heard of any organization on this continent that didn’t involve taking lives.

If they were an organization hunting those who toyed with human lives, it wasn’t something to look down upon, so Alon reacted that way.

“The problem is, they also kill nobles.”

“……Evan.”

“Yes.”

“From today, sleep in the room next to mine.”

He spoke firmly in response to Evan’s continuing story.

‘Considering that the organization called Blue Moon never appeared in the original work, it must be an organization that disappears before the original story begins… Ah, come to think of it, Leo has been in a bad mood lately, was it because of that?’

Alon, who was thinking about that part for a moment, soon shrugged his shoulders and began to write a letter.

It was to reply to the letter from Utia that arrived yesterday.

“Hmm……”

By the way, the letter from Utia that arrived yesterday contained the same content as before, with a bit of greeting and a brief status of those he had asked to take care of, along with a list of sponsors.

After confirming that, Alon started with a greeting as usual and then considered writing about the ‘Blue Moon’ he had just heard from Evan, but decided against it.

Blue Moon hunts organizations or nobles, not orphanages with orphans.

As usual, Alon finished writing the letter and sent it to the mercenary guild.

It was a leisurely day.

A few weeks later, at an orphanage in the east.

At the regular meeting that started every week after they began their ‘activities’ in earnest, Utia was reading the letter Alon had sent.

“A letter from him? Let me read it too! Me too!”

“Me too, I want to read it.”

As Utia was reading the letter, a girl waving her hand vigorously and another girl raising her hand slightly from the opposite side spoke.

Even in the dimly lit hideout, their golden and green eyes were shining, they were Seolang and Rine, who would become the sins of pride and greed in the future.

“Here.”

“Can I really see it?! You didn’t show it last time!”

“It’s about time you saw it.”

With that, Utia smiled and handed over the letter, and Seolang, Rine, and Deus, who had been quietly watching, looked at the letter with curious eyes.

A little later.

“……Is this a directive?”

“It just seems like everyday conversation……”

“……”

They all expressed their doubts and read the letter in front of them again.

Because the letter really contained everyday conversation.

As Deus looked at Utia with an expression demanding an explanation, she smiled and explained.

“It’s natural for it to look that way, because from the very beginning, he ordered it to be written to look like an ordinary conversation.”

Then Utia took out a slightly worn letter from her bosom and showed it.

“……”

The content of the letter was ordinary. Along with light words asking about the first greeting, it naturally contained the message that they would exchange letters about the ‘orphanage’ periodically in the future.

“……?”

“Isn’t this just an ordinary letter too……?”

Seolang and Rine, with puzzled expressions.

However, Deus, as if he had easily realized the true meaning of the letter, spoke.

“Is it because the secret must not be leaked that you exchange letters in this way?”

“That’s right.”

“Indeed.”

Nodding his head, Deus looked once more at Seolang and Rine, who were still staring at the letter, and asked.

“If you’re worried about the secret being leaked, wouldn’t it be better to use magical communication or for us to go and hear the story regularly?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why go through the trouble of writing letters this way?”

“Because that’s his will.”

Utia added with a smile.

“If he decided to do it this way, then we just follow. There’s no need to question or think about it.”

“……”

At those words, Deus felt his mouth dry up for a moment.

Her emotions were generally calm, but whenever she spoke about him, she showed a deep, unwavering belief that even gave him chills.

“……I understand.”

Therefore, Deus quietly nodded, seeing the fanatical light in her red eyes, and soon Utia began to retrieve the letters she had given to the members, carefully placing them back in her bosom, marking the end of the ‘report.’

“Seolang. The north?”

“The slave traders, right?”

“That’s right.”

At Utia’s words, Seolang showed a bright smile without a hint of cloudiness.

“I’ve taken care of them all.”

“The identity?”

“Not caught! The clothes Rine made for me seem to be really good. I gave a quiz saying I’d spare them if they answered correctly about my facial appearance, but no one could answer.”

“So?”

“I pulled them all out. The hair.”

It was excessively cruel to have come out with a cheerful laugh, but Yutia calmly turned her gaze to Deus.

“The south?”

“The guys called Avalon were running rampant, so I took care of them all. And there’s one more thing to talk about from there.”

“What is it?”

“The head of Avalon is the eldest son of the Count’s family where he resides, isn’t it?”

Yutia nodded silently at Deus’s words.

However.

“…It seems the eldest son of the Count’s family is trying to poison him.”

As soon as those words ended.

“…What?”

The atmosphere froze.

Just a moment ago, Seolang, who had been smiling cheerfully, folded his ears back and looked around nervously, while Rine, who had been watching the situation, fixed her gaze forward.

The only one properly looking at Yutia was Deus, who had foreseen this situation.

But even he felt a cold sweat running down his body from the unexpectedly strong killing intent.

After a brief moment.

“…Are you sure?”

“There was a directive.”

“Did you bring it?”

“Yes.”

Deus took out a letter from his bosom as if he had been waiting for it.

Yutia read the letter without blinking an eye.

[After the Count, who seems to have little time left, dies, quietly poison and dispose of him.]

As she read the last line.

“…I see.”

Clutching the directive tightly.

“Really, I see.”

She muttered softly with chilling eyes.