Chapter 2. The Most Evil of Them All

Hidden in the shadows, a clamour of voices overlapped.

There was the sound of unintelligent screaming, then mad stomping. Gradually, the sound died down. In the dark alleyway, two figures could barely be seen by the naked eye. They were both men, and rather stuck closely to one another. Occasionally, they'd stick their heads out from the alleyway, attempting to capture a glimpse of a peculiar someone.

"Ugh..." One of the two men sighed. His body was puny and skinny, practically shrinking within the buttoned up flannel which he wore.

The puny man kicked one of his feet at the wall. "One day left... there is only one day."

By his side was another man. This man was skinny as well, but taller and with a hunched back. His trousers were ripped around the knees, revealing an expanse of muscular hair.

The tall man was confused. "What are you so concerned about?"

Whipping his head around, the puny man was shocked into disbelief. It wasn't after some time did he wipe the dumbfounded expression off his face. He sighed once again. "I forgot. You're the new member they've sent me, eh. Well, since you're so curious, I'll explain to you."

The puny man began his session of storytelling.

The lands in which they roamed in at that moment... in fact, is not where they belong. They were merely inside of a fictional novel. They originally belonged to the lands of earth. However, they died, and for some strange reason, reincarnated into a world that was described the same way as the novel they read!? Such scenarios were often found in stories as well.

There will always be a protagonist that dies, then reincarnates in a book they read.

These two men were reincarnators. It was bizarre enough to find one reincarnator. However, they managed to find an entire organization of reincarnators!

The organization was basically a cult of people who'd been reincarnated into the novel. As fellow reincarnators themselves, the two men joined the organization and became members. Nobody else but them knows how the future of the world will play out. Such facts are exhilarating. But then again, it withholds an inevitable danger.

"Did you see the man who just passed by?" The puny man hissed.

The tall man paused. After a while, he nodded. "I remember seeing that young man. He was really beautiful. I don't remember the author describing a background character as beautiful as him."

"Idiot!" The puny man retorted. "That isn't a background character!"

The tall man was dumbfounded. "What? Then, who is he?"

It took a while for him to process the name given. "Lucilline Rubius."

Lucilline Rubius was the most evil villain in the novel. He was the man who lit the kingdom in flames of hatred, war, famine, and death. There was no other man scarier than Lucilline Rubius. If he was ranked second place as the most dangerous villain, no other person would dare to take first.

Originally, he was a low key character.

Lucilline tended to blend in the shadows, but shone brilliantly when necessary. He was the third son of Duke Rubius, one of the three Grand Dukes in Lydia Kingdom. As the youngest son of a nobleman with high prestige, Lucilline was treated with respect wherever he went.

Even the author had a crush on him. There were no paragraphs written without mentioning Lucilline's appearance. The readers were long aware that the great Lucilline Rubius was a great beauty.

However, who knew what happened to the author, but they wrote Lucilline to become the great villain!

The readers were in an uproar. Why would the benevolent author make their favourite character as the villain of their novel?

Nevertheless, Lucilline's character rapidly changed. Since meeting the heroine and her harem of male leads, Lucilline was constantly inadvertently humiliated. His grades plummeted down, his reputation in school had been drained clear of, his personality became like a woman going through her T.O.M (time of month), and most importantly... he even grew dark circles under his eyes!

The author who'd been always talking about Lucilline's beauty... HAD GIVEN HIM DARK CIRCLES!

It was like the author had been replaced. Perhaps, the devil possessed them.

The character of Lucilline Rubius continued developing south. He became a paranoid character, constantly looking both ways before crossing the road. Who knew what happened to him, but one day, he snapped. Lucilline broke out into a fight with the male leads, then sent them into the hospital.

Since then, nobody saw him as a good person.

His reputation continued falling. During one night, the manor of the Rubius Family burnt down. Only Lucilline survived. His older sister and brother died, and Duke Rubius passed away from illness. Such a tragic event was marked down in history. The eldest sister was the strongest warrior in military, and the eldest brother was the heir. Duke Rubius was one of the three Grand Dukes in Lydia Kingdom.

Without these three people, Lydia Kingdom suffered. Society panicked, then turned their heads to look at Lucilline. They pointed fingers at him. How come the only useless one survived?

Lydia Kingdom suspected of Lucilline. They wanted an explanation for the deaths of the three Rubius relatives. They looked at Lucilline.

Nobody knew what kind of thoughts were on the man's mind.

All they knew was that it certainly wasn't anything pleasant. Indeed, it wasn't pleasant. Lucilline Rubius struck the society again. He completely massacred the "Heavenly Church" organization in one night. Later on, he was taken to jail. Lucilline Rubius was no longer the man who the author had a crush on. He was a man with blood on his hands.

However, he didn't get the punishment he deserved.

Lucilline broke out from jail. He escaped, then disguised himself as a beggar.

Lydia Kingdom panicked. They had no idea where Lucilline escaped to. It wasn't until later on did they forget about the supposed big bad villain.

Instead, another conflict arose.

A rumour spread around that mages were being mistreated. The rumour had influenced the Kingdom so badly that a group of mages had been seen murdered brutally by humans. The remaining of the mage race were enraged. They wanted to be treated as equal as humans. Thus began the discrimination. An entire war about Lydia Kingdom vs. Mages had been set aflame.

Other kingdoms didn't want to interfere, so they broke off trades with Lydia Kingdom. Since then, Lydia Kingdom became a place without diplomatic relationships. They lost products, and couldn't earn money. Taxes increased, and townsfolk could barely afford to buy crops.

People died from starvation.

In order to get their revenge, mages set the fields on fire with their magic. They burned down crops, farms, and lands. Nobody dared to grow crops anymore.

Since then, famine broke out amongst the townsfolk. They couldn't feed themselves, and over half the population of Lydia Kingdom died. All of the nobles survived due to their wealth. However, the common people were enraged. Why did they have to starve and die, while the noblemen were stuffing themselves with meat, surrounded by jewelry and gold?

A civil war broke out. Common people fought against the nobles. As a result, even more of Lydia Kingdom's population had been lost.

One day, demons invaded the lands of Lydia Kingdom. More and more people died.

It wasn't until later investigation did the heroine and her harem realize... the mages weren't murdered by humans! The mages were killed by the one and only Lucilline Rubius!

To protect Lydia Kingdom, the heroine and her harem fought against Lucilline Rubius. They protected their Kingdom against the demons, then tracked down Lucilline. In the end, the male lead executed Lucilline, and the flames of war finally died down.

"That man was Lucilline?" The tall man gawked. Never would he thought, a beautiful young teenage boy he'd just seen walking on the streets... would be the reason for the novel's massacre!

"Yes." The puny man nodded solemnly. "He is the great villain that will kill thousands of people thanks to his evil crimes."

The tall man's face paled. "Then... what are we supposed to do?"

There was no answer. For a while there, the tall man thought that his companion would never respond. Instead, the puny man finally responded. "Today is our last chance."

"...last chance at what?" The tall man questioned.

A murderous look flashed through the puny man's eyes. "To eliminate him once and for all."

The tall man was astonished. It took him a while to compose himself. "...why do we need to eliminate him?"

The puny man snickered at his naivety. "Can't you tell? Lucilline Rubius is the great villain. It was because of him that so many people died in the novel. If we don't eliminate him, then over half of Lydia Kingdom's population will be lost in vain. We can't wait for the protagonists. They're too slow. If we're unlucky... we might not even survive."

He laughed. "Besides, it is crystal clear that Lucilline is a lunatic. His family died, and right after, he massacred the 'Heavenly Church' Association. He is insane and unmoving."

"...then, can't we wait for a while before... eliminating him?" The tall man wasn't courageous.

Upon hearing that, the puny man rolled his eyes. He scowled, "Lucilline still haven't met the heroine yet. The day when the heroine transfers to his school; his life will change. He'll go crazy, start stalking the heroine, pick fights with the male leads... then comes the war."

The puny man sighed. "And the day when the heroine transfers... is tomorrow."

Abruptly, the tall man gasped in shock. He didn't think the big day would arrive so soon! "That means... we need to eliminate him today."

"Not today." He was shushed by the puny man. "It's right now."

*****

"Strange." Willow paused. She lifted her head, a sharp angle contrasting underneath her small chin. "Isn't it weirdly peaceful? There's not even a single argument in the streets." Examining her surroundings, Willow was even more sure of the strange foreboding aura. On the streets, there would normally be common folks chatting along or breaking out into fights.

However, everyone seemed especially well-behaved!

Immediately, Willow understood what was going on. She stuck closer to Lucilline, just one step away from merging into his shadows.

"Young Master," Willow whispered to the young man's ear. "Do you notice the peculiarities?"

To her astonishment, a mischievous smile fell onto Lucilline's lips. "Peculiarities?"

Abruptly, a scream festered in the back.

Whipping their heads around, the pair of master and maidservant found themselves facing the commotion of a horse going wild. There was a carriage, pulled by two horses. However, those two horses were on the brink of insanity. They stomped their hooves like madmen, then ran off into the distance without even thinking twice, pulling the carriage recklessly along.

"THE HORSES ARE GOING WILD!" A passerby cried.

The horses were out of control. They raced towards the front without looking. The wheels of the carriage were originally rusty. As the horses spiralled into speed, one of the four wheels had spun off from the carriage!

A gasp piped up.

Losing one of its wheel, the carriage completely lost its balance. It began to fall to one side, clearly lopsided. Then, it crashed against the floor but kept rolling.

Many passerby's ran away for cover.

Lucilline was indifferent to the ruckus. In fact, he even slowed down just to see what the fuss was about. However, Willow was clearly sweating buckets.

She nudged her Young Master. "Let's get out of here."

Before she could push him to leave, the carriage began crashing at a higher pace. Somehow, it even flung to the side of the road where Willow and Lucilline stood!

Suddenly on his guard, Lucilline was astonished to find the door of the carriage just inches away from smashing in his head-

Out of nowhere, the carriage stopped. Before it could come into contact with Lucilline, it froze in midair.

The crowd were dumbfounded at the young teenage boy's luck. However, they were even more dumbfounded at the fact that a young maidservant, Willow, was lifting the carriage! Willow heaved the carriage in her arms, the bottom of the vehicle completely lifted to leave the ground!

Everyone were shocked speechless at her strength. Only Lucilline, who was used to her... had returned to his indifferent expression.

The two horses that were out of control... had settled down once their reins loosened.

"Young Master, are you alright?" Willow proudly showed off. If she was a second slower, then her master would've had his head smashed in.

"Willow..." Lucilline regained his composure. "You can put down the carriage."

"Of course!" Willow plopped the carriage back onto the ground, mercilessly. Another wheel fell out from the carriage's rear end. Following after the movements, a large pile of dust rose in the air.

Willow huffed angrily. "Who owns this carriage?"

The crowd looked at her in confusion. It seemed like none of them owned the carriage. That sole fact had infuriated Willow further. She was going to blow off, but was interrupted by her master. "Enough, Willow. We should get back to the manor, lest Father worries." Lucilline adjusted the bracelet hung around his wrist, with the copper bell ringing weakly.

Willow calmed down. She could only follow after her master's footsteps, gradually leaving the large ruckus that they'd been involved in.

Hidden in the alleyway, a puny and tall man cried out in disbelief.

"Nobody told me that the maid was so strong!"

"Why didn't the author ever mention something so important?"

"Damn! We missed our chance!"

The puny man seethed in anger. He gritted his teeth and curled his hand up into a fist. "Enough is enough. We'll have to leave the rest to Boss."

The two reincarnators fled from the scene. They thought that their plan hadn't worked. After all, the villain survived. The tragic state of Lydia Kingdom in the future was still bound to happen.

What they weren't aware of was in fact, this incident was going to create a butterfly effect and turn all of the original plot... into a new land of destiny! This land of destiny won't allow the villain to die. No, not at all, because the big bad villain's most beautiful colours will be revealed for all to witness!