Misunderstood Villain: Heroines Mourn My Death

Chapter 333: Eyes Of Disdain

***

{Outside The Projection}

They were right.

Malik’s words confirmed their thoughts.

But the hall wasn’t thinking about that now.

No, right now, they were all still stuck on the fight.

Stuck on Zafar.

They felt…

Respect?

No. Not quite.

Shock, maybe, mixed with a little bit of relief.

Zafar had exceeded all their expectations tenfold.

They knew Roya was technically capable; she always was.

She might’ve even scratched Malik if he wasn’t so, well, Malik.

But they didn’t expect that out of Zafar.

Zafar actually fought against him.

Sure, he relied mainly on his luck.

Sure, Malik could’ve ended him in the first moment.

Sure, he revealed thousands of openings at each exchange.

Sure, Malik had stopped him from blowing himself up and SAVED HIS LIFE, but still…

Still, he was better than they expected.

He fought.

And not in some sad, flailing way either. No.

There were moments, real, heart-pumping moments, when they couldn’t tell if Malik was going to be hit or not. Moments when Zafar actually came close.

Of course, his being ’close’ was nothing. Literally nothing he could do could ever even begin to hope to injure Malik in any way, shape, or form… but again, and still, a skin-contact hit like a graze or a scratch was the maximum milestone, so it made for a decent viewing.

Even Noor blinked at that, biting the inside of her cheek.

“Lucky bastard.”

She knew just how unclean those runes were.

The boy just flung his soul at the Wheel and said, “Figure it out.”

And it worked… kind of.

Enough to make Malik scuff the ground once. Once.

But that was enough to shake the entire damn hall.

If Zafar could do that…

Maybe they weren’t as blind as they thought.

Maybe they weren’t completely hopeless.

Sure, they’d followed leaders with coalition-ending secrets.

Sure, they were idiots to follow them.

But after seeing this, recognizing what he was capable of, perhaps their choice wasn’t completely blind, right?

…Right?

They looked to the others around them, hoping someone else would nod, agree, say “Yes. Yes, that means we’re not complete idiots.”

But no one spoke.

Because only Malik was allowed to answer.

And he?

Well…

***

{In A Bright World}

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! I’M SO STUPID!”

Zafar faceplanted into the dune, kicked his legs, and rolled like a man on fire, sending sand flying everywhere.

A fully veiled woman, sitting cross-legged nearby, casually raised a hand to block it.

“Stop…”

Indeed, she was that once flying object of black.

“Flailing…”

It, or rather, she, had arrived.

“Boy.”

Her voice sounded… old, as did the appearance of her dress.

“My ears aren’t all that good anymore.”

The dress she wore was big, covering her entirely, from the crown of her head to the tip of her toes, and it was entirely black, perhaps for mourning—

“DUMB! SO FUCKING DUMB!”

“Goodness…”

She sighed, brushing a bit of sand off her knee.

“You young ones exhaust me just from watching.”

Her hands were thin, bony, yet graceful; no doubt from high nobility.

“You throw tantrums like toddlers… but act like the world owes you something.”

Only a single lock of silver hair peeked from beneath the veil.

“Now please… sit still. You’re getting sand in my clothes.”

Zafar stopped rolling around and looked at her.

“Then you shouldn’t have come here!”

“Oh, my…”

“You didn’t even introduce yourself!”

“I can’t~.”

“I’m the leader of the coalition, you know!”

“I don’t know about that.”

Her eyes—the only part of her face visible—were almond-shaped. Lined with kohl. Deep, deep brown, almost black. Eyes that had seen centuries, eyes that smiled even when her mouth didn’t.

They told him what her mouth didn’t.

Your people have already betrayed you.

Go back to the Holy Palace and you’ll see it.

“W-Whatever…”

Zafar looked away, not wanting to confront the truth.

“It’s just this… I should’ve died! You saw that, right? Right?!”

He went back to what ailed him, trying to delay thinking about what was most important.

“The first glyph wasn’t even remotely stable! It leaked like all Hell!”

“Oh, it’s fine…”

She chimed in softly, eyes not leaving Zafar.

“But yes… It was bad. The lines were collapsing before the second loop. You drew it like a drunk steed.”

Zafar groaned.

“Don’t remind me…”

He grabbed a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers.

“Openings everywhere. My stance was garbage. I forgot to breathe halfway through the wind-fire combo! I put three power enchantments behind the lightning and didn’t even account for the recoil. How am I alive?!”

The Lady nearly giggled.

“Your Fortune’s Wheel, and well… Malik.”

Zafar groaned again, but midway through, his eyes suddenly widened.

He looked at her in surprise, blinking rapidly.

“W-What?”

She tilted her head.

“…Hm?”

“I-I, you, I… did you… What did you say?”

“I said that it was because of your Fortune’s Wheel…”

Her voice remained sweet and unchanged.

“And the Sultan.”

Zafar nodded his head in a stutter, feeling relief flow through him.

“A-Ah yeah, sorry. I just thought…”

He looked around, noting that Aether remained unaffected.

’She didn’t say his name; I was just hearing things… yeah.’

Accepting that as fact, he moved on, or, well, returned to his tirade:

“I hate him. I hate how good he is! I hate how he didn’t even flinch once! I hate how—how he just watched me spiral and still pulled me out of it like it was some sort of chore… and the bastard kicked me!”

The Lady giggled.

“Maybe it was his mercy?”

“Didn’t feel like mercy…”

Zafar buried his head in the sand.

“Shit was personal.”

The projection flickered above them, still paused on a pitiful bastard’s final moment.

But that wasn’t the case in his mind, as it instead replayed the fight over and over again.

Every attack. Every explosion. Every slip. Every mistake.

Zafar couldn’t stop watching.

He was staring at that part now.

Where he fell.

Where the explosion ripped out and should’ve ended him.

Where Malik moved with… intent in his Aether, and Zafar’s own obeyed like a slave.

Everything stopped for him at that moment. Time froze for a long , long heartbeat.

But Zafar’s focus wasn’t on himself… it was on Malik.

He noticed something.

“…He looked at me differently.”

The Lady blinked.

“Hm?”

“The Sultan. After he kicked me.”

“You were unconscious, boy.”

She deadpanned.

“I’m well on my way to three hundred years, alright! Stop teasing me!”

Her eyes smiled at him.

“Considering it was 86 After Dissapearing—I mean ADS—”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

He pushed himself up and leaned in towards her.

“I’m not that dumb, alright?! After disappearing—what? You know the rest, so tell me!”

She slowly shook her head.

“It’s not my place to tell you, sorry… Now, will you allow me to continue?”

Zafar sighed and waved her away, giving up on ever getting anything out of this mysterious stranger who came completely out of fucking nowhere!

“Well now, if it was 86 ADS back then and it’s 313 ADS now, that makes you what… nearly 290 years young, huh? Not bad. Though honestly, with that scrambled little head of yours and the way we Magi spend all our years just sitting around spinning Aether, I’d be surprised if you’re mentally older than thirty. Maybe a little higher… if we’re being kind.”

She giggled softly once more, a little teasing, a little fond.

“Still a kid in my eyes.”

He nodded his head while not saying anything, not wanting to “clap back” with the exact number, which was definitely higher, just for petty revenge.

She giggled a third time.

“You’re a cute kid.”

Rolling his eyes, he turned back to the projection and finally said his piece:

“I know his eyes… I’ve stood across from them for years, and those right there… those eyes are different from the ones he usually looks at me with. This time, they weren’t cold. Filled with disdain. They weren’t—”

He paused.

“…They weren’t disappointed.”

The Lady’s eyes turned serious as she continued to listen.

“For fifteen years, he looked at me like I was a mistake he was obligated to fix. Every time I messed up, I saw that same blank disappointment.”

He wiped the sand from his brow.

“But just now, after all that stupidity…”

His voice shook a little.

“He looked at me like I finally meant something. Even if it was for a second. Even if it was just neutral.”

“…That’s it?”

The Lady asked.

Zafar nodded.

And smiled.

“…Yeah. That’s it.”

He flopped back into the sand with a thud.

Happy. Sad. Angry. Relieved.

All at once.

Only someone like him would notice the difference.

And only he would be conflicted to see it go.

All of it didn’t really matter in the end… he disappointed Malik.

Yes, he fulfilled the Sultan’s final goal, but he needed so much help and leeway.

He so deeply disappointed Malik. So, so deeply. But that didn’t matter for him right now.

The only thing on his mind was the leaving of those eyes.

Eyes of disdain.

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