The Villainous Family Loves Me Too Much!

In that instant, Eloise’s formerly innocent childlike gaze transformed into a sinister glint.

“Hahahahahahaha, so you figured it out? As expected of our clever Princess.”

She abruptly cackled maniacally, her exaggerated reaction to my provocative remark a clear giveaway.

Any observer could easily identify this as Beatrice.

I reached out and swiftly peeled off Eloise’s face-mask.

Revealed beneath, just as anticipated, was Beatrice herself.

Curling one side of her lip, she hissed in a venomous tone:

“Since you knew it was me, why bother luring me to this deserted place?”

“You may wish to kill me, but I don’t want to kill you. That’s why I brought you here, Bea.”

“What nonsense.”

“I brought you here because I don’t want to kill you.”

The briefest flicker across her features allowed me to sense Beatrice’s turbulent emotions: Extreme anger. Jealousy towards me. Resentment. All intermingled in her gaze.

Truth be told, I first realized her disguise from her attire.

Eloise was actually quite sloppy among the maids.

Though brave, physically strong, and resilient, her lackadaisical nature constantly earned her scoldings.

The dynamic between Eloise and my Lorraine persona was modeled after her real character flaws.

For Eloise to style her hair immaculately, neatly fastening her collar – it simply didn’t fit.

The most glaring hint was how she addressed me:

-Your Highness the Princess! When did you return?

Not once had Eloise called me ‘Your Highness the Princess’ before.

From our first encounter at the Felosite palace, I had only been ‘Your Highness the Archduchess’ to her.

“Oho? So you don’t wish to kill me, while I do wish to kill you. Does that mean you’ll oblige by dying?”

Beatrice gathered the white smoke from her palms, firing an elongated beam at me.

Yet with a mere flick of my wrist, those fumes dissipated powerlessly.

“You can’t properly wield your powers here. Do you even know where this place is?”

“How should I know? You said it’s your garden. Your tower.”

“No, let me clarify where ‘here’ is.”

With another snap of my fingers, this place’s true form emerged from its outward garden facade.

“Long time no see, Beatrice.”

A familiar voice rang out – Colin, another ‘fragment of God’.

“So you’re Beatrice. Greetings, Number Three. I’m the ‘fragment of God’ Number One – Yoo Sena.”

As Sena extended her hand in greeting, Beatrice contemptuously swatted it away.

“Really now, so ill-mannered. This is simply her nature, which is why I ended up being the kind one instead.”

At last, Sena’s three fragments – the ‘fragments of God’ – had all converged.

Within this very space I created: the gap in space-time, the wormhole itself.

* * *

“I can’t find her anywhere! Where in the world did Sister go?”

Lucian and Sylonne continued scouring every corner of the Felosite palace grounds searching for Karena.

“It feels like we’ve checked all the accessible areas within the palace.”

As an exhausted Sylonne collapsed onto the floor, Lucian forcibly pulled her back up.

“There’s still one place we haven’t checked. We need to go there.”

“Where is that?!”

“The tower I gifted Karena.”

Though they reached the tower’s entrance, strangely Lucian and Sylonne couldn’t enter.

“Strange. I distinctly enabled my entry there.”

“Could it be that Brother’s powers have weakened?”

Then abruptly, a crevice opened in the tower entrance as white light seeped through.

And emerging from that gap was none other than Karena herself.

“Karena!”

“Oh, what are you two doing here? Why are you both drenched in sweat?”

“Well, this is… Just what is going on here, Sister?”

Karena flashed them an awkward smile upon seeing the two.

“Ah, about this? I’m sorry, Lucian. I turned the garden into a wormhole.”

“A wormhole, you say?”

The full story behind these baffling events was as follows.

From the very moment she returned to Felosite, Karena had sensed something amiss with Eloise’s identity.

If someone impersonated Eloise, she had expected it would likely be Beatrice.

“So rather than outright killing Beatrice, I contemplated naturally trapping her within a wormhole instead.”

Utilizing Lucian’s mana, Karena spent the entire morning transforming the area around his tower gift into an actual wormhole while camouflaging it as a garden through illusion.

“It was more challenging than expected, but still manageable in its way.”

“So you successfully ensnared Beatrice within the wormhole?”

Karena nodded brightly.

“However, the ‘fragment of God’ mentioned the wormhole may destabilize. We may need to relocate those three elsewhere.”

Lucian leaned back wearily onto the sofa.

“You’re going to be the death of me. Couldn’t you have given me some prior warning about this?”

“Next time, I will. This was an uncertain, urgent situation.”

* * *

The location of Liam’s latest hunting grounds – the Count Kenoch estate belonging to Karena’s maternal family.

He only realized this connection upon finding a portrait of Karena’s mother, the former Empress Helena, within the manor.

‘While not my intended destination, I might as well thoroughly wreck the place since I’m here.’

Thus Liam indiscriminately demolished the estate’s outer walls.

The ancient trees densely surrounding the grounds, the immaculately landscaped gardens – all were trampled underfoot.

A blood-soaked field filled with cattle carcasses stretched out behind him.

Thousands of slaughtered cows.

Having devoured them all, he likely need not worry about sustenance for the foreseeable future.

But a pressing issue remained – where should he head next?

He no longer had anywhere to go.

Having forfeited his status as Crown Prince and imperial scion.

Driven by hunger, he had consumed every living creature in his path towards the Kenoch estate.

Animals, and humans too.

While beasts drew no scrutiny, the human deaths would undoubtedly pique Felosite’s investigations.

So he began wandering aimlessly.

And in the midst of that wandering, Liam had reverted to human form.

Yet he remained rootless, without destination.

Now as a human too, he would be treated as a mere beast.

‘I must have strayed far from Felosite by now.’

He walked, and walked, determined to keep walking until something crossed his path.

What he eventually encountered was this residence belonging to a man named Robben.

“How are you feeling now?”

Liam nodded sheepishly.

Initially, a primal urge compelled him to devour this entire household.

But strangely, he sensed an inexplicable kinship here. Impossible, yet undeniable.

“Lily, you’re awake?”

An odd, beastly scent emanated from the child named Lily crawling before him.

“Shall I bring you something to eat?”

What Robben offered Liam were potatoes.

He needed to eat something before inadvertently lashing out here.

“Well then, I shall partake.”

Taking a bite, a profound sense of satiety washed over him. Strangely, his cannibalistic cravings dissipated.

“Eat your fill. That should help alleviate those unnatural urges.”

As if reading his thoughts, the host’s remark about ‘unnatural urges’.

“You know what those unnatural urges entail?”

In that moment, Liam witnessed a blackish substance coursing through Robben’s thick veins.

“The compulsion to devour someone nearby… Something like that?”