Reincarnated As The Villainess's Son

"Hey! Where are you dragging me!?"

"Can you shut up?"

"Why are you dragging me in the forest?"

"I won't do anything bad, I promise."

Nymeria gave him a disgusted look as I said that with a smile.

She drew in a deep breath as she tried to pull me back. "No, shut up and follow me back."

That didn't affect me even a little bit as her legs were dragged along.

"You are surprisingly weak for an Avatar," I replied, clearing the path ahead. "Why are you still not an Eternal?"

"You really think it's that easy!?" she snapped, glaring at me. "Creating a kingdom takes time—"

I cut in her words with a sigh. "I have three kingdoms."

A perplexed look appeared on her face. "W…What?"

[<You really had to show off, didn't you?>]

'Keeping that aside, when are we going to reach my grave?'

[<Wow. That's creepy.>]

'Answer me.'

[<Hmm. Take a left.>]

I groaned as I turned to my left, getting deeper in the forest.

Nymeria stopped in her tracks, yanking the handcuff connecting us. "W…wait, how do you have three!?"

"Why should I tell you?" I replied flatly, yanking her back. "And stop bothering me."

She almost fell over me but she barely balanced herself from falling.

"You—!"

I ignored her as I looked around the forest that had become increasingly thick.

Branches scraped against my coat, and the air was filled with the scent of wet moss and old bark.

Surprisingly, there were fireflies that moved around the place.

[<Almost there. Just go downhill now.>]

I stepped past a fallen log and began moving down a small slope, careful not to trip on the loose rocks.

"Hey," Nymeria called from behind, "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe," I replied, finally landing on even ground. "So, I can kill you without problem."

She let out a small chuckle at my words. "What makes you think you can?"

"Oh, I can," I replied calmly. "And don't worry, I will make good use of your dead body."

"…Urgh."

A disturbed and pained look appeared on her face as she quickly took a step away from me.

'....'

Damn, am I really a sadistic bastard?

For some reason, I really like that look on her face.

[<We are here.>]

I looked away from Nymeria as I arrived in a small opening.

Hey, but where is my grave—?

[<Go further in.>]

I let out a sigh as I took a step forward and immediately felt resistance.

But it was only for a moment before my body broke past it.

'Huh?'

Only then did an enormous open ground reveal itself to me.

A simple small lake and only three bumps on the side of it.

'…Is that the graves?'

I thought as I slowly began to walk towards it—.

"W…where are we?"

My steps halted as I looked back, at Nymeria walking in as well.

[<Can you please make her unconscious?>]

'Sure.'

I fully turned to astonished Nymeria as I smiled at her.

"What—?"

"Garden of Vanity."

A second after I used it, Nymeria's laziness took over and she immediately fell asleep.

I supported her with my body before I gently laid her down on the ground.

"..."

I grabbed her cheeks and pressed them together; at a closer look, she really does look like Ragnar.

Maybe I should really kill her right now.

But….

I sighed and looked back towards the graves where Inna already stood.

She quietly looked at the graves without any words as I walked towards her.

Finally, I stood just beside her, looking at the ordinary graves.

"….They both were quite childish," Inna mumbled softly. "Time and time again, they used to fight even though they were grandson and grandfather."

"…I don't like it when you put it this way," I mumbled, as I already knew they both were a part of me.

Inna let out a chuckle as she shook her head. "….Yeah, it's weird."

"You buried them here?" I asked after a while.

Inna nodded softly.

Finally, I asked what was bothering me. "Who is the third grave of?"

"That's Aelith's grave," she mumbled softly. "Buinal's wife. When he died, she asked me to bury her beside him."

"…I see," I mumbled softly. "What about Lazarus?"

"Oh, his wives were quite jealous of each other, you know," she said, with a soft smile. "They both agreed not to be buried beside him long before they died."

"…Well, at least he has peace and quiet after death."

'Wait, that's me and I didn't really have any peace.'

She chuckled before she created tens of mana flowers and placed them over the graves.

"Alright, we should start your training," Inna said, clapping her hands. "Let's go!"

I looked at the graves for a little longer before I focused on her.

"But before that," Inna said, smiling softly, "Should I tell you about your previous wives?"

I blinked in confusion. "Why so?"

"It's important," she replied, looking into my eyes. "Please listen."

I held back my sigh at her seriousness as I nodded once.

"Well, for starters, all three wives of the first three children of mana didn't exactly belong to Lumina," she said, her voice echoing. "They were Angels."

I blinked as I didn't have any way to express myself. "…What?"

"You see, the three main gods all wanted to use the fragments of… Azrael, which is you," she said, pointing at me. "So, they reincarnated three of their angels to control his fragments."

By his fragments, she means Buinal and Lazarus?

I stared at Inna, her words slow to sink in. "So… all three were basically spies?"

"Partially, yes," she nodded, her voice soft. "Their task was to make them kill each other and then create an incomplete Azrael."

I fell into deep thought as I looked down at the ground.

It does make sense when I look back on all of it.

And it wouldn't make sense why the gods would leave Azrael alone as well.

They were really doing their all to get him under control.

"So, all the wars between children of mana," I mumbled, looking up at her. "The angels were behind it?"

Inna nodded only once. "Yes."

I frowned, feeling even more annoyed than ever. "If you already knew it, then why didn't you—?"

"I warned them all," Inna cut in my words. "...I didn't outright tell them everything, but I did tell them enough. But they chose to trust their wives."

"…Hah."

I exhaled a long breath as I rubbed the back of my neck.

What the hell.

"…So, the Angelic Wives," I said, looking at her. "What happened to them?"

"They fell in love," she replied with a flat tone. "They abandoned their gods and told them everything."

"..."

I rubbed my temples as I asked, "And only Lazarus showed a negative response?"

"Yes," she nodded her head. "He was the only one who was upset enough to take a drastic approach."

I sighed and sat down on a rock nearby, the soft grass rustling beneath me.

"Lazarus…" I muttered. "Of course he would lose it. He felt betrayed."

I mean, if I was in his place as well, I would have done something like that.

'...'

Wait, isn't he the past me?

I looked up at her with a soft smile. "Guess he didn't like being manipulated."

Inna didn't say anything as she let out a sigh.

"Hey Inna," I called her after a few moments. "Were they… under the influence of the gods?"

She nodded in response, folding her hands. "Yes," she replied. "But when they asked to repent, I helped them remove their god's influence."

"….I see," I mumbled softly, a genuine smile forming on my lips. "You have always been looking after me."

"...."

Inna didn't reply for a second as she looked too stunned to speak.

With a fake cough, she looked away. "Ahem. Alright, let's start training."

"Are you blushing?"

"Shut up and get on your feet."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, standing back up on my feet. "But how are we going to train?"

Inna smiled at my words as she joined her hands.

"You forget something about me." She slowly moved her hands in different directions. "I can recreate history."

A bluish hue escaped her body and expanded all around me.

The world began to flicker as the time in the place turned back like a movie in rewind.

After a few moments, the solitude of two people fighting appeared and disappeared.

Finally, the world around me stopped.

Two figures stood in the distance, facing each other.

Both were elves with almost identical features except one had red hair and the other golden.

"That's…" I narrowed my eyes.

"Buinal and Lazarus," Inna confirmed, her voice now oddly distant. "One of their first duels."

Inna then clapped her hands and my body was instinctively drawn forward.

Before I knew it, my body overlapped with the solitude of Buinal.

"Learn his footwork," Inna said, smiling brightly. "Buinal created his own footwork that's the best in the world."

"Wait, that's it?" I asked, looking at her.

Her smile remained intact as she shook her head.

"It's just the start," she replied. "Your training will only end when you beat both Buinal and Lazarus simultaneously at their peak."

"Huh!?" I snapped immediately. "Are you nuts?? They were demigods at their—"

"Don't worry," she said, smiling even more. "Buinal always held back and right now, Lazarus is peak Overlord."

"That doesn't mean—!"

"Your training starts now!"

I instinctively looked forward as Lazarus's solitude appeared in front of me.