The Return Of The Exiled Villain

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Dungeon...

Maelis's group, unlike Gray's, wasn't struggling through knee-deep snow or fighting for their lives.

No... on their side of the Dungeon, everything felt almost… comfortable.

Almost like a vacation.

And the reason was simple.

Adrian.

A rare, full four-element mage: fire, water, earth, and wind all obeyed him like loyal pets. With him around, the others hardly had to lift a finger.

Not to mention that he was at the peak of the Master realm, almost touching the threshold of the Grandmaster Realm.

"Good job, man," Leon said with a grin, tapping Adrian's shoulder before opening a spatial rift ahead, clearing out an entire wall of piled snow with one flick.

Adrian nodded calmly.

Flames curled up his palm in response, brightening from gentle red to a brilliant white-orange.

The snow at his feet hissed.

FSHHHHH—!

A wave of heat washed out, melting the surrounding area into a clear, dry circle big enough for all of them to stand in.

Beside them, already finished, stood a small snow house they had built, having somewhat sturdy walls, a smooth entrance, and even ventilation holes.

In front of it, a neat bonfire crackled away, with Maelis sitting closest to the fire, her hands stretched out to steal every bit of warmth she could.

Next to her was another girl from their class... none other than Claire, the fire-elemental mage who participated in Gray's group during the Practical Dungeon Exam.

"Huff..."

Claire flicked her finger.

Fwsssh!

A tiny spark hopped off her fingertip and immediately blossomed into a larger flame, feeding the bonfire until it glowed brighter.

Maelis shifted her gaze to her, eyes narrowing with a strange curiosity.

"…You're Claire, right?" she suddenly asked.

Claire blinked, turning her head slightly.

"Yes, that's me."

"If I'm correct," Maelis continued, adjusting her posture and placing her hands neatly on her knees, "you were grouped with my brother during the Practical Dungeon Exam."

"…Your brother?" Claire tilted her head, a puzzled look crossing her face. She clearly had no idea who Maelis's brother was.

"His name is Gray."

"G—Gray!?" Claire froze on the spot.

Her face went red instantly, bright as the fire she used. The memory of those three promised kisses slammed into her mind so hard she nearly squeaked.

She started fanning her cheeks with both hands.

Maelis's expression visibly darkened at the sight of Claire looking like a blushing maiden dreaming of a lover.

"Y-yes… I did," Claire finally managed, thighs brushing together unconsciously as she tried to regain some dignity.

"We worked together for the exam…," she muttered softly.

"Mhm…" Maelis leaned forward slightly, eyes sharpening. "Tell me... did you notice anything peculiar or strange about him?"

'The Gray from now on differs slightly from the Gray I knew. The Gray I know is colder than ice itself, seeing everyone as tools and not caring about all the bad things we did to him because, in his view, we were insignificant... or rather, our worth wasn't higher than that of an ant.'

Just thinking of those memories, Maelis almost shivered in sheer fear as she remembered those pitch-black eyes, the ones that held no emotion or humanity

Claire hesitated slighly.

For a moment, the fire reflected in her eyes dimmed, replaced with something that looked closer to fear.

"So, what are you two whispering about?"

Suddenly, Adrian's voice cut clean through the tension.

Claire flinched while Maelis's eyes cooled.

Adrian walked toward them with an easy, confident smile. hands in his pockets, fire still flickering faintly around his fingertips from melting the last of the snow.

As he approached, he glanced over his shoulder.

Leon was far ahead, still clearing a path through the snow with spatial magic, too focused to notice anything behind him.

A slow grin curled across Adrian's lips.

"Well… looks like it's just us three right now," he said lightly, turning his gaze back to the two girls.

"And I have to say… having the two prettiest ones alone with me is making this exam much more enjoyable."

Claire blinked, startled.

Maelis's expression, however, didn't change.

"You know…" he continued, "if things get colder, I wouldn't mind keeping either of you warm. Or both." He winked.

Crackle.

Maelis's pupils sharpened at his words, and a bright, deep sapphire color suddenly swirled through her eyes, like ink dropping into water.

Her hand moved gracefully, almost lazily, toward her staff.

The moment her fingers wrapped around it.

BOOM.!

A pressure exploded outward.

Adrian's breath caught. His knees bent slightly as if the air had thickened around him. Sweat bloomed on his forehead in less than a second.

"H-Huh…?"

Maelis didn't raise her voice. She didn't even stand.

She simply lifted her chin and stared at him.

That faint smile he had turned brittle immediately.

"Adrian," she said softly, tone polite but carrying the weight of a blade against the throat, "are you perhaps… misunderstanding something?"

He stiffened directly, swallowing his saliva hard.

"I-I was just—"

Her pressure tightened.

FWOOOM!

The air shook.

Adrian's legs trembled.

Claire stepped back, equally shocked and impressed.

Maelis didn't blink.

"You were joking… correct?"

He nodded so fast his hair bounced. "O-Of course! Just a joke! Just a harmless little—little joke, yep—"

Maelis's fingers relaxed.

The crushing pressure vanished as if someone had sucked it out of the air.

Adrian exhaled sharply and forced a smile through the beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Hahaha… wow… powerful aura, Maelis. You really got me there. Anyway, I'll, uh… check on Leon. Yep. Right now."

Without waiting another second, he turned and walked away so quickly it bordered on running.

Claire watched him go, jaw slightly open.

Maelis didn't even look his way.

She only lifted a hand to the fire again, warming her palms with perfect calm, as if she hadn't just threatened a four-element mage into submission with a single glare.

Claire, meanwhile, still hadn't closed her mouth.

'...Both of the siblings are complete monsters!'

Her shoulders trembled on their own, a tiny shiver running down her spine.

Maelis didn't look at her, but her lips parted anyway:

"You still haven't answered my question."

"…H-Huh?" Claire blinked.

"About Gray."

"Did you notice anything strange about him? Anything at all." Maelis tilted her head slightly, eyes half-lidded.

Claire let out a tiny, startled shriek, more a squeak than anything, and straightened her posture.

"I—I mean… I didn't know him before. So I can't compare." She rubbed her arm nervously. "But… well… he was very flirty with us."

Maelis's eyes flicked toward her.

Claire cleared her throat quickly, then began explaining the events from the Practical Dungeon Exam:

"He made jokes constantly, kept teasing us, even forced us into making a promise in exchange for helping us with monsters that were basically killing us." Her cheeks reddened heavily as she looked away.

"I'm… not going to mention what the promise was."

Maelis raised an eyebrow but didn't push.

Claire continued, her brows knitting together.

"But the strangest part wasn't that. It was…" She hesitated. "It was when Jess, his so-called bestie, died."

The fire crackled.

Claire didn't notice that Maelis's eyes lowered a fraction.

"He didn't scream or panic," Claire said softly. "He didn't even look shocked. Instead, he went straight after Leon… and then fought the boss monster by himself."

Her fingers brushed her temples as if trying to understand it all.

"It felt like… he used the fight to burn down whatever he was feeling." She met Maelis's gaze again.

"Like he was afraid to feel it. Or like he didn't want anyone to see it."

She exhaled slowly.

"I don't know… that's all that happened."

"Mhm..." Maelis nodded lightly at her words.

Then, she stared at the fire for a long, heavy moment.

'...Does that mean that during this time... he hadn't reached that emotionless state?' she thought, her eyes watching the fire crackle lightly.

'Flirty, huh? Our father forced him to act like a playboy, and he seemed to have gotten used to that farce, probably even creating a second kind of personality to act like that.'

Her thoughts trailed off as her eyes darkened slighly.

'If that's true... that means that feelings of his true personality were simply hidden by that farce, which caused him to turn into that monster...'

"That's it!"

Maelis actually blurted out her thoughts, causing Claire to look at her with a perplexed look.

"...'That's it'? What is that supposed to mean?" she asked curiously.

Maelis turned her head towards her before letting out a deep sigh.

"Nothing... I was just thinking about something, and it kind of blurted out," she blew onto her hands, before placing them on her cheeks.

Claire simply nodded.

But her fingers fidgeted as if she was nervous about something, and before Maelis could ask, Claire spoke instead.

"By the way..."

"Yeah?"

"C-could you... match me up with your brother?"

Claire's fidgeting increased as her face flushed red.

Thump...!

A vein popped in Maelis's forehead.