Witchbound Villain: Infinite Loop

Of course Burn knew what Morgan was upset about.

Not because she found out that Burn had killed and eaten two mythical creatures, or that it made him despised by the elves. It was because the man she called ‘husband’ in front of them was a real villain who indeed killed and ate two mythical creatures.

She was angry that this was the man she held hands with in front of the elves, who called her “Her Holiness”.

Oh, she wasn’t angry that he made her lose her appetite after they told her that he ate the flesh of two sentient beings, she was disgusted that the man she made love with ate two sentient beings.

And so, she couldn’t even touch her meal.

And so, she cried.

And so—“Caliburn… do you even know what you’ve done?”

She questioned him.

“I know what I’ve done,” Burn, his face dark and cold, continued in a voice as deep as the abyss, “And I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for it.”

Her defense crumbled to pieces as she wept silently in front of him. Only the image of her in this state had ripped his heart apart.

She finally saw the glimpse of void inside him.

But as much as he wanted to embrace her, hiding her broken form from the world, he knew she would push him away in disgust, knowing what he had done.

So he sat in front of her, witnessing every second of tears rolling down her cheeks, knowing full well he was the one who caused it. Knowing full well he was tortured along with it.

“Why didn’t you tell me…?” she begged to know once again.

“If I told you, would you come this far with me?” Burn coldly asked.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about… Caliburn? If you had told me, I would've done something about it—" Morgan sobbed, her shoulders trembling vulnerably. "Why didn't you tell me that you used to have Soulnaught Syndrome...?"

Burn stopped breathing.

Something was not right.

He then remembered how she had held his hand the entire time the revelation unfolded. Unconsciously, he must have thought about his illness when the unicorn and the merfolk king were mentioned—and Morgan had read his mind.

"My Burn—" Morgan bawled as she hugged Burn's head, forcing him to bow to her height. "Did you suffer so much...? I didn't know, and I cursed time under your name—"

Between her soft weeps and whimpers, in her embrace, Burn froze.

“It doesn’t matter,” Burn said when he slowly regained his voice.

Hearing that, Morgan sniveled, “Did you blame me?” she asked. “Your soul seemed fine, so I didn’t know—”

“I’m fine. My condition was cured after I ate the unicorn and the merfolk,” Burn whispered.

“But what if you relapsed?” Morgan started to bawl again. “Did you even realize what you’ve done? You’ve forsaken your humanity once and ate two sentient creatures, and you said you’re fine…?”

“Of course I’m fine. I’m alive thanks to it,” Burn stroked her back, feeling her frustration.

“Don’t lie to me. When was it?” Suddenly, she turned stern and released her embrace, forcing him to face her. With a face red and stained with tears, she demanded, “Tell me.”

“It was 15-16 years ago, I forgot,” Burn answered, not counting the time he spent in the loops.

“You were ten?” Morgan almost broke down once again, her eyebrows creased, and her blue eyes watered with more tears, but she held her sobs and squeezed his hands. “You were a child…”

“I was at least eleven. It just happened. I’m fine now,” Burn insisted gently, even though traces of confusion still lingered in his eyes.

“You are not,” Morgan said, her voice trembling but firm. “You stupid... ugh—for God’s sake…”

Witnessing her trying to stifle her tears and stop her own whimpers, Burn felt dull. He was lost. Everything he thought about her was false, and everything he predicted she would say or do was wrong.

He thought people operated under a clear set of rules, predictable in their perspective and view.

But Morgan, in her ultimate kindness, only saw the truth. And her response to it was simply... insane.

“I thought you were going to leave me,” Burn said expressionlessly.

Morgan tearfully scoffed, “I am about to if you keep this up. I’m going to break the curse and leave.”

Burn didn’t realize it, but his eyes faltered. “Are you threatening me?”

“Don’t tell me you’re fine now that I found out that you killed and ate two people when you were ten just to survive your illness,” Morgan’s last tear fell to the ground. She sighed, “God—”

She took a long, deep breath and, after a long silence, firmly said, “I won’t let this curse harm you more than this. After this loop, I will fix the spell and break it.” Continuing her plan, she added, “Don’t worry about the mythical communities. I’ll tell them that you needed their flesh to survive. I’ll go to the Merfolk Kingdom and speak to them too.”

“Are you leaving?” Burn asked again. Now, his voice sounded somewhat innocent and light, but still deep and dark.

“Do you even understand what I said?” Morgan asked, frustrated.

“Do whatever you want, but don’t break the curse,” Burn said.

“What do you mean?!” Morgan couldn’t help but yell.

“If you break the curse, then you have to marry me. I want a full magical contract. I’ll make Yvain officiate it,” Burn calmly said.

Morgan was speechless. Why did it feel like they weren’t talking about the same thing since the start?

“Or, don’t break the curse, and also… marry me,” Burn slowly, softly said, “I love you.”

Now those repeated loops became a regret for him. If he had stopped being so stubborn much earlier, he would have come to know her much faster.

His Morgan.

“Please don’t break anything between us,” Burn said. “And if we die, let’s just die together.”

Morgan was never disgusted by him, nor did she reject him. She cried for him, felt anger on his behalf, and sensed betrayal that he hadn't disclosed the most important thing—about himself.

“Caliburn…” Morgan closed her blue eyes, now filled only with sadness. Her hand slowly moved to her face, a vivid display of her pain and frustration.

But Burn just wanted to smile.

It was strange.

The feeling that someone actually cared for his perspective, the sensation that someone understood his side of the story without him needing to articulate it… was amazing. He had never entertained the idea that such a person existed for him.

“Are you leaving me, Morgan?” he whispered.

He asked three times. First, when he feared she might leave, second, when he wished her to stay, and third, now that he knew she wouldn’t leave.

“This is so unfair,” Morgan whispered back.

“Good. Life is unfair. You can't leave even if it's unfair,” so what if Burn was about to rob the rest of her eternal life just for him?

He didn’t know that Morgan was talking about how unfair it was to be born with Soulnaught Syndrome, while she was born with an infinite soul. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

As he said, life is unfair, after all.

“I know that you’ve decided to help the elves and the other communities too. I’ll help them too, as long as they don’t cross the line like today,” Burn said. “If any of them dare to pry into something unnecessary again…”

Like something that led to his past illness or other pathetic things about him—or something that would upset her—

“For example, what the Inkian said to the elven princess,” Burn’s face darkened. “Just then, I’ll do the easy way and destroy everything.”

Explaining himself took too long. Talking to them to coax them to his side took too long. It was easier for him to be a villain in the end.

The elves had a succession problem. The queen only had two daughters; the first one was ill, while the second one was too radical in her liberalism, thanks to her fascination with human society and her enrollment in the academy.

It was quite a miracle that she hadn’t seen the rotten side of Inkian society, believing everything they said. Or maybe someone was deliberately manipulating her. Through her, they attempted to manipulate the elves to go against him too.

Burn knew that there were at least two ways to solve this problem. One, they cured the first daughter somehow, or second, they opened the second daughter’s eyes to reality.

But that could wait until tomorrow.

Right now, he had one pressing matter to solve. "You haven't answered any of my questions yet," Burn stated.

Morgan raised her face to him.

"You haven’t even responded to my one important declaration," he continued.

She still refused to say a single thing.

"Fine. I’ll just make you speak," Burn sighed, his patience running out. He lifted her up his shoulder, and she squealed in surprise before he brought her to his tent.

Looking around, Burn closed the tent's entrance. It was a good thing his men had enough tact to stay away from the quarreling imperial couple.

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Chapter 85,5 is out for free on Patreon!