Villain, Let Me Touch You! - Chapter 93
There was nothing Helios commanded that couldn’t be done. The moment he spoke, everything fell into place like clockwork.
Not because he was a prince, but because he was competent.
Even the nameless members of the organization he had nurtured reflected his prowess, their skills as sharp as his own.
This made it easy for me to find common ground with my pain reader.
Chloe Dorian.
Every supplier who had done business with Kama Jin and the Steel Company had met Chloe at least once.
And then, Helios’s operatives secured a crucial testimony from one of Kama Jin’s close associates.
— Jin said he was getting married soon. He wouldn’t say to whom, but he was happy.
It was a statement the enforcers had brushed past without much thought. But Helios’s people dug deeper. And the facts they uncovered were interesting.
The woman Kama met was strikingly beautiful. And she was a researcher.
It has to be Chloe.
It might have seemed like a leap to assume Chloe was Kama’s imprint just from those two details, but I had seen the way Kama looked at her.
There was only one question left.
Kama had been proud of his imprint on Chloe. And yet, when he died… he erased her name. Why?
No matter how I turned it over in my mind, it didn’t make sense.
And to make things worse — other bodies bore the exact same burn marks as Kama.
The pain was the same. A burning agony. They erased their own names despite the excruciating torment?
The location of the burns. The erased names. The testimonies of friends who swore they had been bright, full of life.
Someone else erased them.
And there was only one reason to do that. To hide the name.
Who would want to hide a name?
Who would even know that their names had been imprinted in the first place?
Chloe.
It was hard to reconcile the saint-like woman with these disturbing events, but no other possibility came to mind.
Maybe Chloe is being blackmailed?
Or was there some hidden backstory I hadn’t uncovered yet?
The more evidence I gathered, the more tangled my thoughts became. Chloe filled my mind completely.
So much so that I didn’t even notice Helios approaching.
“Headache?”
“I don’t think…so?”
I lifted my head without thinking, only to freeze the moment I saw Helios.
There was a glow about him today. I stared at him, mesmerized.
I found myself staring in the way the neatly swept-back hair accentuated his sharp, defined features. His crimson eyes, always intense, burned a little hotter, their heat softened by the cool clarity of his gaze.
He was always handsome — obnoxiously so — but today, he looked even better.
What changed?
I tilted my head, scanning him from head to toe. Helios, clearly aware of my scrutiny, spread his arms as if inviting me to take a better look.
“You’re in uniform today.”
I meant to look at his uniform. So why can’t I see anything but his face? His clothes and his face seemed to have swapped roles — one meant to stand out, the other to complement, yet somehow the only thing drawing my focus was him.
“Yes,” he murmured, lips curving slightly. “It’s an important day.”
“What day?”
Helios’ smile wavered just for a second. And in that instant, a heavy certainty settled in my chest that I’d forgotten something. Something big.
“It’s not an important day, so it’s fine if you forget. It really is, but somehow, I still feel a little hurt, Rienna.”
I had no idea what day it was supposed to be. But I couldn’t ask him again.
Helios’ smile was fading.
Panicking, I quickly turned to look at the calendar on my desk.
Why—why is the calendar flipped over?!
“Haha, forget? What are you talking about? Of course, I remember.”
I put on my brightest smile and stood up, slowly, subtly making my way toward the desk.
“Where are you going, Rienna? We need to do your treatment.”
Helios ran a hand over the empty space on the sofa, motioning for me to sit back down.
“Me? Going somewhere? Pfft, no way. I’m right here.”
Saying that, I darted to my desk and flipped the calendar upright.
My eyes scanned over the mess of stars, circles, and notes — until a bold, unmistakable line of text jumped out at me.
– Imperial Consort Priscilla’s Birthday Banquet
I had remembered it just this morning!
But somehow, while eating lunch, I must have completely erased Priscilla’s birthday banquet from my mind.
A gasp slipped out before I could stop it.
I rushed toward the dressing room, only to halt and turn back to Helios.
There he was, already dressed, perfectly put together, and smirking at me with infuriating ease.
He could’ve told me sooner!
