This Villain Ch.150

Chapter 150: The Aloof and Dignified Second Brother

“Ding ding, ding ding.”

The rhythmic sound of glass being tapped was clear and ethereal.

The smell of burning plants filled his nostrils, faint but not unpleasant, mixed with a floral fragrance.

Yu Mo had lowered his head and saw that he was holding a small silver knife.

He was kneeling on the ground, the pearl-white hem of his dress spread out from his knees, scattered over the stone floor around him.

Beside him, a voice, low and angry, urged, “Eloren! What are you daydreaming about at a time like this?”

Yu Mo was still processing the memories and parts of the story conveyed by the body’s system. Hearing the words, he looked up.

Directly in front of him was an altar, covered with various offerings.

In the large, round mirror behind the altar, he could see the bottles, jars, dried flowers, and candles on the altar, along with a “woman” wearing a translucent white veil and a pearl-white gown.

That “woman” was him.

It was always a little unsettling for a man to wear a woman’s dress.

However, the body was slim, the face soft, and a floral crown adorned with pearls sat on the head. At first glance, it indeed resembled a beautiful young girl.

Yu Mo’s gaze shifted from the reflection of “himself” in the mirror to the side, where a fat middle-aged man was glaring at him in warning, his lips moving, “What the hell are you doing? Stop wasting time!”

Yu Mo averted his gaze, raised the small silver knife in his hand, and slowly stabbed it into the “offering” on the altar.

It was a crow. Red blood seeped out, flowing strangely to form a blood-red circle, enclosing the crow inside.

Yu Mo watched calmly and, following the memory of the body he inhabited, recited the prayer for the Moon Goddess as part of the ritual.

The world he had arrived in was one where gods truly existed, and everyone had faith.

Believing in the gods, if one was devout enough, they could receive the blessings of the gods, gain power, and use magic.

However, in the Glory Empire, there was only one mainstream belief: the God of Light. In the Temple of Light, there were also several subordinate gods who governed over harvest, health, knowledge, and other such domains.

But worshipping the Moon was absolutely forbidden in this country.

The original owner of the body and his father, Baron Cecil, were heretics who secretly worshipped the Moon Goddess.

As Yu Mo recited the familiar words, the surface of the smooth silver mirror fogged up, and a faintly purple full moon appeared in the mirror.

In Yu Mo’s eyes, the moon grew larger, slowly approaching him.

The light of the moon carried an eerie allure, making it impossible to look away. The brighter the moonlight became, the darker the surrounding shadows grew.

A bone-chilling cold began to freeze the ends of his body, and in Yu Mo’s ears, he could hear the illusionary sound of waves rising and falling, along with vague, indistinct murmurs.

At some point, the sensation suddenly faded. The mirror remained just a bright mirror, and everything around him had stayed the same—except for the crow, pierced by the silver knife, which had shriveled rapidly like a dried-out heart.

Yu Mo felt that only a brief moment had passed, but the candles on the altar were nearly burned out.

The ritual was complete, and Yu Mo stood up from the ground.

Baron Cecil, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed forward with a swift step and angrily waved his cane, shouting, “Eloren, what were you doing just now? You almost ruined this Moon Goddess ritual!”

He no longer bothered to suppress his voice, though it still lacked strength. His bloated, greasy face was full of displeasure and lingering fear.

The Moon was the most mysterious and eerie of gods. While it granted great power to its followers, any mistakes made during its rituals could lead to the person performing the ceremony becoming the next sacrifice.

“I’m just a bit tired,” Yu Mo replied dismissively to his so-called “father.”

Baron Cecil was furious and dissatisfied but had no way to deal with him, so he could only hurl a few angry warnings.

Yu Mo left the underground room where the Moon Goddess ritual had taken place and, following the body’s memories, returned to the original owner’s bedroom.

Tonight was a full moon, and the moonlight was so bright it was almost blinding.

Yu Mo removed the pearls and floral crown from his head and tore off the white veil, accidentally pulling his hair painfully.

The original owner had kept this long black hair for over a decade, which made him look even more like a girl.

Baron Cecil’s only son, Eloren, had been suffering from a strange illness and, since childhood, had lived in the family’s estate outside the city, hidden from the public.

In truth, from a very young age, Eloren had been made to worship the Moon by Baron Cecil’s orders, performing rituals at regular intervals.

Eloren’s black hair and black eyes were not favored by the mainstream God of Light system, but they seemed to receive special attention from the Moon.

The gods had no gender, but to many of the Moon’s followers, the Moon was viewed as a goddess.

It was said that pure maidens were the Moon’s favorites, so each time Eloren performed the Moon’s rituals, he would wear a dress, adorn himself with flowers and a white veil, and present himself as a woman in hopes of receiving more blessings.

Under the Moon Goddess’ favor, Eloren had already become a magician.

Baron Cecil relied on the special magic potions Eloren made to privately curry favor with the high-ranking nobles, which was how he managed to maintain his position in a capital filled with aristocrats.

For that reason, even though he didn’t like his sickly son, he didn’t dare to push him too hard or offend him.

“System, I’ve come to a high-risk world, haven’t I?”

[Yes, Mr. Yu Mo. Due to certain circumstances, you were randomly sent to a special world.]

The system hadn’t expected this host to mention the situation on his own without needing an explanation.

“I remember when I first signed the contract, there was a clause in the supplementary agreement that stated the task completion rate of associated hosts would affect others. If the plot deviated too much, we’d be sent to a special world with increased difficulty. Is that right?”

The system hadn’t expected that anyone would actually read the entire contract, which was over a hundred thousand words long. And the supplementary agreement, tucked away in small text at the bottom right corner, required an extra click to view. Most hosts overlooked it.

Even the system, in all its years of service, rarely had to invoke the clauses from the supplementary agreement. Yet this host had actually read it!

[Yes!]

“So, the one who disrupted the plot and caused me to end up here was Yu Le, wasn’t it?” Yu Mo’s tone was certain.

Among his younger brothers, if anyone could cause trouble the moment they were out of sight, it was undoubtedly the youngest, Yu Le.

Even during parent-teacher meetings, Yu Le was always the one who stirred up the most trouble.

The aloof and dignified Second Brother had never been so humble to anyone—except Yu Le’s homeroom teacher.

The system paused for a moment before responding:

[Mr. Yu Mo, why do you think there was only one world where something went wrong?]

Yu Mo could hear a trace of human-like grievance in the system’s voice.

He froze, frowning. “Did Yu Yan also mess things up?”

The system responded again:

[Mr. Yu Mo, why do you assume that the other brother didn’t cause any problems?]

This time, the system’s voice had a faintly tearful tone.

Yu Mo: “…”

Yu Mo turned his head slightly and, in doing so, also subtly changed the subject. “So, I need to monitor the villain, right?”

The system, still sounding choked up, said:

[Mr. Yu Mo, due to the unforeseen incidents in previous worlds, you have a new task awaiting your review.]

He was originally just a villain-monitoring system, which sounded grand, but in reality, it was just a rather useless auxiliary system.

Typically, its hosts were only responsible for being bystanders in the world’s plotlines, helping to curb the villain’s excessive growth during the protagonist’s high points and monitoring the villain’s threat level.

It was great if that could be achieved, but more often than not, it didn’t happen.

The hosts it had signed with before were all of this auxiliary type, mostly becoming minor subordinates of the villain or small companions within the protagonist’s group.

But the Yu brothers brought new challenges to its career—it was constantly being complained about by both the protagonist and plot teams.

Now, to top it off, it had received an additional task.

[In this world, the male and female protagonists eventually become the Emperor and Empress of the Glory Empire. You are now required to ensure that their predetermined fate remains unchanged.]

Yu Mo clicked on the new task notification to take a look.

[Please assist the male and female protagonists, Makin and Charli, in becoming the Emperor and Empress of the Glory Empire.]

The male protagonist, Makin, was currently just a commoner, a street thug, no less.

The female protagonist, Charli, was Baron Cecil’s adopted daughter, which meant she was now, in name, Yu Mo’s sister. She was only sixteen years old.

To make these two become the Emperor and Empress of the empire…

“System, don’t you think this new task is even more difficult than my original job of monitoring the villain?” Yu Mo asked.

[Mr. Yu Mo, if the plotline changes too drastically again, the next world that Mr. Yu Guang crosses into could be in a terrible state,] the system warned.

Yu Mo: “…Alright, I’ll do it.”

The system couldn’t help but add:

[Actually, as long as you don’t intervene too much, the protagonists will follow their fated path and become Emperor and Empress. Just make sure not to suddenly oppose them, steal their plot, or, you know, kill them!]

Yu Mo had a pretty good guess about what his troublesome little brother had done before.

“I understand,” he said.

…

Nobles usually woke up quite late in the morning, unless it was a special day where they had to attend the Temple of Light to listen to sacred hymns and partake in blessings. On regular days, they typically rose leisurely around noon.

If they happened to wake up early, maids would bring tea and pastries—sweet, sugary treats that served as their breakfast.

However, this morning, young Master Eloren, who lived in the Cecil estate outside the city, made a rare early appearance.

This young master was like a ghostly shadow, rarely seen by the household during the day. He would only appear on cloudy, rainy days or after the sun had set, occasionally spotted in the hallways, the garden, or the drawing room.

Eloren was afflicted by a strange illness—if exposed to sunlight for even a short time, large red welts would bloom across his skin, leaving marks that resembled flower petals in varying shades.

The servants secretly gossiped that young Master Eloren, with his black hair and black eyes, was not favored by the God of Light, and perhaps he was a demon reincarnated, bringing misfortune with him.

That’s why Baron Cecil kept him hidden away at the estate outside the city, forbidding him from living in the main residence in the capital.

Because of these suspicions, the servants at the manor feared young Master Eloren, avoiding him and keeping their distance whenever possible.

Conveniently, Eloren was a solitary person. He usually stayed in his room or that mysterious underground chamber, not wanting to be disturbed by anyone.

So, on this sunny morning, seeing him at the breakfast table was a shock to all the servants.

“Bring me some tea,” said young Master Eloren, who appeared slightly different from his usual self.

The maid who served the tea and pastries couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances at him.

His face was still pale from rarely seeing sunlight, his hair neatly tied back, and he wore a simple shirt, vest, long pants, and boots.

But what was different?

The maid, lost in thought, met those calm black eyes, and without reason, felt a sudden chill run through her, raising goosebumps on her skin.

Young Master Eloren was always quiet and never made eye contact with them.

Yet today, his gaze on them was calm, without a hint of emotion.

As the maid absentmindedly returned to the kitchen with the tray, she suddenly remembered what the old kitchen ladies had once said:

“Black eyes are the eyes of the devil, they lead to the abyss of hell.”

Yes, just one glance felt as if it would pull you into that abyss.

Yu Mo sipped the mediocre tea, and after taking a small bite of the overly sweet pastry, he put it down.

This morning, he couldn’t help but think of Fourth Brother, Yu Shi.

Before Yu Shi came into their lives, the family had been struggling.

Their eldest brother, who handled cooking, seemed better suited for preparing pig slop, which often left Yu Mo malnourished and fainting.

As for Yu Mo himself, he despised cooking.

And the third brother? Left alone at home, he would rather starve for three meals straight than cook.

After Fourth Brother joined the family, even though he was very young, he had gradually started taking care of his older brothers, and he did it so well.

Yu Mo set down his teacup.

Fourth Brother, and the other two—no one would call him “Second Brother” in this world ever again.

“Brother…?” A soft, girlish voice came from behind him.

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