As Ethan forced the wooden door open and stepped into the dim, cramped interior, the horrific scene unfolding before him momentarily stunned him.
Through the window earlier, he had only caught a glimpse of Kael outside and had immediately cast a paralysis spell to freeze him in place, ensuring the boy couldn’t flee before he could deal with him.
But Ethan had had no idea what was actually transpiring inside this wretched house.
His cold, piercing eyes swept across the room, quickly landing upon Kael’s mother, who lay completely exposed and paralyzed on the crude wooden bed.
Her tattered upper and lower garments had been ruthlessly stripped away, leaving her entirely nude.
Because she had been immobile in the stifling summer heat, her magnificent, mature body was slick with a fine sheen of sweat that accentuated every curve—from her smooth, pale thighs to her voluptuous, heavy breasts tipped with erect, deep pink nipples.
The terror of what was about to happen had left her utterly helpless; silent tears streamed endlessly down her pale cheeks, tracking a wet path into her striking light-blue hair.
Yet, because of her complete paralysis, she couldn’t move a single muscle, nor could she turn her head. She could only blink her sorrowful dark eyes slowly, her gaze brimming with profound despair, humiliation, and silent plea.
Shifting his gaze downward, Ethan’s eyes drifted to the corner of the room. There, Kael’s two-year-old baby sister sat curled up tightly into a shivering ball, paralyzed with fear.
Her emaciated, fragile frame—marred by old bruises—shook violently as she hid her face, her own light-blue hair and golden eyes wide with unadulterated terror.
Ethan stood by the bedside, his cold gaze shifting away from the cowering baby sister and dropping heavily onto the frozen figure of Kael.
"I came here originally to slaughter all three of them—the mother, the sister, and the uncle,"
Ethan thought to himself, a dark realization dawning in his mind. "I assumed that wiping them out would crush Kael with unbearable grief, forcing him to feel the exact same agonizing pain I suffered when my fiancée was driven to her death in my past life. But looking at this... I was about to do the exact opposite."
His eyes dropped lower, landing on Kael’s lower half. The boy’s trousers were still pooled around his ankles, his 6 cm dick fully hard and exposed. A wave of profound, bone-deep disgust washed over Ethan’s face.
"This wretch is even more vile than I ever imagined," Ethan muttered inwardly, a sneer twisting his lip.
"I knew he was selfish scum, but he has surpassed even my lowest expectations."
Ethan glanced back down at Kael’s mother. Taking in the state of her trembling, exposed form and the raw terror in her eyes, he could instantly tell that while she had been terrified to her core, Kael hadn’t quite managed to cross that final line yet.
"System"
Ethan queried, a flicker of genuine uncertainty in his thoughts, "are you absolutely, completely sure that I am the villain in this scenario?"
"Yes, Host," the system replied without hesitation. "You fulfill all the necessary parameters of a villain."
Ethan furrowed his brow, looking down at his own hands, which were still radiating faint traces of blue dark mana.
"How? Give me one concrete reason."
"Host, look at your current situation," the system droned on logically.
"Much like the final bosses in the video games of your previous world, you currently possess an overwhelming amount of power far beyond the average inhabitants of this realm. You wield the legendary Blue Dragon Heart, granting you almost god-like abilities."
Ethan paused. It was true. He was stronger than anyone else present, perhaps even stronger than anyone in this entire city. He clenched his fist, feeling the immense, vibrating energy surging within his core. "I suppose... you’re right about that."
"Furthermore, Host," the system continued, its voice devoid of emotion, "you are currently garbed in a sinister dark robe, actively utilizing shadows and fog, and you just brutally murdered the young protagonist’s uncle. Do paragons of justice typically butcher relatives of their enemies in cold blood?"
Ethan scoffed inwardly, attempting to justify his actions. "Yes, but that bastard was corrupt! He was abusing his own family. I was just—."
"Host," the system pressed, "you harbor a deep, burning hatred toward the Heavens and their chosen one for what transpired in your past life. You desire retribution against the entire world for the death of your fiancée."
Ethan’s expression hardened. He clenched his jaw tight. "Yes. I do. I want them all to suffer."
"Then, by definition," the system concluded flatly,
"you are the villain. There is no other logical deduction for your persona or your actions. Case closed."
The explanation hung heavy in Ethan’s mind, leaving him momentarily stunned into silence.
Am I really the villain? he thought, a strange sensation washing over him. I honestly don’t feel like one.
I just feel... justified. But then again, I came here specifically to embrace this role.
I intended to slaughter this entire family in the most gruesome ways imaginable just to shatter Kael’s fragile mind and traumatize him forever. That is exactly what a villain would do.
"But from the looks of it, Keal’s own mother and sister don’t seem to like him very much."
"Is there any better use for those two than traumatizing Kyle?"
Ethan’s piercing gaze shifted fully back to Kael’s paralyzed mother, a memory suddenly resurfacing in his mind.
"As far as I can recall," Ethan mused internally, narrowing his eyes, "before her body was crippled in that brutal war, Kael’s mother possessed an powerful constitution—an ice-attribute physique.
I not remember its exact legendary title, but rumor had it that her raw talent back then was monstrously strong."
Thinking of this, Ethan mentally reached out to the entity residing within his consciousness.
"System," Ethan queried, "do you have a pill or a potion in your inventory capable of completely healing her paralysis and restoring her physique?"
A cold, mechanical chime resonated in his mind almost instantly.
" Yes Host," the system replied smoothly.
"Such a restorative elixir is indeed available in the system store. However, purchasing it will require fifteen thousand Fate points."
Ethan mentally brushed the price aside for a moment, his gaze drifting away from the mother and dropping toward Kael’s little sister in the corner.
The two-year-old was still trembling violently, her small face completely drained of color, pale as snow from shock and fear.
"If my memory serves me correctly..." Ethan thought, studying the fragile, shivering child, "this little girl is destined to be sold away from this wretched home by ruthless slave traders in the near future."
"But fate is a funny thing—she eventually ends up in the Ice-Star Empire... the Astrogale Empire, a supreme realm deeply connected to both stellar and glacial energy."
A faint smirk touched the corner of Ethan’s lips. "In time, she awakens the legendary Astral Frost Body, turning her into an overwhelmingly powerful entity who shakes the entire continent in the future."
"Then something goes wrong with her memories. When Keal meets her again, she considers him her last remaining relative and helps him tremendously on his path to becoming a Soul Emperor."
"... she doesn’t even know what Keal did to her when she was two years old."
Finally, Ethan turned his cold, disdainful eyes back to Kael, who was still standing frozen and paralyzed nearby, his trousers pooled around his ankles and his body utterly exposed.
A wave of profound contempt washed over Ethan.
"Unbelievable," he thought, shaking his head in sheer disgust. "This pathetic, spineless piece of trash is sitting on a goldmine—he has two women with absurdly powerful, divine-tier physiques right under his roof. And yet, look at how he treats them."
"He scold them, demeans them, and tries to sink to the lowest depths of depravity. What an absolute waste of existence."
Ethan turned his focus back to the paralyzed mother on the bed, a dark, calculating glint shining in his eyes as he prepared to make his move.
"well I’m not any different from him either."
"If I use these two properly, they have unbelievable potential."