Reincarnated in the Villainous Lust System!

Chapter 105: Learning about Luigi

The word "business" rolled off my tongue with a venomous edge, my tone coated in a mix of disbelief and outrage.

"Business?" I repeated, my voice laden with anger. "You sneaked away, knowing full well that I would be here to face the music for you? That I would have to explain your absence.

The book's pages snapped shut with a quiet, yet definitive, sound as Damon finally put it aside, his fingers gently brushing the worn cover.

His smirk, however, remained steadfast, a smug look that taunted me despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," he said, his voice dripping with a false innocence that only further aggravated my already frayed nerves

In that moment, a harsh realization washed over me, a sobering truth that hit me with the force of a tidal wave.

No amount of reason, no logical argument, no matter how sound, would penetrate the wall of arrogance that Damon had erected around himself.

He saw his actions as justified, his behavior as necessary, and no words of mine would sway him from that path.

I was dealing with a person who was convinced of his own righteousness, of his own ability to bend the world to his will.

With an economy of movement that belied the roiling turmoil within me, I pivoted on my heel and strode to the chair, my footsteps echoing through the room.

With a single, fluid motion, I spun the chair around, its legs scraping against the floor with a low, grating sound.

Settling myself into the seat, I crossed one leg over the other, adopting a posture of nonchalance that belied the tension that still gripped my body.

There was no point of dragging it further.

Damon's eyes, narrowed with suspicion, bored into me as he processed the shift in my demeanor.

His silence, stretched taut like a bowstring, was a palpable presence in the room, its tension only broken by the faint creaking of the chair beneath me.

As the minutes ticked by in silence, Damon's patience began to wear thin.

His eyes, which had been fixed on me for a moment, now shifted back to the book in his hands, its pages offering a convenient outlet for his frustration.

He opened the book, his fingers turning the pages with an audible rustle that spoke to his mounting impatience.

His nonchalance was a poor mask for the discomfort that lingered in the air, a tension that threatened to erupt at any moment.

"You really should pick up reading," Damon quipped, his eyes never once breaking from the page.

He turned another page, the crisp sound of paper against paper a deliberate punctuation to his words.

"You know, staring into space for hours is pretty boring and non-enriching," Damon commented, his tone casual, almost conversational. "At least with reading, you can learn something new. Expand your mind a bit."

He turned another page, the sound of it echoing in the stillness of the room.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Damon tossed the book aside, its pages fluttering closed as it landed on the bed.

His gaze, now freed from the constraints of the text, fixed on me, his eyes betraying a hint of genuine curiosity.

"Seriously, how do you do it?" he asked, a confused smile playing on his lips. "Just sit still for hours on end, without doing anything. It's impressive, really."

A hint of longing crept into Damon's voice as he continued, his gaze growing distant, his mind seemingly drifting to lands far beyond the confines of the palace.

"Usually, I'd be on some crazy adventure right now," he said, his words tinged with nostalgia. "But here I am, stuck in this place, with nothing but books to keep me company."

Despite my best efforts to remain aloof and disinterested, Damon's recounting of his would-be adventures had piqued my curiosity, a sliver of excitement breaking through the wall of indifference I had tried to maintain.

"Why aren't you out there, living that life?" I asked, my tone still cautious but revealing a hint of eagerness. "Why stay cooped up in the palace when you could be out in the world, exploring and experiencing all that it has to offer?"

Damon's expression shifted as he registered my voice, the sound of it breaking through the bubble of his own thoughts.

For a moment, he looked almost surprised, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape.

"Huh," he said, his tone reflective and almost bemused. "I guess I was so caught up in my memories that I forgot you were here."

Why are you not on some crazy adventure? I repeated.

A hint of melancholy crept into Damon's voice as he continued, a wistful smile pulling at his lips as he recalled memories of adventures long past.

"Well, I did not perform those activities alone," he said, a faraway look in his eyes. "My closest friend, Luigi, was my partner in crime, so to speak. He's on the other side of the works right now".

"He went to join the war?" I asked.

Damon nodded, his gaze turned distant, his mind conjuring images of his friend as he spoke, his tone filled with both admiration and a hint of pride.

"Luigi is a prodigy," he said, the fondness for his friend coloring his words. "He's a Level Three, the youngest to ever achieve that rank in the empire. Probably not just in our country, but in the entire world."

The contradiction between Luigi's status as a skilled and accomplished warrior, and the mischievous, rule-breaking persona that Damon had described, was a striking one.

It left me with a picture of a young man who was not only talented, but also fiercely independent, a rebel with a cause.

That night as I lay in bed, I checked the screen before I slept.

[Special Mission: Seduce the princess]

[Reward: Invulnerability]

[Penalty: All stats will be halved]

[Days remaining: 3]

I was running out of time