Villainess X Villain: They are obsessed with each other!

Chapter 238 -: 237 Wait.

"Damn it! How many months has it been since we arrived, and where is that Alfred?"

Rosalina’s voice echoed across the hilltop as she crossed her arms and glared at the night sky.

She and Julius sat upon the highest peak overlooking Timber Wood Village. From their position, the entire settlement appeared like a cluster of tiny lanterns scattered across the darkness.

A gentle night breeze swept over the hill, carrying the scent of grass and distant tilted soil.

Above them hung the crimson crescent moon, bathing the world in a faint red glow that painted the landscape in shades of scarlet and black.

It would have been a peaceful sight if not for the two unconscious figures lying several meters away.

Kavin and Jasmine remained sprawled on the ground.

Julius glanced at Rosalina.

"To answer your questions, my lady," he said with a trace of sarcasm, "it has been seven months, and Alfred is currently in the capital of the Heartreach Continent creating connections. In other words, he is actually working."

Rosalina’s eye twitched. "Hmph!" She turned away with a cold snort.

"And you do realize that we have spent seven months doing absolutely nothing?"

"We have not been doing nothing. We have been wandering around forests. We also wandered through mountains."

"That is still wandering."

Julius opened his mouth before closing it again. Unfortunately, she had a point.

Rosalina looked at him. "And how many years until the tournament?"

"Four." The answer came out alongside a sigh.

Since arriving on the Heartreach Continent, both of them had spent most of their time hiding.

Heartreach was effectively the headquarters of the Zlycons.

Humans walking around openly would attract attention faster than a wolf attending a sheep wedding.

Changing appearances wasn’t an option either.

The Zlycons maintained detailed records of awakened individuals.

Bloodlines, clans, territories, cultivation paths, awakenings, everything was documented with an efficiency that Julius found annoyingly impressive.

If they suddenly appeared and entered the tournament without proper identities, investigations would inevitably follow.

Once someone started digging through records, their backgrounds would collapse faster than a rotten wooden shack.

For that reason, the past seven months had been spent traveling through remote regions and avoiding unnecessary attention.

Then, about a week ago, opportunity finally appeared. A village messenger had been sent to file complaints regarding a bandit group terrorizing nearby settlements.

Julius and Rosalina intercepted him. After learning the situation, they erased his memories of meeting them and allowed him to continue on his way.

The two then came to Timber Wood Village and dealt with the bandits themselves.

Rosalina had even used one of her Color Path spells to alter the villagers’ memories. The villagers would remember the bandits disappearing, but not Julius and Rosalina’s involvement.

As for the bandits themselves...Well.

Rosalina’s wolf had eaten exceptionally well today....

The giant beast she caught from the Lone King’s Tower had never looked happier.

"Haaah..."

Rosalina released a long breath. When she thought about everything that had happened over the past months, a headache immediately followed.

"So what now?"

Julius rose to his feet and looked toward the unconscious couple.

"Now," he said, "we finally have identities."

His gaze settled on Kavin and Jasmine.

Bandits....Or more accurately, demonic spell casters. The title sounded sinister, but the truth behind it was considerably less impressive.

A long time ago, the Solarian Family had established a simple rule. Anyone who obeyed them was civilized.

Anyone who disagreed with them was a demon. It was an astonishingly convenient system.

The Solarians claimed to be the purest descendants of the First Ancestor and used that claim to justify their authority over the Zlycons.

Those who challenged that authority were branded as demonic spell casters and pushed to society’s fringes.

At first, the system worked. Then people started becoming angry.

As it turned out, constantly oppressing millions of people was an excellent way to encourage rebellion.

Realizing this, the Solarians adjusted their methods. Rather than ruling entirely through fear, they introduced hope.

The Grand Tournament

Anyone could participate, commoners, outcasts, everyone, including even demonic spell casters.

The top ten participants would receive permission to enter the One Hundred and One Treasure tower and claim a reward.

It sounded generous. It also happened to be brilliant politics.

The One Hundred and One Treasure tower was essentially the Zlycons’ equivalent of a celestial treasure trove. It had been created by the First Ancestor himself, the father of all Zlycons.

Ordinarily, only the Solarian Family was permitted to enter.

By allowing a handful of outsiders access every tournament, they reduced resentment while simultaneously strengthening their legitimacy.

People who dreamed of entering the treasure grounds were far less likely to start revolutions.

Rosalina listened quietly before nodding.

"I hate how smart that is."

"So do I."

Julius folded his arms.

"Fortunately for us, that means we now possess exactly what we need."

Rosalina followed his gaze toward Kavin and Jasmine.

A slow smile appeared on her face.

"Fake identities?"

"Fake identities."

"Demonic spell casters?"

"Demonic spell casters."

Rosalina grinned.

"That’s actually a little exciting."

Julius looked at the unconscious couple again. For seven months they had hidden in forests, mountains, villages, and forgotten roads.

At long last, they finally had a way to step onto the world’s stage. And all it had cost was the identity of two bandits.

"Now let’s start the process."

Julius stepped forward and lowered himself to one knee beside the unconscious couple.

This entire situation was one of the main reasons he had come here in the first place.

Creating identities was easy....creating believable identities was not.

The biggest problem had always been appearances.

Ordinary methods such as illusion artifacts or transformation tools were far too unreliable.

Those tricks might fool common people, but they would never survive close scrutiny from powerful cultivators or the countless inspection methods employed by the Zlycons.

Julius needed something permanent.

Something reliable.

That was one of the reasons he had spent so much effort infiltrating that zlycon spy group back in the academy.

After spending so much time pretending to be them....he had gotten some informations. And eventually, he managed to isolate one and kidnap him without attracting attention.

The unfortunate spy had then become a valuable research subject.

Using the captive’s knowledge and body as references, Julius had ordered every artifact specialist within the Hayes Clan to study the methods the Zlycons used to alter their appearances into human forms.

The project had consumed an absurd amount of resources..

Several researchers nearly lost their sanity.

One elderly scholar had even retired halfway through the project after declaring that Zlycon biology was an insult to reason itself.

Unfortunately, despite months of effort, the researchers were unable to fully replicate the Zlycons’ transformation technique.

Julius still remembered the report.

"We have failed." Three simple words.

At the time, he had almost considered finding a cliff and throwing the researchers from it.

Moments like this made him miss Crypian.

That bastard had possessed a system.

Whenever Julius thought about it, he felt so very irritated.

Crypian didn’t need years of planning, countless experiments, or armies of researchers.

He simply activated a skill.

Then poof.

New appearance.

Problem solved.

That was how Crypian had entered the Four Stationary Continents in the novel without encountering any serious obstacles.

Meanwhile Julius had spent months creating what was essentially an extremely expensive imitation.

Life truly wasn’t fair.

"Haa..."

He released a long sigh before snapping his fingers. A small metallic cube appeared in his palm.

The object was roughly the size of a dice and covered in countless microscopic runes. Faint crimson light flowed through the engravings like blood moving through veins.

Fortunately, while the researchers had failed to recreate the original technique, they had succeeded in creating something inspired by it.

It wasn’t perfact...but it was doable.

A smirk appeared on Julius’s face.

Compressed mana flowed through his fingertips and into the cube. The crimson glow immediately brightened as dozens of tiny runes lit up across its surface.

Beside him, Rosalina also produced an identical cube.

"Still amazed this thing actually works," she said.

"So am I."

"That’s not exactly reassuring."

"It shouldn’t be."

Rosalina stared at him.

"You’re terrible at comforting people."

"I wasn’t trying to comfort you."

"Fair enough."

Julius pressed the cube against Kavin’s chest.

At the same moment, Rosalina placed hers against Jasmine’s.

The reaction was immediate.

The crimson runes brightened.

The cubes softened as if they had suddenly become liquid. Their rigid surfaces melted into streams of glowing red energy that seeped through skin, flesh, and bone without leaving so much as a mark behind.

The energy spread throughout their bodies like countless glowing threads.

Veins of crimson light briefly appeared beneath Kavin and Jasmine’s skin before fading from sight.

Within seconds, the cubes had completely vanished.

Rosalina blinked. "Every time I see that, it looks creepy."

"I know."

"It looks like we’re infecting them with something."

"We are infecting them with something."

Rosalina slowly turned toward him.

"...That wasn’t the answer I wanted."

Julius ignored her. His eyes remained fixed on the unconscious pair.

Deep beneath their skin, the devices were already beginning their work. Bone structures, muscle density, everything was being copied.

Everything would gradually be altered according to the templates stored within the devices.

The process wasn’t instant, it required time for the changes to settle naturally, fortunately, time was something they had plenty of.

Julius stood up and dusted off his clothes, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"Now," he said, looking at the sleeping couple, "we just need to wait a day."