I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 876: Awkward Elevator

Edward had long since lost track of how many hours he had spent inside the boutique that day.

At some point, he had simply stopped trying to measure time.

The sunlight beyond the windows had shifted across the floor several times, attendants had brought out one selection of clothes after another, and Layla had somehow found endless reasons to make him try on yet another coat, shirt, or formal outfit.

Thankfully, even Layla eventually seemed to have had enough of using him as a mannequin.

She had chosen far too many sets of clothing for him, insisting that each one suited him in a different way and that he needed all of them. Edward had tried to argue at first, but after the fifth? or perhaps the tenth? outfit, he had simply given up.

He was completely certain that if Layla and Ephera ever visited a clothing store together, they would become immediate friends.

The thought alone was terrifying.

Two women with endless enthusiasm, expensive tastes, and no concern for how long they kept him trapped inside a store was already too much to imagine.

Once Layla had finally finished choosing clothing for Edward, she turned her attention toward herself.

That was when Edward was allowed to rest.

He settled onto one of the long cushioned benches on the side of the room, leaning back casually as Layla went from one dress to another. Each time she emerged, she would turn toward him with a small smile, sometimes lifting the edge of her skirt, sometimes asking nothing at all and simply waiting for his reaction.

Edward watched her without complaint.

There were certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Layla had always been beautiful.

Even before awakening the bloodline of Raphiel, she had possessed a beauty that drew attention immediately.

But after willingly awakening Raphiel’s bloodline, something about her had changed.

Her beauty had become almost unreal.

Edward found himself watching her more carefully than he intended.

An hour later, the others finally returned from the lower floor.

Apparently, they had finished their own shopping as well.

In the end, Edward relented and allowed Tihana and Lunishia to look through the dresses too. Both of them became immediately excited, though Tihana tried to hide it behind a serious expression whenever Edward looked her way.

Orlin, Olga, Tessara, and Samara had already had their fill of shopping by then.

They remained seated on nearby benches, surrounded by bags, boxes, and folded clothing. Olga sat beside Orlin, swinging her legs lightly while watching everyone else. Tessara had settled quietly near them, content simply to observe Edward and the others.

Samara, however, had chosen a different place.

Edward’s head rested comfortably on her lap.

She sat with her hands folded gently above him, her face faintly flushed whenever he shifted or opened his eyes. Yet she did not move away. Instead, she remained perfectly still, allowing him to rest while Layla took charge of helping the girls choose dresses and decide which gowns suited them best.

Layla was surprisingly serious about it.

”Honey.”

Layla’s voice finally reached him.

She gently poked Edward’s cheek.

Edward opened his silver eyes.

For a moment, all he saw was Layla leaning over him, her dark-pink eyes bright with amusement.

”How many days have passed?” He asked.

Layla pouted.

”It is over,” she said. ”The staff said all the dresses will be ready before the entrance ceremony.”

Edward nodded slowly.

Then he lifted his head from Samara’s lap and stood. Samara’s expression became a little disappointed at the loss of warmth, though she quickly lowered her gaze and said nothing.

”It seems Aurora, Sylvia, and Jeanne are here too,” Layla said.

”Yeah,” Edward replied. ”You chose a good day.”

Layla rolled her eyes.

”Honey, it had to be today. Otherwise, they could not promise that everything would be ready before the ceremony.”

”That damn ceremony,” Edward muttered. ”I wish I could skip it.”

Unfortunately, he could not.

There were people he needed to see. Matters that required his attention. And now that he was publicly known as the Utopian King, even an academy entrance ceremony had become something he could not easily ignore.

His position brought responsibilities whether he wanted them or not.

”You are not skipping anything,” Layla said.

Then she pointed toward the stairs leading to the main floor.

”Come on. We need to go down. I will pay for everyone.”

Belle had already covered the purchases Edward and Layla had made for themselves. But Layla had insisted on paying for the others, including the dresses chosen by Tihana, Lunishia, Samara, Tessara, and Olga.

”You are sure?” Edward asked. ”I can pay.”

”I brought you here,” Layla replied simply. ”So I will pay.”

Edward looked at the mountains of bags and boxes around them.

”Will Jarett Tarmias not question why you spent so much in one place?”

They were not in an ordinary shop. Everything in the boutique came from one of the most expensive brands in Clover, and Layla had not exactly restrained herself while choosing clothes.

Layla giggled.

”He will not,” she said. ”I will tell him it was for you, Honey.”

Her expression turned teasing.

”Of course, he is your future father-in-law. You should do something nice for him.”

”Will he be at the entrance ceremony?”

”I doubt it,” Layla answered. ”The ceremony is for the students. A few parents may be allowed to attend, but it will be heavily restricted.”

Edward could not argue with that.

If every parent, relative, noble sponsor, and curious guest were allowed inside, the opening ceremony of the Holy Academy would become an unbearable mess. There were already enough kings, queens, nobles, heirs, and influential families arriving in Edenis Raphiel for the festivities.

The last thing anyone needed was several thousand parents forcing their way into the academy grounds.

”We will see,” Edward said. ”Just invite him to Elyen Kiora. We can speak about our wedding there.”

Layla looked up at him with an amused smile.

”Discussing our wedding in the city ruled by your beloved first wife, Freya?” She said. ”You truly are one kind of man, Honey.”

”There is no better place.”

Edward’s answer came without the slightest hesitation.

Layla laughed softly at his shamelessness.

If Freya learned that Edward intended to discuss marrying Layla in Elyen Kiora, she would certainly be displeased.

Still, Edward did not seem particularly concerned.

”We will probably have a few free days once the academy begins,” Layla said, her teasing expression fading into something more earnest. ”But we should not delay for too long.”

She looked at him carefully.

”I do not want Freydis’s wedding to happen before mine.”

”This is not a competition,” Edward replied dryly.

”It is for me.”

Layla rose slightly and pressed a brief kiss to his lips.

Then, before Edward could answer, she turned away with a pleased smile and began walking toward the attendants.

Edward watched her for a moment before shaking his head lightly.

Then he looked toward Samara and the others.

”Wait downstairs,” he said.

Samara nodded.

She gathered the others quietly, guiding Tihana, Lunishia, Orlin, Olga, and Tessara toward the exit. The children were still surrounded by bags and boxes, and Tihana appeared especially pleased with the dresses Layla had helped choose for her.

Once they had left the private fitting room, Edward remained behind to wait for Layla.

Layla was still discussing the final details of the order with the staff.

The female attendants were clearly captivated by her.

It was not difficult to understand why. She was probably the epitome of a woman’s charm.

Yet, despite their admiration for Layla, the attendants occasionally stole shy glances toward Edward as well.

They seemed unable to help themselves.

Edward was, without question, the most handsome man most of them had ever seen. But unlike Layla, who felt easy to approach, Edward carried a cold and intimidating presence.

Whenever one of the attendants accidentally met his gaze, she quickly looked away again.

None of them dared to become too bold.

A few minutes later, Layla finally finished speaking with the staff.

She exhaled, then walked back toward Edward and looped her arm around his right arm.

”That was a long day, Honey.”

”I wonder why,” Edward replied.

Layla smiled, glancing up at him as they left the fitting room.

Layla had barely taken a few steps before she suddenly stopped.

Edward looked at her.

Then Layla caught the front of his shirt and pushed him lightly against the wall.

Before he could say anything, she rose onto her toes and kissed him.

It was not the innocent kiss she had given him earlier.

Her lips pressed against his with clear affection and a quiet impatience that made Edward’s expression soften. He placed one arm around her back, drawing her close as he returned the kiss with the same intensity.

For several moments, neither of them cared where they were.

Layla’s fingers tightened slightly around his shirt as Edward shifted their positions, placing her gently against the wall instead. His lips left hers and lowered toward her neck.

”Ahn... Honey...”

Layla’s breath caught.

She turned her head aside instinctively, her cheeks warming as Edward kissed the sensitive skin beneath her ear. Her fingers moved into his silver hair, gripping it lightly as his lips lingered there.

Her eyes became faintly unfocused.

Then, as Edward’s hand slid beneath her knee and lifted one of her legs slightly,

Layla turned her gaze toward the corridor.

One of the nearby doors had opened.

Aurora stepped out first, followed by Sylvia and Jeanne.

Layla’s eyes widened.

”H-Honey—”

Her voice broke off when Edward pressed another lingering kiss to her neck, entirely unaware of the people who had appeared nearby.

”Ahn...”

Layla’s face became redder.

She tried to tug lightly at Edward’s hair, hoping he would understand, but he only continued holding her close.

It did not take long for the three girls to notice them.

”T-That...”

Sylvia’s entire face turned beet red.

Her emerald eyes widened as she stared at Edward and Layla, then she immediately looked away, appearing unsure where she was supposed to direct her gaze.

”Layla,” Aurora whispered.

She recognized Layla easily.

Aurora’s expression became awkward, and she quickly turned her eyes aside as well. There was no embarrassement in her face, only the discomfort of having unexpectedly walked into something that was clearly meant to be private.

Jeanne stood beside them, completely stunned.

For a few seconds, she seemed unable to process what she was seeing.

Then she abruptly raised a hand in front of her eyes.

”Just... tell me when it is over,” she said weakly.

Unfortunately, a minute passed.

Edward and Layla still had not noticed them. Well, Layla did but she seemed to have forgotten already, melting under Edward’s kisses.

The corridor remained filled with the soft sounds of Edward’s kisses against Layla’s neck, her quick breathing, and the quiet little sounds she made whenever his lips lingered too long against her skin.

Layla’s hand remained caught in Edward’s silver hair, though she no longer seemed to know whether she was trying to stop him or simply holding onto him.

Eventually, Aurora decided that remaining there and waiting was becoming even more uncomfortable.

She straightened herself and began walking forward, doing her best to ignore what was happening only a short distance away.

She had wanted to speak with Layla.

But clearly, this was not the right moment.

”A-Aura, wait!”

Sylvia hurried after her and caught Aurora’s arm.

Her cheeks were still burning.

”How can they be so shameless?” She whispered.

Aurora did not know how to answer.

It was Layla, after all. Public displays of affection had never been entirely surprising where she was concerned.

But Edward was certainly not helping.

They could have chosen any private room.

Any quiet corner.

Anywhere other than the middle of a corridor where people could walk out of their changing rooms at any moment.

Yet they continued as though the rest of the world did not exist.

As Aurora, Sylvia, and Jeanne approached, the three of them did their best to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible.

They kept their eyes forward.

They walked quietly.

And they hoped they could simply pass Edward and Layla without being noticed.

Unfortunately, that hope disappeared the moment Edward finally pulled away.

His lips were faintly glistening, and Layla stood against the wall with flushed cheeks and broken breathing. One of her hands remained tangled in his silver hair, while the other rested weakly against his chest.

The trio froze in the middle of the corridor.

Edward did not seem to notice them at first.

His attention remained fixed entirely on Layla.

Layla looked up at him, her dark-pink eyes slightly unfocused and her face still warm from his kisses.

Edward just caught her hand.

”Come on,” he said.

Layla gave a small, breathless giggle.

She quickly held onto his arm as he pulled her away from the wall and began walking toward the elevators as though nothing unusual had happened.

Aurora watched them leave.

After a moment of hesitation, she quietly followed, with Sylvia and Jeanne walking beside her.

By the time they reached the elevator, Edward and Layla had already stepped inside.

Edward turned around.

Then he finally noticed the three girls standing awkwardly outside.

His expression twisted into a grimace immediately.

”We will take the next one,” Aurora said quickly.

Her voice was calm, but there was a clear awkwardness beneath it.

”No, it is fine,” Layla said before Edward could respond.

She smiled brightly.

”Come in, Aurora. You too, Sylvia. Jeanne.”

Edward, however, seemed less welcoming.

As the three of them continued hesitating outside the elevator, he reached toward the control panel and pressed the button to close the doors.

”Honey.”

Layla caught his hand with a small sulk.

Edward looked down at her.

Layla gave him a look that clearly told him not to be rude.

Aurora let out a quiet sigh and stepped inside before the doors could close completely. Jeanne and Sylvia followed after her.

Thankfully, the elevator was large enough that they were not forced to stand too close together.

Still, the air inside felt strangely tense.

Layla, unlike everyone else, seemed perfectly comfortable.

”Aurora,” she said warmly, turning toward the princess. ”What a pleasant surprise. It is good to see you here.”

Then she looked toward Sylvia and Jeanne.

”You too, Sylvia. And Jeanne.”

”Yes...” Aurora replied. ”I am surprised to see you here as well.”

”Well, Honey refused to wear anything formal for the entrance ceremony,” Layla said with an exaggerated sigh. ”I had to drag him here and make him choose proper clothes.”

Aurora glanced toward Edward.

He stood near the front of the elevator with his hands in his pockets. He did not look back at them.

”I believe formal clothing may be required for a ceremony like that,” Aurora said.

”It should be,” Layla agreed. ”And Honey is a King now, after all.”

Her eyes shifted toward Edward with a meaningful smile.

”He simply refuses to wear formal coats unless something truly interests him. Hopefully, he will show more enthusiasm when it comes to our wedding.”

Edward ignored her.

”Wedding?”

Sylvia’s eyes widened.

”You are getting married, Layla?”

”Oh, yes,” Layla replied happily. ”Hopefully within the next few months.”

Aurora’s expression softened into a genuine smile.

”I am happy for you, Layla.”

Layla smiled back.

”You will be invited. You had better come.”

Then she turned toward Edward.

”What do you think, Honey?”

Edward remained facing forward for another second.

”I wonder,” he said at last, his voice filled with dry sarcasm, ”why I would wish to invite princesses from the kingdom that exiled me.”

The atmosphere inside the elevator became painfully awkward.

Sylvia parted her lips but didn’t say anything.

Jeanne looked quietly between them, sensing that she had just heard something personal and unresolved.

Aurora however quickly spoke.

”I will have your banishment revoked, Edwa—”

She stopped herself.

”Your Majesty,” Aurora corrected quietly. ”It was a mistake made by my father in anger.”

Edward finally turned slightly toward her.

Aurora was looking directly at him.

Her sapphire eyes remained calm, though there was regret beneath them.

Three years had passed since Edward had last seen her.

She had changed.

The girl he remembered from the Royal Eden Academy had grown into a woman.

There was a greater resolve in her expression now, a quiet maturity in the way she spoke and carried herself. She was no longer simply the proud and kind princess he had once known, nor the former fiancée who had broken their engagement.

Sylvia had changed as well.

Edward’s eyes moved briefly toward her.

She stood half behind Aurora, looking back at him with an uncertain expression.

For just a moment, her face overlapped with the Sylvia he remembered from the past.

Edward held his gaze on her a little longer than necessary.

”I thought you had forgotten about us,” Sylvia said.

She looked away with a quiet scoff.

Edward turned forward again.

”Tell your grandfather to stop playing matchmaker with Layla,” he said. ”He should spend that embarrassing effort fixing the useless Crown Prince you call a brother.”

At that moment, the elevator doors opened.

Edward walked out without waiting for a response.

Layla followed at his side, though she glanced back once toward Aurora with an apologetic smile before disappearing into the busy lower floor with him.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Sylvia stared at Edward’s retreating figure with disbelief.

”He has not changed at all,” she finally said.

Then she added.

”No. Actually, he is much worse than before.”

Aurora sighed.

Yet, strangely enough, a faint smile appeared on her face.

She had expected Edward to be entirely indifferent.

She had believed that after everything, the broken engagement, the banishment, the years apart, and his new life in Utopia, he would no longer spare them even a glance.

But he had remembered.

He still cared enough to be bitter.

In his own difficult and unpleasant way, he had not completely forgotten them.

So he did remember that year after all?

It was relieving and she felt like she could somehow pinpoint her relationship with him right now, without having to wonder how she should talk to him as if he was a complete stranger.

”Why does everyone always look down on our brother?” Sylvia added, sighing then.

The only thing Edward seemed to remember about Alfred was that he had been an incapable Crown Prince.

Sylvia did not know whether she should laugh at the absurdity of it or become angry.

Aurora stepped out of the elevator, and Sylvia followed after her.

Then Aurora realized Jeanne had not moved.

She turned around.

Jeanne was still standing inside the elevator, completely still.

Her expression had changed.

”Jeanne?” Sylvia asked, her concern immediate.

”I... yes.”

Jeanne blinked rapidly, then hurried out of the elevator.

But something was clearly wrong.

This was only the second time she had seen Edward in person.

The first time had already left her perturbed. Yet now, after standing so close to him and hearing his voice directly, the feeling had become much stronger.

Was she imagining it?

Was she simply forcing Nyrel’s face onto Edward because of some strange memory or unreasonable instinct?

But it did not feel like imagination.

His face.

His presence.

Even his voice.

Everything about him felt familiar.

She barely remembered Nyrel. Her memories of that time were fragmented, distant, and difficult to grasp clearly. But the closer she came to Edward, the more those fragments seemed to awaken.

It felt too similar.

Too exact.

”Has he always been like that?” Jeanne finally asked.

Aurora looked at her.

”Edward, you mean?”

Jeanne nodded.

Aurora considered the question.

”No,” she said slowly. ”Maybe a little. But he has changed a lot. Almost unrecognizable.”

The only part of him that felt familiar was his sarcasm.

The way he spoke, the veiled insults designed to strike directly at someone’s weak point, those were things Aurora remembered well.

But even that had changed.

Edward’s tongue had certainly become more refined but in the wrong way.

”I see,” Jeanne murmured.

She lowered her gaze, her brows faintly drawn together.