This Delusional Voice Keeps Telling Me I’m a Villain

…Why, Didi? Why did you… betray me?

Aiden Forgath—that’s my name. I was born with a beautiful face if I do say so myself. I think I inherited it from my mother, who was once considered one of the most beautiful women in the world.

Yes, my mother used to be beautiful a long, long time ago… And that is the cause of my current misery.

“Aiden! Aiden! Give me back that face! How many times do I have to tell you?”

How many times a day did I hear that shrill voice of hers? Long ago, she used to be one of the most beautiful women in high society. She was courted by royalty and noblemen at the time, and rumors of her beauty had even spread to neighbouring countries.

But one day an epidemic swelled up a part of her face, and it never healed. Mother’s swollen face had lost its former beauty; it had become ugly and disfigured. She could no longer be called beautiful; she looked like nothing but a hideous woman. No amount of restorative magic could cure the swelling, and her swollen, unhealed face was scorned by society, calling her a cursed woman. The people who had been so enamoured with her beauty turned their backs on her and shunned her together.

Eventually, treated as a sore thumb by her own people, she was forced to marry into the Viscount Forgath’s family, where she was forced to live under house arrest to ensure that her ugly face would go forgotten.

However, only Father loved Mother. He loved her even with her ugly appearance. As a little boy, I was unable to understand why. But, my father loved my mother, and, between them, they had me.

I, who resembled my mother back when she was still a stunning beauty… Mother lost her marbles.

She came to believe that I had snatched her beauty away, and every time we met, she chided me–even coming to my bed in the middle of the night to rip my face off. My father did not help me. In fact, he resented me.

It was natural for him to be resentful; the person he loved had gone mad because of my birth. Since I was his heir, he would still let me live, but if I made any mistakes, he would disown me immediately.

A mad mother, a resentful father… There was no place for me in that house.

At such a time, it was Didi who came to my rescue. I had no idea who Didi was. One day he suddenly wandered into the garden of my residence. He was looking for someone to play with, and he happened to stray into my house.

“Let’s play, Aiden.”

Then we became friends. I didn’t even know Didi’s real name. But, as I had nowhere to belong, I was happy to have Didi. He and I used to meet in the woods near the Viscount’s estate, and then we would go to Natcheil to play.

There, we played chess with the grocer, chased each other through the back alleys of the buildings, played pranks on the pretty girls, and chatted all the time in a cheap public restaurant. Some people were fascinated by my face and tried to get their hands on me, but Didi got rid of them all.

He would say, “Never will I hand my friend, Aiden, to some strangers!”

Didi was my hero–he was my hero, my messiah, my everything. If my home was hell, then it was heaven by Didi’s side.

Alas…

“Didi betrayed me; I was betrayed…” I broke down in tears in a closed space in a coffee shop in Natcheil.

In front of me was an unfamiliar boy—the one who had saved me for whatever reason. To this stranger, whose name I didn’t even know, I somehow revealed everything that had happened and what was brewing inside my heart.

“A few days ago, Didi came to me with a pensive look on his face and asked me to sign something without saying anything else. I just signed the papers because Didi looked like he would die if I didn’t… Then yesterday I got a letter from Didi asking me to come to Natcheil this afternoon… When I arrived, I found…those two guys waiting for me. They claimed that Didi had told them since he couldn’t pay his debts, I would pay in his stead…”

Didi, why…? Why did you offer me up as a sacrifice? Did I ever do anything to you? Until just recently, weren’t we still friends…? Besides, what on earth is with the amount of that debt? Just what did you do with such a large sum of money…?

My thoughts whirled around in circles. I felt as if my vision had gone dark, and my limbs were shaking.

Then a voice called out to me… It was like a ray of light in my dark world.

“I think I know what’s going on, Aiden. It’s not your fault. You’re the victim. It’s the people who set you up that are at fault. So, don’t cry about it.”

“Wuuuu…”

Is this man an angel or something?

I had never heard such kind words before, and I almost clung to him. He was being so kind to a complete stranger like me; he must be a true angel.

I was still so touched; He smiled at me, “But there’s something you need to see.”

“*sobs* What is it…?”

From his pocket, he took out the contracts that those men were holding.

“…As an outsider, I’m not supposed to be looking at this, Aiden. You’ll have to see what’s inside on your own.”

“…”

That being said, I reluctantly looked at the contents of the contract and… I was mortified.

The shock had stopped me from breathing; I was speechless. My mind went blank in an instant.

“Say, Aiden,” he smiled at me as I turned pale at the revelation, “if you don’t mind, why don’t you try accepting my offer? In exchange…”

No matter how I heard it, it was the whisper of the devil…

“You know what, I can help you with that… He’s the guy1 you want to get back at, right?”