Becoming the Villain’s Family - Chapter 3

Pizzicato.1

He could hear the slender strings of a violin being plucked from somewhere far away.

“Gone, the mysterious night.”

At that moment, the song succeeded in capturing the count’s deranged heart.

This was the song of the Siren.

“Thi-this is ridiculous.” He said, astonished.

“No, it can’t be! How in the world are you able to…. Don’t tell me that Sophia…” the count proclaimed in disbelief.

It was beautiful and angelic, something he never thought he’d yearn in his entire lifetime.

‘That’s not all.’

The lyrics swam through his head like a wakeful dream, the notes soothing him, siphoning his entire being from within.

But at the same time, there was anger laced in her words and a bloody smell filled the entire room.

This intensity was something he could not overcome, it seized and locked him in. Just like an incurable poison disguised as an angel’s touch, ready to lead him to his morbid death.

He could feel it subconsciously.

‘They are both sirens, yet the discrepancy…’

That song would make sane people deranged. A mere voice, yet something that could bring the whole aristocrat under her feet.

Perhaps taking control of the empire was not an exaggeration.

“Let me hear once more! More, more….!” The count begged before stepping on a bottle of liquor and fell to the floor.

His bloodshot eyes set rigid on the siren as he outstretched his hand trying to grip his figment of desire.

It was hideous.

Aria shifted her gaze upon his body and stared at him, her eyes filled with disgust.

‘To think that I was sacrificed for someone as pathetic as him. To satisfy the greed of those who know nothing but wealth and power. How stupid I was.’

Count Cortez.

He controlled his daughter, who knew nothing, with violence. Compelling her into his bidding, things beyond imagination.

The violence he brought to her, still fresh in her memory. New bruises appeared on her body every night as they caused agony that could only be seen on the inside. She was terrified of him, but not anymore…2

“My voice shall be the last thing you hear tonight.”2

Aria’s cold words cleared part of the irrational haze in his mind.

“Wait! Th-this song is…”

‘Yes, you know this song well.’

It was the first song that he told her.

A song to deal with nobles who know things they shouldn’t know.

“You’ll forget everything.”

“No! What are you doing!”

Aria felt unshackled, for she had been given the freedom she craved for a lifetime.

Nothing will chain her ever again, not the count, the repugnant aristocrats, and certainly not the emperor. The seed of her childhood nightmares, which reigned her entire life, was finally gone.

‘What do I do now?’

Her mind agonized upon her worrisome future.

Unfortunately, the potion she had taken had consequences of its own. Apart from losing her vocal cords, the potion also shortened her lifespan.

The potion gave Aria’s freedom a time limit.

It was something she couldn’t change even if she had traveled back in time.

‘I’ll die when I reach twenty…’4

‘With this limited time, how can I spend the rest of my life meaningfully?’

Only one thing is for certain, she should never let anyone know that she’s the only remaining Siren.

‘My songs will drive people insane.’

The Siren’s enchanting music was able to fascinate, yet poison people’s minds at the same time. Their voice could lure them to insanity and corrupt their thoughts.

Aria was fed up with such situations.

Suddenly, she recalled a peculiar individual who held her on the brink of her death.

“Siren, I’ve heard that listening to your songs drives people crazy.1

It was then.

“Then I guess I don’t mind. Because I’ve always been crazy.”

She recalled the voice in her last moments.

His grey eyes blurred as if they had lost their original color, and would only brighten when he slaughtered the nobles.

His eyes were soulless and lifeless, gaze wandering everywhere as if searching for clarity.

Perhaps he desired sanity, although he could not stand it. Perhaps being sane tormented his mind. Perhaps that was the reason why he could not take himself off the high, the wishful dream that gradually faded as he came into contact with brutal reality.1

But when Sophia, Aria’s mother, first appeared, the world had no choice but to accept their existence in the world.2

The existence of a beautiful monster, Siren.

‘Look at her eyes. They’re like jewels, trapping people with its enchanting gaze.’

One of the maids sat on the bed and stared at the child, her mind was muddled before she soon came to her senses and said, “What am I saying, she can’t even speak.”