Reborn as the villain in the game

- After seeing Rose weeping on the balcony, a profound sadness washed over me.

- It was a sadness that transcended the surface of her feigned smiles, a sadness born from the knowledge that beneath her cheerful facade lay a soul deeply scarred by the relentless hatred she had endured.

- The sight of her shoulders shaking with silent sobs was a blow to my conscience, a physical manifestation of the pain I had, in part, caused.

- I stood there, paralyzed by a mixture of guilt and fear. My tongue felt heavy, my mind a jumbled mess of unspoken apologies and justifications.

- What words could I possibly offer to a person I had wronged so profoundly?

- What comfort could I bring after I had, for so long, been a source of her torment?

- The silence between us was a chasm, filled with the ghosts of my past actions and the weight of her suffering.

- My heart ached with a longing to turn back time, to erase the cruel words and the cold indifference that had defined our interactions.

- Gathering every ounce of courage I possessed, I took a tentative step towards her.

- The sound of my footsteps on the polished floor seemed to echo in the oppressive silence.

- She must have heard me, for she quickly turned her back, her small frame tensing as she tried to hide the evidence of her tears.

- I saw her hand dart to her face, a desperate attempt to wipe away the traces of her vulnerability.

- My heart twisted in my chest, a pang of self-loathing so sharp it took my breath away.

- It was a reflex born of shame, a reaction I was all too familiar with.

- "Rose," I began, my voice barely a whisper, a fragile thing that trembled with emotion.

- "I am so, so sorry for everything. For all the pain I've caused you, for all the hateful things I've said and done."

- The words felt inadequate, a shallow attempt to atone for a deep wound.

- She slowly turned to face me, her eyes, once so full of life, were now red and puffy, a heartbreaking testament to her sorrow.

- A look of utter shock and disbelief crossed her features, as if she couldn't comprehend the sincerity in my voice, the genuine remorse in my eyes.

- She just stared at me, her mouth slightly agape, a question lingering in the silence.

- "What do you mean, Leon?" she finally managed to choke out, her voice raw and fragile. She looked at me with a bewildered expression.

- She lowered her gaze to the floor, as if she couldn't bear to look at me, a constant reminder of her pain.

- I took a shaky breath, the air feeling thick and heavy in my lungs. "I'm sorry for all the insults I've hurled at you, all the times I've made you feel small and insignificant. It was all a lie, Rose." My voice cracked with the weight of my confession.

- She looked up, her gaze searching, "Does that mean you didn't hate me, Leon?" Hope, a fragile, trembling thing, flickered in her eyes.

- It was a question that held the weight of a thousand unspoken emotions, a plea for validation that I was unworthy of answering.

- "I never hated you," I replied, the words a balm on my own wounded conscience. "Not for a single second."

- Her brow furrowed in confusion, "But why did you always keep your distance from me? Why did you make me feel so alone?" Her voice was laced with a deep-seated hurt that I had no right to have caused.

- I couldn't look away from her. The truth, ugly and raw, spilled from my lips. "I knew you had the saintess ability, Rose. And I knew the hero would need you by his side. If I got too close to you, if we made a deep connection, you might have chosen to stay with me instead of helping him. Humanity needed you to be with the hero. You were the only one who could truly aid him, and if he failed, it would put all of us at risk. I had to make sure you would go to him, that you would be his support. I pushed you away, made you hate me, so that you would have no reason to stay here with me." My voice was a broken whisper, filled with the unsaid, the unspoken apologies.

- Rose thought for a moment, her brow furrowed in a mixture of disbelief and dawning comprehension.

- Her gaze, which had been fixed on the floor, now lifted to meet mine. There was a fragile hope in her eyes that I had almost extinguished.

- "So that was the reason you have to push me away even if I have to hate you? Rose."

- Her voice was soft and trembling. It wasn't a question of accusation but of genuine inquiry, as if she was piecing together a puzzle she never knew existed.

- I nodded slowly, unable to do anything else. The dam holding back her tears broke.

- They weren't tears of sadness or anger, but of a profound, heartbreaking relief. As she started to cry, a small, fragile smile began to form on her lips.

- It was a smile of understanding, a smile that forgave me for a betrayal she had only just understood wasn't one at all.

- Then, my focus shifted from my own anguish to a matter I'd been agonizing over for days.

- "But can I ask you," I began, my voice still a little shaky, "what did happen between you and Allen?"

- The question hung in the air, pulling me from the tangled web of my own emotions and forcing us to confront a different kind of pain.

- Rose took a deep breath, steeling herself. The memory was still sharp and bitter. "To tell the truth, at first he was a very nice guy. He was friendly, and I didn't see him as anything more than a friend."

- The words came out slowly, as if she was navigating a minefield.

- "But then, things started to change. I started to notice how sometimes I would see him glancing at my body when he thought I wasn't looking."

- She swallowed hard, feeling a knot of disgust tighten in her stomach. "And then, today... he wanted to force a kiss on me." She looked away, unable to bear the weight of her own words.

- "So that's why you slapped him?" I asked.

- Rose finally met my gaze again. "Yes," she said, the word a simple, brutal truth. "Even though he has a fiancée, he would do something like that. I told him the truth about what kind of person he is."