The Male Lead’s Personality Is More Twisted Than Expected
Fragment of the Devil
If this guy finds out I’m actually a girl, he’ll be shocked out of his mind.
Does he think that if you hold hands, you have to get married?
Pfft.
The ridiculous thought made her burst out laughing for real. On the other hand, Martian looked dazed, as if someone had stolen his smile.
He looked down at the wrist he was holding, then slowly let go and spoke.
“I’d prefer if today’s spar remained just between you and me.”
His gentle voice pressured her to keep their meeting at the training ground a secret. It almost sounded like a threat.
She thought about asking why, but closed her mouth.
For a moment, she considered teasing him, but there was no one she especially wanted to tell. Besides, she didn’t want to add more trouble to her already exhausting routine.
“Don’t worry. I’m good at keeping secrets. I don’t even have friends to tell.”
Rukna pretended to lock her lips with a key.
“……Hmm.”
As if her reaction was different from what he expected, Martian raised his eyebrows, then slowly smiled.
Then he flicked her forehead hard with his fingers.
“Ow!”
Maybe he had really gone easy on her earlier, because this time she couldn’t dodge at all—it was too fast.
What is wrong with this jerk now?
Rukna rubbed her round forehead and glared at Martian with teary, resentful eyes.
“For someone who just locked their mouth, it opens pretty easily, doesn’t it?”
“You devil……!”
Tears gathered in her eyes from pure pain, and she bit her lip before she could finish her sentence.
How did he even hit her? The more time passed, the more her forehead throbbed. Was it swelling already?
“I heard you lost your memory, but you seem to know quite well that I have a devil’s heart.”
Martian pointed at his chest and smiled brightly.
With a face like that, making such middle-school-level jokes, it almost sounded serious. It wasn’t funny at all. Still, her tears disappeared.
“Why don’t you just say you have a Black Flame Dragon sealed in your left arm too?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not in my left arm. It’s sleeping in the northern nest of the cadet academy.”
Martian answered without hesitation.
Was this supposed to be humor?
They weren’t even close enough to joke like this. Yet he acted as if the strange spar had somehow shortened the distance between them.
“Fine, I lost. Let’s stop.”
Rukna raised both hands in surrender.
Rather than continuing this silly joke battle, it was better to return to the dormitory and lie down for even a few minutes.
She headed back.
From behind her, Martian’s voice followed like another warning.
“Make sure the lock stays in place.”
Seriously, what a thorough guy.
Without even turning around, Rukna made a rough circle in the air with her hand in response.
Left alone again, Martian let out a sigh and pushed back his sweat-soaked hair.
Was I smiling properly?
He wiped the dust from his iron sword with his palm and looked at his reflection in the blade.
The soft smile he had been wearing just moments ago appeared faintly.
Soon, it hardened, returning to a cold, expressionless face.
What a strange face.
Damn it.
Martian slammed the iron sword into the ground.
He had been like this since birth.
As if a screw controlling his emotions had been missing, he couldn’t laugh when others laughed, nor cry when everyone else wept.
So people pointed fingers and said it was all because of the fragment of the devil embedded in his heart.
Even useless memories are coming back.
Ever since the Holy Sword disappeared, nothing had been going right.
The irritation he had been suppressing must have burst out toward Rukna, who appeared without warning.
To think I’d meet Rukna at this hour.
If his usual training ground hadn’t been under construction, they never would have crossed paths. What bad luck.
Logically, he understood that Rukna was not the thief of the Holy Sword.
But his heart did not agree.
Whenever he saw that guy, strange suspicions kept rising. So, using sparring as an excuse, he had swung his sword out of spite.
How did Rukna react?
Did he resent him for attacking under a false excuse?
Or did he secretly laugh, thinking that the perfect student council president was actually practicing alone at dawn?
Martian thought of the other cadets who always looked for ways to exploit his weaknesses.
But Rukna seemed different.
He obediently agreed to keep quiet about today.
Why had he been so compliant?
No clear answer came.
All that remained in his mind were those green eyes that sparkled like morning dew—and the lingering warmth in his fingertips where he had touched Rukna.
When I touched him, my tension strangely faded.
Since childhood, Martian had always felt comfortable around holy power.
That was why he was especially sensitive to sensing it. The sense of comfort he felt from Rukna clearly came from divine power.
In truth, the energy itself was faint.
Yet it felt like standing before an enormous sacred force.
Divine power… from Rukna?
Rukna had been brought up in faculty meetings several times for maladjustment issues and was registered as a “special interest student.”
The professors had passed responsibility for him to the student council, and the one in charge was the vice president, Ched.
Because of that, Martian rarely encountered Rukna even in the classroom and didn’t know much about him.
I should look into him more.
He tilted his head back and estimated the time. It was still early dawn—there should be no passersby.
He picked up the iron sword he had thrown aside, put it back in place, then left the academy and headed toward the Plaza of Honor.
Technically, it was past curfew, so going out was forbidden.
But for Martian Wigretz, it was possible.
For others, rules were obligations. For the Grand Duke’s House of Wigretz, they were merely options.
Martian was a man who followed rules almost obsessively—except when it came to the Holy Sword.
“G-Greetings, Young Master!”
A guard stationed near the plaza had been nodding off. Upon recognizing Martian, he jolted awake and bowed deeply.
Martian accepted the greeting calmly and entered the plaza.
At the center stood the tall marble pedestal where the Holy Sword had once been embedded.
Now it was empty.
Martian crossed his arms in front of it.
When the Holy Sword had been here, he had always felt peace in this place.
Now he felt nothing.
〈They say that in the Grand Duke’s family, a child is born every hundred years with a fragment of the devil embedded in their heart.〉
The rumor that floated around high society echoed in his ears.
Unfortunately, it was true.
After the Devil War 600 years ago, a child with a fragment of the devil in their heart was born into the House of Wigretz once every hundred years.
The “Devil War” began when a devil’s egg was summoned in the capital.
Inside the massive black egg was a distorted space, and from it poured countless demons who slaughtered humans.
The one who defeated them was the hero, Wigretz.
Alongside the mage Golden and the Saint Closet, he sealed the Demon King.
But during that process, a fragment of the Demon King seeped into Wigretz.
It was a curse.
Because of that, despite their high title, the Wigretz family secluded themselves in a sacred land said to be inhabited by elves, preparing in case the devil’s power awakened.
Of course, “secluded” was not quite accurate. The family felt most at home there and lived comfortably.
Martian was born and raised there.
Though he had been born with a twisted temperament, the Grand Duke’s strict moral education turned him into a model student.
The first time I left the territory for a long period was when I entered the cadet academy.
His family had been worried, but he had no trouble adjusting.
Except for a few geniuses, most students were fools. It was easy to step over them while wearing the mask of a kind and exemplary student council president.
Needless to say, his grades were excellent in every subject.
To draw the Holy Sword that can suppress the devil’s power, all abilities must be outstanding.
And he had to ensure that the devil’s egg sealed by the Holy Sword would never hatch again.
If the seal broke and the Demon King descended upon this land, the fragment in his own heart might also be consumed, turning him into a true devil.
Martian had trained secretly at dawn, building his body little by little.
No matter how gifted someone was, effort was necessary for constant growth.
But some people disliked his efforts, so it was more comfortable to hide them.
And at times like this, when no one was around, he would come to the plaza and attempt to draw the Holy Sword from the pedestal.
He had tried many times.
All had failed.
Was it because of the devil’s fragment?
Or was he simply not worthy?
He was not used to failure, so impatience crept in. But he never gave up.
〈The High Priest said that the one capable of slaying the Demon King will become the master of the Holy Sword. It simply means I am still lacking. I just need to become more perfect.〉
Perhaps he hadn’t been born with the proper disposition of a hero.
That was why he tried even harder to act kind to others.
Maybe if he continued imitating kindness, one day it would become real.
If he understood such emotions, perhaps the Holy Sword would see him not as a descendant of a devil, but as a hero.
But once the Holy Sword disappeared, everything twisted out of place.
Who on earth took it?
In truth, he knew it had not been stolen.
Someone must have drawn it properly.
After all, he knew better than anyone how firmly it had been embedded there.
Rukna Golden.
Only then did he remember mentioning the devil’s heart to Rukna.
It was not something he even said jokingly to himself. It had clearly been a mistake.
Why did I let my guard down?
Was it because standing beside Rukna made him feel the same calm he felt when gazing at the Holy Sword here?
Even though he knew Rukna did not have the power to slay the Demon King and therefore could not have drawn the Holy Sword, he still could not dismiss the suspicion.
Rukna’s sudden change in behavior and obvious improvement in skill only deepened that doubt.
If I keep watching, I’ll find out.
Martian clenched his fist and returned to the academy.
He had finally reached a conclusion after long thought.
Yet for some reason, all the way back, it was not the missing Holy Sword that filled his mind—
but Rukna’s green eyes, shining with unshed tears after being flicked on the forehead.
