THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 323 - 323: Beneath the Crows' Gaze (2)

"What now?" Seris Moonlight asked.

Phoenix paused, analyzing the situation before responding.

"For now, we need to leave before reinforcements arrive. But…"

He cast a glance across the battlefield, now littered with corpses—and the crows that had found a lavish feast.

"You're thinking of looting the bodies, aren't you? Professor Phoenix, what happened to your manners? Hehe~"

Aegon chuckled from behind the group, calmly cleaning his sword. Like Phoenix, he looked untouched by the battle.

"Looting?" several students echoed, reacting in a mix of shock and discomfort.

Some looked disgusted, hesitant. Others remained impassive.

Overall, the idea of tampering with the dead was foreign to them—repulsive even. They had lived far from such grim realities.

"We're low on supplies. Right now, acquiring resources is a top priority."

Food. Clothing. Weapons. Anything that could improve their chances of survival, even slightly, was worth securing. That was Phoenix's reasoning.

But Aegon shook his head.

"It's pointless. Didn't you notice? We just fought the lowest scum of the Ultras. Barely above animals. What valuables do you expect to find on them?"

He spoke with quiet certainty, never glancing up—his attention entirely on his now-clean blade.

Phoenix couldn't deny his point. The Ultras soldiers had indeed looked more like empty husks than thinking beings.

Still—

"You may be right. But let me ask ..how many did we fight here?"

"No idea. You handled most of them yourself… maybe a few thousand?"

"Exactly. Thousands. I'm sure at least a handful had something useful."

No one knew how long they'd be stranded in this foreign land. They were running dangerously low on resources.

"Something useful? Even if they had anything, you probably incinerated it with their bodies, Professor Phoenix. You're wasting your time."

Aegon opposed Phoenix directly, as if this wasn't the first time they'd clashed on such a matter.

"Then one hour."

"What?"

"We

"Let me spell it out for you. If the roles were reversed, they wouldn't just loot your corpse. They'd take turns raping you—again and again—until your fragile little body shattered to pieces !"

His brutal tone left Emilia in stunned silence, mouth open, words failing her.

"Take your dumb sense of morality and toss it in the nearest trash heap. The only thing that matters in this world is survival. You can only afford to spout this crap because you're on the winning side. You and your entire church are nothing but hypocrites!"

For some reason, Daemon looked even larger than usual as he shouted.

"Hy...pocrites?" Emilia murmured, right before Daemon roared:

"YES, HYPOCRITES!"

A heavy silence followed.

Then came the sound of soft sobbing.

Daemon's jaw dropped as Emilia suddenly burst into tears.

Without warning, he had made her cry like a child.

The girls nearby immediately gathered around to comfort her, glaring at Daemon with disgust and contempt in their eyes.

He scoffed, spat on the ground, and stormed off, flipping them off as he went.

"What kind of pathetic fools have I gotten stuck with?"

He muttered the words and disappeared, his muscular back fading into the distance.

...

...

...

Far from the commotion between Daemon and Emilia, Princess Sansa sat alone, staring at the field of corpses—specifically, at Frey.

He was rummaging through the dead one by one, his face blank, showing no emotion at all.

"I can't read him…"

Sansa muttered. She couldn't figure out what was going through his mind.

Ever since his hair had turned white out of nowhere, she hadn't been able to read him like she used to—except in rare moments.

Unless he lowered his defenses, it was impossible to see through him.

His presence had become completely enigmatic… but for some reason, she couldn't tear her eyes away.

"He's… good at handling corpses," she murmured under her breath, only for a sudden voice to interrupt.

"Yeah… like he's used to it."

Sansa turned to find a familiar girl standing beside her.

"Clana…"

Clana Starlight—Frey's relative. The girl greeted the princess with a gentle smile.