[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-239":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","THE VILLAIN'S POV",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},336676,598,"Chapter 239: Rebirth Through Silence (1)","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-239",239,"\u003Cp>- Frey Starlight's POV –\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is your last day here, Frey Starlight. Hope you haven't grown too fond of the place.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of the guards smirked as he stood at the entrance of my cell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three months had passed in this cage .. a cell that felt more like a tomb. Time inside Alcatraz was distorted. What should have been ninety days had dragged into three long, bitter years in my mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This cell had become almost familiar to me, oddly reminiscent of the dorm rooms I once knew in my previous life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three years… they should've been enough to change something inside me. I truly believed that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought they'd be enough to fill the void, to give me a reason to keep moving forward in this cruel, unforgiving world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they weren't.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And they never will be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how long I stay, this world has nothing that can fill the space they left behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…It's not fair… Father…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bitter smile curved my lips as I slowly rose to my feet, preparing to leave the only place I'd come to know again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why did you leave me with those words?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why did you tell me to live?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of you… I no longer have the right to die. Not even that belongs to me anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So what am I supposed to do now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three years have passed, and all they've done is confirm how hollow I really am.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There's a war in my head. A chasm swallowing my heart whole. And so many questions tearing at what's left of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What should I live for?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For vengeance? Against Wesker, the monster whose fate I don't even know?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or the Engineer, who dragged my father and me into this hell and forced us to suffer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or should I live quietly, as my father wished ... to appreciate what I have, to protect it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of those reasons could be fuel. I told myself that over and over, trying to believe it. But after three years locked in my own mind, I realized that fire is gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It burned out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Swallowed by the abyss inside me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wanted to be like those epic heroes in stories. Driven by vengeance, screaming to the sky, \"I'll kill all the demons!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that dream was never real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something inside me died a long time ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, the Victoriad gave me purpose. A goal I could chase with everything I had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now there's nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Absolutely nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…God, I'm so empty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lost in thought, I barely noticed when the cell door opened. The guards pulled me out in silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As we reached the prison gates and I stepped onto solid earth .. earth not poisoned by the chill of the prison ...I was instantly hit by the bite of cold wind outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was barefoot, wearing only torn black pants, and my upper body was completely bare. The storm stung against my skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My black hair had grown slightly, brushing the back of my neck. Three months wouldn't have done much, but three years in my head? Maybe it left a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Waiting for me was the same carriage that had brought me here. And standing beside it, just as before, was Phoenix Sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…Phoenix.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young lord of the Sunlight family smiled gently, placing a hand on my shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's been a while, Frey. I imagine it felt like three years to you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It did,\" I replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come on. Let's leave this place behind. I'm sure you've had enough of it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't argue. I stepped into the carriage beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once inside, I glanced at Phoenix ... and immediately, the system triggered a window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phoenix Sunlight\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Affection Points: 20\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>– Phoenix has some expectations for you, but doesn't fully trust you. He remains cautious –\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Available Information:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Name: Phoenix Sunlight\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rank: SS\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Combat Style: Eternal Flame\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Current Thought:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Strange. He spent three years being tortured, and yet… he's still exactly the same.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared at the system window hovering beside his name. This was one of the new abilities granted by the Level 2 System.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Affection Meter helped me read people more clearly now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Phoenix… he was trying to figure out why I hadn't changed .. why after three years of mental torment, I was still this hollow shell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frey Starlight had barely lived eighteen years in this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three years, in the context of that short life, was already a long time .. let alone when spent being tortured in the most notorious prison in the Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what they didn't know… was that my mental age was far older. And physical pain no longer had any real effect on me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to the affection system, I already knew the best way to deal with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout our trip back to the capital, Phoenix explained what would happen moving forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apparently, there were still plenty of people who wanted me dead ... unconvinced by the final verdict of my trial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now, though, I was safe ... so long as I remained under the protection of Phoenix and my family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But my movements were being monitored. I was now completely beholden to the Empire's will, my blade expected to point wherever they ordered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They probably wanted me to take part in the coming war ... to follow in my father's footsteps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the previous war, they had always sent him to the frontlines. He faced the enemy's strongest warriors time and time again... until they left him alone against Dragoth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps my father had grown into something they couldn't control ... so they tried to dispose of him through war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words... they used him, drained everything they could from him, and then threw him away at the first opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That thought made my blood boil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, strangely, I didn't feel any particular hatred toward Maekar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emptiness inside me consumed every other emotion like a black hole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After some time spent discussing formalities and what was expected of me going forward, I found myself listening as Phoenix began recounting some of the legends my father had left behind during his lifetime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To my surprise, I actually wanted to hear more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phoenix noticed it too ... the only real change that had happened to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The light in my eyes... was the same one that had sparkled in his when he spoke of Abraham.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I guess… my father really was my hero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The journey didn't take long. With teleportation gates always on standby, we reached the capital territory quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As we neared our destination, I took a closer look at my new system and one particular skill that had quietly appeared in its depths:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Third-Person Pov]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Affection Points reach 50 or more, you can now enter a Third-Person Player Perspective. This allows you to exist behind the target in an ethereal form, perceive their thoughts and emotions, and—if your affection level is high enough—even control them directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A terrifying ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as the affection level was high enough, I could spy, manipulate… basically do whatever I wanted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wondered ... was this some sort of exclusive ability granted to me as the author?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The power to mess with my own characters?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this world ... this was no longer a novel. This was reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were so many mysteries still gnawing at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How had I reincarnated into this body from the start, yet only gained access to it 2 Year's ago ?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Engineer. Those statues. The Nameless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just thinking about all of it left my mind in shambles. So, I decided to push it all aside—for now—and keep moving forward.\u003C\u002Fp>",1288,"2026-05-30T03:41:22.346Z","2026-06-01T04:30:12.387Z",1,"novelbin.me","9948856968ce19886338e0a93704d363a5e9164b9b4c30a9c6d1c983054e03f6","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-240","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-238",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg"]