Reincarnated and Regressed Villain - Make heroines beg for forgiveness

[Domestic Violence?! Arrest this man!]

'Scan her neck,' Ryuk interjected firmly, frustrated that the system, instead of focusing on the task at hand, was drowning in absurdities and failing to provide any real assistance in this critical moment.

There were two primary reasons why he had to put Esme to sleep. First, she needed rest—she had been awake for far too long. Even Ryuk, with his exceptional control over his body, was starting to feel the need for a nap.

Her incessant wakefulness raised his suspicions about her condition.

Before expending his energy, he sensed something unusual around her neck; it was emitting internal energy instead of mana.

Due to Shunya, whenever any kind of energy touches Ryuk's body, it gets nullified. While in the nullification process, he also becomes aware of what kind of energy has been nullified, such as mana, ether, Internal energy, and so on. As he lay on the bed, he felt a very small amount of internal energy being nullified against his skin.

With his sharp senses, he detected that it was coming from Esme's neck.

This eerie discovery prompted him to eliminate the threat near her neck, which subsequently allowed her to drift into sleep.

Given his strength, he sensed that the source of the internal energy was some kind of worm presence.

While he struck her neck, he imbued only a small amount of ether; after eliminating that parasite due to ether's volatile nature, he nullified the ether so as not to harm Esme further.

[Scanning...]

DING

[An unknown organism detected; further analysis is required.]

'Organism? Determine its origin and begin the examination,' Ryuk commanded. His suspicions had been confirmed; someone had indeed implanted a parasite or foreign entity within Esme. As he considered the possibilities, a chilling realization struck him—there was only one person who could have done this. A cold, steely glint appeared in his eyes.

[Analyzing...]

╔─━━━━━━━━━░★░━━━━━━━━━─╗

Parasite Detected: Soulborer Worm

Effect: Corrupts the host's soul, consuming it slowly while implanting a venom that affects both the physical body and the spiritual essence.

Symptoms: Weakening willpower, emotional instability, and an increasing susceptibility to manipulation.

Stage: Early corruption detected; potential for total host domination if left untreated.

Countermeasures: Immediate purification required to prevent irreversible damage to the soul.

╚─━━━━━━━━━░★░━━━━━━━━━─╝

Ryuk's eyes narrowed as he read the details about the parasite implanted within Esme. Anger surged through him, prompting him to glare in the direction of the window present inside the room.

His senses expanded throughout the peak, honing in on a specific location in the basement, where the matriarch of the Celestial Phoenix Order remained shackled, having been bested by Regina in battle.

He could clearly see how, even inside the shackles, the woman was trying to gather her internal energy as if trying to recover from her wounds.

Her eyes snapped open, meeting his, and although he was not physically present, he could sense how her body trembled from sensing his surveillance.

It was clear that no one was deceiving anyone; even she seemed to recognize that her condition was merely that of a temporarily deferred dead person.

And once he decides to leave Jade Dominion, the first one to fall will be her.

After all, why else would she dare to implant a trigger containing a parasite in Esme?

'Extract it,' he commanded, his thoughts racing. His initial intention had been to show mercy, to use them merely as pawns in his plans. But it seemed Yu Shao Yan had dug her own grave with this reckless act.

Ryuk had initially thought to grant the Empress of Jade Dominion what she desired first. Afterward, he would execute Jenny's remaining family right before her eyes, relishing in the shock it would bring.

Everyone thought the inevitable had passed, and he showed mercy, allowing them to share a happy moment with Jenny and her mother. But suddenly, in front of her, he would kill each one of them, leaving Jenny alive to witness all of this.

After all, he had already given her death once before. Yet, there was no guilt or trace of forgiveness in her gaze, only a simmering anger that needed to be channelled into something more potent.

As it appears, destiny doesn't want things to be this simple.

[ Extraction....]

As a monotone voice emanated from the system, Esme's body suddenly began to glow with a vibrant green light. Gradually, several particles of energy released from her started to coalesce into a shape resembling a coiled ringworm, its head crushed and clearly misshapen.

'Yu Shao Yan… you shouldn't have done this,' Ryuk said, observing the worm as he held it delicately in his hand. He recognized that when Esme had placed that woman in an illusion, she had inadvertently embedded this parasite within Esme's body, all without anyone noticing.

It would have likely gone undetected if Ryuk had not sensed the abnormality in Esme's behavior; she had remained awake while he slept, an unusual occurrence. Layer upon layer of internal energy seemed to suppress the worm, as if it were lying in wait for the right moment to activate.

Amidst all this, the one silver lining was that the parasite had not yet been activated; had it done so, Ryuk risked losing control and likely would have killed Yu Shao Yan, granting her an unearned peace.

'Heal this thing,' Ryuk commanded firmly. In response, a swirling black smoke began to seep into the worm. The energy radiating from him was under control, yet it exuded a palpable killing intent, noticeable to many within the main peak.

[ Initiating Healing ]

[ Host, what will you do with this entity? ]

'Nothing much,' Ryuk replied, shifting his gaze toward the exit of the door as he made his way out.

For now, he chose to place the worm into his inventory, prioritizing the matter of the dual cultivation.

In the morning, after his own energy had recovered somewhat, he would confront Yu Shao Yan, who clearly thought highly of herself and needed to know that having her death delayed without pain was a much better option than now having death as the only hope to come in misery.

*****

Present Time,

[Told you! You will get arrested for domestic violence! (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)]

'....' Standing before Esme, the morning rays illuminated the entire garden, highlighting the bridge while an irritating system alert buzzed incessantly in Ryuk's ears.

He turned to look at the woman before him, her arms crossed and a narrowed golden gaze fixed intently on him.

With a subtle motion, Ryuk summoned a mask from his inventory and placed it over his face.

"Good morning, Esme," he greeted her, then opened his arms wide. For a moment, Esme regarded him with suspicion, but eventually, she crossed the distance and embraced him, nestling her head against his chest.

"My head hurts," she confessed, though the discomfort stemmed from the slight itch she'd felt after using an illusion on the matriarch.

Exhaustion had taken its toll, and this morning she awoke to a more intense pain.

In a bid to soothe herself, she had followed the mana string and found him in the garden, where the morning rays offered her some relief.

'Is she okay?' Ryuk inquired, his physical demeanor impassive, yet malice flickered in the depths of his cold gaze.

[Yes, you detected the situation in time. Her headache results from the overuse of her mental strength, not the parasite.]

'I see...' Ryuk acknowledged the information with a slight inclination of his head. Without wrapping his arms around her, he continued to gaze straight ahead and called out, "Regina."

As he did so, the air trembled with the arrival of a figure, her body seemingly teleporting into place as she knelt before him. "Yes, My Liege," she affirmed.

"Drag those three out," Ryuk commanded, his gaze unyielding and frigid. With his eyes fixed on Regina, who gave a nod before her body vanished into darkness to fulfill the orders.

"What's with her?" Esme, not interrupting him or inquiring about the three people he was talking about, focused on Yao Lian, who seemed seated while meditating. Narrowing her gaze and loosening her hand from the embrace, she made her way towards Yao Lian.

"Keep an eye on her; I will come soon," Ryuk uttered before his figure was shrouded in an orange glow and vanished.

"Huh?"