Villain’s Favorite 201

Chapter 201 Don’t Even Try 

Maya pushed a little further. “So if there were a next time…” 

She thought about it with genuine seriousness and asked, “Would he dump us in the ocean?” 

Alfred considered it briefly and answered with perfect calm. “Maybe.” 

Maya had nothing to say to that. 

Fum bed 

In the minds of Maya and Alfred, Edric had officially been filed away in the same mental folder as career criminals. 

George and Toby had taken turns drilling a single conviction into both of them. 

If you make Edric unhappy, you will not survive it. 

“Are they just being dramatic?” Maya had wondered about it more than once. Out of everyone she’d met, Edric actually had one of the more manageable temperaments. 

Alfred’s impression of Edric was faint but decent. Edric had never given him any reason to feel otherwise. 

Still… 

“When Toby and George say someone’s a great guy, the guy’s going to be some wackjob,” Alfred said. “But when they say someone’s bad, something is genuinely wrong.” 

The two of them whispered back and forth in hushed, solemn voices and debated the actual threat level Edric posed.. 

Their final, unanimous conclusion? 

Behave. Just behave. 

Back in the present, Edric tucked the photograph away. He took one look at Maya’s genuinely lost expression and concluded without any doubt that she wasn’t performing. 

She didn’t know anything. 

That was fine with him. 

If Maya had shown even the smallest flicker of recognition, the faintest attempt to get close to him, he’d have spent the rest of his time picking apart her motives. He’d have questioned where the photograph came from, wondered if it was a trap laid in his childhood, and suspected this girl of being sent to get close to him for reasons he couldn’t yet see. 

But she hadn’t done any of that. 

She’d just acted like a regular kid. 

Edric pulled his gaze away. 

บา 

10:11 Tue, May 12 

Chapter 201 Don’t Even Try 

Finished 

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” he said, his voice cool and clear. “You were right. It’s not worth thinking 

about.” 

Whatever it was, it was the past. 

The past deserved to be left behind. There was no point in circling back to things that were already over and done with. 

Forward was the only direction worth looking. 

“Get back to your game.” 

He seemed to shed any interest in the subject entirely, dismissing her with a small gesture toward the door. 

Maya said a quiet “okay,” not quite understanding, and drifted back over to Alfred. 

Life at the private compound turned out to be even duller than either of them had braced for. 

Every day followed the same hollow rhythm. Wake up. Eat. Trail behind Edric through one grey corridor after another. Watch an endless parade of unfamiliar faces report unfamiliar things to him in language neither of them could follow. 

It was the kind of slow that made seven days feel like seven years. 

Maya counted every single one of those days, yearning for the moment the week ended and she could go home. 

The seventh day finally dragged itself into existence. 

Maya was slumped on the sofa with Alfred, grinding through some mindless little game, when she caught the moment a man was shoved through the office door. 

His legs buckled and he crumpled to the floor, his face a portrait of raw, shaking terror. 

He swept the room with frantic eyes, and when they landed on the two children sitting on the sofa, his body released one short breath of relief before the dread snapped back into place. 

His complexion was the grey of ash, his entire frame sunken with despair, and his lips kept moving in a continuous, barely audible mutter of “what do I do, what do I do,” like something in him had come loose. 

Maya nudged Alfred lightly and said, “Game’s on pause.” 

Something interesting was apparently about to happen. 

Not that she was in a great position to enjoy it. After seven straight rounds of their little game, her face was completely wallpapered in sticky notes that Alfred had stuck there as penalties. 

Edric pushed the door open and came in, several people filing in behind him. 

As he passed the sofa, he glanced over and found Maya already looking up at him. 

The girl’s face was buried under sticky notes. The longest one, planted dead center on her forehead, drooped down and covered nearly half her face. 

212 

10:11 Tue, May 12 

Chapter 201 Don’t Even Try 

Finished 

She looked exactly like a tiny paper-sealed spirit from a ghost story. 

Edric’s gaze rested on her face for one full second. 

Then it moved to Alfred beside her, whose face was spotless and unadorned. 

He was only mildly surprised. One look was enough to piece together that she’d challenged Alfred to something, lost every round, and collected the consequences with spectacular dedication. 

He exhaled quietly, reached out, and pressed two fingers lightly to the top of her head. 

The touch was so brief and offhand it barely registered as intentional. 

Maya tilted her face up in mild confusion and found he’d already withdrawn his hand without having looked down at her at all. 

It really did seem like he’d just accidentally grazed the top of her head. 

Every person in the room had their eyes on Edric, waiting. 

Silence stretched for close to a full minute. 

Edric didn’t sit down. He flipped open a report with one hand and read from it in a flat, even voice. 

“One of our transit points in Central Fricana was hit. Ten guards on rotation. All deceased. The stored munitions and supplies were stripped completely. 

“Direct losses: 155 million.” 

The room went so quiet that breathing became audible. 

“Talk,” Edric said finally. 

The man on the floor found something resembling composure and pulled it around himself. 

He drew in a long breath, fought to keep his voice from shaking, and began a low, halting report. His face stayed ashen, but his eyes had picked up the faint, desperate gleam of someone who very much wanted to keep living. He spent the entire account weaving excuses into every available gap, carefully redistributing blame wherever he could find purchase. 

Edric listened for a short while, then cut him off. 

“The intelligence chain was yours to manage.” 

He stood up. 

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