Episode 8 (제8화) is the eighth episode of The Patron of Villains Webtoon series.
Summary
The chapter starts at the Altia estate, where Loria decides that Allon is not someone to underestimate. The distinguished one of the underworld has cold eyes like her father's, the kind of person she must never make an enemy of. He was her last lifeline, and he turned down a deal that would have cost him significant losses. Her assets and her power went to her sly siblings long ago, the eldest son Timalian, the eldest daughter Marianne, the second daughter Pyrinne, and the second son Keeg. She has nothing left. Her father's love and mercy are the only reason she has survived this far, and what to do next is beyond her. A servant comes running. Pyrinne and Keeg have taken their own lives. Loria cannot make sense of it, since those two would sooner stab their own family than harm themselves. Two months later a man arrives at the Palateo estate under Duke Altia's order with a bottle of Sernance wine worth a few thousand gold. The card reads "with respect, Loria Altia." Allon assumes the youngest daughter prepared it rather than the duke, and he cannot work out why she would send him anything when he was never able to help her. The messenger corrects him. The Duke herself prepared it and ordered it delivered, which means Loria is now the Duke. The two months went fast. Her father died of illness, and the funeral and the succession ceremony put her in an office she could not even enter before. Her siblings all died suddenly, yet nobody suspected her, because she was at the ball. Her secret organization had already been wiped out by those same siblings, so she came back to the mansion completely powerless. Allon turning that situation to his own advantage is what surprised her later. He declined her outwardly without much care and handled every piece of cleanup behind the scenes. How far ahead he calculated, she cannot say. She never even told him about her father's funeral, since she did not want to bother him. He must have helped because he needs Altia for some part of his plan. Merging every subordinate organization under Altia still will not match the power he is hiding, so he wants something from her. Pallatio is a significant figure of the underworld who built his power purely through business, and the one thing she has that he lacks is the ability to manipulate the political stage from the shadows. He needs the Altia name. Until the distinguished one contacts her, she will focus on her own work, and she hopes he liked her gift of gratitude. Back at the estate, Allon watches the messenger go and mutters that a woman who was threatened with death is now a duke. Something about it is not right. A few months later, five years before the original story begins, a servant catches himself mid-greeting and asks whether he should be calling Allon the Count now. The succession ceremony has not happened yet, but the year has passed, so Allon allows it. He never planned on becoming the count, though now that he is used to it he intends to get everything he can out of being a noble. A letter from Eutiah arrives with it. Evan reports that nothing has surfaced about the assassins who killed Leo and asks for more time while the information guild investigates. He also wants to know Allon's goal now, guessing it is not revenge. Everything that differs slightly from the original game was probably a butterfly effect he caused, Allon says, so he only plans to be ready for the unexpected. Evan tells him he sounded like a real count just then. The letter is ordinary news. Everyone is well, and they have all taken up hobbies. Deus runs puppet shows at a professional level, Solan loves playing games with her friends, Rinne reads quietly while making things, and Radan has taken to tending his garden. The monthly exchange has become a familiar routine that warms him a little more each time. He has never seen any of their faces, but they are growing up well, and the smile on his face cannot be helped. Then he asks how old the children are now. They are ready to go out into society, and the ones he ordered saved are about that age too. Allon decides it is time to let them go. Evan points out that he gathered them in one place because they were wounded, and Allon answers that there is no reason for that now that they have grown up, since their futures are their own. He raised them carefully enough that they will never awaken as deadly sins, he tells himself, so they should be fine. Each boss battle in the game outlined its own setting through narration, which is how he knows their talents. Eutiah has faith, Deus the sword, Rinne studying, Solan fighting, and Radan an apostle's gift. Put those talents in the right fields and they should be more than fine. He also decides to prepare a gift for each of them, which he was planning to do anyway. The letters get written and Evan heads out to deliver them. Allon wonders whether he might get something back from the children once they become huge, and tells them to read his letters and go out into the world. The chapter ends with the orders arriving, delivered individually this time, and the five reading them one by one.