Misunderstood Hero: My Family Are All Villains

"The banquet couldn’t have come at a better time."

Malik tilted his head at Noor’s words, his golden eyes narrowing slightly.

He had expected her to question the timing or perhaps point out the risks of opening the Holy Palace to so many people while the war raged ever more.

Instead, she seemed almost relieved.

"Are we low on funds?"

The haughty woman nodded.

There was no shame in her admission, only the straightforward accounting of a grand vizier who had grown used to managing impossible budgets.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Noor clasped her hands behind her back and began to pace before the throne.

"The operation required a lot of moving parts to advance at once—steel, reinforcements allocation, the activation of long-dormant supply lines. It hit our coin flow quite hard."

She paused and looked up at him, her dark eyes searching his face.

"I didn’t say anything about it because I was sure that you had thought of the consequences in advance. Perhaps you expected to face an Angel to recoup the cost."

Malik said nothing.

His face remained calm.

But inside, his thoughts churned.

’...no. I didn’t.’

He had not thought of the consequences.

Malik had rushed straight ahead without much thinking.

The plan had been simple: attack, destroy, drive them out.

He had not considered the cost of moving armies across the continent, of supplying soldiers stationed far from home, of feeding the refugees who had flocked to his banner.

And because his people always expected the best of him, always assumed he was ten steps ahead, no one had questioned why he had seemingly gone ahead with such a reckless move without preparing first.

’I really needed to step back.’

Getting many Fear Points was great.

The numbers were intoxicating, a constant reminder that he was growing. But if he kept at it, he would reach a point of no return without even realizing it.

He would become a Sultan who chased power for its own sake, who burned through his people’s resources and called it strategy.

Of course, he would never reveal his mistake.

Not to Noor, his family, or anyone, for that matter. Like always, he’d use the misunderstanding.

"Hm."

Malik acted like he was considering something he had already decided.

"I trust that you can find proper buyers for the Angel’s remains."

Noor’s smile returned, smug and self-assured.

"Of course~!"

She placed a hand on her chest.

"I’m your grand vizier, after all."

Even when standing before him, the lady remained arrogant.

In a way, it was almost cute.

’Almost’ being the keyword.

"That you are."

Noor’s smile slowly froze.

It then faded like the setting Suns.

She let out a heavy sigh and approached him.

"Am I..."

Her dark eyes began to tremble.

"Am I worthy of being by your side now?"

Malik inwardly paused.

He had never been close to Noor. Not really.

They had first met as a professor and a student in that academy he later destroyed.

It was long before he became the Sultan and she became an empress of some land.

Then they had met again as enemies.

Noor, leading a coalition against him, and Malik, standing alone against the world.

But there was something that remained between them from beginning to end.

A thread that had never been cut, no matter how much they had fought. Her words just now made that very obvious.

Everyone had different reasons for standing before the Misunderstood Villain.

Some came for heroism, believing they could slay the tyrant.

Some came for revenge, carrying the weight of loved ones lost.

Some came out of twisted loyalty, unable to abandon the man who had once saved them, even as he all but forced them to stand against him.

But Noor’s reason was more unique.

It belonged to her alone.

Beyond envy, jealousy, ambition, or pride, it was a need for acknowledgment.

Noor had reached the status of empress faster than anyone in history. Her name was known by all of Devil’s Maw. Aside from Scheherazade, she was the empress—the one others measured themselves against.

But Malik overshadowed her, seemingly without trying.

He was someone she aspired to be.

Someone who made her obsessed.

She could not have anyone above her.

And so she had tried to drag him down.

To defeat him and to finally make him acknowledge her.

Oh, how she was acknowledged.

The day the truth was revealed—the day she learned that everything she believed about him was wrong—it broke her beyond words.

Much like Zafar, she left everything behind.

...even her empire and her pride in it.

Now, she would serve Malik and him alone.

She saw him as her better, and she had fully accepted it. But still, that need for acknowledgment never left her.

It was a core part of her, carved into the bone of who she was.

Noor needed him to accept her.

Otherwise, all her arrogance would destroy her from the inside out.

It was all a shield she had built to protect the soft, desperate thing beneath.

Malik realized all of this in the span of a heartbeat, and he made sure to be careful with his next words.

He did not exactly forgive them for the insurrection—at least their attempt at one. But that did not mean he would leave them to rot, not when he was the only pillar they held onto.

"You’ve grown up."

Simple words.

So very simple.

Yet they nearly had Noor falling to the ground.

"I... I..."

She swallowed, forcing the words past the lump in her throat.

"Yes."

Noor was so happy she could not process it.

The acknowledgment she had craved for years, finally given.

The simple recognition that she had changed and had grown into something more worthy.

She did not know if she could ever be happier.

"I have."

Malik softly smiled at her as she had finally found her tongue. His expression was gentle in a way that surprised even him.

"I will be relying on you further from now on."

No.

Noor, in fact, could feel happier.

And that feeling arrived with those words.

"Y-Yes!"

Her composure had shattered entirely.

She was a second away from jumping with joy, but thankfully, the empress part of her that had ruled a nation and commanded its army kept her from doing so.

Noor smoothed her dress and composed her face into something resembling dignity.

"Thank you. I won’t let you down."

It was adorable.

"Do you need anything else from me?"