17 Hecathe has a plan

After a few more minutes of Hecathe internally panicking over his future, Xanie finally came back holding a plate filled with chicken sandwiches.

"Captain, your chicken sandwiches are here!" The scared man exclaimed as he sighed in relief.

Hecathe had a frown on his face but as soon as he saw the food, his face lightened up a little.

"Here you go, Captain. Fresh chicken sandwich that you have a habit of eating in the morning," Xanie announced as she placed the plate in front of the man.

Hecathe looked at the sandwich and nodded in turn. He was reluctant to compliment the chef, however, he would internally agree that these chicken sandwiches looked amazing and appetizing.

He didn't bother picking up the fork or a knife as he directly took the sandwich and bit into it.

He almost wanted to moan in delight as he felt the taste melt away on his tastebuds.

The recipe wasn't hard but the result of the recipe was surely unbelievably good. The chicken was shredded and placed in between the bread along with some seasoning mixed with delicious mayonnaise and onions.

Xanie could see the happiness on Hecathe's face and hence she had the courage to speak up excitedly, "The cook almost had a heart attack when he heard your demand, Captain. Thankfully, he was able to make it on time."

"Hmm."

Xanie smiled happily as she stood by the side watching Hecathe finish up the chicken sandwiches.

She thought the food had lightened his mood up, however, just a few seconds later, when Hecathe was done eating, he put the plate down and exclaimed in a tone that couldn't be considered too happy nor could it be deciphered as anger, "I got it!"

Xanie faltered a step back in fear as she heard this.

"W-What did you get, Captain?" She stuttered in fear as she reluctantly asked.

Hecathe eyes seemed to be looking straight in front of him and at the same time, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts as he jolted up from his seat.

Xanie gulped as she took another step back and waited to see what the man does next.

Hecathe sharply turned to face her and looked at her without saying anything. With every passing minute of him just staring at her, Xanie couldn't help but feel cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"Captain...?" Xanie asked hesitantly.

"There's something I need you to do," Hecathe finally spoke up without any sense of hesitation and Xanie wasn't even able to guess what his current mood was.

He had a poker face that hid all his emotions and thoughts.

Xanie gulped as she nodded her head, "What do you want me to do, Captain?"

Hecathe's lips curled up as he gestured for her to follow him as he made his way to the elevator.

Xanie had no other choice but to follow him with a blank mind.

Hecathe held the elevator door for her and only when she had got in did he press the button to his room. The elevator door immediately closed and went up to his room. Throughout the elevator journey, Hecathe didn't bother saying anything and Xanie would naturally not say a word either.

The elevator door opened and Hecathe got out first before turning and waiting for Xanie to step out.

The reason why he had chosen her for the job was simply because he could recognize her as an employee that worked for him. Even though it was clear that she wasn't the same Xanie as the one that worked for him, because of her face, he still couldn't help but trust her a bit and since she was the only one here whom he trusted even just a little bit, he decided that she was the best for the plan he had in mind.

Xanie stepped out of the elevator and looked at Hecathe as she waited for the man to say something.

The elevator door behind her closed and Hecathe smiled as he broke the suspense and told her what he needed from her, "I want to run away from here. Help me."

"What?!" Xanie's eyes looked as if they were ready to pop out of her sockets as she heard this.

It took her a whole minute of silence to finally snap, "Captain, what the hell are you planning?!"

Hecathe chuckled as he saw this reaction, "No need to worry over my mental sanity. I can assure you that there is a good reason behind my decision."

Xanie scoffed, "Captain, how can I not question your mental sanity after what you had just said? You want to run away from here? Why?!"

Hecathe pursed his lips as he tried to come up with a believable lie.

There was clearly no way he could tell her the real answer.

The real reason why he suddenly wanted to run away from here was quite simple. It was because he wanted to stay alive.

Just because he had been transmigrated as the villain, there was no reason why he was supposed to accept his fate.

In all the stories Hecathe had read, no matter how powerful a villain was, in the end, the villain still met his demise at the hands of the hero.

Now that Hecathe was Alphius Edler, he would also be accepting the villain's fate as his own and Hecathe had no plans to die again.

He wasn't that keen on meeting a grim reaper.

He thought about it for a really long time.

How could he avoid the same fate as Alphius?

After eating his favorite chicken sandwiches for breakfast and having enough energy to think everything through, the only conclusion he could come up with was to run away.

If he stayed here as Alphius Edler then his end was inevitable.

The first thing he needed to do was clear the man's name. If the real murderer was found, Alphius would no longer have to be executed for breaking the law and once this problem was solved, he could work and bring out the truth slowly, showing the world that they were wrong about Alphius.

He could do all that by staying here comfortably but if he stayed in this place any longer, there was no doubt that Marvin would probably hunt him down again and the next time they meet, Hecathe wasn't sure if he would be lucky enough to survive.

In order to avoid that man forever, Hecathe needed to abandon his identity as Alphius and needed to blend in with the upper world. He needed to create a new identity for himself. One that doesn't receive any attention from people and with this new identity, he could solve this case and find the real murderer.

Hecathe sighed exaggeratedly as he finally completed kneading a believable lie together, "How can I lie to you, Xanie? It's just that... I am sick of living underground. This city that I've built, it's beautiful and comfortable. It's filled with light and colors but at the end of the day, the stars in the sky are still fake. It's nothing more than an illusion to give us the feeling that we can see the sky. At first, I enjoyed it all. This became my comfort zone but after getting kidnapped and held captive for a few days, I realized that this is not what I want."

Xanie looked to be stunned as she listened to Hecathe who was blabbering believable nonsense.

"I realized that this is not the life I want. I want to live on the ground. I want to live in a normal small town as someone unimportant who can stay out at night and look up at the sky without worrying about being assassinated. I want an unimportant life. I want to see the real stars, not the fake ones." Hecathe added as he looked at Xanie with eyes that seemed to be begging for sympathy.

Xanie took a minute to take in all of this information and when that minute was over, she sighed as she walked closer to Hecathe, "Captain, have you always felt this way?"

"Don't get too close," Hecathe took a step back as he responded, "And yes, these fake stars have been suffocating me for a while now."

Xanie immediately stopped moving towards him as she heard the former half of his sentence.

"Captain... You're the one that created those fake stars..."

Hecathe sighed as he nodded and tried to fake more emotions into his words, "Xanie, that's what hurts me the most. I'm the one that created this prison for myself. Do you know how suffocating that feels? To have your own creation torture you and trap you like this, it's something I wouldn't even wish for an enemy."

Xanie looked to be moved as she heard all this bullsh*t. Hecathe could almost swear that he even saw tears brimming in her eyes, "Captain, if that's really how you feel, I'll... Help you."

"Yes!" Hecathe exclaimed, wiping away all the fake emotions from his face and replacing them with real and pure delight.

"Just tell me what to do," Xanie added as she sniffled back her tears that had almost fallen out.

"Sure~" Hecathe sang happily as he mentally patted himself for being such a good actor.