Into the Apocalypse: Saving My Favorite Villain-Chapter 98: Without Him—I Would Die.

Rosalia — POV

I woke with a dull ache spreading through my skull, thirst clawing at my throat and dizziness pressing behind my eyes. I opened them slowly, clinging to a single, desperate thought.

Water.

"...Water," I whispered. My voice scraped out of me, dry and broken, barely human.

A glass appeared in front of my face. Warm water. I did not question it. I did not hesitate. I seized it and drank greedily, swallowing as if I had been deprived for years, as if my body feared it might never be given mercy again.

Only when the glass was empty—only when my shaking hands could no longer find another drop—did I finally lift my gaze.

And froze.

The face before me was not the one my heart had already reached for.

"...Why," I murmured, disbelief cracking my voice, "is it you?"

Henry.

He was holding my head carefully, one arm braced behind my neck as though afraid I might collapse again.

His expression was tight, his jaw clenched, his green eyes stormy with emotions I neither wanted nor had the strength to acknowledge.

For a heartbeat, my mind was blank.

Then everything came rushing back.

Matthew. Healing him.

The sudden, searing pain in my neck—

Cassel.

His teeth. His bite.

Darkness is swallowing my vision.

Shadows closing in.

Then nothing.

Panic seized me like a living thing.

I jerked upright and whipped my head around, my breath hitching as my eyes frantically searched my surroundings.

A car.

We were inside a moving car. Daylight filtered through the windows, muted beneath a sky choked with heavy, oppressive clouds.

My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

"Where is Cassel?"

The question tore out of me before I could stop it.

Robin was there. Frederick. Joe is at the wheel. Liz is sitting close enough to touch.

Everyone was here.

Everyone except him.

The realization struck like a blade to my chest.

"After sleeping for hours because of him," Henry snapped bitterly, "the first thing you ask is where he is?"

"If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t—"

His anger burned openly now, but I did not care. I could not afford to care.

"Stop looking at me like that," I said sharply, my voice trembling despite my effort to sound firm. "Just tell me. Where is Cassel?"

Fear coiled tighter with every second that passed without an answer.

Since the moment we met, we had never been apart.

Never.

Not after battles. Not after bloodshed. Not after betrayal or loss.

And after everything that had happened—after I had been hurt, after I had lost consciousness—his absence was unbearable.

He loved me.

He would not leave me like this.

He wouldn’t.

"Henry," I shouted, my control shattering completely, "don’t just stare at me! Talk! Where is Cassel?!"

My body was shaking now, violently, as if it already sensed the truth before my mind could accept it.

Henry exhaled heavily, then pointed behind us.

"The boss is in the car behind this one," he said flatly. "There’s no reason to panic."

"...What?"

The word barely left my lips.

Another car?

Had he chosen another car?

He had left me unconscious—injured—and gotten into a different vehicle?

Why?

Why would he do that?

Why would he leave me alone?

Cassel... what were you thinking?

Then, without warning, a single thought slipped into my mind.

And everything inside me collapsed.

What if he no longer loved me?

What if he was tired of me?

What if my villain—my Cassel—no longer wanted me?

The world tilted.

My hands went cold.

If that were true... what would I do?

He doesn’t need me.

No one needs me.

Just like that family who abandoned me in the dark—he would abandon me too.

Tears spilled freely as the thought consumed me, suffocating and merciless.

Suddenly, struggling felt meaningless.

Living felt meaningless.

If the person I existed for no longer wanted me—then what was the point of this world?

Darkness crept in again.

Cold. Hollow. Endless.

A pain far worse than death itself wrapped around my heart.

I could accept anything.

Anything—

Except for his rejection.

My light.

My reason for surviving this long.

My one and only villain.

If even he turned away from me, what would remain to me.

Nothing.

My life had no meaning without him.

I couldn’t breathe without him.

Without him—

I would die.

I truly would.

My vision blurred completely. I clutched my chest as if trying to hold my heart in place, as if it were being torn out by invisible hands.

Air refused to enter my lungs.

My breaths came in broken gasps, shallow and frantic.

I heard voices—Henry, Liz—felt hands gripping my arms, my shoulders.

"Rosalia, breathe! Rosalia!"

"Joe, stop the car! Open the window!" Liz cried, fumbling with my collar, her fingers brushing against the dried blood staining my clothes.

Their concern reached me.

But it meant nothing.

If the one person I lived for no longer wanted me, then the care of the entire world was worthless.

If the reason my heart beat chose to abandon me—

How was my heart supposed to keep beating?

For what purpose?

By whose will?

I couldn’t.

"Cass... el..."

His name slipped from my lips again and again, broken and desperate.

A prayer.

A plea.

A call to my god.

He was my oxygen.

The force that kept my heart alive.

Without him—

I sobbed loudly, my chest burning as my suffocation worsened, until my eyes stung red and my limbs grew numb.

If this continued, I would truly die.

And then—

Someone pulled me into their arms.

Warmth.

Strong arms wrapped around me, shaking as they held me tightly, as if afraid I might disappear.

A familiar scent.

A familiar heartbeat.

A familiar presence.

The moment my face pressed against his chest, my lungs finally obeyed.

I drew in a long, trembling breath.

Then another.

My frantic heartbeat slowed, settling as if soothed by his mere existence.

The fear vanished.

So did the emptiness.

Cassel.

He was here.

After I calmed, after my tears slowed, I opened my eyes and looked up at him through blurred vision.

His face was pale.

Before he could speak, I pulled back—and struck him.

Smack.

The sound echoed sharply through the car. Someone gasped. Someone cursed.

I didn’t care.

I hit him again.

And again.

Until my palm burned red.

Until his cheek bruised beneath my hand.

Until my strength was completely gone.

"Why?" I cried, my voice shattering as I pounded weakly against his chest. "Why did you leave me?"

Tears streamed down my face as I leaned into him, furious and broken. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"I thought—you—I thought you didn’t want me anymore!"

My sobs turned loud, uncontrollable, pouring out every ounce of pain and injustice I felt.

He had left me while I was hurt.

He should have held me.

He should have been there.

He should have been the first thing I saw when I woke up.

"Why... why...?"

I asked until my voice failed me.

Then I collapsed against him, utterly exhausted.

When his hand began to stroke my back, my hair—slow, careful, comforting—I shut my eyes.

Above me, his voice finally broke the silence.

Low.

Shaken.

Filled with fear, love... and surrender.

"I hurt you," he said.

"Because I hurt you."

"...And I’m afraid," he admitted softly, "that I might... do it again."