A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Episode 26】

The surroundings were quiet.

What I could hear was the sound of my heart beating a little fast, my breathing that seemed to echo in my brain, and…

The Duke’s faint laughter like a mirage.

“An ambiguous answer that’s neither rejection nor acceptance.”

“…So, will you do it again?”

“If you want, I promise.”

Making my inner tension seem pointless, his voice accepting so easily was as resolute as it was plain.

“A promise… you say.”

“Yes, a promise.”

His slightly lowered head, his expression relaxed ever so subtly.

I caught a glimpse of this man’s psychology that I had been completely unable to read until now.

“If I’m alive, I’ll say it again as many times as you want.”

He was enjoying this. Truly surprisingly so.

Perhaps because it was such an ill-fitting combination. I felt wonder as if I were seeing a moving statue or a corpse resurrected from a coffin.

So I found myself unconsciously wishing and saying:

“Live long and long. Don’t get sick.”

The Duke’s eyes that held me trembled finely.

“…Coincidentally, I’ve heard those words before.”

“Really? Then you should live twice as long.”

I was sincere. Because somehow, a wish I had never had before had just formed within me.

I hoped this man wouldn’t die.

Not just because the fate of the world seemed to hang on his life, but just… just…

I hoped he would live and keep his promise.

Just that kind of slightly awkward wish.

* * *

“Both the Temple and the Imperial Court are quiet.”

In the early dawn before daybreak.

Giselle, who had found her master, reported without preamble. The fatigue that hadn’t yet been properly managed seeped through between her words.

“It might be a bit early to judge, but the incident at the border region seems to have been that Eshe Karte’s independent action.”

However, there was something uncomfortable about concluding it that way. Knowing this, Giselle added:

“I’ll continue investigating for now.”

Davuer, who had been standing like abandoned equipment under a snow-covered tree in one corner of the training ground even after Irene left, finally moved.

“What about the Countess?”

“She seems unrelated to the border incident. Her residence has changed back to the Duke’s Palace in the Citadel, and her entire routine consists of going back and forth to the Imperial Capital to look after the Prince. However.”

Then a green-winged butterfly landed on Giselle’s fingertip and soon disappeared as if melting into her.

Giselle, who blinked several times, continued:

“The Prince might wake up soon.”

“That’s quite an ambiguous statement for seeing the future.”

“It can’t be helped. I saw it from the Empire.”

Her ‘eyes’ were absolute only within Belmayer. The farther the distance, the more her vision became clouded as if by fog.

Even so, the information gained was considerable, so Giselle had been continuously sending her doubles to scout the Empire’s movements.

The future she had just seen by chance while observing the Countess through her butterfly double. In a brief scene lasting about a second, she saw the Prince.

To be precise, she caught a glimpse of a blonde man embracing the Countess and presumed it was the Prince.

“If my guess is correct, Irene will be in trouble.”

Giselle naturally worried about Irene first.

“The Prince will probably try to retaliate against Irene. And she was just discovered by Noaren Baltres too.”

She didn’t consider that Belmayer might be troubled because of Irene’s existence.

Instead of pointing out Giselle’s attitude, Davuer suggested a radical solution in a calm tone.

“Should I kill him?”

“Starting with whom? Oh, no… that won’t do.”

Giselle, who realized a beat late that it was sweet but unrealistic, shook her head vigorously.

The assassination process would be problematic, but the aftermath would be even more troublesome. Unless they were prepared to wage war, it would be wise not to attempt it.

And whether it succeeded or failed, all the cleanup would fall to Giselle. The operation planning too, of course.

Under her master’s silent, demanding gaze looking down at her, Giselle said again:

“It won’t do.”

“…”

“I’ll try to devise a solution for this problem.”

Though it wasn’t a satisfactory answer, Davuer accepted it.

Unlike before, he couldn’t act directly anymore. The man once called the Grand Mage no longer existed, and the same feats as back then were now impossible.

Killing in an instant so brief that even the dying wouldn’t perceive it, then disappearing without leaving even a trace of magical power.

“Speaking of which, Master. How is your condition?”

Belatedly, Giselle asked about her master’s well-being.

‘Condition’ referred to his demonic energy.

“Not so good.”

The demonic energy that had been quiet for a long time since Irene’s appearance was becoming unstable again.

Ever since he had unavoidably consumed demonic energy a few days ago.

His demonic energy had the nature of absorbing other demonic energy to expand itself. Therefore, Davuer had established and maintained the principle of not making contact with demons.

…But at that moment.

When he sensed the killing intent toward Irene. He moved before thinking.

“I told you I’d protect you!”

Eyes widened in shock and a voice like a scream.

Only after facing such an Irene did he acknowledge his mistake. However, he didn’t regret it otherwise.

Like ‘she’ had once said, he too.

Preferred protecting over being protected.

“Master?”

Emerging from his thoughts, Davuer turned his gaze toward the main castle where Irene would be and said:

“Sleep hasn’t come yet. I can endure sufficiently.”

Until the demonic energy disappears from this world, he must live—

Because he has a promise to keep.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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