A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 5

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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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【Chapter 5】

“Wait, hold on. Does that mean she’ll become the duchess?”

While Nishe had heard the former through rumors in the mountains, the latter was news to him, and he immediately grimaced and asked back.

“That’s impossible.”

Davuer denied it almost reflexively, showing rare displeasure on his cold face.

Giselle neither confirmed nor denied it, just laughed softly.

“I’ll just add that it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen such a hopeful future.”

“Giselle.”

“You know how it is. I can’t explain in more detail than this. It’s beyond my abilities.”

At those words, Davuer let out a low sigh.

It had been a hundred years since the magi began eroding his body.

He knew well that he didn’t have much time left.

His sleeping periods were becoming excessively long. At this rate, he would reach his limit within a year at most.

And yet.

‘The magi isn’t rampaging at all.’

Davuer assessed his own condition.

His body felt lighter than ever, and he didn’t feel the sensation of being chased by demonic energy. The peace he hadn’t felt in decades was so unfamiliar it was rather uncomfortable.

The witch, reading her master’s psychology, asked.

“You’ll accept that child, won’t you? My visions of the future have never been wrong.”

Indeed, as she said. The witch’s prophecies had never failed once during all these long years.

However, there would be no occasion to welcome her as duchess. The future where she becomes a Belmayer should be interpreted differently.

Because his companion was…

Davuer answered as if sighing.

“…Let’s observe for now.”

Whatever that woman was, if she could make him live ‘longer and longer.’

There was nothing he couldn’t accept into this Winter Castle.

* * *

I confess.

After the duke left, I couldn’t resist temptation and ended up sleeping in his bed.

In my defense.

I had sent my horse into the wild before climbing the mountain path, and conserved my magical power as much as possible in case of emergency.

I had made the arduous mountain journey with only my frail legs.

Naturally, I couldn’t sleep properly, ate nothing but hastily made jerky, and used magic several times more than usual.

Left alone in front of the bed, fatigue and drowsiness overwhelmed me, and I instinctively burrowed into the blankets…

“I’m sorry.”

As soon as I awkwardly raised my upper body and recognized the situation, I immediately apologized.

Because the moment I opened my eyes, I made direct eye contact with that ghostly pale man!

The duke was sitting in a chair beside the bed, looking at me observantly with unreadable eyes.

“You slept.”

“I did.”

And I slept incredibly well at that.

In the dim darkness, a small flickering candle delicately illuminated his devastatingly handsome face.

‘It’s become night.’

Come to think of it, I was still on the bed.

My judgment was slow from just waking up. When I belatedly tried to crawl out, the duke stopped me with a glance.

After spending what felt like an eternity of seconds in a position where my body was comfortable but my mind uncomfortable, he finally spoke.

“How did you know my name?”

“I know the name of Duke Belmayer, famous as the last master of the Mage Tower, as general knowledge. I was Irene Baltres… after all.”

Actually, it wasn’t general knowledge or anything. In the Empire, he was simply called the demon duke.

However, for me, having grown up in Baltres which had abundant information related to the Mage Tower, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

The Tower of Mages, commonly called the Mage Tower.

Though a full hundred years had passed since the duke before me had completely destroyed that Mage Tower, it still hadn’t been rebuilt to this day.

This was because the Imperial Court, which had been keeping the already influential Mage Tower in check, attached all sorts of reasons to let it fade away.

Instead, the Imperial Mage Department directly under the royal family was established.

‘My father, the head of that place, has the long-cherished wish of rebuilding the Mage Tower.’

In the past, being affiliated with the Mage Tower itself was the greatest honor for any mage. It was also an era when magic itself flourished.

The current field of magic has greatly declined compared to that time.

The culprit behind this situation frowned his beautiful brow.

“You speak in past tense.”

“I abandoned the family name when I came here.”

Strike while the iron is hot, I said refreshingly.

“My name is Irene. I was the princess of Baltres and the fiancée of Crown Prince Hilbarsia, but.”

From the moment I fled, I abandoned the family name. So now I’m just Irene.

“I’m no longer a princess or a prospective crown princess.”

“…”

“A few days ago, I tried to stab the crown prince to death… so I’m on the run. Whether he lived or died, I don’t know, but if I’m caught, I’ll be executed.”

Since there was no reaction, I wasn’t sure if he was listening properly, but I didn’t stop talking.

“The Empire is now practically my enemy. But oh my. The Empire happens to be Belmayer’s enemy too? Then wouldn’t we make good allies?”

The duke responded with an off-topic question.

“Aren’t you afraid of Belmayer?”

‘I’m more afraid of the execution block than afraid.’

I observed him, mimicking his gaze.

A chillingly beautiful man who was as unreal as a statue carved by humans, as cool as winter personified, and possessed terrifyingly demonic magi like a demon.

According to rumors I’d heard.

A battlefield slaughterer, mad tyrant, demon of the abyss, devil, calamity, a monster called by any name… apparently.

But the man before my eyes was far from such rumors. For one thing, he was magnanimous enough not to say much even when an uninvited guest was brazenly lying in his bed.

“I only believe in facts I see with my own eyes. I have my fair share of bad rumors too.”

My answer came out immediately as if already decided.

“I want to become a mage of Belmayer.”

A mage of Belmayer.

I liked that embarrassing and awkward ring to it.

In the Empire anyway, I was called not so much a mage as just a vicious villainess. In the family… well.

‘At least I wasn’t a daughter to be proud of.’

Baltres was a thoroughly meritocratic society.

Having been born through the sacrifice of the duchess and having small magical power on top of that, I had to strive to prove my own worth from the earliest moments I could remember.

For a direct descendant of Baltres, a prestigious mage family, having too small innate magical power.

It was a very fatal flaw, but my spell calculation ability and magical circuit recovery speed were unparalleled.

If I had no talent at all, it might have been different. I naturally became obsessed with magic.

When I was young, I think I was more desperate because I wanted something like family love.

“It’s a flower made with magical alchemy. I wanted to give it to father…”

“I’ve already seen that flower. Try harder.”

…There was a time like that too. But that’s all in the past.

When I did well, it was something ‘natural as a Baltres,’ and when I did poorly, it was something ‘shameful as a Baltres.’

‘Even after a lifetime of effort, surely my end would be…’

“Don’t even think about returning to the Citadel until the royal marriage.”

“Father.”

“The place where you caused a scene was the Temple! It’s no different from bringing shame to Baltres before God!”

“They insulted me first.”

“Irene Baltres! If you have any shame left!”

I remember my father’s thunderous roar that day.

The inkwell he threw, my forehead that split because I didn’t dodge it, his furious red eyes looking at me covered in blood and ink…

And from a slightly more distant past.

With lips that had never once told me he loved me, he called Lishie his beloved daughter before everyone—even that gentle yet cruel side of him.

‘…Only unpleasant memories are coming to mind.’

What I need to think about now isn’t Baltres, but Belmayer. I need to properly request the Duke for good treatment.

I touched my smooth forehead unnecessarily and said.

“Even if Your Grace suspects me and kills me here and now, I won’t regret that choice.”

The spell formula fitted together like a puzzle in my mana circuit.

“But Your Grace, I have quite high utility value to be killed and discarded.”

Whoosh!

The dim candlelight burst like a small flame and disappeared, then the chandelier that had existed only as decoration blazed with light as bright as midday.

It was just an application of the basic Light spell, nothing spectacular. But I smiled confidently as if I had summoned the sun itself.

“I’ll use magic for you.”

“…”

The Duke just looked at me with that same steady gaze. Perhaps he was persistently searching for something in me.

Meeting those piercingly bright gray eyes made my heart beat a little faster.

Thump, thump…

After a long while, the Duke finally parted his tightly closed lips.

“I’m not curious about why you came, and I don’t care what you do.”

Right now, with those words of indifference, he had granted me asylum.

“Just keep in mind that the price of lies and betrayal is death alone.”

The entirely white demon looked down at me. That murderous warning made me genuinely delighted.

“What a coincidence. That’s exactly my life motto.”

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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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