A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 78

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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 78】

Once I realized it, it felt like my heart was dropping.

An intense guilt I’d never felt before in my life pierced through me. Not just… being sorry for worrying him today…

But an emotion older than that.

“…I’m sorry.”

The past me might have done something terribly wrong to him. And might still be doing it.

…That me back then was definitely me too.

I could be certain of that with my soul, but since I couldn’t remember anything, I didn’t know how to comfort him.

There were many things I wanted to say, many things I wanted to ask.

That Countess seems to be me after all. She was a crazy woman. Did you know she tore out her own heart and gave it to you? Is that why you didn’t answer properly when I asked?

“I won’t… do such things… ever again…”

But the words that came out weren’t those.

I made a vow in the most irresponsible way possible.

I admit it. The truth is, if a critical moment came, I had been planning to use this method again. But I truly erased all those complacent thoughts.

The habit of trying to solve all problems alone, the pressure to prove my necessity or usefulness—none of that would have any value anymore.

Because I’m not alone now.

Because I hurt the heart of someone who worries about me.

“Another lie.”

Davuer slowly raised his head and murmured.

A cold expression without a trace of moisture. But I knew that was his crying face.

“You’ll… make it so it doesn’t matter. Just like always. Without relying on me for anything.”

“…”

“You’ll eventually ignore everything I say and go off to die as if it’s nothing. And I can’t stop you.”

He poured it out like someone who couldn’t distinguish between memory and reality. That’s why he was rambling so calmly like this.

What past was he stuck in right now? The Holy War from a hundred years ago? When the Countess died?

I had no memory, but somehow I could be certain.

Probably my death that day wasn’t a noble sacrifice for a greater cause. It probably wasn’t particularly significant either.

“…But I want to live?”

Even now, I didn’t want to die, so I struggled to purify.

Getting hurt isn’t that scary, but dying is still frightening. That means having your future stolen, and I have a future waiting for me.

“You said you’d make me happy. I’m looking forward to that, so I’ll live.”

“…Irene.”

Wasn’t the me back then the same?

I pieced together fragments of the past I’d gathered so far, fitting them into the blanks in my memory to deduce my psychology that day.

I must have desperately not wanted to die. But dying alone was better than everyone dying together, so there was no choice.

Whatever I was thinking, that choice wasn’t wrong.

Because I exist here now.

“So come out of the past already.”

The only person who gets trapped in the past whenever there’s a chance, who remembers the me that even I can’t remember.

They say my past life was erased from the world, but he ignores even that law and persistently remembers like this.

That might be the force that made my shattered soul be born into this world again.

“…”

Davuer blinked his eyelids slowly as if responding.

Just then, the storm-like blizzard also calmed down.

There were things I needed to check while I had the chance. Like the safety of our Black Sea Knights, or the dragon I was supposed to meet.

I grabbed his collar and demanded.

“Please move me. My legs won’t work.”

Since he answered with his body, I was lifted while being held in his arms. We didn’t say anything the entire time we walked.

Not long after we started walking, familiar and noisy voices gradually became clearer.

“I’m sorry for carelessly touching that egg, Captain. The moment I saw it, I was enchanted like I was possessed…”

“I’m not scolding you about that. I’m asking if your body is okay.”

“Yes, I’m fine except for being a bit tired. That power… has disappeared though…”

“…Ha, it’s a complete national loss. But you’re alive, so that’s what matters.”

It was Marisa and Nishe.

Around them were also Knight’s Order members, groaning as if they’d been thoroughly disciplined, but they didn’t seem hurt either outwardly or inwardly.

“Everyone looks healthy, ugh. Yes.”

While greeting them happily, blood pooled in my mouth and I spat it out slightly, making Nishe immediately turn pale.

“After doing crazy things, you’re really crazy… Sometimes I really can’t tell if you’re ignorant or brave.”

“I-Irene! You’re too badly hurt! We need to quickly return to the castle and get treatment first…”

“Just leave it and it’ll heal. More importantly Marisa, I figured out why you got super strength, you know? I’ll cast it again when you recover.”

Before the restless Marisa could continue worrying, I quickly changed the subject. Going through the series of events, I naturally realized the reason.

Back then, I had used sanctity for the purpose of healing someone for the first time, so I held her for an excessively long time while pouring power into her.

So she became ‘excessively’ healthy.

Because she received a lot of my sanctity, even after healing her illness, the sanctity remaining in her body manifested as super strength.

“Unfortunately it’s not permanent… but I think if you receive a blessing once, it might last for a while.”

Marisa being able to survive being swallowed by the Vermin was probably thanks to that blessing too. Though it seems to have been quickly depleted while resisting and enduring.

“Ah…”

Marisa rolled her chocolate-colored eyes this way and that, then soon looked at me with honest eyes and answered.

“Thank you for the offer, but I won’t accept it.”

“Huh? But you said you wanted to become a knight…”

“Power gained easily is usually lost easily.”

There was firm resolve in that voice. She bowed shyly and continued.

“I probably survived thanks to that blessing, right? Thank you for saving me twice.”

“…”

“But training as a knight these past few days was really enjoyable. I’ll grow my own strength without relying on blessings.”

Marisa then went to Nishe and said this.

“Captain. If it’s alright, I’d like to rejoin the order.”

“…This is it. This is true chivalry. You have potential. Your mindset is on a different level from those guys.”

Nishe’s tongue grew noticeably longer as if moved.

Just looking at their appearances, they were like aunt and niece, so the picture of Nishe patting her looked quite bizarre from a Confucian perspective.

As I watched their banter and coughed up what I’d been holding back a few more times, Davuer commanded flatly.

“Let’s return to the castle first. Where are Ally and Jepi.”

“We picked this up over there, but what is it?”

As if they’d heard a summoning command, Ally and Jepi suddenly appeared before us, holding a small black figure.

It had bat wings on its back and a lizard tail on its lower body—a peculiar appearance. Vertically slit pupils and golden glittering eyes.

It was a baby dragon about the size of a newborn.

“No matter how you look at it, it’s suspicious, right? I thought it might be a mutant, but I can’t sense any magi and the aura feels strangely familiar…”

“Yeah. So I wanted to ask if it’s okay to cut it.”

“If it’s not a Vermin, it’ll bleed, so we can tell right away. Irene, what do you think? I’m totally smart, aren’t I— Gasp. Why do you look like that?!”

“I thought you died.”

“Don’t say unlucky things, you idiot!”

The two idiots had an idiotic conversation together.

I slightly avoided the flustered Ally and looked at the baby dragon dangling from her hand.

Though it looked different from what I saw in the conscious world, I couldn’t fail to recognize it. It had just shrunk quite a lot in size.

“…Why did you become so small?”

Did being reborn really mean becoming a newborn dragon? Where did that cool black flame dragon go? I was going to make it the Knight’s Order mascot.

The dragon that had been staring up at me intently replied irritably. It was a boy’s voice that went straight to my head.

【Now I understand why the contractor became stupid. You got influenced by hanging around with idiots. Didn’t your parents teach you when you were young to choose your friends carefully?】

The gap between that cute appearance and old man-like speech pattern caused severe cognitive dissonance.

I kindly pointed out the dragon’s prejudice.

“I wasn’t taught that? My father had no interest in me.”

【What about your mother?】

“She passed away as soon as I was born.”

【….】

The dragon, at a loss for words, fell silent.

“What? Irene, don’t tell me you’re talking to this thing?”

Just then, Ally spun the dragon she was holding around and brought it close to her face, observing it with narrowed eyes.

It seemed the dragon’s voice could only be heard by me, its contractor. Given that temperament, it was probably fortunate—if it could communicate with everyone, things would definitely get noisy.

The young dragon, provoked by that unintentional provocation, trembled all over and vented its irritation on me instead.

【This thing, she calls me! This thing! Such an ill-mannered human… Huh, huh? What is this, contractor? This human has a fragment of God dwelling within her!】

The dragon, which had been glaring at Ally and muttering, let out a shrill scream and pointed at Davuer with its small front paw.

【Wh-what is that man? He possesses terrible magi. Contractor, why aren’t you purifying him quickly!】

“….”

This time, I was the one who fell silent.

It definitely wasn’t because I was choked up by those words.

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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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