A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 85

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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 85】

I completely ignored the dragon’s words and answered.

“It’s nothing much. Just something that’s been bothering me a little. But Lishie, did you know about that too?”

“Ah… Well, just a little. I thought it had completely disappeared, so I was just surprised it was mentioned again.”

“…Is that so?”

It seemed like there was something more, but she appeared to want to keep it hidden, so I stopped myself from pressing further. Around that time, Lishie noticeably flustered and changed the subject.

“R-right. Should I tell you what I know about the High Priest? It’s probably nothing important though…”

“No, it’s fine.”

What you know would be the same as the original story anyway.

As for the fact that it was rated mature for its dark themes… let’s not think about that for Lishie’s sake.

The real scenes started after my execution. Since the original story went off track from that point, the relevant content never happened now.

When I declined, a brief silence fell.

As the dragon kept thumping its tail and Lishie eventually started stroking my back, she quietly suggested:

“Then… how about sending me to the Empire too? When I arrive at the Duchy, I’ll go to the Grand Temple.”

“What?”

“The search party is looking for me, right? If I return on my own, their actions will become meaningless.”

Her voice was clear as she said this.

Lishie’s words sounded reasonable at first glance, but were also extremely reckless. Her return after losing her divine power would only incur the Emperor’s wrath.

We could postpone the problem, but not solve it.

“No. It’s dangerous.”

“Older Sister…”

“The search party might have purposes beyond just finding you. They won’t withdraw quietly then.”

By coincidence, all the male leads from the ‘original story’ were gathered in that search party now. I didn’t think it was mere coincidence.

Moreover, if the evil god was involved in this, there would be hidden intentions. There was also the possibility that the entire search party had already been brainwashed.

‘Probably… I think they were freed from the brainwashing as a consequence of me escaping from fate.’

Judging from the strange stories about how Chessier became a broken man after I died, or how Baltres held a secret funeral for me.

However, whether their brainwashing was lifted or lifted and then reapplied, it had nothing to do with me.

I sprawled on the couch and muttered.

“…I hope we don’t have to deal with them.”

* * *

Two days after Mel and Ally left for the Empire.

We suddenly received news that a horde of lower-level vermin had crossed over from the Contaminated Region to Drens. And the absurd news that it wasn’t the stationed security forces or our castle’s monster that dealt with them, but Chessier and his search party who appeared right after.

“…I’m ashamed. Even though I was watching, I only realized what happened after the incident occurred.”

Giselle apologized with a haggard complexion and added:

“They claim they came following traces of the missing Countess. They’re asking for cooperation in their investigation, considering they helped eliminate the vermin.”

“Nonsense.”

Davuer retorted, and then I spoke sternly.

“Tell them to cut the crap.”

A chilling silence filled the study that had been full of the scratching sounds of Davuer and me wielding our pens.

Just this morning, Giselle had told me that the search party’s movements were unchanged from before. That they were just holed up in their temporary quarters in the north.

But after lunch passed, such unexpected news came. I pressed my throbbing head.

“Giselle. How much worse have your eyes gotten?”

“Gotten worse… I guess. It feels like something was blocking them without me knowing.”

So.

For some reason, Giselle’s eyes went blind for a moment, and also for some reason, vermin crossed over from the Contaminated Region just now.

And with incredibly perfect timing, Chessier moved and subjugated them before we could?

“Is it… common for vermin to cross from the Contaminated Region to Drens?”

“It’s not completely unheard of, but very rare.”

Davuer answered immediately instead of Giselle.

I knew it. Vermin from within the Contaminated Region crossing outside was quite rare even in the Empire.

“The most recent vermin that crossed over would be that man you saw. The time before that was about twenty years earlier.”

“The ones that just crossed over are wolf-dog vermin most commonly seen in the north. One or two might be understandable, but a whole pack appearing is a first…”

Giselle trailed off.

“What seems stranger is how they arrived at the exact moment the vermin appeared.”

I immediately agreed with Giselle’s doubt.

“Suspiciously, as if they knew in advance.”

The timing was far too coincidental. And they were being blatantly suspicious.

The picture of the Prince suddenly appearing at the border region and unreasonably demanding cooperation. It was truly the height of rudeness, treating us like a vassal state.

“Their intention is ultimately to break the ceasefire.”

Davuer said.

“If we suspect and oppose them, they’ll claim we’re not cooperating because we’re hiding the Countess, and if we agree, they’ll use the Countess search as an excuse to ransack all of Belmayer.”

Meaning a direct confrontation was the goal. The Countess search talk was just a pretext for that.

“…Weren’t there signs of war preparations?”

“There weren’t, at least not from the Emperor yet.”

Then should we consider this Chessier’s independent action? It seemed like behavior that couldn’t be considered sane.

Giselle frowned and continued her report.

“Jepi and Nishe are currently in Drens. They’re in a standoff with them at the border.”

“How much time has passed?”

“About thirty minutes since the vermin appeared in Drens until now. What should we do?”

The unavoidable has come.

Of course, I hadn’t expected them to come out like this. But it wasn’t that surprising, probably because I had already sensed it to some degree.

“I’ll go to Drens myself.”

With that, I stood up from my chair.

The communication device I had been making fell from the desk and rolled on the floor, and two pairs of eyes pierced me like needles.

“This makes it almost certain. The evil god must have intervened in this matter, in some way.”

What he had done through Lishie until now appeared utterly peaceful on the surface. Healing the sick and purifying magi.

However, he didn’t even attempt to purify, in other words ‘absorb,’ Davuer’s magi. He simply waited for it to go berserk on its own.

Why? Presumably because that magi was sealed by my heart, making it difficult to absorb. The god dwelling in Lishie’s body trying to purify Davuer back then might have been nothing but a bluff.

However, the nature of this incident is different.

“It’s a trap, Irene.”

Davuer cut off my thoughts and declared coldly.

I know. I looked at his frozen face and nodded calmly.

All the ‘suspicious’ clues they’re throwing at us now are probably bait to lure me out.

The existence of the High Priest who’s the most likely candidate as the god’s new vessel, the vermin that supposedly crossed over from the Contaminated Region, the sudden declaration of war.

But if I don’t go into the trap, there’s nothing I can learn or protect.

I spoke as if I had been waiting for this moment.

“I’m the only one who can do this.”

“…There are always only things that only you can do in this world.”

Davuer, who lightly sneered, stood up.

Then he summoned a robe from thin air and draped it over my shoulders as if telling me to wear it. In the blink of an eye, he had also finished preparing to go out.

Before I could nag him about using magic without caring about his precious heart, he spoke.

“Giselle, call Jepi. Since this person insists on going.”

“…Davuer.”

“Don’t tell me to stay here. You seem to have forgotten that you’re the boss, but I’m the Duke.”

…That is true though.

Unable to find a proper response, I just pulled the robe’s hood down deep. Honestly, I don’t think covering my face like this will be of any use.

I shouldn’t have said I hoped we wouldn’t have to deal with them. Now it feels like it became foreshadowing that came back around.

If I appear before them, the meaning of even pretending to die would fade. It’s better for the Empire to think I’m dead.

But still….

Too many circumstances have changed since then.

Now that I’ve awakened the Sanctum, I can no longer stay quietly as I had hoped. So if it’s to prevent God’s will, this much at least.

“…I’ll have to accept.”

* * *

Drentz, Eastern Border Region of Belmayer.

A precariously sharp tension flowed between two hostile forces standing in confrontation near the Border Stone.

The Empire’s Countess Search Party, led by the Prince, had long since crossed that Border Stone under the pretext of hunting Vermin.

Noaren, who had been watching the strangely upright back of the Prince from one step behind, turned his gaze to the Daesingwan standing beside him.

And as he spoke, he calculated a soundproofing spell. The space around the two men instantly became quiet.

“Since when could the Saint know even the future? I’ve never heard that God tells such things.”

Without greeting or preamble, the voice that poured out quite irritably was sharp.

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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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