An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 64

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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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#64

Watching Orphea perfectly subdue the divine beast from afar, Eurich let out a metallic scream.

To bring that violent divine beast to its knees like this!

Faced with an unexpected situation, Eurich could only chew his innocent lips nervously while watching the scene with anxious eyes.

‘…But Orphea is exhausted too. She won’t be able to hold out much longer…’

Eurich desperately hoped. Please let Orphea tire out, and let the deer rampage again and gore Orphea’s chest with its horns.

But the moment he spotted the baby deer that appeared with Lairinne, Eurich realized that the picture he had been painting was torn to shreds.

‘Why on earth?’

He could guess how the princess had found the baby. It must be thanks to the Petallien Royal Family’s ability. Dietrich had found countless treasures with that ability during the expedition too.

But that ability only activated when desperately desired.

To think that Lairinne had searched for the deer for Orphea’s sake. He simply couldn’t believe it.

‘This is why you can’t trust those who pretend to be good…!’

To screw him over like this. Eurich horribly contorted his face and ground his teeth.

‘…But this incident won’t be completely without gain.’

Especially regarding Orphea’s abilities.

Considering Orphea’s capabilities during the expedition, it should have been over before the baby deer even appeared.

Yet to show this much power even in a situation where her mental strength was rapidly depleting with no one to protect her.

Had her abilities grown stronger in the meantime? Or perhaps she had been hiding some of her abilities even during the expedition.

What was certain was that she had demonstrated this level of power even in the unstable situation of facing the deer alone without anyone to protect her. If so, she might show even greater power in a stable situation.

‘For example, suppressing Gert’s curse…’

And Eurich would use exactly that point as leverage.

His Majesty had refused Eurich’s request, saying it would hurt his pride to order an assassination of a mere minstrel.

But what if she wasn’t just a minstrel, but someone who could lift Gert’s curse?

He probably wouldn’t ignore even those words…

Eurich forced the corners of his mouth up into a smile and spun around.

The shouts of people cheering and praising Orphea as they watched the completely calmed deer struck Eurich’s back like blades.

***

I barely managed to hold out until the song ended, but that was my limit. After finishing the song, I couldn’t possibly keep standing and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?”

Panicked by my condition, Lairinne and Helena rushed over. I accepted their support to get up and expressed my gratitude.

“If Your Highness and the young lady hadn’t found the baby deer, I really don’t know what would have happened. Thank you.”

“…What thanks! This is…!”

Just as Lairinne was about to shout something in indignation.

The instrument merchant, whose presence I hadn’t even noticed, clapped his hands vigorously and exclaimed in an admiring voice.

“Indeed, indeed! I wondered why you tuned it that way, but I’ve never heard such a performance before!”

A strange excitement gleamed in the instrument merchant’s eyes.

“I’d heard rumors of performers who use extended techniques to play across 1.5 to 2 octaves, but a full 3 octaves! And such fluid harmonies…! I had no idea you were such an accomplished minstrel!”

“Haha…”

It was quite pleasant to have someone appreciate how technically skilled my performance was, but I really didn’t have the strength to move even a finger, so I just laughed weakly.

As we gathered like that, the Golden-Horned Doe soon approached me with her baby.

‘…Was the ending of the song lacking in power?’

If my song had worked as intended, the mother deer should have taken the baby deer and returned to Keneaia Forest.

‘Well, anyway, it’s good that she calmed down.’

The mother deer was truly enormous up close.

While the mother was as big as a house, the Golden-Horned Doe’s baby was similar in size to an ordinary fawn. With mother and baby together, the size difference felt even more pronounced.

“Kiiing…”

Then, the Golden-Horned Doe slowly bent her front legs. Only then did her enormous head come to my eye level.

No matter how grateful she was to me for stopping her, for a divine beast to kneel before a human.

As I stood there bewildered, the mother deer lowered her head and gently licked my hand along with my lyre.

As the moist, rough, enormous tongue brushed past, I felt a scratchy yet warm sensation.

And I felt a similar sensation at my knees. Looking down, I saw the baby deer there.

“Puha!”

These were the very culprits who had caused me trouble, but seeing them act as if comforting me made me laugh involuntarily.

I used my free hand to stroke the baby deer’s head. Its still-soft fur scattered this way and that under my touch.

Chomp, chomp.

As I was absentmindedly enjoying the sensation at my fingertips, I heard a strange sound from beside me. And Lairinne’s dubious question directed at me.

“…Is it okay to just leave that alone?”

“What? What… Wait, wait wait wait!”

When I turned around a beat too late, the mother deer was somehow chewing on my strings as if they were hay!

“You’re not supposed to chew on this!”

Panicked, I hastily pulled my lyre away. The deer’s saliva stuck thickly to my lyre.

But the silk strings that had been scattering beautiful melodies just moments before, which I had bought not long ago, had already met their demise under the deer’s teeth.

“Aaaaaaaah…!”

I clutched my head. I felt self-loathing, wondering if I had performed just to see this mess.

“You’re getting revenge, aren’t you! You’re getting revenge because I forced you to calm down!”

I shouted in frustration, but the mother deer just blinked her large, innocent eyes as if she had done nothing wrong.

While I was going crazy and jumping around, the tightly closed doors opened slightly and people peeked their heads out.

“…Did the deer really calm down?”

“To think that deer that was rampaging like mad would calm down after hearing lyre music…”

“It was a performance worthy of that. I’ve never heard such heart-stirring music in my life.”

“I suddenly want to go see my parents in the countryside.”

Whether it was a noble who looked fastidious, or a merchant who probably only knew music from minstrels encountered at taverns in villages he briefly visited.

Even though they weren’t the target of my music, they couldn’t escape the aftereffects of the performance, and everyone seemed to have their hearts stirred.

And the influence of my song performance wasn’t limited to that.

“I wondered why it was suddenly rampaging, but it had lost its baby… Oh my, it’s fortunate the baby was found.”

It was evoking sympathy and empathy in people.

If someone had died, it wouldn’t have worked. But since the most seriously injured were just those who had fallen while panicking in the chaotic situation, people were surprisingly friendly toward the deer.

As people who were reassured by seeing the deer kneel came out one by one and murmured among themselves, a commotion like an approaching army could be heard from beyond.

“Hiya, hiya!”

“It’s the Followers of Artume!”

The followers who appeared riding deer as large as horses all had quivers slung diagonally across their backs and wore cloaks over one shoulder. And they all had their hair tied back or cut short so it wouldn’t interfere with hunting.

Leading the Followers of Artume at the very front was my friend Zyla. Zyla, who had ridden over with her black bob hair flying, let out a sigh of relief the moment she saw me.

“By Artume! Damn it, do you know how worried I was when I heard you were caught up in this?”

Zyla pulled me into a tight embrace. I’m quite tall myself, but when Zyla hugged me, I always had to lift my heels slightly.

I patted Zyla’s back and laughed.

“Haha, how did you know I was involved?”

“They said an ivory-haired minstrel was holding a deer with lyre music, and you’re the only one capable of such a feat.”

“Well, Linos might have been able to do it too?”

“That dull brother of yours?”

Zyla snorted. I smiled awkwardly. Just in terms of whether he could hold a deer with music, Linos probably could have done it too. However, if it had been Linos, he would have already died from the first attack before the deer calmed down.

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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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