An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 90

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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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#90

 

Eurich, who had been watching the situation from a distance, burst into anger. Just three of them. To think they were taking this much time against only three people!

 

Moreover, their target Orphea was nowhere to be found, driving him to the brink of madness.

 

“Where the hell did the information leak from?”

 

It was clear that Orphea had anticipated this assassination.

 

But there was something puzzling about it. If she anticipated the assassination, why would she deliberately send her family to face danger in her place?

 

And then she just hides away in some safe place—that couldn’t be right.

 

Eurich quickly caught on to what Orphea was aiming for.

 

‘…Is she buying time!’

 

If that was the case, he couldn’t afford to waste time here getting caught up in Orphea’s intentions.

 

“Retreat! Retreat!”

 

Clang! Clang, clang!

 

But the situation was chaotic, and since everyone including himself had their ears blocked, Eurich’s orders didn’t reach them.

 

“Damn it…!”

 

Whirrrrrrr!

 

While Eurich was fretting alone, suddenly long whip-like vines from who knows where lashed out and coiled around the assassins.

 

“…Trees?!”

 

Tree vines sprouting from here and there caught the assassins by their ankles and waists. Soon they were hoisted up into the air, and the startled assassins dropped their weapons.

 

Crash! Crash!

 

All the assassins except Eurich, who was hiding in a tree, were caught by the tree vines and left dangling in mid-air.

 

As the confused assassins and Eurich hurriedly looked around at the sudden situation.

 

They noticed that trees had somehow surrounded them.

 

Beautiful women with brown-green hair visible between the trees were giggling as they looked at them. With their hair and clothing intermingled and half their bodies buried in trees, they clearly weren’t human.

 

Only then did the assassins realize the identity of those who had ensnared them and cry out.

 

“Dryads!”

 

Dryads were tree spirits who usually hid within trees and rarely showed themselves. Even the followers of Artume, who lived their entire lives in harmony with the forest, had mostly never seen a dryad.

 

For such dryads to actively step forward and take sides meant…

 

Eurich searched among the dryads.

 

Sure enough, through the thick leaves, Orphea was sitting on a tree branch playing her lyre.

 

***

 

Wooooooo…

 

Groooooo…

 

The dryads’ strange cries seemed to add harmony to my song.

 

I looked around without stopping my lyre performance. I was checking to see if there were any assassins I might have missed.

 

Only after confirming that the dryads had restrained all the assassins did I jump down from the tree branch.

 

As soon as Linos saw me, he made an exhausted expression and scolded me.

 

“That was cutting it close, Orphea!”

 

“I was hurrying as much as I could… If you’re really worried, let’s switch roles.”

 

“Don’t say ridiculous things.”

 

Linos grumbled.

 

Originally, continuous performance was needed to wake the dryads sleeping within the trees. If the song was interrupted by interference, it would be useless.

 

So while one person summoned the dryads, the other would draw Eurich’s attention.

 

Of course, either way would have been fine, but considering the nature of performance, I thought Linos would be better at holding out against the assassins. The fact that my performance worked better on spirits was also one of the reasons for this arrangement.

 

Despite my carefully calculated proposal, Linos jumped up as soon as he heard my words.

 

“No matter what, how can you put your brother in danger when there’s an assassination threat?”

 

“If you don’t like it, I’ll buy time while you call the dryads.”

 

Of course, it wouldn’t have been bad for me to buy time either. Then there would be no need to deceive Eurich, so we wouldn’t have to ask the twins to do anything difficult.

 

But when I offered to step back, Linos jumped around even more than before, like a fish out of water.

 

“Sigh… Fine. How can I tell my sister to endure in such a place.”

 

“Be honest. You’re not confident about calling dryads, are you?”

 

“…How can you attack me like that when your brother is risking his life to help you?”

 

Anyway, I’m glad things went according to plan.

 

Meanwhile, Pollux, who had left with me, hurriedly ran to Castor and supported him.

 

“Are you okay, Castor?”

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. This much will heal if Orphea just spits on it once.”

 

“That’s really funny.”

 

I burst into laughter at the absurdity of Castor, who didn’t forget to wink at me with one eye even while bleeding profusely.

 

Schneider also supported Linos’ coachman.

 

“At least we’re not too late.”

 

I thought there would be no problem since the Tindal Twins were there and Linos’ abilities were considerable, but when I actually came to the scene, there were more assassins than I had expected. It was remarkable that everyone was still standing on their own two feet.

 

I examined the faces of the assassins held by the dryads. No matter how much I looked at the masked assassins, Eurich was nowhere to be seen.

 

“…”

 

“What, Eurich isn’t here? That rat didn’t slip away already, did he?”

 

Linos frowned.

 

Capturing the assassins alone was quite an achievement, but we needed to capture Eurich as well to definitively prove there was some kind of relationship between the king and Eurich.

 

“I don’t know why the dryads missed Eurich, but he definitely can’t be far away.”

 

Given Eurich’s suspicious nature, he would certainly be watching from the scene somehow.

 

Just as I was looking around, the assassins suddenly began groaning as if in pain.

 

“Urgh, gah…”

 

The area around the writhing assassins’ foreheads was strangely rippling.

 

“What’s that?”

 

Just as the puzzled Castor reached out to lift the mask covering an assassin’s forehead, Schneider shouted loudly.

 

“Be careful!”

 

As soon as Schneider shouted, Pollux, who was next to Castor, grabbed Castor by the scruff of his neck.

 

Thud!

 

Not long after, with a dull sound, the assassin’s head disappeared somewhere.

 

Thud! Thud!

 

The assassins’ heads began disappearing simultaneously from various places. The heads vanished without leaving a single drop of blood. It was as if something had bitten and devoured them.

 

If Castor’s hand had been near the face to lift the assassin’s mask…

 

Castor’s Adam’s apple bobbed roughly.

 

Thus all the assassins held by the dryads ended up dead. The plan to use the assassins as evidence that Eurich and the royal family had joined hands came to nothing.

 

But this wasn’t a situation to worry about such things.

 

Caw, caw!

 

Flutterrrr!

 

Screech, screeech!

 

Suddenly the forest became chaotic. The animals living in the forest also seemed terrified and began screaming and running around in all directions.

 

“Wh-what is happening?”

 

Linos’ coachman asked stammering at the suddenly terrifying and eerie situation. But no one could answer him.

 

Not only the twins but I too was frozen white with shock at this situation. Despite going through all kinds of hardships during a year-long expedition, this phenomenon was a first.

 

Amid the forest’s chaos, darkness began creeping in.

 

Right now, something was happening…

 

***

 

The moment the dryads appeared along with Orphea, Eurich realized he had been thoroughly played by Orphea.

 

‘Deliberately capturing the assassins alive. Is that bastard planning to use them as evidence to blackmail the king and sever his relationship with me…!’

 

Eurich’s eyes blazed with fury as he realized that it was he, not Orphea, who had fallen into the trap.

 

Thanks to the remnants of the invisibility potion, fortunately Eurich himself hadn’t been captured, but in this situation, Eurich couldn’t simply retreat either.

 

‘For whose benefit?’

 

Eurich gritted his teeth.

 

Of course, Eurich wasn’t without contingency plans. He had a final stronghold prepared for just such an emergency.

 

‘…No, wait. Perhaps with Orphea appearing here too, this could actually become an opportunity.’

 

Steeling his resolve, Eurich loosened and disheveled his clothing. As his bare body was exposed, cold wind brushed against his skin. Eurich gripped a dagger at his waist in reverse grip and whispered softly.

 

“Your humble servant Eurich brands and offers up intact souls. With this sacrifice, I shall break your bonds, and with this body, I shall become your gateway!”

 

At that same moment, black markings appeared on the assassins’ foreheads. The brands he had inscribed as a precaution immediately after devising this assassination plan and receiving the assassins from the king had manifested.

 

Eurich had deceived them, claiming it was a spell to block Orphea’s song, and made the assassins draw the markings on their own foreheads.

 

Since they were already conditioned to obey orders, the assassins had accepted Eurich’s proposal without much thought, believing it was a spell to ward off enemy attacks.

 

Little did they know it was actually their consent to be offered as sacrifices.

 

No matter how much Orphea might suspect everything, she couldn’t have predicted that he would resort to such measures.

 

Eurich’s lips, stretched into a triumphant grin, trembled violently.

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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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