Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 146

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 146
“Is its true form a wolf as well?”
“Its true form, Your Majesty?!”
Diego Schmart let out a stifled cry from beside him, his face going pale as if he might collapse at any moment.
“How sacrilegious!”
“Enough of this sacrilege nonsense….”
Auredhian clicked his tongue and approached Yerenika. She had just succeeded in calming the wolf and was in the process of shrinking its size considerably.
“Yeni.”
[Hmm?]
A lovely face turned toward him. Auredhian murmured something like a sigh.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve said this….”
[Hm? What is it?]
“Will you be alright?”
[Yes.]
A woman slightly more mature than the face he knew, bearing the essence of the night air itself, smiled with her eyes gently narrowed.
[You said you trusted me.]
“…Yes.”
That’s right. I trust her. Auredhian nodded slowly to himself.
“I trust you.”
[Yes. I trust myself too. And besides, it won’t take more than a few minutes, so don’t worry too much….]
“I trust that you won’t leave me alone.”
Her words seemed to catch in her throat, and this time there was no immediate response. Yet her expression remained tender, as always.
“Isn’t that right?”
Finally, urgency crept into his voice.
“Promise me.”
The woman who always smiled so lovingly broke into a wide smile once more.
[Of course.]
“….”
But what multiplied was not reassurance—it was distrust. No. Perhaps I simply cannot trust.
“….”
She had lied to me before. She always said everything was fine. I truly believed it was.
“….”
But it wasn’t. So how can I trust? My throat felt strangled by something like a massive wad of cotton. Auredhian barely managed to force out one final word.
“…You promised you’d kiss me.”
[You don’t need to make promises about things like that.]
The corners of Yerenika’s eyes curved upward. Even now, she did not forget to emphasize firmly.
[The earring—you have to destroy it completely. Only then will the summoning contract be severed entirely. Do you understand?]
It was impossible to voice any further anxiety in the face of that expression. All he could do in that moment was nod, swallowing down a great and sharp blade of dread.
* * *
[…I’m worried.]
Auredhian still seemed anxious. I knew that even if I reassured him a hundred times, the moment I turned away, he would worry again. So I stopped offering him further words of comfort. Instead, I kissed his cheek—or as close as I could manage—and smiled as brightly as I could. That was all I had to give. Of course, I made sure to give Raulus my final instructions as well.
[I’m saying this just in case, but if I don’t come back, you mustn’t hesitate. Understood?]
[What do you mean by that?]
[Do I really need to spell it out? You can read my heart.]
[I can’t hear it. I don’t understand.]
Raulus cut off his telepathy abruptly. Frustrated, I leaned close to his ear and whispered urgently.
[If my body dies, Hades will certainly target Auredhian next. Before that worst-case scenario arrives, whoosh!]
I made a slitting motion across my throat, and Raulus immediately recoiled in horror.
[You’ve lost all sense of caution!]
[What does it matter? If I’m already dead, I won’t feel the pain anyway.]
[So what? You want me to seal your entire body beneath Remordi before that creature can target her?]
[Yes. Exactly that.]
[You really….]
Raulus seemed to have run out of words. I laughed softly and shrugged.
[I can’t die completely, after all.]
For a moment, I wondered if I was being excessively rational. Should I be crying instead? But planning something so far beyond my imagination left me feeling oddly detached from reality. It didn’t feel real at all. My sense of reality had already overloaded long ago.
So it was better to reach a conclusion as quickly as possible. While my sense of reality still held firm. While reason still functioned. Before I collapsed into emotional exhaustion.
[Stop spouting nonsense, little fragment.]
Raulus snapped sharply. I had to soothe him gently.
[Who said I actually want to die? There are too many variables in this world. I’m just preparing for the worst-case scenario.]
[There is no such worst case. I raised you to be strong, so you’ll be able to endure those few minutes.]
Raulus spoke with absolute finality. I laughed weakly.
[Lari didn’t raise me.]
[Be quiet.]
Raulus turned his head away, clearly done with the conversation.
[You’re going to tell him all of this later.]
[No, you won’t.]
[Hmph.]
The palm-sized wolf cub lifted his chin proudly and scoffed, yet his eyes darted sideways to steal a glance at me.
[…You know you mustn’t be captured by Hades, don’t you, little one?]
[Of course. I’ve even escaped successfully before.]
I smiled wryly and nodded. Raulus’s sky-blue eyes were brimming with worry. Still smiling, I extended my hand to him. Raulus placed his tiny paw—barely the size of a fingernail—into my palm.
[Endure to the very end, you adorable little fragment.]
[That’s a curse, isn’t it?]
I grasped that small paw and shook it playfully, rolling my eyes. He was always grumbling, utterly lacking in tact, and frivolous besides—yet over the past two years and four months, he was the only one to whom I had laid bare everything. I lifted Raulus into my arms and placed him on the Altar.
[Then I’ll see you later, Lari. I hope when we meet again, it’s in that beautiful older brother form of yours.]
[Hmph, you brat.]
Yet affection dripped from the tiny paws that patted my hand. I finally burst into laughter and stepped back from the Altar.
[Well then….]
It was time to begin the first phase of the plan.
[….]
I glanced absently at the landscape beyond the Altar, and it was identical to what I had seen two years ago in this very place. The sight of Barishard’s downtown, half-submerged in darkness.
Back then, I was alone. Yet now, I am not. I have someone I love, a Priesthood member I adore, and Raulus. Well, I cannot say he is reliable by any means, but Soleia is here too, regardless….
I repeated that fact to myself hundreds of times over. Yes. I am not alone. I looked up at the gaping ceiling above the Altar. The stars trembled uneasily.
“Yerenika.”
[….]
The hand extended toward me was large and firm. I pulled up the corners of my mouth. I uttered just one sentence, pouring all my wishes into it.
[I hope Plan A succeeds this time.]
I could not feel the touch of the hand, but I knew warmth dwelled within it. An irregular and intense wave of Holy Power, thrashing anxiously, began to flow through the fingertips and pour into me. A sensation I had once found overwhelming merely to experience. It flowed into me without filter.
[-!]
In the next instant, my vision twisted violently.
[Ah….]
The sky shook uneasily. I reflexively looked upward. Something that had definitely not been there before was now floating in the dark blue sky.
Stars.
A cluster of stars arranged in a perfect circle. A bluish silver glow…. I lowered my gaze. To the Altar.
[…!]
But the Altar was not there. What unfolded before my eyes was an entirely different sight.
* * *
To be honest, that was rather painful. No matter how much I retraced my memories, I could not clearly recall how I spent those brief few minutes.
One thing was certain. The moment my soul, in its incorporeal state, had its connection to my body strengthened by the overflowing Holy Power, I was able to reclaim my body. But if there was something unexpected….
[Ah, damn it….]
It was that my body was not drawn to where my soul was, but rather my soul was drawn to where my body was.
[What on earth did you do with my body…?]
It hurt like hell. That was all I could feel the moment I re-entered my body. A pain as if my intestines were twisting and shattering into pieces. Though I had once witnessed the bizarre phenomenon of two souls speaking simultaneously from Soleia’s body Underground, I could not adapt to it at all when it became my ordeal. My lips opened involuntarily.
“Let us return, my children.”
Hades within me spoke quietly.
“To our ancient homeland.”
Though Hades had entered my body, there was nothing I could do. Control of my body was entirely in Hades’ hands. I lamented inwardly. I should never have trusted Plan A….
Hades lifted his head. My head turned upward of its own accord. And I saw them clearly. The stars I had seen just before being drawn into my body. The stars spun round and round. A perfect circle formed by silvery stars. Geometric patterns densely inscribed along the edges.
‘…!’
There was no mistaking it. It was the entrance to Udeta. Hades had opened Udeta, the boundary between the Surface and the Divine Realm. I was horrified.
‘No, wait…!’
This was not what I intended at all. But before I could do anything else, in the next moment, a red light erupted beneath my feet. It was a magic circle.
‘Uh, uh…!’
My vision turned pure white.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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