Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 51

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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 51
So this had to be me—Eun-seo’s soul. The Eun-seo who’d been chased by Soleia Elad’s wraiths in the dream had been ejected from Yerenika’s body with a soft pop.
The most decisive evidence supporting this fact was that I now wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt—the exact clothes I’d been wearing the day I died in that bus accident.
Upon realizing what the silver stains drenching the white shirt meant, I abandoned any thought of looking in a mirror.
[What… what is this, really…!]
Now tears streamed down my face for an entirely different reason. I pressed myself against the headboard and wept uncontrollably.
[Sob. Why are you doing this to me, really…?]
What had I done wrong to deserve this? Was this the price for sticking my tongue out? Such a punishment seemed far too severe for a single childish prank!
[I knew this would happen.]
That was when Raulus’s voice echoed in my ears. I jerked my head up. His voice, which would normally have been irritating and tiresome, had never sounded more welcome. Raulus’s tone resonated with a droning quality.
[What are you doing, crumb? Why aren’t you going back in?]
Going back in? Where? When I stared blankly without understanding, the god beyond distant Udeta spoke in an exasperated tone.
[I can see at a glance that the body is now just an empty shell without a soul. Sometimes when a soul perishes like this, the remaining body attracts souls of similar affinity, and you’re precisely that match.]
[So…?]
[So what? If you don’t get back in quickly, that body will die soon, and then you’ll have no choice but to become a wandering wraith on the mortal plane.]
Those words were true. In my current state, I was exactly like a wraith—unable to achieve peace even after death, doomed to wander the mortal realm. A soul covered head to toe in shimmering silver blood. A wraith like those that had chased me through nightmares, reaching out their hands in friendship…!
[That… that can’t happen…!]
[That’s why I’m telling you to get back in. Hurry.]
I moved toward Yerenika’s body sprawled across the bed. Crawling awkwardly toward the body I’d inhabited until just last night, I reached out my trembling hand. My quivering fingertips touched Yerenika’s cheek—shockingly cold and rigid. Tears I hadn’t even noticed fell down my face.
[How do I get back in…?]
I didn’t even finish my sentence. My hand made full contact with Yerenika’s pale cheek, and a translucent tear fell onto it with a soft tap. That was the last thing I saw before my soul returned.
“Hhhhgh!”
The moment I drew breath, excessive air rushed forcefully through my nose and mouth. My eyes snapped open.
“Ugh, cough. Hm.”
I had no idea how many times I’d made such desperate sounds tonight. I flipped my body over and coughed violently for a long while. The airway that had been blocked suddenly opened, and my throat felt like it was tearing. Cold air stabbed like a sharp blade into my lungs, making my mind swim. I gripped the sheets and barely managed to steady my ragged breathing.
“Gasp. Cough.”
[You made it back in nicely. Now that I see it, it’s quite a fitting body for you.]
That carefree voice was infuriating beyond measure. My insides churned with anger.
“I’m seriously…!”
[Seriously?]
“Seriously… like you, I… can’t… speak… this is the first time…!”
Raulus let out a light snort.
[Ungrateful wretch. I showed you the way out. What do you think it was that pulled you from that twisted dream?]
That’s the limit of my patience! I forced down my roiling anger and straightened my back.
Beyond the stinging pain rising from my throat and lungs, all my senses had returned properly. Looking down at my hands, they were unmistakably human hands and arms.
This time, a proper curse spilled out.
“Damn it. Cursed… that crazy bitch…!”
What would have happened if I’d remained trapped in the nightmare, caught in the wraiths’ grasp? What if I’d awakened only to remain in my soul form? I didn’t want to imagine it.
With nightmares like this every night, Yerenika’s body couldn’t possibly endure. Regardless of whether my psychological state had influenced the nightmare, my body was steadily accumulating damage. That’s why my condition had been so poor all this time…!
“I’m losing my mind… this is insane.”
I staggered to my feet, barely managing to step down from the bed onto the floor. I didn’t need anything else—I had to escape this palace, this cursed place saturated with dark magic.
My knees and calves trembled uncontrollably. I dragged myself forward without even knowing where I was going. I stumbled out of the room where dawn’s pale light was creeping in, walked through the frigid Corridor, and headed toward the entrance on the lower floor.
[Where are you going?]
“Be quiet….”
I had no energy to argue with Raulus. I was already proud of myself for not collapsing on the spot.
Whisper, whisper. My white nightgown brushed against my ankles. I barely managed to move forward by gripping the wall. The marble floor beneath my bare feet was chillingly cold.
My legs kept tangling, and I nearly fell several times, but after a few minutes, I finally managed to reach the entrance of Bellirook Palace.
However, my ordeal was far from over. The sight that greeted me at the entrance made my eyes go wide.
“Ah….”
Beneath the dark, bluish dawn sky, the withered grass and flowers I thought were long dead were raising their heads stiffly. The blackened, dead plants, now grown to human height, surrounded Bellirook Palace like carnivorous plants in a scene that was nothing short of horrifying.
“Gah…aaahhhhh!”
I could no longer hold back and let out a scream. Reason shattered, and my survival instinct took over.
So I ran again. Just as I had in the nightmare. I ran as though I would die if I didn’t escape immediately, without looking back.
I had no room to consider where I was going. Away from the palace now occupied by dead plants and phantoms. Far away!
I couldn’t clearly remember how long I ran. When I came to my senses, I had fled far beyond Bellirook Palace and the familiar grounds surrounding it. Only when I confirmed that Bellirook Palace was no longer visible did I finally manage to stop.
“Gasp…. Gasp.”
My vision was still blurred—whether from tears still streaming down my face or something else. I rubbed my eyes roughly. Focus, focus properly. If I don’t want to die screaming…!
But then I realized one more desperately sobering fact: no matter how far I ran within the Imperial Palace, there were limits to where I could go.
I looked around with the despair of someone who wanted to die. Where exactly was I…?
Not a single shadow of a person was visible. However, as we’d passed midnight and entered the pre-dawn hours, the surroundings were brighter than before.
I looked around anxiously. I had definitely already passed the fence marked with white handkerchiefs. If there were any magical devices operating in this area, that would be the day I was truly finished.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long to figure out where I was. It was a place I’d glimpsed from afar when Diego and I toured the Imperial Palace. The south side of the Imperial Palace, the entrance to the Training Grounds.
Diego’s words about how Auredhian Belgot began each day with dawn training flashed through my mind.
The moment I recalled those words, I caught sight of a silver light quietly flickering in the distance—nothing short of a miracle.
“…!”
At this moment, he was the most precious man to me. Standing alone in the middle of the Training Grounds in the bluish dawn, lightly spinning a wooden sword—it was unmistakably Auredhian Belgot.
I saw him turn at the sound of my presence. His reddish eyes gleamed clearly even from a distance.
His expressionless face turned slightly, and his eyes widened. My vision blurred with tears again. A voice filled with alarm reached my ears.
“Your Highness?”
And the sound of rapid footsteps drawing closer.
“Your Majesty….”
A body fragrance filled with clear, pure sanctity rushed toward me. The man who approached without hesitation reached out his hand to me.
“Sob… uhhhhh….”
I finally clung to him and burst into tears.
All my sorrow poured out at once. Even as my depleted strength was rapidly replenished by his powerful sanctity, my tears flowed without ceasing.
“Why are you here at this hour…?”
I heard Auredhian Belgot murmur in confusion as he bent down, only to find himself embracing me.
“Sniff, it was…. A nightmare….”
“A nightmare?”
Even as I said it, it felt wrong. To say I’d run all the way here because of a nightmare seemed far too childish…! Still clinging to Auredhian Belgot’s neck like a lifeline, I opened my mouth again. My voice came out thin and trembling.
“The palace… Bellirook Palace feels wrong.”
I felt Auredhian’s body stiffen rigidly. The hand that had been gently patting my shoulder stilled.
“What’s wrong with the palace?”
His voice had hardened noticeably. I opened my mouth to answer, but my jaw trembled so violently that I closed it again without speaking. Perhaps sensing my trembling transmitted through to him, he carefully placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Princess, wait a moment.”
“N-no… I don’t want to…”
“Just let me see your face. It’ll only take a moment.”
I shook my head and tightened my grip around him. I couldn’t let go. My instincts screamed it.
My condition hadn’t yet returned to normal. The desire to remain in contact with him, even slightly longer, was pure instinct. Rational thought had long since fled far away. Shame, embarrassment—I felt none of it. I was consumed only with gasping for breath and drinking in the sacred radiance that emanated from his body.
Yet even my instincts were silenced by a voice.
“Yerenika.”

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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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