Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 73

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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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Ch 6. The Opposite of Tranquility is the Eve of the Storm
Soleia Elad was lost in thought.
“So, if I hold your leash.”
That day, when she had proposed giving him the leash around her neck, Auredhian had spoken those words with a bitter smile.
“You mean you’ll become a faithful dog prostrate beneath my feet?”
Tap, tap.
Long, sharp crimson nails drummed rhythmically against the window’s edge. Rain was falling outside. In Belgot’s late spring, when the weather was generally fair, rainy days were uncommon. The air was humid, heavy and oppressive. Soleia Elad gazed down at Ugel Square, where rain was pouring down.
On rainy days, there was always a memory that occupied a corner of her mind. On the day her true parents were captured by the Holy Knights and burned at the stake, rain had fallen just like this. On the day her old family—which had most actively pursued the study of darkness in the shadows—crumbled to ruin.
I remembered vividly the purifying flames that burned without extinguishing even amid the downpour of rain. Those silver flames, tinged with a faint blue light, had consumed my parents and my comrades.
“Why?”
Between the pattering of rain, the Emperor’s voice echoed once more.
“Why do such a thing? What do you hope to gain from me?”
His tone carried genuine curiosity. The image of his noble, sculpted face came vividly to mind.
“Why, you ask…”
Of course, because I wanted to seize the divinity dwelling within that body. If it were impossible to claim it for myself, then I would have to obtain it through a child born between him and me.
At that time, I had not answered the Emperor’s question aloud. There was no reason to. After all, the proposal I had extended would have been too tempting to reject outright.
I knew Auredhian Belgot well. It was only natural, given that I had observed him for twice as many years. I first saw Auredhian when I was ten years old, when I first set foot in the Belgot Magic Tower. It was shortly after my true parents had been burned at the stake by the Holy Knights, when I had barely been spirited away by Chernata Rosel and disguised as an illegitimate daughter of the Elad Marquis Family. And that winter, when I had settled into the Magic Tower.
At that time, I was still a child who could not properly handle the dark magic inherited from my parents. And Auredhian Belgot at that time was merely a young prince of the same age as me.
The time they had brushed past each other was very brief. The young prince who had come to inspect the Magic Tower following the Previous Emperor wore a face unnaturally serene and somewhat weary for his age. I could not forget the brilliant silver of his hair, nor those eyes—a reddish violet hue that was like a curse to my kind.
Young Soleia Elad had watched the composure on the faces of the Previous Emperor and the prince, and inwardly sharpened her blade. That man who commanded the Holy Knights—those who had burned my parents, my teacher, and countless disciples under my teacher alive. That man who possessed a power of absolute opposition to mine. Those who would not permit beings like myself to stand upon the earth. My natural enemy.
And so that day, Soleia Elad, consumed by the foolish determination of a ten-year-old and burning desire for revenge, made her vow.
Ah, the Emperor of the next generation. That terribly beautiful boy. The one who possessed the mightiest divinity on earth. One day, I would make him kneel beneath my feet.
From that day until now, across fourteen years and four more, I had watched that man. It would have been strange if I had not come to understand him thoroughly.
Auredhian Belgot would not be able to refuse the sweet temptation I had offered. Even if he did not accept all my conditions, he would find some point of compromise. He was a man who bristled at even the slightest blemish upon anything that had entered his domain.
Auredhian Belgot had looked at me with a face utterly devoid of trust.
“You would become a dog obedient to me? You?”
“There is no difference.”
I was sincere. I would move as he desired. I would even bark like a dog if he commanded it. If only I could grasp that tremendous divinity in both my hands. If only I could reach beyond Udeta, to that distant world of the gods—then there was nothing I could not do.
In truth, my purpose was singular. Udeta. The world that stood in opposition to the realm my kind inhabited. The world beyond Udeta, which was the antithesis of the world beneath Remordi. My purpose was to reach that world beyond Udeta.
That was precisely my role and my value. Once I reached beyond Udeta, I would fulfill the obligations imposed upon me by the contract. What remained after that was the obligation my contractor must fulfill. To drive out all silver and crimson violet hues from this land. The contractual condition my master would uphold.
Then, in the very end, it would be that radiant man who would kneel at my feet. For that moment, I could endure binding my own leash for now.
But lately, my ‘master’ had been unusually fussy with me.
Crack. I clicked my tongue at the unpleasant noise that grated on my eardrums.
“What is it now?”
[….]
“How strange. You’ve been so oversensitive lately. More than usual.”
No answer came. Instead, the dull sound of something colliding echoed repeatedly. What was colliding was, in truth, obvious. Skeletal bones that had been barely hanging together by threads came crashing down, then rattled and clattered as they reassembled.
[…Urgent.]
A murky resonance of indeterminate gender reverberated through my entire body. I twisted my beautiful face slightly.
“What is it? Our plan?”
[Bad luck. If discovered, things will become complicated.]
Crack. The bones that had barely held a skeletal form crumbled and scattered downward once more.
[The taboo between Udeta and Remordi, before it’s exposed….]
“It’s already been five years since you first crossed Remordi, Hades. It hardly seems the time to speak of taboos now.”
She had made a contract with the master of the Underground five years ago—a being that could barely maintain its form on the surface and constantly crumbled apart. For five years, this entity that could not cross Remordi, the boundary between the surface and the Underground, had been violating the taboo and reaching toward the surface world. Those five years had been quiet, yet now it behaved as though something were chasing it. She could not fathom why. But the master of corpses and phantoms did not seem to be listening to her words at all.
[This time, I’ll kill her.]
A grinding sound. Fragmented finger bones rolled beneath Soleia’s feet. They trembled for a moment, then slowly gathered together, reforming into a single, complete skeletal hand.
[I’ll kill what irritates me….]
“….”
[And take what I need.]
Kill the Princess and take the Emperor. The words meant nothing different. The voice speaking them was so harsh that Soleia’s expression hardened. It had been less than ten days since she made that irrefutable proposal to Auredhian Belgot.
The master of the Underground let out a sinister laugh.
[The goal is within sight. Yet you always tell me to wait, Soleia. How much longer must I dance to your tune?]
“But now the day when that man will truly take my hand is not far away—.”
[I won’t hear crude excuses. Within a short time….]
“….”
[Kill what irritates me, and take what I need. Otherwise.]
Finger bones suspended in the air twitched, lifting Soleia’s chin. Even she could not help but flinch at the cold, sharp sensation of bone against her skin. With a mocking tone, like a final judgment, the words fell.
[I’ll take matters into my own hands.]

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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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