Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 90

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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 90
I couldn’t quite make out what expression Soleia wore. I barely managed to blink away the tears clouding my vision.
[When did we cross Remordi, Hades?]
In my clearer sight, Soleia was smiling.
“Just as I thought….”
Her eyes, wide and fixed upon me, were anything but those of a normal human. Soleia’s mouth split into a grin as she closed the distance in an instant. I watched as a whirlwind of sacred blades carved wound after wound across her pale cheeks.
“Udeta…. Udeta!”
It was a whisper uttered in an eerie voice, as though spitting blood. Just as her grip threatened to swallow my vision in darkness, Raulus hurled me backward without warning.
Whoosh.
“…!”
I didn’t even have time to scream before I was airborne. Instead of my voice, every bone in my body shrieked. As I flew through the void, a grim thought crossed my mind.
Ah, this is really not good. I never imagined a clash of this magnitude…!
“Ugh, argh!”
The weightless sensation of rising through the air ended abruptly, replaced by the pull of gravity. I plummeted downward, and I couldn’t think anymore—I just squeezed my eyes shut.
“What is that now?”
But what awaited me wasn’t hard ground. My waist was seized as though caught by a hook. Whose arms, whose hands, whose embrace—it was unmistakable.
“Gasp… inhale.”
I breathed in the sacred essence most familiar and suited to me. I felt the sensation of my body, pierced through by sharp thorns of concentrated mana, slowly refilling itself.
But it was slow. The sacred essence I drew in felt rough, as though bristling with thorns. I barely replenished my strength before I lifted my head. The moment I met his coldly rigid face, a low, rumbling voice reached my ears.
“Now even trivial things….”
He was clearly referring to Raulus. And at that murmur, I felt inexplicably embarrassed.
Well, that’s because I’m using my sacred essence, Your Majesty…. Normally, I’m really quite strong….
Having suddenly become rather trivial, I kept my mouth shut and focused on his sharp sacred essence accumulating steadily within my body. But Auredhian didn’t seem to calm himself as quickly as I did. After seating me directly behind him, he moved forward. Grass was sliced cleanly wherever his feet fell.
“I’m not sure what it is.”
In a voice colder and damper than the dead air of the Underground, Auredhian Belgot spoke.
“Get out of the way.”
A deafening roar accompanied a violent wind. It was a sacred force that swept forward so brutally it seemed ready to obliterate me, the massive wolf-form Raulus, and Soleia alike. And it did exactly that.
[Hey. You, how dare you do such a thing….]
“I suggest you shut your mouth too.”
A voice emerged, speaking in crude language he didn’t normally use.
He meant to kill her. Genuinely.
Whoosh-.
Without hesitation, the sacred force pierced through Soleia’s body. And it transformed into pale silver-blue flames. The flames I had seen before—purification fire. The billowing inferno consumed Soleia’s form. I watched as the hem of her dress and her skin blackened and burned away.
If left as is, she would die. This was the woman who had tried to kill me countless times. Moreover, she had killed Leria, and who knows how many humans she had slain and deceived thus far. So perhaps killing her now would prevent future troubles. After all, a Black Mage who stole corpses of humans and manipulated their souls like puppets deserved summary execution.
Reason spoke endlessly in this way. Yes, it’s directly tied to your survival, isn’t it? Let her die. Reason was fragmenting. My vision alternated between darkness and clarity. My body, unable to withstand the overwhelming sacred essence, began to tremble violently. I gasped excessively as I barely managed to turn toward Soleia. The sacred essence, transformed into wildly burning flames, covered the space where Soleia had been, the cracked earth, and the void above it entirely.
“Ugh….”
But I saw it clearly. Between the intensely rippling pale silver-blue flames, an old bone gleamed white.
Crack, crackle.
A sound that I couldn’t tell whether only I could hear or everyone could hear scraped through my mind again. Between the burning blue-silver flames, a skull gradually revealed itself. Gaunt finger bones, arm bones, and ribs. An old skeleton, crawling forth across Soleia’s body, intertwined around her as though embracing her. For a moment, I thought I heard her let out a brief scream.
If I let this woman die like this, would it all end then? She was a Black Mage who commanded the corpses and spirits of the dead. She was a human who had made a contract with the King of the Underground. And that skeleton, so plainly visible, thought and spoke like a real person.
Soleia’s death… it had to mean something…
I opened my trembling lips.
“Raulus.”
Raulus, who had been shoved aside by Auredhian’s threatening divinity, answered immediately.
[Why?]
“Can you… can you chase after her?”
[What?]
A decision had to be made. Should I let Soleia die as she was, or should I… let her go? Which would benefit me more? Emotionally or rationally?
“Damn it. Can you chase after her?”
[If you’re connected through your senses, then yes.]
“Is that possible?”
[You’re my summoner and contractor. It’s not impossible. As long as your body can keep up.]
The earring caught on my earlobe hung heavy. I made my decision in that very moment.
“Then go and see.”
After all, this form of Raulus was merely an avatar I had summoned. His true form likely existed beyond Udeta. Even if the avatar rolled around on the surface, once it ran out of energy, it would simply return beyond Udeta. So if my body could just hold on… I stood again on trembling legs.
“That damned… what is that unlucky bastard doing.”
My voice came out tight between my teeth. Each word I spoke felt like my throat was tearing apart.
“What is the King of the Underground doing to Soleia? What will happen to her? I want you to see everything—every single thing happening down there and report back.”
With those words, I moved forward. My legs, torn and scraped in places, trembled as I walked. After a few steps, I reached Auredhian and pulled at his shoulder. Though I barely had the strength to do more than rest my hand there, he turned to me immediately.
“Yerenika.”
His cool voice was tinged with urgency. Without another thought, I grasped both his cheeks and pulled him toward me. Then I pressed my lips to his.
“…!”
I felt Auredhian’s body stiffen even as my senses began to fade. The relentless flow of air throughout the Imperial Palace came to an abrupt halt. It was a sign of his shock. The tight, overwhelming sensation my body remembered flowed endlessly across my lips and into me. Raw divinity poured into my battered, hollow frame in an instant. The metallic taste of blood that had lingered in my throat vanished without a trace.
No. More. My head twisted. More. I needed more. Our breathing tangled, deep and distant. His breath was hot and humid. The hands that had been pushing at my shoulders lost their strength. The blade-like wind that had been mercilessly cutting the grass beneath us ceased. And then the shimmering heat withdrew.
I knew that Soleia and the King of the Underground would not miss this brief opening. I had done this knowing that. There was only one way I knew to control this man while allowing Raulus to properly chase after them—to flood my body with divinity.
Contact. The simplest method to shake his mind and fill my body with overwhelming divinity in an instant.
I heard the earth crack open with a grinding sound. It split, and something tumbled dully into the fissure. Through my dimming vision, beyond Auredhian, I saw Soleia—completely covered in bone—being dragged down into the cracked earth. Her reddish hair whipped in the wind. I watched until the silver fur gleamed with light as it pursued her, then I closed my eyes.
I pulled Auredhian closer so he couldn’t direct his attention backward. I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him. He, forcibly restraining himself and creating distance, called out to me in a bewildered tone.
“Yere… nika. Wait a moment….”
But I swallowed the rest of his words. The distance that had briefly opened closed seamlessly again. Clear, refreshing, and strangely sweet energy filled my mouth endlessly, then slid down my throat, over and over. My entire body was filled as if it would shatter, and everything spun. Behind my closed eyes, the overwhelming sensation burst like white fireworks. The short moan that escaped between our pressed lips—whose was it? And after that, I could no longer think about who it was that could no longer direct their attention elsewhere.
My vision swirled and inverted.
My vision swirled and shifted.

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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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