Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 179

—————

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

—————

I sprang to my feet and bolted. Since I dashed off so suddenly, Gerth, who occupied White One’s body, had no choice but to dash along with me. Together, we moved faster than any carriage toward the Imperial Palace.
“Evan. Why are you running?”
“Because it’s urgent.”
“I see.”
As I ran using mana, White One began to lag behind, so I scooped him up and bounded across the rooftops in great leaps. Gerth resisted at first, but no matter how much he struggled, I didn’t budge an inch, so he gave up. He resigned himself to admiring the Capital from his perch on my back.
Every fleeting landscape that rushed past was elegant and high-tech. No wonder everyone raved about the Capital. There was a clock tower where mechanical figurines emerged on the hour to ring the bells—I couldn’t fathom the mechanism behind it. Gerth didn’t realize that the cables he yanked out while supposedly cleaning the Machine King’s chambers were far more high-tech than this. Yet this appeared far more impressive.
“Seian!”
I had been heading straight for the Third Princess’s residence when I spotted Seian Crowell feeding crows in the Outer Palace Garden. I leaped down immediately. The Imperial Guard rushed to intercept the suspicious intruder, but upon recognizing me as House Neftis’s mad dog, they lowered their bayonets.
“Lady Neftis. Regardless of who you are, you must pass through proper inspection to enter the Imperial Palace.”
“Inspect me now.”
“No, I’m speaking of the procedure—”
“Damn it! Should I strip then?!”
As I yanked off my coat and reached for my shirt, the Imperial Guard shrieked, and White One desperately clamped his jaws around my sleeve to prevent it from being removed.
They’d made a grave mistake touching one mad dog—they were all about to file incident reports.
“As the heir of House Neftis, you are not one to commit such indiscretions in the Imperial Palace! Please exercise caution next time!”
The entire Imperial Guard fled, abandoning Seian Crowell to his fate. Terrified by my arrival, he tried to slip away with the retreating guards but was stopped by my voice.
“Seian Crowell!”
“W-why are you calling me?!”
Seian flinched as if caught red-handed, then, refusing to lose face, bellowed back at me. As if only I could raise my voice—he could too. He shouted louder, but his voice cracked at the end. I was glaring at him with terrifying intensity.
“H-hic.”
Evan Laef is absolutely terrifying. So startled he hiccupped, Seian raised his hand slightly, silently asking for time to compose himself. But I showed no mercy and walked forward relentlessly.
“Is the marriage alliance true?”
“H-hic, if it’s true, h-hic. Why?”
As I approached steadily, Seian backpedaled, feeling the building wall press against his back. There was nowhere left to run.
“Is someone coercing you? Surely you didn’t decide this alone.”
My words, which didn’t even consider the possibility that Seian had chosen this path himself, ignited his fury. I clearly saw him as a fool incapable of thinking or deciding anything on his own.
“I-I did! H-hic! I decided it myself, so why—!”
Boom.
The sound of a building collapsing echoed somewhere. Seian thought thunder had struck from a clear sky. In reality, it was the sound of my fist driving into the Imperial Palace wall beside his ear.
“Are you in your right mind?”
“Don’t meddle! Whatever I do is—!”
“The succession struggle is still ongoing! Do you have any idea how catastrophic it becomes if a foreign power intervenes?!”
“I know all of it! Who do you think I am?!”
No, you clearly don’t understand any of it. I tried to explain one by one what kind of disaster this would cause, but Seian plugged his ears and shouted his own words relentlessly.
“I’m doing this to secure my own position! What’s wrong with trying to protect myself from you and Cecilia?!”
“That’s not protection! You’re about to marry into Seongguk and leave your homeland!”
“I’m not going to Seongguk! I negotiated that it would be a marriage in name only, and I’d remain here!”
“Was it Aten Polat?”
I immediately realized that Seian must have gotten wind of this from Sunbird, and I pressed him on it. Caught red-handed, Seian fumbled for words.
“Well, um….”
“When is the negotiation? What time? Where will it be? Are you attending?”
“Sunbird said he’d handle it himself.”
“What if that bastard makes a deal on his own terms and sells you out to Seongguk?”
“That commoner gave me his word. Of course he’ll do as I wish.”
“If it’s Sera, he’ll keep his promise.”
But Sunbird was unpredictable. I continued speaking, but Seian let out a derisive snort. The problem was Sunbird. He was a rare creature in the food chain of society—someone actually beneath Seian in station.
“You still don’t know him?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t know. I don’t know what you told Sera and the others, but I knew nothing of Evan Laef’s execution. If I had known, I would have opposed it—that’s why I didn’t speak of it.”
I had meant to warn him that he could send word to Seongguk and falsely report to Sera that Seian had gone willingly, but he interpreted my words differently. The moment the name Evan Laef was spoken, the fact that this woman had toyed with him consumed his mind.
“Sunbird is more trustworthy than you! Better than someone who plays games with people!”
“I never played games.”
My firm denial only enraged him further. There was nothing more infuriating than someone denying what they’d done and playing innocent. It was a fact that Mitchell Neftis had treated Seian Crowell like a plaything. Moreover, she had nearly caused him to commit a crime and used a skill to make him forget it. Then she had the audacity to appear before him and play at friendship.
Seian’s one skill, “Nullification,” was only Normal rank and barely useful, but without it, he would never have remembered that day for the rest of his life.
“When I said you would be mine, when I said you were my favorite, when I promised to protect you—none of it was false. It was all sincere.”
Wait, isn’t that cheating? Evan Laef pressed her beautiful face against the wall, declaring that I should be hers, that she loved me, and Seian’s heart raced. This close proximity combined with those words was cheating, and her face was cheating too. Mitchell Neftis’s face was persuasion itself, and her face was plausibility incarnate.
Even in the past, her mouth spouted nothing but mad nonsense, yet her face was so righteous and true that I nearly gave in several times. I resolved to regain my composure. I resolved to regain it, but Mitchell’s face was far too close. I could feel her breath. It was obscene. If I kept being drawn in like this, I’d wake up on a bed. I had to prevent that catastrophe.
“Hey, your breath is touching me, back
away,
please
….”
I opened my mouth with momentum, but my voice grew quieter with each word. Now I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to pull away from Evan Laef or not. If she kissed me right now, I had no confidence I could resist.
What if Evan Laef kisses me? Should I scream? What do I do? I’ve never kissed anyone before, so I don’t even know how!
Afraid of hearing that I couldn’t kiss and losing face, I desperately tried to recall the books I’d read in the past. Harem novels talked plenty about taking three wives and four concubines, but nothing about how to kiss a woman. It made no sense to set up a household without ever kissing once. I silently cursed those useless novels and squeezed my eyes shut. My face was already burning red and there was no hiding it.
Fine, just do it quickly! With my eyes clenched shut, I pressed my lips into a thin line. I seemed unaware that an adult kiss required opening one’s mouth.
“Evan. I have a question.”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Just as Seian was waiting for our lips to touch, a man’s voice suddenly rang out and he screamed. It wasn’t just any man’s voice either—it was a beautiful, deep tone. If this man with such a beautiful voice also had a beautiful face, it would be criminal how beautiful his voice was.
“Is the person Evan loves most not her mother, but this man?”
As Seian wondered where he’d heard that voice before, I found myself cornered, my fists clenched and my teeth gritted. I had forgotten that Gerth was here.
“…Yes.”
In any case, it would be absurd to say two different things, so I honestly admitted that Seian was my favorite. From the very first time I read “Twilight’s Repentance,” I had read with Seian as my bias. Even coming here, my bias remained firmly Seian. An Evan who didn’t love Seian was already an impossibility. It was on the level of denying my own existence.
“I cannot help but love Mother most, so I stepped back. But if the other party is a man who looks like that woman, I cannot yield.”
Remembering how I had fainted when I heard the lizard speak before, Seian was shocked once again. The lizard was speaking. It was an astounding sight.
“Gasp! A, a lizard! Speaking!”
“Allow me to introduce you—this is Serpent King Gerth. He occasionally borrows White One’s body to converse with us.”
I desperately tried to change the subject. If we introduced ourselves and talked things through, perhaps he’d forget what just happened. I harbored such grand hopes, but Gerth was the type who wouldn’t let a topic slide until his questions were answered. Even knowing this, I struggled. Such is the foolish nature of humans.
“I intend to mate with Evan. Because I love Evan most. I hope Evan will love me most as well.”

—————

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

—————