Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 43

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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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#43.

“Admiral, sir—were you with that person this entire time?”
“They disappeared suddenly while we were on a date. I was startled.”
The soldier’s suspicion melted away as the Admiral nodded and looked down at me.
“Where did you go? We were worried.”
“Ah, well…”
With my alibi now ironclad, the soldiers covered for my excuse about needing the restroom urgently.
I shrank back slightly at the uncharacteristic tenderness in his gaze.
I had known that summoning Kelsedny Admiral required a brush with death, but this was the moment I confirmed that my survival was the will of a different personality—Keldi.
The conclusion was clear: the Admiral despised me from start to finish, yet he remained influenced by this other personality.
“However, Admiral, sir—didn’t you have a formal dinner scheduled with high-ranking officials today? I received a movement report.”
The Admiral’s golden eyes traced the large-caliber magitech rifle in the soldier’s persistent grip.
Then he raised his hand and casually flicked his index finger.
“…!”
The soldier’s military cap tumbled across the floor.
Everyone froze as the body collapsed with a dull thud. A silent death, and an eerie stillness descended.
My face had gone pale.
It was because I was looking at the Admiral’s face, still smiling with his eyes.
‘Right—wasn’t the Admiral like this in the original work?’
When I had actually witnessed it, he seemed more refined than the novel’s description, and I wondered if it was a narrative trick.
But the Admiral before me now was the original’s true self—a cruel madman.
“Orders came down to execute anyone involved in this incident.”
He simply threw out the implication that the soldier was connected to the Saint’s escape, then turned away.
Cradled in his arms like a princess, I looked down at his military boots as he walked with measured strides.
“…Was that person actually involved?”
I asked even though I knew the answer.
“I don’t know.”
He added casually, as if disposing of an insect that had wandered into the house.
“If I say so, then it’s so.”
“Are you in your right mind…?”
Ah, no—you’re not. I closed my mouth.
Feigned madness was an excellent survival tactic, but true madness demanded restraint.
I felt his jaw rest against the crown of my head.
“The mana bullet’s target wasn’t the building—it was you. Isn’t that reason enough for him to die? He tried to kill a civilian without confirmation.”
I couldn’t tell if it was truth or lie.
This version of him was the complete opposite of the Admiral who followed order and principle.
The original Admiral had beaten and broken heads, but at least he never took lives. Especially not “for my sake.”
‘Is this his true nature—what he’s suppressed with principle all along?’
Feeling the chill, I tapped his chest lightly to signal I wanted to be put down.
Now I understood why the Admiral had been so intent on restraining his desires all this time.
Was there any existence more dangerous than a powerful being who had derailed from the normal path?
“Hey, Admiral.”
“Keldi.”
“Keldi, would you put me down now?”
Unlike the inhuman display from moments before, he lowered me with the careful precision of someone handling fragile glass.
“I heard you have an important schedule. You should probably go…”
He smiled faintly as he gazed at my hair, now transformed to silver.
“There’s nothing more important than a date. Besides, your hair looks beautiful like this.”
He spoke irresponsibly in a voice that had grown surprisingly tender and low.
It was truly astonishing.
He bent down to meet my eyes and asked.
“Is there anywhere you’d like to go? The Sea, perhaps?”
“I want to go home.”
Perhaps because my counterpart was genuinely insane, I felt a little afraid.
He gently caressed my hand resting upon his own.
“You don’t like being with me?”
“No, that’s not it.”
It seemed I had to say that for now.
“I think I need you. Before I die.”
He studied me intently as if discerning my true intentions, then smiled with an expression that could have been either a threat or an invitation.
The “Keldi” side seemed to know the details of my condition—something he couldn’t speak of due to a geas binding him.
“Huh.”
Suddenly, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into a narrow gap between buildings.
Beyond the Alley, I could hear the hurried footsteps of Soldiers and ability users rushing past.
Pressed closely together in the confined space, I looked up at him.
His sharp jawline, which had been turned outward, now faced toward me again.
“Why are we hiding?”
“I wanted to try something like this.”
The man who would never need to hide from others’ eyes in his lifetime laughed like a mischievous boy.
I kept my hands pressed against his broad chest, struggling with where to direct my gaze.
“Keldi, about the conditions for you to appear. Is there another besides when I’m in danger?”
“Hmm…”
He tilted his head with his lips curved loosely as he spoke.
“When I’m aroused.”
?
I couldn’t tell if he meant he only appeared when aroused, or if he was being brutally direct about being ruled by his lower instincts.
“The Admiral doesn’t speak that way.”
At my comment, wondering if he was under some form of mental control, he shook his head.
“We’re the same person anyway. Or would you prefer the pretentious, tedious military tone instead?”
As I stared blankly at him, he perfectly replicated the Admiral’s speech patterns and expressions that I knew so well.
A sharp throb.
My vision trembled violently.
My heart constricted, and dizziness washed over me.
“Gack, cough….”
Blood spilled from my lips.

【!】 Displeasure level has fallen below the critical threshold.

Current total displeasure: [40]

In my absence, my brothers’ and Uriana’s affection toward me must have intensified—the displeasure level had dropped below 100.
He gazed at me, still smiling, as I stumbled and leaned against the wall.
It was utterly different from his careful movements that had avoided hurting me even slightly.
“See? Darling.”
He brushed back his disheveled black hair and caught my shoulder as I began to slide down.
By survival instinct, I clung to him and pulled him closer.
“You can’t live without me.”
As his voice, dripping with satisfaction, began to fade, I felt fingers cradling my cheek.
My body and head, wholly dependent on his arms, bent backward limply.
Facing me slowly, he licked the blood trickling below my chin, then pressed his lips to mine.
His tongue slid smoothly into my mouth, caressing and intertwining with mine in a savoring motion.
As warmth seeped into my cooling body, distant sensation returned, and the faint taste of blood bloomed intensely.
He withdrew his lips, his expressionless face smeared with blood, and gazed at me before breaking into a beautiful smile.
“Shall we continue?”
He looked like an invader drenched in metallic blood—or perhaps a Savior.
“I want to do more.”
Beyond his whisper, my pupils trembled faintly as I stared into the void.

Displeasure increase: [012,486]

Suddenly, the sweetness in my mouth turned bitter.
An unprecedented spike in numbers in a single moment.
Beyond the peculiarity of the digits themselves, my mind reeled at the fact that Keldi’s personality was raising displeasure—not just toward me, but beyond mere dislike.
Moreover, wasn’t that level beyond wanting to destroy me, but to annihilate my very soul?
‘If it wasn’t the Admiral who killed Octavia in the original story, but Keldi’s personality….’

“Perhaps I simply wish to witness you shatter elegantly, not by another’s hand, but by mine.”

Suddenly, I recalled what the Admiral had said.
It felt less like finding the key to a secret and more like discovering the murder weapon at a crime scene.
He, who had been exchanging glances with me in silence, asked again.
“Are you alright now?”
I shook my head, my gaze fixed on the rare smile that seemed unlike his usual self, the composure in his expression, and the redness beneath his eyes.
“I’m alright now.”
After pulling away, he wiped the corners of my mouth with his sleeve instead of a handkerchief.
“See you tomorrow.”
Was he saying he would maintain Keldi’s state until tomorrow?
His face, with only the corners of his mouth loosely curved, didn’t seem to be smiling at all.

***

Holy Temple, Chloe’s Room.
Chloe, who had been facing the mirror, suddenly twisted her lips.
She had just heard the news that Uriana had fled.
“What on earth is happening?”
She believed that the fact she possessed potential remained unchanged, and that someone had interfered during the ceremony.
Whether that culprit was Uriana, who had once sabotaged another Saint candidate in the past, or Octavia, the daughter of a magical engineering authority, made no difference.
In any case, she was furious because she had shown nothing before the Saint who came from the Empire and had gained no recognition.

“We came to witness the miracle of Holy Power rising seven stages, yet there was no difference from a Grade 9 consecration.”
“According to protocol, Holy Ability Users of Grade 4 and below have no qualification to hold priesthood, but since this is said to be a stabilization phase, we shall observe during our stay.”

Having shifted into the role of an inspector, the Saint of Mercury appeared almost to be suppressing a smirk.
In truth, the Saint had come to witness firsthand the results of the enhancement technique applied to Chloe, though she could never have known this.
“I need to restore my abilities before the Saint leaves.”
If this were reported to the Imperial Church as it stood, there would be sufficient grounds for intervention, and an expulsion order could come down from Church Headquarters itself.
No matter how formidable one’s power had been in the past, had not even those who once pacified the Holy Temple fallen into obsolescence?
Just then, the sound of the door opening without a knock echoed through the chamber.
It was Chloe’s older brother, Ethan.
“You’re still stuck at that pathetic ninth rank?”
Chloe fixed him with a sharp, piercing gaze.
He entered without even brushing the dirt from training off himself, collapsing onto the sofa with a heavy thud.
He had a habit of skipping training under the pretense of visiting his younger sister, indulging his laziness.
“If you get expelled, I’ll be expelled too, so make sure you pocket whatever you can—embezzlement, extortion from donations, whatever. Unless you want things to go back to how they were.”
There was a reason Chloe could not speak against him and remained at his mercy.
“No matter how tolerant the Holy Temple Society is to accept bastards like you, you were never qualified to begin with, were you?”
Ethan added with a contemptible laugh.
“If it were revealed that your biological mother was captured by the Allied Empire, which follows Chaos Space, wouldn’t it be you tied to the square and stoned to death—not some fallen Saint?”
Chloe’s green eyes grew cold and distant.
To her, family was an eternal shackle and a band of plunderers.

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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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