Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 82

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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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#82.

His reaction seemed to stem from more than mere betrayal at having contacted the Chaos Forces.
Now that I had compelled him to speak truth through my dominion ability, there was no room for doubt.
‘Then why does he have that look in his eyes?’
Was it because I had confirmed that even death held no appeal for him?
‘He was never the sort to be swayed by others’ emotions anyway.’
His face remained utterly expressionless.
He had said nothing since that single word of acknowledgment.
For the first time, I felt frustrated by an emotion that defied quantification.
Octavia found herself adrift in confusion.
As one descended from a higher civilization, she often struggled to comprehend the worldviews of these people.
Yet that man—she sometimes sensed a kinship with him, as though they were cut from the same cloth.
The Apostle’s descendant was no different from a nihilist who had grasped that all things were illusion, destined ultimately to return to nothingness.
‘But now, it was as if I had expected something from him and been disappointed…’
For the first time, he who had always seemed inhuman appeared utterly ordinary.
What she felt was not familiarity, but distance—the distance felt by one who was anything but ordinary.
Octavia, who had been staring blankly at Kelsedny Admiral’s retreating form, snapped herself free from her reverie.
If I continued to stand here in a daze, I would die.
True to her origins in a world brought to ruin, she possessed sharp situational awareness.
Though Ewain’s provocation ability had drawn the Chaos entities toward the Central Area, remnants of gangs or other entities might yet linger.
The terrain itself—a steep Mountain Slope—would make escape difficult.
With that in mind, Octavia hurried to follow the Admiral.
“Ah.”
Whether from haste or confusion, her foot caught on a tree root and she stumbled.
She fell hard.
He, who would normally have caught her swiftly, did not even turn at the sound of her fall.
Octavia watched his indifferent form grow distant.
‘It hurts.’
A vivid, searing pain she had not felt in ages.
She gazed at the wound on her knee, then pushed herself to her feet.
“Come with me…”
Until now, it had mattered little what he thought of her.
If he despised her, so be it; if he favored her, she would simply distance herself.
She had always acted with shameless single-mindedness, thinking only of her purpose—yet now, the words asking him to stay with her would not come.
‘I said nothing wrong.’
It was merely the same blunt assertion she had been making all along.
Yet somehow, his sorrowful gaze lingered in her mind, kindling an unfamiliar guilt.
“Huh?”
Octavia felt a wave of dizziness, her vision flickering white.
It seemed I hadn’t fallen without reason after all.
‘Was it because I used the Apostle’s power on her?’
The Admiral hadn’t suppressed his aura either, and the Apostle’s force exerted upon a body devoid of mana seemed to have caused some effect.
Within Octavia’s pallid face, the violet light in her eyes dimmed to nothing.
Her weakened body tilted toward the sheer cliff face.
A sharp sound.
It was Kelsedny Admiral who caught her hand as she fell backward.
He gazed at her with an expression utterly devoid of emotion.
“…Admiral, please don’t leave me behind like this.”
Octavia, clinging to his grip, wore a pitiful expression.

The Admiral had long since seen through her feigned weakness and the sympathy it was designed to evoke—all part of her calculation.
Not merely knowledge, but wealth, lineage, and natural beauty besides.
She was an architect and strategist who wielded everything she possessed as a weapon.
‘Cunning and ruthless.’
Octavia hung suspended at a precarious angle—one he could release her from and watch her tumble into the abyss.
His black eyes, threaded with gold, narrowed slowly as he regarded her.
In the end, he could not let go.
Whether it was the desire to kill her, or an emotion of comparable intensity, he still could not discern.
His brow twitched faintly as he tried to determine whose will this was—his own or the Other Personality’s.
Contempt began to fill the hollow expanse of his face.
‘It was mine after all.’
This contempt was directed at himself—at his inability to abandon her.

***

“Gasp, gasp. Ugh….”
Ethan, fleeing like a man hunted by a vicious assassin, stumbled and gripped a wooden pillar.
Blood streamed continuously from his mouth, ears, and nose.
Ten minutes prior, the mysterious aircraft that had been firing mana rounds suddenly veered away and vanished elsewhere. Ethan had seized the opportunity to descend the Mountain with his gang.

“Th-the Royal Family is nearby.”

They sensed the lethal aura emanating from Kelsedny Admiral.
The fact that they could perceive his aura meant the Admiral wasn’t bothering to conceal it.
He had already cornered them with nowhere to escape.
The moment they faced the Admiral, their bodies froze as if they were staring into the piercing gaze of a predator.
The Admiral swept his hand from left to right.

“Ugh!”

Simultaneously, Ethan and his gang felt their insides twist violently, staggering backward as blood gushed from their mouths.

“Where is Octavia Ludovisi?”

Unable to speak through the agony, the Admiral’s outstretched right hand rose upward, then descended in a vertical arc.

“Cause of death: drowning.”

A golden cross pattern, connected to the previous motion, was etched into the empty air before vanishing.

“Kugh!”

As if a bomb had detonated inside them, two figures collapsed, blood pouring from their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
Soon, they made a gurgling sound as blood boiled within them before going limp.

‘He’s drowning them like that?’

Ethan’s face drained of color as he recalled the saying about pulmonary hemorrhage—not excessive bleeding, but drowning in one’s own blood.
Ethan and the teleportation user trembled in extreme terror.

“U-upstairs….”

The last remaining member attempted to flee using his teleportation ability, but was snatched up in an instant like a rabbit caught by a bird of prey.

“Kgh, kugh!”

The teleportation user suspended in mid-air let out agonized groans, his legs thrashing desperately.
The Admiral, gripping his throat with one hand, asked in a cold voice.

“What’s the maximum range of movement?”
“A-about three kilometers, sir….”
“Useless. Deploy it toward the Southwest Direction.”

After the two figures vanished from sight, Ethan, left alone, felt a measure of relief at the fact that he was still alive.
But that relief was short-lived.
“Ugh!”
My torn lungs were barely held together by telekinetic force, so I hadn’t died. Yet I was suffering from a pain so excruciating that immediate death would have been preferable.
“Damn it, I never thought I’d die like this.”
As I barely managed to move my body, I felt something catch beneath my feet and looked down.
It was the corpse of a Lower-Ranked Member who had gone missing before.
“What?”
With my concentration wavering even slightly meaning death, I had no time to concern myself with such things.
Ignoring it and taking another step, I spotted Chloe standing and looking in my direction.
“…Why are you here? Anyway, good timing. Do you have any mana recovery potions or healing elixirs? Hand them over.”
At my weakened voice, Chloe responded with an expressionless face.
“Why should I?”
“Do Clergy members choose who to help based on preference? Cough, cough… Isn’t that what your Temple says—save even your enemies, or something like that?”
Chloe lowered her gaze and fell silent for a moment before nodding.
“It means salvation through a different method.”
Unlike usual, Chloe was emanating a chilling aura.
Ethan’s gaze shifted toward the corpse with a start.
Only now did I retrieve the sense of wrongness I had set aside in a corner, dismissing it as indifference.
The two missing Lower-Ranked Members had disappeared after going to gather supplies with Chloe.

“They got caught stealing food from me and tried to run away, but fell off a Cliff. Unfortunately….”

At that moment, Chloe covered her face with both hands and bowed her head deeply.
No one stepped forward to search for the missing members.
Everyone secretly hoped those humans who only consumed supplies would simply vanish.
The other Lower-Ranked Members, her supposed comrades, merely watched and waited.
But if it were the Chloe who usually pretended to be virtuous, she would have at least made a show of searching.
Why did I believe she was merely ‘pretending’ to be good?
Could a child who trampled insects to death without hesitation truly be a virtuous human?
In my eyes, the corpse without a single intact part overlapped with the dead insect I had seen in childhood.
And when I reported the member’s disappearance, I belatedly recalled what I had glimpsed beneath Chloe’s hand-covered face.
At that moment, her lips were twisted into an expression that was neither laughter nor sorrow—something grotesquely warped.
‘That girl killed them.’
I had despised Chloe not only because she was an easy target for exploitation, but because her true nature contradicted her facade.
She looked at me with the same gaze she reserved for insects meant to be crushed.
It was no different now.
‘She has more than a few weaknesses, but it’s a different matter entirely if a member of the Clergy has committed murder.’
“You killed both of them, didn’t you? Unfortunately, even in this state, I’m not so weak as to die by your hands. Keep quiet, and I’ll give you some potions.”
“Ethan Arces. Do you have any intention of repenting for the sins you’ve committed all this time?”
Her tone was as if she were offering one final chance.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“I’ve decided to stop being a virtuous human. I’ve chosen judgment over mercy.”
Unable to endure the intensifying pain any longer, Ethan stepped forward and seized her by the collar.
“Stop spouting lies and hand it over now, you wretched vermin. Before I kill you.”
Chloe, far from showing fear as she once had, smiled coldly.
Ethan recalled the instinctive dread he had felt since childhood whenever he looked at Chloe.
‘I might become like that insect too.’
Just as I was about to throttle her as I always did, her lips, curved in an arc, slowly parted.
“Book of Judgment.”
Accompanied by her chilling voice, Ethan’s eyes widened as he sensed an ominous presence.

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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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