Don’t Look for the Resurrected Villainess - Chapter 187
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 187
Jigol, who had been listening to Tristan’s explanation, quickly added his words.
[But she was kind!]
[She was like a mother to Mori and Jigol.]
Nadab, who spoke after Jigol, glanced at my knee. His gaze was directed precisely at my knee, toward Mori who was curled up in a ball.
[She played the parental role even better than I did, so I was always grateful.]
Parental role, really? Could it be that she’s naturally a caretaker?
As I was suppressing the anxiety rising within me, Minte spoke indifferently.
[Now that she’s become a Dura’han, she won’t complain about knee pain anymore.]
“Oh, that’s right! Now I won’t need to pluck her gray hairs either!”
Palides also giggled and chimed in agreement.
I, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, felt my anxiety deepen even more and asked carefully.
“…Is Soana an old person?”
I was curious about what the selection process for these knights had been like. How could they possibly gather such a diverse group of non-overlapping knights?
“She’s not old, but she was getting older.”
Hearing Palides’ explanation made me think that the former captain must have been quite a harsh person.
Not only did he lure an innocent, unknowing child, but he also made use of someone who was growing old?
[Soana would be hurt if she heard that.]
[Kyuu!]
Ganic, who was being held in the Young Lizardman’s arms, scolded Palides in a dignified voice.
Then, when the Young Lizardman picked up his shell and shook it up and down, Ganic slipped into the shell to maintain his center of gravity.
Seeing how familiar he was with playing along, they must have played like this in the separate space dimension. His paternal love in throwing himself into being a toy was amazing.
I was watching Ganic and the Young Lizardman play with curious eyes when Samuel, who had been standing apart, quietly approached.
“Could you spare me a moment?”
“Hm?”
“I think we need to check the route to Beladia.”
Once we take in Soana here, there will be one Dura’han left, so we should confirm the route so we can depart for Beladia.
I glanced at the Dura’han who were busy chattering among themselves and put Mori, who had been on my knee, down on the ground.
“Let’s do that.”
[A-are you two going to be alone?]
At those words, I stopped mid-rise and froze awkwardly. Mori’s voice asking urgently was so loud that the Dura’han, who had been busy talking among themselves, stopped their conversation and looked this way.
Standing somewhat embarrassed under their gazes, I nodded to Mori for now.
“Nothing will happen.”
Mori stared up at me intently. Mori didn’t say anything more, but just from those moist eyes, I could tell what he was thinking.
…Come to think of it, this child said he remembers everything.
The things other Dura’han can’t remember. Those terrible deaths.
I bent down and gently stroked Mori’s head with my fingertip.
“I don’t lie. Nothing will happen.”
After speaking firmly, I turned around. Samuel, who had been watching this scene from a little distance away, glanced at Mori.
Then he soon withdrew his gaze with an indifferent face. I felt no emotion whatsoever from that attitude.
The place Samuel led me to for a comfortable conversation was inside his tent.
“It’s noisy outside.”
He added like an excuse and coughed lightly. Certainly, as Samuel said, outside was noisy with the chatter of all kinds of animals.
While Samuel would hear it all as animal sounds, to me they were all speech, so it was better to have the space separated like this.
I didn’t respond and checked the map Samuel had laid out. The large map showed the Trebi Mountains, Beladia Valley, the Roam Estate, and other locations.
As I was carefully examining those locations with my eyes, Samuel, who had been quietly standing beside me, suddenly spoke.
“About that snake from earlier.”
“Mori?”
“Does he know who I am?”
I only moved my eyes to look at Samuel. Samuel’s gaze remained on the map. However, he didn’t seem to be particularly focused on the map.
After a brief silence, I replied in a nonchalant tone.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Everything.”
“He must be wary of me then.”
“Would it be just wariness?”
I chuckled and muttered as I picked up a pen that was lying nearby. With so many place names, it seemed it would be easier to see if I marked them with a pen.
“I don’t know where the remaining one might be, but let’s prioritize the shortest route first…”
“I have something I’m curious about, but I think you won’t tell me even if I ask.”
The hand that was about to move the pen hesitated. Samuel, who met my gaze, spoke with a calm face.
“I’m curious about the past.”
“The past?”
“Yes. How I treated you. What kind of gaze I looked at you with. Things like that.”
Hearing the explanation made me feel somewhat ambiguous. The moment I heard Samuel’s words, the last conversation between the past Samuel and the captain came to mind, making it even more so.
I tilted my head with a sour expression and muttered as if talking to myself.
“Didn’t you roughly remember it?”
“My memories are fragmentary.”
Well, unlike the other Dura’han, Samuel would have gone through complete reincarnation. He became human like me. So his memories couldn’t be intact like the Dura’han’s.
Unlike the Dura’han’s memories that would become complete over time, his memories would probably remain like a spider web full of holes even later.
But what reason is there to remember that? What Samuel needs to remember is only the duty given to him.
Guiding me to Beladia, that’s exactly it.
“You’re curious about useless things.”
What use would there be in remembering past emotions?
“If I had memories… wouldn’t I become more useful?”
“Have you already forgotten how the past ended, Sir?”
Actually, all I knew was the dream I had before. I didn’t know how the Dura’han fell to Samuel’s sword, or what the final scene was that Mori remembered and was horrified by.
The only fact I knew was that all those past emotions didn’t need to be remembered and reflected upon.
“The first knight betrayed the master he served. There’s no need to know a betrayer’s memories, and knowing them would probably be a hindrance.”
At my cynical response, Samuel pressed his lips together in a straight line.
“I have no intention of becoming a translator, so give up. Let alone about the past?”
My goodness, you want to ask the Dura’han about that out of curiosity?
I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. If Mori heard this, he would immediately transform into a Dura’han and charge at Samuel saying he’d cut his throat.
No, given his gentle nature, he might instead burst into tears and have a fit. This seemed much more likely.
If such a situation arose, I would probably take Mori’s side. I don’t particularly… have a hobby of making children cry.
“Aren’t you curious? Why I… went that far in the past?”
The expression “went that far” sounded a bit ridiculous. What he did was too terrible to be expressed in such brief words.
How terrible it was could be understood without hearing anyone’s testimony, simply by objectively listing the events that occurred.
“I’m not curious at all. The object of that obsession wasn’t me, was it?”
This time Samuel remained properly silent. And he didn’t bring up any more topics related to that.
It was an uncomfortable but welcome silence.
* * *
The Empress awoke from deep sleep.
However, just in case, Heinrih frequently sent the Imperial Physician to the Empress’s Palace. Fortunately, all the reports that came back were opinions that it was fine to be relieved.
However, after waking from sleep, the Empress was said to spend more time sitting blankly in the garden.
Heinrih initially assumed this was because she felt stuffy from lying down for too long.
‘Now that I see it, I can tell for certain that wasn’t the reason.’
Heinrih, who had stopped at a little distance, looked at the Empress visible in the distance.
The Empress was sitting at an outdoor table, not even touching the teacup placed in front of her, just endlessly gazing at the rose bushes blooming in the garden.
Her profile, visible at an angle, carried a faint loneliness and melancholy, emotions that were hard to see from the Empress who didn’t easily lose her composure.
Heinrih, who had hesitated for a moment, calmly moved his steps.
Hearing the sound of Heinrih approaching, the Empress glanced back briefly.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Thanks to you, I’m much better. You’ve worked hard taking care of this mother while being so busy.”
“You look tired.”
“Do I?”
The Empress gave a faint smile. It was a smile so precarious it seemed ready to fade at any moment.
“…They said you would have dreamed while you were sleeping.”
This was information Anelli had shared before leaving the capital. While passing along various materials from Roam, she had casually mentioned that the Empress, who had been attacked by a monster, would likely have had long dreams.
She said that after awakening from such dreams, one might feel a sense of loss or fatigue.
At Heinrih’s words, the Empress’s expression changed subtly.
“A dream.”
“If necessary, I’ll call the priests to request healing. Divine power should purify and clear your energy.”
At his carefully offered words, the Empress smiled faintly.
“I’m fine.”
“Still, to shake off any lingering afterimages…”
“I don’t want to shake them off.”
At that moment, Heinrih hesitated.
“I want to feel this lingering sensation a little longer.”
The Empress’s gaze turned to the rose flowers again. The deep-colored petals curved upward in elegant lines as if they might burst into flames at any moment.
“It was a dream. It must have been a dream…”
The Empress’s murmur, like talking to herself, was filled with regret and bitterness.
He couldn’t dare ask what kind of dream she had experienced. He felt that if he made her recall those memories, something terrible might happen.
However, despite Heinrih’s careful words, the Empress was already deeply immersed in her past dream.
“If it was such a dream, it would have been fine not to wake up from it.”
“Mother.”
At Heinrih’s stern call, the Empress let out a bitter laugh.
“Even if you don’t call me so sternly, this mother won’t confuse the reality she faces.”
Watching her reaction, Heinrih could guess one thing if nothing else.
The setting of the Empress’s dream was certainly not the Imperial Palace.
“Monsters are truly frightening things. To bewitch people so easily.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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