Don’t Look for the Resurrected Villainess - Chapter 223
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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 223
Even in the darkness, her wide-open eyes were clearly visible.
Jeon, who had been staring blankly at Anelli frozen with a shocked expression, sat up.
Having reached a conclusion, he felt like sleep would finally come this time. As he moved to return to his tent, Anelli quickly snapped back to her senses and approached him.
Then she suddenly grabbed his arm.
“What?”
“Huh?”
“What did you just say?”
Perhaps because she was bathed in moonlight, Anelli’s face looked particularly white and pale.
“Why? Following you in death is my choice, isn’t it?”
Was it because he answered in such a nonchalant tone? Anelli frowned and immediately scolded him.
“Don’t joke around.”
“Do I look like I’m joking to you, Lady Anelli?”
Her hand gripping Jeon’s arm was filled with tension.
Through that, he could roughly guess how shocked Anelli was right now. Jeon gently patted the back of Anelli’s hand that was gripping his arm and asked again.
“Did it seem like I love Lady Anelli in a joking manner? Like child’s play?”
That would be a bit disappointing.
Jeon, who rolled words that wouldn’t reach her ears in his mouth, explained calmly.
“I thought about it again from Lady Anelli’s perspective, and reached my own conclusion.”
“…”
Anelli’s lips parted slightly. She seemed to find it absurd.
Jeon didn’t particularly want to convince her of his feelings. So he just smiled faintly.
Then Anelli flinched and averted her gaze.
“If anything happens, just…”
The voice coming from her lips was somewhat blunt yet awkward.
“Mourning me would be enough.”
“I refuse.”
When he rejected without any room for reconsideration, Anelli let go of his arm and called him with a sighing voice.
“Jeon.”
“I didn’t tell you not to die. Do as you please.”
“You said you’d follow me in death!”
“Yes.”
He nodded so casually that Anelli seemed at a loss for words instead.
Anelli, who had been looking at Jeon with incredulous eyes while moving her lips, pressed her forehead and let out a long sigh.
‘She’s exactly like a parent facing an immature child.’
Would she stand with that expression to scold if her child came back after causing trouble?
Jeon smiled faintly, finding his sudden impression amusing. Interpreting his smile somehow, Anelli made a completely stiff expression.
“Why would you do such a thing?”
“It’s my heart, I tell you. And I might not die. If nothing happens to Lady Anelli, I’ll live well and healthy too.”
What Jeon was saying followed the same logic as what Anelli had told him.
However, Anelli scolded him with a serious expression.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not something to say even as empty words. You have a place to return to. There are many people who care about you. They wouldn’t want your death either.”
My goodness, to think such fairy tale-like moral words would pop out of Anelli’s mouth!
Considering her usual appearance of viewing everything in the world pessimistically, her current demeanor was an astounding attitude change.
Anelli even seemed unaware that she had just uttered such exemplary remarks.
‘While declaring that all humans in the world are untrustworthy, she’s preaching to me about the importance of relationships.’
Jeon remained silent for a moment with a strange expression. It was because he suddenly realized that he himself had drawn out this small change in her.
Jeon, who had been blinking slowly, tilted his head back to look up at the black sky.
Anelli was a woman unaccustomed to exchanging emotions.
So she was trying to express one-sided love in the only way she knew.
“Then what about Lady Anelli’s death?”
But couldn’t he teach her? What it means to exchange emotions.
Was this thought his arrogance?
“I don’t wish for Lady Anelli’s death either.”
After gazing into the distance and calmly settling his heart, Jeon lowered his head.
“There are many who would mourn me. But there’s no one who would follow me in death. So it’s fine.”
“Such nonsense…”
“But Lady Anelli has one. Someone who would follow you in death.”
Me.
Unlike his voice that added it like a joke, there was no trace of laughter anywhere in Jeon’s expression. Anelli, who stood facing him, was the same.
Anelli, who had been listening to Jeon’s words as half-bluster until just before, now finally seemed to realize that Jeon was truly serious.
She looked at Jeon with a distorted expression and roughly swept up her bangs. She seemed to have completely forgotten that her hands were dirty from using her power earlier.
“Why would you go that far?”
She truly looked like she couldn’t understand.
Jeon raised his hand and gently brushed off the dirt from Anelli’s hair.
“Because it’s only me.”
Though he had tidied her bangs and side hair, Jeon didn’t immediately remove his hand. Instead, he gently stroked Anelli’s cheek with his fingertips.
Her cheek had grown cold from exposure to the night air.
“Because I’m the only ‘human’ you consider precious. Is it strange for me to also consider uniquely the one who regards me as a unique existence?”
Anelli, who had been hesitating, parted her lips as if to answer. But before she could say anything, Jeon lowered his head.
Though both their lips were cold, warmth began to flow as if it had been waiting the moment they touched.
Anelli’s eyelashes, which had trembled as if startled, soon settled down obediently. Instead of pushing him away, she embraced his neck.
The shared heat from where they touched gradually made them the same body temperature.
The surrounding noise that became unrealistically distant, the floating sensation, and the warmth that filled his embrace.
Jeon thought.
‘It feels like I’m dreaming.’
That every moment shared with Anelli was like a dream.
A dream he absolutely didn’t want to wake from.
* * *
“It wasn’t a dream after all.”
[Huh?]
At my unconscious muttering, Mori lifted her head and reacted.
I waved my hand at Mori, then secretly touched my lower lip.
“…”
I could feel the slightly swollen, taut skin. Without needing to touch it with my hand, I could tell just by lightly running my tongue over it.
Meeting eyes with Jeon while trying to patrol around the camp late at night wasn’t a dream.
‘Then that entire conversation was real too.’
While touching my lips, I slowly recalled last night’s conversation. The gist was just one thing.
‘Why follow me in death.’
Even thinking about it again, it’s utterly absurd. I thought he might be showing off, but his expression was too serious, so I got flustered.
‘Maybe having that conversation at night was the problem.’
Since we had such a conversation when emotions were abundant, maybe he impulsively got worked up and said those words…
“Do you have something to say?”
I got caught glaring at Jeon without realizing it. He had been far away organizing the camp but approached with a puzzled expression.
“No, never mind.”
I hurriedly turned around and strode to increase the distance between us.
It was because I hadn’t properly decided what face to show someone who said he’d follow me in death.
It was truly an unfamiliar feeling. At the time of my execution, there wasn’t a single person who would follow me in death, let alone mourn me.
As I wandered around pretending to survey the surroundings, I saw Samuel dismantling a tent.
‘Come to think of it, he was quite devoted too, wasn’t he?’
I quickly approached him.
“Samuel Bent.”
“Yes?”
Samuel only glanced at me while continuing his actions without stopping.
“You said you’ve regained all your memories?”
“That’s correct.”
“I have something I’m curious about.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you after the past captain died?”
The hands that had been rolling up the cloth stopped abruptly. Samuel looked at me with a stiffened face, then frowned and averted his gaze.
“I waited until my human lifespan was complete.”
“…Didn’t you want to follow the captain in death?”
“At that time, I had become God’s puppet, so I had to fulfill my predetermined lifespan. I only escaped being a puppet and received the Goddess’s guidance again after completing my predetermined lifespan.”
Samuel blamed God for his inability to follow his captain in death. However, I thought that even without such constraints, he probably wouldn’t have followed the captain in death anyway.
Right, death isn’t easy either. Jeon has the Mage Tower and his Teacher and brothers, so would he act recklessly?
I shook my head and turned to walk away.
「If nothing happens to Lady Anelli, I’ll live just fine too.」
Jeon’s voice, which had replied so matter-of-factly, came back to life in my memory. He probably had no idea, but to me, that was nothing short of a threat.
Because the rest achieved through the final authority could be interpreted as anything.
When I asked if rest meant death, Diearis had answered.
「That varies for each person. Those who wandered aimlessly will each obtain the rest they desire, and for someone, that might be death.」
The rest each person desires.
While it’s difficult to conclude that the rest I desire is death, I secretly thought it might be close to that.
With such a mindset, what I would gain at the end of this journey would ultimately be death.
But if I die…
“Lady Anelli, we’re finished organizing!”
I stared blankly at Jeon, who called out to me so nonchalantly, then forced myself to compose my expression. Even with my mind in turmoil, I could recognize a clear fact.
The fact that someone who knows I cherish him and responds to that feeling is right before my eyes.
“Shall we depart now?”
“We’ll arrive within today. Beyond that hill is Beladia Valley.”
Jeon and Samuel took turns speaking to me.
I nodded and firmly secured the pouch containing Mori to my waist. Then, out of habit, I ran my fingertips over the bracelet.
I could feel the rough texture from the cracks that had formed on the gem’s surface. Fortunately, it wasn’t completely broken, so it maintained its function.
Touching the bracelet containing the Dura’han made my heart feel much calmer.
“Let’s depart now.”
[F-finally, to think we can obtain rest, I can’t believe it…]
Mori, who had been stirring in the pouch, spoke as if talking to himself. I glanced down at the pouch, then raised my head to check where we needed to go.
Everything would end beyond there. The Dura’han would regain their heads and obtain the rest they desired.
‘And my rest too.’
I didn’t know if death was rest for me, but one thing was certain.
「Is it strange for me to uniquely cherish someone who uniquely cherishes me?」
I didn’t even want to imagine Jeon’s death.
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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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