Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 22

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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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Chapter 22
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Imperial Palace Underground Prison.
Count Seiton’s hands trembled uncontrollably as they gripped the cold iron bars, consumed by rage and terror he could not suppress.
‘Treason? Me?’
Count Seiton screamed inwardly, as though coughing up blood.
‘I cannot die like this! I won’t meet the same wretched end as my sister, as my nephews and nieces!’
Decades ago, he had a beautiful sister who married into the Caesar Grand Duke House.
His sister had held a grand wedding with the Previous Grand Duke and given birth to three radiant golden-haired children who bore her striking resemblance.
His sister and the three children, who had inherited that luminous golden hair, lived in happiness.
Though the Caesar Family’s prestige, accumulated over a thousand years, was gradually crumbling and their fortunes were declining.
Yet his sister always smiled as though content.
But that peace did not last long.
Soon after, his sister and the entire Grand Duke’s household were brutally murdered.
“Ha, haha…!”
Count Seiton burst into wild laughter.
“Do you think I’ll die so pathetically in a place like this?”
He would not surrender so easily.
Surely, if he endured just a little longer in this prison, the Collateral Branch Alliance would produce the means to rescue him.
“Count Seiton.”
Then, from beyond the darkness of the cell, a low voice called out to him.
Who was this?
A man cloaked in a deep robe stood motionless beyond the iron bars—though when he had approached, Count Seiton could not say.
Count Seiton had detected no presence until the man stood directly before him.
Now that he thought about it, something was odd.
When had the guards and gatekeepers who watched this sector vanished without a trace?
“They have shown you special mercy.”
The robed man carried out his task without giving Count Seiton time to react.
Clang—!
A silver-edged blade, its edge gleaming blue-white, slipped through the gap in the bars and fell at the Count’s feet.
“Die with honor, Count. Take your own life.”
Count Seiton understood.
‘These treacherous bastards! Damn them all!’
The Collateral Branch Alliance, in whom he had placed such faith.
Those cowardly wretches…
Before their own involvement could be exposed, they meant to silence Count Seiton first, severing him like a tail!
“I will not die like this!”
“Then I have been ordered to end it cleanly, even if blood must be spilled.”
“Wh, what….”
“So do not debase yourself. Cut your throat with honor.”
As the man reached for his sword hilt, the Count stepped back.
Was the Seiton Family, with centuries of history behind it, truly about to crumble like this?
“Please, I beg you! Get me out of here at once! If you release me, I… I have a foolproof method to completely eliminate that monster, Decklin Caesar!”
The robed man, who had been about to draw his blade, froze.
Behind the concealed face, a faint glimmer of interest seemed to flicker.
“Do you know what power the Seiton Family’s sacred relic possesses?”
Detecting the other’s wavering resolve, Count Seiton’s voice grew even more desperate.
“It is a power that reveals the most fatal weakness of any target.”
A bitter smile twisted at the corners of Count Seiton’s lips.
“Don’t you wish to know the weakness of that arrogant Decklin Caesar?”
At those words, the robed man’s reaction became unmistakably pronounced.
“Where is this great relic of the Seiton Family?”
“I can tell you where the object is hidden, but only the head of the family can ever wield it.”
Though the robe obscured his expression, he likely wore an air of annoyance and irritation.
‘How dare this insignificant assassin of unknown origin disrespect me, a Count?’
Scorching fury surged within, yet survival took precedence now.
“Release me from here at once!”
The Count glared at the man with commanding authority, his lips trembling as blood beaded upon them.
“Once the Seiton relic is placed in my hands, I shall gladly expose that bastard’s most vulnerable depths and tear them to shreds.”
* * *
Clang.
The heavy prison door swung open.
Count Seiton escaped the dungeon unscathed.
He immediately raced toward the secret location where he had hidden his family’s sacred relic.
How fortunate that he had withdrawn the family’s sacred relic in advance, prepared for the worst possibility that the rebellion might fail.
“Huff, huff…”
The destination he reached after driving his horse frantically was an old mansion hidden in the Capital Outskirts.
Since he had purchased the estate under an assumed identity, there was no immediate risk of discovery.
Count Seiton hastily entered the Secret Chamber.
There, a golden urn sat waiting—a vessel holding still water.
‘Did you truly think I would perish so pathetically? How naive!’
This was the sacred relic of the Seiton Family.
The Water of Truth—it reflected upon its surface every fatal weakness of any target.
Yet this formidable power demanded a price: the lifespan of its inscribed user.
Count Seiton, in particular, was not a perfectly ‘compatible’ inscribed user for this relic.
Thus, the relic would devour his remaining years far more ravenously in exchange for revealing the truth.
He had intended to preserve it as his final, absolute refuge, yet circumstances had driven him to this extremity.
‘I shall escape this crisis by any means and sever the neck of that bastard, Decklin Caesar!’
Even if half—no, more than half—of his remaining lifespan were consumed, he had to confirm it with his own eyes immediately.
That alone was Count Seiton’s path to survival.
“Decklin Caesar’s weakness! Show it to me right now!”
In that moment, strange colors began to overlay the still water’s surface.
Finally, the wavering ripples stilled, and a single image crystallized perfectly.
Count Seiton stared through the water’s surface, his mind momentarily blank.
A familiar form pierced through the haze of his fragmented memories.
“…Impossible.”
Even with his eyes wide open, he couldn’t believe it.
Decklin’s weakness was merely this?
“So, what did you see?”
A flinch.
At the voice from behind him, Count Seiton spun around.
A man in robes awaited his response.
“It’s quite something….”
Count Seiton’s lips curved into a crooked smile.
Sacred relics never reflect falsehoods.
So I can destroy Decklin Caesar!
“How utterly trivial. The weakness that shakes that bastard is merely…!”
In that instant, the man slowly pulled back his hood.
As jet-black hair and eyes crimson as fresh blood emerged from the darkness, the Count’s facial muscles, moments before flushed with elation, twisted grotesquely.
“I’ve always wondered what my weakness was myself. Thanks to you, I’ve learned it quite easily.”
“Decklin Caesar—you, you bastard, how did you—!”
Count Seiton’s jaw trembled violently from the shock.
He had never imagined it. The man’s voice within the robes had been completely different!
Only now did Count Seiton notice the sacred relic in Decklin’s hand.
A low-grade relic that distorted one’s voice.
‘I’ve been played by such crude deception!’
He instinctively twisted his body to flee, but it was already too late.
A cold blade gleamed, and its terrifyingly sharp arc carved cruelly across the back of his knees.
“Krraaaagh!”
A horrific scream tore through the narrow basement.
He collapsed with a desperate cry, his legs drenched in hot blood.
His brow contorted in agony as he gazed up at Decklin, who looked down at him with a languid expression.
‘This damned bastard… lured me here to see his weakness!’
“D-Decklin! You’re young and ignorant. The power the old Emperor grants may taste sweet now, but you’ll be discarded just as mercilessly!”
“….”
“Just like your father and my sister! Just like your brothers! You too will eventually be cast aside and torn to pieces!”
He couldn’t die like this.
“You stupid hunting dog, the one you should be biting isn’t me!”
Count Seiton shouted desperately, trying to shake Decklin in any way possible.
“Decklin! Who brutally slaughtered my sister and nephews! Who turned the thousand-year Caesar Grand Duke House into a sea of blood! If you have any sense, judge wisely!”
It was around the moment when Decklin Caesar felt as though his throat was being torn apart.
After staring down at Count Seiton, who was thrashing about and cursing vehemently, Decklin finally opened his mouth with an air of boredom.
“Enough.”

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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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