Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 34

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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 34
* * *
A pitch-black night.
“Your Excellency, please spare me!”
Terrible screams echoed through the forest.
“Well, you should have done better when given the chance.”
A hand clad in black leather gloves gently pressed down on the shoulder of the kneeling man.
Lord Ardan had come to the Capital to meet with Decklin Caesar.
He had intended to secure a budget increase under the pretext of increased yields.
But somehow, things had come to this.
“Truly, these insect-like creatures never stop crawling out.”
The man beneath the moonlight was hauntingly beautiful. Each time Decklin Caesar smiled with his eyes narrowed, the mole beneath his eye became strikingly vivid.
Yet the blade that had severed Lord Ardan’s Achilles tendon also gleamed sharply in the moonlight as it passed.
“Y-Your Excellency… I am different from those insect-like things. P-please spare me….”
The lord desperately pleaded for his life. But Decklin Caesar gazed down at him coldly.
“The previous generation left behind plenty of insect eggs, yet why must I be the one to dispose of them? Shouldn’t the one who bore them take responsibility?”
“Y-Your Excellency, I will take responsibility for everything I’ve done! Please, please… *cough*!”
It all ended in an instant.
The scent of blood permeated the Black Forest.
A moment later.
Decklin Caesar leisurely emerged from the Black Forest.
“No one ever comes here, which is quite nice. Always so quiet. Wouldn’t you say?”
Decklin Caesar wiped the blood from his cheek with his fingertips as he looked at the approaching Aide.
The Aide had already prepared a towel for Decklin Caesar.
“Please wipe yourself clean, Your Excellency.”
“The previous generation really did leave behind nothing but trash. That’s why I’m suffering like this. The previous generation in heaven should acknowledge my efforts.”
Decklin Caesar smiled faintly.
“Don’t you think so?”
“…It will surely be acknowledged sufficiently.”
Few knew of Decklin Caesar’s cruel nature.
Only Aide Ronan and Decklin Caesar’s direct Knight Order—those who had spent long years with him.
“I hear that Miss Freena uncovered this matter.”
Decklin Caesar’s gaze turned beyond the forest, toward deeper darkness.
This was also the place where he had a fateful encounter with Freena. Perhaps that’s why.
Even though he had just finished disposing of one insect, it seemed quite romantic somehow.
“I heard that Your Excellency first made a job offer to Miss Freena.”
The Aide glanced at Decklin Caesar.
“…We haven’t signed a contract yet, but what will you do?”
Decklin Caesar did not answer for a moment.
The purity of her divine power was high, and it seemed her mind worked quite well too. In every way, she was quite a useful resource, wasn’t she?
Yet something continued to nag at me. The fact that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what bothered me only made it worse.
“It’s fortunate that you’re quite skilled at purifying sacred relics. I actually have a task that needs doing.”
There was a particularly special sacred relic that had been procured not long ago.
It was a sacred relic contaminated by magical corruption, making its purification rather troublesome….
The timing was perfect.
Decklin Caesar’s lips curved upward on one side, slowly.
It was certainly a smile, yet his eyes didn’t follow suit—cold and unsmiling.
* * *
‘You said we’d draft the contract today, didn’t you?’
Early in the morning, I left my home. I had to go to Caesar Grand Duke’s Residence, which lay slightly farther than the Imperial Palace.
‘Sigh. By the way, that Aide is going to die by Decklin Caesar’s hand soon?’
My objective was to enter the Grand Duke’s Secret Archives.
Extremely sensitive confidential information was stored there, and only those who had earned the Grand Duke’s trust could enter.
It was practically a sacred sanctuary that no one could carelessly set foot in.
Among the purifiers, only a select few could ever enter that place.
‘That’s why I tried to make the best impression possible on the Aide….’
Who else would relay word of my abilities to Decklin Caesar but his direct subordinate, the Aide?
My goal was to enter the Grand Duke’s Secret Archives within a month, before the tracking stone auction began.
‘But what if madness strikes before then?’
My plans would fall apart.
‘…If I get tangled up with the wrong people, I might end up having my own funeral held.’
While I mulled over various concerns, I had already arrived at Caesar Grand Duke’s Residence.
This time, I was able to enter without difficulty.
“His Grace is waiting for you, Freena.”
…Decklin Caesar is waiting for me?
Surely he’s not personally overseeing the contract?
‘Are all purifier contracts like this normally?’
There was no way for me to know.
Thus, I was guided up to the Office where Decklin Caesar was staying.
The door was slightly ajar.
A voice came from within.
“Your Grace. A regular report has arrived from Morteba. Day four of the expedition—all is well, they say.”
Decklin Caesar briefly glanced up.
“It’s proceeding as scheduled.”
“Yes. The next report is scheduled for tomorrow at dawn.”
Inside, Decklin Caesar was receiving a report from Ronan.
It seemed I would need to wait a moment.
‘…By the way, Morteba, is it?’
Isn’t that a forbidden zone?
It was a land where magical corruption spread extensively, and due to its high concentration, it had been sealed off and was now managed by the Religious Order.
“Don’t just stand there. Come inside, Freena.”
He already knew I was here.
I felt caught eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. Freena stepped inside awkwardly.
“There was no need to wait outside. You could have come in.”
“It seemed like you were discussing something important.”
Ronan stopped his report beside Decklin Caesar and looked at her.
A strange sensation washed over Freena.
…How could he appear so normal when madness would eventually consume him?
A future where Decklin Caesar would kill him awaited.
“Read this, Freena.”
Decklin Caesar handed Freena a document. It was a contract.
Freena glanced at him before sitting on the sofa.
‘Wow.’
[Monthly salary is set at five hundred gold, to be paid each month.]
No matter how many times I looked at it, the amount was insane.
‘…Do I have to bury my bones here?’
While Freena reviewed the documents, Decklin Caesar lit a cigarette.
Now that I thought about it, he used to smoke at the beginning of our relationship too.
Back then, Freena had coughed loudly and scolded him for it.
“Hugho, do you really have to smoke that? I don’t like it when you do that in front of me….”
After that, he never smoked again.
‘Insane.’
Now that I thought about it, after he stopped smoking, Decklin Caesar’s habit of breaking things increased noticeably.
Of course it did.
It was a stabilizer!
All this time, Decklin Caesar had been meeting me without his stabilizer.
‘Crazy bastard! Why didn’t you smoke?!’
That’s why he smashed our door! Of course I had it repaired before leaving, but I was still exasperated.
There were more than a few times when my arms and ankles throbbed from where Hugho had grabbed me.
‘If I’d been careless, my bones could have been broken by his hands….’
I felt like laughing bitterly.
How much did he underestimate me?
He thought he could treat me however he wanted, which is why he didn’t even smoke his stabilizer.
‘Calm down. After all, only I know about this now.’
I couldn’t afford to lose my temper here.
Freena signed the contract.
“A wise decision, Freena.”
Was it truly a good one?
“Do your best from now on.”
Decklin Caesar, who had seemed displeased the entire time, smiled.
“I’m truly honored to work by your side, sir. It feels like a dream.”
Freena laughed, her words hollow and insincere.
Neither of them spoke with genuine conviction.
“As it happens, I was just in need of you, Miss Freena. Truly.”
…Me? Needed?
“Could you purify this for me?”
Decklin Caesar held out a crystal-shaped sacred object, its interior brimming with malevolent energy.
“In truth, this particular sacred object is quite difficult to purify. It’s sensitive—it demands only the highest purity of purification.”
Decklin Caesar’s expression, tinged with amusement, seemed to conceal something. His words stirred enough doubt that I questioned whether purification was even appropriate.
“I’ll give it a try, sir.”
Yet Freena had no intention of refusing.
She needed his approval to access the Grand Duke’s Secret Archives by any means necessary.
…Her very life depended on it.
“Oh, Miss Freena.”
Decklin Caesar began as if something had just occurred to him.
“Whatever you do, never attempt to use that sacred object.”
His smile was deeply ominous.
“Especially not you.”
…What kind of sacred object could it possibly be?

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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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