Hiding the Fact That We Are Dating From the Amnesiac Villain - Chapter 42

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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 42
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The woman’s grip around Decklin Caesar’s neck—once as vital as a lifeline—was weakening, her strength draining away.
He pulled her back and thighs more firmly into his embrace, supporting her as she threatened to slip into the void.
“You’ll be fine, Freena.”
He walked effortlessly through the flesh-tearing torrent of mana, whispering low against her unconscious ear.
A terrible storm raged from all sides, tearing at the earth with frenzied violence.
Yet within the radius where Decklin Caesar’s footsteps fell, there was an eerie, unnatural calm.
“If I intended to let you die here, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing you this far.”
….
Even as consciousness slipped away, Freena’s delicate shoulders trembled faintly.
Decklin Caesar pressed that fragile tremor firmly beneath his large palm.
“Do you truly distrust me so much?”
He carefully brushed the scattered hair from her pallid cheek, gazing down at her.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever lied to you.”
The vicious mana never touched Freena.
It was drawn in, endlessly absorbed into Decklin Caesar’s body.
He found this destructive space profoundly comfortable.
It was nothing less than a sanctuary and holy ground to him.
It had been so ever since the moment he contracted with the demon god and seized that terrible power.
Then it happened.
The heavy air around him suddenly tore with razor-sharp intensity.
Something hurtled toward Decklin Caesar from the darkness like a thunderbolt.
Decklin Caesar narrowed his eyes with profound irritation.
Did the Morteba Priests still not know how to surrender?
Yet the sharp movement didn’t feel like a Priest’s.
Then who on earth was it?
…It was a very familiar presence.
Surely not.
Screech—!
In the instant Decklin Caesar reflexively twisted his body to shield Freena cradled in his arms.
A sharply honed blade of light grazed his abdomen with chilling precision.
“…Behold. A living blasphemy treads upon sacred ground with its own feet.”
The moment Decklin Caesar’s crimson eyes met the blazing gaze piercing through the darkness, they widened ever so slightly.
“…The merciful land of the divine has been defiled. By my pride, I shall sever your entrails and offer them as a holy sacrifice.”
* * *
‘…Ah.’
Consciousness returned.
“Cough, cough.”
A harsh cough erupted from deep within my lungs. The fact that I had survived, that I was still alive, felt absurdly improbable.
They say one wrong man can ruin your entire life.
Freena was living proof of that.
Even for a Purifier like me, the demonic energy was suffocating.
I could vividly feel my holy power draining away like water through a bottomless vessel.
‘…But how am I still alive?’
Where was this place?
I forced my aching body upright and felt around cautiously.
Soon I discovered premium purification stones scattered in a perfect circle around where I’d been lying.
‘Could Decklin Caesar have left these behind?’
When I lifted my gaze, I saw deep gouges in the earth beyond the purification stone boundary.
As if a sharp blade had pierced through repeatedly.
…Where on earth had Decklin Caesar gone?
“Gasp! Look over there! Someone’s here!”
“It looks like a woman?!”
“What?! Why is there a woman in a place like this?!”
At the voices behind me, I spun around in alarm.
There were other people in the Forbidden Zone besides me and Decklin Caesar?
Could they be Morteba Priests…?
“Miss, are you alright?!”
…Huh?
I blinked. Contrary to my expectations, they were not Morteba Priests.
…They were wearing the armor of Caesar’s Knight Order.
Knights!
‘They found me this easily?’
On one hand, I felt relieved.
‘…They look more intact than I expected?’
Unlike Decklin Caesar’s concerns, their minds didn’t appear to be corrupted by demonic energy.
Though dense demonic energy seemed to emanate from their bodies, that was likely from lingering in this land for so long.
‘…They’re safe. I’m truly grateful.’
I tried to stand up from where I was.
In that instant, the world spun—dizziness washed over me.
“Whoa, miss!”
“Careful now!”
Just because I stumbled once, they made an enormous fuss over it.
Weren’t Caesar’s Knights supposed to be cold and sharply honed like ice?
Yet these men seemed more like warm-hearted, meddlesome neighbors.
“You… are elite Knights, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Ah, I’m a Purifier brought here by the Commander. I’m here to help you all…”
“A Purifier?”
“…Could it be… the legendary Priest with the Holy Stigma?”
…A Priest with the Holy Stigma.
That was an archaic title that only appeared in ancient historical texts from centuries past.
In that instant, the Knights who had been making a fuss fell into a silence as complete as death.
Their gazes fixed upon me began to gleam with an almost fanatical fervor.
…What is this?
“…Oh. The Divine has finally sent us the Priest with the Holy Stigma to save us forsaken ones.”
With reverent faces, they all prostrated themselves on the ground in unison, hands clasped in prayer.
…Isn’t this faith taking things too far?
For a simple prayer of joy at meeting a savior, something about it felt disturbingly uncanny and twisted.
“I… I came here to help you Knights. By the way, do you know where the others are?”
I suppressed the urge to back away and asked hesitantly.
I had heard that seven Knights had gone missing.
Yet before my eyes stood only three.
“The others?”
“Could the Priest with the Holy Stigma perhaps be referring to ‘that vicious wretch’?”
They began naturally elevating their speech toward me as if in worship.
Just as this eerie discomfort reached an unbearable peak.
“Hey! I’ve caught that insolent criminal who tried to escape!”
“Oh! Well done!”
In that moment, two figures clad in Caesar’s Knight armor emerged from the darkness.
They dragged someone along roughly, their neck and wrists bound.
…And that someone was none other than Decklin Caesar.
Through his disheveled black hair, crimson eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
‘Am I seeing things?’
I was bewildered by this situation.
“That criminal kept trying to slip away, but I finally caught him! Huh? But who is this lovely young lady?”
One of the Knights gripping Decklin’s shoulder with a strong hand blinked at me.
“You insolent fool! Mind your tongue! Do you not know who this person is?”
“…Who, who is she?”
“The Priest with the Holy Stigma!”
I felt like I was going mad.
Decklin’s gaze touched me, then fell away.
He must surely think this was ridiculous.
“Goodness! I never dreamed you were a Priest. I’ve committed a terrible sin.”
The situation was spiraling into absolute chaos.
They prostrated themselves before me as if I were some ancient Priest with the Holy Stigma.
Yet they failed to recognize their own lord and brought him here bound as a criminal.
‘This is probably….’
A single possibility flashed through my mind.
‘…These people, their minds are completely corrupted by magic.’
Just as Decklin Caesar had anticipated.
They appeared sound on the surface alone. Their rationality had already rotted away from within, leaving them trapped in hallucinations and madness.
“Ah! Now that I think about it, Priest, is this the one you’ve been desperately searching for?”
“Huh? The Priest was looking for this one?”
Decklin Caesar’s gaze, bound and forced to kneel before them, fell upon Freena.
Freena wanted nothing more than to collapse right then and there, clutching the back of her neck.

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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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