I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 56
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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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#Episode 56
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
A massive flame burst above my head. No, was it a flash of light?
In the chaos that seemed like divine punishment had descended, I tried to get up to rescue Nero first.
But I couldn’t stand properly due to the earthquake and fell down again.
“Who dares interfere with my execution?!”
“You’re the one who doesn’t seem to know whose land this belongs to.”
“Some northern backwater…!”
I struggled to raise my gaze while blocking the dirt pouring down.
The speed was too fast to catch with my eyes, but I could see three figures clashing violently.
White and black light were emanating powerful force.
‘It’s similar to what I saw before.’
That strange power the Duke had used in the training ground.
I couldn’t understand what was happening at all. I had a hunch that one of them was the Duke, but I couldn’t even guess who the other two were.
Anyway, I didn’t know what was going on, so I decided to just grab Nero and escape quickly.
“Come here, Nero! Good boy?!”
“Kyaa!”
As the flash flickered, I finally caught sight of Nero hiding in the shadows.
The little guy seemed quite startled by the sudden disaster.
His back fur was standing on end as he glared fiercely at the sky where explosions were bursting.
“You were really scared, weren’t you? It’s okay. Come here, mommy will hold you.”
“Kyaaaaaao!”
“I’m mommy, okay? Don’t struggle… Ugh!!”
The struggling creature’s claws scratched the back of my hand.
Nero’s thrashing movements suddenly stopped completely.
‘The color of his eyes…’
Was I mistaken? The light must have been distorted by the flash that burst in the sky.
Nero looked back and forth between my face and my deeply scratched hand, then stiffened his body in shock.
Like a human, he had eyes that seemed about to cry as if it had been a mistake.
I forcibly pulled the stiffly frozen creature into my arms.
I could feel his muscles rigid with tension.
“But what do I do now?”
By God’s grace, I had succeeded in finding the runaway Nero.
But the scene before my eyes was hell itself.
Fortunately, the cause seemed to be human disaster rather than natural disaster, but from my small and precious perspective, either way was equally catastrophic.
Just as I was worrying whether I could escape when it was hard enough to stand properly.
“Duck down, Eli!!”
“…!”
It was the Duke’s voice.
I hugged Nero and reflexively crouched down.
The figure presumed to be the Duke unleashed tremendous power. Like the sun crashing down to earth, suffocating pressure crushed my lungs.
Crash!
An ear-splitting roar shook the earth’s axis, and afterward came breathless silence.
After a long time, when even the sense of time passing became faint, heavy warmth settled on my shoulders.
“Why are you in such a place?”
“…Your Grace.”
The Duke, who had taken off his cloak to cover me, firmly fastened the front that was letting in cold wind.
I hadn’t noticed earlier because I was shocked by the sight I’d never seen before, but snow had been falling at some point.
Just as I was about to ask what had happened, the Duke quickly stood up and blocked my front.
Someone was walking out step by step from beneath the collapsed cliff.
“Well, what a terrible state.”
“…”
“Even so, they were priests dispatched under His Holiness’s orders, yet you turned them into rags.”
“Then you shouldn’t have caused a disturbance in my territory.”
It seemed there was one more intruder besides the two who had been fighting the Duke.
I didn’t know how things were unfolding, but since the Grand Duke—who wielded sword aura like a natural disaster—was on my side, at least for now, I wasn’t particularly worried.
I hugged the squirming Nero even tighter and peeked my head out from behind the Duke.
‘Is that person the leader of the intruders?’
Someone tall with an intimidating atmosphere stood on the opposite side of the dark mountain path.
I squinted my eyes to get a better look at him.
And—
“Oh my, who do we have here? It’s been a long time, Elisia.”
Something unbelievable happened.
Really, this was truly unbelievable.
How could this be possible.
“The reunion I was expecting wasn’t quite like this… but well, what does it matter. Let me greet you again.”
The man who smiled wickedly swung the scythe he was holding through the air.
Then, with a blinding light, the weapon disappeared without a trace.
“I am Brother Vincent, Director of the Inquisition belonging to the Inquisition Holy See, dispatched from the Holy City Arzenbach. But I hope you’ll call me comfortably as you always have.”
The face revealed by the flash was that of a priest I knew well—one who had been excessively timid but faithful and humane.
* * *
Edwin felt as if he were dreaming the entire time.
Sitting side by side in the same carriage, when she casually threw out a few words about current affairs, he would respond to her with the same comfortable feeling.
It resembled some day from the distant past that had become so old the memory was fading, yet he desperately clung to it, not wanting to forget…
But the peaceful atmosphere didn’t last long.
‘So they’re determined to cross the mountain after all.’
They couldn’t be unaware whose territory this Lombard was, yet the holy power they were ostentatiously radiating pulled him back to reality.
It reminded him of original sin.
That he had no right to sit beside her and laugh like this, that someone like him could never dare to do such a thing.
“It seems we must part ways here. I remembered something I left at the military camp.”
“Pardon? Couldn’t you just send a servant for something like that?”
“It’s too important a matter to entrust to others.”
He ordered the guards following the carriage to have a physician examine the Duchess’s wrist when they arrived at the castle, then mounted his horse.
Throughout Lombard territory, there were hidden paths not marked on maps.
Even without going through the route blocked by the landslide, there were many ways to reach where the unwelcome guests were deliberately causing trouble.
The fastest route was to go via Western Caldric Village and climb up along the mountain range.
“Your Grace, are you really sure it’s alright to go alone?”
“Having you there would rather be a hindrance.”
Edwin, who had arrived at Caldric Gate, let his tired horse rest briefly.
The holy power that the Inquisition Holy See bastards were ostentatiously radiating was agitating the demons beyond the Northern Wall.
The atmosphere wavered unstably like gunpowder that would explode at the slightest shock.
“Deploy elite knights to the Northern Wall in preparation for any contingency.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Also, if the battle intensifies, the village could be damaged, so completely control the roads. Especially, absolutely do not permit civilian access.”
Edwin knew well the temperament of the Inquisitors from the Holy City Arzenbach.
Some cadets had encountered them and gotten entangled, while others had managed to pass by without incident.
However, there had never been a single time when encountering them ended well.
“My lord!”
Just then, a knight who had been guarding the watchtower at the Western Gate came running urgently.
A messenger hawk was circling in the sky.
“This is urgent news from the castle. The Duchess has suddenly disappeared!”
“…What?”
“It appears the Duchess went out through the servants’ back gate to look for a runaway cat. However, even after searching the entire inner castle walls, Madam could not be found….”
Edwin snatched the small scroll his subordinate had brought.
Written in Bertol’s handwriting, though brief, the conclusion was clear.
‘Elisia is in danger.’
Nero coming and going from the castle was a frequent occurrence.
Though his body was that of a cat, two souls coexisted within him, so there were times when the demon Morcatus’s consciousness would take control of Nero’s body.
His destination was this very place where the Inquisitors were causing chaos—the Caldric Mountain Range.
Coincidentally, it was the hometown where she and Nero had grown up in the past.
Someone who knew the hidden geography of this place better than anyone—
“My lord, are you leaving already?!”
“This is enough.”
The horse that had been grazing looked up briefly.
Though it seemed displeased at not having rested sufficiently, it immediately corrected its posture and prepared to run at its master’s command.
It could truly be called one of the finest horses in Northern Lombard.
Edwin quickly mounted his horse and spurred it forward.
‘Please, let it not be too late.’
Thick veins bulged on the back of his hand gripping the reins.
Though it was only the primordial being that had lost its left arm, Edwin’s ears were still haunted by the sound of empty sleeves fluttering in the wind.
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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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