I Cured the Mastermind and Failed to Run Away - Chapter 28
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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 28
Chedwin looked at her as if to ask why she was bringing this up now.
“I go in first and clean things out roughly, then we send in additional knights afterward. Does that have something to do with Purification?”
Now that he mentioned it, the Belharque Knights had returned from the ceremonial parade without a single casualty.
Because Chedwin went in first! Alone! Into the Contaminated Zone to dispose of the Demonic Beasts!
Of course the other knights didn’t get injured or seriously tainted by Miasma as a result!
‘But what about Chedwin?’
The one sent in first to fight the Demonic Beasts alone?
‘Instead of having time to look after his subordinates, he should be looking after himself.’
It was absurd. Here he was, not even receiving proper Purification himself, his mind crumbling from corruption!
Revelin clicked her tongue softly and, after Purifying roughly a dozen knights only to a level that wasn’t dangerous, she rose to her feet.
“Is it done?”
Revelin nodded without answering.
The way Chedwin inspected each of his subordinates one by one was intensely serious.
He looked the most fine by far, but the truth was Chedwin was the one in the worst condition here.
“Good work.”
His face was carefully covered with a veil and his voice altered, so Chedwin didn’t even look at Revelin.
‘He must think I’m just an ordinary Purifier. Well, I’ve been working since morning and went into the Contaminated Zone and came back out, so I’m covered in dust.’
Fortunately, there was no sign of suspicion.
He left a brief, terse greeting and attended to his subordinates.
With her work finished, Revelin turned toward the entrance of the Barracks. She lifted the cloth at the entrance to leave, then stopped and looked back.
She’d kept her distance from him because he was the man who would end up killing her brother, but he was a strange man indeed.
Even while his mind was tainted and suffering, he’d dragged himself to the victory banquet and collapsed, and when a Contaminated Zone broke out in the Workshop that no one paid attention to, he was the first to rush there and entered alone.
When Sophia asked for help, he defied the Holy Temple’s rules and demanded that the door to the private prayer room be opened, clashed directly with the priests over it, and now he was tending to his subordinates.
None of it was for his own sake. What had Chedwin gained in this process?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Revelin lifted the cloth of the Barracks and looked outside. Everyone was busy; no one was paying attention to this place.
She turned her head back again to check inside the Barracks. The only ones inside were the disoriented knights and Chedwin.
Her deliberation was short.
Revelin lowered the cloth at the entrance of the Barracks.
“……I might be twisting my own life right now. No, that’s probably it.”
She murmured very quietly to herself, barely audible, then turned and walked toward Chedwin, who was checking the condition of his unconscious subordinates beside their beds.
Sensing her presence, Chedwin turned his head back.
“Is there still work to be done?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was short. Revelin reached out her hand toward Chedwin’s forehead.
Tap.
“What are you doing?”
Before her hand could even touch his forehead, his wrist was caught. But whether it was his forehead or wrist didn’t matter.
She was only trying to use this adult-rated setting where direct contact increased the Purification effect.
“What else?”
Revelin looked at her captured hand, then drew strength upward and poured it through.
Feeling the force of Purification, Chedwin’s face twisted. Just as she’d expected, his physical condition was far worse than that of the knights who’d lost consciousness.
“What—”
“Be still.”
He wasn’t the kind of man who would stay still even if told to.
To subdue the resisting, pushing Chedwin, Revelin pulled her strength up hard.
It was different from the strength she’d used when Purifying the tainted knights.
Before, she’d adapted to his Grade Seven rating and Purified moderately, but this time she didn’t hold back.
Even if a Grade Four Purifier like Revelin poured out all her strength, it wouldn’t be enough to Purify him completely.
Revelin lowered her voice and poured force into her hand.
“You know your subordinates’ physical condition but not your own? How can there be such an idiot?”
“What? I never asked you to Purify me—who do you think you are, doing whatever you—”
Chedwin tried to shake off Revelin’s hand.
‘Where do you think you’re running to!’
But Revelin didn’t let go of Chedwin. Instead, she took his hand and interlaced their fingers.
Sharp as fractured glass, the Miasma collided with the Purification force that Revelin breathed into him.
Right there inside Chedwin’s body.
“Ugh!”
Unaccustomed to Purification, the unfamiliar sensation drained the strength from Chedwin’s legs.
‘My condition’s gotten so much worse than it was at the victory banquet.’
After wandering through the Contaminated Zone like that, it was only natural.
Revelin’s arm, having exerted power continuously since morning, had begun to tremble slightly. But she couldn’t stop.
If not for Revelin, no one would be tending to this man now.
“Are you aware your body is in terrible condition?”
Revelin spoke in a deliberately flat, clipped tone, her voice stripped of emotion.
He raised his other hand to his face, breathing heavily.
“You said you entered first. That means you’ve been in the Contaminated Zone from beginning to end without pause.”
I thought only my brother was an idiot, but here was a foolish shadow player too.
As if venting her frustration on Arent through him, Revelin poured her power into Chedwin explosively.
The dense Miasma thrashed as if tearing through his skin. The sharp pain spreading across his entire body made Revelin’s brow furrow involuntarily.
How in the world was he entering the Contaminated Zone in this condition, fighting Demonic Beasts, enduring it every single day?
It was a miracle he hadn’t gone mad already.
“That—feeling—then—at that—clearly—gasp.”
Chedwin exhaled trembling breaths, his vivid eyes widening between his fingers. His gaze was fixated, as if trying to pierce through the veil covering his face.
‘My power isn’t enough.’
If she hadn’t Purified ten people just before, she could have calmed Chedwin’s condition substantially.
Revelin bit her lip. She didn’t know when another chance to Purify Chedwin like this would come again.
“Don’t forget. Remember this.”
Her voice deliberately lowered, unlike usual, Revelin lifted the veil just slightly at its lower edge.
“I hope you’ll protect your body properly.”
Because that’s how I’ll protect my brother.
Revelin lowered Chedwin’s hand covering his face, and the moment it fell away, she grasped his chin and pulled him down toward her.
“……!”
She turned her head and pressed their lips together.
Soft lips met. Following the Adult-rated Setting’s logic, power erupted violently, pushing out the Miasma that filled Chedwin’s body.
Their nose tips brushed. Between their joined lips, the soft flesh felt warm and yielding.
He drew in a sharp breath. Chedwin stared at Revelin with eyes burning hot.
Her face should have been hidden from his view, yet it felt as if their eyes had met.
And in that moment, Chedwin’s hands found her lower back, and he drew her firmly into his embrace.
Their bodies pressed close, the breath between them deepening in an instant.
Revelin swallowed her rapid, heated breaths and closed her eyes. In the quiet Barracks, the sound of breath drawn across dampened lips echoed.
Revelin’s power flowed completely into Chedwin, and their interlaced hands trembled faintly.
‘I can’t pass out here.’
Revelin opened the eyes she’d closed. Then she drew her head back, slowly parting their lips.
The lingering warmth stretched long before cutting off cleanly.
She poured everything out, leaving just enough strength to walk steadily back to the Holy Temple.
The savage pain of her body being torn apart vanished, and peace arrived in an instant. Unable to accept the sudden change, her stomach lurched.
She drew the veil back down and stepped away, whereupon the strength left Chedwin’s hands at her lower back.
If the Purifier doing the Purification felt this much reaction, the person being Purified must feel far more disoriented.
‘This Adult-rated Setting is absolutely insane.’
Simply by changing the method of contact, the Purification’s power had erupted violently, and she could feel Chedwin’s contamination level plummet in an instant.
“If you feel dizzy at all—”
She was about to tell him to sit down.
Thud!
Before she could finish speaking, his massive frame wavered, then suddenly toppled sideways with a heavy crash.
“Oh.”
With Revelin’s startled gasp, the Barracks fell silent. Chedwin had passed out with a noticeably improved complexion—the Purification had worked.
She’d anticipated him losing consciousness like before, but she hadn’t expected him to collapse so immediately.
A quick visual inspection showed no blood or visible injuries, fortunately.
In that case.
“…….”
Revelin rose quietly. Her legs trembled, but she steadied herself through her knees.
Leaving the Barracks behind, she stepped out with composed quietness. The sky had grown dim by now.
“Well, the weather’s quite nice!”
I should escape while the weather’s good! And so Revelin made her getaway with perfect composure.
A day passed.
“Lu! Lu saved us! My child, who got caught in the Contaminated Zone, secretly watched Lu performing Purification in the Warehouse!”
“Lu told us that Purifier rank has nothing to do with saving lives.”
“I have a feeling the Divine Purifier everyone’s been talking about might actually be Lu.”
“The Purifier Lu has helped so many people! She’s indispensable! I wish she’d come back! Lu!”
“She hid her face, came suddenly saying she’d work, and then disappeared quietly. Surely she was sent by the divine, wasn’t she?”
“Seeing how she always wore Priest’s Vestments, she must be from the Holy Temple! She really was sent by the divine!”
The next day.
Before the chaos could even settle, Revelin’s alias “Lu” had spread throughout the entire region. Along with the title Divine Purifier.
How did things come to this?
‘I specifically checked that no one was around when I went into the Warehouse to cleanse the Miasma!’
A child saw? Who was it—who?
‘The rumor about the Divine Purifier is one I started myself for Sophia’s sake!’
Revelin had spread the rumor, and now she’d become the subject of it. She rolled across the bed in silent anguish.
And then.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, Miss.”
Chedwin had come.
Red scratches marked his cheek.
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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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