I Cured the Mastermind and Failed to Run Away - Chapter 3

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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 3

When the man collapsed before her eyes, Lebelin’s startled body moved of its own accord.
But Lebelin, who had never so much as swung a sword, could not hope to catch a broad-shouldered man—one whose frame towered far above that of an ordinary man.
She clutched the falling Chedwin to her chest and lost her balance, tumbling backward with him.
“Oh! Oh no!”
—Bang!
The Balcony rang with a thunderous crash.
But since Chedwin had locked the door behind him as he entered, no one peered inside or came running.
“Ugh.”
Lebelin let out a small gasp of pain.
Whether it was instinct to save another or a flicker of consciousness just before the impact—thanks to Chedwin’s large hand cradling her head, she avoided striking the stone floor. His knuckles, however, bore the brunt instead.
The back of his hand scraped against the cold stone.
“Sir, Your Grace.”
She prodded and shook him, but he did not stir.
Had he lost consciousness? Was he asleep? There was no way to tell.
Lebelin struggled to push the weight of Chedwin’s body off her own and hauled herself up onto her elbows.
He seemed to be nothing but muscle; the oppressive weight pressing down on her had been considerable.
“What on earth is happening?”
Because Lebelin had caught him, Chedwin was spared from striking his face against the stone. His condition, however, was grave.
“Gasp, pant, hah, ugh.”
He clutched at his chest and lay sprawled across the stone floor, trembling violently.
“Your Grace? Are you all right?”
Chedwin was not in his right mind. One could tell at a glance.
His eyes, unfocused and glazed, stared into empty space, and he did not answer—as if deaf to her voice.
‘Contamination?’
This was strange.
Throughout the latter half of the original narrative, Chedwin had never shown signs of suffering or torment from Contamination.
So why now?
‘His mind shouldn’t be collapsing yet.’
She did not know the reason, but it was clear he needed help.
Yet this massive man could not be carried or lifted by her, so there was only one option.
“I’ll fetch someone for you.”
But whom should she call? She needed someone who would not find his condition suspicious and who would remain loyal.
‘I really hope the original story doesn’t unravel in some unexpected way.’
The moment Lebelin turned to leave, a sharp grip seized her wrist and pulled her back.
Her body lurched sideways.
“Don’t…… ugh, go.”
Chedwin, his face twisted in agony, muttered something unintelligible.
Though a cool breeze swept across the Balcony, the black hair above his forehead was soaked with cold sweat.
“Pardon?”
What was he trying to say?
Lebelin held her breath, concentrating on the shape of his lips.
“Don’t…… leave……”
His voice was faint and strained, the words barely distinguishable. She could not make out what he was saying at all.
‘Well, forget it.’
It would be better to fetch help than waste time trying to decipher the murmurings of a suffering patient.
“Just let go for now. I need to call someone… wait.”
The moment her fingers closed around Chedwin’s hand to pry his grip loose—
Lebelin’s body went rigid as a sensation beyond words crashed through her.
As if she had sunk into a cold, fathomless lake, the world fell silent.
Shards of chaos pierced her entire being, sharp and trembling.
Without being told, she knew this was a fragment of the agony Chedwin was enduring.
Her knees buckled the instant she realized it.
Every fiber of her body screamed to be pulled into him, as if he were draining away her very strength.
“Ugh.”
Lebelin’s body trembled with shock.
A strange sensation followed—her insides churning, her stomach lurching violently.
Dense Miasma pierced her entire body like thousands of needles. And the Purification power within Lebelin surged toward Chedwin.
Lebelin forced herself to wrench free, flinging his hand away as she staggered backward.
“Gasp—ugh.”
The moment their hands separated, the power flowing toward Chedwin ceased abruptly.
‘What… is this?’
This sensation—she’d felt it before, in Academy lessons.
Exactly like when she’d Purified a small, contaminated flower.
Of course, it was far more overwhelming than that experience, but the way she’d accepted the Miasma and channeled Purification was unmistakable.
Lebelin’s eyes wavered.
‘How am I… Purifying?’
Lebelin stared down at Chedwin, who lay gasping beneath her, bewilderment clouding her features.
A 10th-Grade Purifier cannot cleanse a person.
A Purifier’s rank is determined by the threshold of Miasma they can handle. A 10th-Grade Purifier’s limit is far too small—they cannot Purify a human being.
If a Purifier accepts Miasma beyond their limit, they themselves will die.
So how was this possible?
No—more than that.
Lebelin pressed a trembling hand to her head.
‘He said it was only “slightly contaminated,” didn’t he?’
That couldn’t be right. How could this state possibly qualify as only slightly contaminated?
‘How is he still alive like this?’
It was absurd. Of course she’d never Purified a person before, so she didn’t know all the details—but she knew enough to recognize this wasn’t the “slight” level at all.
His complexion had improved since earlier, yet his breathing remained shallow and uneven.
“……More.”
A faint murmur mixed with hot breath reached her ears. Chedwin’s heavy eyelids lifted as he mumbled softly, his gaze unfocused and searching.
His eyes drifted aimlessly, seeking her out.
He was still not himself.
‘And I’m hardly in a fit state either!’
Since her Academy graduation exam, she’d avoided Contamination.
This was the first time she’d ever Purified someone afflicted with Miasma. All her strength seemed drained away; her entire body felt heavy and sluggish, resistant to even the smallest movement.
“Your Grace, it seems both of us… both require some assistance right now.”
Lebelin spoke formally to Chedwin, though he likely couldn’t understand a word.
“Since I appear to be in somewhat better condition than you, I’ll go fetch someone for help.”
Whether he understood or not, Chedwin struggled to raise himself onto his elbows. He braced against the floor and slumped against the stone pillar behind him.
“Please, just… stay here a moment, if you’d be so kind……”
The moment he’d barely gotten upright, a large hand wrapped around Lebelin’s waist.
“Oh!”
Leaning against the pillar, Chedwin wrapped his arms around Lebelin’s waist and pulled her against him.
It happened in an instant.
Lebelin’s knees buckled without resistance, her unsteady stance giving way as her body tilted forward.
She pressed firmly against his shoulder to keep from falling, and warm breath brushed her side.
“……Ah.”
With Lebelin cradled against his chest, Chedwin nuzzled into her as if she were the very nectar of life itself.
“Ah!”
As their bodies pressed close, the sensation became immeasurably deeper—as though she were being swallowed into an abyssal darkness.
Her consciousness fractured and reformed repeatedly, her vision blurring at the edges.
A spreading numbness threatened to steal consciousness itself from her.
A fierce Purification force—her heart thundering like it might burst—surged violently toward Chedwin.
‘Am I… Purifying right now?’
Unmistakably so. Lebelin, a 10th-Grade Purifier, was cleansing Chedwin—however limited the extent.
‘Ah. There was a setting… that the Purification effect strengthens the closer their bodies are……’
She’d forgotten, but the original work was an R-rated reverse harem fantasy.
That’s why R-rated settings were hidden throughout the narrative!
‘I can’t breathe.’
It was unbearable.
Lebelin, who had learned primarily through theory and lacked practical experience, found herself swept along like a boat stripped of its sails before a towering wave of force.
“Your Grace… stop… I’ll… die… I’ll—”
Lebelin pushed against Chedwin, trembling violently. But he, equally out of his mind, only tightened his hold around her waist, drawing her flush against him with no space left between them.
“Please… just a little more.”
“Selfish bastard.”
I understand. Chedwin’s barely conscious, and he’s clinging to this contact because some instinct tells him it’s his only path to survival.
But when someone’s dying, there’s no such thing as “just a little longer.”
‘Wait.’
Lebelin, who’d been about to push Chedwin away, hesitated.
‘If I purify even a fraction of this man’s contamination, could that give my brother a chance to live?’
If I purify even a little and delay the moment his mind collapses?
If the original story shifts just slightly, couldn’t my brother survive? Couldn’t Father?
She pressed harder against Chedwin’s shoulder, her fingers—numb with cold—digging through his clothes.
Lebelin opened her clenched eyes and seized his hair, yanking his head back roughly.
His face, buried in her shoulder, suddenly came into view. Their eyes met.
The cloudiness in his unfocused pupils, so deeply darkened, made her skin crawl.
“God, really.”
Lebelin stopped pushing him away.
“Remember this debt you owe me today. Arent Etherion—I won’t let you die, do you hear me?”
But he wasn’t lucid enough to answer, so naturally, nothing came.
With trembling hands, Lebelin covered Chedwin’s eyelids. Mercifully, he didn’t resist.
‘In case he regains consciousness in the middle of this.’
She’d only meant to persuade him—never to become entangled with whatever darkness lurked beneath the original story.
‘He doesn’t need to know who I am. When trouble comes later, I can just say I know nothing.’
She hoped this flutter of wings, absent from the original plot, would keep her brother safe.
Lebelin didn’t resist the strength draining from her body—she released it slowly.
“Ugh.”
Chedwin must have felt something; the arm wrapped around her waist tightened.
“Hah—”
Drawing in a sharp breath, he pulled her back against him with desperate urgency, crushing her to his chest.
‘Dying—ugh—like dying.’
Tears welled from the pain; she could barely breathe.
If this was only a fraction of what Chedwin felt, she finally understood why he was losing his mind.
Her skin felt as if it were being flayed from her body.
Lebelin’s breathing grew ragged as she choked down the agony.
Time lost all meaning.
When she truly couldn’t breathe anymore, Lebelin shoved him away.
“Gasp—huff—gasp—”
Barely breaking free from his embrace, she drew in ragged breaths she’d been holding.
Chedwin’s hand had already dropped to the floor.
Leaning against the stone column, his unconscious face looked easier than before.
‘Did the purification work?’
She’d only extinguished the most urgent flames, not purified him completely.
But he’d passed through the moment of immediate death—that was enough.
She could do no more.
As Lebelin started to sink down, she stopped short.
‘Wait.’
Lebelin looked down at Chedwin sprawled out in disheveled unconsciousness, and at herself, trembling.
‘If anyone saw us like this right now?’
Alone together behind locked doors on the balcony—Chedwin disheveled, Lebelin gasping.
The very picture of misunderstanding.
Especially in a source text so saturated with adult content!
‘Absolutely not.’
Lebelin forced her unresponsive body to move, gripping the ground to pull herself up on shaking legs.
At her movement, Chedwin’s eyelids, which had fallen shut, slowly rose. His hazy blue eyes turned toward her.
‘Don’t look at me. Don’t write me into the original story.’
Lebelin spun around in alarm.
“…Wait, s-stop…”
A faint voice came from behind her, but Lebelin didn’t stop.
With each step, something rose in her throat.
‘Blood?’
She swallowed hard and dragged her trembling legs out of the balcony. Fortunately, it was tucked into a corner—no one was passing, no one saw her leave.
Sharp breaths escaped through her tightly pressed lips.
Her vision blurred; she couldn’t tell if she was walking or flying.
“Lebelin!”
That was when Arent’s voice rang out.
“I’ve been searching everywhere—where are you… Lebelin?!”
Arent came rushing around the corner, his footsteps heavy, but he stopped short at the sight of Lebelin, who looked as though she might collapse at any moment.
“What’s wrong? What happened? Hey?”
You fool. Do you have any idea what I just did to save your life? Don’t you dare die—live long, live a full life, and spend it repaying the debt you owe me.
“B… bro….”
The moment she opened her mouth to curse him, a metallic taste flooded her tongue, and blood began trickling from her lips.
She’d thought everything she’d been swallowing was saliva. It had been blood all along.
“Ah.”
Lebelin looked up at Arent, whose face had gone deathly pale.
“Don’t… do anything. Just… catch me….”
“Lebelin!”
Before she could finish, Lebelin collapsed into Arent’s arms and lost consciousness.

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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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