I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 20

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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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Episode 20
‘Something’s off.’
Standing motionless in his cell, Rodrigo sensed it within moments.
The jailer’s account had been plausible enough, after all. He’d confirmed that Veronica had eliminated the other minions, and that one of them had sent a pigeon to Jervan.
If that were true, Jervan would certainly have ordered more minions released—instructing closer surveillance now that Bankadiom had begun to move.
The proposal to meet in the Storehouse and adjust their plans midway had held some merit as well.
But.
‘That bastard wouldn’t.’
He wouldn’t move directly against Bankadiom, not really.
Jervan himself likely knew better than anyone how severely he was outmatched in raw power.
Even if he positioned every reinforcement with men loyal to him, he’d struggle against Bankadiom unless he scraped together every operative from the Magic Tower itself.
The man was obsessively, infuriatingly protective of his own neck—he wouldn’t gamble needlessly.
Of that, Rodrigo was certain.
Which meant only one possibility remained.
If he couldn’t touch Bankadiom or Sys, who held storehouse authority—
‘It has to be the kid.’
The answer crystallized with ugly clarity.
And conversely, if separating the kid from him was meant to happen this way, it might not have been Sys’s idea at all.
It could be the minions’ cheap scheming.
“……Damn.”
His mood soured thoroughly.
Rodrigo’s fists clenched with brutal force.
Golden energy seeped from his body, roiling with savage intensity.
But only for a moment.
He swallowed the surge of anger and let the energy subside.
He wanted to burn this place to ash right now,
‘Your Grace!’
but doing so would endanger the kid.
Rodrigo raked his fingers roughly through his hair, then seized the iron bars with his free hand.
Screeeech—
With an unpleasant shriek, the bars bent like tissue paper. They couldn’t withstand a dragon’s strength.
Rodrigo stepped outside with ease and pulled open the heavy external door.
“What—what is this?!”
“What the—!”
The guards stationed there cried out in alarm. But Rodrigo had no interest in playing with them right now.
“Nngh! Ugh!”
“Nnngh!”
The guards’ mouths sealed shut; their eyes widened to the size of lamps within seconds.
Then, gasping and choking,
they crumpled.
In truth, Bankadiom rarely resorted to direct violence himself. That was Veronica’s preference—she was the sadist who enjoyed using her hands.
Without considerable rage, Rodrigo despised getting even a drop of blood on his own skin.
He found it filthy.
‘As for the others—’
there was no need to worry about them.
By now, Veronica and Sys would have noticed that things had gone wrong.
Then they’d execute the final contingency they’d prepared in advance.
A simple plan, really: meet at the appointed time.
But to make it work,
‘I need to find the kid.’
That boy was absolutely essential.
* * *
The shadow of death had always been at my side.
‘Dammit! This method works—the gem came out! Why, why won’t he cry……!’
‘Perhaps we could try a different approach, darling? I think the child’s grown accustomed to it—that’s why he won’t cry anymore.’
A gem that only comes when there is pain, or suffering.
Count Amelot had driven me relentlessly until he got what he wanted.
The rest of my family did the same.
My Stepmother. My Half-sister.
And even their closest associates, who needed the money.
Thinking back now, I couldn’t fathom how I’d endured it.
I should have died from starvation, yet I didn’t.
I should have lost consciousness from the pain, yet I never did.
Death’s shadow hovered just beyond my next breath, and I watched it every single day.
Because of that, the threat of harm from anyone else felt almost trivial.
“Haagh, hah!”
Even now.
‘I can’t—can’t get caught……!’
Breath came ragged to my throat. My legs trembled violently; it had been ages since I’d run like this with clenched teeth.
But I couldn’t stop.
The moment I slowed, I’d be captured.
And if that happened—
‘It will hurt someone else.’
Even if I were caught, I wouldn’t die immediately.
‘If they’d meant to threaten His Grace with me,’
they would’ve taken us both together.
But they separated us deliberately—
‘I’m the target.’
If they wanted my life, they’d have killed me when they dragged me into the darkness.
That they didn’t means I’m still needed.
And His Grace is tied to that reason.
‘Because I’m connected to Bankadiom.’
They might be trying to extract information through me, or something else.
Or maybe they mean to use me as leverage……
‘Absolutely not!’
I gritted my teeth hard.
I could endure starvation and pain, but I couldn’t bear to bring harm to someone else.
If that happened, perhaps they’d turn me into him—into the Count——
“Stop there, damn you!”
“……!”
My drowning mind was yanked back to the surface in an instant.
I drew a sharp breath and glanced behind me.
A guard with a lit Twin-Wick Lamp was pursuing me furiously.
Wait—
‘Am I really this fast?’
I’d always been sluggish when it came to movement.
Physical activity had never been natural to me.
Besides, he was an adult and I was a child.
There should have been a gap in stamina—I should’ve been caught long ago.
But the answer became clear the moment I lowered my gaze.
“……!”
A sudden flash of light caught my eye.
The Whistle I’d hung around my neck earlier was shining brightly—the one His Grace said to use when needed.
‘Could it be……’
Because of this?
I wasn’t certain, but it was a reasonable hypothesis for now.
I swallowed hard.
‘He said to blow it.’
I quickly pulled out the Whistle and brought it to my lips.
Then I blew—
“?”
Whoooosh—
“??”
Again.
“Whoooosh!”
I blew with all my strength,
“Why, why—!”
but no sound came out!
‘The book said it would make a sound!’
It wasn’t fiction—I’d read it in an encyclopedia. It couldn’t possibly be wrong. But there was no time to investigate this mystery.
‘At least I—I blew it.’
I needed to find another way, just in case.
‘If he’s chasing me like this,’
his other partners must have mobilized too.
The other three might be hunted, or perhaps already fighting for their lives.
In that case,
‘I need to concentrate their attention in one place.’
That was part of the original plan.
While Veronica’s explosion drew their eyes, we’d escape in the chaos.
But how?
I’d slipped safely out the back of the building and now found myself in an outdoor corridor.
As I passed through the exercise yard where prisoners walked, something caught my eye—a lever of some kind.
‘That’s……!’

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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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