I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 70

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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 70
Who would have thought such a simple, primitive method would actually work? They always say the answer is close at hand.
And here it was—the most effective method of all.
“I absolutely cannot get caught.”
With her target shifted, Hyacinth glanced back out of the corner of her eye.
It was around then that the corner of her mouth lifted.
Whee—.
With a clear whistle, the space before my eyes came to a halt.
I didn’t understand what that meant, but it was really happening.
As if time itself had stopped.
The leaves that had been dancing in the wind froze mid-air.
Dazed by the alien sight, I blinked.
That was when—
“?!”
The leaves hanging suspended in empty air vanished in an instant.
“Wh—what?”
Panicked, I instinctively looked up at Hyacinth. Her complexion had gone noticeably pale.
Moments later.
Confirming that the surroundings had gone quiet, Hyacinth kicked off the ground and launched herself upward.
Only after precariously perching on the sloped roof of a building did she release a satisfied breath—whew!
“What was that just now? Something just… stopped…”
“Time Stop.”
“Time… stop?”
It was a spell I’d never heard of in my life.
Hyacinth grinned widely and poked my cheek repeatedly.
“Exactly what it sounds like—I paused time for a moment. It only lasts a few seconds, but that’s enough to shake someone off.”
“Can I learn to do it too?”
Just hearing about it made it sound impossibly difficult, but I desperately wanted to try learning it.
“Of course.”
“Then…?”
“You’d have to spend every single day with me going through hardship, pain, and endurance, driving yourself mad in the process.”
“…I’ll learn it later!”
I had the distinct feeling that if I agreed right now, something terrible would happen.
“Once we get back to Bancadium, should I schedule lessons right away? Let’s keep it secret from Young Lady and the Duke. They’d never let us hear the end of it if they found out.”
“Is it because I’m learning magic?”
“No? I meant because they’d think I’m sneaking away with the Pink Dust little by little.”
“?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Completely baffled, I tilted my head.
But that wasn’t important right now anyway. There was something else on my mind.
“What if the Duke and Hyacinth find out we’re here…?”
“It’s fine. That won’t happen.”
Hyacinth spoke with absolute certainty.
“They don’t even know that Bancadium has the evidence yet.”
“Oh!”
That’s right!
I’d forgotten it for a moment, too caught up in the thought of being discovered.
“Right now, only we’re aware of it.”
“So you kept running to lure them away? To keep the Duke and Hyacinth from being found out?”
At my words, Hyacinth’s eyes widened in surprise, and then her expression softened with emotion.
“You’re the first person who’s understood my intentions so plainly. Even the Duke and Young Lady just dismissed everything I said, convinced a shady person like me couldn’t be trusted…”
“But what do we do now? We can’t go back.”
“Well, about that…”
Hyacinth lowered her head carefully.
Then she began to whisper very quietly—
“We’ll have to figure it out from here on.”
“…”
“Honestly, I have no idea right now.”
…Now I understand why the Duke and Hyacinth don’t trust her.
I shot the utterly unreliable mage a sidelong glance and turned my head away.
“Wow…”
From up here, the view was easily a hundred times wider than what I’d seen in the paintings.
Because of the lights scattered throughout, the landscape spread out before us was beautifully illuminated despite the late hour.
Then, that moment—
“…!”
A chill ran down my spine, and I whipped my gaze around the surroundings.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, you don’t feel it? Right now?”
“Huh? Feel what?”
Hyacinth looked around with a puzzled expression.
Just like before, it seemed only I could sense it this time too.
‘What is this?’
Why could I feel something even a mage couldn’t?
Determined to find the source, I hurried to scan the nearby area.
Shriek—!
“!”
Startled, I immediately fixed my gaze on one location. Too distant to see clearly, but—
“…A red light?”
Even in the darkness, a vivid glow flickered before my eyes. I narrowed my gaze.
The red light was precisely at the center of the Imperial Palace.
It was moving toward the Banquet Hall, where people gathered.
* * *
‘Sending Veronika ahead was the right call.’
While everyone else was moving about in a frenzy,
Rodrigo’s mood had become thoroughly foul. Just as he’d anticipated, the unease that had been merely irritating at first had now seized him completely by the ankles.
It was like standing before something filthy—a feeling so dirty and vexing it was worse than seeing an insect, his nerves unwittingly on edge.
He’d felt something like this before, he was certain of it.
Rifling through his memories, Rodrigo quickly slipped into the gap between buildings.
The smell of smoke drifted in with the night breeze, assaulting his senses.
Likely from the building that had just exploded.
‘There’s been a problem with Hyacinth.’
He could roughly picture what had happened. He’d even considered heading straight there, but—
‘That would only make things more dangerous.’
That man wouldn’t have blown up a building without reason. It was most likely a deliberate move to draw all attention to himself.
Strategically speaking, it had been the right choice. Thanks to it, despite reaching near the Main Palace, he saw almost no knights.
They’d all gone in that direction.
“Tch.”
If he’d known this would happen, he would have brought the little one along. Rodrigo’s thoughts naturally drifted to a child barely reaching his knee.
Of all places, she was next to that mage running wild in the Imperial Palace. What if she picked up something unsavory from this?
Just as useless a thought crossed his mind—
Rodrigo, who had been surveying the surroundings, came to an abrupt halt.
A white snake entered his field of vision through the grass. And it was quite large.
‘Why would something like that be in the Imperial Palace?’
It went without saying—the Imperial Palace had strict security.
Something that looked obviously suspicious was wandering openly through the Imperial Garden. And no knights had stopped it during its advance to the center?
A foul smell was already rising.
Moreover, this strange toxin.
A vicious aura that defied description gradually seeped into his skin.
As if trying to intoxicate him.
“…”
Of course, he suppressed it easily with Dragon Power.
Yet Rodrigo’s gaze remained fixed on one thing.
The size was abnormally large for a pet.
Those crimson pupils slitted lengthwise, and a gemstone gleaming upon its brow.
‘Could it be a Demonic Beast?’
The thought arose unbidden, but Rodrigo was not quick to confirm it.
Demonic Beasts were now creatures of legend alone—remnants of evil sealed away when the Empire was founded.
Rodrigo himself had only ever read about them in books.
Yet no matter how he looked at it, this was no ordinary animal.
‘It’s quite possible that what I’ve been sensing all this time comes from that thing.’
Very likely, indeed.
But if that were the case, the problem became far graver.
If that truly was a Demonic Beast, then the Imperial knights were deliberately overlooking it.
Which meant—
The Emperor himself knew.
Rodrigo’s eyes gleamed with purpose as he watched. The snake was already approaching the Main Palace.
Moments later.
His eyes narrowed with thought.
‘That will do.’
A good plan had occurred to him.

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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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