Not A Regressor - Chapter 199

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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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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 199
Satiated Hypocrisy and Hungry Virtue (3)
“So you are… Demian Salvatore.”
Isabella gazed at Demian as he emerged from behind Paulo, offering a gentle smile.
Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, she continued speaking with a natural demeanor, as if nothing were amiss.
“It is an honor to meet you. I have heard many heroic tales of Justice’s Sword.”
She lifted the hem of her dress slightly and bowed with elegant grace.
A natural movement that radiated noble refinement.
It was far too graceful to warrant the vicious epithet of “The Witch.”
“Ha.”
Demian stifled a bitter laugh, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Isabella.
“Have you deceived people with such shameless audacity all this time?”
“It seems there has been some misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? You dare call it a misunderstanding?”
Demian’s expression twisted with fury.
“Can you continue spouting such lies even before the father who gave you life?”
He glanced sideways at Paulo standing beside him and took a step back.
Paulo nodded and stepped forward.
“We have already secured all the evidence.”
“Evidence? Father, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Isabella tilted her head with shameless innocence.
“Look at this and tell me you still don’t understand.”
Paulo withdrew a remote control from his pocket, his lips curling into a bitter smile.
As he pressed the button, light erupted from the projector, and an image materialized on the wall.
-Screeeech!
-Shrieeeek!
The footage showed Isabella, wreathed in crimson energy, slaughtering thousands upon thousands of monsters in vivid, unmistakable detail.
“….”
Isabella’s eyes grew cold as she watched the video.
Now she understood who was responsible for the monster catastrophe that had occurred in San Fruttuoso.
Isabella clenched her fists, trembling slightly, and glared at Paulo.
“…Was it your doing, Father?”
“Hmm? I don’t quite follow.”
Paulo shrugged his shoulders with shameless nonchalance, shaking his head.
That shamelessly indifferent expression bore a striking resemblance to Isabella’s own.
“All I know is that our princess, once called ‘the Saint of Rome,’ is not an Awakener of Aquarius, but rather an Awakener of Leech—one who drinks the blood of humans.”
“….”
Isabella bit her lip firmly.
No matter how one looked at the footage of herself, she bore no resemblance to an Awakener bearing the stigma of Aquarius.
“And we have also caught the tail you attached to Demian.”
Paulo gestured to Demian, who nodded and dragged someone forward.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
An elderly man with gray hair, dressed in a butler’s uniform soaked with blood.
Roberto was being held in Demian’s grip, writhing against his captor.
Through the tears in his butler’s uniform, the luminous scars of the Leech constellation gleamed.
Demian removed the gag that had been silencing Roberto’s mouth.
“Gasp!”
“Do you know this woman?”
“…Never seen her before.”
Roberto shook his head with an impassive expression.
“Is that so?”
When Demian’s cold, gleaming eyes reached toward the sword at his waist.
“That’s right. I’m not an Awakener of the Scales constellation—I’m an Awakener of the Leech constellation.”
“Y-you, Isabella!”
As Isabella nodded in confirmation, Roberto stared at her with an expression of shock.
Victory’s light flickered in Paulo’s eyes.
“But what does that prove?”
“…What does it prove?”
“Look at the footage. What connection is there between me not being an Awakener of the Scales constellation and being a witch? Are you trying to say that killing monsters to protect people was wrong?”
Isabella asked with her back straight and an unwavering confidence.
Paulo’s eyes narrowed.
“An Awakener bearing the Leech constellation’s scars must periodically drink human blood. What else would you call that but a witch?”
“Ha, do you think we’re vampires from some movie? The blood packs my father spilled on the floor just now are more than enough for us to live on.”
In truth, she had never killed anyone to feed on their blood.
Even during the time when she couldn’t control her bloodlust, it was the same.
There were times she had attacked people and drunk their blood, but she had never drained them to death.
“If needing another person’s blood to survive makes someone a witch, then leukemia patients would be witches too.”
In reality, if one dug deeper, Leech constellation Awakeners had inherent bloodlust within their scars themselves, making the situation different.
But she cleverly omitted any mention of the bloodlust impulse and continued her counterargument.
“….”
Paulo narrowed his brow, glaring at Isabella.
Her unwavering confidence was so absolute that even he found himself thinking, ‘Perhaps that’s true?’
‘But.’
This place was not a trial—it was a stage of judgment.
He had prepared something, anticipating she would respond this way.
“The evidence is not limited to just this footage.”
Paulo snapped his fingers lightly.
People draped in luxury goods walked out in a rush.
They were the heads of the cadet branches of the Colgrand Family whom Isabella had personally subdued after seizing control of the family.
“This is a report that a certain amount of blood disappears every month from the Protection Centers operated by that witch!”
“The Protection Centers themselves exist solely to siphon off blood!”
“Do you know what she might be doing? She could be capturing people and forcing them to have their blood extracted! No—she absolutely is!”
“If you’ve heard what the Black Star Society did in South Korea and Japan, then her actions are predictable, are they not?”
The family heads shouted with veins bulging from their necks.
Most of their accusations were nothing but malicious speculation rather than evidence.
But what did it matter now?
All that mattered to them was painting Isabella as an evil witch by any means necessary.
“…Ha.”
Surrounded by a torrent of hateful accusations, Isabella laughed hollowly.
‘From the start… they never intended to listen to a word I said.’
This was never a situation where logic could prevail.
“Don’t spout nonsense! Isabella has never done such a thing…!”
“Be quiet.”
Crack!
Demian swung his fist brutally, knocking Roberto unconscious.
“Even after this, can you still claim you are not a witch?”
“….”
Isabella clamped her mouth shut firmly.
What would it matter if she protested her innocence here?
‘I’ve been had.’
The moment Paulo discovered she was an Awakener of the Leech rank, her defeat was already sealed.
“When I first learned this truth, I was devastated. My beloved daughter—a vampire who kills people and drinks their blood….”
Paulo’s eyes began to glisten with moisture.
“How… how could you do this to your father? How could you deceive me like this?”
His voice grew increasingly impassioned.
Transparent tears streamed down Paulo’s cheeks.
“Say something! Anything!”
“…You want me to speak?”
Isabella laughed weakly.
“Do you actually intend to listen?”
“Ah. I truly… cannot believe it. Why would that kind child….”
Paulo’s face contorted in anguish.
“This is all my responsibility.”
He exhaled a deep sigh and turned his head toward Demian.
“Demian. Please… please save my corrupted daughter from evil.”
“Yes.”
Demian nodded and drew the sword from his waist.
Clang—
Scales hung like bells on either side of the cross-shaped guard, their clear chime ringing out.
“….”
Isabella gazed up at Paulo with sorrowful eyes.
‘How did it come to this?’
How had things spiraled so far beyond her control?
‘I only wanted… to go back.’
She recalled the photograph she kept hidden away in a drawer.
A photo of her father, mother, and Elder Sister smiling together.
She had only wanted to return to those early childhood days she could barely remember anymore—the happiest memories of her life.
Was that truly such a grave sin?
“Kill that witch!”
Had they grown confident in victory upon seeing Demian draw his blade?
The heads of the cadet branches, emboldened by the turn of events, pointed accusingly at Isabella and shouted.
“Kill her! Such an evil witch deserves death!”
“This filthy wretch!”
Condemnation echoed through the crumbling mansion.
The family heads who had lived in servile humiliation, stripped of all influence and power after Isabella seized control of the Colgrand Family, now vomited forth the hatred they had suppressed for so long.
“Kill that witch for us!” “Justice’s Sword will execute you!” “Bloodsucking whore!” “This evil witch!” “Do you know what we’ve become because of you?” “It’s all your fault!” “Demonic wretch!” “No blood, no tears!” “It’s all your karma!” “Make that witch pay for her sins!” “Ptooey! Disgusting wretch!” “Die!” “If only you’d never existed!” “Kill the witch!”
“It’s all because of you! Do you know what happened to us because of you?! It’s all your fault! You demon! You have no heart, no tears! It’s all your karma! Please make that witch pay for her sins! Ptooey! Disgusting woman! Die! If only you didn’t exist! Kill the witch!”
Beneath the umbrella of righteousness gathered a sordid malice directed at Isabella.
Like judges pronouncing sentence upon the guilty.
They cried out for the witch’s death.
“….”
Isabella sank to the ground, her strength abandoning her.
Clutching her chest, she curled her body into a ball.
‘It hurts.’
Was it the curse’s influence?
Or was it because the hope she had cherished so desperately shattered into pieces?
‘It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.’
Her chest throbbed as though being carved open by a sharp blade.
‘Kwon O-jin.’
Suddenly.
I wondered what he was doing right now.
He said he’d gone sightseeing downtown in Rome with Ha-eun yesterday—had he gone out early again today?
Given that he hadn’t come even as the ceiling collapsed, it was likely he wasn’t in the mansion.
‘That’s fortunate.’
At least to him, I didn’t want to be exposed as a vampire who survived by drinking human blood, as a filthy and wicked witch.
“It seems you have no further objections to raise.”
Step, step.
Demian slowly raised his blade.
Though still at considerable distance from Isabella, the distance posed no obstacle to him, who bore the Libra stigma that commanded ‘light’.
Whoooooosh!
The raised sword gleamed with brilliant light.
“I know you’ve cared for countless homeless and starving people, Isabella.”
There were dozens of Protection Centers operated by Isabella alone.
Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people must have been saved because of her.
“But.”
If that compassion hadn’t sprung from pure goodwill to help others, but instead from a hidden desire to drain their blood for yourself.
“Then you’re nothing but a filthy hypocrite.”
Like the blade of a guillotine falling.
The raised sword cleaved through the air.
Brilliant light erupted from the blade’s edge, shooting toward the cowering Isabella.
And then.
Kwaaaaaang!!
A deafening roar that shattered the eardrums.
With a terrifying impact, the mansion floor cracked open with a sickening sound.
“…Huh?”
There had definitely been an enormous explosion.
Yet she felt no impact on her body whatsoever.
Isabella, who had been huddled and cowering, slowly lifted her head.
Crackle, crackle!
Before her eyes stood a jet-black spear wreathed in azure lightning.
It was a spear she knew all too well.
“Damn it, stop spouting nonsense.”
Thud.
A young man descended from the collapsed rubble.
He stood before Isabella, shielding her.
“Hypocrisy is still kindness, you bastard. You’ve never given a single coin to help anyone, yet you strut around acting righteous.”
Hack, spit.
Kwon O-jin spat out thick phlegm and raised his middle finger toward Demian Salvatore.

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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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