The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 142

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

142.
Evren rose slowly from his seat, his hand still trailing down Lillian’s neck.
“……Ah. You’ve come?”
Yet he had no intention whatsoever of releasing her from his embrace.
“You’re later than I expected. Seems you wandered quite a bit.”
Mockery and contempt seeped from his voice like poison.
How revolting. How pitiful it all was.
Meanwhile, Ren regarded the man who wore his own face with an expression utterly devoid of feeling.
The revulsion was mutual.
‘Do you really think you’re worthy of standing beside Lillian?’
It was the voice of the man who had mocked him on Tillard soil.
But Ren had no desire to dwell on such things. There was only one person who deserved his attention.
“Lillie.”
Tears glistened in Lillian’s eyes.
“Ren!”
……
A ringing sound echoed in Ren’s ears.
Making that woman cry?
……Why?
“Lillie. Close your eyes.”
His mouth curved upward, but the veins across the back of his hand stood out like rope.
He’d wondered what grand qualifications this man could possibly possess, speaking of such things…….
The old version of himself needed to be erased.
His vision bled crimson.
* * *
Lillian’s mind was reeling.
The alienation that came from seeing two identically-built people in one space, distinguished only by their bearing, was profound.
And the sheer force when such identical powers collided in a blink.
Everything was crumbling and vanishing……!
“Both of you, stop! Stop!”
Lillian pounded Evren’s shoulder with all her strength.
She tried to control both their Abilities at once, but it wouldn’t work.
Much less manifest that control through Butterfly!
‘Why—!?’
Wait.
Lillian grasped a staggering truth.
‘Because I’ve bonded with this one!’
A perfectly imprinted Ability User and Controller could only use their power for each other……!
‘So rather than calming them both at once—.’
This was a moment that demanded swift judgment.
Lillian gritted her teeth and forced a brake on Evren’s Ability with everything she had.
At the forced suppression from his Imprint Bond partner, Evren let out a low groan.
“Ugh.”
In that instant when Ren’s attack shattered Evren’s defense—
his eyes twisted, and he turned to look at Lillian.
As though he’d been wounded.
“……Lillian.”
Lillian seized the opening and rushed toward Ren, then desperately threw her arms around him.
“Lillie, step back.”
“Ren, no! You can’t attack!”
“I have to protect what needs protecting, Lil—.”
“I’ve bonded with that man!”
“……!”
The body Lillian held went rigid as stone.
He would understand.
If harm came to an Imprint Bond—
‘Both the Ability User and the Controller would be in danger!’
As had been said time and again, an S-Rank Ability User’s body could withstand shock.
But a Controller like Lillian?
She would simply collapse where she stood and go to meet the Creator God.
“Haa……!”
Ren ground his teeth.
“You filthy bastard.”
Lillian flinched.
She knew the words weren’t directed at her, yet the sharpness of his voice startled her nonetheless.
Ren rarely cursed in Lillian’s presence.
Whatever Baltazar blood ran through him, whatever ruthlessness defined his nature, his speech had always been measured.
Now he’d lost all restraint.
“Ha. And who exactly have you bonded with? How dare you?”
He was laughing, yet it wasn’t laughter at all.
“You’re a woman already promised to another in marriage…….”
After that, Lillian heard nothing more.
‘This is driving me mad.’
He’d annihilated sound itself.
What grand curse was he preparing that required silencing the entire space?
‘Hasn’t this happened before?’
Lillian clung to Ren and looked around. Inside, furniture and walls were steadily vanishing into what looked like a snowfield.
Screeeech…….
And outside, Distortions were spawning anew.
Evren’s focus on this situation had caused the temporary measures from before to collapse entirely.
At this rate, the lodging would be obliterated.
Never mind the lodging—the whole of Silverin could be wiped from existence.
“Ren, we have to leave! Now!”
“Lillie—.”
“Please!”
Ren’s face twisted, but at her desperate plea, he pulled her close around the waist.
As he leaped, a Rift opened to move through space.
Cradled in his arms as they moved toward the Rift, Lillian shouted over her shoulder.
“You too!”
To Evren, standing rooted as though nailed in place, staring after her.
“You have to—!”
What could she say? That he should leave?
‘But to where?’
……To a barren world with nothing at all?
With her arms wrapped around Ren’s neck, Lillian cried out.
“What will you do?”
Could you choose another path?
Something other than this—this killing fight between you?
Evren watched Lillian recede, his expression forlorn.
Then he gave a small shake of his head.
That was his answer.
After Ren’s Rift swallowed them, vision darkened as though two doors had closed.
* * *
Evren lifted his gaze toward the direction where Lillian had vanished, then slowly lowered his head.
He hadn’t been surprised that he would pursue them. He would have known her scent.
Evren laughed hollowly.
“……Even with my Imprint Bond, you won’t choose me.”
You never loved me that much.
So after returning to this world—
you never once thought to return to me…….
Jealousy and pain gnawed at his insides.
Lillian and he had managed only a week…….
Or rather, just three days of awkward, fragile happiness?
‘It will help if you touch me, Your Highness.’
Before that, they’d only wounded each other with cutting words and the crushing weight of war.
“Ha ha.”
Yet he had been blinded by the beauty of that brief time. Even if his eyes could open, he didn’t want them to.
So he had destroyed the world.
Wandered for centuries in Distortion, and finally…….
“Ha.”
He drew out the small pouch he’d kept pressed against his heart.
To confirm the ring that Lillian had made for him.
……
And upon reading the inscription inside, Evren covered his face with his hands.
‘Do I regret all of this?’
A faint resentment toward Lillian lingered.
Why did you give me such hope only to die, tormenting me like this?
‘When we meet again, will I hate you?’
What if, while his mind believed he loved her, his heart turned to hatred when they reunited?
That was what he feared most.
That he would come to hate her despite their Imprint Bond—that the hundreds of years lost in Distortion might end in hatred rather than love.
That’s why he hadn’t shown himself at Tillard Manor.
But then…….
Outside the Tower of Seclusion, he saw Lillian smiling.
‘Your Highness, I must have missed you so much.’
She was still beloved to him. Unbearably so.
“There’s no other way.”
You are too precious to me, and if we are truly bound—
coexistence with another version of myself was impossible.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————