The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 164

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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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164.
Lillian’s eyes snapped shut by reflex.
‘What do I do.’
It was already too late.
Now came death, along with unbearable pain.
“Miss!”
“Lillian!?”
She’d only just returned to everyone’s side…….
Her body crumpled to the ground, and the end was coming, it couldn’t—
“……What?”
What is this. Why am I fine?
Lillian rose with Marguerite’s support.
“Miss, are you all right!?”
“Um, um—that’s strange?”
Just a light touch here really hurt before.
But Lillian felt no pain—rather…….
The weight that had been strangling her neck all this time was gone.
Why?
The dust settled at that moment.
And beyond the pale haze, she saw a silver-haired man.
“Ren?”
This was strange.
Blood—she could smell blood from that direction.
From where Ren was?
But the lion’s attack hadn’t reached Ren…….
“Uh……?”
“……Kgh.”
The sound of swallowing blood reached her ears.
Ren was on one knee on the ground.
Blood pouring from the Mark on his neck…….
And his chest was torn open.
At that level, instant death……. One…….
‘Why?’
I was the one attacked, so why—?
“Ren, no!”
But before Lillian could rush to him, Kail grabbed her from behind.
“Always blocking my path like this, Lillian? Evren!”
“You……!”
Just then, the second Black Lion Monster that had split charged with a roar. Iris was sucked into the fissure left by the creature’s death.
It was chaos itself.
‘Damn it……!’
Kail issued a threat to the Shadows rushing at him.
“Stay still if you know what’s good for you. And you’re coming with me, Lillian.”
Kail pressed the tip of a dagger to Lillian’s neck. Venom began to seep visibly from the blade.
‘What do I do? He’s too close to risk a Mark technique!’
Everyone’s gone mad.
Cornered, nobody’s thinking straight anymore……!
But before the dagger could cut deeper, a blood-choked voice came from behind.
“……I.”
“……!”
“Your arrogance, from way back…….”
Ren moved behind Kail.
His heart torn open.
Even with a damaged Mark, an S-Rank body could hold for minutes.
“Should’ve beaten it out of you like Ramio Tillard’s.”
“Ugh—.”
“……My mistake.”
When Ren seized Kail’s throat, Lillian was naturally released.
He smiled at her.
“Lil. Close your eyes for a moment.”
* * *
After disposing of Kail…….
His body was being destroyed from the Mark straight through to the heart.
Ren, unfamiliar with such violent pain, slowly opened and closed his eyes.
“……Mm.”
Ren, half-lidded, laughed aloud.
Good thing he’d replaced his body with Dark Magic.
Thanks to that, his mouth and eyes still functioned.
“If it were you, you’d have died instantly.”
Good call giving Markus that one extra command besides Body Transformation.
‘If even a single harm comes to Lillian’s Mark, let all of it flow to me instead.’
‘What?’
‘If you can speak human language, you’ll understand it anyway.’
‘Yes! Of course I understand completely.’
He could never be her true partner.
But.
“Lil. All your pain is mine now.”
“Ren…….”
Ren gazed at Lillian.
The rabbit he’d kept caged in his eyes as a child.
The joyless life that had followed.
Yet she had appeared through monster blood, becoming his only light.
“……We should have done a contract marriage from the start.”
The thought amused him enough to laugh, tasting blood faintly.
He pulled Lillian close. She was trembling like someone with a fever.
“Promise me something. Don’t skip meals…….”
“Ren, wait. Please.”
“Don’t spend all your time in the workshop making Artifacts. You’ll suffer later when you’re older, really.”
He realized too late that he was wasting his remaining time on nagging.
Ren brushed her cheek. His hand was gentle.
Ever since Lillian had been marked by another, no matter how he ‘touched’ her, no feeling flowed back.
Because he’d learned all his emotions from Lillian……he’d been alone ever since.
But now, the moment he could touch her again, he learned sorrow burning in his throat from her.
Happy, yet utterly sorry.
“I love you.”
“Ah…….”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do that one last inefficient thing together with you.”
Sorry.
With those words, he closed his eyes.
He didn’t regret the Dark Magic, but regret remained.
‘I made Lil cry.’
But it mattered more that she didn’t hurt.
And he thought of another self.
He’d known that being was the same soul, but jealousy consumed him. He couldn’t accept it.
‘Feeling like I’d sacrificed more for Lil.’
……Now, as all that inferiority finally dissolved, came regret for tormenting Lillian till the end.
But this was truly the end now.
……And from the darkness came a wailing cry.
‘This woman will never return to me.’
It was the sound of some past self screaming and laughing like a madman.
‘This woman hates me, so she’ll never come to me.’
And the ‘other side’ of that conversation answered.
‘Then Evren. My Tarandia. From now on, you’ll come to know through your own body that you were wrong.’
From the day a new beginning started forward.
* * *
Ren had gone quiet.
“Ren.”
Lillian tilted her head.
Every time, he’d cling to her like an enormous cat.
Why was he staying silent this time?
“Ren?”
Lillian tried shaking his shoulder.
Why won’t he wake?
“……?”
Lillian pulled the silent man into an embrace.
It was truly strange.
‘Even a Tarandia without a heart had a heartbeat I could hear.’
Unmistakably. Mockingly so, given the Creator God’s given name.
But this time, there was nothing.
Nothing at all.
“……Uh.”
Her throat tightened more and more.
As the unbearable truth began to sink in, her shoulders shook uncontrollably.
She remembered his request during the fight.
‘Will you say you love me?’
Why didn’t she just say it then.
Why wait for some beautiful place and perfect timing, then fail to speak those words?
“……Yes, I…….”
Lillian buried her forehead against the silent man’s shoulder and whispered.
“Even when I had no memories this time…….”
Even though he might be someone who could erase me and kill me, he never once pulled his hand away.
“Ren.”
Lillian gasped, then clenched her teeth.
He’d called her his heart like a habit.
And if her heart was walking around outside, she could never allow it to be struck down anywhere.
She wouldn’t cry in a way like that.
So she didn’t cry.
Because she was the heart of the person she loved.
……Pink butterflies began to shimmer and appear, catching the light.
Now she could use her Control Ability freely again.
Not for just one person, but for everyone.
* * *
Outside the Central Temple.
The second Black Lion Monster that had fled was overwhelming people who could do nothing but collapse.
Not just physical attacks, but Mental Attacks kept breaking the knights’ formation.
“Is…….”
Was the world ending today.
This was the end……!
But then someone looking up at the sky cried out in panic.
“Look, look there!”
Shimmering pink butterflies filled the entire sky.
It was a sight like a river of rose light coiling through the heavens.
“It’s, it’s Lillian’s Control Ability butterflies.”
And the butterflies scattered their luminous dust in all directions.
Color returned to the faces of even those in the most critical condition.
“Cough, hack!”
The monster’s influence that had been consuming the Ability Users’ consciousness vanished cleanly.
Noah, who had been coughing painfully, rose from his place.
The horrible brainwashing of the monster clawing at his mind was gone.
Instead, a cool sensation split through his head like multiple streams of water flowing rapidly.
‘This is—!’
A familiar voice reached his ears from behind.
“Reform your ranks, Noah.”
“……! Lillian.”
Lillian’s face was pale, her eyes hollow.
Yet her expression was so resolute that he dared not ask if she was all right.
“I will shield you all from that creature’s Mental Attacks. Once its seventh physical strike ends, suppress it immediately.”
Because she knew far too well what needed to be done right now.
“Yes. Everyone, reform ranks!”
As the Holy Knights hurried into position, Lillian turned to address the others.
“Elias, Jeanne, and Marguerite as well.”
“Yes!”
The monster tried with all its might to attack Lillian.
I saw your despair.
You lost something precious. How pitiful!
You’re alone again now.
But Lillian showed no reaction at all.
“Finished with your speech?”
……!
“I don’t have time to deal with something like you right now—.”line>
I’m too angry.

Lillian mouthed the words silently, then stretched both hands forward.
As her butterflies touched it, the giant monster’s mind twisted and warped catastrophically.
Its horrible shrieks split the sky, but stopped abruptly.
While Lillian held the monster, the Ability Users succeeded in suppressing it.
The Ability Users gave genuine cheers.
“We’re alive……!”
“We defeated the Black Lion Monster!”
Not only those who’d fought, but those who’d defended all cheered.
“Lillian has returned……!”
“Control Ability gone? Who spread such nonsense!”
The complete resurrection of an infinite-class Saint.
Along with a sacrifice only a few would ever know.

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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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