The Dutiful Kid Who Saved the Villainous Family - Chapter 186

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 186

* * *

The beginning of the journey was refreshing.

Declan heard from the Jackvell Marquess that Berry had been discovered in the Jarkvel Domain.

And Airi decided to set out to meet Berry.

Though she still didn’t know how to save Berry.

Like the words “heal the afflicted,” she had been thinking that perhaps purification magic would work.

But….

“Airi, wait a moment!”

Just before the heavily armed Airi was about to leave, Cookie firmly grasped Airi’s hand.

“I have something to tell you.”

And Cookie, who led Airi to a small room, whispered softly.

“I’ve been looking at the ancient books.”

“Yeah, what did they say?”

“…Good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?”

Of course!

“The good news!”

At those words, Cookie nodded and said.

“Right, there’s definitely a way to eliminate the Pope. It’s easier than I thought. You stab the evil spirit’s heart.”

“The evil spirit’s heart?”

“Yeah. But if there’s bad news….”

At the mention of bad news, Airi’s heart somehow began to pound.

Airi swallowed hard and looked at Cookie.

“Once a fragment of the evil spirit enters someone’s body… you have to stab that person’s heart.”

“….”

“It doesn’t say what happens to that human after stabbing their heart.”

“You’re saying to kill Berry to eliminate him?”

“….”

“You, that’s what you’re saying, isn’t it.”

Cookie quietly let out a sigh. As if he too didn’t want this.

“Stabbing the heart might not necessarily mean killing them….”

“…How do you not die from being stabbed in the heart?”

“….”

At Cookie’s silence, Airi stared at Cookie intently.

“But Berry is a good child. He shouldn’t have to die like that.”

Airi knows Berry, who struggled every day with self-loathing.

She also knows how that Berry gradually came to smile as he felt happiness.

And….

She knows that from the time she saved Berry until now, she was the one who brought bright smiles to his face.

Just as Airi is a precious existence to Berry, Berry is the same kind of existence to Airi.

‘Could I let go of Berry’s hand?’

The answer came quickly.

‘No, I absolutely cannot do that.’

Airi clenched both fists tightly and lowered her head.

‘To Berry, I am his whole world, and to me, Berry is my best friend.’

Airi is no longer a child.

But the words that a hero never betrays their friends were engraved in her heart.

So if someone told Airi she had to stab Berry’s heart.

Airi could say resolutely.

“I’ll find another way.”

“No, there’s only one way. Only the method of stabbing the heart.”

She wasn’t unaware of the sadness contained in those chocolate chip eyes.

Airi had always been a very mature child, but even so, if she had been a bit younger than now, she might have thrown a tantrum at Cookie.

But now she vaguely understands the weight of life that Cookie bears.

Cookie is, before being Airi’s friend, ultimately a ‘summoned beast’ of the ‘hero’ who came down from the Divine Realm to save the world.

He has no choice but to choose the path that makes more people happy.

But Airi was different.

“….”

…Airi absolutely had to save Berry.

They were once savior and saved, now they were friends, and in the future they would be life companions and lovers.

So Airi recalled the original work she had written about the Pope long ago.

She frantically searched through those stories from the original work, where there might have been even the faintest clue.

At that moment, new information flashed in Airi’s mind.

And that was, precisely….

“There are people who know the Pope best.”

“Huh? If you mean the Cardinals, they’re dead, aren’t they?”

“No, not the Cardinals.”

“And would people who know the Pope well help us? That doesn’t seem likely.”

At Cookie’s negative words, Airi shook her head firmly.

“…No, they’ll be completely on our side.”

So….

“We need to run, Cookie!”

* * *

Meanwhile, the young boy everyone was doing their utmost to save, Beri Jarkvel Prince.

This young boy, Berry, was repeatedly blinking his blurring eyes.

“This place is….”

Having left the Northern Region, at the very top of the Jackvell Duchy Castle.

He recalled what had happened earlier.

‘I tried to kill the Jackvell Marquess.’

His father’s gaze looking at him had been calm.

That made him feel even more horrible about himself.

The fact that he was an unfilial son who had tried to strangle his father’s neck.

Everything was so painfully piercing.

‘This shouldn’t happen. So it shouldn’t, but….’

Berry grotesquely twisted his own wrist and barely staggered from his position.

Then he fled in an instant.

Using his distortion ability, he warped space.

[Quite a pleasing ability, don’t you think?]

But even so, he couldn’t escape the metallic sound ringing in his ears.

Now Berry knows what has taken over his unconscious.

It’s the Pope, who wants to possess his body and dominate this world.

Berry’s mind was generally becoming hazy, but fortunately, the brief moments of awakening were his only comfort.

[Now, head to the darkest place.]

Every time the unconscious that had settled in his inner self repeatedly spoke to him, Berry barely managed to escape.

One day, he distorted his own consciousness. After that, distorting his consciousness became impossible.

The next day, he distorted his own expression so the unconscious couldn’t read his mind. After that, he could no longer move his expressions as he wished.

On the third day, he distorted his own body to make it twist….

[What an interesting toy. Make it more enjoyable.]

…Along with terrible pain, he could feel the Pope’s satisfied smile.

‘Still, just one thing… I’m really glad this didn’t happen at Ortejo Castle in the Northern Region.’

No, there was another fortunate point.

Thanks to his consciousness stubbornly holding on, it seemed he hadn’t killed anyone yet.

[Even if you hold on like that, you’ll surely be consumed by me soon.]

“…Get lost.”

At that moment, his unconscious inflicted terrible pain on his consciousness.

It replayed memories of the abuse he had suffered during his time as ‘Karhen’ like a video in his head.

A helpless state where he couldn’t resist anything.

Berry thought.

It was rather fortunate that he was a hybrid monster, with a body easy to possess.

‘Because I recognized it in advance and ran away.’

Fortunately, during the moments when he occasionally regained consciousness, Berry’s thoughts gradually organized.

The Pope whispered greedily in his ear.

[Return to Ortejo Castle. Go back and cut off the heads of that castle’s lord and his daughter.]

“Lord Declan and Lady Airi will not die.”

[Yes. I know very well that you all have a close relationship.]

At that moment, the Pope’s voice dropped greedily.

[Being stabbed in the heart by someone you trusted – that’s a true carnival!]

No, he wouldn’t think of such a festival of slaughter.

He didn’t want to.

But the evil spirit named Pope was merciless.

Having already lost all human reason, he laughed madly inside his head.

[You can’t escape from me anyway. You’ll soon become me. Don’t you know?]

That he would soon assimilate with this evil spirit…

Feeling a burning sensation at the tip of his heart, Berry gritted his teeth.

‘No, maybe this is actually for the best.’

Because there would be something he could do for Airi who had saved him and Declan who had treated him like a son.

Mulling over the proposition of ‘assimilation with the Pope,’ Berry gritted his teeth as if he had resolved something.

‘If this is the last time I can maintain my consciousness, the only thing I can do is…’

But after that, everything went dark before his eyes.

No more thoughts came to him.

Everything was empty.

A black light reflected in Berry’s blue eyes.

* * *

Airi ran hard with beads of sweat on her forehead.

To meet again with the ‘people who knew the most about the Pope.’

But before that, there was something she had to do.

Following Berry’s last traces.

“So you’re saying Berry disappeared while he was beside the Marquess?”

“Yes. He was choking me.”

Jackvell Marquess smiled as if talking about something trivial.

Airi hesitated, not knowing how to deal with a man who calmly talked about being choked by his own son.

“My son Berry was rational, at least until I saw him. He knew how to control himself to some extent, you see.”

“Yes.”

“But in the meantime, the evil spirit might have corrupted Berry.”

“…”

“So if you meet him again, my son Berry that Princess Airi knows might no longer exist.”

“…”

“Are you still okay with that.”

Airi looked quietly at Jackvell Marquess.

Then she nodded.

“Yes, it doesn’t matter. If that happens, I’ll save him.”

“May I ask how you plan to save him, Grand Princess.”

But right at that moment.

The door opened, and Declan entered with a grin.

“I’ll be the one to do that.”

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