The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 83

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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 83. A Confession……?
“……I’m grateful for what you did just now.”
Karina answered with a smile to the greeting he offered the moment they left the Separate Palace.
“Think nothing of it. I simply didn’t want to watch a bird capable of flying higher become grounded by circumstance.”
Ah.
“Still, wouldn’t it have been more helpful to the prince and the lady if I had joined them?”
“I know your dreams. How could I pretend otherwise? Besides, the two of them will manage perfectly well without my assistance.”
Karina chuckled softly and shook her head.
‘My dreams…….’
A life of freedom. A life lived as a true person.
He was grateful that she still remembered those words he’d spoken briefly when leaving Dracen.
“Though I serve the lady as a knight, I have other dreams as well. That’s why I couldn’t simply stand by. Once you fall under the lady’s spell, before you know it, you’re bound—just like I am.”
The words that came with her wry smile were impossible to dismiss lightly.
“Mm? You’re not saying your current position is uncomfortable?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m at her side precisely because I’m chasing that dream. Thanks to her, I’ve even received this fine armor. It’s a gift that still exceeds my station.”
At those words, he found himself studying Karina’s armor more closely.
Up close, he could faintly sense mana emanating from it.
Surely not.
“An Artifact……?”
“It doesn’t contain Spirit Arts. But the material itself is special in that it holds mana, so it’s not quite an ordinary suit of armor either.”
“Ah…….”
Most full-body armor was a precious item crafted custom-made, but armor like what Karina now wore—armor imbued with special metals or spiritual essence—would be nearly impossible to price.
“……It means the lady treasures you that much.”
“That’s true. She’s also trying to clear any debts in case I leave someday.”
“……Leave, you say?”
“As I said, I have my own dreams. I’m actively pursuing that path right now. Of course, I’m also here in Trian to repay the lady’s kindness.”
There was something about Karina’s smile that made him momentarily vacant—
—until her gaze met his and her expression abruptly hardened.
And then.
“Of course, my dreams don’t include things like marriage or romance.”
……What?
‘Wait, who said anything about that?’
She’d volunteered those words without anyone asking.
Just moments before, the atmosphere had been warm and natural. Now her eyes had turned cold.
And suddenly he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
‘I’ve felt this before…….’
When was it?
Given that he couldn’t remember, it probably wasn’t a memory from this life.
Likely from his past life…….
Oh!
— Big brother. I understand how you feel, but I’m uncomfortable.
— W-what? What am I doing?
That pathetic feeling of being rejected before even confessing…….
“Huh!?”
Startled by his belated realization, he turned to look at Karina, but all he could see was the back of her head as she’d already turned away.
And then came her glacial voice.
“So don’t take it so seriously when the lady jokes. There’s no need to answer like that.”
“N-no, that’s…….”
“Same goes if someone else asks. Everyone knows it’s just idle gossip anyway.”
For some reason, she sounded even angrier as she spoke.
“Um…….”
What on earth was wrong with her?
What was he supposed to say here?
‘Wait, did she overhear what I said to Orlando? No, that can’t be…….’
Even if her mood was hurt by that.
If he were to say, honestly, that he’s not entirely uninterested in her, just that circumstances forced him to answer that way……?
‘Ugh…….’
……Even if he were a woman, she’d probably slap him.
And before that, desperately making excuses in this situation would just look pathetic.
‘Besides, we’re not even actually in any kind of relationship…….’
His mind descended into chaos, and the words caught in his throat as his chest tightened with unease.
And so the only words that came out were—
“……Yes.”
Even by his own measure, it was a pathetically curt reply.
– Ugh, so frustrating. No wonder you’ve never been in a relationship.
The voice of a friend from his past life seemed to echo in his ears like a phantom.
But as Munno, he couldn’t find a decent response.
Above all, he lacked conviction.
He had no certainty that these thoughts surfacing in his mind were anything more than his own delusion.
And so—
for whatever reason—
“……I’ll cheer for that dream of yours.”
It was all he could manage.
“Yes, thank you.”
Karina turned back to face him, her words and expression seeming oddly stiff as she bowed—or was it just his imagination?
‘No, this isn’t right…….’
He still didn’t understand women well, but somehow he knew one thing for certain.
If he let this moment slip away, the emotional distance between them now would never close.
Or rather—
‘I want to live differently than I did before. Even in small things.’
Perhaps it was because of that single conviction.
His mouth moved of its own accord once more.
“Still, the truth is that you—that you are attractive.”
“……What? Su, suddenly……!?”
Karina’s flushed face—he couldn’t tell if she was angry or embarrassed.
But he’d come this far already.
“I know we don’t know each other well, and our bond isn’t particularly deep, so I’m hesitant to say this, but I wanted to tell you that if you’re giving up other things for your dream, you don’t have to.”
“What do you mean by that…….”
“I’ve tried that before, and there’s nothing left at the end.”
He saw confusion spread across Karina’s flushed face.
He himself didn’t quite know what he was saying.
“So if you want to fall in love, then do it. If you want to marry, then marry. Unless you genuinely don’t want to, don’t close your heart simply because of a dream. It’s not a good choice.”
“That, that kind of…….”
At least those last words came from his heart.
When you’ve spent your life chasing some vague future, only to suddenly face the end, there’s no greater regret or bitterness than that.
……He knew that all too well.
But having blurted it all out, the atmosphere had become extraordinarily awkward.
“…….”
“…….”
They both found themselves staring at the ground and the empty air.
Feeling his own face burn, he glanced sideways and saw that Karina’s was equally flushed and crimson.
After a brief silence—
“Am I, am I really that attractive……?”
A tiny, hesitant voice escaped from Karina’s bowed head.
“Of course you are.”
His answer came out matter-of-factly enough, yet inside—
‘What, what do I do now!?’
—his inexperienced heart was screaming in panic.
But then—
“Pathetic little things, both of you are really something. How bothersome…….”
A voice grated harshly against the ears.
“Who the hell……!”
“What kind of lunatic……!”
They both spun around and shouted reflexively, and through the corner of his eye, he saw Karina’s face twist into a bitter laugh.
When their eyes met, a stifled laugh escaped him.
And with that, the awkward tension that had hung between them vanished in an instant.
“Shall we deal with that first?”
“Ah, but that one’s a turd…….”
“A turd?”
“Yes. Something filthy we ought to avoid.”
The two young knights, regarded as the kingdom’s strongest, turned their gaze simultaneously toward whoever had picked a quarrel with them.
The ugly young man who received that look simply curled his lips higher and tilted his chin up with a sneer.
“What did you just say? You dare speak to me that way?”
An arrogance without measure.
And then.
“Did you all hear that? These bastards just hurled abuse at me!”
The blonde, frizzy-haired man with the smug grin, seeking agreement from the escort knights around him as if he’d forgotten his own words entirely, was utterly grating to witness.
“Who the hell is that nobody?”
The question was meant for the nobody to hear, but the answer came from beside her.
“Teron Aslan. A wastrel of House Aslan. There was talk of marriage between him and the princess once.”
“Ah…….”
“He’s an idiot. Doesn’t even know he’s a card being discarded.”
“Now that you mention it…….”
It was something she’d heard from Orlando before.
“Aslan belongs to the First Prince Faction. Don’t engage with him. You’ll only get dragged through filth.”
Karina had tried simply to ignore him.
“What are you muttering about? You’ve been silent as a mute all this time, and now you’ve found your voice standing before an idiot with eyes?”
At the insult that followed, she spun sharply back toward him.
Before Munno could even stop her at the sight of Karina’s twisted expression.
“Did something just crawl out of the mouth of a wretch who’s been ground into the dirt?”
A bone-chilling roar laced with murderous intent erupted—one that made even Teron Aslan flinch.
‘Oh, damn…….’
Rumors about the temperament of the Knight of the Gale flickered through his mind.
“Didn’t I say not to engage……?”
Karina’s expression shifted reflexively at her own words, a hint of regret crossing her face.
But by then the wastrel was already licking his lips as if he’d caught something good.
“Oh~yes. So the ‘escort knight of the princess of Trian’ just challenged me, Teron Aslan, is that it?”
Where on earth did this confidence come from?
Feeling a disgust so profound it was as if he were looking at excrement, Munno responded without even a moment to think, purely by instinct.
“Is there nothing in your head? You started the quarrel first, you wastrel of House Aslan.”
“What, what did you—?!”
His flustered reaction was almost amusing.
But what bothered Munno more was Karina flinching and looking back at him at those words.
‘As if she hadn’t started it herself.’
A laugh rose in his chest, but first he needed to clean up the shit before him.
“I heard that recently, as House Aslan has been getting into trouble, they’ve been unleashing some mad dog at court to bite anyone…….”
“Huh?”
“……The plan is, if someone beats the dog to death, they can use that as an excuse to shift the conversation. But from the looks of it, that dog doesn’t seem to know his own position?”
He’d heard this from Orlando before coming to the Separate Palace.
Once word of the ‘Curtain’ spread, even the royal court had taken notice of the trouble with Aslan that had occurred in Trian.
He let that information slip out naturally.
And the moment Teron Aslan heard it, his face flushed hot.
“You, you, you little brat…….”
“Little? To whom are you speaking, you idiot who hasn’t even achieved Awakening.”
“The adopted son of some petty baronial house, daring to—!”
Hm.
Just as Munno was about to move at the man’s nonsense, Karina grabbed his wrist from beside him.
“I told you. Aslan belongs to the First Prince Faction. If we cause a disturbance before the Tournament of Virtue…….”
“Forgot? Whatever others might think, officially I’m unaffiliated. That’s what matters.”
“Ah…….”
Even if it looked like sleight of hand to everyone else, royal events were matters of royal record, and official standing was what truly mattered.
In other words, justification.
In that moment when a curious smile crossed Karina’s face, she released his arm, and Munno walked toward the ‘shit’ without hesitation.
It was kind of her to extract him from an awkward situation he couldn’t recover from, but that was that.
“……Not knowing noble blood! What are you doing! Kneel!”
Hm.
Step by step.
“Good. I’ve hated men like you since long ago.”
As he drew closer, the idiot was needlessly raising his voice and urging the escort knights around him.
“What are you waiting for?!”
“Duke…….”
“That man is a Black Knight…….”
“We cannot hope to match him…….”
“What are you saying, knights of House Aslan!? Get your wits about you!? Bring that bastard down this instant!!”
It wasn’t mere bravado—not simply posturing because Karina was watching.
‘Pathetic. Utterly pathetic.’
A man who could accomplish nothing through his own strength, yet strutted about as though he were something, throwing his weight around.
His only boast was his bloodline, and that same bloodline shielded him from the consequences of his crimes.
Teron Aslan before his eyes was the worst sort of bully—someone whom not only Munno now, but Han Moon-ho in his past life had despised to the depths of his being.
But now, in this moment, there was one difference.
“Shut your mouth.”
“How dare you——!”
Crack!
“……Guh!?”
He now possessed enough power to beat that bully senseless without fear of repercussion.

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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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