The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 43

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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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The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Villainess – Episode 43
Seraphine knelt before the shrouded corpse, her face half-lit by the flickering light, utterly devoid of expression.
“Seraphine.”
……
Seraphine continued slowly.
“I have protected nothing.”
The words felt like they were tearing my heart apart. I had walked the same path she had. I too had lost countless companions, despaired beyond measure. Yet for all that, I could not claim to fully understand her. The life she had lived was not the life I had lived, and I could not know the years she and Coras had built together.
Still, I could not pretend to grasp the full weight of her pain, for the histories we carried were different, and the bonds she shared with her fallen comrade were hers alone to mourn.
“No, Seraphine. You have already protected so many. Do not deny yourself that.”
I sat beside her and stayed there, letting her weep. It was all I could offer, and perhaps it was the only comfort that mattered.
I remained with Seraphine as she mourned her companion, and I stayed until the flames had consumed what was left of Coras. Had I only moved faster, perhaps I could have saved him too. I swore I would not hesitate again.
Hald emerged from somewhere—I could not say when—and sneered down at us.
“Tears are a luxury, it seems. And you think you’ll survive in here with such indulgences?”
After rattling on for a while longer, Hald took his leave. I watched his irritating figure retreat, my gaze hard as stone.
Just before dawn broke, Kael emerged from the darkness. His face was ashen, and it was clear he had not slept. He looked between Seraphine and me in turn.
“You’ve done well.”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
Kael smiled bitterly.
“I have failed you, and yet you bear the burden.”
“It is not so.”
Kael stood before Coras—now nothing but ash—and bowed his head in silence. Then, in a low voice, he spoke a benediction.
“I shall remember you always. A great hero who fought for the Empire.”
We left Alata behind, carrying Coras with us only in memory.
* * *
The journey from Alata to Gloria took a day’s march. The columns moved on once more. I found myself watching Seraphine closely, and Vanessa seemed to notice.
“My lady.”
Vanessa sidled up beside me, eyes darting nervously before she asked softly,
“Did something happen last night?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Seraphine’s expression seems strange.”
……
“And you seem strange too, my lady.”
Before I could respond, commotion erupted from the rear of the column. It was Mirel again.
“Is this how you treat a person? I am a lord’s daughter! There is no one in this land who has dared speak to me this way!”
“Young lady, perhaps if you could lower your voice a little…”
“Why should I? You’re meant to be listening!”
Mirel’s escort fell silent. When I turned to look, our eyes met.
“…What are you staring at?”
I turned away. Ignore her, ignore her. Feed the beast once, and I’d only lose in the end. Why does she have to follow us and cause all this trouble anyway.
* * *
As the sun began to sink, we crested a hill.
The mist parted, and the land below opened before us. Gray stone walls stretched to the horizon’s edge.
Beyond those walls, rooftops extended endlessly inward.
Hald’s voice cut through the wind.
“Gloria.”
A gust of sand swept across us. What lay within those walls, no one could say.
A forsaken city—once teeming with life, now abandoned to dust and silence. And there we stood before it.
It took half a day just to descend the hill.
The massive walls bore countless scars, and the great gate was simply gone.
The wooden doors had been torn away entirely and lay overturned on the ground inside. Soil had accumulated across them, and weeds had grown and withered, leaving their pale marks—signs that the gates had stood open for a very long time.
Scouts moved in first. As soon as they signaled that it was clear, we advanced into the city.
The interior was far more desolate than anything we had seen from outside the walls. Among the ruins of collapsed buildings lay splintered carts and broken household goods scattered at random. It looked as though the people had abandoned everything in a single day and fled. Our footsteps echoed alone through the silent streets, the only sound in an utterly empty place.
Kael assembled us in the central plaza and made his declaration.
“From this moment forward, Gloria is our foothold. We will make our camp here until we find the Holy Relic. Divide into groups and scout the area surrounding this plaza for suitable shelter, then report your findings to Millus and Register. Search for any wells with fresh water, and if you discover anything unusual, return at once and report it. Under no circumstances are you to venture out alone. You move only in groups.”
“Understood!”
I took a breath. It felt like we were beginning anew. I had a feeling Vanessa and I would end up sharing a dwelling again. Choosing which house to occupy did not take long—Vanessa was helpless in such matters, so she left the decision entirely to me.
Three- and four-story buildings ringed the plaza. In its heyday, this must have been the finest district in the city. Though the houses were abandoned and weathered, they were still habitable.
We chose a two-story building at the northern edge of the plaza.
“Why this one?”
Vanessa asked me.
“There’s only one door. Which means there’s only one way for an enemy to enter. I noticed a window opening toward the back alley. If things get dangerous, we can jump from the second floor. And since the roof connects to the neighboring house, we can escape across the rooftops as well.”
The children and servants were settled in the deepest house within the square, while the wounded and healers made their way to the adjacent building. Seraphine appeared to have taken up residence in a house near ours.
Mirel entered the largest house with five of her guards and a servant. No one had chosen it initially—a house with many rooms and many doors is the hardest to defend.
But there was no one inclined toward Mirel with enough goodwill to warn her of that danger.
* * *
Late night.
A Priest came seeking Kael. He was returning from searching the temple in Gloria, accompanied by the knights Kael had assigned to him.
The temple that originally housed the Holy Relic lay deep in the heart of Gracestone, far beyond this place. They had searched the Gloria temple to gather information about it.
“Did you learn anything?”
“According to the records, the door to the Sanctum of the great temple at Gracestone is locked with a key.”
“……Then where is that key now?”
“I don’t know.”
The Priest bowed his head.
“What of the living priests?”
“All were found as bones. It appears there was an attack by demons.”
Millus, who had been listening alongside them, spoke carefully.
“It seems we should first inquire about the High Priest’s whereabouts.”
“We can only search if we have somewhere to ask.”
The Priest sighed and spoke.
Kael slowly turned the situation over in his mind. Then he recalled the mention that there were survivors in Gracestone as well. It was a place where people lived, after all.
“Millus.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Summon the guide.”
Hald’s face bore the look of someone freshly woken from sleep.
“What brings you to me at this hour, Your Highness?”
“Where does the Black Market convene?”
Hald’s eyes blinked once, twice. Then his drowsy expression suddenly sharpened.
“……I’m not certain what you mean.”
“Hald.”
Kael’s voice dropped low.
“I hired you for coin. And I’m beginning to think you haven’t earned your pay. So tell me—what reason do I have to keep you around?”
Hald’s face went ashen.
“I promised to answer for your safety…….”
“The Black Market convenes!”
“Be thorough.”
Hald’s trembling hands clasped together as he began to spill everything he knew, his eyes darting nervously to gauge Kael’s reaction.
“You won’t cast me out, will you?”

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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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