The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 53

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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 Insane for the Villainess — Episode 53
I seized the creature’s face and blocked its vision. Its nostrils flared. Through the gap, I caught sight of Seraphine slipping inside, moving beyond its line of sight.
“Heh, heh, heh, heh. It’s been so long since I’ve caught a scent like this. Ahh. Yes, yes. The werewolf women don’t smell like this at all.”
Each time its foul breath grazed me, I had to clench my teeth to keep from striking. No, Rosana. Don’t hit him. You haven’t gotten the key in your hands yet.
Bartel was a full fifty percent larger than any werewolf we’d seen before. And he was already a seasoned hunter. We wouldn’t win this easily—not without risk of failure. Get this wrong, and we’d never achieve what we came here for.
Bartel laid me back onto the rug, then settled his weight on my belly. His long claws raked down my cheek and picked at the neckline of my dress. Through the grotesquely gaping maw, I could see his tongue lolling. Ugh. I smiled with all the sincerity I could muster and spoke.
“You smell wonderful too, Grand Priest.”
I poured every ounce of soul into it. The Grand Priest laughed.
“Lying here like this, there’s something so primal about you.”
I dare call it a jewel of a line. When I reached toward the Grand Priest, he willingly bent down toward me. I wrapped my arms around his neck. The chain brushed against my fingertips.
“……Good Lord.”
I laughed as languidly as I could manage. Whether it was poor acting or perfect, I’d give it everything.
I seized the moment of his carelessness and grabbed the necklace, wrenching it backward with all my strength. The instant his upper body arched back, I rolled hard to the side.
“Gack, gack! You bitch!”
By then, Seraphine was already behind him. Her blade cut diagonally across his back and down through his ribs.
“Screeeee!”
Seraphine’s blade drove in again, this time piercing his shoulder. I drew my sword.
He twisted and swung his arm, slapping the oil lamp away. It flew into the wall, spilling its contents, and the oil ignited a pile of papers. Flames erupted.
The room blazed bright in an instant.
And in that light, I witnessed the change plainly.
His skin rippled as if being torn away. His jaw elongated. His teeth spread wide. The space below his cheekbones split open.
His goat beard was sucked inward and vanished.
“Grrrrr…….”
He was a true beast now.
His sulfurous eyes remained fixed on me.
Seraphine seized my wrist and bolted for the door, offering praise as we ran.
“That was superb acting!”
“I thought so too!”
Because we’d achieved our goal.
I cinched the Sanctuary Key tight around my neck. As Seraphine and I yanked the rug out from under him, he lost his footing and tumbled across the floor. More time bought. We rushed toward the door.
The stairs leading down were blocked, which meant our only way was up. We reached the corridor’s end and found a trapdoor. A ladder hung beneath the ceiling hatch.
“Seraphine, there’s a ladder!”
“You go first!”
I grabbed the ladder and climbed quickly.
When I pushed the trapdoor open, cold air struck my face.
The roof was luminous.
The moon hung high in a cloudless sky. The roof gleamed silver, and every foothold was visible.
I’d barely hauled myself up before I looked down.
The lamplight below was wavering. The fire from the study had spread into the corridor.
Through that glow, I could see Seraphine backing away.
“Seraphine! Now!”
I reached down. Behind her, the creature bounded up on all fours. Seraphine and I clasped hands, and I hauled her through with all my strength, then slammed the trapdoor shut behind us. The hatch juddered under our combined weight.
“Huff, huff.”
Before we could catch our breath, we threw the bolt, but the moment we stood, the wood splintered as the trapdoor burst open entirely.
“Grrrrugh.”
The ceiling in the study had been low—I hadn’t realized his shoulders were half again the width of a man. He bled freely but seemed to feel no pain.
“Seraphine, why won’t it die?”
“I don’t know.”
“Split up!”
We scattered to either side.
With the roof ridge between us, I took the left slope and Seraphine the right. The creature targeted her first, swinging his long arm, but she dodged with skill.
Under his weight, the roof tilted. Seraphine retreated up the ridge to escape the incline, and the creature scrambled up after her. The roof groaned under the strain of his mass.
“Seraphine! Stay on the ridge! Don’t come down, no matter what!”
“What are you planning!”
I descended from the ridge onto the slope.
Then I shouted.
“Hey!”
The creature’s head swung toward me.
“Over here, you perverted old dog!”
It charged straight at me, oblivious to the fact that I stood on the sloped tile.
I scrambled down the slope and rolled to the side. The ground below was grass anyway—falling wouldn’t kill me. Probably.
In that instant, the roof gave way beneath his weight, and he began to slide downward.
“Seraphine, now!”
Seraphine leaped from the eaves.
She descended the slope, gripping her sword with both hands, and drove it down with every ounce of her weight behind it.
The sound of his neck snapping echoed. Even as he thrashed his arms, flailing, Seraphine was knocked backward.
“Seraphine!”
The creature landed on top of her.
I didn’t think. I just ran. Sliding straight down the slope, I drew my dagger with my right hand and drove it into his ribs.
“……Ah.”
His jaundiced eyes snapped toward me. This time, it was I who was sliding.
He bared his teeth and lunged for my throat. I held my dagger upright and thrust my arm forward, forcing the blade between his fangs to keep his jaws from closing. I absolutely could not let him bite me! I was grateful to be human.
“My lady!”
“Cut him!”
Seraphine stood watching me, her face stricken, her teeth clenched, her voice raw. Perhaps in her eyes, I was already being devoured.
“Seraphine!”
It was the first time I’d dropped the honorific. She moved. The small frame of her body, though not large, seemed suddenly enormous as she put her full weight behind the arc of her blade, thrusting it forward.
Crack.
His torso tumbled down beneath the roof. The problem was that his severed head still dangled from my arm.
“Let go, you bastard!”
I wrenched my arm free and kicked his head downward, sending it rolling. Thud—the sound of his skull clattering across the courtyard below.
“Gasping—”
I caught my breath and examined my arm. By some mercy, it was unmarked, pristine. God, I thought I was done for.
“My lady!”
Seraphine rushed toward me.
Only after confirming I was unharmed did Seraphine sink to her knees.
“…Thank heavens. Thank heavens, truly.”
I steadied her shoulders and looked down at the courtyard below.
His torso and head lay scattered across the ground. In the moonlight, the face that was revealed had already returned to human form. That alone was revolting.
But it was too early to feel relief. Bartel’s death did not mean the monsters he had created would vanish as well.
The battle still raged in the courtyard below.

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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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