The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 104

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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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Chapter 104

Ethan irritably ran his hands through his hair.

“It’s true. I saw it clearly. And damn it, I think she did that because of me.”

“Because of you? What do you mean by that?”

“Hah…”

He buried his face in his hands and let out a long sigh, then spoke as if spitting out the words.

“I seduced her.”

“What?”

“Thinking she was you.”

“What do you mean…”

“But she wasn’t you, damn it. So I told her not to expect anything, but she didn’t seem very convinced. I told her if she felt wronged, she could come at me with a sword, but she didn’t do that and just kept staring at me with lingering attachment, so I was wondering what to do about it…”

“Wait, wait. So, am I understanding this correctly?”

“What did you understand?”

Ethan looked down at her with eyes half-visible between the hands covering his face. Rita rubbed her temples and spoke.

“What did you do to Hanna?”

“I smiled brightly, followed her around, and wagged my damn tail like a dog begging her to like me.”

“…You did that thinking she was me?”

“Because I thought you had returned as her.”

Lillieta was momentarily speechless.

If he had acted that way thinking it was her, then really, did this bastard Ethan even realize what his words sounded like?

‘But it wouldn’t mean that, not if it’s Ethan…’

Rita recalled the somewhat peculiar relationship between him and her.

A strange master-servant relationship formed when she made Ethan recognize her as his ‘master’ in order to rescue him from a squad crawling with inhuman creatures.

Ethan Pascal had to obey absolutely whoever he recognized as his master according to his oath.

Because of this, he naturally watched his master’s mood, observed his master’s feelings, and craved his master’s recognition and affection.

Even when Ethan would curse and rant like a madman, if Rita, his ‘master,’ so much as slightly frowned, he would become frightened and tremble or desperately try to curry favor.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, Rita… What should I do? I’ll do anything, okay? Should I cut off my flesh and give it to you? Or should I crawl around licking your feet? Then you won’t be angry? Please don’t be angry…”

At first, Rita couldn’t understand Ethan. It was rare for oaths to dominate a person to this extent.

However, through various trials and errors as his ‘master,’ she gradually came to understand him.

‘When the master gets angry at him, it’s considered disobedience and the oath’s punishment activates immediately… Ethan has been experiencing that since childhood. So he learned it. That when the master is angry, he receives painful punishment.’

So groveling and trying to please the master had become a kind of instinct.

“It’s because you’re my master that I end up whimpering like a damn dog in front of you. It’s because of the oath, not because I want to, damn it!”

“What do you mean what to do? When I go crazy again, just kick me and tell me to shut up and stay down like you’re dealing with a damn dog. That’s enough. If I stay beaten down, I’ll calm down naturally.”

“…What’s with scratching my chin and praising me when I told you to kick me? Do you really think I’m a dog? …No, I’m not saying I felt bad about it… Damn it, this is driving me crazy. Do whatever you want.”

After that, when Ethan started trembling while watching her mood, instead of ordering him to shut up, Rita would unconditionally tell him it was okay, that he did well.

Even when Ethan caused trouble, she would comfort him first, then get angry after he returned to his senses, or delegate the role of getting angry to other colleagues.

After a few years like this, Ethan’s episodes decreased significantly, and he became able to bicker with her like ordinary friends.

Even when Rita frowned or presented different opinions, Ethan gradually learned through experience that she wasn’t exercising her authority as his ‘master.’

‘Still, it’s a habit ingrained in his bones, so it didn’t completely disappear.’

So Ethan’s behavior toward Hanna must have meant he was trying to please someone he thought was his master.

‘Wait, would the recognition of me as master have been maintained even after I died? And Ethan would have made a new oath with his original body when he returned… Isn’t he recognizing someone else as his master now, not me?’

While she was making such speculations, Ethan irritably rubbed his face and continued speaking.

“When the wyvern was released, it was you who used magic gunmanship, right Rita? I thought Hanna had used it. So I was completely mistaken.”

“…Wyvern? That wyvern that appeared in Raskail City? You’re saying you released it?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know? I released it to test whether you were a returnee.”

“Of course I didn’t know, you crazy bastard!”

Rita was so dumbfounded that she grabbed his collar and pulled him close, grinding her teeth as she hissed in a low voice.

“Ethan Pascal, have you really lost your mind? What if people got hurt from doing such a thing? A child almost died then!”

“Hey, no matter what, do you think I’d really let an innocent kid die? I had a good grip on the leash.”

Ethan obediently let his collar be grabbed while wiggling his fingers. Seeing something like silver thread glinting from his fingertips, Rita finally calmed down.

‘Ah, right… With Ethan’s abilities, he would have been controlling it.’

Ethan Pascal had unique abilities and techniques for an enhancement type.

Perfect stealth ability by synchronizing his internal oaths with the oaths of the surrounding environment to the point where he couldn’t be detected even right in front of someone, and the technique of drawing out oaths as thin as thread.

The oath threads he drew out exhibited the same cutting power as an aura-coated sword, and his stealth ability was applied to them as well.

‘He would have wrapped invisible threads around the wyvern then too. So he could slice it up immediately if necessary.’

Even so, the fact that it was crazy behavior didn’t change.

Rita sighed and let go of his collar. Ethan straightened his wrinkled collar and said casually.

“Anyway, your maid going into the forest with some stranger seems to be my fault, so I’ll go look for her.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“What for?”

“She’s my maid. I’m also worried about leaving it just to you.”

No matter how Rita thought about it, she didn’t think Ethan would have handled the situation well after making Hanna misunderstand him like that.

‘Just from what he briefly mentioned… It seems like instead of apologizing, he told her to come at him with a sword if she felt wronged.’

If Hanna had been hurt because of this damn bastard, she couldn’t let them be alone together. He would definitely make the situation worse.

When a dog causes trouble, it’s the responsibility of the owner who didn’t hold the leash properly. Rita felt responsible.

‘I need to make him apologize properly to Hanna.’

Even though she had speculated that the master-servant relationship had been broken, she unconsciously thought like when she was Ethan’s master, and checked her outfit.

She had deliberately worn lace-up boots in case they had to fight, and her dress was also a style that was easier to move in than it looked. She had packed various things in her reticule, so there would be no problem wandering around the forest like this.

“Did they go this way?”

When Rita took the lead and asked, Ethan clicked his tongue loudly and strode past her.

“Yeah, this way.”

He left the grassland lined with barracks and headed toward the forest in the opposite direction from where the hunting competition was being held.

As soon as he entered the forest, he skillfully began tracking by examining traces of pressed grass, faintly remaining footprints, and how thickets were broken.

Lillieta watched Ethan like this and recalled the contents of his heroic tale.

Unlike other squad members, Ethan was not recorded in history by name. His chapter title was ‘Ghost.’

After the disaster, when the incompetent Lorenz died and Gideon ascended the throne to maintain the defense line, a substanceless ‘ghost’ wandered among the people.

Stories of the ghost visiting lords who embezzled supplies, neglected their duty to guard the defense line, or exploited the refugees under their command.

When visited by the ghost, only dismembered corpses remained without any disturbance. Murder scenes with no clues left, no traces of intrusion or resistance, and the smooth cut surfaces of the corpses were the ghost’s signature.

Bandits who plundered supplies, criminals who committed various crimes using Oathbinder abilities, and deserters who engaged in group murder and robbery also received visits from the ghost.

When powerful magical beasts suddenly appeared on the defense line, the invisible ghost would often appear to dismember the beasts and disappear, but the ghost visited people far more often than beasts.

In the face of disasters that drove the world to ruin, for those who remained divided, embezzling, and obsessed only with their own gain, the ghost existed as an unknown terror and chilling warning.

During the period when ghost rumors circulated, corruption, irregularities, and crime decreased markedly, which greatly helped humanity facing disaster maintain their hastily constructed defense lines and precarious social order.

A figure who clearly proved his existence through the ironic evidence of dismembered corpses and absence of evidence, but whose true identity was never revealed despite all kinds of speculation and pursuit, recorded in history books only as ‘Ghost.’

That was Ethan.

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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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