The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 99

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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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Chapter 99
Her voice carried undeniable weight. Lucas stopped reflexively. A man well past seventy had entered his field of vision.
“Have you come to see me?”
Lucas recognized him at once.
The bent spine, the white hair, the snowy beard—time’s long passage was written across him in every line, yet his eyes burned with undiminished brilliance.
“What, in all the earth, could possibly have driven you to seek me out?”
The Valerian Tribe leader addressed Lucas directly.
“I’ve brought fragments of the First Emperor’s Sword. I’ve come because I wish to gather these pieces and reforge them into a complete blade.”
Lucas spoke without a moment’s hesitation. The Valerian Tribe felt their alarm ripple through the chamber.
“Words are easy enough to speak, certainly. But those are words only a madman would utter. I cannot imagine hearing them from anyone of sound mind.”
The leader clicked his tongue in reproach. Lucas opened his mouth again.
“I haven’t come to make a simple request. I’ve come to propose an arrangement.”
“An arrangement?”
“It’s common knowledge that the Valerian Tribe cannot walk beneath the sun.”
“Hmm.”
“You all know as well as I that the First Emperor received the Revelation of the Sun God. If I inherit the First Emperor’s Sword, then I will inherit the Revelation of the Sun God as well.”
Lucas met the gaze of every member of the Valerian Tribe.
“When the blade is complete, I intend to borrow the power of the Sun God and issue a new Revelation—so that the Valerian Tribe may walk beneath sunlight unafraid.”
“If.”
The leader spoke.
“You should break your word, we would lose everything without gain.”
“Then I will swear this beneath the Sun God himself—with all that I am.”
The Oath of the Sun God. At those grave words, every face among the Valerian Tribe hardened.
The Oath of the Sun God was binding beyond measure. To break such an oath was to have one’s soul shattered utterly, scattered into nothing. That he would offer such a vow—they could feel the truth burning in him.
“Good. Then perhaps I, too, feel my will awakening.”
The leader approached Lucas slowly and extended his left arm. Lucas did the same.
They drew their blades and made shallow cuts across each other’s forearms. At the same moment, the leader began to murmur ancient words.
Their blood mingled together. Then the crimson darkened to black. The bleeding ceased, and a mark remained—the Black Scar.
“Now I believe you will find the will to restore the First Emperor’s Sword.”
“Without question.”
The Valerian Tribe leader smiled—a sound like weeping and laughter both. At last, that terrible life lived beneath shadow might find an end.
* * *
Word that Lucas had obtained the First Emperor’s Sword spread like wildfire. Some whispered that he was the true Emperor. Others swore he would lead them to victory.
All the talk converged on a single point: Lucas, and the triumph of the empire.
Rachel felt both pride and worry bloom in her chest. She believed none could wear an emperor’s name more worthily than he—yet she feared the current Emperor’s jealousy would only deepen. So her every motion became measured, careful.
‘I must do nothing that brings shame upon him, whatever else may happen.’
She and Lucas were bound as one. If she angered the Emperor, the blow would fall on him as well. That alone she was determined to prevent. Rachel let out a quiet sigh.
Lucas’s deployment date had been set. With only two days remaining, Rachel felt the weight of her helplessness.
‘What can I possibly do?’
She turned the question over in her mind. But no matter how she puzzled at it, no true answer surfaced.
‘The battlefield will be dangerous.’
The Battlefield was where life hung by a thread. And as Crown Prince, he would make an exceedingly tempting target.
‘I wish I could give him something—anything.’
Her longing was fierce enough to ache. So she returned, once again, to the Imperial Library. She would search there; perhaps something useful awaited.
Night gave way to morning. She turned through dozens upon dozens of volumes. Yet nothing within those pages offered her the aid she sought.
‘My heart finds no peace….’
At last, she understood that all she could do was what the women of Tirnes had always done.
The women of Tirnes tied crimson knots and stitched them into the garments of the men they loved when they departed. They believed such knots would turn away misfortune and call down blessing without end.
Rachel realized that the greatest gesture within her power was to make the knot as beautiful as she possibly could.
‘Since I’m doing this, I’ll do it well.’
Back in the palace, Rachel sat at her desk. She tied the knot with prayers for his safe return woven through every motion.
While the current betrothed, Rachel, wove her knot, Katie—cast out from the role of betrothed—was meeting with the Crown Prince of Anareо.
“Your Highness, I am Katie Tayson.”
Katie bowed to the Crown Prince, tension coiled throughout her frame.
“I’ve heard that name many times already. You were quite renowned in the Tirnes imperial court, weren’t you?”
The Crown Prince of Anareо accepted her bow with studied indifference.
Katie smiled awkwardly, lowering her gaze. She knew well enough, from her own reckoning, that she had committed many wrongs within Tirnes’s imperial halls.
“It’s common knowledge that you were intimate with the Empress of Tirnes.”
……
“And that you heard all manner of court secrets from her.”
“…Is there something you wish of me?”
Katie asked quietly.
“Having come this far, pretending ignorance seems rather foolish.”
……
“It is exactly as you suspect. This is what I desire.”
The Crown Prince spoke without hesitation.
“Tell me of Lucas Maksim, Crown Prince of Tirnes. Every detail, no matter how small.”
Katie had known this question was coming. She exhaled softly.
It would be a lie to say she harbored no resentment toward Tirnes. The nation that had cast her aside from the Crown Prince’s betrothal was utterly abhorrent.
Yet severing ties with the homeland she had served for two decades was no simple matter. Katie’s teeth clenched.
“It will not be easy, I grant you. But the very fact that you have come this far suggests you have already resolved to abandon Tirnes.”
“I… I…”
“Your parents have already crossed over to Anareо. In such circumstances, for you to concern yourself with Tirnes seems rather absurd.”
The Crown Prince pressed harder, tightening the vice around her.
“Speak. Tell me everything about Lucas Maksim.”
The Crown Prince offered a sickly smile, his gaze cutting and cold.
* * *
Tomorrow, Lucas would depart for the Battlefield. Rachel still could not quite believe it, and so she merely gazed at Lucas Maksim before her with vacant eyes.
“Your gaze burns particularly bright today.”
Lucas spoke with playful teasing.
“…Lucas.”
The platitudes—be careful, do not be wounded—she had already spoken countless times. Now she wished to say something else to him.
“I was remembering when I first met you.”
Rachel broached the subject carefully.
“Back then, I was consumed with the thought of repaying my house’s debt. I saw you merely as the one who could settle that obligation.”
In the early days of Swan Knight Academy, Rachel had endured truly difficult times. To her then, Lucas Maksim had been a goldmine of hope.
“I never imagined I would come to care for you as I do now.”
Rachel laid bare what lay in her heart.
“Rachel.”
Lucas drew slowly toward her.
“I too never imagined you could become so precious to me.”
Lucas gently caressed Rachel’s cheek.
“While I am gone, I hope you will remain well.”
“…Lucas.”
“Close your eyes for a moment.”

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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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