The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 24

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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 24

Kaius walked slowly across the room and drew back the curtain.
Charlotte lay curled up on the two-person sofa, her small frame tucked into the cushions, oblivious to the world. Soft snores escaped her lips.
Without thinking, Kaius let out a small laugh—then stiffened his expression.
Was he laughing? At this witch?
Yet contrary to his thoughts, his gaze lingered on her for a long time.
Charlotte’s sleeping face held a defenselessness that was almost unsettling.
For someone who had spent her entire life bearing the title of vicious witch, she appeared almost innocent—clear and transparent.
A cricket chirped distantly in the quiet night.
The darkness was peaceful. Lukewarm wind drifted through the open window, catching Charlotte’s silver hair and tossing it gently. Faint shadows of moonlight settled across her closed eyelids.
“…Mm.”
Charlotte stirred with a soft whimper, her small, rounded shoulders curling inward.
As Kaius gazed at her, he felt a sudden recognition: this night was peaceful.
Peaceful. The very word seemed impossible.
Peace. A feeling of peace.
He wanted to deny it, to call it absurd—yet at the same time, he could not help but acknowledge it as true.
Charlotte was unmistakably different from the Black Mages he had come to hate.
The instinct he had honed through years of hardship, the revulsion he felt whenever he faced a Black Mage—all of it lost its hold in her presence. Often he found himself laughing rather than tensing, and the dissonance troubled him.
It was not merely that Charlotte proved less cunning than her reputation suggested, nor that she was surprisingly docile, nor even that she had seen through Robert’s suspicion and helped persuade Daemon.

“I know you find this awkward, but I’ll say it anyway. Sometimes honesty becomes the strongest weapon of all.”

In that moment, Kaius had felt an ease and clarity he had not known in years. It had lasted only an instant, yet she had seemed like someone who understood him perfectly. He had wanted to deny it—but it was the truth.
So Kaius no longer felt the urge to kill her.
He was simply curious.
Did there exist a Black Mage he need not hate? Was Charlotte truly such a being? Why did he feel so different in her presence alone?
Almost without thinking, his hand brushed through the strands of her hair.
One year. The span of time he had promised to Charlotte.
Perhaps, Kaius thought, this was fortunate after all.
It would be his chance to find an answer about her existence.

***

The next morning, before dawn had broken, we gathered outside Daemon’s House.
“You’ve finished your preparations, haven’t you, Nilson? You have everything you need?”
“In eight years, all I have done is maintain this body alone. Now that I have received new orders, it is only right to leave all personal matters behind.”
He held up a Sword with Imperial Seal and said it was the only thing he had kept with him throughout those eight years of seclusion.
A sentimental old man, I thought.
“Then let’s depart.”
With Daemon and Kaius flanking me on either side, I cast Teleportation Magic. Blue light rippled outward, and the landscape shifted.
Boom!
But before my feet touched the ground, a deafening roar shook the air.
“What—?”
I spun around in alarm. Smoke was rising from the mountain range at the edge of the Duchy Territory.
“Your Grace!”
A soldier came sprinting toward us from the distance.
“We’re under attack! A Black Mage has brought Demon Beasts and is attacking the domain!”
And then it happened.
Kee-eeee!
A piercing cry tore through the air, and a gust of wind rushed past as an enormous shadow swept overhead.
My head snapped up reflexively, and I froze in place.
“…A Griffin?”
Did we really just have a Griffin flying through the sky?
It seemed I was the only one caught off guard.
Kaius accepted his weapon and asked with familiar composure.
“What is the situation?”
“Fortunately, our archers are holding the line, so the Demon Beasts have not yet breached the town. Bassel and the elite guard are pursuing the Black Mage, but he has not yet been captured.”
“Daemon. Go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Kaius, who had turned to head toward the direction where the thunderous roar echoed across the plain, stopped and looked back at me.
“You go toward the village. There may be wounded.”
With only those words, he and the others spun around and ran again.
Left behind so abruptly, I snapped to attention and bolted in the opposite direction—toward where the Demon Beasts had flown.
“Mage!”
When I arrived, hundreds of archers were locked in desperate combat with Griffins.
“The Demon Beasts continue attempting to breach the village, sir. We’ve evacuated quickly, so no civilians have been directly attacked yet, but if this continues, we’ll face catastrophic casualties.”
Chirp, chirp!
Golsoon had appeared from nowhere, tugging frantically at my hem and bouncing up and down. He was pointing toward the city wall on the far side where the Golems stood.
“I appreciate the thought, but moving the Golems now would only create more chaos. Soldier, please guide me to the town center for now.”
“At once!”
The soldier escorted me through the press, keeping me shielded, and once I saw the scene up close, the words died in my throat.
“This is insane. Where in the world did all these Griffins come from?”
The Griffins clustered at the village entrance were not one or two, as I’d expected.
There had to be dozens of them—dodging the storm of arrows, menacing the townspeople.
“Fire! Aim for the head!”
“We’re running short on arrows!”
“What are the rear ranks doing? The rear?”
This won’t work. It’s useless.
Standard arrowheads can’t even pierce a Griffin’s hide.
My lips tightened without thinking. At this rate, the archers would be slaughtered—let alone the civilians.
Who in their right mind would drive a pack of Demon Beasts into the territory? And more than that—how could a single Black Mage even control this many Griffins at once? It doesn’t make sense.
“Even if it were me, this is….”
I could weave a Protective Barrier, certainly, but driving back the Griffins was another matter entirely. More to the point, if I stretched a barrier across this vast area, I’d collapse from exhaustion long before the Griffins gave up.
And the people would be left defenseless.
“This is bad.”
As I stood trapped in thought, something flashed through my mind like lightning.
If I pushed Mana Release to its absolute limit….
“…Am I crazy? What am I even thinking?”
I couldn’t possibly use my precious Illaune for something like this!
I slapped both my cheeks hard.
No matter how urgent things get, I can’t just throw away the very herb that’s supposed to send me back to my world, can I?
“Absolutely not.”
It can’t happen. It can’t.
It can’t—
“Damn it, I’m losing my mind!”
I raised my head again.
The number of Griffins kept climbing, while the soldiers of Luciphenia grew more exhausted by the second. The defensive line looked ready to collapse at any moment.
But where exactly are all these Griffins coming from?
Even a skilled Black Mage shouldn’t be able to command this many Demon Beasts in a single operation.
Could there be more than one culprit?
If we had just one more mage on our side, we might’ve had a chance….
But that was a useless thought in the present moment.
“Sigh….”
The breath left me in despair.
Illaune in its natural, unrefined state—without Elixir processing—has dramatically reduced potency.
If I consumed it to drive back the Griffins, I’d have no power left to open the Dimensional Gate. Honestly, I’d be fortunate if I just didn’t collapse from hunger.
“…Damn it all.”
At least I have to save the people.
And then I’m billing Kaius for this. Or I’ll just collapse on his doorstep until he brings in reinforcements.
I turned to a nearby soldier and gave orders.
“Alert every nearby settlement. Get everyone indoors, lock the doors, close the curtains. Cellars without windows would be best. I’m going to release a flash of mana to drive the Griffins away.”
“Yes, yes, sir!”
The soldier snapped to attention at my words and began coordinating the evacuation.
I slumped onto a stone nearby and withdrew the Illaune from my Subspace.
The moment I saw the plump berries, the unblemished stem, and the delicate roots untouched by harm, my eyes burned with tears.
How hard I’d worked to harvest this.
A small whimper escaped me.
Chirp…?
“It’s all right, Golsoon. Adults have their complications.”
It wasn’t all right, though.
Once I used this, my only way back would be to seize the Stone of Desire.
The escape difficulty, which had dropped from extreme to B-rank, had climbed right back to S-rank in half a day.
So that’s why things had been going so smoothly.
There’s no way matters this complex resolve themselves so easily.
Minutes later, a soldier came running up with a report.
“Mage, we’ve evacuated all the territory’s residents to the underground and indoor shelters! Is there anything else you need us to do?”
“No, that’s enough. You all should head inside now.”
I sent the soldiers away and brushed myself off as I stood.
Then, eyes squeezed shut, I swallowed the Illaune whole.

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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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