The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 5.

Silence settled over the reception room.
Kaius stared at me intently, his chin propped on his hand.
Why wasn’t he responding?
I’d have appreciated some kind of answer.
I was terrified.
After a moment, he lifted the corner of his mouth into a smile—lethal in its beauty.
“What do you think I’m about to say?”
“…It seems like you’d say I’m not needed.”
“You know me well. Fine then—I’ll have you locked away at the very top of the Grand Duke’s Castle’s tower. As for….”
“But please, hear me out.”
I hurriedly called out to stop him as he rose from his seat.
Kaius, who’d been regarding me with a tilted gaze, rubbed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. He raised his eyebrow as if to say go on.
“Just one year. If you let me live for that long, I’ll vanish before your eyes without a trace afterward. Of course, assuming you let me go.”
“Why should I?”
The question came back cold and flat. Boredom was written all over Kaius’s face by now. He was already half-ignoring what I had to say.
I spoke before his patience ran out entirely.
“…It’s because I can…”
“You can.”
“…find out who was responsible for the incident from eight years ago.”
Kaius, who’d been lazily tapping his foot in mid-air with his legs crossed, went completely rigid.
The boredom that had been etched across his face fractured visibly.
Without thinking, I squeezed the hem of my skirt, now nothing but tatters.
This was terrifying.
Absolutely terrifying.
Why did his eyes have to be that shade of yellow?
It made it so much worse.
…I suppose I wrote him that way, didn’t I.
“And once I’ve uncovered the full truth, you’ll set me free. Let me cross beyond the borders.”
“…I see.”
…….
“How curious.”
With a soft laugh escaping him, Kaius lowered his head.
Then it happened in an instant.
Shring.
A blade was pressed against my neck again.
“Mm.”
Why did he keep going straight for the sword? I was genuinely about to cry.
“You’ll find out who the culprit is, will you….”
Kaius stood, his eyes narrowing to slits, his smile completely gone.
“That sounds an awful lot to me like you were involved in that incident eight years ago.”
“…I wasn’t.”
A sharp sting.
In that moment, I felt my neck skin split thinly, and something warm trickled down the back of my neck.
I didn’t need to check to know. He was genuinely trying to cut me.
“You’d better choose your words carefully from now on, witch. My patience just ran out.”
Kaius spoke in an unusually gentle tone. He had a habit of becoming eerily calm when his anger reached its peak.
…If I mess this up, I’m really going to die.
That instinctive sense of danger drove me to answer quickly without hesitation.
“I can track down the culprit.”
Not a flicker of emotion crossed those pale yellow eyes.
But I could tell from the fact that he hadn’t slit my throat yet that he was still invested in what I had to say.
“The criminal is dangerously violent and has gone into hiding by now. I can’t uncover everything at once, but given a little time, I should be able to track down their general whereabouts. You know I’m a magical genius, right? I can use Clue-Finding Magic once a month. I’ll report my findings each time.”
It was all a lie.
In reality, that person can’t be tracked using ordinary Dark Magic. I know this because I’m the author.
“So you’ll provide a clue about the culprit once a month, and in return you’ll gain your freedom after a year?”
“Yes!”
I jerked my head away from the blade and nodded frantically.
The reason I’d dragged myself to this place was simple enough.
In a year’s time, an ancient artifact called the Stone of Desire would appear here.
In the original story, Kaius’s quarry would acquire it, but this time I intended to intercept it first.
With that alone, I could return to the real world. And once I left, Charlotte would reclaim her original body according to the Law of Web Novel.
Since I couldn’t set foot in the Capital anyway, I’d slip out of the Empire and live quietly somewhere no one knew me, Charlotte.
“This is something only I can do. No other mage could manage it.”
“Called the worst witch in the Capital, and your arrogance is remarkable.”
“I’m serious.”
I hesitated, adding the words carefully.
“…And thanks to the Grand Duke, there aren’t many Dark Mages left in the vicinity anyway.”
Not that I’d killed them all myself.
…….
Kaius fell silent for a moment.
I seized the gap where his killing intent had dissipated and spoke rapidly.
“Think about it. Even if you humor me and trust me for a year, there’s nothing you’d lose anyway.”
Eight years had passed since the death of the late Emperor and Empress. Despite seizing the Dark Mages’ domain and slaughtering countless practitioners of the craft, Kaius hadn’t even grasped a thread of the culprit’s identity.
It was only natural. The perpetrator of that incident was the Final Mastermind of this novel.
Revealing it too soon would ruin everything.
“You’ll certainly need me.”
He still wore an expression of half-doubt, half-belief.
Perhaps I really did need one decisive move.
“Wait a moment. Give me a second.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and knitted my brow as if deep in concentration. With one hand, I conjured a purple-tinged mist, deliberately cultivating an air of mystery.
Even through my closed eyelids, I felt Kaius’s relentless gaze upon me.
To think I had to resort to such theatrics just to survive.
Life was never easy.
After what felt like roughly half a minute, I cracked my eyes open.
“A sword.”
I met his gaze as I spoke.
“The sword that vanished that day—that was the culprit’s objective.”
“…What?”
At last, a flicker of visible shock crossed his face.
As it should.
The blade the culprit had stolen that night was an ancient artifact the Imperial Family had kept hidden for five hundred years. Even after the theft, the fact had been jealously guarded, making it knowledge no outsider could possibly possess.
“I caught a glimpse of it just now. Faint, but there.”
Had I not become a novelist, I might have made an excellent con artist.
I was discovering that I could lie with such an unmoved expression without even knowing it until now.
Was it because my life hung in the balance?
Kaius’s expression became unreadable. He tilted his head slowly.
An uneasy silence settled over the reception hall.
“…Suspicious indeed. I should kill you.”
“Ah!”
You ungrateful wretch!
Heavens, I’m done for!
When Kaius raised his sword once more, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Yet seconds passed without the sensation of my neck being severed, or even the cold kiss of steel against my skin.
…….
Cautiously, I opened my eyes.
Kaius stood with his sword raised, staring at me with unwavering intensity.
…Did I survive?
His expression was illegible—whether a grimace or a smile, I couldn’t tell.
We remained locked in this standoff for a long time.
Finally, Kaius lowered his blade slowly.
“…Very well. One year.”
With a soft click, he sheathed his sword.
“But merely providing clues won’t suffice. You’ll catch the culprit within that year.”
His tone was almost gentle.
“Whether you live or die after that will be decided then.”
The cruel curve of his lips was cold beyond measure. The naked intent to kill me if anything went wrong was unmistakable.
“Understood.”
But it doesn’t matter.
According to the story, a year from now I’ll naturally discover who the culprit is anyway. And by then, I’ll already be gone from here.
Haha.
“I’ll give you a room. You’ll stay here in the Grand Duke’s Castle.”
“So… you’re letting me live, then?”
Kaius studied me in silence, then narrowed his eyes with the same detached expression I’d worn.
“Yes.”

***

Click.
The footsteps faded away.
Kaius remained sprawled against the sofa, his gaze fixed on the doorway through which Charlotte had vanished.
“Bassel, did you confirm it?”
He spoke into empty air, stroking his chin. Then a man with dark brown hair materialized at the window where no one had been standing.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Tell me.”
Kaius smiled.
“The grounds I need to kill that witch.”

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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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