The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 1

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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 1.
“I have come to pass judgment on your sins.”
Wicked men, as a rule, remain ignorant of their own transgressions.
“Where did you crawl out from, spouting such nonsense?”
Besides which, they tend to be thoroughly stupid.
“Child exploitation, human trafficking, illegal slave trading, filthy deeds too vile to name—the list goes on.”
Artiela recited the charges calmly in a quiet alley where the Darkness of Night still lingered.
The man, handsome enough in a common sort of way, surveyed the people surrounding him. Then, with a smirk, he shoved at Artiela’s shoulder—she was the smallest among them.
“But I was already acquitted! What do you want from me? Do you have evidence? Do you?”
She hadn’t expected him to go quietly.
The alley was narrow, and if onlookers began to gather, it would become tedious. Having resolved to finish before dawn broke, Artiela spoke in a voice that sent shivers down the spine.
“Evidence? I’m here—isn’t that enough?”
Artiela cast off the Robe she’d been wearing. In the same motion, the burly men surrounding the criminal followed suit.
Beneath it, pristine Holy Knight Armor gleamed, and blue cloaks billowed into view.
“Y-you can’t mean… a Holy Knight of Edelion?”
The arrogant man stumbled backward and found his retreat cut off by the knights.
Artiela brushed her tousled golden hair back with deliberate indifference. Then, with elegant precision, she unsheathed her sword and leveled it at the man’s throat.
A blade without edge—the Bardo.
Every citizen of the Empire knew the legend: a mythical sword that only a true knight, one devoted to protecting the weak and upholding justice, could wield against the wicked.
Two years ago, the entire Empire had erupted with news that a knight capable of wielding this sword had finally emerged. For many reasons, that was.
“I am Artiela Soltis, commander of the Holy Knight Order. From this moment forward, by the authority granted to me by God, I shall ascertain your crimes and pass judgment upon you.”
He wasn’t entirely devoid of sense; he grasped what judgment meant. Before the knights could even move to restrain him, he threw himself prostrate upon the ground.
“I merely took in homeless children and women, fed them, gave them shelter. A Holy Judgment, you say? It’s all a terrible misunderstanding.”
“If your aid had been pure, the Divine Sword would not harm you. So why do you fear it?”
Artiela looked down at him with cold eyes and adjusted her grip on the sword with both hands. The man crawled forward and clutched at her pant leg.
“Look into my eyes. Do I strike you as the sort of wicked man you describe?”
“Yes, I’m certain you are.”
“That can’t be true! Look more carefully, please.”
He raised his head and blinked his eyes pitifully.
“There’s a rumor, you know—that the Divine Sword’s master releases the beautiful and handsome without trial?”
His only hope lay in his reputation as one of the Imperial Court’s five most beautiful men, and in that very rumor.
To stir her faith and pity, he deliberately bit the inside of his mouth and squeezed out tears.
“If I pledge all my wealth to the Holy Temple, might you not grant me a normal trial instead?”
A subtle change crossed Artiela’s face, which had been cold throughout. Her brow furrowed slightly, and the corners of her mouth twitched as if she were suppressing a smile.
‘The commander of the Holy Knight Order, the wielder of the Divine Sword—after all, just a woman.’
Emboldened, the man bit at the other side of his mouth, wetting his eyes. Strong women, after all, were always vulnerable to a handsome man’s tears.
“I’ll be good from now on, I promise… please… sir knight?”
And just like that, he turned to ice.
“Shi… wer.”
Artiela, her head bowed, murmured the words. The Darkness of Night pooled around her, and the air grew suffocatingly heavy.
“I… I don’t understand…”
The man gaped, witnessing something beyond his comprehension.
A pale jade radiance, like the light in her eyes, began to flow—it wove itself into the sword in patterns that resembled ancient script. And where none existed before, an edge began to manifest.
The Holy Knights quietly retreated backward. Only then did the man sense something amiss and spun around in alarm.
A prayer for the dying. The priests intoned their sacred words with holy symbols traced between them—there was no need to ask whose prayer it was for.
“P-please, just listen to me for a moment.”
Artiela planted the sword upright before her eyes. As she observed the groveling man, her brow creased, and then she gagged.
“Ugh… repulsive.”
This was the Divine Sword’s power and its curse: to see not appearance, but the soul itself.
‘He’s far worse than what the investigation showed.’
His soul, weighed down by the accumulated filth of his crimes, reeked and festered—as if he were becoming undead himself.
Guard the good; shun the evil.
The faithful knight followed the Word of God to the letter. Accompanied by vigorous fists and savage kicks.
“Don’t thrust that ugly, hideous face at me! You’re so repugnant I want to retch! You monster!”
The man’s mouth fell open in shock. In thirty years, he’d never heard such an insult. As the sun rose and spectators began to gather, it felt as if every finger pointed at him in mockery.
Was this the punishment the Divine Sword was meant to inflict upon the wicked?
Before the jade light traced by the Bardo could even touch his body, his soul had already plummeted into hell—dragged down by shame.
* * *
Once the judgment was complete and the victims had been rescued, the Holy Knight Order returned to the Holy Temple. Artiela went straight to the Garden.
There, spring blossoms of every hue bloomed in abundance.
“Whew!”
As she drew in a deep breath, the sweet scent of violets bloomed across her skin.
“At least looking at something beautiful makes me feel like I might live.”
One would think she’d grow accustomed to it by now. With each passing day, the wretched visages of the souls she judged weighed heavier on her heart.
Artiela closed her eyes for a moment and steadied herself.
“Ati, you said today was especially difficult?”
Just then, a measured voice called from behind.
Her eyes snapped open and she turned to find a woman as serene as her silver hair approaching, a letter in hand.
“Ha ha, Holy Saint, I’m back.”
Artiela bowed with a guilty expression, and the Holy Saint Yusiel sighed.
“You displayed a complete lack of dignity in your conduct, didn’t you? And on top of that, you committed excessive violence while wearing the Holy Knight Armor?”
Somehow word had already reached her.
As Artiela laughed awkwardly, Yusiel laughed along with her.
“Didn’t I tell you to be careful?”
The kind-faced Holy Saint moved behind her and delivered a sharp smack to her back.
“Ow, that hurts, Yusiel!”
The two were fraternal twins.
The closest of friends in all the world.
When Yusiel, who had awakened Divine Power at merely fifteen years old, was revered as a Holy Saint and departed for the Holy Temple, Artiela—who wished to remain by her sister’s side—became a Holy Knight.
She’d labored relentlessly to ensure Yusiel’s reputation suffered no blemish, earning the title of Holy Sword’s Bearer in the process. Though it seemed that achievement had only given her sister more cause for worry.
“No matter how much of a criminal they are, if you just blurt out crude insults like ‘ugly,’ ‘revolting,’ ‘disgusting,’ how is that acceptable?”
“But he was the one clinging to me, saying he’d seduce me with his pathetic face!”
“Is that what you saw reflected in the Holy Sword?”
“No, that was a truly nauseating creature. And even before that, I couldn’t tell he was particularly handsome? The rumor that he deceived women with his looks must have been baseless.”
Artiela shuddered and scratched at her arms.
“Perhaps your standards are simply too high?”
“What are you talking about? A truly beautiful man has a beautiful soul.”
“Does only one of them need to be beautiful?”
“Obviously both should be. If such a man existed, I’d propose to him on the spot and bring him before you. But no—there’s no one like that.”
Yusiel shook her head firmly, then held out the parchment she’d been carrying.
“A letter of protest arrived the moment you left.”
Displeasure clouded the gentle Holy Saint’s face.
“The Emperor again?”
“Yes. He says they plan to prosecute by imperial law, so we mustn’t conduct a Holy Judgment.”
Artiela’s eyebrows shot up in irritation.
“Does that incompetent fool really think he can lecture me? He released vicious criminals for lack of evidence and only multiplied the victims—and I had to clean up every last mess of his.”
Why else would people have flocked to Edelion begging for Holy Judgment?
“Shameless, isn’t he?”
The Imperial Court’s quiet resistance.
It had persisted since the kingdom’s founding. Since the Bearer of the Holy Sword had emerged, the tensions between the Holy Temple and the throne had only intensified.
“They must have plenty to hide. In fact, I heard a rumor, Holy Saint—among those who purchased slaves from the criminal we judged today, there’s a member of the imperial family.”
A dangerous smile crossed Artiela’s face. Yusiel, catching the glint in her twin’s eyes, nodded meaningfully.
But in that very moment, a priest came running, his face drained of color.
“Holy Saint! Disaster! The Imperial Court has sent soldiers to arrest Artiela!”
“How convenient.”
A legitimate opportunity to bring the Empire to heel.

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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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