The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 103

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 103.
The place where Kirien was bound was far more saturated with Holy Power than where they had confined the Dark Sorcerer before.
In other words, the Sacred Tree.
“But people can see us…….”
Artiela gazed at Kirien, bound to the tree, with pitying eyes.
Unlike the Dark Sorcerer before, they hadn’t left his limbs dangling in midair—instead, they’d wrapped vine around his waist against the trunk, his hands and feet shackled with Restraints.
Artiela quietly reached out and took his hand.
Ushiel watched with clouded eyes and spoke.
“We’ll keep him like this only until Bailey wakes. And I’ve restricted access to this place to us alone for now, so don’t worry about curious onlookers.”
“Will this actually help?”
“Who knows? At least it’ll be easier to observe.”
That was Ushiel’s reasoning: to watch Kirien’s condition, to understand at what moment the Source of Malice seized control of his body. Only then could they prepare a response.
No historical record, not even the forbidden texts, documented such a case. So Ushiel’s logic was to gather as much information as possible—preparedness required data.
“Besides, you’ll be on standby here anyway.”
There were also instructions: if Kirien began to change, Artiela should kiss him immediately to drive the entity back.
“Hmm, nothing you won’t say to your sister.”
“First, let’s use the Holy Sword and the Mirror of Truth to assess the Duke’s condition.”
At Ushiel’s prompting, Artiela had no choice but to gaze into Kirien’s soul with the Holy Sword.
His soul was still beautiful. The light had grown more radiant, and his inner radiance matched his outward beauty. The difference was only that it had become clearer.
It was proof his soul had grown healthier.
“He’s fine.”
“Any trace of the dark shadow?”
At Ushiel’s request, she looked deeper into the shadow as well.
The unsettling black shadow that had been present before—there was no trace of it. The Mirror of Truth confirmed the same.
Next, Ushiel used the Sacred Tree’s power to examine his condition.
“This is…….”
“What is it?”
“The Curse Bond Strength has grown stronger.”
“Stronger than before? Is that why the creature can slip in and out of Kirien’s body so easily?”
Ushiel nodded.
The shadow of the Curse connected to the surrounding darkness—the black cord linking them had grown as vivid as Kirien’s strengthened soul. They were pulling taut against each other.
One side wanting to break free, the other reaching to draw closer.
As the cord had stretched taut, the Curse Bond Strength had intensified, and with it, the distance between them had shrunk.
“That’s why the creature can approach the Duke now without expending as much effort as before.”
This was the root of their crisis.
Yet it might also be a sign of hope. A taut cord snaps more easily than a slack one.
“First, confirm whether the creature enters when his physical strength or Holy Power drops, and whether physical contact with you can drive it out.”
At Ushiel’s command, Artiela tilted her head in confusion.
How was she supposed to drain the physical strength and Holy Power of someone bound like this? Ushiel let out a soft laugh and pointed with his finger at the Miraculous Fruit.
A small fruit, not yet ripe.
“Why did a miracle happen when that hasn’t even fully ripened yet?”
Right?
The petals had only just fallen. The stamens were still there, damp, hanging as they were—at about the stage of a human fetus newly implanted in the womb.
So it couldn’t really be called fruit yet.
“Could it mean there’s an even greater miracle waiting to happen?”
Artiela nodded vigorously without thinking. Yes, that was what they needed now.
To save even Sir Bertia, who had borrowed Bailey’s body, to restore Kirien, to completely erase the Source of Malice—they needed a truly great miracle.
“So we need to nurture it more, don’t we, Duke?”
Kirien understood as well.
“Don’t use your Aura. Right now, that’s the only way we can tell you apart from the creature.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll be treating Bailey. There’s bleeding, internal injuries……. But even when she wakes, I can’t promise whether it will be Bailey or Sir Bertia.”
“That’s acceptable. Bailey is like a mother to me, so please save her, no matter whose consciousness it is.”
At Kirien’s request, Ushiel nodded.
Artiela also gazed with fervent hope.
“Come back safe, Ushiel.”
“Be careful, and if anything goes wrong, abandon the Duke and run to me.”
Ushiel made a gesture across his throat with his hand—as if saying he’d kill the Source of Malice or whatever it was right along with Kirien if it came to that.
Why would the creature come out if we scared it like that?
* * *
It was the night of the fourth day.
Kirien poured out his Holy Power while fasting near completely, consuming nothing but water, so his strength bottomed out quickly.
Had Artiela not tended to him from beside, feeding him water sweetened with honey and salt, he might have collapsed long before. Of course, the care of the Sacred Tree had surely helped as well.
Soon, Kirien’s head drooped as he poured his Holy Power carefully into the fruit. Artiela, who had been dozing beside him, snapped awake at the sound.
“Kirien?”
He answered with a soft chuckle.
“You look so cute when you’re asleep, you know.”
He’d come.
Artiela rose to her feet and smoothly drew the Bardo.
“Even if you stab me with that, it’s this body that dies, right?”
“But your life ends too, doesn’t it?”
Artiela’s cold observation had struck true. He smiled quietly, the corners of his mouth rising.
“Yes, that’s right. We’re bound as one.”
Artiela withdrew the Mirror of Truth quietly. But again, his form remained unchanged. Perhaps that was the meaning behind Butonié’s strange reaction as well.
“When did you settle into Kirien’s body?”
He’d been seeping in for quite a long time already.
Not even as a shadow, but deep within him—somewhere deeper still.
“Who knows? Think about it yourself. When was I, and when was that naive fool playing innocent?”
Was this mockery? Or a lie?
“You don’t think I can’t tell the difference, do you?”
“You distinguished perfectly well, didn’t you? The boy seemed to have caught on too. So I only ventured out when my sacrifice lost consciousness from time to time.”
So it was him—the one Artiela had seen in her dream.
Still, even as a knight, her senses were sharp enough to detect a presence. How had he hidden himself? He’d seemed to enter without even opening a door.
Had she let her guard down because it was Kirien’s body?
He answered to the shift in Artiela’s gaze.
“I’m a being that feeds on human desire.”
Artiela’s face flushed crimson. That statement made it sound as though she’d wanted Kirien to sneak in at night, and he’d obliged!
“Psychic attacks are off limits, remember?”
To exploit a Holy Knight’s shame like this—he truly was vile.
“It’s because I haven’t beaten him yet. Attempts to harm you never seem to work, after all.”
Did that mean he couldn’t harm Artiela?
There was something else strange.
Unlike those who had accepted the Source of Malice through Dark Magic rituals, no malice or dark energy flowed from the current Kirien.
It didn’t seem as though Edelion’s pure aura was suppressing him.
“What’s your goal?”
At Artiela’s question, his eyes widened.
“Edelion becoming the Land of Chaos once more?”
That was a story from scripture itself.
Destruction and Chaos—that was the very reason the Source of Malice fundamentally opposed the Master of the Holy Sword.
“That was the original reason for my existence, and the goal of my life.”
Yet strangely, his eyes were hollow.
“I’ve forgotten.”
“What?”
Was there truly no point in conversing with a madman? His words made no sense. Artiela calmly wrapped an emerald Aura around the Bardo.
She meant to see what the Source of Malice’s soul looked like.
Naturally, his form until now could not have been his true nature. Perhaps this moment was closest to his essence.
“How is it? My soul?”
At the Source of Malice’s question, Artiela found herself at a loss for words.
“Why is it……”
“Is my soul beautiful too?”
Yes. It was.
Black, certainly—but it glimmered and shone. Like black tourmaline, perhaps.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————