The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 20

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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 20.
“What is it?”
At Artela’s question, Bleo shook his hand while breathing heavily.
“It’s, huff, just—wheeze—His Majesty says, if you, gasp, tell him yourself, it’ll be fine.”
Bleo managed to finish his sentence before sprawling flat on the bare earth. Here was a man who’d once refused to sit anywhere without a handkerchief laid out—he’d finally grown.
Artela crouched down and splashed water on his forehead, then drew his robe closed for him.
“Wear your clothes when you exercise. This is a holy temple—you need to maintain proper decorum.”
“And you’re the duke’s spit, pfft—”
Since his water-soaked clothes wouldn’t budge, she threw a white cloth over him instead.
“Thanks for the advice, brother.”
Tell the Emperor directly? Hmm.
Artela glanced at Kirien, who was swinging a blade with the holy knights in dead earnest.
“Can I leave him alone?”
He still hadn’t learned to control his Aura—though he no longer rampaged wildly as he once had. Temple life had tamed him.
“Go by yourself. It’ll be easier to convince him that way, won’t it?”
At that moment, Bleo propped himself up from below and gulped down water before answering.
“Really? Why?”
“Because… you saved my life once.”
“Did I? I was so young I don’t even remember it.”
There was a hazy memory of exchanging breaths with him a few times.
It must have been shortly after the stepmother—the Empress—became pregnant. Artela had gone to the Imperial Palace to play with Yusiel.
But it was then that someone tried to assassinate the Crown Prince.
“You ate all the snacks that you and Yusiel had prepared for the young Prince…”
Bleo’s eyes grew slightly red. He’d been a child then too; it must still linger as a wound.
“Ah, so that’s when it was.”
Artela scratched her head. Truth be told, she’d remembered it only as a severe stomachache. The Imperial Palace food had been so repulsive she’d sworn never to visit again.
‘Come to think of it, after that the Emperor used to visit our house quite often.’
Living under the shadow of assassination threats, he’d frequently ventured outside the palace. It was a strategy to make himself bait in order to catch his enemies.
Fortunately, it had worked. The late Emperor had personally eliminated all of his successor’s rivals to protect the heir he cherished.
“But it’s still strange. He drank poison that should’ve killed him instantly, yet he just lay ill for a few days and recovered?”
Might Yusiel have had something to do with it? Before she’d awakened her Holy Power, she might have unconsciously used her strength.
“I see…”
“What, what?”
“A monster.”
Artela’s eyes flashed with terrifying intensity.
If that’s how it is, then following the Holy Knight Ethics Code is definitely the best course.
“Brother, today you do a hundred practice swings with the wooden sword! Frail, don’t count any reps where his form is wrong.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“No, wait, little sister—”
“Take him away.”
Artela firmly dismissed her brother and then turned her attention back to Kirien.
“You know, the Duke has real talent as a knight! I mean it!”
“Exactly! Why not stay in Edelion and continue your sword training?”
“Since the Duke arrived, our Captain’s been in such high spirits, it’s been wonderful to… no, I mean—Captain!”
These lot.
But since Kirien was laughing, she let it slide.
Before going to see the Emperor, she should ask Yusiel for a favor. If she slipped away during evening Meditation and came back quickly, nothing should go wrong, right?
* * *
Artela arrived at the Imperial Palace at the hour when the Darkness Hours covered all the roads. Passing through a garden wider than most grand mansions, she reached the main palace where the Emperor resided, and an attendant came to meet her.
“His Majesty is waiting for you.”
Artela dismounted, and the imperial guard took her horse. She started to surrender her blade as the other knights did.
She couldn’t enter armed to meet the Emperor.
“There’s no need to surrender the Holy Sword. It’s in the form of a practice blade with no sharp edge.”
Was this the confidence of a very upright man?
There was nothing to lose. Artela bowed to the knight, then followed the attendant’s guidance.
But then.
“Aren’t we going to the study or the reception room?”
“His Majesty is waiting in the banquet hall.”
“He dines at this late hour?”
“Upon hearing that the Holy Knight Order’s Captain would be visiting, His Majesty postponed the meal time.”
Awkward.
Time had been tight, so she’d skipped dinner before coming—the restaurant had been packed tonight, diners lingering at their tables.
Apparently the young noble ladies with an interest in Kirien and the aristocrats newly fascinated by the cursed duke had all been waiting for him.
Word had it that merchants and minor nobles seeking investment from the wealthy Duke Yuphailer had descended on the Holy Temple in droves.
In the end, Kirien and Bleo had agreed to dine with Yusiel at the saint’s residence instead. After the meal, Yusiel would hear their confessions herself.
In any case, Artela had gone without supper.
‘He’s remarkably fast when it counts.’
Probably Bleo’s doing. She saw them both daily now. It annoyed her that he broadcast not just Kirien’s state, but intelligence on everyone around him.
The Emperor’s involvement only made it more uncomfortable.
“This way.”
As she stopped before the grand doors, another attendant swung them wide open.
“Your Majesty, Artela Solthis, Commander of the Holy Knight Order of Edelion, has arrived.”
“Welcome, Artela.”
Peter rose from his seat and approached her, calling her by the familiar name with easy grace. The attendant flinched slightly, but Peter simply smiled warmly and withdrew.
“The Sun of the Empire honors me with an audience.”
Artela bowed respectfully.
As she straightened, Peter was already there before her, his smile brilliant.
“There’s no need for formality between us.”
……
She’d noticed it before, but he was treating her too familiarly. He did the same with Yusiel.
She understood he was close to Bleo and her father, and she was grateful he considered her a benefactor, but—
‘This is uncomfortable!’
It weighed on her.
Artela stared at the Emperor’s outstretched hand—offered to escort her—then finally spoke.
“I haven’t come for a banquet, Your Majesty.”
“I know. You came seeking permission for Yuphailer’s Holy Trial.”
“Yes, and since I came on official business—”
“I’ve heard about the Founding Emperor’s promise when he granted Edelion its lands. The Holy Temple handling the Imperial Palace’s troublesome Grand Duke Yuphailer? I have no grounds to object.”
Was that the end of it?
If he meant to simply grant permission, why summon her to the palace at all? A letter would have sufficed.
“But I still don’t believe Yuphailer is the true instigator, so I think we need to talk further about this.”
He still thought Kirien was responsible, then.
“The Bardo does not recognize the duke as a subject for judgment.”
“A Holy Sword can be mistaken.”
“What makes you so certain?”
“Purcel and I only witnessed evidence being destroyed, but Yuphailer testified to me that he conducted that business venture alongside the duke.”
Artela’s brow rose slightly.
Did he truly believe that tadpole had spoken nothing but truth?
“This conversation seems likely to grow long—wouldn’t it be better to dine together? I’ve had Count Solthis prepare all the dishes you enjoyed when you were at the manor, so let me show you my sincerity.”
Could she possibly swallow food while working?
And in the palace, no less—where she’d once eaten poisoned food as a child?
“I’ve eaten already. Just tea, please.”
The corners of Peter’s eyes drooped slightly. His expression turned apologetic. Yet his mouth curved into a bright smile.
“Even that means something, if we share it.”
The smile carried a hint of bitterness.
* * *
Meanwhile, Kirien was having a private session with the saint—or rather, a confession.
“Welcome, Duke Kirien.”
A flutter of tension rose within him.
Through Meditation, he’d learned to calm his mind and sense his Aura, but he still couldn’t achieve perfect control over the Aura that surged unbidden.
“If you keep tensing like that, you might bring down the saint’s office, and our Artela would be heartbroken.”
Then Yusiel spoke first.
“Pardon?”
“So perhaps we should work on settling your mind a bit?”
“Ah, yes—forgive me. I’ll try to call to mind Commander Artela’s teachings.”
Yusiel pressed her laughter down hard.
It seemed there was a certain charm in teasing them both. Artela’s reactions were entertaining enough, but this guileless duke’s responses were hardly any less so.
‘This might actually work.’
Perhaps this was the chance to completely erase what all the previous saints had only been able to seal away—the root of evil itself.

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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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