The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 30

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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 30.
“I can’t just dispose of the Shadow the moment I find it from now on.”
“Why not?”
“The Duke is a necessary sacrifice, but the rest aren’t. He might just leave them to die, like this time.”
I’d just heard Yusiel’s warning.
That was why I worried so much. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand Piter’s heart.
He loves Artiela. I’d known for a long time that the Emperor, the object of court gossip, had made her his beloved.
Yet I pretended not to know—because of his position.
Artiela had no intention of becoming Empress.
“It’s a relief.”
That the Source of Evil wasn’t targeting the Emperor.
There was no malevolent aura in his shadow. I’d been so startled when Yusiel said she’d discovered wicked traces in the Emperor.
I don’t particularly like him, but I don’t think of him as evil either. He loves the Empire and its people more than anything; I thought he wouldn’t fall easily to the temptation of darkness.
And yet it found the smallest weakness and tried to seduce him.
Using me as the bait.
“Contemptible bastard.”
“Who are you speaking of?”
Just then, Kirien drew closer to my side.
He followed along dutifully, but he was careful not to get in her way. Still, it seemed his curiosity got the better of him.
“The Source of Evil. It seizes the easiest weakness in people and shakes them.”
The two of us began walking side by side with practiced ease.
Even the people of the Holy Temple watched the sight without surprise, thinking it a fitting pair.
“I understand why Your Majesty was shaken.”
Artiela stopped short.
How did he know? Had the Emperor been so careless as to show it openly? No—if that were true, the whole world would know about it.
The Emperor who refuses to take an Empress because of the Holy Knight Commander!
If such a rumor spread, pressure would fall on Father and Bleo as well.
“This is the worst.”
Artiela shuddered.
At that, Kirien’s eyes widened. Then he looked down at the ground and asked.
“I thought Holy Knights were allowed to marry.”
“Yes, that’s true. We can commute too. But an Empress isn’t the same thing, is she?”
An Empress has to be confined to the Imperial Palace.
She can only leave the palace for social functions held by a house of ducal rank or higher. What a dreadful existence that would be. She could never even dream of drawing a sword.
When speaking of someone else’s faults, she couldn’t say things directly—she’d have to speak in roundabout ways as a matter of decorum, enduring lectures about propriety. Everything from her clothes to her food becomes fodder for public gossip.
I became a Holy Knight precisely because I hated that.
“And I find social gatherings unbearable.”
“Did something happen to you when you were young?”
“As you can see, I stand apart from my family in appearance, don’t I?”
They all have silver hair and blue eyes. My mother has brown hair and green eyes, though mine lean toward blue-green. Because of this, people didn’t believe Yusiel and I were twins.
There were those who whispered that I was illegitimate.
Yusiel and Mother found and punished all such people, but still—I hated it. The heartache my family suffered on my account, even though they didn’t have to.
“It wasn’t a pleasant experience.”
That was why I cared more for Kirien.
He seemed to share a similar fate.
‘No, that was all because of the Emperor in the first place.’
I’d forgotten.
After Artiela drank poison in place of the Crown Prince, rumors openly spread that she’d been designated the next Crown Princess. The Imperial House claimed it was to repay a debt of gratitude.
That became the reason for the hostility, the source of baseless slander.
Cruel to a young noblewoman who hadn’t even debuted in society yet.
“And I don’t want to leave Edellion.”
“Is it because of the Saint?”
“Yusiel is here, and there are my subordinates who believe in me, and the priests who are always kind to me, and also…….”
Artiela gently stroked the hilt of Bardo’s sheath.
“It’s the place where I can remain myself.”
“I see.”
Kirien broke into a broad smile. For some reason, he seemed to treasure the answer more than Artiela did.
“A place so precious—I should give serious thought to joining the Holy Knight Order myself.”
“But what about your duchy?”
“If I work hard, wouldn’t that be resolved?”
“No, but I don’t think that’s quite it either.”
The two of them chatted away as they made their way toward the library.
For some reason, there were many young noblewomen passing by, but none of them dared approach.
They could only sigh from a distance.
“I didn’t know she could look at someone that way.”
“Ah, I’m jealous.”
“But it’s so beautiful to watch, I can’t even bring myself to feel envious.”
The young noblewomen embraced each other and offered comfort. Then one of them clenched her fist.
Her eyes burned with a fervor unlike any she’d shown before.
“You’ve all heard the rumors, haven’t you? That the young women who confessed to the Duke are now spreading lies about him?”
“Yes, that he threatened them with that face of his, or that he tried to kill one of them—”
“My older brother who works in the Imperial Palace says they’re using that as leverage to demand an outrageous sum in damages from the Duke’s house.”
My goodness, my goodness, my goodness.
The young noblewomen’s eyes grew sharp.
“How could they be so shameless?”
“Who asked them to confess in the first place?”
“Exactly. I heard the Duke already warned them not to come near him because it could be dangerous?”
“Really?”
“Yes, I heard it from the Countess of Soltis.”
One of the young noblewomen stepped forward.
She began to speak of how gracefully Kirien had rejected the noblewomen’s advances, how strong his sense of responsibility was, and how tender-hearted he truly was.
“Oh, how pitiable.”
“Isn’t it? Now do you understand why such a beautiful person couldn’t step forward properly at the soirée, and why we never had the chance to grow close to her?”
“Yes!”
“Even if she can’t be our man, shouldn’t we do what little we can to help her find happiness?”
Just then, Kirien’s laughter drifted toward them from afar.
“Art, after all, is meant to be admired by everyone.”
And Bleo slipped quietly up beside them.
“Oh my, the Countess.”
“Would you ladies be so kind as to sign here?”
He held out a petition.
At last, the time had come to expand the membership of the Duke Rupel’s Sunshine Man Fan Club.
* * *
‘In the beginning, Light and Darkness swirled together in chaos.
The Light, which loved mankind, descended alone to Edellion and sowed hope. Through the sacred tree, it taught humans order, shared wisdom, and brought forth the fruit of happiness.
So radiant that it could no longer align with Darkness.
Jealous of this, Darkness crept down in secret and taught humans betrayal, planted greed within their hearts, and scattered despair. So that the Light would no longer love mankind, and they would be corrupted by hopelessness and return together to chaos.’
Scripture Chapter One – On the Birth of the Source of Evil
Kirien was reading the passage Artiela had found for him.
A mat was spread on the grass, books piled high beside him, and tea and desserts set out nearby.
“So that’s why you told me to live brightly.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But I’ve discovered something interesting.”
Artiela, who had been having tea with Bailey, leaned toward him.
“What is it?”
Kirien pulled out several books and opened them for her to see.
“Look here. It’s specifically when the Source of Evil stirred the world with such violence.”
Artiela’s brow furrowed slightly.
Oh.
“It was when the Saint and the Saintly Knight were sisters.”
Just like now.
……
“I apologize. I shouldn’t have uncovered this.”
“Ha, it’s fine. The ending’s the same anyway, isn’t it?”
Light won.
“But the Source of Evil seems to have appeared in roughly hundred-year cycles, yet this time it took several centuries.”
“Did it?”
Kirien was more of a scholar than expected. One could say he had talents in many areas.
“Yes, if you look here……”
Kirien was trying to pull out another book from the bottom of the stack when it tipped, threatening to spill across his lap.
“Oh, watch out!”
Artiela quickly reached out and caught the book before it fell.
Their foreheads brushed—an unavoidable collision.
“Oh my, are you all right?”
His face was rather close, wasn’t it?
“Ah, yes, I’m fi—”
His ruby-red eyes suddenly widened.
A middle-aged woman was rushing toward them at considerable speed.
“My goodness, Artiela!”
“Oh, Mother!”
Artiela sprang to her feet and quickly positioned herself between Kirien and the newcomer.
“Mother! Please, you must understand—”
The Countess of Soltis gently pushed her daughter aside.
“This handsome young man…”
Silence fell over the Countess. Her eyes, which had been darting about as though searching for something in Kirien’s face, suddenly glistened with tears.
“Mother?”
She looked like a woman with a story to tell.

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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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