The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 36

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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 36.
Artiella immediately examined Kirien beside her.
“Are you all right, Duke?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“And the headache?”
“It’s already passed.”
“Is it… that thing from before?”
Artiella leaned toward Kirien as far as she could to ask.
Kirien, who had bowed slightly, straightened and smiled warmly.
“No. It seems to be something different.”
“Then shouldn’t you see a physician?”
“My vision is clear and I’m breathing well, so I’m fine. It was probably just a headache from sudden tension.”
“Hey, you two—”
Just then Bleo called out to them.
Beside Bleo, who had stepped out of the carriage first, stood Peter with an expression as if he’d swallowed a bug.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I was discourteous.”
“No, but I didn’t know you were with the Duke. Are you allowed to leave Edelion now? And that cloak…”
Peter regarded Kirien with a look of disapproval.
The uniform and blue cloak, which he’d never worn during his time in Edelion under the pretense of the Holy Knight Order experience, seemed out of place.
“I submitted an application to join the Holy Knight Order. I’m still in the admission trials, but I’ve been given permission to wear the uniform as a true novice Holy Knight rather than a mere observer.”
“Impressive.”
Kirien descended from the carriage first.
Then he extended his hand to Artiella, as if proving the promise he’d made someday to escort her himself.
Honestly, the carriage wasn’t that high.
It was a height she could have simply jumped down from, but Artiella gladly took Kirien’s hand.
Peter desperately turned his head toward Bleo to avoid witnessing the sight.
“Why are you here? You don’t have your mother’s ability to sense magic.”
“There didn’t seem to be any reason to stay in Edelion any longer, so I came to get approval to return to my post.”
“Very well, then.”
With Peter’s permission, Bleo cheered and climbed back into the carriage alone.
“Vacation’s over. Haha, finally done!”
He’s lost his mind.
Artiella shook her head and gazed toward the entrance of the Hunting Grounds.
Perhaps because the sun hadn’t set yet—there was none of that peculiar gloominess felt in areas tainted by Dark Magic and Demonic Beasts.
“Would there really be Demonic Beasts in a place like this?”
She’d gone on Demonic Beast hunts before, though not often. The Demonic Essence that Dark Mages plant here and there spreads through water, soil, and air.
Flora and fauna enveloped by it become corrupted and transform into Demonic Beasts.
“I’m not sure if it’s Demonic Essence, but there’s definitely something here.”
A sinister and gloomy presence was faintly perceptible.
Yet it felt subtly different from the Demonic Essence of Dark Mages—wicked, but not quite threatening. A kind of power like that?
“What do you think that is, Yushiel?”
“Huh? I don’t feel anything.”
Yushiel spoke with a puzzled expression. The Hunting Grounds seemed perfectly ordinary to her.
“No, it’s definitely there.”
Artiella closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she sensed a direction from which the gloomy aura emanated.
“It’s over there, I’m telling you.”
“That’s the direction His Majesty found the fox yesterday.”
Persell answered urgently, looking where Artiella was pointing.
“What happened to that fox?”
“Before it could become a Demonic Beast, His Majesty hunted it, and it’s now been sent to the tannery.”
Yushiel furrowed her brow. Even if it hadn’t become a Demonic Beast, it could have served as evidence to track the source.
“I’ll go check it out.”
“Alone?”
Yushiel asked with concern.
“You said you couldn’t feel it yourself, didn’t you? So what does that mean?”
“That’s exactly why you can’t. It means it’s directing its aura at you specifically.”
“No. It…”
It’s definitely the Source of Evil.
“It doesn’t intend to kill me yet.”
If it had wanted to kill me, it would have done so that day. I was completely overwhelmed in terms of power.
“Artiella.”
“The duke can’t go either.”
Artiella checked the Pearl Buttoniere instead of looking at Kirien. It was still pink. Had Kirien lost interest in the matter?
“But going alone is far too dangerous.”
At Yushiel’s words, Artiella held up the Bracelet on her left wrist.
“I have a sacred object. My Holy Power is more than just a puppy’s strength now!”
The sacred object Artiella had received amplified her Holy Power.
“Even so, you can’t.”
Yushiel was resolute. Her pride had been wounded, and that was fair.
She was the greatest wielder of Holy Power in living memory. She had inherited her mother’s affinity for mana and wielded White Magic techniques close to Holy Power at a master’s level.
Yet she could not sense the Source of Evil.
Not even when her younger sister had nearly died.
She had decided to abandon the assumption that the Source of Evil simply hadn’t fully awakened. It was possible it had already awakened and transcended some threshold beyond her perception entirely.
“Come with me. We can’t be separated, not for a moment.”
“I will also—”
“The duke cannot. Neither can His Majesty.”
Both of them would likely become liabilities. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t be taken hostage.
“Everyone returns to the carriage.”
Yushiel herded the entire party into the carriage. Then she gathered twigs and drew sacred symbols densely around it, weaving circles with her own hand.
“None of you are to leave this place under any circumstance.”
She planted the twig on the ground and poured Holy Power into it. Leaves woven from blue Holy Power sprouted thickly along its length.
“If those leaves begin to fall—”
Yushiel’s eyes flicked toward Bleo.
“You have it, don’t you?”
The Teleportation Scroll to the Temple. There was nowhere safer than Edelion.
She hoped desperately they wouldn’t need to use it, but one could never be certain.
Yushiel glanced at Kirien. The man who played at calm composure had become a separation-anxious puppy, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Artiella.
And then there was Peter.
Yesterday’s foul aura was not present. That was expected—she had cleansed and sent him on. But he said he had contacted something that looked like a Demonic Beast again yesterday?
‘So why do I sense nothing at all?’
It felt as if a veil had fallen. Much like the forest beyond where they were heading.
* * *
“Honestly, going alone like this.”
Artiella grumbled the entire way through the forest path.
“How could I know what might happen?”
“But you said it yourself—the Source of Evil might harbor some unrequited affection for me.”
Was that the foundation of this reckless confidence?
“Why can’t I sense that thing?”
“That’s the question. It really is there.”
Artiella pointed her finger toward the center of the forest. But still, Yushiel could not feel that power.
“You said the aura of the duke resembles the traces that Bertia, the missing Holy Knight, left behind?”
“Yes, though it doesn’t quite make sense—”
“I would have left Holy Power instead of an aura.”
That was true. Holy Power was the more stable force, with fewer side effects. It could even heal pain.
“Could it be that she offered her Holy Power as a sacrifice to the Source of Evil and then saved the child from the brink of death, something like that?”
“Well, that is to say—”
It seemed possible.
Bertia had been in grave condition when she went missing, or so she’d heard. Wouldn’t she have begged for anything to protect her child?
But what would the Source of Evil do with Holy Power?
A being of darkness itself couldn’t possibly wield such brilliantly radiant force.
“In any case, the path is longer than it looked from outside.”
The Hunting Grounds were reserved for the imperial family alone, so the grounds were hardly small—
“We should have come on horseback, shouldn’t we, Yushiel?”
Artiella spoke, glancing to her side. But then—
“Yushiel? Yushiel!”
Yushiel, who had been walking beside her, had vanished. At the same moment, the aura she had sensed in the forest completely enveloped Artiella.
* * *
“There doesn’t seem to be any trouble yet.”
Bleo, sitting by the window, drew out the Opera Glasses he carried for reasons even he couldn’t explain, and surveyed his siblings.
Having inherited no abilities whatsoever from his father, Bleo had always watched over his siblings from a distance in this manner.
“Rupel.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Bleo shifted his gaze slowly toward Peter’s dry voice.
“You’ve grown quite close to Artiella, haven’t you?”
“She’s kind to everyone, Your Majesty.”
“True enough. Everyone follows her willingly. She’s compassionate, and strong.”
“I agree.”
Bleo felt a cold sweat prickling his skin—he’d been caught off guard.
“So then, since you’re out and about, why not attend the Nobles’ Council?”
“Me, Your Majesty?”
“Yes. Until now, you’ve been unable to take proper part in state affairs because of incidents and crises, but now you must shoulder the duties befitting your station.”
“I’ll give it consideration.”
“Good. You’ll have much to say about choosing my consort.”
‘Is that really my friend? And what about Kirien?’
As Bleo watched nervously, a charged silence passed between the two men. Then Kirien suddenly clutched at his temple with a spasm.
“Ugh—no, this won’t do.”
He writhed under a pain far more severe than before.
“I… must… tell you…”
Understanding the meaning behind Kirien’s words, forced out between gasps of agony, Bleo threw open the carriage door.
“Artiella! No! Artiella! Where has Artiella gone?”
One of the twins had vanished.

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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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