The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 49

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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 49.
“Hack, hack, hack.”
“Oh? Knight, that person looks like they’re going to cough themselves to death.”
At the child’s innocent observation, Kirien covered her mouth with a handkerchief and managed a reply.
“Hack, hack, hack—it’s not, ahem, nothing like that.”
“Oh, you’re alive then.”
“No, I mean—man… that is, it’s just not… yet…”
“Huh?”
The child tilted her head toward Artiela in confusion. Kirien, flushed from coughing, looked at Artiela as well.
Had she overdone it?
Well, this was payback for all those times she’d embarrassed him with face attacks, so it was only fair.
“Ha ha, comrade—that’s what I meant. This handsome gentleman here is also with the Holy Knight Order.”
“Oh, I see! Wow, that’s amazing.”
“But are you working here at the tavern?”
She seemed too young to be a maid just yet.
“Yes! The village next door is where we live. I stay with my grandmother and help out here sometimes. And my sister comes home whenever she gets leave from the temple.”
“I see. I saw Leizy at the temple not long ago—she bakes such wonderful cookies.”
“Hehe, she wrote me a letter. She said seeing you in person made you even more amazing than she thought, and I was so jealous I can’t even tell you.”
“Really?”
“So I wrote down a wish and asked her to hang it on the temple’s wish tree, and it came true.”
The child’s innocent eyes were so adorable that Artiela gently stroked her hair.
“What did you write?”
“That the bad man would be punished!”
The Holy Trial had already taken care of the kidnapper long ago.
“My sister said he was the bad man! The Emperor arrested him, and he suddenly died under divine judgment.”
So it had been Duke Ypeiler.
Thank goodness they’d rescued her in time. It could have been a disaster.
“And I also asked to be able to thank the amazing knight directly.”
The child gripped her skirt with both hands and gave a proper, graceful bow.
“Thank you so much for saving me back then.”
In that moment, the bracelet that amplified Holy Power responded. A clear, forceful current of energy surged directly into Artiela’s body.
“Oh, I’m grateful to you too.”
Artiela’s eyes widened. She glanced at Kirien as she spoke.
“It’s true, isn’t it? Granting a wish really does boost Holy Power.”
But Kirien was looking down at his own hands. As if he’d felt something.
“I also…”
“What? Did your Holy Power increase?”
“I’m not quite sure. I felt something warm, but…”
“It must be Holy Power! Let me see!”
Artiela quickly grabbed his hand with her left palm. His Holy Power, which had been so faint she could barely sense it before, had indeed grown slightly.
But it felt different from Artiela’s own Holy Power.
Hers was small in magnitude but carried a grand, forceful will—like her aura itself. His was… well, how to describe it? Soft and thrilling, overwhelming in its sweetness.
Like it was…
‘No, wait—is that just his heartbeat?’
Thump-thump. The pulse she felt at Kirien’s wrist was distinctly pronounced.
“Sister and brother, you’re both blushing!”
This time, she’d truly lost her composure.
Artiela hastily withdrew her hand and attacked her stew with vigor. Very vigorously.
Kirien picked up his spoon this time too. Unlike Artiela, he ate with exquisite grace.
‘How is even eating so beautiful?’
A severe case, truly.
‘Come on, should I just… claim her?’
As long as it wasn’t forced, Bardo would understand. Probably. Probably. As long as she didn’t make suggestive comments in front of the celibate priests in the temple…
But Kirien had become a Holy Knight specifically to be with her, so if they were to court, they’d inevitably have to keep dating at the temple, and then the priests would definitely make those barbed remarks…
Had she gone mad?
Artiela shook her head frantically and devoured her stew.
* * *
The moment the sun rose the next day, Artiela and Kirien mounted their horses again.
Kirien, who had dismounted so smoothly the day before, was now receiving Artiela’s help once more as he climbed onto his horse.
“Your thighs aren’t bothering you?”
“Pardon?”
“Beginners tend to put all their strength in their legs, which leaves them vulnerable in the groin area.”
“That’s… fine, really.”
Hmm. She hadn’t slept well last night, tossing and turning the whole time.
Artiela had been up watching over her all night, worried she might slip back into nightmares because of the orphanage director.
“We have plenty of time today, so we can take it slow. Once we meet up with Frail, lodging should already be arranged.”
“That’s a shame. I was hoping to cut costs going forward.”
I could have sworn I just heard something odd.
Artiela, who had been leading the horse, decided to stop at a village midway through to grab lunch. But the town seemed unusually bustling. Guards were posting notices all over the open spaces.
“A wanted poster, maybe?”
After tying the horse outside the tavern, Artiela was curious about the contents, but since Kirien was alone, she went inside first. That’s when Kirien unfolded a letter.
“Commander Blelo just sent this. It seems the Marriage Ban Edict is actually going to be enforced.”
“That must be what they’re putting up everywhere.”
Duke Rupel’s house had officially opposed it, but the rest of the nobility eventually accepted it. Apparently, they’re using it as an excuse to control their daughters who are in love affairs.
It was absurd.
“And the Black Mages have broken into Grand Duke Ypeiler’s residence and stolen something.”
This was worrying.
Both the thieves and the victim are connected to the source of evil, aren’t they?
“Hmm, surely not.”
“What do you mean?”
“Grand Duke Ypeiler didn’t happen to possess the Tear of God, did he?”
Looking at it any way, that’s the only thing the Black Mages would be after.
“…….”
“…….”
Her instinct felt like it wouldn’t be wrong.
* * *
Before a dark corner of the Magic Tower, a figure in a black robe prostrated itself flat.
“Here, I have brought the object that you, O Divine One, commanded us to find.”
Then a black shadow slowly took shape and revealed itself.
It was not human in form. Too solid to call it vapor, yet too vaporous to call it a sphere.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, Your Divinity.”
A faint chuckle escaped at the word “divinity.”
Divinity? Yes—beings like itself must be divine to them as well?
“No, you got it wrong.”
“Pardon? But… it was in the residence you indicated, Your Divinity.”
“Fools.”
The black shadow’s voice was bewitching. Even as it rebuked them, the Black Mages trembled as though receiving divine revelation, chanting words of praise.
“Grant us your wisdom, O Divine One.”
“If that were truly the Tear of God, would you wretches still be in one piece?”
The Tear of God is known for its purifying properties. In particular, it reacts immediately upon contact with anything wicked.
So if a mere Black Mage dared to lay hands on it directly, they should have been prepared to lose an arm or two.
“Then… perhaps…”
If they sent it anyway knowing that, perhaps it meant they were willing to die proving it was a holy relic.
At their trembling forms, the black shadow laughed softly. The Emperor’s regaining his wits had forced him to use pawns that were far too dim-witted to be of use.
“Had that been genuine, I would have descended into your very body myself. You who desire great power.”
“Y-yes, Your Divinity.”
A command to use up all the relic’s power and then die.
Weak humans blindly follow those they call divine.
“Return and search again. That foolish imperial bastard certainly has the true one.”
“Yes, Your Divinity. I shall return.”
After the Black Mage vanished, the shadow emerged from the darkness once more. This time it was not a blurry sphere, but a far more distinct form.
Like a reflection floating upon water.
Bearing Kirien’s likeness.
“Humans are such fools. No matter how many times you tell them love is nothing but greed, they never understand.”
It is desire, pure and simple, that destroys oneself.
Because it harbors no intent to harm others, it becomes all the sweeter, all the more insidious—a power that can hide in the deepest places.
It was only a hair’s breadth from a vile heart. Just look at that Emperor to see how easily the desire to possess another person can corrupt.
That so-called holy knight Bertia from before was the same.
At that moment, Kirien’s heartbeat became distinctly perceptible, drumming steadily.
It was a sensation he’d long forgotten.
That quickening thrill, that electric rush—such exhilaration.
“Savor it a while longer. Soon enough, our positions will be reversed.”
The shadow retreated back into darkness. A new shadow fell across the space where he 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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