The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 52

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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 52.
* * *
Artiela burst out of the inn, leaping onto the roof in a single bound before sprinting away across the rooftops.
She felt Kirien following close behind, but she didn’t turn to look back.
Her disappointment ran too deep for that.
“Because I must always offer my neck to the master of the Holy Sword who showed me such grace.”
Was he still determined to keep that old vow? Maybe guilt over her injured right hand drove him to it.
Was it so easy for virtuous souls to sacrifice themselves?
Or was this simply his way of repaying a debt?
She’d never asked him for that.
“And yet I begged him to take responsibility.”
Yes, that was what hurt most.
She had promised him—sworn to shoulder his burden, to free him from the misery that had haunted his entire life.
So protecting him should have been her duty alone.
“Called a savior, am I?”
The one truly shocked and wounded right now was probably Kirien.
To learn that the curse tormenting him his whole life—born from his own mother’s hands—was her doing.
That was why she couldn’t bring herself to rage at him.
A different Paladin would have beaten him senseless for this.
“All right. Let me calm down first.”
Only after she had run far enough did Artiela finally stop, dropping onto a rooftop to catch her breath.
The night wind blew across her face, and slowly her nerves began to settle. Her mind, too, grew clearer.
And with that clarity came an uncomfortable unease.
The vision shown by the Holy Tree didn’t align with the letter’s contents.
『My son, whom I saved with my own life.』
Bertia must have sensed she would need to sacrifice herself for her son and left these words in her letter as a final gift.
Yet the Bertia in the vision shown by the Holy Tree was alive—meeting the end cradled in grown Kirien’s arms.
“She wasn’t the Source of Malice, after all…….”
Artiela closed her eyes and replayed the vision in her mind.
The person mourning over Bertia had been unmistakably the virtuous Kirien. There was none of the distinctive seductive darkness that emanated from a Source of Malice.
There was something else that didn’t fit.
Even accounting for rigorous training and a well-maintained physique, Bertia’s appearance in the vision was far too young. Especially considering she was the same age as Artiela’s own mother.
“I don’t know.”
What would she report to Usiciel tomorrow? If she relayed the letter’s contents exactly as written, what would her sister’s reaction be?
As a Saint, wouldn’t she naturally prioritize eradicating the Source of Malice?
And Bardo? If one person’s sacrifice could save the world, would that be justice?
“What if I can’t do that?”
Would the sword then strip her of the right to be its master?
Artiela channeled Aura into her left hand. If her resolve wasn’t righteous, Bardo would reject her.
“Thank heavens.”
The pale-green Aura seeped into Bardo, illuminating mysterious patterns along its blade.
“Thank you, Bardo.”
Artiela drew the sword close and pressed her lips against it.
Good! I have my answer now—let’s see this through to the end!
“Wait……?”
Where was she exactly?
She’d jumped across rooftops indiscriminately, guided only by her instincts, and lost all sense of direction. The place was dark and empty, devoid of people, yet somehow familiar.
“Oh no, it’s a temple.”
She had trespassed without meaning to.
“I beg your pardon.”
Artiela looked around and spotted a courtyard, leaping down into it. All the doors leading to the chapel and prayer hall were locked, so entering the interior seemed impossible.
She could easily shatter the locks with Bardo, but something told her there was no need. The sacred aura here, though subtler than what radiated from Edelion, felt concentrated in the courtyard itself rather than within the building.
Following the resonance of that power, Artiela moved with purpose until she came to a halt before a small tomb.
“This is…….”
There was a tombstone.
But nothing was written on it. Still, Artiela knew with certainty this was Bertia’s grave.
Or more precisely, the place where she had met her end.
Or would meet it? Either way.
“Hmm, nothing particularly special…….”
There didn’t seem to be any Sacred Relic within the tomb.
If that were the case, she should have felt a far stronger power. The bracelet on her left wrist would have reacted to the Sacred Relic’s Holy Power as well.
“Hmm.”
Artiela hesitated, uncertain what to do.
On a night like this, without permission, was it right to disturb someone else’s grave? She should have asked the deceased’s only descendant for consent before coming.
Just then, a butterfly with a blue shimmer appeared from somewhere, fluttering its wings in circles above Artiela’s head.
“Oh? Is that Usiciel?”
No. More precisely, it was the Holy Tree.
The moment Artiela realized this, the butterfly led her to the gravestone and fluttered eagerly in front of it, as if urging her to place her hand there.
Since it was the Holy Tree that had guided her this far, shouldn’t she trust it?
Still, she couldn’t trust her right arm, so she reached out with her uninjured left hand instead.
“Ahhh! A g-ghost!”
Why was the gravestone shaking?!
Artiela reflexively wrapped herself in Aura and Holy Power. And that triggered an absolutely catastrophic result.
With a thunderous boom, the ground split clean in half.
“Oh no, have I done something terrible again?”
She’d destroyed the grave that the late Duke Rupel had so carefully tended.
Though without a coffin inside, calling it a grave was questionable to begin with.
* * *
Bertia really might be alive.
To bring this extraordinary news, Artiela ran back toward the Inn, naturally cutting across the rooftops once more.
‘Perhaps that letter was written as a lie too.’
She needed to verify the old woman’s spirit.
If Bertia hadn’t written it, then who had? The Source of Malice?
‘Damn it, Frail—how did he handle this?’
Had he failed to properly verify her identity?
Though to be fair, she couldn’t claim she bore no responsibility either.
She’d heard only the name Bertia and never bothered to confirm whether the old woman harbored any malice.
Of course, the letter Bertia left might be genuine. Her Aura had been embedded in the sealing wax on the envelope.
Either way, she had to tell Kirien about this discovery first.
If there was another way to break the Curse, then she wouldn’t entertain that thought about sacrificing herself ever again.
“Is it over there?”
As Artiela leaped over the last roof, she glanced down.
‘Oh no, it’s Kirien!’
Seeing him now made her feel embarrassed.
The memory of how she’d shrieked and rushed out was crystal clear in her mind again. How utterly unbecoming of her.
“Huff, huff.”
Once she reached the Inn, Artiela caught her breath. She owed him an apology for the harsh words she’d spoken, so she needed to compose herself mentally.
But was everyone asleep already? Why was the Inn so quiet?
Without even heightening her Aura Sensing, she could hear exactly what Kirien was saying.
“Artiela, it’s not because I want to find the Sacred Relic quickly so I can die together with the Source of Malice. It’s because I want to heal your arm quickly.”
Oh! It had all been a misunderstanding.
Artiela felt such shame that she wanted to disappear into the floor. Those words had been for her sake, yet she’d responded by shrieking accusations like he was mad.
And listen to that wavering in his voice.
How upset he must have been. He was such a person to worry, afraid she might lose faith in him.
Artiela rushed toward the edge of the roof, ready to descend.
“That way, I can send you the Proposal Letter I wrote when we first met with a clear heart.”
Wait. Stop.
Artiela screeched to a halt and stepped back behind the roof’s peak.
‘What did I just hear?’
A Proposal Letter?
So back then, at the Duke’s Mansion, he’d really written a Proposal Letter? Was what Bailey said actually true? Then, could it be…?
‘Did he fall for me at first sight?’
She felt her face growing hotter by the moment.
What was she supposed to say in response?
But wait—she’d just dug up her birth mother’s grave without permission. Was it right to accept a proposal now?
But when would they marry? Had there ever been a Paladin couple in Edelion? Should she introduce him to her parents anew?
Hold on, more importantly…
‘The Imperial Marriage Prohibition!’
That Emperor really seems useless for anything in life.
Then, Kirien’s voice came again from below.
“If it’s because you dislike me and don’t wish to answer…….”
“No, that’s not it!”
Artiela cried out in haste and leaped down from beneath the eaves.
Oh, a mistake.
She hadn’t meant to land right on top of him.

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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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