The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 53

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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 53.
“Move, please!”
You’ll get hurt!
Artiela knew perfectly well that she could redirect her body in midair by surrounding herself with Aura. But she didn’t want to.
Because he had stretched out both arms and was ready to catch her.
“Ah!”
“Are you all right?”
“K-Kirien, are you okay?”
“Mother’s Aura protected me.”
The gifted Holy Knight had saved her son.
Artiela gazed up at Kirien’s face while cradled in his arms.
“Artiela.”
The moment he called her name, she jolted awake and struggled free from his embrace.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.”
“No, I mean—for shouting like that and running off without a word.”
“That was my fault for not explaining things properly.”
“No, I overreacted. I thought you were saying you’d die for me again…….”
Artiela turned away. Her eyes were growing wet again.
“You said it when we stayed in Edelion, in front of Mother too—always talking about dying for me. Even after I promised I’d take responsibility and save you myself.”
“That feeling will never change.”
“……See! That’s exactly why I—”
Artiela lifted her head to argue further, then saw his face and fell silent.
He was being unfair—attacking her defenses again.
Without permission, he buried his face in her shoulder.
This was always a losing battle. Infuriatingly so.
“Just as Ati cares for me, I wish to care for Ati too.”
“…….”
“I want to become strong enough to protect you. After all, the root of evil is ultimately targeting you.”
“But…….”
Kirien lifted his head. Then he met Artiela’s eyes.
“So wouldn’t it be better if we continued protecting each other?”
“……I suppose so.”
“For a lifetime?”
“Y-yes, perhaps?”
Artiela spoke those words quickly and looked down at the floor. Apart from her affection for Kirien, there was something she needed to say.
“But I can’t live as a duchess.”
Though Kirien hadn’t proposed to her yet, she needed to be clear about this.
She’d said the same thing to Piter, and this was Artiela’s conviction.
If he was disappointed by that, there was nothing to be done…….
“I want to live as a Holy Knight. I have no aptitude for and no desire to live as a duchess—attending social functions, managing estates, overseeing internal affairs. None of it appeals to me.”
“That’s fine.”
“But Kirien—”
You’re the master of House of Rupel. So you need a lady to manage those things.
Artiela suddenly understood why Bertia couldn’t be with the Duke of Rupel.
Her mother often said that Artiela resembled her, especially in her bearing and heart as a Holy Knight.
That sense of duty had kept her from leaving the temple, even for the person she loved. And Artiela was no different.
“Isn’t that why I enlisted?”
“What?”
“So I can always be by Ati’s side.”
“But that might be—”
Isn’t that irresponsible? What about the people tied to your lands?
Reading Artiela’s thoughts, Kirien answered with a smile.
“Couldn’t I donate the entire territory to Edelion if needed?”
Well, that’s not a bad idea, but…….
“I’ll have to decline managing imperial lands on behalf of the empire—it would violate my oath.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Eyes that had always trembled with anxiety now held one person steadily within them.
Just watching that made her heart swell. Someone who found happiness in something so small.
So why couldn’t Bertia…….
“Oh, Kirien! You know what? It seems Lady Bertia—your mother—she’s still alive. There was no coffin in the tomb!”
“What? What are you saying?”
“So the person who cursed you is still alive, which means we can find them and ask them to lift the curse.”
Then they could break free of the curse without the Goddess’s Tears. There would be no need to perish alongside the root of evil.
“Right, so that’s what your mother meant in her letter. If we just hold on a little longer, ah!”
Artiela was suddenly swept into Kirien’s embrace, so tightly she could barely speak.
“K-Kirien?”
“When you said mother—did I understand your meaning correctly?”
No, that doesn’t seem like the important thing right now…….
“I, I think so?”
Artiela was too embarrassed to answer properly. But Kirien seemed to understand anyway.
“Thank you.”
“For what, really.”
“For giving me a reason to live every single day.”
You can’t help yourself when you hear words like that.
Artiela withdrew her arms and hugged him back, patting his back gently while not forgetting to slip in a shameless request.
“From now on, every time the Holy Trial ends, you stay right by my side.”
“Hmm?”
“My eyes need immediate purification, you see.”
Mother was right.
A man should be handsome to look at.
Which is why he had to be tall enough to want to nestle against like this, with good bone structure, a voice as beautiful as his face, and besides, well…….
‘If only that ridiculous Marriage Prohibition didn’t exist.’
She would have devoured him.
Such a shame.
Even an unjust law was still law, and the owner of Bardo could not bring herself to break it.
* * *
“Ugh.”
One of the dark sorcerers gathered in the Magic Tower collapsed to the floor.
“Did we search everywhere thoroughly?”
“P-please show mercy, my god.”
“You failed to finish the job properly, and now you ask for mercy? Do you truly believe I possess such a thing?”
The black shadow’s fingers tightened with force.
Or rather, had the shadow grown more distinct, more defined?
The dark sorcerer’s neck constricted as the shadow’s form grew increasingly beautiful; he writhed in agony yet stared with entranced eyes.
“S-save me, and this time I will……ack!”
The dark sorcerer went limp.
The black shadow hurled the sorcerer into a corner of the Magic Tower, then gazed at its own hand with curious wonder.
Was the time truly drawing near?
-Having me by your side cannot be a wicked desire, can it?
No, that was true.
To covet that woman while knowing what fate he was born to—that was sin.
“Almost there now.”
The black shadow traced its tongue across its lips.
Wearing a satisfied smile, it recalled the Holy Knight it had met in the past.
“A lie! Impossible! My child! My child in my womb—the root of evil?!”
On the day that woman drew the Holy Sword, it had merely revealed the truth to come. That alone had driven her to madness.
She was a Holy Knight of deep faith, and a mother of fierce maternal love.
To choose faith, she would have to kill her own unborn child. To save her child, she would have to abandon god and world.
That conflict led her exactly where he desired. The woman broke the sacred law to save her child.
A curse forged in divine power.
And that curse would come to completion in a direction she could never have imagined.
“I’ll feed you my child’s dark heart. Then you can endlessly consume the heart of the most virtuous person you desire, yes? That’s what makes you strong, isn’t it?”
“Do you truly believe humanity will not fall to corruption in the end?”
“If you don’t meddle, my child can remain pure.”
“Is that so? Then I promise you. If your child maintains a pure heart, I will not consume them.”
Humans were so easy to deceive. They never knew what he truly desired.
The true master of the Holy Sword could do nothing but love him. Kirien Rupel was meant to be his sacrifice.
The true despair was only beginning.
“I’ll come for you soon, my light.”
First, I’ll destroy the Goddess’s Tear.
Damned Holy Knight. Did he know and hide it? If this doesn’t work, I may have to hunt down that woman myself. Though finding her might be difficult now that she’s fallen so far.
* * *
After a time, Artiela and Kirien returned to the Dining Hall.
“You really don’t know?”
Artiela had just finished verifying the Old Woman with the Holy Sword.
“How could I lie before the master of the Holy Sword?”
The Old Woman spoke the truth. Unfortunately, she genuinely knew nothing.
“Is there anything you remember? Didn’t Bertia mention where she was going, or anything like that?”
At Artiela’s prompting, wrinkles crowded the Old Woman’s face before smoothing away.
“Ah, I remember now.”
“What is it?”
“She said there was a five-year-old brat at the Imperial Palace who needed educating?”
Even as a child, that dead bastard had been trouble.

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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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