The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 56
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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 56.
“Purcel! Drop that box this instant!”
At Artiela’s cry, Purcel threw the box away without hesitation.
“What’s inside it?”
“It’s that golden fox fur scarf from back then…….”
That fox fur from back then?
Artiela’s brow furrowed for a moment.
Was she talking about the fox the Emperor had caught at the Imperial Hunting Ground? The one that nearly became a demon beast?
“Why would he send that to me as a gift?”
He must have lost his mind. Was this revenge for being rejected?
“Well, originally it was supposed to be sent along with a betrothal letter to his future Empress…….”
The Emperor’s guard knight stared at the box without being able to look away—caught between disappointment in his master and something that looked like concern.
“Still hasn’t met with Yusiel?”
“Well…….”
He’d made an appointment to meet her.
But on that very day, the Emperor suffered a terrible injury.
Should it really be called an injury? Because the Emperor was receiving treatment, the entire Imperial Palace had gone into lockdown, and Yusiel hadn’t even been able to enter the palace.
“His Majesty’s wounds kept reopening…….”
“All of a sudden? He lives safely in the Imperial Palace. Why would that happen?”
Artiela pulled out a ring called Goddess’s Breath from a jar she’d brought along, and created a barrier between the box and the three of them as she asked.
“He claims it was an accident, but it seems more like self-inflicted wounds.”
Kirien flinched beside her.
Only someone who had done it could truly understand self-harm.
“Perhaps he’s trying to protect himself from that creature.”
Artiela understood what he meant.
The Emperor had become one of the Source of Malice’s targets. It was as dangerous as Kirien falling into that monster’s hands.
If the supreme ruler of the empire were corrupted by malice and descended into madness, a sea of blood would wash across the entire continent before long.
“It is my failure for not serving His Majesty properly.”
Purcel knelt, his voice heavy with self-recrimination.
“Please, I beg you, save my lord.”
“Yes, yes. First, let’s make sure we survive this.”
Artiela spoke calmly, her eyes fixed on the increasingly tearing box. The being inside wasn’t the main problem.
‘There’s a Dark Sorcerer nearby.’
Judging by how Kirien’s boutonnière had reacted, it was possible the Source of Malice itself had come to visit.
In any case, what a twisted sense of humor.
Whenever bored, it came to torment Artiela.
A creature that had spent centuries sealed and resurrected repeatedly, yet possessed a taste only a seven-year-old might have. It was utterly childish.
‘There’s Goddess’s Tear here, isn’t there…….’
Artiela drew out Bardo with her left hand.
Despite the extensive training, her left hand was still her left hand. It was inevitable that it lacked the fine control of her dominant right.
“Purcel, you have Aura but not Holy Power, so don’t try anything reckless. It would be very troublesome if you became tainted by Dark Magic Energy.”
“Yes, understood.”
Meanwhile, the box had been completely torn open.
What emerged was a golden fox.
Despite being nothing but flayed fur, it boasted an enormous frame and exuded an unsettling black aura—a fox far from cute.
Its eyes, which must have been beautiful when alive, had transformed into a sickly deep forest green, as if poisoned, and now radiated Dark Magic Energy.
‘The creature nearby is lower-tier.’
Unlike the manifestation the Source of Malice had created last time, both the sense of dread and malevolence felt diminished.
“Kirien, wear this ring.”
Artiela handed Kirien the ring with the barrier activated.
“When the barrier breaks, even with minimal Holy Power, you should be able to reactivate it once.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
“Your body……is it alright?”
“I’m sorry. The jealousy I felt…….”
Faced with his eyes full of guilt—as if asking whether his feelings of jealousy had created this—Artiela’s expression brightened with a smile.
Kindness is all well and good, but a man who doesn’t feel jealousy has no charm at all.
“It’s because there’s a Dark Sorcerer nearby. I’ll be back soon.”
Having finished speaking, Artiela walked steadily out beyond the barrier.
“Fox, where is your master?”
Not that it would understand her words.
“Will you let me know that if you come quietly, I’ll purify you and send you to heaven?”
“Shrieeek!”
Truly, reasoning with this creature was impossible.
The fox shrieked horribly and lunged at Artiela with its maw open. In other continents, they said fox demon beasts could entrance humans!
Its seductive power was weaker than Kirien’s. Disappointing.
Artiela showed no mercy, slicing off the fox’s foreleg with the Bardo. Then came the tail, then the loins.
The moment she drove the Bardo through its crown, a sphere wreathed in Dark Magic Energy burst forth.
“Please, Goddess, lend me your strength!”
Artiela activated all the Sacred Items she carried at once.
Holy Power Amplification, followed by Stamina Enhancement.
A pale green Aura mingled with brilliant light—her Holy Power piercing the heart of the Dark Magic Energy. Once again, the malice drank her Holy Power greedily down.
‘I won’t collapse, Goddess.’
There might still be a Dark Sorcerer lurking about.
Artiela held firm through sheer willpower, watching the sphere of Dark Magic Energy fade to nothing.
Soon the malice exploded into wisps, leaving behind a severed Golden Fox Fur crumpled on the ground.
“Eeeek!”
Artiela raised her head toward the sound.
A figure in a black robe—the Dark Sorcerer.
“Got you, you wretch!”
Artiela pushed off the ground and launched herself upward. But he was faster. He had a Movement Scroll.
“Wow, even a Dark Sorcerer’s rolling in money!”
Landing on the rooftop where he’d stood, Artiela immediately pulled out her Communication Device. She needed to call Edelion for backup and purify this place first.
* * *
In the darkest corner of the Magic Tower, there was no one.
“Damn it!”
Until a beautiful man emerged.
“That fool—when did he gain Holy Power……?”
Why did a soul born from the depths of despair possess Holy Power?
The Source of Malice, enraged by the force that had repelled him, released his vile power outward. And the Dark Sorcerer fleeing in his wake took the brunt of it head-on.
“Urgh.”
Though a sorcerer practiced in wielding Dark Magic, the Dark Sorcerer couldn’t withstand that aura and dropped dead on the spot.
Of course, the Source cared nothing for the death of such a trivial puppet.
“And that Sacred Item…….”
A pale pink pearl hanging from the Vessel’s clothes. That was the problem.
For the briefest moment, when he’d tried to suppress the Vessel using a gap in his desires, the pearl had changed color.
At first, the Holy Sword’s master hadn’t turned around to see it, so he’d escaped notice. The second time, he’d nearly been caught.
That’s why he had to destroy it as well.
Unlike other negative emotions, love truly did seem to blind human eyes and paralyze reason.
The foolish Vessel had written off all those actions, that jealousy, as nothing more than his own unconscious desires.
“Cursed Sacred Items.”
For Dark Sorcerers, destroying Sacred Items seemed impossible.
While he’d been gathering power, the Empire’s Emperor had crushed the Dark Sorcerers’ forces—a significant blow.
He needed a puppet who wouldn’t fall into corruption, who could serve him without Edelion suspecting a thing. Preferably someone with power and beyond reproach…….
-Is it true that Duke Rupel became a Holy Knight? Is the rumor that he and the Holy Sword’s master are… involved true? Sigh, how could someone as noble as me be passed over for such a brutish woman?
Found him.
A seductive smile played at the Source of Malice’s lips.
And he had the power born from Kirien’s jealousy to use besides. Perfect timing.
* * *
“Now then, brothers and sisters! Search every corner of Grand Duke Uphailer’s Residence for any sign of Goddess’s Tear. And look for traces left by the Dark Sorcerers as well.”
At Artiela’s request, the priests of Edelion scattered, summoned at the crack of dawn.
Yusiel, who had come with them, was also searching for traces of Sacred Items from a vantage point overlooking the entire structure.
“Find anything?”
“Nothing at all. If the Dark Sorcerers already stole it, I’m worried we might be too late.”
Yusiel looked at her sister with concern.
“You’re not hurt anywhere?”
“Nope. I’m fine!”
“Did the Emperor’s knight leave?”
“Yes, he said he’d ask the Emperor’s permission to visit Edelion and then departed.”
“He’s certainly loyal.”
Unwavering, even as his lord changed.
“If the Emperor gets completely devoured by the Source of Malice, he’d need to be judged, wouldn’t he?”
“I suppose……so?”
“And the Imperial Family has no heir…….”
“The Emperor may have no children, but that doesn’t mean there’s no heir to the throne.”
There were younger sisters, cousins too.
“Is that so?”
As the two conversed in low voices, a priest’s shout rang out from somewhere.
“Here, something’s sealed here, Holy Maiden.”
A seal in an ordinary royal residence?
“I can’t fight anymore. I might collapse from exhaustion.”
For now, the younger sister decided to leave the matter to her elder.
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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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