The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 7

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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 7.
The small, delicate hand struck with surprising force. With each sharp slap, Artiela flinched and twisted away.
“Ow, no, Usiciel, listen to me, agh, you can’t just hit me with Holy Power! That’s cheating!”
She had more than enough skill to escape. Artiela simply chose to stand and take it.
“You went on and on about how the soul matters more than the face, and then you go and create a problem for yourself? And with that man, of all people? Have you forgotten what I told you? Or has your head swollen with pride?”
“You said it wouldn’t happen right away. That’s why I went to check.”
“Do you have nine extra lives or something?”
“Of course I only have one.”
“Then what were you thinking, walking straight into danger like that?”
Usiciel’s large blue eyes glistened with tears.
That was why Artiela had taken the blows. Usiciel was the person in the world who loved her most, who cherished her most.
Artiela offered her a gentle smile.
“But the Duke’s soul was perfectly clean. Not a single flaw.”
“Clean?”
“Yes. His soul shone just like yours.”
This time she ducked away from her sister’s hand as she spoke.
Mercifully, Usiciel’s hand paused. But her brow furrowed immediately, worry deepening across her face.
“Then yesterday’s request from that person really was…….”
She meant the Emperor.
“Yes, it was false. He just wanted to use us.”
Usiciel’s eyes wavered, relief and anxiety warring within them.
She took her sister’s hand and pulled her away, creating distance between them and Kirien. Once they were safely removed, Usiciel whispered in a low voice.
“Still, we can’t let our guard down. People change in unpredictable ways.”
Artiela nodded in agreement.
“True. That’s possible.”
“Then why forge a bond knowing that?”
“Should I have just waited for my death to arrive?”
Artiela’s eyes widened with pure innocence.
Usiciel let out a long sigh.
“I shouldn’t have told you anything.”
Her follow-through was frighteningly efficient.
“Besides, I had to confirm it anyway. An Emperor issued the request, after all. And while I was at it, I thought I’d eliminate him early if he was the type to kill me.”
Logic. Prevention was always better than cure.
But Usiciel’s feelings as a sister came first. She couldn’t lose her Soul Half.
“And there’s another issue.”
“Another issue? You didn’t cause trouble, did you? You didn’t already——”
“Oh, what are you talking about!”
Artiela’s face turned crimson. This was indignation.
But Usiciel’s misunderstanding seemed to deepen.
“Hmm, I thought so. All that talk about responsibility this and that. He’s beautiful inside and out, so you just couldn’t resist him?”
“That’s not it at all!”
Artiela bounced to her feet, her frustration boiling over as she beat her own chest.
“That Duke has a Curse attached to him!”
“A Curse?”
“A terrible, vicious Curse! It was clinging to his shadow!”
Usiciel spun around to look at the Duke.
The Duke, who had been standing at a respectful distance observing their conversation, laughed awkwardly. His beautiful face had always struck her as somehow cold from the start.
Usiciel approached the Duke again.
“Pardon me for a moment.”
She circled slowly around him, then stopped before his shadow.
“Do you feel it? Isn’t it strange?”
Usiciel nodded quietly. Very faint, yet malevolent——an unpleasant aura.
“But something about his face seems different…….”
After scrutinizing him for some time, Usiciel tilted her head in confusion.
“Oh, that happens sometimes. His face seems to shine more when he’s tense. It’s because he attacks with his Aura.”
“Pfft.”
“Seriously! He only ever uses it to make his face look better.”
Artiela gave Kirien’s shoulder a light pat.
“It was thanks to you explaining it that I learned this was called an Aura in the first place.”
Kirien’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“I never had the opportunity to learn swordplay.”
“Why not?”
Usiciel tilted her head. Most heirs of the high nobility learned basic swordsmanship — preserving one’s own life meant preserving the family’s honor.
“Swords are dangerous. The Duke is cursed to draw misfortune wherever he walks.”
Was she volunteering as the Duke’s spokesperson?
“Hmm.”
Artiela shrugged at her sister’s disapproving hum.
“The Holy Temple often handles people afflicted by curses anyway.”
“True. If it’s Black Magic, we can purify it with Holy Power.”
“So I’m asking you for help.”
Usiciel studied her younger sister for a long moment.
As a child, Artiela had loved people easily. After becoming the Holy Sword’s master, she’d grown disillusioned by human duplicity and now mistrusted anyone outside the Temple.
For such a sister to ask so desperately of someone….
‘Has she truly fallen in love?’
If so, Usiciel would do her very best.
After all, this was Artiela’s first love.
“All right. Let’s try.”
That dark shadow might be connected to her sister’s future, after all.
“Thank you, Usiciel.”
“Your Grace, we’ll move to a more suitable location for the purification ritual.”
“I’m grateful, Holy Maiden.”
Relief washed across Kirien’s face. As his tension eased, the Aura that had been flickering around him began to settle.
“On the way, I’d like to hear about all the misfortunes you’ve encountered so far.”
Kirien recounted the sorrows of his life as they walked, prompted by Usiciel’s request. Artiela, who’d already heard the story, fell back a pace and walked slowly behind them.
‘Wait.’
She knelt on one knee and examined the ground.
‘It’s gone?’
The spot where the Duke had been standing was notably different.
That was close. Disaster nearly struck.
* * *
“The Duke of Rufel has set foot in Edelion?”
Peter’s eyes narrowed as he received Percell’s report.
“Yes, and the Captain of the Holy Knight Order brought him personally.”
“Artiela?”
The Emperor’s quill froze mid-air above the document he’d been signing. The ink trembled at its tip, then withdrew just in time, returning to the inkwell.
“Yes, and according to the spy who was watching Duke Rufel’s Mansion yesterday….”
Percell glanced at his master’s expression. When Peter raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘speak freely,’ Percell stiffened and continued.
“The Captain of the Holy Knight Order infiltrated the mansion at night and returned this morning.”
“So she spent the night at House Rufel?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no idea what transpired between them?”
“My apologies. We haven’t yet managed to place a new spy within the household.”
Peter’s fingers tapped against the desk with sharp, irritable precision.
“Was the Duke unharmed?”
“He appeared completely unscathed, according to the report.”
“Has the Divine Trial not taken place yet?”
“Or perhaps the Duke isn’t the one behind the incident after all.”
“That’s impossible. You and I both saw it with our own eyes — we witnessed him destroying evidence during the very moment the Divine Trial was being conducted.”
The illegal slave auction house had burned to ash. Just before that, Percell and Peter had simultaneously watched the Duke of Rufel leave the premises.
They’d failed to apprehend him on the spot while attempting to rescue those trapped inside — though everyone confined there was already dead.
They pursued him afterward and saw him vault over his mansion’s wall, bypassing the front gate entirely. The man moved with remarkable speed.
“Your Majesty, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Rufel, where have you just come from?”
“Pardon? I’ve been in the residence the entire time….”
He was already dressed and in the middle of breakfast.
There was no other evidence.
The Holy Knight Order had secured and interrogated the survivors they’d rescued, but none of them had seen the Duke. There were no traces of funds flowing to his household. The corrupted wretch who’d already been judged was nothing but a puppet whose master remained unknown.
That was why Peter had petitioned for the Divine Trial.
“This won’t do. I must go to Edelion myself.”
“I shall accompany you.”
“No, wait. There’s somewhere you need to be first. Come with them.”
Peter’s eyes gleamed.
* * *
The three of them arrived at the heart of Edelion, before the Sacred Tree.
“Place your hand on the tree and close your eyes. I’ll help you trace back the mark of the curse. Once we’ve found the cause, the Sacred Tree will show us how to break it.”
“Will we be able to find the cause?”
“If the Duke is as good a man as Artiela has testified, the Sacred Tree will surely help us.”
Kirien took a deep breath and stood before the tree.
The great tree offered him cool shade with its sturdy branches and delicate leaves.
Usiciel placed one hand on the Duke’s shoulder and the other on the Sacred Tree, then closed her eyes quietly and poured her Holy Power into it.
Artiela, watching from a step away, widened her eyes.
‘What? I’ve never seen the Sacred Tree recoil like that.’
The Sacred Tree stirred its branches, withdrawing the shade it had cast over the Duke.
With bitter disdain, it rustled swiftly, as if to show its deep disgust.

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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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