The Villain Who Will Kill Me Is Too Handsome, It's Troublesome - Chapter 73

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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 73.
Artiela rode out toward Craftsman Street again with Kirien.
Along the way, the carriage owner eagerly recounted what he’d heard.
“That knight placed quite a few orders, it seems. The key that Captain Kirien carries now—it appears to be one of them as well.”
“Is that so?”
“He said it was to be paired with a lock for hanging somewhere. He commissioned a replica of one of the missing Sacred Relics, or so I heard.”
The jar they’d found at the Tomb Site had borne no lock.
Which meant the lock was a clue waiting elsewhere. Could the Goddess’s Tears be hidden there?
“And the jewelry box—was it your father’s own handiwork? I’d heard Lord Bertia has carried it since childhood.”
“Father did make it, yes. He had it repaired once, perhaps twenty years ago.”
“And the patron who commissioned it—that was Lord Bertia?”
“Father wouldn’t tell me that part.”
“What?”
“He said only the person meant to hear should hear it.”
Was it like the old woman they’d met in Kirien’s homeland? Lord Bertia seemed to have left behind a message.
“We must hurry. There’s no telling when Father’s memories will cloud again.”
He’d been waiting at Edelion’s entrance for quite some time already.
Artiela watched Kirien with anxious eyes. For some reason, his expression had grown grave.
“Kirien? Are you all right?”
“Ah, I was just lost in thought for a moment. It’s been nagging at me…”
He didn’t name the subject, but she could guess well enough.
Peter had only just woken, and he’d been gnawing at Kirien ever since. Cute as that was, in its way.
“That won’t do.”
Absolutely not.
She was living a life far brighter than before, sun-drenched in ways she’d never imagined. Yet even now, she could not afford to harbor shadows in her heart.
Regrettably, he would have to live a life where jealousy was forbidden. Even priests would struggle with such restraint, yet he had to manage it.
As long as the Source of Evil walked this earth.
“Yes, I’ll focus.”
Good—as it should be. At Artiela’s mild rebuke, Kirien smiled faintly.
The jeweler, for some reason, grew awkward and let out a series of stifled coughs.
“Ahem, ahem. I should have taken a separate carriage.”
“No, it’s not like that at all!”
“Well, in any case, Father says he remembers where he put the key to the jewelry box, so we’d best make haste.”
“Yes, thank you so much for your help.”
Before long, the carriage arrived at the Jeweler’s Shop.
“Father! I’ve brought the Holy Knight Order’s captain and Duke Rupel. Duke, this is the son of the patron who commissioned that work back then.”
Inside the workshop sat an elderly man with white hair, leaning on a walking staff. The way his head nodded and bobbed as he dozed against it was painfully evident of his fading health.
“Father, are you sleeping?”
“Yaaawn.”
When the jeweler shook his shoulder, the old man’s eyes opened.
“Brother, you came?”
“Oh dear, not this again. Father, it’s me—your youngest child!”
“You said you’d buy candy. Where is it?”
“Too much candy rots your teeth.”
He’d made the old man wait far too long, it seemed. The elder had grown tired of waiting and slipped entirely into his own world.
“And I’ve brought guests. Remember, Father? That wonderful knight’s son?”
“Candy! Give me candy!”
The old man, reduced to a petulant child, hurled the walking staff to the ground and stamped his foot.
By chance, the staff flew directly toward Kirien.
“There!”
Just as Kirien reached to catch it, Artiela smoothly extended her left hand and snatched it from the air.
“Wow, Sister is amazing!”
“Isn’t she?”
“A knight protecting a handsome prince.”
“My, however did you know?”
Artiela coaxed the old man like one would gentle a child, smiling warmly as she moved to sit beside him. Then she pressed the walking staff back into his hands.
“You mustn’t throw things about like that—someone could get hurt. So which is it, should we or shouldn’t we?”
“Hmph! Do I look like some doddering old fool to you?”
So he’d returned to himself again, had he?
“Young people these days, honestly.”
“Haha, my apologies, Elder.”
“Then give me candy.”
Or so it seemed.
Artiela, who had stepped forward with grand ambitions to cajole the old man, nearly found herself beaten across the shoulders with a walking staff.
“That won’t do.”
Kirien’s intervention spared her the assault, though only just.
“She is precious to me. Please, show restraint.”
Even Kirien couldn’t bring himself to overpower someone so frail with force. But he had another method—one that worked remarkably well.
An appeal through his eyes.
He blinked, his gaze turning mournful and earnest as he looked at the elder. His pristine Aura blazed with light, fulfilling its purpose for the first time in ages.
The elder lowered the walking staff she was holding.
“So you’re Bertia’s son.”
“You recognized me?”
Artiela looked up at the elder in surprise.
“Of course. The resemblance is unmistakable.”
The elder seized Kirien’s hand. Once, a touch so sudden would have sent his Aura wild—but not anymore.
The white Aura of an old friend’s recognition waited obediently, bound now to a new master’s will.
“How is it that his words ring true every single time? Hehehehe.”
“What do you mean? What did he say?”
“He told me you would certainly find yourself, and that you would have someone trustworthy at your side when you did.”
Perhaps because she possessed Divine Power rivaling a saint’s?
Her gift of foresight was remarkable indeed.
“He told me to pass along a message at that time.”
“What message?”
“That if you go to the places I frequented, you’ll find what you need. Hehehehe.”
With her message delivered, the elder seemed to have completed her task.
She regressed into a child again, pestering her youngest son for candy, and Kirien, apparently charmed, kept her hand clasped firmly in his own.
Perhaps he was trying to channel the warmth his mother had left hidden in all those small corners of the world.
* * *
“How is he, saint?”
The First Princess Serinya sat beside Peter, whom she had finally managed to put to sleep with medicine. Her anxious eyes turned toward Ysiel, searching for salvation.
“It appears to be either amnesia or regression.”
“A lingering effect from what happened then?”
Ysiel held the Mirror of Truth that she had received from Kirien.
Within it, Peter was reflected—undisturbed by any sinister force, though with a notable complication.
“I see no other issues whatsoever, so that seems likely. The reflection shows His Majesty as he was in his teens, so I’d say regression is more probable than amnesia.”
“That’s surprising. Though he did seem to recognize both me and Bleo.”
“His memories may simply be in disarray.”
“Is there no way to treat it?”
“I’m afraid not.”
This was a matter of the spirit, after all.
“My guess is that he’s regressed to the moment he regretted most in his entire life.”
“How absurd. Not the moment he sold his soul to the Source of Evil, but that moment?”
The pieces were falling into place.
Once again, he was catastrophically wrong about something. He was searching for the reason Artiela had rejected him in all the wrong places.
“I must apologize to Artiela. If I apologize sincerely, that kind girl will surely understand.”
He remained as selfish as ever. It was clear he had no intention of giving up the benefits he’d gained from Artiela’s collapse.
“Could Divine Power healing help him recover?”
“I cannot guarantee it.”
“So he could remain in this half-wit state for the rest of his life?”
Could one truly insult the emperor like this, blood relation or not?
“Possibly.”
“What becomes of the Empire, then?”
If word spread that the emperor’s mind was unstable?
She remembered the nobles who had been too busy chasing profit even when the Source of Evil appeared. With the emperor in this state, they would revel all the more.
Yet she couldn’t simply keep it hidden indefinitely.
“Do you remember what I told you earlier?”
“… Saint! That is…”
The First Princess closed her mouth hastily. Percell, the emperor’s closest aide, was still at his side.
Her thoughts seemed equally tangled. One blood relative had lost his mind, and the Empire faced a looming crisis.
She knew as well as anyone that escaping the stifling Imperial Palace and living in peace was out of reach. Still, she needed a measure of certainty.
“Is this your will, or the will of the Divine?”
“The Sacred Tree watches over all things.”
Did Ysiel’s words give her strength?
First Princess Serinya’s grip tightened.
“Very well. But I have conditions of my own.”

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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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