The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 115

Eliza quietly looked down at the sleeping Judas.

It was the first time seeing him since breakfast.

She had intentionally kept him apart all day.

At first, she had gone alone to the tower because it was supposed to be a simple visit.

But there, she heard that Judas would die.

Because of her.

She couldn’t bring herself to face him.

She didn’t know what to say if she did.

Now that she understood her feelings, reality seemed to drift farther away from them.

Paradoxically, because she avoided seeing him, she missed him all day.

Nothing she tried to do went right.

“What about you?”

In the day without her presence, how much had Judas thought about her?

Eliza slowly sat beside him.

She didn’t use his arm as a pillow like usual.

If she did, she would absorb his magic, putting him in danger.

Instead, she only imagined it.

The contours of his body, his warmth, the beat of his heart, his breath—such things.

Her heart ached with its racing.

It hadn’t always been this way.

It used to feel natural, like breathing.

Comfortable, like her mother’s embrace.

Not anymore.

Now it was uncomfortable.

She could no longer enjoy her days as ordinary.

“…”

The line.

The invisible line that had always existed between Judas and herself.

She had drawn that nonexistent line and believed she hadn’t crossed it.

For whatever reason.

But that wasn’t true.

There was never a line to begin with.

She had pushed him away, telling herself she couldn’t rely on him.

She kept her distance because she couldn’t allow herself to grow weak.

Afraid he would become her weakness.

One weakness was enough—an illusory weakness that wasn’t real to begin with.

And because of that, she had none.

She had to be perfect, without flaw, to kill Bevel.

But it was too late.

She hadn’t pushed him away.

She hadn’t kept her distance.

From the start, she had approached him, and he had approached her.

And not once had she truly pushed him away.

Looking back, that was the truth.

She had simply turned a blind eye to it, pretending otherwise.

She deceived herself, calling her dependence ‘utility’ and believing it was the truth.

“I… have always… from the very beginning…”

She had learned memory magic.

It was used to interrogate Anggra and other mages, but its original purpose was different.

She had wanted to restore Judas’s memories.

Before Judas had entered her life.

The only color left to her was her memories of her mother.

Maybe Judas had something like that too.

She wanted to give it back to him.

“If I use that magic now…”

She could show him his memories.

By controlling the magic’s intensity, it could be done without waking him.

It would take a little time, but it was possible.

“…Is it okay?”

Belatedly, she considered Judas’s feelings.

Could she freely look into someone else’s memories?

Did she have the right?

If someone were to delve into her memories without permission, she would be deeply uncomfortable.

Memories and emotions were uniquely one’s own.

“…It’s not just that.”

There was something she feared more than rudeness.

If she looked into Judas’s memories, she would inevitably see herself through his eyes.

She would learn Judas’s feelings toward her.

“If… you don’t feel the same way…”

If our hearts don’t align…

If they are facing entirely different directions.

Or if they hold in their heart someone entirely different from themselves?

The mere thought makes my heart tremble and my insides churn.

I felt like I was going mad.

Flames surged within me like a blazing fire.

The fire, already kindled by magic, burned even stronger.

“You’re too special now…”

Eliza had to admit it.

He is special.

Precious.

On the day of the Founding Festival,

when Judas was struck by that massive brute who deserved to be burned to ash and scattered by the sea, Eliza felt the world overturn in shock.

It was as if her entire body had been set aflame with fury.

At that moment, she nearly burned the capital of the Helios Empire to the ground.

Regardless of who might be caught in the inferno.

That was when the realization began to dawn on her.

Ah.

I cannot see Judas as just an ordinary escort knight.

Looking back, it had always been that way.

When Judas nearly died in her stead at the hands of Lamech, it was the first time Eliza cried since her mother’s death.

She had simply been slow to recognize it.

For a very long time, in truth.

“I…”

have been relying on you.

And so.

“You…”

Became my weakness.

She couldn’t deny it.

It was devastatingly clear: you are my one, real, and fatal weakness.

“My only weakness.”

The Empire would be her enemy.

War with Bevel would erupt.

Countless casualties would be inevitable.

Among them, there was no guarantee that Judas would not be included.

He was an exceptional knight.

But there were no absolute certainties.

Even during the Founding Festival, for instance.

The imperial copes, strengthened with dark magic— what if such forces attacked Judas?

“This cannot go on…”

Eliza instinctively knew.

With Judas by her side, she could not fight properly.

She worried he might be injured.

She feared he might die.

Her person.

The only one who existed as her world and her color might vanish.

That she might suffer yet another loss.

The mere thought blurred her vision with fear.

“Rather than let such a thing happen…”

Rather than someone else killing him.

Rather than letting him endanger her as her weakness.

“Memories… Yes, memories are all that matter. I’ll let him know just that. Only that, and then…”

A real weakness.

If it ceases to exist, then it can no longer be a weakness.

So…

Her mind was in utter chaos.

Eliza’s reason was completely paralyzed.

It was an emotional torrent she had never experienced.

It was not simple fear or sorrow.

The muddled emotions, entangled with dripping affection, whirled chaotically.

Eliza surrendered to her bewildered instincts.

She climbed on top of him.

She could no longer think that touching him was forbidden.

She was mesmerized by the blazing madness.

And she used her magic.

The spell to read memories.

At the same time, she reached out.

Her hands gripped his thick neck.

“This is, well… for you, no, for me… I must kill. Bevel, and everything else, and then stand before Mother…”

Fingers pressed against his throat.

She felt the fierce pulse of life beneath her touch.

Through the touch of her hand and thighs, a cold energy seeped into her body.

It was the chill she had desperately longed for.

The stabilizing cold that always soothed her fire.

A faint sense of satisfaction washed over her.

But it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t stable.

More. She needed more.

She had restrained herself.

Though it had been less than a day, it felt unbearably long to Eliza.

To deeply feel him and absorb him, she longed for closer contact.

She wrapped her hand completely around his neck.

‘Rather than let this remain my weakness and face death… if that’s the case anyway… I’d rather…’

Even so, the unease wouldn’t subside.

The faint chill was now woefully insufficient to calm her.

And then she saw it.

Judas’s neck, under her touch, was scorched black.

‘…!’

Eliza recoiled in shock and let go.

She hastily got up and stepped back from the bed.

Breathing heavily, she looked at her trembling hands.

Just moments ago, Judas’s neck had been…

‘I… I… What… What have I done…’

She felt nauseous.

Driven by an obsession to eliminate her weakness, she had attempted to kill Judas.

That fleeting moment of murderous intent had been genuine.

Even though she had been consumed by the maddening flames, she had still…

‘No… This… if this happens… oh…’

And the black marks on his neck.

Proof that she had absorbed his energy.

Judas’s power was also incomplete, and the side effects manifested each time she absorbed it.

‘Could it be…’

Eliza cautiously examined his hand.

She had no room to think he might have woken up from all the commotion.

The hand that had always held hers tightly.

Even his palm was charred black.

If she were to remove his clothes, other parts of his body would likely be the same.

‘Because of me…’

Before she had even realized it, he had already reached his limit.

He could no longer handle her.

Staying close to him was dangerous.

In so many ways.

‘Disgusting…’

The anemone blooming in a cage.

The only color in the world.

The shattered moonlight illuminating the cage.

The only light in the world.

Unsatisfied with that, Eliza had grown greedy.

When her greed didn’t go her way, she tried to pluck the flower and shatter the moon.

She felt a twisting pain in her stomach and an overwhelming nausea as self-loathing consumed her.

Slowly backing away, her hand brushed against something.

The windowsill.

Turning around, she was greeted by a pot of anemones under the moonlight.

A pot that had consistently bloomed and withered in that very spot for years.

Anemones.

The tip of the round bud was slightly open.

As if it was about to bloom.

“Ah…”

Eliza let out a low moan before clamping her hand over her mouth.

She used teleportation to flee to her bedroom as if running away.

She had no room to even realize why the memory-reading magic hadn’t worked.

The moment the scenery shifted, she collapsed to the floor.

“Ugh…”

She pressed her hand over her mouth to suppress the nausea.

As she stumbled upright, her eyes fell on her own flower pot.

There was one here too.

Anemones. A round bud.

Bigger than Judas’s, and further along in blooming.

Eliza stood frozen for a long while, staring down at the anemone.

Covering her face with her hands, she began to sob.

Old memories surfaced.

From the time when it was just her and her mother.

Her flames, uncontrolled, had once harmed her mother.

It was similar to now, but also different.

Back then, she had sworn she never intended to hurt her mother.

But today…

“I cannot be certain there wasn’t.”

“Ten years have passed, yet nothing has changed.”

“I still cannot control my strength properly and end up hurting those dear to me.”

“No, it’s gotten worse.”

“The sensation lingering in my hands.”

“The impulsive intent to kill that flashed through my mind then.”

“It’s horrifying.”

“I’m repulsed by the fact that I’m this kind of person.”

“The reality I feared and dreaded so much has finally come to pass.”

“When she stopped crying and lowered her hands, her eyes were heavier, more sunken than before.”

“‘…Alright. Let’s do that.’”

At last, Eliza made her decision.

***

Judas silently rose from his seat.

“…….”

He had been awake since the moment she embraced him.

He had only pretended not to notice.

[‘Revelation Unveiled’ activated. Immune to all magic for 3 seconds.]

[Cooldown: 24 hours.]

The first tragedy he witnessed five years ago.

Eliza straddling him, hands around his throat.

He had foreseen and feared a future where she would use magic to kill him.

That future had come true.

“…Fate.”

He stood up, smiling faintly.

He thought he had avoided it.

For the five years they had spent together, he believed Eliza wouldn’t kill him.

He couldn’t escape it.

Fate was inevitable.

“…Then, the second tragedy too.”

Will it happen someday?

“…I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

If it had been his younger self, he would have immediately demanded to know what she was doing.

But because they had grown closer, it was all the more difficult to confront her.

“If I ask why she did it, what will she say…?”

Even if he stayed up all night, he couldn’t find an answer.

Having kept his eyes closed, he didn’t know what expression Eliza had worn, and there was nothing he could do about it.

[Magic Power: 1.0]

***

The Sun temple observes various commemorative events tied to religious incidents.

Today was such a day.

The Sun, which first shed light upon the earth, dispelled the void and provided nourishment for life to grow.

At that time, all creatures dwelling on the earth worshiped the void, yet the Sun forgave them all and embraced them.

The Day of Forgiveness.

A day when a person is chosen by lot, and their feet are washed by another.

Judas was to wash Eliza’s feet.

Eliza’s bathroom.

Judas knelt before her.

Eliza looked down at him with sunken eyes.

The face she was seeing for the first time in days after nearly strangling him.

In the interim, Eliza had avoided Judas whenever he tried to approach her to talk.

Eliza silently watched Judas prepare for the foot-washing ritual.

The red scarf tied around his neck.

A gift she had given him during the Foundation Festival.

Beneath it, faint black marks were visible.

No matter how he tried to hide them, it was futile.

The soot clinging to his hands remained, too.

Despite using numerous medicinal and magical remedies, it hadn’t improved.

In truth, Eliza wanted to leave even now.

Touching him to perform the ritual would drain his magic.

But there was one last thing she wanted to confirm.

The ritual began without a word between them.

An awkward silence settled, broken only by the splashing of water.

Judas quietly washed her feet.

The small feet he had once kissed in a vow of loyalty.

Gently, carefully, he cleaned her soft, smooth feet.

Meticulously.

Although neither spoke during the ritual, their minds were equally restless.

What should I do?

What should I say?

Both were experiencing these emotions for the first time.

This situation was so unfamiliar and strange that they had no idea how to deal with each other.

Despite thinking of each other, they were clumsy with their feelings.

When the ritual ended, Judas carefully opened his mouth.

“…Miss.”

Eliza avoided his gaze and gestured toward the door with his chin.

It meant he didn’t want to talk and was telling him to leave.

Judas hesitated as if about to say something, but then stopped.

He gave a slight bow of his head in farewell.

Eliza pretended not to notice.

There was one thing he was curious about.

Why did he stay by his side?

Why, of all things, did he still try to treat him like a human being?

It felt as though he understood, yet he pretended not to.

And as if nothing had happened, they each returned to their respective places.

Watching the two, Leah felt her heart ache and a suffocating frustration.

The incident occurred the next day.

Judas received an order from Eliza.

It was, in truth, nothing short of a death sentence.