The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 122

Narcissa was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of Eliza’s mansion.

Three shadows appeared simultaneously.

A young man, a woman, and a mage.

The woman, Sarah, clutched the iron bars and cried out,

“Mother—!”

Inside, Duchess Narcissa was bound, her arms and legs restrained.

“Mother, what do we do…?”

Sarah stomped her feet anxiously. Beside her, Archan nervously tapped the bars.

“Open this door already!”

The mage complied without protest, melting the lock with flames and opening the door.

Archan and Sarah rushed to Narcissa.

“Mother! It’s me, I’m here!”

“Open your eyes… Oh heavens, what’s happened to you…?”

Narcissa’s body was emaciated, her bones protruding. She writhed intermittently, drooled, and groaned in pain, resembling a madwoman.

Her sunken eyes lacked focus.

She couldn’t even recognize Archan and Sarah standing right before her.

She merely muttered in a dazed voice,

“Eliza… Just once, please, forgive me… I’m sorry…”

Sarah clenched her teeth.

“That insane woman, really…!”

“Let’s get her out of here first. Mage! Move her quickly… Ugh—?!”

Archan collapsed, coughing blood.

“Brother?!”

A sword had pierced through his neck.

Startled, Sarah spun around to find the mage, the very one who had brought them there, standing with the sword plunged into Archan.

“You… What are you doing?!”

“Consider yourselves honored. You’re sacrifices for a new era.”

“You were like this from the start…? Ack…?!”

This time, the mage stabbed Sarah.

“Mo… ther…”

And soon after, Narcissa’s head fell as well.

The mage gripped his sword, letting out a sinister laugh.

“This is the beginning of the Bevel massacre.”

With the sword in hand, he vanished from the dungeon.

Immediately after, someone rushed down to the dungeon.

It was Bols, the mage who had attempted to assassinate Judas five years ago at Gaston’s behest, only to fail.

Easily manipulated, he had been hired but often drew Eliza’s ire for that failed incident.

Sensing the use of magic, Bols had come down in haste.

“There was definitely some kind of magical… Huh?!”

Then, he saw the scene in the dungeon.

The lifeless bodies of Narcissa, Archan, and Sarah.

“This… This can’t be…! I must inform the young lady!”

However, Eliza was not at the mansion.

She had left to find the most precious thing to her, only for this to happen in her absence.

***

Bethany.

A place where the most heinous criminals were locked away.

A group suddenly appeared there.

At their center stood a woman, her golden eyes blazing.

She spoke.

“Scatter and search.”

Her voice, low and heavy, carried a sharp edge.

The group dispersed, combing through Bethany.

Meanwhile, the woman acted alone.

Approaching a man sprawled on the ground in a drunken slumber, she asked abruptly,

“Where is Judas?”

“…Huh?”

The man blinked his weary eyes several times, the surreal situation failing to register.

“Where. Is. Judas?”

“What are you…”

“Black hair, golden eyes. Tall…”

The man gave her a once-over, his gaze sliding up and down her body. Then, with a sly grin, he said,

“If you play along, maybe I’ll tell you…”

Thunk.

The man’s head separated from his body mid-sentence, falling to the ground.

A golden whip that emerged from the floor had severed his neck.

The woman passed the corpse indifferently.

She grabbed the next person and asked:

“Where’s Judas?”

If she didn’t get the answer she wanted, she’d strike again.

She never asked twice.

The process repeated several times.

News of a mage, heralded as the reincarnation of the mythic age in Bethany, spread in an instant.

“Where’s Judas?”

“I-I don’t know…! I swear, I know nothing!”

After killing the terrified man, Eliza resumed her path.

There was no guilt.

The only ones left in Bethany were depraved humans anyway.

Even the man she’d just killed was no exception.

He’d been roasting human flesh over a bonfire while groping a bound female werewolf with filthy hands.

But such things weren’t worth her attention.

She only needed to confirm Judas’s safety.

Bethany, a maze of decrepit shacks.

A place that resembled a garbage dump.

The imperial guards hadn’t found any traces yet; the place remained quiet.

As she sought her next interrogation target—

Deng, deng, deng-

The bell rang, shaking Bethany.

A warning of approaching monsters.

Eliza ascended into the sky.

A broad view spread before her.

From the desolate northern lands, a black mass like storm clouds surged.

A horde of werewolves, nearly a thousand strong, charged forward.

Below, frantic shouts erupted.

“Everyone, get up! Time to kill or be killed, you trash!”

“Hahaha! This time, I’ll bag myself a female too!”

Knights reeking of alcohol and drugs staggered to their feet.

Madmen surviving in an environment no sane mind could endure.

‘…Annoying.’

She needed to find Judas, yet this nuisance arose.

Anyone obstructing her would be killed—human or demon, it didn’t matter.

Eliza decided to clear the way with magic.

Fixing her gaze on the werewolf horde, she raised one hand skyward.

Her outstretched hand descended slowly, pointing at the werewolves.

Weeks had passed since she parted ways with Judas.

She’d restrained her magic to the utmost, but once ignited, the flames refused to be extinguished.

Inside her, violence grew and raged incessantly.

This battlefield was the perfect place to release it.

She unleashed her magic.

Above the werewolf horde, light appeared.

At the sight of it, people thought they heard a sharp, ringing sound.

A light so bright it could blind, yet the source was smaller than a fingertip.

A speck of light, no bigger than an insect, descended ever so slowly.

Everyone stopped to watch.

Werewolves, knights, even the imperial guards.

They stared at the light as if entranced.

It illuminated the dark evening of Bethany like midday.

The light, otherworldly and slow, finally touched the ground.

A delicate impact, like a raindrop falling.

Then—

KABOOM-!

An explosion radiated from the light’s source.

The ground shook, and a storm of force swept the surroundings.

Nearby knights were either knocked down or blown away by the wind.

At the epicenter of the blast, a sun emerged.

A massive sphere of light burned, incinerating hundreds of werewolves instantly.

BEEEEEEP-!

Every living creature in the vicinity was tormented by a piercing ringing in their ears.

It was a foundational spell from the system she had developed in preparation for one day battling Barak.

‘Solar Manifestation, Small-Scale.’

Bethany, now bright as day.

Eliza didn’t bother to confirm the results with her eyes.

As if nothing had happened, she turned her back on the light and reentered Bethany.

Grabbing a blinded knight in the glowing aftermath, she asked in a mechanical voice:

“Where is Judas?”

“This way.”

They found Judas’s corpse.

Richard guided Eliza.

Eliza’s steps grew faster but heavier.

What if.

If Judas is really dead, what should I do?

“Over there…”

Richard pointed.

Other guards surrounded a corpse, guarding it.

Their expressions were uniformly grim.

Some couldn’t hold back and covered their faces.

Tap, tap.

Eliza approached the center.

Her knees trembled.

A single body lay on the ground.

Charred beyond recognition.

More like a human-shaped piece of charcoal than a corpse.

But there were a few clues.

Judging by the skeleton, it was male.

Tall and broad-shouldered.

Just like Judas.

And the decisive clue:

The sword lying next to it.

Moon’s Pupil.

A gift Eliza gave Judas on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony and his knighting.

Dylan explained as calmly as he could.

“There’s a stab wound in the chest. Poison was detected, specifically Lamech’s venom.”

“……”

“We suspect Lamech killed him and set the fire. They probably didn’t know it was a poisoning, tried to consume the flesh, and the fire spread.”

Indeed, burn marks surrounded the area where Judas had been found.

The Moon’s Pupil was also discovered far from the body, as if someone had tried to steal it but dropped it.

Eliza knelt beside the corpse.

Her blazing eyes swept up and down the charred remains.

Her heart, which had been racing violently, fell silent the moment she saw the body.

Unlike the sniffling and sighs of the guards around her, she was composed.

After a brief observation, she concluded.

“This isn’t Judas.”

“…What?”

Dylan asked in shock.

All the guards turned to her in unison.

She examined the body again and stated firmly, as if vouching for it.

“This isn’t Judas. This…”

She had no material evidence.

Yet she was certain.

It was intuition, born from years of being by his side.

It wasn’t logic but emotion speaking.

This wasn’t Judas.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

Her gaze fixed on some distant point, she murmured as if addressing someone.

“…Judas. Where are you?”

Eliza returned straight to the mansion.

Sitting on Judas’s bed, she quietly thought.

Clutching the Moon’s Pupil she had brought back.

She was remarkably calm compared to before.

She felt like a stranger to herself.

Like she had become someone else.

“That wasn’t Judas.”

Then what was it?

The clue came to her easily.

The words she had once said to Judas.

She stabbed him with a blade engraved with the wish that he might die.

“…So, he staged it.”

The exact motive was unclear.

Perhaps he fled, fearing she might really come after him someday.

Or maybe it was revenge.

To show her exactly what she had wished for.

Or perhaps he wanted her never to look for him again—a form of defiance.

Or maybe it was none of these.

Perhaps he left the body behind because no emotions or thoughts remained.

Just to ensure a clean escape.

“Ultimately… it’s because of me.”

Eliza gently stroked the pupil of the moon with a slow hand.

Smoothly, along the sleek side of the blade.

Why does my heart feel so calm?

I don’t know.

Rather than calm, it feels closer to hollow.

It’s as if a hole in my chest has grown so large it consumed my entire body.

A calm so hollow, it feels as though my existence no longer remains in this world.

But then, why are these faint chuckles escaping me?

My shoulders tremble.

Am I laughing, or is it the prelude to tears? Eliza couldn’t be certain.

Only one thing was clear.

He had completely left me behind.

I won’t see him again, will I? Never again….

Knock, knock. Just then, someone tapped on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened cautiously, and a woman stepped inside.

Hermes.

“My lady. Did you call for me?”

Eliza gazed at her intently.

Beneath her disheveled hair, eyes burning like wild fire glimmered fiercely.

After a long moment, Eliza spoke.

“Sir Hermes.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Before he left, what did Judas say?”

“He sent his regards, wishing you well.”

“…I see.”

Eliza tilted her head slightly, as though indifferent.

She spoke in passing, as if it were nothing.

“A few days ago, there was a time you left without notice. Why was that?”