The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 123

“A few days ago, you left without notice for a short while. Why was that?”

Eliza asked casually, and Hermes scratched his head.

“Pardon? Um… I’m sorry, miss, but I don’t understand what you mean.”

Eliza slowly nodded.

The other person didn’t take the bait.

It could be a lie, or it could be the truth.

To be honest, there was no evidence from the start.

She wouldn’t know Hermes’s schedule anyway.

She’d just been in her room the entire time.

It was only a faint suspicion she had.

Or maybe, it was just petty jealousy she couldn’t shake.

After all, Hermes had been the last person to speak with that woman.

“…Alright. You may go now.”

Hermes hesitated instead of leaving immediately but soon bowed her head.

On impulse, she almost passed on Judas’s last words.

She knew better than to interfere in someone else’s matters recklessly.

But she simply felt sorry for the two of them.

After Hermes left, Eliza hugged the ‘Moon pupil’ tightly.

‘This is my karma.’

She had driven him away.

She had told him to die.

Judas had only done as she said.

‘Should I go to him or not?’

Since he left, she’d thought about it thousands of times over the weeks.

She had held it in and suffered alone all this time.

Even though she had pushed him away, she still wanted to find him somehow.

She wanted to see him again.

She wanted to trap him in a cage so he couldn’t go far.

She would endure it.

As long as he wasn’t somewhere beyond her reach.

She hoped he would wait for her in a place she could eventually find.

It was a selfish desire.

Finally, she made up her mind.

‘…I’ll let you go.’

She wanted to find him, even if it meant burning the whole world down, but she chose to hold back.

How shameless of her.

He wouldn’t want to see her anyway.

It was a one-sided feeling, so she decided to endure it alone.

Today made her realize it for certain, accept it, and understand it.

‘As long as you’re alive somewhere, I’ll be content with that.’

Eliza hugged the ‘Moon Pupil’ close to her chest.

This was her own doing.

Her own fault.

She had told him she wished he would die.

Dared to say it to him directly.

And he had done so.

What his true intentions were, she didn’t know.

‘If this is your goodbye… I’ll accept it. I’ll bear it all and carry it.’

She pressed her lips to the handle he often touched.

Her flowing tears dampened her lips.

‘Goodbye.’

She saw her weak self she had once wanted to kill.

The child huddled in the cage.

Unlike back then, now smiling brightly.

Touching the flowers in the garden.

Looking up at the moon in the sky.

The flowers had wilted, and the moon had lost its light.

The child smiled foolishly, not realizing the two were dead.

It was revolting.

Enough to make her want to tear her skin apart and rip out her insides.

She had killed them herself, yet she smiled without knowing.

She had tried to kill that side of herself when Sardis attacked her, but Judas had saved her.

That part of her was no longer needed.

Eliza willingly picked up the knife.

She stabbed the Eliza in the cage.

Twisted it and severed the neck.

Red blood burst forth like a fountain.

It bloomed wide like a fully opened flower.

Thick blood seeped into the roots of the crimson anemone.

***

“Eliza, miss!”

She had meant to summon everyone to make a declaration, but Miguel rushed to her in a panic.

The woman with her head wrapped asked in a dry voice,

“What’s the matter?”

Miguel flinched upon seeing her.

Something had changed.

Unlike before, when she had seemed lifeless, a resolute determination now radiated from her.

However, there was no vitality in her.

She still resembled a corpse—or a doll.

It was as if he were seeing Eliza from long ago, before she met Judas.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

“The Duchess of Narssisa has been murdered!”

Eliza hurried to the underground prison.

The preserved crime scene held three corpses.

Narssisa, Achan, and Sarah.

“What happened?”

Bols quickly explained.

“While you were briefly away, someone used magic in this prison. Sensing the disturbance, I came running, only to find the three of them dead.”

Eliza’s reason worked more efficiently than ever.

Her mind held no room for emotion.

“Teleportation in the gap, followed by a swift escape after the murders.”

She examined the stab wounds.

“The shape of the sword differs from my soldiers’ weapons.”

This meant it wasn’t an inside job.

In other words, it was a meticulously planned assassination.

“With this level of precision, the information has likely already been sent back to Bevel. They’ll hold the moral high ground. I planned to strike first, but…”

It no longer mattered.

She would kill them all anyway.

Anyone who opposed her.

Anyone aligned with Bevel. None would be left alive.

“Summon all the soldiers.”

***

The front yard of Eliza’s estate.

Every soldier working for her had gathered.

From ordinary soldiers to knights with superhuman strength.

Even the elite guards.

It was a sizable force for one person to command.

Those loyal to the name of the Reincarnation of the Mythical Age.

Several generals from allied forces, formed to oppose the Empire, were also present.

Standing on the platform before them, Eliza looked down at the crowd.

Drizzling rain fell gently, but she didn’t care.

Her red scarf fluttered and billowed in the wind.

“I am.”

She began to speak.

“Eliza di Bevel.”

She continued.

“A direct descendant of Duke Barak, an illegitimate child, and the mage called the Reincarnation of the Mythical Age.”

“Our enemy, the Empire, released monsters into the capital to display their might, endangering civilians. They perpetuate war with the demons, securing their wealth with the innocent’s blood and toil.”

“Moreover, the Bevel family, in collaboration with the Empire and the Moon Church, tried to kill me, who was destined to be the cornerstone of a new era.”

Her voice rang out.

“Under the same sky, where the Sun watches over all impartially, they committed acts that should never have happened. This is rebellion against the divine and blasphemy against sacred faith.”

The fallen Sun clasped its hands in prayer and closed its eyes.

“As the successor to the power of the Sun, I will, on its behalf, judge all who disrupt order.”

Her voice was resolute.

“That is the will of the gods.”

When she opened her eyes, they burned fiercely like the Sun.

“…!”

A solemn intensity spread among the crowd.

“Worship and obey. In the name of the Sun, I shall personally grant you—”

The master of unyielding flames.

Eliza held up the ‘Moon Pupil’ in her hand, sealing her proclamation.

“Eternal victory.”

The crowd that filled the estate shouted in unison.

“To Lady Eliza, loyalty—!”

As if bound by a single will, they knelt in unison, and Eliza nodded impassively.

“Carry out your assigned duties without fail.”

The soldiers and knights scattered immediately.

The allied forces exchanged brief greetings with Eliza before riding off to spread the news.

Watching their retreating figures, Eliza glanced aside.

To one corner of the estate.

A garden filled with red blossoms.

Eliza took a long time to recall the name of that flower.

“…Anemone?”

Why were those flowers planted there in such abundance?

She couldn’t understand.

Nor why those flowers alone had color in this space.

A colorless expression.

Looking at that face, as if the soul had died, Lia swallowed her tears inside.

***

“Ah….”

A letter arrived in front of Barak.

A declaration of war by the anti-empire faction, centered around Eliza de Bevel.

At the same time, news of the deaths of Duchess Narssisa, Achan, and Sarah.

They planned to strike the imperial forces first.

But he couldn’t bear to let his own children fight each other.

Unable to mobilize troops, he had tried to act alone, but it was too late.

In that brief moment of careful attention, the war had begun.

“Ah….”

Where had it all gone wrong?

What mistake of his could he fix to prevent this from happening?

Even upon reflection, he couldn’t know.

He only knew with certainty:

The price of his negligence, knowingly left unattended, was now approaching—a price he would pay as an unworthy father.

***

Shick, shick-

Gawain was polishing his sword.

As Barak’s sword, he had to stand on Bevel’s side.

For a moment, he would have to face the young lady he once served.

And the time had come to cross swords with the knight he had taught and fought alongside.

He would not hesitate.

No matter who stood in his way.

“…Judas.”

The disciple who had been abruptly dispatched to Bethany.

It was a small relief that he wasn’t among the enemy forces.

Judas rode swiftly through the forest.

“By now, they must have found the decoy corpse. Thanks to Hermes, they’ll think I’m dead.”

He had faked his death.

Hermes had prepared a body with a similar build to his, and Judas had left the Moon Pupil beside it.

He made sure to show that it was poisoned by Lamech’s deadly toxin.

Using Bethany’s geographical features, he burned the convict’s corpse to make identification difficult.

Now, Eliza wouldn’t come looking for him, and the second tragedy wouldn’t happen.

What had Eliza thought when she found the body?

Oddly, he worried whether she had been shocked or hurt.

Even at the end, foolish regrets lingered in his heart.

But he soon shook them off.

He knew how irrational and improbable it was.

“She’ll live well. Even if war breaks out, Eliza is strong.”

As he pressed onward, he suddenly looked back.

For a fleeting moment, he felt a strange sensation, as if Eliza had called out to him.

He let out a small chuckle.

That couldn’t be.

“What a fool I am.”

Mocking himself, Judas cut through the remaining darkness and continued forward.

Now, he had to live a new life.

He already had a place to begin.

Jericho.

He headed toward the land he had purchased and the house he had built there through the information guild.