The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 145

Lia cleaned Eliza’s bedroom alone.

She had no idea where Eliza was or what she was doing.

These days, she was always with Judas, just the two of them.

Eliza meticulously managed who could approach them, ensuring their time alone was undisturbed.

Only in situations of absolute necessity could they be separated.

Thanks to that, Lia had no place to interfere.

And that was a great relief.

Eliza had finally found a man to accept her heart and respond to it.

Originally, she had planned to die during the war.

Unexpectedly, she had survived, and the war had been won.

Eliza’s power had exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Now that all the obstacles were gone…

Should she tell the truth or not?

Every day, without rest, Lia agonized over it.

But if she revealed the truth, how could she take responsibility for the wound Eliza would bear?

She had watched her suffer and pretended not to see.

There was no doubt—Eliza must have suffered more than she had.

But if she confessed now, how deep would her shock be?

She was not afraid of being resented or hated.

If Eliza found comfort in hating her, then she would accept it.

She deserved it, after all.

She was someone who had failed to fulfill her role.

Telling herself it was inevitable—such an excuse was pathetic and childish.

Even so, in the past, there had been no other choice for Lia.

A commoner with no power, no money, no connections.

A dancer in a shabby troupe on the outskirts of the city, earning just enough each day to survive.

That such a woman had caught Barak’s eye was nothing more than coincidence—or perhaps whimsy.

Whether that was fortune or misfortune, she did not know.

Amid Barak’s neglect and Narcissi’s watchful restraint, the only way Lia could protect Eliza… was through this kind of relationship.

She felt sorry for Eliza.

Because from the very beginning, their relationship had been built on a lie.

And she had kept piling lie upon lie, over and over again.

If she revealed the truth now, the tower of lies she had built would collapse.

It would come crashing down, wounding the very foundation—Eliza’s heart.

She had to keep it to herself. Until the day she died.

Her existence, her true identity, must remain unknown to Eliza, even in death.

For the rest of her days…

She simply wanted to live quietly.

To watch over Eliza from afar, supporting her when needed, and seeing her love Judas happily.

That was her final wish.

A small flowerpot sat on the bedroom windowsill.

Looking at the fully bloomed anemone, Lia smiled—bitterly, yet content.

It was a relief that Judas was there, more than enough to take her place.

***

Maria.

The one person who had been her only color, her entire world.

To her, Maria was like Judas had been in the past.

Her everything.

And the one who had killed that everything—was the person who was now her everything.

Judas.

“…….”

The one who commissioned the act was Narcissa.

Perhaps Judas had merely been the one to carry it out.

But it was too tangled, too complicated to think of it that simply.

Judas…

Judas had killed her mother.

Judas was destined to kill her as well.

Judas had said he liked her.

At her mother’s grave.

What had he been thinking?

With what intention?

For what purpose?

Why had he done something so cruel?

Judas claimed to have no memories of the past.

So, could he prove that?

She had thought she knew everything about Judas.

But she withdrew that arrogant assumption.

She realized she knew nothing about him.

Perhaps…

Perhaps every part of him that she knew was a lie.

The way he reacted when he lied. The habits.

Even knowing how difficult it was to fabricate such things flawlessly…

Eliza could no longer trust him.

There was another suspicious point.

The Anggra she confirmed had many aspects of its memory erased.

It was an erasure that felt somewhat unnatural.

Naturally, among those erased memories, there must have been Judas.

The documents before her eyes.

Various clues she had visually confirmed intertwined perfectly.

So seamlessly that even her cold rationality could not find a flaw.

An assassin raised to kill her.

The assassin who killed her mother.

They were the same person.

Judas Deficit.

The Imperial Family. The Moon God Church.

A collaboration between the two.

Then what about Barak?

If all three had not been restraining her from the beginning, then what kind of person was Barak?

Eliza did not think her massacre had been meaningless.

Leaving aside the Empire and the Moon God Church, if time had passed, those brothers would have tried to kill her eventually.

Barak was the one responsible for failing to control them.

So he deserved to die.

Did he? She wasn’t sure.

In the midst of her confusion, the most incomprehensible figure was Barak.

If he had not joined forces with the Empire and the Moon God Church to kill her, then why had he been so cruel to her?

Did he truly think that sacrificing just one person—herself—would preserve the family’s peace?

Eliza had thought there was some greater cause.

It was laughable that such a cause was merely the conquest of the Empire, but regardless.

But if that wasn’t the case, if he had really only hidden her and her mother for the sake of family peace—

No. This wasn’t important right now.

These were things that had already left his world.

Judas.

He had claimed to have no memory.

That was a lie.

Or perhaps… maybe he really didn’t remember.

It was possible that unnecessary memories had been erased to make him a perfect blade.

However, one thing was certain.

An assassin must never forget their target.

He would not have forgotten the memory of killing Maria and the fact that he had to kill Eliza as well.

One question arose.

Then why—

Why hadn’t Judas killed her yet?

There had been countless opportunities.

“Ah…”

She realized it immediately.

“For this moment.”

If Barak had not been an enemy of the Empire, then this situation made sense.

The Empire instigates a civil war within the Bevel family.

Eliza kills Barak and the rest of the direct bloodline.

And then, Judas kills the remaining Eliza.

With this, the Empire eliminates the Bevel family completely without any losses and gains full control over the continent.

Those words—”I like you.”

A trained assassin would use any means necessary.

It was a well-known method to spend years gaining the affection of a heavily guarded target, only to kill them when they least expected it.

She never thought she would be the one to fall victim to it.

“You… were trying to make me lower my guard…”

All the clues aligned, pointing to a single conclusion.

“Judas… from the very beginning… you….”

Eurydice shouted urgently.

She couldn’t let her lose herself in this one truth and drown in it.

“Eliza! Calm down for now…!”

At that moment—

A commotion erupted outside.

“No way… at this moment of all times!”

The door burst open.

Leading the charge was a knight in platinum armor, followed by several others clad in gold.

The knight at the front—he was part of the Imperial Guard.

Eurydice clenched her teeth.

It was them—the forces that had been pursuing her.

The guard golems stationed outside were useless.

They weren’t enough to stop them.

The attackers hesitated upon seeing Eliza but did not delay their mission.

“Capture those two.”

Eurydice quickly spoke.

“Eliza. I’m sorry. I know it’s hard to believe, but please trust Judas.”

Leaving those words behind, Eurydice vanished.

“She’s gone!”

“Damn it…! After everything we went through to get here!”

They had used a teleportation artifact.

Eliza unknowingly let out a smirk.

That artifact was one of the items she had commercialized in collaboration with the Tower Master.

While making a necklace for Judas. She had done it on the side.

She couldn’t remember what Eurydice had said before she left.

But at this moment, to her, this scenery seemed absolutely perfect.

The moment she arrived at the Information Guild, reeling from shock, the Imperial Guards and the Order of Knights stormed in.

It was as if they had come specifically to capture her.

One of the guards shook his head as he watched Eliza laughing like a madman.

“I don’t know why, but she’s not in her right mind. Either way, she’s an enemy we have to deal with, so it’s better to kill her here and n—”

Splat.

The speaking head rolled to the ground.

The remaining knights neither reacted nor drew their swords.

By the time they realized that golden flames had killed the guards, their heads were already rolling on the floor as well.

“Hah… Haha… Hahaha…”

From her eyes, blazing like mad fire, tears streamed endlessly.

And yet, Eliza laughed like a lunatic.

This situation was too absurd to endure without laughter.

***

The cage collapses.

The iron bars twist, coil, and snap with a grotesque sound.

The only light in the void, the moon, shatters like glass and falls as rain.

Sharp fragments pour down.

As the steel bars and glass threaten to crush Anemone—

Eliza instinctively throws herself to shield them.

Pain crashes down on her back.

Yet, Eliza endures.

That flower.

Even if Judas had deceived her.

Even if everything about him was a lie.

The emotions and feelings Eliza had experienced through him were not.

They were real.

In every moment.

A new emotion blooms in her heart.

A feeling she thought she had long since let go.

Betrayal carves its name into her heart with a rusted blade.

Hatred.

But—memories of their childhood together.

The moments and emotions they shared.

Those vivid memories were too clear to be hated.

Hatred, entangled with the tenderness of past love, twisted and blended until it transformed into something else entirely.

Love and hate.

A contradiction in itself, yet the emotion sank deeply into her heart.

***

Hermes urged her horse forward, breathing heavily.

Before Eliza learned the truth, she had to deliver the message Judas had failed to convey in his haste to leave.

The fact that Judas had killed Eliza’s biological mother, Maria.

And that there were many mysteries surrounding Maria’s death.

Though Judas had carried out Maria’s assassination, at the time, he belonged to Lamech.

Anyone familiar with Lamech would find Maria’s death suspicious.

Their assassinations were never executed in such a manner.

Hermes, in her rush to depart, was unaware that Eliza had already stormed into the Information Guild, discovered the truth, and encountered the Imperial Guards pursuing the guild.

“…Huh?”

Hermes felt a sense of unease.

She cautiously slowed her horse.

Shadows loomed over the terrain surrounding Eliza’s mansion.

‘That’s….’

Knights clad in golden armor.

And a massive force beyond them.

Among them, a knight in platinum armor.

‘The Imperial Guards… The rest are Imperial soldiers and the Royal Order of Knights.’

The empire’s forces had surrounded Eliza’s mansion.

They didn’t appear to be attacking just yet.

Judging by the atmosphere, they had set up camp, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

‘I heard negotiations had broken down. That means the empire decided to strike before Eliza could take advantage of her mobility.’

Hermes turned her horse.

She had to find a way in.

Before they struck first, she had to deliver the warning.

***

Judas received Eliza’s summons.

Upon teleporting, he was met with the familiar sight of the office.

But the atmosphere around Eliza was unfamiliar.

Completely different from usual.

Judas instinctively sensed that something was very, very wrong.

“…Miss?”

Eliza was half-perched on the edge of her desk.

Eyes, stained with mad fire, stared blankly at the window.

A gaze both radiant and hollow.

Never before had Judas seen such an expression in Eliza’s eyes.

“What’s wrong…?”

Judas, who had been approaching, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The desk where Eliza sat.

He recognized the scattered documents on top of it.

The same documents Eurydice had shown him—had tried to show him again and again.

Information revealing that he was an assassin.

The rest of the documents, he didn’t know.

‘Why are those here…?’

Eliza’s dry voice called out to him.

“Judas.”

“…Yes, Miss.”

Without looking at him, she spoke.

“Why did you do it?”

A question laden with countless meanings.

The moment he heard it, Judas realized.

Eliza had found out everything.

He had always been honest—except for that one hesitation.

And now, the consequence of that hesitation lay before him.

He instinctively knew an ending had come.

This place was just like the one shown in the second tragedy.