The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 146

“Why did you do it?”

Eliza spoke in a short, dry voice.

“My lady. I can explain. First, just…”

“Why… why on earth?”

Eliza didn’t listen to him.

She muttered weakly, hollowly.

As he tried to step closer, he hesitated.

Eliza turned to face him.

A face devoid of expression.

It was different from the fabricated indifference he had known.

It wasn’t a lack of expression by choice, but a face incapable of making one.

A face that looked… dead.

Her golden eyes gleamed, yet they were empty as they stared at him.

From her large eyes, tears kept flowing as if they were leaking.

“Did you really have to go that far? To me….”

Eliza seemed about to say something but closed her mouth.

“My lady. Please, calm down first—”

Judas had been approaching but suddenly froze.

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

‘What…?’

Caught off guard by the incomprehensible notification, he stood still for those 3 seconds.

[Cooldown: 24 hours.]

“Impressive.”

Eliza let out a weak laugh.

“You even had a countermeasure prepared for mind-reading magic.”

Only then did Judas realize.

Eliza had just tried to read his memories.

But she had been blocked by Revelation’s Insight.

“Come to think of it, there was another time I tried to see your memories.”

That day, when she nearly strangled him.

“Back then, I thought I’d just made a mistake with my magic because I was flustered….”

Eliza shook her shoulders as she chuckled.

“But that wasn’t it. It was because you were created, perfected, to kill me.”

Judas’s mind reeled at those cruel words.

Fate is fulfilled by the very act of trying to escape it.

He clenched his teeth, then quickly denied it.

“That’s not true! If you check again—”

“Why did you do it?”

But Eliza wasn’t listening.

She was lost in the certainty she had completed herself.

“If you were going to humiliate me like this, you should have just killed me instead. Why did you have to be so kind to me?”

Eliza already knew the answer.

To get close to her, to make her lower her guard, to ensure the safest and most certain way to kill her.

She knew, and yet, she still had to ask.

Not because she hoped for a different answer.

No answer could justify it anyway.

“Did I wrong you so terribly…? Or was it simply lust for my body as a man?”

“My lady, it’s not like that. I—”

“You said you loved me. How did you feel when you heard me say that?”

“…….”

“When you told me you loved me in front of my mother’s grave, how did you feel then?”

Judas couldn’t find his voice.

It felt like something was clogging his throat.

He needed to say something, but he had no idea where to start or how to explain.

How did he feel?

If he only looked at that moment in isolation, it was childish to say, but he had felt like he could fly.

When she returned his feelings, he had felt the same.

Individuals are forever separate entities, and revealing one’s heart is a terrifying act.

But he had received Eliza’s heart.

More than that, Eliza had accepted the feelings he had given her.

That was a miracle.

And at the same time, it was horrifying.

Why did they have to meet in this way?

Judas decided to tell the truth first.

“I sincerely love you, just as I told you then.”

He met Eliza’s hollow eyes directly.

He couldn’t tell if she was really seeing him, but he had to say it.

“And I understand that this is hard for you to accept. But I truly… have no memories from before I met you. I was trained, and I did those terrible things, but I don’t remember them. I only recently learned the truth about my past myself. I know it sounds like an unbelievable excuse, but…”

“…….”

“The truth is, I… I’m not really the Judas you know. I came from another world….”

“…Kuhk!”

Eliza covered her mouth and laughed.

“Kuhut! H-hehaha! Ahahahahat—!”

Even while still shedding tears, Eliza burst into cheerful laughter.

She laughed so hard that her waist bent forward.

She looked like someone who was crying from laughing too much.

“Judas. What exactly are you trying to do right now?”

Judas bit his lips.

He had expected this.

Even knowing it, he still said it.

Because for him, it was an undeniable truth.

That he was possessed by an unfamiliar person and had no knowledge of their past.

Naturally, to Eliza, it sounded like a ridiculous excuse.

“You expect me to believe that? Judas.”

Suddenly stopping her laughter, she stared coldly at him.

“Enough.”

“……”

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it quickly. Don’t play with me.”

“My lady, I—”

“Just kill me already—!”

Eliza screamed with a voice that tore through the air.

The scream-like wail froze Judas in place.

“If you’re going to kill me, do it now! Please…! Don’t make it even more miserable, just end it—!”

She screamed desperately and collapsed onto the floor.

With her small hands, she pounded the ground over and over.

Her hair was disheveled as she soon began to beg.

“Please… Judas. Just kill me… I’m begging you….”

“……”

Judas swept his bangs back in frustration.

How could he persuade her?

Seeing her, too exhausted from anger to even rage anymore, instead begging for death, he felt completely lost.

Judas knelt before Eliza.

He was late, but even now, he had to tell only the truth and persuade her.

“I like you. Very much, more than you can imagine. This is my first time experiencing these emotions, and I handled them poorly despite knowing better. I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier, the moment I found out….”

Would things have been different if he had spoken sooner?

He didn’t know.

Maybe they would have, maybe they wouldn’t.

Speculating about what could have been was meaningless.

It was easy to judge the right answer after knowing the wrong one.

Just like how people pointed fingers at others.

Until the results were clear, no one could truly know.

“I know it’s hard to believe. I do. But I swear, I did not come here to kill you….”

As he spoke, Judas suddenly felt his mind go blank.

Let’s say it was true that he hadn’t come to kill Eliza.

But what about the fact that he had killed Maria?

Would this apology and confession change the past?

Just because he didn’t remember, did that mean it never happened?

Would Maria come back to life?

Would the wounds in Eliza’s heart heal?

What was he supposed to do?

“…Why won’t you kill me?”

While Judas was lost in confusion, Eliza murmured to herself.

“Why won’t you kill me…? Now is the perfect chance….”

A brief silence.

Then, she realized something.

“…Ah. I see. You’re not killing me because you want to capture me. To use my power. That’s it, isn’t it? You plan to use the power of the Sun.”

“No. My lady, please, listen to me—”

Eliza staggered to her feet.

With her face cast in shadow, only her madly burning eyes gleamed.

Judas, looking up at her, also rose cautiously.

His instincts screamed.

At that moment, Eliza, who had been limply lowering her head, suddenly snapped it up.

Her blazing golden eyes locked onto Judas, and flames erupted from her.

Golden fireballs poured toward him.

And in that instant, Judas saw it.

The second tragedy.

Eliza, with tears streaming down her furious face, hurling magic at him.

The scene before his eyes matched it exactly.

Judas reflexively raised his arm.

Suddenly, his last day from his previous life flashed in his mind.

It had been hazy since arriving here, but as he lived on, he had recalled that final moment.

The day he had died, stabbed in the stomach.

It had been such a meaningless life that he had buried the memory away.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.

His body was completely unharmed.

It came to mind belatedly.

Because of the full moon, she was immune to fire.

However, the full moon had not activated.

The golden flames Eliza had unleashed all missed her.

No fires ignited around her, nor did anything explode.

They simply disappeared.

“Ah… Ah, ahaha….”

Eliza let out a powerless laugh and collapsed onto the floor.

Even in this moment, the thought that he might get hurt made her heart sink.

That’s right. She was worried about him.

It was an utterly dreadful feeling.

So, just before the flames could touch him, she changed their trajectory and extinguished them.

She had done it instinctively.

It was revolting.

Not only the fact that she harbored such emotions—

But also the assassin who had deceived her all this time, staying by her side and building up those very emotions.

Everything in this world felt disgusting and tiresome.

“…My lady?”

Judas realized that she had deliberately missed and then dispelled the magic.

Carefully, he knelt on one knee before her as she sat weakly.

“Judas….”

Eliza looked at him.

Their eyes met—

One pair of golden eyes burning fiercely, the other gleaming in a different shade of gold.

Eliza intertwined her fingers with Judas’s.

Though confused, Judas obediently let her hold his hand.

Even now, whenever their skin touched, a warmth like sunlight seeped into him.

The same was true for Eliza.

A pleasant coolness, like the night breeze after a summer rain, filled her body.

If not for this, she wouldn’t have been so desperate for him.

It was both detestable and endearing.

Her mind was in complete disarray.

She couldn’t think logically.

“I hate you so much.”

“…….”

“But even more than that, I… I like you too much.”

“…….”

“I wanted you dead, but if you actually died, I think… I would die all over again, just like before.”

“…….”

“For you, if what you wanted was my life, I think… I could just die for you. It’s beyond liking… I love you, desperately.”

“…….”

“But then, what about my mother? Hm…? And me, what about me—who has neither accomplished nor protected anything? In this situation, what am I supposed to do…?”

As she spoke, her voice trembled with sobs.

Judas could not say anything.

He simply pulled her hand toward him.

Gently, he embraced Eliza.

She did not resist and, just like before, leaned into his arms.

And soon, she began to cry like a child.

Holding onto that small, precious warmth, he whispered,

“I also love you… very much.”

For some reason, it felt like those words never truly reached her.

***

“…Eliza?”

Having finished cleaning the bedroom, Lia saw a sudden flash of light.

Golden flames.

They had erupted from the direction of Eliza’s office.

To Lia’s knowledge, Judas and Eliza were together there.

And yet, golden flames—

That must mean the magic was meant to harm someone.

‘What’s going on…?’

Instinctively, she knew.

Something was about to happen between Eliza and Judas.

She had to stop it before it was too late.

Without hesitation, Lia ran toward the office.