The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 154

When Eliza was staying at his family home, he signed a certain document.

The massacre of Bethlehem.

What was the official reason again?

She couldn’t remember.

But she knew Narcissa’s intent.

By ordering the massacre of a village near where Eliza had previously stayed, and doing so in Eliza’s name, Narcissa sought to suppress her.

At the time, she had been too scared—too afraid of being beaten—to think clearly, and she signed without question.

But then, she found out—Judas was from that village.

She had killed Judas’s family and neighbors.

And that same Judas had been raised as an assassin, destined to kill both Maria and herself.

Judas had every right to kill her.

‘…….’

Eliza looked at Judas, curled up inside the wardrobe.

She felt sorry for him. And guilty.

It hurt, as though a blade was growing from her heart.

How terrified had Judas been in there?

And how furious must he have felt on his way here?

She couldn’t even begin to imagine.

She wanted to hold her.

Even if this place was just an illusion—a fabricated world, built from his memories.

Even if none of this was real.

But then.

‘…Who is this?’

It was Judas, yet it wasn’t.

She looked exactly the same.

Since this memory belonged to Judas, the boy before her had to be Judas.

But he wasn’t the Judas Eliza knew. She was sure of it.

There was no evidence.

Just instinct.

‘This is weird… I don’t know why, but this isn’t Judas. Something’s off….’

Judas’s words suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

He had said that he wasn’t the real Judas, that he had come from another world.

‘If he came from another world… then what is this memory? Who is this boy? Does that mean… something else?’

No matter how much he thought about it, there was no answer.

With that lingering unease, Eliza left the memory behind.

He wanted to see further into the past.

***

The village of Bethlehem, near the city of Selene, was a peaceful and quaint place.

Charming wooden houses clustered together, forming a picturesque pastoral scene.

Judas’s father, David, was a shepherd there.

Judas helped him with his work.

It was already decided that he would one day inherit the family trade.

His daily life was peaceful—just tending to the sheep that huddled together like little storm clouds.

There were no wild animals nearby that could threaten them.

Their sheepdog was the fiercest predator in the area, and that said it all.

It was an endless peace, one that felt as though it would last forever.

To Judas, the village he lived in was like the paradise described by the priests in the scriptures.

One evening, after herding the sheep into their pen, Judas was on his way home.

At the village entrance, a group of children his age came running up to him.

“Judas! The adults are going to the forest to see the witch!”

“She’s not a witch, she’s a fairy!”

In the forest near Bethlehem, a mother and daughter lived.

No one knew their full story.

Judas had heard that around the time he was born, a couple had come to the village as if fleeing from something.

The woman had been heavily pregnant.

The villagers had quickly taken them in.

It had been an urgent situation, so the woman had no choice but to give birth in a stable.

The baby girl born that night had been laid in an empty manger lined with dry straw and cloth, receiving the blessings of the villagers as she let out her first cry into the world.

That child and her mother now lived in hiding within the village’s forest.

For some reason, the man had left.

Why? The adults kept that secret, so the children didn’t know.

Judas had only picked up bits and pieces of the story.

All he knew was that she had been born the same year as him.

He had never actually seen her. He wasn’t all that curious, either.

The children, however, had woven all kinds of fantastic tales about the mother and daughter.

A witch in the forest, a runaway dark mage, the guardian deity of the village, or even a mystical fairy.

“Let’s follow them in secret!”

The children’s eyes sparkled with excitement, but Judas wasn’t interested.

“You guys go. I’m gonna rest.”

The golden-eyed boy was never particularly enthusiastic about anything.

His relationships with others weren’t bad, and his home life was quite decent.

Both of his parents were perfectly fine and affectionate toward him.

It was just that Judas found every moment unbearably dull.

Yet, he had no desire to seek new stimulation or venture elsewhere.

He felt like he would always live in this hazy peace—boring, yet not necessarily unpleasant.

He simply wanted to drift along like this.

Leisurely, in his tedious paradise.

And then, tragedy arrived without warning.

It was something more horrifying than any natural disaster.

It happened while he was playing hide-and-seek with the village children.

He hadn’t particularly wanted to play, but the others had pestered him, saying they didn’t have enough players, so he had reluctantly joined in.

At the time, Judas was hiding inside his wardrobe at home.

Soon, the child who was “it” would start searching from house to house and eventually come this way.

Then, his mother would tell them that Judas wasn’t home.

That’s what he had thought.

But the visitor who arrived was not a child.

It was a knight clad in black armor.

“Who…?”

Before his mother could even ask, the knight thrust his sword.

It was a truly bizarre sight.

The image of a sword piercing through a human body.

“Ah…?”

His fallen mother’s eyes met his.

Judas covered his mouth with his hands.

His mother’s eyes quickly darted elsewhere.

She was trying to conceal his presence from the intruder.

“Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!”

David shouted, brandishing a pitchfork.

He had instinctively grabbed a weapon, but he couldn’t fight.

His opponent was a knight.

There was no way he could win.

“I will give you anything…! If it’s money you want, take as much as you need! Just spare our lives…!”

At that moment, the knight removed his helmet.

Short blond hair and indifferent red eyes were revealed.

To show one’s face in a situation like this meant only one thing—there would be no survivors.

The blond knight swung his sword without hesitation.

David was struck down.

Hiding inside the wardrobe, Judas watched in silence.

He burned the memory into his mind.

The gleaming blade.

The final cries of his parents.

The splattering blood and the sight of them dying.

And the knight with golden hair and red eyes.

After ensuring both his parents were dead, the knight set the house ablaze and left.

The acrid smoke seeped into the wardrobe.

Judas remained curled up inside.

More than the paralysis gripping his body, the screams from outside hadn’t stopped.

It wasn’t just that one knight attacking.

From multiple directions, countless screams continued to ring out.

He covered his ears and trembled.

Even that was difficult to do.

Breathing became increasingly harder.

By the time the screams outside began to fade, Judas cautiously emerged from the house, covering his mouth and nose.

The moment he stepped out, the house’s pillars collapsed.

Startled, he fell backward and looked up at his home.

It was engulfed in flames.

The entire village was burning.

The pastoral, monotonous paradise was no more.

For several days, Judas wandered the village.

He walked aimlessly through the ruins.

He had no idea where to go.

No idea what to do.

All he did was walk and walk through the village, where he seemed to be the only living being left.

Then, at the village outskirts, he spotted someone.

A man in a white robe was moving from one ruined house to another, offering prayers and blessings for the deceased.

When the man noticed him, he approached.

Judas’s clouded golden eyes looked up at him.

The man spoke.

“There was a survivor.”

“…….”

“Are you alright?”

“I don’t know.”

The man gazed at him silently.

It felt as though he was searching his eyes.

Then, he nodded.

“You seem to have the qualifications. Those eyes—they are the symbol of a child of revelation.”

A child of revelation.

It was an unfamiliar term.

Even if it had been a word he knew, Judas wouldn’t have been able to react.

The entire situation felt foreign to him.

“Let’s take revenge on them.”

“Revenge?”

“Yes, revenge. So they can never make you sad again. You must take revenge on the world.”

Judas remembered the moment his parents died.

Black armor.

A blazing emblem engraved on their chests.

They cut people down as easily as harvesting crops—unyielding, unstoppable.

Defeating them seemed impossible.

“I… I don’t know. How?”

“I’ll help you.”

“Who… who are you?”

The man smiled softly.

A reassuring, lighthearted smile.

“I am Anggra, a priest of the Moon God Church.”

Priest Anggra.

Judas had heard the name before.

The priest who occasionally visited the village had mentioned him.

He remembered the priest speaking highly of him, praising his great faith.

“And I know who is responsible for what happened to you and your village.”

The man extended his hand.

“Come with me. I will help you.”

It felt like everything would be okay.

Like he would find what he was searching for—like it would all come true.

His voice was soft and soothing, like an angel’s whisper.

Judas, as if entranced, reached out and took his hand.

“Alright.”

***

Judas’s eyes snapped open.

He had agreed to follow Anggra, but suddenly, he had lost consciousness.

The place was unfamiliar.

Dark, damp, and filled with the smell of mold.

It was unpleasant.

The underground space was no place for people to live.

It felt like a tomb—or a prison.

He looked around.

There were children trapped behind iron bars.

Most were about his age.

Boys and girls, all gathered together.

Their only common trait was their golden eyes.

Yet none of them had the same vivid gold as Judas.

Some were light green, some yellow, some brown, some orange.

Eyes that were similar, but not the same.

The children trembled in fear as a figure approached the bars.

It was Anggra.

“P-priest! This place… where is this?”

“This is where you will be staying from now on.”

“In… a place like this?”

“Yes. And for the record, we’re deep in the heart of the Demon Realm. It would be best for both of us if you didn’t even think about escaping.”

“T-the Demon Realm? W-why am I here…?”

Anggra didn’t seem to care about Judas’s unease or fear.

He only said what he wanted to say.

The kindness he had shown before was gone.

“Aren’t you curious about who destroyed your village?”

“I… I am.”

“That person is a child named Eliza. Have you heard of them?”

“No.”

“Oh, how pitiful. You were utterly deceived. There was a small hut near your village, wasn’t there? Where a mother and her child lived?”

Judas nodded.

“The girl who lived there is named Eliza. And she is a daughter of the Bevel family.”

Judas had heard of the Bevel family.

Bartrahem belonged to the Bevel Principality, so it was a well-known name.

“That girl had been deceiving all of you from the start. She lived there to kill you. And now, after completing her rite of passage, she has returned home to receive proper training.”

Anggra continued speaking.

Judas, though filled with unease, listened.

The heart of the Demon Realm—a dangerous place.

A prison-like solitary cell.

Dark and terrifying.

He could not imagine how he would survive here.

Would he die like this?

The Demon Realm?

A place where all sorts of monsters roam, alongside dark sorcerers even more terrifying than them.

In such isolation, the only person Judas knew was Anggra.

There was no one else he could rely on.

Feeling anxious, he decided to listen carefully to Anggra’s words.

It felt like his survival depended on it.

Anggra then began to spew scornful words about Eliza.

He called her a dangerous being, inheriting both the wicked temper of Barak’s blood and the formidable power of a mage.

But not just any magical talent—her power was that of mad fire.

A force akin to a twisted sun, something utterly perilous.

“One day, she will be the seed of a beast that brings the world’s destruction. Just look at the proof—did she not go beyond mere cruelty and massacre your entire village, the very people who once showed her kindness? Isn’t that right?”

“Yes…”

Before he realized it, Judas was completely entranced by Anggra’s words.

The one who burned his village, slaughtered its people, and murdered his parents—Eliza.

Eliza di Bevel.

A firm goal took root in his heart.

He had to kill Eliza.

“That villain slaughtered your family and neighbors, yet she will return to her noble home and live happily, feeling no guilt at all. Ah, what a tragic injustice! Can you accept such a reality?!”

Despite Anggra’s forceful and domineering tone, Judas did not cower.

Instead, he felt exhilarated—elevated by his words.

Rage surged within him.

He recalled his helplessness in that moment—when all he could do was hide and watch his parents die.

“You must bring rightful retribution and establish true justice.”

“Yes.”

“Your task is simple, yet noble. Take your revenge. And in doing so, you shall save the world.”

Anggra smiled as he looked at Judas.

The young boy, with no one else to depend on, nodded solemnly.