The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 172

Judas raised the cup.

‘…I’ll drink it.’

The decision had already been made long ago.

The river that loses precious memories.

Judas thought he might know which memories would disappear.

He just couldn’t be certain.

However, making Eliza lose her memories, after having already sacrificed so much, was too cruel.

Perhaps he might forget Eliza.

Still.

Even if that happens.

‘I will be able to remember again.’

Believing that, he drank from the river.

Gulp, gulp.

Cold water flowed down his throat.

“Whoo….”

He emptied the cup.

The cup that would refill with water if the wrong person drank from it.

But the cup was clean.

“…It’s done. Let’s go.”

Judas picked up Eliza.

Then, Yuel approached.

Had it been hiding? It wasn’t visible earlier.

“Yuel! What, what happened to you?”

Yuel had caught him when he fell from the sun.

He hadn’t thought about it at the time.

“Why are you here? Could it be… you’re dead too?”

“Kkiung-?”

Yuel didn’t respond to Judas’s words.

He only tilted its head as if it didn’t understand.

“Does he not even know the concept of death?”

“Kkiing?”

Judas muttered softly while petting the innocent and confused Yuel.

“Hmm… I wonder if something is going on outside…?”

Yuel, unaware of Judas’s worries, poked at Eliza with his horn.

“Okay, okay. Let’s leave here for now.”

Judas placed Eliza on first, then climbed onto Yuel himself.

He let Eliza rest in his arms.

“…But where are we going? Yuel, do you know the way?”

Yuel just blankly looked around.

“How did he even get here…?”

Then, from a distance, a white dot shimmered.

It was the same phenomenon that happened when Judas arrived here.

“Yuel, let’s follow that.”

Yuel moved quickly.

The scenery of the afterlife passed by rapidly.

Just like when they were chasing Barak, the white dot led them somewhere, maintaining a narrow distance.

And they arrived at a foggy dock.

The place where they had entered the afterlife.

Now, Judas was face to face with the white dot.

“Her name was Maria… right?”

The one who had guided Eliza, and who had held Narcissa when they ascended to the black sun.

Eliza’s biological mother.

Maria smiled lightly as she looked at Judas.

“Yeah. It’s the first time meeting you by your real name.”

“Are you the one who guided me… is that correct?”

“Yes. Only you could save Eliza. For that, I truly thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me… It’s thanks to you that I didn’t wander too much.”

Maria approached, and Judas got off Yuel.

He still held Eliza in his arms.

As Maria came closer, she smiled while fixing Eliza’s hair.

“My beautiful daughter. Now, it’s really time to say goodbye.”

Maria was smiling, but endless tears flowed from her eyes.

Judas couldn’t even begin to imagine her feelings.

She had stayed by Eliza’s side while hiding her identity. What must she have felt all that time?

“…The longer a goodbye lasts, the more regretful it becomes. Eliza is a child who shouldn’t stay here, so we shouldn’t hold on for too long. I’ll let her go soon.”

Judas silently watched as Maria whispered through her tears.

Black hair. Black eyes.

He hadn’t realized it when her hair was red.

Back then, her makeup had been especially heavy.

But now, looking at her, he saw how much she resembled Eliza.

Maria gently cupped Eliza’s face with her hands, pressing their foreheads together, and whispered.

“You weren’t born wrong. You haven’t done anything wrong. You are a being who deserves to be loved. Leave the guilt you mistook for a sin here. You only need to be happy.”

The mother, who had kissed her daughter’s forehead, gave her final words.

“I love you, Eli. When you come many, many years from now, I’ll tell you again. Even when I become a deceased, I’ll never forget you.”

Maria spoke with a trembling voice, but with certainty.

“Because I’m your mother.”

Now was the time to leave.

…Then, Judas suddenly remembered.

He had been so caught up in worrying about his memory after saving Eliza that he had forgotten.

“Oh. I… I’m sorry for saying this a little late.”

“Hm?”

“We need to go together.”

“What do you mean by that? Me? I’m… dead…”

“No. It’s hard to explain in detail, but anyway, that’s not the case. You’ll be able to return.”

Judas, holding Eliza, got onto the ferry.

It had been spacious when they came, but now, with Yuel on board, it was packed.

“It’s a bit cramped, but hurry and get on.”

“Is this really okay…?”

“I’ve talked to the gods and settled everything.”

“Hmm…?”

He said he had talked to the gods.

That was a hard statement to understand for many reasons.

Moreover, his attitude of treating the gods like a local merchant was quite strange…

Maria, still confused, boarded the ferry.

Once Maria got on, Yuel’s side and hips were sticking out of the narrow boat.

Judas patted Yuel and chuckled, saying, “We’ll set off now.”

He placed an empty cup on the bow of the boat.

That had been where the cup was originally placed.

The ferry started moving on its own.

It moved away from the foggy wharf and into the void beyond the afterlife.

Maria looked down at her hands and then glanced around at the scenery.

Normally, if someone unauthorized tried to leave the afterlife, their body would gradually become transparent and return to its original place.

“Can I really… come back to life?”

“Probably.”

The ferry moved as quickly as it had when they came.

After a while of silence, Maria spoke carefully.

“Uhm, next time, could you tell me about things like this a bit earlier… It’s embarrassing.”

“…Ah. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no. There’s no need to apologize.”

Afterward, they both spent an awkward time, squeezed in beside Yuel.

The first to speak up was Maria.

“Thank you. For saving Eliza.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s something I was supposed to do.”

“Still… you know, I feel like it was something I, as her mother, should have done… I feel sorry for both you and Eliza.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me, though…”

Judas scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

Maria looked at him and smiled wistfully.

She suddenly seemed unfamiliar and impressive.

Among those close to her, no one was as fragile as Maria.

Eliza, for example, was a genius mage who caused painful catastrophes.

The Imperial Guard or Gawain were knights far beyond ordinary people.

The enemies they had fought were also like that.

Barak, Cain, Emperor Johan, and so on.

They were all extraordinary beings, with personal strength far beyond the norm.

If they weren’t superhumans, they were powerful individuals backed by great forces or backgrounds.

Like Yurydice, Narcissa, or the children of the Bevel family.

Maria didn’t fall into any of these categories.

She was a simple, ordinary person with neither great personal strength nor any power behind her.

Judas himself was a bit special, so he was surrounded by extraordinary people, but the vast majority of people in this world, like Maria, were ordinary.

It couldn’t be said that Maria had done well in hiding the truth from Eliza.

But did she have any other choice?

Her very existence was a weakness for Eliza, and so she had disguised her death. She had already built up so many lies that she could only fear the hurt Eliza would experience if she told the truth.

Judas didn’t know if there had been a more rational or wise option.

He just felt pity.

For Maria. And for Eliza, who was at the center of this tragedy.

“You don’t need to blame yourself.”

“Hm?”

“Although many may not want to admit it, at some point in life, you will inevitably face situations that cannot be overcome by personal strength. Whether you like it or not, it happens at least once.”

His gaze turned bitter as he looked into the far-off universe.

It reminded him of his previous life, a life where he had neither achieved nor changed anything.

“For you, the wall of that unavoidable situation was just higher and thicker than for others.”

“…Thank you for saying that. But, because of that, I can’t be forgiven.”

“Well… I think it’s something the lady should decide.”

The most hurt person is Eliza.

So, whether or not to forgive Maria is Eliza’s decision, not Maria’s.

“…That’s true. Unlike me, it’s a relief that Eliza has good taste in men.”

“……”

Judas looked embarrassed, and Maria smiled softly as she spoke.

“Did you know? Your way of speaking is exactly like Eliza’s.”

“R-really?”

Judas blushed for no reason and cleared his throat.

Looking at him, Maria smiled contentedly.

“It wasn’t like that before, but from some point on, you started resembling him, and now you’re exactly the same. If your voices were the same, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

“Hmph…”

“I don’t know if I deserve to say this now, but if it were you, I could leave Eliza in your care without worry.”

“…It’s a thankful and happy thing to hear, but that’s something you’d say when my memory is still intact.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

Judas briefly explained.

The water they had drunk earlier.

In exchange for taking Eliza, someone had to pay the price of memory, and he himself had paid that price.

That was a condition from the very beginning.

“I see…”

“Please don’t apologize again. I decided to do that, so don’t worry.”

Maria struck the mark.

In the end, there was nothing to say to the person who had sacrificed even his memories for his daughter.

After that, a quiet silence passed.

The boat sailed through the universe.

He had saved Eliza.

He was going back.

And now, he would lose his memories.

How much would he lose, and what would be lost?

It’s fine to lose everything, but he hoped he wouldn’t forget Eliza.

Judas held the sleeping Eliza in his arms as he wished that.

“See you later, lady.”

***

“…Huff!”

Eliza exhaled sharply.

She shot up from the bed.

“Lady?!”

Someone shouted in a sharp voice.

The woman sitting beside her had a familiar face.

May.

The mansion’s physician.

“Lady! A-are you okay?!”

May frantically asked.

Eliza panted as she looked down at her hands.

White, beautiful hands.

She opened and closed them.

The sensation was clear.

“I…”

She was certain she had died.

She had perished with the God of Void.

And after that…

“Ugh-!”

“Lady!”

At that moment, as she held her head and stumbled,

Eliza remembered everything.

The black sun. Judas. Maria.

The memories from the afterlife were still vivid in her mind.

They weren’t perfect, but the core details were clear.

Judas had saved her.

Eliza shot up from the bed.

Right in front of the bed, there was the crystal-shaped ice that contained Maria.

It was just as it had been before she disappeared.

In the afterlife, her mother too…

“Lady, please lie down! You need to rest now!”

“Judas.”

“Y-yes?”

“Where is Judas?”

“Th-that’s…”

Eliza touched her right hand.

An ivory-colored ring.

An artifact shared with Judas.

She sent him a signal.

There was no response.

More than that, where was Judas in the first place…

“…?”

It was right next to her.

On the bedside table, the necklace that had been given to Judas was placed.

Eliza urged May again.

“Where is Judas?”

“Well, the thing is…”

May, who had been hesitating, cautiously opened her mouth.