The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 177

Eliza’s words that there was something more important.

Where she took Judas was the bedroom.

On the wall facing the bed, there was a crystal-shaped ice leaning.

A woman trapped in ice that doesn’t melt.

Her face was the same as the one Judas had seen in the underworld.

As the birth mother of Eliza, who opened a new world, she is now called the ‘Holy Mother’ among people.

Eliza had brought Judas here to deal with matters related to Maria first.

Judas, who had secretly been expecting this, faced the truth and felt pathetic about himself.

The expression of shame was just because they had been sharing saliva until just moments ago.

“Maria…”

Eliza slowly approached and gently caressed the ice with her fingertips.

It was cold.

At the same time, it was warm.

The person inside it.

Even though she had deceived her.

She was the one who had been her everything, her world, and warmth.

“I know that the one who guided you in the underworld was Mom.”

“……”

“That means, Mom is now… dead.”

A bittersweet smile appeared on Eliza’s face as she looked up with distant eyes.

“I’m trying to let her go now.”

Eliza couldn’t bear to deal with her biological mother’s body alone.

That’s why she had left it untouched all this time.

Eliza slowly turned around.

“Will you help me? I just can’t do it alone.”

She forced a smile, biting her lip.

But tears kept flowing from her eyes.

Judas quickly approached, wiped her tears, and hugged her tightly.

In his broad, reassuring embrace, Eliza leaned in weakly.

It was okay to be weak.

It was okay to show her vulnerability.

As long as she was in his arms, it didn’t matter when or where.

“Miss. Your mother didn’t die.”

“…Huh?”

Eliza’s memory of the underworld was incomplete.

She had been asleep at that time.

Therefore, she didn’t know the conversation between Judas and Maria.

And naturally, she didn’t know the deal Judas made with God.

“But… didn’t Mom guide you in the afterlife…?”

“Yes. That’s true, but she’s not dead. It’s a hard story to believe, but…”

Judas scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

Honestly, even saying it out loud sounded strange.

“I made a deal with God.”

“I see.”

But Eliza believed it without question.

In fact, it was Judas who was surprised.

Eliza smiled gently at him.

“Now, if it’s you, I’ll believe anything you say.”

She remembered the pain she suffered because she couldn’t trust him.

So, Eliza decided to trust him unconditionally.

Even if he deceived or betrayed her.

Of course, she was sure he wouldn’t do that.

“Then, please release the ice.”

Eliza, for some reason, felt nervous and exhaled deeply.

She tightly held Judas’s hand.

She felt much more at ease than before.

She squeezed her eyes shut and then slowly opened them.

The ice that had encased Maria began to slowly disappear from the top down.

It didn’t melt into water; it turned into air.

Thanks to that, Maria remained dry and fresh.

Eliza immediately healed the wound on Maria’s abdomen.

The same phenomenon occurred as when she had healed Judas.

Golden flames filled the empty spot where Maria had been, turning into clean, new flesh.

Judas carefully drew out a dagger.

Eliza immediately healed the spot again.

“Is it done…?”

“Yes. It’ll take some time, but she’ll regain consciousness.”

Judas also felt uneasy deep inside.

There was a chance that nothing might happen.

He slowly held Maria’s wrist and checked her pulse.

Eliza, worried as well, placed her ear on Maria’s chest.

Waiting for her heartbeat to return.

And not long after.

-Thump.

Both Eliza and Judas caught the signal of life.

A faint, but definite pulse, just beginning to beat.

“Phew….”

Judas exhaled with relief.

“Mom….”

Eliza was still in her arms.

It had been so long since she had been in her mother’s embrace.

Though cold and lifeless for now, she would soon regain her warmth and breathe again.

Imagining that, Eliza shed tears of joy.

Judas patiently waited, letting Eliza savor the moment.

Eliza, barely able to lift herself up, leaped into Judas’s arms.

“Thank you…”

“It’s nothing.”

“If it weren’t for you, I…”

She began to sob into his chest, her voice breaking.

Judas smiled bitterly as he patted her head and wiped her tears.

“You’ve become quite the crybaby.”

“Wuuung…”

“Your mother will wake up safely.”

“Wung… Thank you.”

It was no longer possible to delay eating.

But she couldn’t leave Maria’s side, so she instructed the kitchen to send up food.

She ordered a sandwich, which could be made quickly, as Eliza had been fasting for a long time.

While waiting, Judas cleaned the room.

Maria used to be the one to clean Eliza’s bedroom, and Eliza had been too busy to think about it.

She had neglected it for several days, unable to even consider cleaning.

Eliza had wanted to assign someone to do it, but Judas stopped her.

He said no one else should clean Eliza’s bedroom.

That meant, perhaps, Judas was no longer just “anyone” to Eliza.

Eliza, feeling embarrassed yet happy, smiled to herself.

“Anyway, it’s not like I’m doing a full cleaning, just tidying up until the sandwich arrives.”

In the end, she couldn’t stop him.

As he cleaned, Eliza followed him around.

She stayed just a step behind, careful not to get in his way.

She couldn’t let any more distance grow between them.

She trailed behind him, observing him.

Compared to herself, he was quite good at housework.

It was the result of his life before coming here.

Eliza knew this from traveling through his memories.

He had lived alone from a very young age, facing and solving everything on his own.

Cooking, cleaning, laundry—he had managed it all by himself, without anyone’s help.

A life similar to hers, yet different.

Unlike her, who had Maria, he had no one.

He had endured life alone, without a single family member.

Eliza wanted to become his family.

And to create a new family together…

‘…!’

As she let her imagination wander, Eliza suddenly hugged him from behind.

Her face felt as hot as melted cheese.

“Ah, m-miss?”

Judas was taken aback by the sudden embrace.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

Eliza mumbled, her voice barely audible.

The moment she hugged him, she realized something had changed.

His body temperature, the sensation of his body, the outline of muscles she could feel through the embrace—it all felt so vivid, it was almost overwhelming.

These were things she had never consciously thought about before.

She had hugged him to hide her embarrassment, but now she felt even more embarrassed.

The feeling was so intense, it almost made her want to pull away.

But she didn’t want to let go either.

In fact, the problem had been there from the beginning, even if she pretended not to notice.

‘I want to kiss him…’

The urge to press her lips to his was exploding like a volcano.

She simply tried to ignore it, pretending it wasn’t there.

She was worried that Judas might not feel the same way, and feared that if she kept asking for more, he would think she was easy.

She didn’t even know herself that she was capable of feeling this way.

She pondered deeply, trying to understand why she was so fixated on kissing him.

It was just the touch of skin.

What was the difference between holding hands, hugging, or brushing shoulders, and kissing? Why did the distinction feel so meaningful and vivid?

Ah. It originates from the unique characteristics of the lips as a body part.

The mouth is a very sensitive area that must be handled with care, as it is an area where substances can easily enter from the outside.

For example, a human would never place their lips on a creature or substance they’ve never seen before.

Therefore, to place one’s lips on something is behavioral evidence that they trust it to that extent….

“Doesn’t help!”

The contemplation, which was meant to divert attention, only made the scene of kissing it more vivid and rational in my mind.

Rejecting instinct was pointless.

While Eliza was caught up in unfamiliar and new emotions, Judas crawled along, focusing on cleaning.

Eliza didn’t fall off and stayed close, so Judas had no choice but to walk like that.

His mind wasn’t in a normal state either.

“I’m going crazy….”

The moments when he hugged Eliza, kissed, and exchanged saliva kept coming to mind, the sensation repeating over and over again.

In fact, the reason Judas suddenly declared that he would clean was because of this.

If he stayed still close to Eliza, bad thoughts and impulses would surge up uncontrollably, making it hard to endure.

Earlier, they had eagerly kissed each other, but now, for some reason, it felt difficult to do it again.

He also worried that it might seem like he was taking her too lightly.

“And then… so, well, that’s how it was, but still, we haven’t really defined… hmm….”

What exactly was their relationship? What were their feelings?

They hadn’t clearly defined that, so it was somewhat ambiguous.

That’s how he felt.

Even the fact that Eliza suddenly hugged him from behind made him feel something warm and soft touching his back.

“I’m cleaning right now… cleaning…”

Without even realizing that they shared the same desires, both quietly tried to extinguish the spark growing in their hearts.

The awkwardness and trouble that came out of nowhere were broken when the food was served.

They successfully hid their desires.

But Judas entered the second test.

Eliza tried to sit on his lap.

She asked him to feed her a sandwich.

They had often done this when eating together.

Although she said she was sitting on his lap, Eliza always sat deep into his thighs.

Because of that, Judas had been in awkward situations more than once.

But if he allowed her to sit like usual now, something might happen because of the honest and clear physical response.

If he refused, she’d ask why, and then he’d have to bring up uncomfortable issues that he wasn’t ready to discuss.

“……”

While Eliza waited, Judas made a serious decision.