The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 28.1

“If you leave, you’ll die,”

Eliza said with a sinister smile.

I struggled to move my stiff body.

First, I exerted strength in my fingertips.

I rolled my eyes around to survey the surroundings.

The only ones in the room were Eliza and me.

Since it was an important conversation, she had dismissed all the servants.

I mentally sketched out a hypothetical escape route.

Would it be possible?

Eliza is a mage.

She doesn’t even need to use teleportation.

If it’s the fire she used against Barak, I would burn to death even if I escaped.

The brilliant golden flames.

How many times have I died from them?

Well, technically as my character.

“It’s okay if I leave. There may not be anyone in the room, but there will be people outside….”

Watching me seriously contemplating, Eliza subtly took a step back.

Walking to the window, she calmly spoke.

“Can you handle the backlash from the Bevel family?”

…Huh?

“If you mean I’ll die, then….”

The escape route that was in my mind vanished.

Eliza didn’t say she would kill me.

She said I would die.

Lost in thoughts about Eliza, I missed something else.

Barak.

He declared he would watch over me.

He would use methods other than directly touching Eliza.

That means Barak will monitor me using all means in the future.

In the worst case, I might be assassinated on the road.

Staying inside this mansion close to Eliza is the safest option.

It’s true.

Staying only at the training camp is not a good choice either.

As indifferent as Eliza has been to the guards, the security there isn’t thorough.

Eliza pointed out that point.

Now, I had no choice.

“Ah….”

Alone, what kind of delusional fantasy did I unfold…?

I felt embarrassed.

Eliza chuckled and asked.

“You have no choice but to live here, right?”

I stared blankly at Eliza, who was smiling brightly.

A round clown.

What’s so good about laughing like that?

Anyway, I’ll….

“……”

I remember Eliza whimpering.

She’s so unfamiliar that she’s awkwardly laughing, not even remembering.

This face is unfamiliar.

I’ve never seen Eliza smile like this, not even once.

And again, overlapping on top of that.

The rise of a murderous villainess, who seemed like she would kill me.

“It’s safe here.”

“…I’ll make sure I don’t become someone to you, miss.”

In the end, I had no choice but to accept it.

Let’s think positively.

I’m still scared that Eliza might ignite.

Especially the look she just showed… Even thinking about it sends chills down my spine.

‘Why did she smile so frighteningly, confusing people…! Did I just imagine it because I was scared?’

But there are good things too.

I can follow Nutrition Coach’s diet.

It’s the only comfort.

Oh, it’s safe from part of the friction.

‘…But isn’t Barak watching me because of Eliza? In the first place, if she didn’t try to keep me by her side, this wouldn’t have happened, right?’

It’s unfair, but it’s already in the past.

Going back further, this is the karma that caught up.

Deservingly at that.

Spit it out lying down.

It’s not just been a day or two.

I can’t control my temper.

‘It’s a problem to run away because of that temper now.’

Barak thinks my existence is a stain on the nobility of the house and might try to get rid of me.

‘If the Information Guild helps, Barak’s eyes can be avoided, but there’s still no contact.’

If Eliza’s interest wanes, he will run away.

The plan remains unchanged.

Barak and Eliza.

You can’t put two bombs together at the same time.

‘Eliza’s interest must be waning now.’

I think it’s the peak right now.

Now only falling remains.

I’m living next door, but I don’t see Eliza much.

She’s very busy.

I don’t know the detailed schedule.

I also have to go to the training ground.

I can’t spend much time here during the day.

Interest inevitably diminishes.

‘I have to control my temper and live from now on….’

Eliza isn’t pitiful.

But it’s arrogant to take responsibility for sympathy alone.

If you take responsibility, how long? For a lifetime?

Can’t decide rashly.

If decided, it can’t be done rashly, even more so.

‘It’s a bit arrogant to think about fleeing.’

The Eliza I know gets bored easily and she may not even care if I am there or not.

Among the hopes, one question arises.

Why did Eliza come looking for me. At dawn.

Maybe, what if Eliza doesn’t lose interest?

If Eliza were to…

“Hmm.”

Eliza stared at me intently.

“You were thinking something strange, weren’t you?”

“…Uh, um, no?”

“It shows on your face.”

I touched my face hesitantly.

I’m not sure…

“I don’t mind.”

“…Thank you.”

“Does this place make you uncomfortable?”

She sees through lies anyway.

I gave up trying to evade.

“To be honest, yes. As I mentioned, it’s too much for me and feels undeserved.”

Eliza didn’t seem impressed by my honest answer.

She might have found it impolite.

She just smiled as if satisfied.

“It’s not too much. Since I, your master, feel that way.”

“…….”

An affectionate voice without reservation.

As if promising to protect.

Again and again.

A familiar yet strange appearance that keeps drawing my attention.

A new side of Eliza.

Confusing.

Every time Eliza is like this, I…

“Oh, by the way. I had something to ask you.”

“To me?”

“Yeah. About what to do with Gawain’s case, I want to leave it to you.”

“Me…?”

“The duel tournament. He didn’t properly detect magic at that time.”

Ah. There was such an incident.

I had forgotten about it.

“He should face disciplinary action, but I can’t think of anything appropriate other than gracefully letting him return to his family.”

…Typical of a villain.

“But Gawain is someone I can’t do that to. So, I think it’s better to ask you, who almost became the victim.”

“Th-that… I’m grateful, but can I really make that decision?”

“Yeah.”

She said it so naturally that I start to think the same way.

Since I’m the victim, shouldn’t I decide what’s right?

But I’m different from Eliza.

I’m just an ordinary person who has never thought deeply about how others should be treated.

“Speak freely.”

Eliza smiled, supporting her chin with both hands.

It was an attitude that said anything could be said.

What should I do?

Sir. Gawain. A capable knight of Bevel. Current head of the training ground.

He’s quite skilled. His name will continue to rise in the future.

My dilemma didn’t last long.

“I would like him to teach me swordsmanship.”

What I need right now are two things.

Strength and money.

But demanding money as a way to punish Gawain? That doesn’t make any sense.

Instead, I’ll take advantage of his power.

Perhaps due to negligence, he missed the enchantment’s magic, but he’s quite a skilled knight, as far as I know.

Eliza blinks at me.

Suddenly, she returns as usual, with sparkling red eyes.

She smiles gently, folding her hands.

“Interesting. I never expected you to wish for this.”

“…”

“You’re very diligent. Do you really want to be my Escort Knight?”

Eliza seems to have taken my enthusiasm differently.

I can’t deny it, so I just bow my head quietly.

“You’re really fascinating. Acting like you want to die, yet striving so hard for the future.”

…Yes, I act like that.

Without hesitation, as if I’m about to die.

I know that too.

But I don’t want to die.

It’s not that I’m not afraid.

“I don’t want to surrender even if I die.”

I’m calm if you don’t touch me.

Surprisingly quite and polite ….

‘….’

Oh, no, no. Really.

So …. Oh, when I practice or exercise, I am really calm.

Because others tease around, it doesn’t seem like that.

I learned it in my previous life.

If you stay still, you will get stepped on.

It’s not because you are weak that you get stepped on.

People step on those who stay quiet.

So I have to bite and struggle so that no one can step on me.

Even if I die, I have to tell them that I won’t be a foothold they can just step on freely.

If you stay still, you will just become a doormat for others.

People have the right not to.

I don’t know justice, ethics, good and evil.

No.

That’s the only reason I gave up on barak.

I don’t want to pretend not to know, knowing that it’s not true.

Shake in front of the absurdity and criticize the unfairness behind it, I don’t want to be a person who uses or retorts that unfairness later.

‘But really, it’s quiet if you don’t just start a dispute.’

As an example, even Eliza is like that.

I don’t fight Eliza.

… Come to think of it, there haven’t been many times when I fought Eliza.

Because I’m scared to die?

That reason is big.

But rather than that, Eliza has never touched my mind.

She didn’t try to break or trample on something.

On the contrary, really unexpectedly, she often acknowledged me ….

“You’re free.”

Eliza’s words interrupted my thoughts.

Suddenly a light voice.

She smiles at me.

Unlike her clear smile.

“Individuals have the freedom to rebel against suppressing their own freedom.”

The words from her small lips sounded a bit lonely.

They also seemed stifling.

The words seemed like a soliloquy.

“You are willing to die for your freedom. I…”

She stops speaking before finishing.

Eliza looks out the window.

As if looking at something far away, absent-mindedly.

Outside the second-floor window, the mansion’s garden was visible.

A garden planted with green grass even in winter.

The sky above it soared high and wide.

And the window was closed.

Finally, she opens her mouth.

Still looking out the window.

“I, because I can’t do that, you notice.”

Her gaze reaches somewhere high.

Unlike me, absorbed in the immediate present, her eyes look far ahead.

She seemed weary to me.

“Am I being foolish?”

“Why would that be?”

I reflexively replied.

“Not just anyone can live like me. There is no need to live like me. But, if what you say is true, then I seek freedom nearby, while you value something further away, something greater.”

I expressed my thoughts.

It was an unusual experience.

For the game’s Eliza, such an opportunity was nonexistent.

Even when I barely managed to converse, all I had was choices.

Not speaking for myself.

Eliza chuckled.

“Are you teaching me?”

“No, it’s not like that…”

“Interesting. Normally, people with strong beliefs and stubbornness tend to impose their views on others. You…”

Eliza turns her head towards me.

Red eyes.

Without batting her long eyelashes, without continuing her words, staring at me intensely. For a long time. Quietly.

Her eyes slowly narrow.

Drawing a crescent-like line.

The corners of her mouth rise.

A pink blush rises roundly. The light dims.

She finishes speaking with a smile.

“You, who reject even the instinct of life and seem to burn as if you don’t mind dying right now, you are truly an intriguing person.”

Eliza looks at me.

But I just lowered my head.

I couldn’t meet her gaze.

“…Thank you.”

She brightly responds with a smile.

“I’ll look forward to the future, Judas.”

Such praise, like I’ve never received before in my life.

And the subject is Eliza.

My mind was unsettled.