The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 42.1

Three men talked endlessly about the environment they grew up in and their current situations, babbling on with unnecessary details until they fell silent under Eliza’s cold gaze.

They then summarized their account of Richard, providing a brief but detailed explanation.

The gist was this:

They were thugs roaming the backstreets of the city, not a threatening crime organization.

Their crimes were limited to extortion, pickpocketing, and house burglary.

Their criminal activities were minor at best.

They were a group of petty criminals.

They used to extort protection money from weak businesses, including the orphanage where Richard stayed.

“In summary,”

Hermes, who was leading the interrogation, concluded,

“They extorted a fixed monthly amount from the orphanage under the guise of protection money. This month, the orphanage failed to pay.”

The three men silently nodded.

“They started extorting protection money about a year ago and gradually increased the amount, demanding an absurdly high sum this month, five times the usual.”

“…”

“The reason they gave was that Richard, an orphanage graduate, was a candidate for a guard knight in the Bevel family serving the Sun Church.”

“…”

“When the orphanage resisted the unjust demand, they broke the facility to intimidate them and used violence against Richard, who came to protest… This is quite shocking.”

Until Hermes finished speaking, the three men didn’t refute a single word.

They couldn’t, as it was all their own confession.

I occasionally looked at Richard for confirmation, and he nodded cautiously.

Everything seemed to be true.

“It seems this area is particularly hostile towards the Sun Church… But this is extreme.”

Eliza nodded and looked at me.

“What do you think we should do?”

“…Excuse me?”

I stuttered, surprised by the sudden question.

‘Why is she asking me?’

Despite my confusion, Eliza was calm, as if it was natural to ask me.

I redirected the question to Richard.

“What do you think should be done?”

No matter how I looked at it, the decision should be Richard’s.

“Uh… Am I allowed to decide that?”

Richard looked at me and asked, his eyes darting nervously towards Eliza.

Eliza kept nodding at me.

“My lady says you can decide.”

Richard glanced at the three men, his face soon filled with anger.

“I want all the money they took back. And I don’t want this to happen again. If possible, I’d like to root out their organization entirely…”

Richard trailed off, worried that he was asking for too much even though Eliza had given permission.

Eliza remained indifferent.

“You heard him?”

He briefly asked Lia and Hermes, who both nodded simultaneously.

“But all that money is already…”

One of the men protested in a timid voice, and Hermes reassured him with a smile.

“Don’t worry. There are many ways to reclaim spent money. The Bevel family has various means for that.”

Her calm and kind tone contrasted sharply with the chilling content.

***

Eliza, Hermes, and Lia began discussing various matters, seemingly deciding the fate of the three men.

Meanwhile, Richard, Argon, and I stepped a few paces back to talk.

“How is your body holding up?”

“This much is nothing.”

“I never thought I’d live to see you knocked to the ground.”

When Argon joked, Richard gave a weak smile.

“Indeed. So, what brings you here?”

“We stopped by a nearby church for a request. We found you by chance on our way back.”

“Well… I guess I was lucky then.”

“But what about you? Why are you here? As far as I know, your orphanage isn’t nearby.”

“Oh, I had some business here…”

Richard glanced at the men.

They looked like livestock waiting for slaughter, kneeling in submission.

In front of them, Eliza was still conversing with her entourage.

After confirming the scene, Richard spoke.

“I knew about the protection fees, but I only found out today that they had increased several times. So, I came here to confront them directly, only to get beaten and chased away.”

It seemed he was very fond of the orphanage.

He was busy every weekend because he was helping out there.

He even gave most of his earnings from training missions to the orphanage.

“Honestly, we can’t just go around boasting we’re from Bevel. So, I thought I’d take a few hits and be done with it.”

Richard looked at me and grinned.

“Thanks to you, I’m alive, Judas.”

“Well, it’s not really… It’s mostly thanks to the young lady.”

“Man, if it weren’t for you, would she have even considered my request?”

“…”

I wanted to say no, but I couldn’t.

No matter how much I thought about it, Richard was right.

How should I accept this reality?

“Thank you, Judas.”

Richard patted my shoulder and laughed.

It was the first time I saw him laugh so freely.

I had received a lot of help from Richard.

From the moment I first came here, and several times since.

If I had been of help, I was happy too.

As we laughed together, I glanced at Eliza and noticed her displeased expression.

She seemed a bit sulky.

Her face showed serious and deep contemplation.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

I wondered…

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, Eliza strode towards me.

***

Eliza thought silently.

She only occasionally gave advice or approval to Lia and Hermes’ words.

Who was the mayor of this city, what were the familial and political ties of the mayor, how to allocate the responsibilities for overseeing the entire city, and so on.

She gave short, simple responses.

Other than that, there was nothing she could do.

Her thoughts, emotions, and consciousness kept sinking.

She had come to find Judas.

That was strange from the beginning.

From the moment she entered Selene, Eliza could precisely follow Judas’s path.

It’s a bit of a metaphor, but it was like a puppy following its owner’s scent.

Something like a thin thread wafting in the air.

Following that cold trail led her to Judas’s movements.

In the end, Eliza truly found where Judas was.

Without anyone’s advice or help.

There is magic for tracking specific targets or identifying their real-time locations.

But it wasn’t the magic Eliza had learned.

Why was this possible?

In hindsight, it was clear.

The sun and the moon.

Their nature to achieve unity.

The first translation of the scripture Eliza read stated:

The sun devours the moon to enclose it within itself, and the two finally become one.

For that reason, wasn’t it possible to find Judas right away?

However, there was no time to ponder that question when Judas was found.

Judas was being grabbed by the collar by a large man.

At the sight of that threatening scene, heat boiled inside her chest.

At that moment, the only reason she didn’t set the three men in front of her on fire with mad fire was because Judas was there.

Maybe it’s because it had been a while.

Just being close made a pleasant chill seep deep into her body.

Thanks to that, she could barely hold back….

Then, suddenly, she felt a gaze and lifted her head.

She met Judas’s eyes.

Eliza approached her without hesitation.

Before Judas could say anything, Eliza grabbed his hand firmly.

“A… Ah… miss…?”

Through their clasped hands, a cold energy seeped in.

Now she felt like she could finally breathe.

From the beginning, she had come for this.

Ignoring the stammering Judas, Eliza fell back into thought.

It was that aspect that Eliza was pondering.

Judas, grabbed by the collar.

The adult with a grimacing face, ready to strike him.

Why did her emotions surge at that moment?

Quietly contemplating, she quickly reached a conclusion.

Unlike the simple and dull Judas, Eliza was meticulous, detailed, and intelligent.

It didn’t take long to infer the result of such issues.

‘Projection.’

Narcissa and Eliza.

Her younger self, who had been abused, was projected onto the image of Judas just now.

Like a mirror.

And the second projection.

Someone she cared for was threatened in a place she was unaware of.

Like her mother’s case….

‘…?’

Eliza halted her thoughts.

She quickly stepped back from the current situation.

Instinctively, she sensed a crisis.

A feeling as if she was about to fall into weakness.

She reexamined the path of her thoughts contemplatively.

Had she just compared Judas to her mother?

No way.

That couldn’t be.

Judas was certainly a special person.

But the word ‘special’ encompassed so many meanings, ranging from entirely different to somewhat similar.

Judas and her mother couldn’t be placed on the same level.

Definitely not.

It must not be so.

If it were to happen, Eliza would become dependent on Judas.

Dependency leads to weaknesses.

Weaknesses are the shortcuts to defeat.

She didn’t deny that Judas was a special child.

The only color remaining for her now.

The child who bloomed anemones in the birdcage.

He was just a bit different and stood out slightly from others.

He wasn’t someone to depend on.

She must not depend on him.

Eliza obsessively repeated that to herself.

She had to always be perfect on her own.

She tightly reined in and controlled the emotions trying to cross a certain line.

Anyway, it was true that there was a projection.

Structurally, it was similar to that time.

‘Yes, that’s why.’

It was just because of those two projections that she felt a sudden surge of anger.

Moreover, she hadn’t received Judas’s cold energy for a long time.

So it was inevitable.

Other than that.

There was no other reason. Truly. From the beginning, Judas was hers.

When someone else lays a hand on her possession, it’s naturally unpleasant.

That’s how Eliza concluded.

Judas watched her in a daze.

Unaware of the rationalization happening under Eliza’s serious expression.

Even Eliza herself didn’t realize it was rationalization.

***

Things were handled quickly.

More precisely, they would be handled.

The refund of protection fees that Richard’s orphanage had unjustly paid.

The elimination of the gang causing disorder in the neighborhood.

These were the two main issues, and Eliza decided to write a letter to the Mayor of Selene in her name.

Richard was overwhelmed by the events unfolding before him.

Things he could never accomplish on his own were being resolved with just a word from Eliza.

And beside him was the colleague who made it possible.

Judas.

“It will take some time.”

Eliza said nonchalantly, and Richard hurriedly bowed his head.

It didn’t matter how long it took.

As long as it could be resolved, he could wait as long as needed.

“Thank you.”

Judas thanked her first, and then Richard belatedly spoke up.

Argon, who had been watching, also quickly bowed his head.

“Th-Thank you.”

He wanted to return to the orphanage quickly to share this news.

Meanwhile, Judas asked what he had been curious about.

A question he wanted to ask Eliza as soon as he saw her.

…While still holding her hand.

“Miss, what brings you here?”

Eliza didn’t answer readily.

It was a question she didn’t have to answer.

Questioning her actions was a breach of etiquette.

So, she could just dismiss it by saying it wasn’t necessary to know.

But Eliza pondered deeply.

Why did she come? Why?

Indeed.

It was really strange.

Was it simply to absorb that cold energy?

To physically feel the truth of the first scripture she interpreted and confirmed?

Or was it?

She looked at Judas’s face absently.

Meeting his gaze, then realizing it was impolite, and lowering his head.

Had he now somewhat learned the concept of manners?

If so, it was regrettable, but maybe not.

If he knew manners, he wouldn’t have made those men so angry earlier.

If it was regrettable, then why?

Reasons kept holding her back.

The reason Eliza came here.

There was nothing grand about it.

She came to see Judas.

Thus, Judas was the reason and purpose she came here.

But that felt strange and unfamiliar.

Could a person be both a reason and a purpose?

To her, people had always been means and tools.

For a ‘person’ itself to be a purpose, there had to be another explanation.

Elimination, kidnapping, threats. Those kinds of things.

But Judas was far from such words.

Then what could it be?

Her sharp mind quickly found a plausible answer.

‘Utilization.’

The cold energy she felt from Judas even now.

She needed it to stabilize her mind and body.

Just like seeking a doctor when sick, she needed Judas’s energy.

So, it was just utilization. This was not dependency.

The unconscious mind made assumptions without distinguishing between need and use.

In the end, Eliza’s answer was simple.

Despite deep thought, it didn’t take long to respond.

“…Just because.”

Judas nodded.

There was no need to press further.

If Eliza said she came just because, who was he to question it?

She must have her own reasons.

He accepted it like that.

But Eliza showed no signs of leaving.

She stared at him blankly.

An awkward atmosphere flowed.

The highest authority, Eliza, silently looked at Judas, and the other three didn’t know what to say.

Hermes and Lia stepped back from this strange situation.

Richard bravely spoke up.

“Uh, if you don’t mind, may I leave now?”

“Uh, where are you planning to go?”

Argon asked urgently.

He too wanted to escape this uncomfortable place.

“I need to go back to the orphanage and deliver the good news.”

“Oh, hey. That’s a good idea.”

“Then, can I go with you?”

Judas asked.

It was a question directed at both Richard and Eliza.

He also wanted to get out of here.

In the first place, Judas never thought Eliza came to see him.

“If we all go together, it’s fine by me.”

“Then, excuse me….”

Just as Judas was about to quietly pull his hand away.

“Go together.”