The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 58.2

Judas is a child born with a temperament that even soothes Eliza’s fire.

Thanks to this, Eliza could handle magic more easily and skillfully than expected.

In the past, she would have struggled to suppress that impulse.

According to the first scriptures, the sun devours the moon, so perhaps it’s an influence of that.

Did the Moon God Church not know about this temperament?

Or perhaps, it was a temperament that only manifested after meeting him.

‘In any case, I should help Judas regain his memories.’

Judas must have had a childhood too.

Memories of someone precious, just like Eliza had.

It would be too pitiful if he had forgotten such things because of the Moon God Church.

Even if he has no such memories, he should not lose his memories due to someone else’s interference.

Eliza wanted to help Judas find his rightful past.

‘Approaching the forbidden… It’s an area that’s hard to handle alone.’

There is only one force to turn to at times like this.

Though she doesn’t like the idea.

Eliza has solved everything alone as much as possible.

Help is synonymous with debt.

Debt turns into responsibility, or worse, a weakness.

So even though it’s hard, it’s better to do things alone.

But right now, there is no other way.

“Looks like I have no choice but to reach out.”

Eliza decided to seek help from an external force.

The information guild.

Specifically, the one who was exclusively assigned to her, ‘Blind Star.’

Eliza stood up first.

It was about time to sleep.

As Judas had insisted, she had rested enough.

The moment she reached the bedroom, all the serious matters that had been on her mind vanished.

A realization, almost shocking, struck her.

Her fingertips trembled without her realizing it.

“The doll and the scarf…!”

She regretted not washing either of them.

She wished she had at least kept one of them.

Tonight, she would sleep alone without anything.

That realization made him feel sad.

But soon, she regained her composure.

Rather, she thought it might be better this way.

“Couldn’t I just hold Judas?”

She was about to head to Judas’s bedroom when she froze.

Was she about to depend on Judas?

She stepped back from the situation for a moment to organize her thoughts.

Why did she need to hold Judas to sleep?

Was it really necessary?

She shook her head.

Her current energy was stable.

She didn’t need Judas’s cold aura.

In other words, holding Judas wasn’t something she absolutely needed to do.

So, why did she welcome and feel happy about something that wasn’t necessary?

“This is… just using him…”

She was merely using the boy.

But if uncontrollable usage becomes a habit, how is that different from dependence?

Eliza took a step back from the brink.

Some lines, once crossed, could not be undone.

She didn’t know what lay beyond that line, but Eliza decided not to cross it.

She lay down on the bed, feeling lonely.

No doll, no blanket, no Judas.

She stared blankly at the flowerpot on the windowsill.

The flowerpot that Judas had picked out for her.

The anemones must be growing there.

No matter how much she tossed and turned, sleep wouldn’t come.

Eliza sat up.

Then, she began to rationalize.

“This is for my sleep. It’s a necessary step, so I have no choice…”

She moved straight to Judas’s bedroom.

Judas was sprawled out, limbs freely extended, fast asleep.

He was lying in a position that defied the very purpose of the pillow.

Eliza only admired his strange posture for a moment.

As She tried to crawl into bed, Eliza hesitated.

If She got into that bed, it would be as if She was admitting her own weakness.

She didn’t know the details of his rationalization, but she was aware of the fact that she was rationalizing.

“…I mustn’t rely on him. I should stop at the point of temporary usage due to a fluctuating situation.”

Dependence would only become a weakness.

Instead of hugging him, Eliza took Judas’s hand.

Despite the coldness, just touching his hand made Eliza’s heart soften.

Judas continued to sleep soundly.

Eliza gently repositioned her grip on Judas’s hand and brought it to her face.

Back when she almost died at the hands of Lamech’s assassin.

Judas had tried to raise his hand.

Eliza didn’t know his intent.

But it seemed like Judas wanted to touch her face, so Eliza allowed it.

Impulsively.

What was Judas thinking at that moment?

Why did he smile at me when he was on the verge of death?

Back then, my emotions were indescribably terrible.

So much so that I couldn’t even think of smiling.

‘…….’

Eliza quietly rubbed his face against his hand.

She let the slightly bigger and warmer hand caress her face.

Then, suddenly, she caught sight of his face.

She remembered how he had pinched her cheek on a whim.

It was a hard-to-understand action.

Touching her own cheek brought no sensation.

But would it be different with someone else’s cheek?

Eliza slowly reached out her hand.

Carefully, so as not to wake her.

With her small, short fingers, she gently grasped the edge of Judas’s cheek.

‘Hmm…. I don’t quite get it.’

Eliza tilted his head, touching it a few more times.

It seemed somewhat amusing.

At that moment, Judas stirred, and Eliza froze.

“Eliza…. No…. my neck….”

Eliza almost let out a laugh at his silly sleep talk.

Just like last time, it seemed he often dreamed of her.

Eliza smiled silently and pressed his face deeper into her hand.

The initial compulsion not to depend on her had faded slightly, but she did not cross the line.

Once satisfied and withdrawn, she was able to fall into a peaceful sleep.

***

Eurydice woke up at dawn.

After reuniting with her husband for the first time in a while, and burning away the accumulated misunderstandings and emotions like a flame, she had finally fallen asleep, only to be woken by a visitor.

After straightening her clothes, she went outside the door.

The visitor was a deliveryman from the information guild.

As the guild master, she had to have a dedicated courier for delivering important matters.

After receiving the letter, Eurydice opened it right there.

The recipient was herself. The Blind Star.

Her sleepy eyes widened when she saw the sender.

‘The Chariot of the Raging Fire?’

It was the first request since they had signed the contract.

She recalled the day she first met the client.

A tiny girl, barely reaching her thigh.

Her red eyes darted around nervously, pretending to be confident.

At that moment, Eurydice had thought:

She’s not destined for greatness.

She was less dignified than any noble Eurydice had ever seen.

It was a misjudgment.

In just a few years, the rumors surrounding that child were anything but ordinary.

Recently, it was said that she had fully awakened her potential as a magician and would soon cause upheaval in the struggle for succession.

It wasn’t hard to recall her real name.

‘Eliza de Bevel….’

The information guild had once taken an interest in her.

Not just because of Eliza’s magical talent.

But because of her biological mother.

There were many suspicions surrounding her death.

In the end, nothing was revealed.

Eurydice continued reading the request.

‘A route to acquire the forbidden magic of the mind-interference type. Or a search for anyone who could have handled this forbidden magic in the past 13 years. No time restrictions…. Reward is whatever you want.’

Information often carries more than just what is written.

For instance, the reason why Eliza had no choice but to turn to this forbidden magic.

“Where are they planning to use it? I heard recently they captured the Duchess; are they perhaps trying to tamper with her memory?”

In a more extreme case, it could be used to erase one’s identity by wiping their memories.

It would be the most dreadful form of revenge.

At any rate, it was quite a welcome request.

No one knows how the structure of the Bevel family will change.

And it’s all because of that unpredictable mage, Eliza.

Therefore, it would be wise to incur a small debt to Eliza.

‘This is perfect timing. We’re also stuck on one issue ourselves.’

Regardless of my trust in Judas, I have been steadily investigating his past.

Coincidentally, I even received a request from Judas to help him find his family.

But I hit a wall when I encountered someone named Anggra.

There hasn’t been a single clue since then.

I could have stopped there.

It’s normal for the background of a street slave to be unclear.

However, Judas’s background was a bit different.

There was overwhelming evidence that someone had deliberately concealed his identity and status.

‘What could be behind this…?’

I had no intention of exploiting this.

On the contrary, Eurydice wanted to help Judas.

After all, wasn’t he the lovely messenger who had reunited her with Orphe, the one she had been searching for so desperately?

An abandoned slave.

An orphan with no knowledge of his parents.

How curious must he be about his origins?

If I cooperated with Eliza, perhaps I could obtain the information faster.

‘It’s worth a try.’

Eurydice smiled faintly and accepted the request.

***

Hearing the sound of Anna waking him, Judas opened his eyes.

For some reason, his arms and hands felt oddly empty.

He felt ashamed of himself for it.

What a splendid way to start the morning.

As Anna tidied up the curtains, she spoke.

“The lady has called for you.”

“…Me? At this hour?”

“Yes. She asked that I bring you to the dining room.”

Judas washed his face quickly and followed Anna.

A delicious smell filled the air in the dining room.

Judging by the food laid out on the table, it seemed they were about to begin breakfast.

Eliza, seated at the head of the table, smiled when she saw Judas.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Y-yes….”

Before Judas could even properly greet her, Eliza tapped the chair beside her.

Tap tap, indicating the seat right next to hers.

‘Is she telling me to sit there? What, does she want to have breakfast with me…?’

Judas cautiously approached.

There was an abundance of food on the table.

‘Do I really have to sit next to her? And why is this a two-seater chair? Was there always a chair like this…?’

When Judas finally sat down, their shoulders touching, he instinctively realized that something was fundamentally wrong with this situation.

Eliza smiled at Judas and spoke.

“Feed me.”

He thought he must have misheard.

He hoped he had misheard.

But he hadn’t.

Eliza sat there, beaming at him, waiting.

Suddenly, all his sleepiness vanished.

“…….”

Today, it was Judas’s turn to have his sense of reality shattered.

One word abruptly surfaced in his mind, clear as day.

Karma.

“…Ah.”