The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 60.2

Eliza pressed her fingers against the corners of her eyes.

Of all days, why was she being bothered today?

When she turned around, she noticed Judas with a flushed face.

“…Judas? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, no, I’m fine.”

“Did they do something to you earlier? Should I bring them back for questioning?”

“No, no. Really, I’m fine.”

If anything, it was because of Eliza.

He had nearly passed out while drinking water due to the strange things Eliza had said.

“I, uh, just swallowed water the wrong way. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Really?”

Eliza glanced around.

The candidates from Room 13, who had been gathered in a huddle, laughing, were now tense and on edge.

When they first arrived, they had been quite excited.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

They were here to cheer for Judas and show their support.

It wasn’t all that bad.

Gawain cautiously asked,

“Miss? What brings you here?”

“I came to take him back. He didn’t come home.”

Judas, the ‘him’ in question, awkwardly forced a smile, his eyes darting around.

Saying she came to fetch him because he didn’t come home was… a bit much.

“And I had a feeling Sarah would be here too, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

As if her business was done, Eliza glanced around.

“Well, I’ll be off now.”

She suddenly grabbed Judas’s hand.

Just before teleporting, her eyes met Hermes’.

Hermes was the person responsible for guarding Judas

It was only right for her to take him with her.

But for some reason, she didn’t want to.

“Huh… Miss?”

Hermes called out in disbelief, as if asking,

“Could it be?”

And it was.

Eliza disappeared, taking only Judas with her.

“…”

Left behind, Hermes blinked in a daze.

Fortunately, there was a carriage nearby, so she could return.

The remaining group awkwardly watched her depart.

***

“Hoo…”

As soon as they returned to the mansion, Eliza collapsed into Judas’s arms.

Her mind seemed to have calmed somewhat.

Judas, however, couldn’t bring himself to embrace her back and remained stiff.

At that moment, the door burst open.

“Miss?!”

Lia rushed in, breathless.

“Where on earth did you…?”

She cut herself off when she saw Eliza clinging to Judas.

Judas quickly shook his head as Lia’s gaze grew colder, signaling that he had nothing to do with this.

Still in Judas’s arms, Eliza spoke.

Her voice came out muffled, as her face was buried against him.

“I went to bring him back.”

Hmm.

Did she really have to phrase it that way?

Judas thought to himself.

‘It’s like she went to retrieve a runaway husband… Oh no. I’m really losing it…’

Eliza pressed her fingers to the corners of her eyes, her face contorting.

She looked unusually tired and drained today.

She had said she was busy—had something happened?

Judas asked cautiously,

“You seem very tired.”

“A little…”

As she answered, Eliza lifted her head.

She looked up at him while still leaning against him.

The emotions on her close-up face were unfamiliar.

Unfamiliar, but they were emotions Judas had seen a few times before.

He thought he finally knew what to call them.

“Judas, just now… were you ‘worried’ about me?”

Judas couldn’t answer right away.

‘Did I do something wrong? Is it bad to worry?’

He couldn’t grasp the intention behind the question.

Thinking that denying it would be awkward, he simply admitted it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why?”

“Hmm… just because?”

There wasn’t a particular reason.

People can worry about other people.

But to Eliza , it felt different.

Simply.

It meant that his actions had no strings attached, no conditions.

Had she, before she knew it, become someone who was unconditional to Judas, just like that?

…Was that okay?

Judas, unaware of her inner thoughts, blinked in confusion.

Seeing his clueless expression, Eliza unintentionally let out a small laugh.

It felt like the distress she had carried all day flew away.

Since Eliza was laughing, Judas also felt relieved somehow.

It meant that she still had the strength to smile.

“Judas.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I’m hungry.”

She had intended to skip the meal, but that didn’t seem possible anymore.

Eliza felt a sudden pang of hunger she hadn’t before.

“Feed me again today.”

Judas let out a weak laugh.

It was absurd, but still, he was relieved that she wouldn’t be starving.

“How could I refuse?”

***

“…Huff!”

Eliza shot up with a sharp gasp.

She had a nightmare for the first time in a while.

In the scorching flames, a dark shadow danced wildly.

It was the vision of her mother, who must have died in that fire.

Though she had never seen it herself, the image often haunted her dreams.

Eliza reached out to clutch her doll, but hesitated.

She had given it to Judas and hadn’t gotten it back yet.

She had felt so good just before falling asleep, but as soon as she did, the nightmare hit.

Every year, the intensity of the nightmares heightened around her mother’s death anniversary.

But since she hadn’t had them as often lately, it was even harder to bear.

“Haa…”

Eliza wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to calm her breathing.

Her mother wasn’t the only one who appeared in her dream.

It was the day she was first dragged back to her family’s estate.

The moment she first killed someone also appeared in her nightmare.

That day, Eliza had taken a life.

Although she hadn’t done it directly, it was no different than if she had.

The sights and sounds of that day were still vivid.

Narcissa, yelling at her to sign quickly.

Her, crying and begging.

But unable to withstand the whipping, she finally inscribed her name on the document.

In agreement.

It was a show of dominance.

A murder with no purpose or intention.

Because of that document, the village near where she had been hiding…

“Huff, sniff…”

Eliza finally broke down in sobs.

Sadness welled up alongside her growing fury.

She wanted to rush down to the basement and kill Narcissa right away.

Her mind refused to calm down.

There was only one person to go to at times like this.

Carefully, she used magic.

Teleportation.

Her surroundings shifted in an instant.

She was in the room next door.

Judas’s bedroom.

He was sprawled out like a discarded sack, blankets haphazardly covering him.

Eliza started to approach but hesitated.

‘I shouldn’t depend on him… I can’t be weak…’

The words she always repeated to herself.

Those words she had carved into her heart like a brand.

If you rely on something, it becomes a weakness.

When a weakness arises, you become weaker.

But.

“Just for today…”

It’s a day where being weak is allowed.

That means it’s okay to cry in front of your mother’s grave.

However, it’s also a day to knock on your own spirit.

That means, in the end, you still have to act normal in front of others.

But Eliza ignored that rule.

She couldn’t resist the urge to hold onto him.

“Today is a bit of a special day…”

She crept closer.

Carefully climbed onto the bed and crawled toward him.

Laying her head on his arm.

She squirmed closer to his body.

She pulled his other arm and wrapped it around herself.

A warm embrace.

A protective hold.

The coolness seeping into her body soothed his heart.

Slowly blinking, Eliza looked at Judas’s face.

His peaceful sleeping expression.

How strange.

It was the first time she had closely observed his sleeping face like this.

Usually, he either wore a face filled with discontent toward society or one that was slightly tense.

So, he could make such an expression too.

Perhaps Eliza was the only one who knew this side of Judas.

Not even Hermes would know.

For some reason, it made Eliza happy to privately hold this new, unfamiliar side of him.

“Mine…”

Her own possession.

There were many around her to be wary of.

Although Eliza didn’t know whether there was any real need for caution, her nerves were sharp toward everything around Judas.

Especially today, when Sarah and Judas had crossed paths.

The look in Sarah’s eyes when she saw Judas was like she was staring at an incomprehensible catastrophe—fear, shock.

What if that emotion turned into curiosity?

What if Sarah, with her wild ways, started to desire this rare child?

If he shone this brightly for her, wouldn’t he shine just as brightly for others?

Even though she had no intention of ever giving him up, the mere thought of Sarah harboring such feelings was terrifying.

Her chest tightened, and she felt a twisting sensation in her stomach.

Meanwhile, Sarah, the actual person in question, saw Judas as some sort of monster of destruction from the scriptures and was terrified of him.

Likewise, Judas had completely erased any thoughts of Sarah.

He simply had no interest.

Eliza just couldn’t understand what was going on in their minds.

“He’s mine…”

Eliza hugged him even tighter.

One thing made him curious.

Was Judas aware that he was someone’s possession?

“They must never take him away again…”

Once was enough.

Suddenly, she felt a pang of fear.

It was okay to be held because she allowed herself to be weak, but she must not become dependent.

Yet this emotion was slowly resembling dependency.

“This is… well…”

She decided to acknowledge one thing, though it wasn’t dependency.

She had come to need Judas.

For a purely practical reason.

“It’s just… use.”

Judas was the only one who could soothe her fire, so she had to keep him close.

There was no other purpose or reason. Absolutely not.

It was a concession meant to mask her true feelings, but Eliza pretended not to notice.

As she tried to completely press herself against Judas’s body, something blocked her.

There was a doll between her and Judas’s embrace.

The doll she had ordered Judas to hold until it absorbed his scent.

The blanket wasn’t wrapped around his neck but was draped over him like a quilt.

It was a comforting sight.

Eliza quietly moved the doll aside and pressed her body closer.

“Mine.”

Within the warmth, she quietly closed her eyes.

The nightmares had long vanished.

She fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

***

Eliza dreamed.

“Mom?”

For the first time in five years of suffering from nightmares, this was a dream unlike any she had ever experienced.

There was color everywhere.

Her mother, alive and breathing, smiled as she welcomed her.

Never before had her mother appeared in a dream looking so healthy.

In the past, her mother had always been a burning shadow or appeared in a horrifying, decayed form.

“Mom!”

Eliza ran toward her mother with a trembling gait.

Her mother, just as she remembered her—alive.

Black hair, black eyes.

Her mother opened her arms wide and hugged her tightly.

A hug so tight, so joyful, that it might even hurt, but Eliza didn’t mind.

“Mom…”

Eliza laughed through her tears.

A gentle hand wiped her tears away.

She loved the tender care, so Eliza cried even more, forgetting the compulsion that she shouldn’t. Like a child.

Her mother caressed her and hugged her tightly, planting a kiss on her cheek.

A sweet little sound, chook.

Eliza wiped away her tears and grinned bashfully.

Then she wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck and clung to her.

Just as she had done in the past, she gave back the love she had received.

With a gentle kiss on her mother’s cheek, she embraced her.

A small but quaint wooden house.

A simple life in the middle of the forest, with villagers from nearby coming by to help from time to time.

A space filled with vibrant colors.

A vision she hadn’t seen in five years.

The ivory moon hanging in the night sky above was luminously beautiful.

***

‘…What is this?’

His arm felt heavy, so he opened her eyes.

It was a familiar feeling.

No doubt about it.

‘It’s Eliza…’

At some point, Eliza had crawled into his arms and was sleeping soundly.

‘Oh geez… Fine, do whatever you want. Do it all.’

As he tucked the blanket around Eliza, she noticed something unusual—Eliza was smiling.

She was smiling peacefully in her sleep.

In the past, she would always cry or whimper.

…Well, ‘always’ only happened twice, but still.

It was another new expression on Eliza’s face.

A smile different from the bare expression she usually wore while awake.

There was a gentle warmth to it, yet it carried a certain melancholy.

Tears gathered in the corners of her smiling eyes.

‘Ah, our dear master never forgets to cry, does she?’

He carefully wiped away Eliza’s tears.

‘You seemed like you were sleeping so peacefully while smiling, and now you’re crying.’

Still, she looked better than usual.

Whatever that means now, I no longer know.

‘Better to be smiling than crying or expressionless.’

For now, I’ll sleep.

Letting Eliza rest on my arm mine, I laid my head back down.

‘Eliza, the cause of my death. The sun that must absorb the moon. Eliza, who holds the power of the sun. And perhaps, I who seem to have the power of the moon…’

As I closed my eyes, scattered thoughts floated in my mind.

Eliza’s arm crept over my body.

She wrapped her arm around my neck.

‘Do as you please… Do whatever you want…’

Chook–

‘…Huh?’

The brief sound was followed by a heavy silence that filled the room.

It was the kind of sound that shouldn’t exist in this situation.

It wasn’t just a sound.

Something soft, warm, and slightly moist brushed against my cheek before pulling away.

‘Wh-what, wha-wha-what the…!’

I trembled as I cautiously turned my head.

Carefully, I checked on Eliza.

Her face was still in deep sleep.

But suddenly, her face drew closer again.

‘What…! N-no, noooo-!’