The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 74.1

“You, you called me ‘Eliza’ earlier, didn’t you?”

“……”

He definitely did.

When Eliza appeared, he was so shocked that he blurted out her name.

‘But I’m not who I used to be.’

Judas was confident.

Unlike when he was younger, he thought he could lie pretty well now…

“…Ah, no, I didn’t?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry.”

…but apparently, he still couldn’t.

“Hmm.”

“I was just startled because you appeared so suddenly….”

“So, are you saying it’s my fault?”

“No, how could that be? It’s because I’m such a rude guy.”

Eliza let out a light chuckle.

“Try again.”

“No, how could that….”

“Not that.”

“Pardon?”

“Try calling me Eliza again.”

“……”

Judas’s back was already drenched in cold sweat.

‘Isn’t this one of those things?’

If you actually do what they tell you, they scold you for it?

Like, ‘How dare you call your master that?’

What should he do?

“What are you doing? Hurry up and say it.”

“No matter how you put it, that’s a bit….”

“If I tell you to do it, then do it.”

He swallowed a deep sigh inwardly.

‘Fine. If the master says to do it, then I have to.’

Judas slowly inhaled.

He glanced at Eliza, then quickly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

He couldn’t possibly say it while looking at her face.

His lips and tongue were already prepared to pronounce it.

But no matter what, he couldn’t get the breath out of his throat.

After hesitating for a long while, he finally managed to speak.

“…Eliza.”

He still wasn’t looking at her.

Instead of Eliza, he looked at Yuel.

Perhaps sensing the battle was over, Yuel was cautiously approaching.

‘But why is she being so quiet? Making things awkward….’

Just as he was about to glance down, Eliza suddenly pressed her forehead against Judas’s chest.

“…Don’t do that again.”

Hearing it for real didn’t seem to be a particularly pleasant experience.

At least, that’s what Judas thought.

‘She’s the one who made me do it….’

Though Eliza’s true feelings were different, Judas had no way of knowing that.

“Yes….”

Judas obediently agreed.

It wasn’t like he would ever actually call her ‘Eliza’ again.

And he wouldn’t in the future either.

‘But… is she cold?’

He couldn’t see her face.

Instead, the little ears peeking out from the side of her head were red.

“Are you perhaps cold?”

“…No, I’m not.”

Judas was somewhat convinced.

Eliza was a mage, after all.

If she were cold, she would’ve started a fire or something.

Just then, Yuel approached and poked her face between Judas and Eliza.

“There, there. You’re safe. Good job.”

As Judas petted her, It nuzzled him, seemingly pleased.

On the other hand, Eliza glared at Yuel with a sullen look.

Ignoring her, Judas looked around.

The three mages that Hazle had summoned.

They all lay dead on the ground.

Eliza spoke first.

“They were from the Imperial Mage Corps. And that one was a spy planted by the Imperial Court.”

As Judas feared, Hazle was indeed an imperial knight.

Judas knew Eliza had many enemies.

Most people thought it was the Bevel family.

But that wasn’t the case.

“Is the empire targeting the lady?”

Eliza looked up at Judas intently.

A calm, expressionless face.

Now, Judas could read the subtle differences in that expressionless face.

Eliza was currently debating whether or not to speak.

Soon, her small lips moved.

“Judas.”

Eliza pushed Yuel’s face away and leaned against his chest.

The sound of his heartbeat was pleasant to hear.

“I have one more question.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“This place, how did you find it?”

The ruins where the statue of the sun was hidden.

It’s not a place one can easily find.

Yet, Judas managed to do it.

And in less than a week since the test began.

This speed—it’s as if he knew about it all along.

Or.

If Judas knew the information leaked by the imperial family, it could be possible.

In that case.

How would Judas know such information?

“……”

Judas fell silent for a moment.

The longer the silence stretched, the more suspicious it became, yet it was difficult to answer hastily.

Saying he had known all along wouldn’t make sense.

He couldn’t have known about this place before even the imperial family, who discovered it much later.

Thus, he had no choice but to tell a clumsy lie.

Taking a breath, he spoke as calmly as possible.

“While following the map the lady gave me, I was fortunate enough to find it.”

Eliza, by nature, stares at people’s faces almost uncomfortably when listening to them.

It’s both a habit and a skill.

To detect their lies.

But at this moment, Eliza didn’t look at Judas’s face.

She simply spoke while leaning against his chest.

“…I see.”

It was the result of an unconscious fear.

The fear that Judas might not be on her side.

She thoroughly ignored that possibility.

“You’re lucky.”

She accepted it without critical thought.

If examined closely, it wasn’t entirely without reason.

The area marked on the map was broad and vague, but it didn’t exclude this location.

It was possible to find it if one tried.

Moreover, Hazel and the Imperial magicians had tried to kill Judas.

The artifact she had given him proved it.

If he were a spy, that wouldn’t have happened.

The verification was enough.

Judas could be trusted.

He was on her side.

He wasn’t a traitor.

Some beliefs aren’t true because they are trustworthy, but because they are believed in.

The irrational cycle of trusting someone simply because you believe in them.

Even knowing this, Eliza turned a blind eye.

At that moment, a different fear suddenly surged within her.

Her current reaction.

Was it not just a weak dependency…?

Just as she was about to realize something, Eliza pulled back from the thought.

She forcibly stopped thinking and distanced herself from the flow of her thoughts.

Eliza lifted her head.

Only now did she look at Judas’s face.

If she had looked earlier, she would have seen through the lie, but now, Judas’s expression held no clues.

Looking at his face, she couldn’t help but smile.

She smiled softly.

“Congratulations.”

“Pardon?”

“On becoming my knight.”

“…!”

“Of course, we have to secure that statue of the sun first.”

“Oh!”

It finally came back to him.

The statue of the sun.

He approached the altar.

His emotions were all over the place.

“A knight protector, huh….”

I passed the final test.

I almost had it taken away by Hazle, but in the end, I won.

Eliza said that passing this test would grant me the qualification to become a knight protector.

Did that statement just now mean that they recognized that qualification here?

“A statue of the sun that is worshiped.”

An object I had used before my possession.

A holy relic said to fulfill any miracle.

The reason I haven’t sought it since coming here is simple.

Just possessing it doesn’t mean you can make a wish.

To manifest the power of the sun statue, you need something incredibly difficult to obtain.

And it’s something I absolutely can’t get with my current capabilities.

It would be relatively easy for the emperor who desires this, though.

“Even before the possession, I struggled quite a bit to use this. Back then, the character was far stronger than I am now.”

As I thought about it, something I had overlooked suddenly came to mind.

“…Wait a minute. Where is Richard, and what is he doing?”

And at the moment I retrieved the sun statue from the altar.

[You have completed the hidden quest, ‘One Drawn to the Natural Order.’]

[Rewards are being offered.]

“Not choosing a reward but offering it?”

Curious, I turned my body, and there was Eliza staring intently at me.

“…Sometimes, at moments like this, you really do seem like a cat.”

I wanted to check the reward, but now was the time to talk to Eliza.

“Judas. You’re on my side, right?”

A casually thrown question.

Despite the calm tone, it was a heavy question.

Eliza, surrounded only by enemies.

Just looking at Hazle proves that.

He, the number one in the training camp, was a spy for the Imperial family.

For her, how narrow must the term ‘my side’ be?

Judas thought deeply.

“I….”

Words don’t always guarantee sincerity.

Still, he answered as honestly as he could.

“I am on your side, milady.”

There was no reason not to be.

As long as she wasn’t the one he feared, there was absolutely no reason for him not to stand by her side.

“…I see.”

Eliza nodded.

The emotion that surfaced on her lightly smiling face was difficult for Judas to read.

She felt relief in that one word that carried no guarantee of truth, and at the same time, she felt a sense of dissonance within herself for that relief.

However, at least in this moment, Eliza was certain.

She should tell Judas.

“Whether it’s me that the empire is targeting or my family, I still haven’t fully figured it out. That’s why I set this trap to find out.”

She had left Hazle in the training camp and issued the test to retrieve the statue of the sun.

All of it had been a trap.

“There are plenty of reasons to target me. I’m a remarkable mage. The Bevel duchy could also be an eyesore to the Imperial family.”

“Then, the one behind this is….”

There are too many people within the Imperial family.

It’s a difficult enemy to specify.

But Eliza was certain.

“Johan.”

“……”