The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 82

The two sacred relics clashed.

Achan’s Granite Sword.

The Moon’s Eye held by Judas.

Red and ivory collided, sparking flames.

In that moment, one side broke.

The Granite Sword.

Its blade, renowned for its unique hardness, snapped and flew through the air.

Just as Achan was shocked, Judas was equally taken aback.

He simply didn’t show it.

‘What is this?’

He had been confident of victory.

He had mentally calculated a few moves in advance.

In none of those possibilities did the sword break.

Judas instinctively realized.

‘It’s the power of the Broken Moon attribute.’

Normally, the Moon’s Eye wasn’t strong enough to cut through the Granite Sword.

Despite his surprise, he didn’t stop his offensive.

He couldn’t miss this opportunity.

In the instant the Granite Sword shattered,

Judas, having made all his decisions, moved.

He took a step closer to the faltering Achan and swung his blade.

A clean trajectory narrowly sliced only the armor.

Kiiing-!

With a screech of metal, Achan’s breastplate was torn.

‘To think it could cut through that armor… This is far stronger than the Moon’s Eye I knew.’

The armor was grotesquely split open, as if someone had torn it by hand.

“Gah-!”

Achan didn’t back down.

Instead, he charged toward Judas.

‘Is he planning to engage in a hand-to-hand strength contest?’

If he thrust his blade, he could surely kill him.

Achan seemed confident Judas wouldn’t actually kill him.

Judas merely smirked.

‘This works even better.’

Judas’s goal wasn’t mere victory.

It was to overwhelm with humiliating dominance.

He decided to respond to Achan’s move.

He tossed his sword aside.

He clasped hands with the charging Achan.

Bang!

As they collided, a light burst spread out like a breeze.

It seemed like a contest of strength, like bulls locking horns, but the balance quickly shifted.

“Aaaah-!”

Achan began to scream.

His clasped hand with Judas’s bent at an unnatural angle.

Right now, Judas was overpowering Achan with pure strength alone.

No technique was necessary.

Just the sheer difference in strength.

“Agh, ah…! Ouch…!”

Achan twisted his body desperately, like a squid on a hot grill.

He struggled to escape.

The harder he tried, the tighter Judas’s powerful grip became.

With his hands restrained, Achan’s knees slowly buckled.

In contrast to Achan, who sank to the ground, Judas remained calm.

He stood tall, pressing down firmly on Achan’s hand.

Thud.

At last, Achan’s knees touched the ground.

A high-ranking noble, kneeling before a guard.

The sight was humiliating enough to make onlookers cringe.

People gasped in low voices.

It was a scene no one had expected.

Everyone had assumed they would fight moderately, with Judas eventually conceding.

That was tradition, the etiquette of noble society.

But Judas’s demeanor suggested no such intention.

Even his master, Eliza, showed no sign of intervening.

“Ugh…!”

Achan gritted his teeth and glared upward.

He didn’t even have the composure to feel the humiliation of looking up at a guard from his knees.

The pressure from Judas’s hand felt like being crushed under a boulder.

However, Judas’s expression remained utterly calm.

As if he wasn’t exerting any strength at all.

“Ugh…!”

He tried to resist, pushing back with his own strength, but Judas’s hand didn’t budge.

Judas, who easily overpowered him, said nothing.

No taunts, no mockery.

He simply looked down at him with a quiet gaze.

A reaction that suggested there wasn’t even a need to engage with words.

The onlookers were, in part, slightly puzzled.

It was only his hand that had been restrained.

His legs appeared as though he could stand or do something if he tried.

But only those who experienced it would understand.

One wrong move here, and it felt as if his wrist would shatter.

Achan instinctively felt this and couldn’t move.

‘Is this the strength of a human…?’

It was humiliating, and he felt ashamed.

Those feelings quickly turned into fear.

It was excessive for the strength of a single individual.

It even felt irrational.

Moreover, his opponent wasn’t even using his full strength.

‘How can this be possible…?’

Before the incomprehensible strength, his will was powerless.

Achan gave up resisting.

The strength drained from his body.

He allowed himself to be bent by Judas.

He wouldn’t be able to hold a sword for a while.

If he kept letting himself be twisted, he might never use his hand again.

He was afraid, yet couldn’t even think of resisting.

If he dared to fight back, it felt like his arm might be torn off.

He, a noble, felt a daring sense of ‘fear’ against a mere Escort Knight.

He couldn’t bring himself to utter the word ‘surrender.’

It was the last bit of pride he had.

The pitiful sight of himself holding onto even that worthless pride, in silence, made him look even more miserable and pathetic.

Judas looked down at the humbly bowed head of Achan.

In his mind, to dominate a noble was not simply about winning.

It was about breaking the pride and self-assurance of that noble.

To make him give up on his own.

And that humiliation would be completed with the next action.

Judas slowly released his grip.

If he had wanted, he could have ensured Achan would never use that arm again.

But he didn’t.

This was mercy.

True mercy flows from the higher to the lower.

A gracious act bestowed by the strong to the weak.

Right now, Judas extended his mercy to Achan, who was beneath him.

Achan, now freed, understood that this situation was mercy.

A deeply humiliating, scornful mercy.

“……”

The observing nobles all kept their mouths tightly shut.

The noble who had personally stepped forward was defeated by an escort knight.

Brutally and overwhelmingly.

No one declared the outcome.

Neither Judas nor Achan, the two duel participants, spoke of victory or defeat.

There was no need for words; the result was obvious.

Judas brushed off his hands and approached Eliza.

She welcomed him with a smile.

“Well done. More satisfying than I anticipated.”

Achan, with dead eyes, watched them.

In the center of the crowd, Eliza and Judas whispered to each other, their words reaching only one another.

Eliza’s smiling face.

It was rare.

A genuine smile, not a mask.

Achan could tell.

That expression she showed only to Judas was Eliza’s true self.

Having tormented her and forced her to smile since they were children, he knew better than anyone.

The filthy illegitimate child who had grown up into a graceful and beautiful woman.

The past of making her cry by tormenting her and forcing her to look at him through scolding was long gone.

Now…

“Achan oppa!”

Sarah came running in haste.

Jezebel stood beside her, glaring at Eliza.

“Are you okay, oppa?”

“Eliza, what do you think you’re doing? How dare you treat a high noble like this…!”

“Enough.”

Eliza cut her off.

“If he lost the duel, he should rightfully pay the price, shouldn’t he?”

“W-what did you say?”

Achan had been defeated.

It was a deeply humiliating loss.

For the nobles, that alone was considered enough payment for the duel.

Demanding more than that was deemed cruel.

However, Eliza didn’t think so.

“This…! This is an issue between Achan and Judas! Why drag me into it?”

“Sister. Truly impressive.”

“What are you…”

“You’re showing us just how many ways there are to flaunt ignorance. It’s beyond my imagination.”

“……”

“Simply a duel between Achan and Judas? You don’t really believe that, do you? Achan personally stepped up for you and Sarah, and since he couldn’t throw the gauntlet at me, he chose Judas instead. Thus, I’m ultimately the one responsible for the duel… Was your head so dense that I had to explain even this simple fact?”

The one who insulted Sarah and Jezebel was Eliza, not Judas.

Judas had only fought to protect his master.

Eliza’s point was valid.

In truth, Achan had challenged Judas to ultimately hold Eliza accountable and humiliate him.

With no words of rebuttal, Jezebel shifted her argument.

“How… How can you say that after seeing your brother in that state?”

“Don’t appeal to meaningless ties. A ‘brother’ means nothing beyond sharing the same father. From the start, I never even considered him a brother.”

“You…!”

“Kneel.”

“……”

“Kneel and apologize to me and my knight. Sarah, too.”

“……”

The two noblewomen trembled.

Their anxious gazes swept the crowd, looking for Barak.

Someone who might mediate this situation.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

They sought a backup option—the eldest son, Cain, and the second son, Levi.

Desperately, they looked to them for help, but neither seemed inclined to get involved.

Those wretched elder brothers.

They had tormented Eliza together when they were young, only to act indifferent now?

Swallowing her anger, Jezebel stepped forward to face Eliza.

Her body was shaking.

The other nobles dared not intervene.

Though they thought Eliza was being excessive, none wanted to get entangled in the conflict.

Besides, this was an internal family matter.

It was not something outsiders should interfere with.

“Surely, you’re not so lacking in honor that you’d refuse a rightful demand from the victor?”

“If… I must….”

Clenching her teeth, Jezebel gripped her long skirt.

Slowly, she lowered herself.

Her trembling knees touched the cold ground.

Startled by the sight, Sarah hesitated, then, on the verge of tears, followed Jezebel and knelt.

“I… Jezebel dE Bevel… as the defeated in this fair and sacred duel… kneel before the victor, Eliza dE Bevel, and apologize….”

Sarah repeated the words in a similar manner, though her voice was muffled by sobs.

Eliza looked at her nails, speaking indifferently.

“Did Achan die or something? He’s nowhere to be seen.”

“……”

Achan, who was lying some distance away, crawled over.

He couldn’t muster the strength in his hands to stand.

Looking at them apologizing, Eliza let out a sigh.

“I wonder what kind of education the Bevel family provides…. Words don’t guarantee action. Saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean you genuinely feel it. Shouldn’t you express it a bit more sincerely?”

“What more do you want us to…”

“Wouldn’t bowing your heads to the ground show the appropriate level of sincerity?”

“……”

Their faces turned pale.

Though he ordered high nobles to bow, Eliza looked down at them calmly.

Even the spectators gasped in shock, but no one dared to intervene.

If Barak had been there, he would have intervened, but he wasn’t present.

Eliza glanced at Cain and Levi.

They, too, could have stepped in, yet for some reason, they quietly observed the situation.

What could they be plotting?

However, Eliza was now making a display, letting it be known.

Revealing the reality of the Bevel family.

And what happens when someone dares to mess with her or her knight.

Finally, the three people pressed their foreheads to the floor.

Biting their lips in frustration, while Sara was sobbing.

Eliza looked down with her arms crossed.

Her indifferent gaze swept over the backs of their heads.

She lingers on Achan for a bit longer.

A loser.

A noble whose spirit was broken—or rather, who broke his own spirit out of helplessness.

Pathetic.

Once, they had feared him so much, but now he was so miserably reduced.

Had she really once begged before such a lowly person?

Just that much impact.

No thrill or pleasure to be found.

Not even a smile could escape her.

Still, it was a view worth seeing.

Her three brothers, helplessly kneeling with their heads pressed into the floor.

‘Well, it’s not bad.’

She would see this over and over again.

Those pieces of trash who abused her, concealed her mother’s death, then later exploited and mocked it.

Two people remain.

Levi, Cain.

And the head of the family and her biological father, Barak.

Oh, and eventually Narcissa as well.

Eliza lost interest in those three.

However, a pathetic loser would do anything to escape humiliation.

She couldn’t let her guard down and had to keep an eye on them.

Eliza smiled brightly and said,

“Well, I hope you’ll all be careful from now on.”

Her words weren’t just for the three losers.

For Levi and Cain, who were watching.

And for any potential enemies.

A warning to all of them.

If they crossed her, things wouldn’t end normally.

Turning away, Eliza met Judas, who was right behind her.

He seemed worried that she might have gone overboard.

But Eliza didn’t care.

She had just been looking at her brothers.

Disgusting filth by their mere existence.

People who made her feel like she’d stepped into a stinking alley just by looking at them.

Yet, as soon as she looked back, an entirely different world opened before her.

It wasn’t as if her surroundings had truly changed.

Simply whether Judas was in her line of sight or not. That alone made the difference.

It was like being pulled out of a filthy swamp and lying cleanly on a fresh, cozy bed, bringing her comfort and satisfaction.

‘As long as this child stays by my side…’

She was confident she could overcome anything.

She wasn’t alone.

In truth, it didn’t matter whether she was alone or not.

It had always been that way.

After all, life is something she must handle alone.

The unpleasant expression she’d worn until now vanished as soon as she saw Judas, replaced by a warm smile.

The sharp, unpleasant feelings she’d sharpened were washed away as if they had never been.

Thinking it was merely frequent usage rather than dependence, Eliza lightly grasped his fingertips.

Savoring the cool chill flowing through, she thought suddenly.

‘…Achan.’

When Achan and Judas fought, they had intertwined their fingers.

And she had never held hands with him like that.

Just once, when she was young.

Eliza fidgeted with Judas’s hand, watching his serious expression.

Should she intertwine her fingers or not?

Judas looked at her, worriedly asking,

“Ah, miss? Is something wrong…?”

Eliza snapped back to her senses.

Why on earth did she want to intertwine her fingers?

There was no meaning to that action, even knowing it.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Eliza forcibly pushed away thoughts that were hard to understand and analyze.

In truth.

At some point, he had grown fearful of even trying to understand such thoughts.

He pretended not to know that fear as well.

He simply smiled and said,

“You did well, Judas.”

Judas scratched his neck awkwardly.

“No, not at all….”

Despite his bold and sharp appearance, he seemed a little dazed when he was in front of him.

A side no one else could see.

Something only he could witness.

Something he wanted to hide away, to lock up so that no one else would ever see it….

Eliza brushed off his assessment of Judas’s outer beauty as just a nobleman’s habit of evaluating and judging others.

Even though he’d never taken an interest in such things before.

For now, just having Judas in front of him made all other matters seem trivial.

The necklace around his neck looked nice, too.

So, it would be fine to close his eyes for a while.

That’s what Eliza thought.