The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 84

Eliza is sensitive.

In every aspect, that is.

Her childhood as an illegitimate child, where she had to act humbly, made her that way.

She learned to read others’ thoughts and emotions, redefining her position at every moment to correct her behavior.

That was her approach as a child.

At some point, this ability evolved into anticipating and manipulating others’ thoughts and emotions.

This sensitivity also applies to magic.

Eliza can sense magical energy more acutely than other mages.

While interrogating Barak in the confessional, she sensed magic being cast somewhere.

And she realized that the location overlapped with her guard knight.

She used teleportation immediately.

“Stand back.”

She spoke without even properly looking.

Raising her head, she saw Judas in front of her.

She had focused only on reaching him, without calculating the direction she’d arrive from.

A slow heat rose to her face.

“My lady? Why are you telling me to step back…?”

“Be quiet….”

Commanding the clueless Judas, she turned around.

A priest’s robe.

A hood worn over it.

There is no priest like this in this Church.

The priest’s hand, extended towards Judas, froze awkwardly.

She could feel the remnants of a spell just cast from that hand.

Though she couldn’t determine the exact spell, one thing was clear.

A nauseating sensation, like the smell of blood.

She’d encountered it several times before.

Dark magic.

“What business do you have with my guard knight? Especially, one as esteemed as yourself, a Dark mage.”

“…!”

The Dark mage recoiled, casting a spell as he backed away.

Eliza, aware, let him be.

Seemingly unsuccessful, he glanced around, looking unsettled.

“Having trouble teleporting?”

The Dark mage snapped his gaze at her, startled.

‘Got it right.’

It wasn’t baseless.

There are only a few spells one could use in a crowded place like this.

Unless the goal was to kill everyone here.

If mass slaughter were the intent, there’d be no reason to approach Judas alone from the start.

Furthermore, it’s unlikely they’d infiltrate the Sun Church, where her coming-of-age ceremony was taking place, without a means of escape.

Based on various pieces of evidence, she formulated a hypothesis, trusted the probability, spoke—and it was accurate.

The reason the Dark mage couldn’t teleport was simple.

As soon as she arrived, she created an invisible barrier that temporarily suppressed magic around the Dark mage alone.

After breaking the magic-suppressing barrier last time, Eliza had learned that spell in return.

“Tsk…!”

The Dark mage turned to flee.

For reasons unknown, his magic wasn’t working.

He decided to run.

The moment he stepped forward.

“…?!”

The world spun.

The scene whirled dizzyingly, and the ceiling drifted far away.

“Gah…!”

His back collided with the ground.

A shock took his breath away.

Writhing from the pain of his lungs compressing, his eyes rolled back as he fainted.

Just before losing consciousness, he saw cold, golden eyes looking down at him.

Judas had tackled the fleeing Dark mage, bringing him down.

“But is he really a Dark mage?”

Judas belatedly asked, and Eliza replied.

“Yes. It’s just a hunch, but I’m certain.”

Pushing through the murmuring crowd, the Church’s knights approached.

Their armor, a blend of ivory and gold.

Just looking at their armor exuded a sacred aura.

“What is going on here?”

After Eliza briefly explained, they responded.

“We will escort him under the Church Knights’ supervision.”

Eliza thought briefly.

‘The Church Knights belong to the imperial family. And this dark mage… likely someone connected to the imperial family.’

Eliza had recently obtained some interesting information from the Information Guild.

It was about a link between the imperial family and dark magic.

***

The head of the Information Guild, Eurydice.

Her main job was handling paperwork.

Most tasks were delegated to others.

But that didn’t mean her skill in gathering information had dulled.

When necessary, she took action herself.

While she wasn’t confident in combat, running away was a different story.

Now, she was at the outskirts of the Bevel Principality.

The closest point to the frontlines.

On horseback, it would only take a few minutes to reach the border, beyond Bevel’s influence.

‘This way.’

Eurydice walked, following the traces visible in the distance.

It was a forest so dense that even moonlight struggled to seep through, yet her violet eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

She was tracking dark magic.

Specifically, she was on a mission from five years ago.

Codename: Chariot of Blazing Flames.

It was a request from Eliza de Bevel.

The mission was to investigate forbidden magic that interfered with the mind or memory.

She had investigated through various means and was here today to verify one of her findings personally.

The connection between the Imperial Mage Corps and dark magic….

“Ugh…! Please, help me!”

Someone shouted from ahead.

Eurydice immediately lowered her posture.

“The wheel is stuck in the mire!”

She hid behind a tree and observed.

It was a large road between two sections of the forest.

Spotting them was easy.

They were brightly illuminated by torches.

Eurydice didn’t need to step in.

There were plenty of people around the wagon stuck in the mud.

“Let me lift it.”

Eurydice observed them closely.

‘The one pulling the cart is a priest of the Sun Church. And the one helping with the wheel… is a knight. The sun emblem on his shoulder….’

It was the symbol of the Imperial Knights.

And there wasn’t just one knight.

Four of them were positioned around the wagon as if guarding it.

The wagon was covered in Dark cloth, concealing its contents.

One of the knights pushed the wagon, and with a jolt, it wobbled out of the mud.

At that moment, the Dark cloth shifted.

Something peeked out from beneath it.

A human hand.

A lifeless hand, stained with blood and grime, unmoving.

It looked as though it belonged to the dead.

The knight pushed the hand back inside and carefully adjusted the cloth.

“Moving out again.”

The procession resumed.

There were five such wagons.

Each wagon was large enough to hold four to five bodies.

Eurydice quietly followed their movement.

The forest lining the path provided an excellent cover.

Suddenly, the four knights simultaneously rested their hands on their swords.

Right then, a shadow burst out from the forest on the opposite side, blocking the wagon procession.

“Hah… Huff…! Sir Knight, please help!”

An old man in shabby attire.

There weren’t many types of people you’d find in such a condition in this forest.

Lost refugees or wanderers.

Or perhaps robbers.

Since anyone foolish enough to rob the Imperial Knights wouldn’t survive, he was likely the former.

Eurydice’s guess was accurate.

“S-Spare me! Please, just to a safe place…!”

The old man’s plea was cut short.

A nearby knight swung his sword.

Blood dripped from the blade to the ground.

A moment later, the old man’s head separated from his neck.

The knight looked indifferently at the body, which gurgled blood onto the earth.

“Load this one, too.”

The priest nodded.

He pushed aside the Dark cloth to load it onto the cart.

Eurydice covered her mouth.

A cart filled with corpses.

Stuffed haphazardly, the bodies were tangled together, each one damaged in different ways.

The priest quietly placed the old man’s head and body onto the cart.

Among the corpses, the old man was relatively intact.

After covering it with the Dark cloth, the procession moved forward again.

When they reached a wide clearing, the line of carts came to a stop.

“Everyone, halt. Wait here for a moment.”

One of the imperial knights pulled something out from his cloak.

A golden amulet.

Shortly after, someone appeared in front of them.

An individual who literally seemed to materialize out of thin air.

Clad in an ashen robe.

It wasn’t difficult to guess their identity.

‘A mage capable of teleportation, a rarity among few…’

The mage glanced over the carts and spoke.

“How many are there?”

“A total of 22—no, 23 bodies.”

The imperial knight showed deference to the mage.

In contrast, the mage was arrogant.

“I told you to pack them tightly, but two are missing?”

“I apologize.”

“Tsk. Alright, stand back.”

The mage gestured.

The priests and knights who had brought the carts stepped back a few paces.

And then, the mage and the five carts vanished at once.

‘Teleportation with other objects…’

They say there are only a handful across the continent who can do that.

No known mage is that skilled.

Perhaps only the famous Eliza.

“Damn. Such a stuck-up mage.”

“That’s how mages are.”

The imperial knights muttered as they handed sacks to the priests.

The sacks were large enough to require two hands and looked quite heavy.

“Your payment. We’ll count on you again next time.”

The priests smiled contentedly and bowed.

“May the blessings and grace of the Sun be with you. Thank you.”

The priests returned the way they had come, while the knights chatted among themselves.

“Honestly, it’s chilling to see them weeping in gratitude for the Holy Spirit while reciting prayers.”

“Isn’t it thanks to them that the empire maintains its prestige? If only upright people existed, where would the world be? This is just part of the human experience.”

“True enough. Well, maybe that’s why they’ve lost their divine power… Wait, what’s that?”

“Hmm?”

One of the knights suddenly prodded a spot in the forest with his sword.

“What’s wrong? Do you see something?”

The spot where Eurydice had been hiding was now empty.

The imperial knight gazed at the location, as if trying to catch a clue.

“…….”

***

Eurydice pieced together the clues.

The cart filled with corpses.

The priests leading it.

The imperial knights guarding it.

The high-ranking mage who received it.

Eurydice thought.

The mage who took the cart.

He’s either a dark mage or has significant ties to dark magic.

Because humans are the most powerful offerings for dark magic.

In other words, the imperial knights and priests offered the corpses to that mage.

Teleportation with other objects.

Only a handful of mages on the continent possess that skill.

Eliza is out of the question.

The Tower of Magic, which would go into convulsions at the mere mention of dark magic, is obviously ruled out.

Eurydice reached a conclusion.

‘The Imperial Mage Corps is connected to dark magic…’

The Imperial Mage Corps recruits and is managed directly by the emperor.

Another conclusion emerged.

‘What is the Emperor trying to do with Dark magic?’

As Eurydice emerged from the forest, a familiar face greeted her.

It was her husband, Orpheus.

A skilled knight, he had followed her just in case.

“Yuri! Are you safe?”

“Yes. Who do you think I am? I’m fine. I wasn’t even spotted.”

Eurydice took a brief moment to relax in Orpheus’s arms, relieving her tension.

But there wasn’t much time to linger.

“How’s the information you verified?”

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s certain.”

“So, the Imperial family really….”

“Yes. We must inform our client immediately.”

***

The Imperial Mage Corps and Dark magic have a significant and direct connection.

Eliza recalled the information she had received from the information guild.

A Dark mage who appeared in the Church of the Sun.

The Church knights loyal to the Imperial family.

This was because the Church of the Sun was within the territory of the Duchy of Bevel.

The two largest forces that serve the Sun Religion, Helios and Bevel.

In the distant past, Bevel claimed the Church of the Sun to expand its territory, and Helios arrived a step too late.

However, the two were the main pillars supporting the Sun Religion.

One side could not unilaterally occupy the Church of the Sun.

So they reached an agreement.

The Imperial family would raise those capable of becoming Church knights.

And, ultimately, one worthy to become a knight was selected by Barak from among them.

Although Barak chose them, the knights ultimately spent longer and closer time with the Imperial family.

Thus, the Church knights are all loyal to the Imperial family.

And the Church knights seemed ready to seize that Dark mage.

Of course, procedurally, that was the correct action.

“That’s….”

Judas felt uneasy and was about to refuse.

But Eliza stopped him.

She gently held his hand, calming him.

“Let them take him.”

“My lady…?”

Eliza looked up at Judas with a reassuring smile.

“It will be okay.”

Then, she whispered softly, only for Judas to hear.

“Trust your master—me.”

“…Understood.”

“Good. I permit you to lead them. But handle it properly without any mistakes. Also, since my escort knight was nearly harmed, I must personally receive the interrogation report.”

“I will ensure there is no disappointment.”

Judas handed over the unconscious Dark mage.

As Eliza watched them disappear, she smiled inwardly.

It was her secret that she had cast a special spell on that Dark mage.

The guests murmured among themselves.

Some approached Eliza, trying to check on her, but didn’t dare come too close.

They hesitated because of how close she stood with Judas.

Those with vivid imaginations blushed as they saw the two leaning close and whispering.

Meanwhile, Eliza calmly asked Judas.

“By the way, what happened while I was gone?”

“That Dark mage disguised himself as a priest and approached me, saying he needed to handle the aftermath of a duel. I didn’t think much and extended my hand, but I found it suspicious and was about to back off when you appeared, my lady.”

“Hmmm.”

Eliza folded her arms and looked Judas up and down.

“You didn’t fall victim to the Dark magic, did you?”

“I’m unharmed, so it seems that way.”

“I see…. That’s a relief.”

Judas flinched.

A strange feeling stirred within him.

Every time Eliza showed concern for him, he felt peculiar.

She wasn’t a maniacal killer, but her twisted past had left her emotionally detached.

Yet, in moments like these, he wondered if, perhaps….

Judas pushed aside his fantasies and asked what he had been curious about.

“By the way, how did you know to come immediately?”

“I sensed the aura of Dark magic. And this.”

Eliza raised her right hand.

An ivory ring on her ring finger gleamed.

“I told you, I receive your coordinates in real time.”

Judas finally understood.

Eliza, who could use long-distance teleportation, could find him anytime, in any situation, if she so wished.

The reverse, however, was impossible.

“It seems our guests were quite startled. For now…”

As Eliza began to handle the situation, someone approached with purposeful strides.

A middle-aged man whom Judas had to look up to when he first saw him.

It was Barak.

“Eliza.”

He spoke in a solemn tone.

“Let’s have a word.”

Eliza, who had been staring at him blankly, smiled.

A cold smile, as if she had expected this.

With an expression of calm confidence that seemed to see through everything, she responded.

“Alright.”

Judas watched them leave, then looked down at his hand.

He could still feel the lingering warmth where Eliza had been holding it.

The faint scent of her perfume lingered as if she were still beside him.

‘I wonder what she’s talking about with Barak.’

It was a simple, innocent curiosity, without any deeper meaning.

As he waited quietly in a corner,

“Um…”

A woman approached him shyly.

***

Eliza and Barak sat facing each other.

In a small chapel of the Church.

Two mages had even set up a barrier to keep everyone out.

Barak spoke bluntly.

“Is it true that you know Anggra’s location?”

“Hmm. Did I say that?”

“….”

Barak clenched his fists tightly.

He exhaled like a sigh.

“What do you want?”

“Hm. Are you sure you can give me what I want?”

“Speak. I must know to judge.”

“Duke, are you underestimating me? You should know how dangerous it is to reveal one’s desires to the other party.”

“….”

Unlike Barak, who furrowed his brow deeply, Eliza smiled brightly.

It was a cheerful yet unsettling smile.

“Then, how about this: what’s your purpose and intent in finding Anggra?”

“If I tell you, will you answer me?”

“That depends on your answer.”

Barak’s gaze, which had been fixed on Eliza, fell.

The bold gleam in his eyes faded, replaced by exhaustion.

He sighed deeply, his breath rustling his beard.

The reason for contacting Anggra.

The temporary alliance with the Moon Church Cult that was abandoned.

The plan that had been meticulously prepared for a long time.

Should he reveal it?

Raising his head, determination returned to Barak’s gaze.

He had made up his mind.

Finally, he spoke.

“It is…”