Chapter 141. Decision
『 Do not violate me, lowly being! (Vel drash’tar, nosh val’een!)』
No sooner had Gawain’s roar ended than Serena collapsed, vomiting blood.
The power contained in his voice was far too immense.
Even Yohan wanted to cover his ears.
‘Damn it!’
In his human state, it was difficult to resist Gawain’s presence.
Yohan forced himself to hold on to his reason.
He ran to Serena and supported her.
“Are you all right?”
The light in Serena’s eyes was faint, as though it would vanish at any moment.
“......You must not.”
Yohan narrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Never release that demon......”
She could not finish her sentence.
Her eyes slowly closed.
Gawain shouted in a sharp voice.
“Kill yourself! Tear that filthy body apart with your own hands and die!”
The bastard’s words were converted into Ancient Demonic Tongue.
『 Tear your own body apart with your own hands! (Rash’ta vel’kar, dra’mir ven)!』
At the same time, blue Mana spread from Ilea’s body.
A faint curtain wrapped around Serena.
Thanks to that, Gawain’s curse did not reach Serena.
Ilea spoke.
“Yohan, let’s move her somewhere else first.”
If they faced Gawain any longer, Serena might truly lose her life.
“Is Serena all right?”
“For now.”
Yohan let out a sigh of relief.
He looked at Gawain with a cold gaze.
“Gawain, you acted rashly. You will regret this.”
Gawain cackled.
“I merely find it regrettable. That I had to leave that bitch alive.”
Yohan clicked his tongue and lifted Serena into his arms.
“I will decide how to deal with you after I hear what Serena has to say.”
Serena must have confirmed Gawain’s true thoughts through the Heart-Piercing Eyes.
For now, Yohan needed that information.
The smile disappeared slightly from Gawain’s face.
“......That ridiculous bitch. So she really did enter my head.”
Gawain was extremely quick on the uptake.
Or perhaps he possessed such excellent senses that he had instinctively felt the Heart-Piercing Eyes invading him.
Whatever the case, Gawain was a far more dangerous demon than Yohan had expected.
The bastard could already handle Verbal Command Spells.
‘I’ll need to approach him more carefully.’
Until he placed certain shackles on Gawain, he could never let his guard down.
Resolving himself firmly, Yohan left the Forbidden Archive.
He headed straight to a guest room and laid Serena down.
For now, Serena needed rest.
***
Serena only opened her eyes when afternoon had nearly arrived.
She groaned and rose from her place.
The half-destroyed, ruined interior entered her sight.
“Wh-where......”
An unfamiliar voice cut her off.
“This is a guest room in the lord’s castle. It’s a bit of a mess, isn’t it?”
Serena turned her head to the side.
A boy was sitting beside the bed.
A beautiful boy with golden hair and amber eyes. Yohan’s younger brother, Raguel.
Serena said with a wary expression,
“Who are you?”
Raguel smiled awkwardly.
“I am Raguel Miyatro, acting lord of Miyatro. I can only apologize for receiving you in such a shabby place, my lady.”
As soon as the introduction ended, some of the wariness vanished from Serena’s face.
The name Raguel was quite familiar.
When Serena had used the Heart-Piercing Eyes on Yohan before, she had certainly obtained several pieces of information about Raguel as well.
Raguel was someone Yohan sincerely cherished.
Serena lowered her head slightly.
“No, I should be the one apologizing. I showed you an unsightly appearance at our first meeting. Serena von Marcano. It is a pleasure to meet the acting lord of Miyatro.”
She had met her fiancé’s younger brother for the first time while lying in bed.
The situation was somewhat improper in terms of etiquette.
Raguel immediately waved his hands.
“I heard you went through something terrible. There’s no need to stand in the ceremony with me, so please rest comfortably.”
Serena was still not in good condition.
Because of her dizziness, she could not get out of bed.
Her complexion sank heavily.
“Thank you for saying so, but I don’t think I can simply keep resting. What on earth is happening right now?”
Serena looked around.
The inside of the guest room was not normal.
The walls were dented here and there, and cracks split across the ceiling.
No matter who looked at it, the place was filled with traces of battle.
Raguel scratched his head.
“Haha, how should I explain this......? Actually, it was originally like this.”
Serena looked puzzled.
“You mean that demon wasn’t released?”
She had thought Gawain had turned the castle into a wreck.
Of course, that was not entirely wrong.
In the past, the battle between Gawain and Ilea had half-destroyed the lord’s castle.
The remnants of that were still left behind.
There had been no time to repair the castle.
Raguel nodded.
“His Highness the third prince is still confined in the Forbidden Archive. If I had to explain why the castle is this damaged, then yes, it is technically because of His Highness, but it has nothing to do with what happened today. Please don’t worry too much, my lady.”
Serena swallowed a low groan.
“......So that demon really was His Highness the third prince.”
A prince of a kingdom, and on top of that, a promising Holy Knight, had fallen into a demon.
There was no disaster quite like this.
Raguel said with a bitter expression,
“That’s right. Yohan must be deeply troubled too.”
The moment she heard Yohan’s name, Serena got down from the bed.
Dizziness swirled through her, but she had no time to take care of herself.
There was something she absolutely had to tell him.
She said in an urgent voice,
“Where is Sir Yohan right now? There’s something he needs to know.”
Raguel grew a little flustered.
“Ah, you need to rest. I’ll call Yohan for you, so please lie back......”
His words cut off.
The half-broken door of the guest room opened with an old scraping sound.
Yohan was stepping inside.
“My lady, you’re awake?”
Serena walked quickly toward Yohan.
“Sir Yohan, I have something to tell you.”
Her foot slipped, and she fell toward Yohan.
Her body was not obeying her properly.
Yohan immediately supported her.
“Take it slowly. Return to the bed first.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Serena’s face reddened slightly from embarrassment.
Yohan sat her back down on the bed and said,
“What did you hear that made you so urgent?”
Countless emotions surfaced on Serena’s face.
Fear, confusion, unease, and more. All of them were negative.
The psychological aftermath she had received from Gawain still remained.
His malice was like a bottomless pit, and its depth was impossible to measure.
Serena had never felt such blind evil before.
She steadied her breathing and said,
“......His Highness hates you, Sir Yohan, to an indescribable degree. Inside his head, there was nothing but thoughts of revenge against you.”
Originally, Gawain had felt favorably toward Yohan.
He had regarded Yohan as a political partner and a good friend.
But he had been betrayed.
Yohan had joined hands with the enemy who had killed Gawain’s mother.
On top of that, Yohan was a half-demon, and he was the very one who had caused Gawain to fall into demonhood.
For Gawain, it was despairing.
The foot crushed by someone one trusted always hurt more.
That wound made his hatred even deeper.
Gawain existed only to take revenge on Yohan.
Yohan’s expression sank calmly.
“As expected. Unless we place shackles on him, we will never be able to control Gawain.”
Serena shook her head.
“No method will be able to bind His Highness.”
From Yohan’s perspective, he was skeptical of her opinion.
No matter how great hatred was, in the end, it was only emotion.
If he was bound by an unwritten law such as a kinship contract, personal emotions would easily fade in significance.
Once the contract was completed, Gawain would have no choice but to obey Yohan.
Yohan said,
“My lady, you said something similar earlier. You warned me never to release Gawain. What is the reason?”
Serena swallowed dryly.
“The ‘contract’ you mentioned will not work on His Highness.”
Yohan’s brow narrowed.
“I need a more detailed explanation.”
“He possesses an authority that can break every kind of contract.”
“......Is that true?”
Serena nodded.
“I confirmed it clearly through the Heart-Piercing Eyes.”
Only now did the pieces roughly fit together.
Gawain had accepted Yohan’s proposal to become his kin far too easily.
A bastard who had nothing but thoughts of revenge had volunteered to join hands with his enemy.
Now that Yohan saw it, there had been a reason for it.
Gawain had intended to break the contract the moment he was released from his restraints.
Then he would have attacked Yohan immediately.
Yohan let out a hollow laugh.
‘I’m glad I brought Serena.’
Without her, a troublesome situation would surely have occurred.
Yohan spoke.
“Thank you, my lady. Thanks to you, I avoided misfortune.”
Serena said in a stiff tone,
“I didn’t do it particularly for your sake, Sir Yohan. If His Highness is released, many people will be hurt. As a noble of the kingdom, I merely fulfilled my duty.”
Yohan nodded.
“That is a good mindset. Please continue acting that way from now on. Most of your choices toward good will directly lead to my benefit.”
Serena quietly stared into Yohan’s eyes, then murmured softly.
“......I see.”
Yohan’s calm words did not seem like a lie.
He turned around and said,
“Rest a little longer for now. I will take my leave.”
Tension appeared on Serena’s face.
“Are you going to His Highness?”
Yohan said calmly,
“Yes. I must finish this, after all.”
He left the guest room.
Then he headed straight for the Forbidden Archive.
***
The sun had set.
Mapheltan descended to the Forbidden Archive, lost in thought.
‘An authority that breaks contracts.’
The authority of Apostle Beris was currently in Gawain’s possession.
How on earth? Mapheltan could not quite understand it.
Aside from Beris, there was no being who could interfere with the unwritten law known as “contracts.”
‘......Hmm.’
Could Gawain have taken Beris’s place?
‘Impossible.’
Beris was still alive.
Even if a tenth of his soul had been extinguished, the bastard was still an apostle.
There could not be two apostles governing contracts.
No, in the first place, a being who was not an ancient god could not become an apostle.
Gawain had been human until recently.
He did not possess the qualifications of an apostle.
When his thoughts reached that point, one idea suddenly came to mind.
‘Then what about me?’
There were always exceptions.
Mapheltan was one of them.
He had become an apostle through special circumstances.
That exception might also apply to Gawain.
Mapheltan’s steps came to a sudden stop.
He opened his mouth in front of Gawain.
“Let me confirm just one thing.”
Gawain grinned.
“What happened to that girl of lowly Marcano blood?”
Ignoring the bastard’s question, Mapheltan took out the Cursed Scripture.
A huge full-length mirror stood before Gawain’s eyes.
“Touch the mirror.”
The Cursed Scripture was a cursed object that responded only to apostles.
If Gawain was an apostle, a specific phenomenon would occur.
Gawain said with a sly expression,
“As you can see, I am rather indisposed.”
He looked down at his own hands.
He was completely restrained and unable to move even the tip of a finger.
Mapheltan clicked his tongue and brought the Cursed Scripture to Gawain’s hand.
Disappointment bloomed.
The Cursed Scripture showed no reaction at all.
If Gawain truly had been an apostle, Mapheltan would have put the bastard beneath his feet by any means necessary.
But now, that was not the case.
Mapheltan summoned Cursed Spear Turabak.
“Gawain, it seems I cannot join hands with you after all.”
He raised the Cursed Spear.
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