Chapter 581
Chapter 581
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 581
Chapter Title: Farce (3)
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1.
I opened my eyes.
The spear tip loomed right before them.
Bright red fresh blood trickled along the blade and plipped onto my glabella, just like rainwater running down leaves.
Dorothy's pupils slowly turned toward Si-woo.
His own condition wasn't much better, spear trained unerringly on her.
Bloodshot eyes.
Blood trickled from between his tightly clenched lips, and the bulging veins snaking up his arm looked like they'd taken a heavy hit from the distortion field.
Not that it was surprising.
It was a reverse field that neutralized the nun's habit's defensive properties—which could block most attacks even without the chapel—in an instant.
Swinging around the source generating that field must have placed an insane burden on him.
He looked ridiculous.
I'd planned to let Rurye stew in her anger long enough to conquer the trial she'd half-abandoned, build up a solid grudge against others, then send him back to her.
The stated reason was that having him—a similarly "frail" presence—by Rurye's side would blunt the preventive inoculation of betrayal.
But that wasn't the only reason.
Watching him get along with Rurye, unable to hate Dorothy with all his heart... it had been ages since I'd felt the urge to possess someone.
I'd even harbored a faint hope: if he became a connection unlike any I'd known, maybe even I could grow soft like Rurye or Sharlit.
I'd wanted to spend even a little time with him...
But Shin Si-woo's resistance hadn't factored into my plans at all.
I'd never dreamed he'd turn the tables so perfectly, pinning me to the floor.
"...Why did you do it?"
Surprisingly, he spoke to me.
The spear tip was still poised flawlessly to end Dorothy's life, but his voice brimmed with the familiar frailty.
"You could've just left..."
Sure, mishaps had piled up, and we both looked pretty pathetic, but it didn't derail the plan at all.
Rurye would gain a firm enmity toward Public Enemies.
She'd learn to suspect before trusting others.
And through Shin Si-woo, surrounded by witches close to Gehenna, she'd stay within a somewhat safer fence.
Dorothy would meet a pointless end here.
As the villain for her friend's daughter, for her future, she'd die playing the role.
That seemed like a pretty convincing "reason to die."
"Kill me."
Dorothy spoke as if sighing it out.
"......"
Si-woo hesitated.
Defiant to the last.
A simple downward thrust would've ended her, yet the spear didn't twitch an inch.
The nun's habit suppressed the distortion field's effects as much as possible, but Dorothy had taken a stab to the gut that damaged her Stigma directly.
The wound was in the stroke of the Stigma that served as her magic power reservoir.
Vast magic power was leaking out even now, mixed with her blood.
No issue maintaining her spirit body, but even if she stanched the bleeding and healed, she'd never function properly as a witch again.
"It hurts too much. Make it quick and painless."
I could see resolve hardening in his wavering gaze.
Had he realized Dorothy was beyond saving?
Or was he worried about Rurye's condition?
Either way, it wasn't born of anger at her attack.
It was determination forged by concern for others.
Come to think of it, I'd dumped a rotten role on him.
I felt a twinge of guilt, but to take my lovely niece, a little hardship was only fair.
A kind man, perfect for Rurye.
With that reassurance, Dorothy closed her eyes.
"Any last words?"
If she begged "spare me" here, he'd waver.
But she had no lingering attachment to life that would make her spout pathetic excuses and ruin the plan.
"Aim for the heart if you can. I don't want my face ruined."
"......"
He nodded heavily, raising the spear.
His tendons bulged as he braced for a painless kill.
Just before her heart burst like a tomato...
"Si-woo! Stop!"
Rurye's voice echoed thunderously down the corridor.
Si-woo whipped wide-eyed eyes toward the sound.
According to Dorothy, she'd been subdued, yet that voice rang out so vigorous.
He glanced at Dorothy to figure out what was going on, but she looked just as shocked—more so, even.
Dorothy had definitely paralyzed Rurye's magic circuits temporarily.
Precisely in the area that would've needed at least a month of bed rest, never mind proper spellcasting.
On top of that, she'd seized control of Akula and the summoned familiars, ordering them to detain Rurye.
So how had Rurye gotten here?
Without magic, traversing between Akula and the kingdom was impossible.
Rurye came sprinting into view, furious from head to toe.
But the moment she saw Dorothy and Si-woo's conditions, the blood drained from her face.
"Si-woo, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm not hurt anywhere else. But... what happened?"
Rurye crushed Si-woo in a tight hug, then staggered over to check Dorothy's state.
A hole punched through her gut.
Far graver than Rurye's own wound.
"You traitor bitch!"
Rurye shrieked and planted herself beside Dorothy.
Naturally, even with Dorothy gravely injured, it wouldn't quell Rurye's rage.
If a witch you'd trusted as a friend pulled that on you, even the hopelessly naive Rurye would snap.
"Any wicked traitor who harms Our royal body faces 500 years in prison! Who gave you leave to die?!"
But Rurye betrayed those expectations all too easily.
Even as she bit her lower lip to hold back tears, glistening droplets spilled from her eyes.
Then she propped up Dorothy's torso and embraced her.
Dorothy stared blankly at Rurye casting healing magic on her wound.
"I can't forgive your betrayal! But neither will I allow you to die like this!"
The wound began to knit.
I had no idea how Rurye had recovered her circuits, but the recovery was clearly incomplete.
A 23rd Hierarchy archwitch was sweating buckets and straining just to cast this level of magic.
Yet Rurye pushed with all her might to mend Dorothy's injury.
Dorothy haltingly opened her mouth.
A bafflement unlike any she'd felt filled her chest.
"But... I betrayed you, Your Majesty... so why..."
"Does that mean there's anyone who wants to watch a friend die?!"
Friend.
Even in this state, she called her a friend.
Rurye wasn't acting as Dorothy had predicted.
Foolishly so.
She resented and scolded, yet sincerely wished Dorothy wouldn't die.
No.
Who was the real fool here?
2.
"First off, you're wrong."
Once the visible wounds had fully healed.
Rurye finally began laying into her in earnest.
"Our subjects weren't mere parts as you claimed. Their loyalty to Us wasn't some child's game! They resisted your orders with all their might and set Us free."
It defied common sense.
Akula's crew were all familiars bound to Akula.
Yet the bonds Rurye had built worked a miracle.
The crew rejected Dorothy—the registered captain's—orders and aided Rurye.
"Admit right now that you were wrong!"
Dorothy bowed her head deeply.
Not out of shame for her botched plan.
She simply didn't know what expression to wear facing Rurye.
"There are too many inconsistencies. Your actions reek of something off. So confess in detail why you did it and clear this stifling air."
Meanwhile, Rurye hadn't saved Dorothy on blind impulse.
First, the wound Dorothy inflicted on Rurye.
It severed only the core of her magic circuits without directly damaging the Stigma.
It was less a wound than precise surgery.
Even without treatment, it'd heal fully in a month.
There was the contradiction.
Dorothy had said other witches' Stigmas were worthless to Rurye because the magic types differed, yet a 23rd Hierarchy Stigma held immense value on its own.
Auction it on the Public Enemy market, and it'd fetch an astronomical sum.
Yet Dorothy had shown zero interest in Rurye's Stigma, subduing her in a way that left it pristine.
For future-proofing, it was the worst possible move.
Furious Rurye regaining her power in a mere month.
To eliminate aftereffects, normal procedure would've been to kill her or scar the Stigma permanently.
It clashed utterly with the vicious act of backstabbing to steal Si-woo—far too sloppy.
Of course, this didn't prove Dorothy innocent.
Maybe a shred of conscience had stayed her hand from killing her best friend's daughter.
But Rurye trusted her friend.
No matter how slim the chance, if there was room to believe, she wanted to.
"......"
Dorothy glanced at Si-woo's face as she listened to Rurye.
From his view, she was the betrayer he'd just fought tooth and nail against.
Yet as he heard Rurye's not-quite-persuasion, he seemed to slowly buy into it.
A trust so flimsy and blind it was snort-worthy, bonds so sticky-thick.
It was the very weakness Dorothy had deemed frailty and tried to excise.
But Rurye, preaching such absurd defenses as if they were gospel, didn't look weak at all.
She looked strong.
She shone.
Dorothy realized.
She'd simply been arrogant.
Spouting nonsense like life held no value, insisting her path was the only truth and preaching it to Rurye.
When Rurye was plenty strong enough without any of that.
"I'm truly sorry."
With those words, Dorothy began to speak.