Chapter 29 - Bound by a Wicked Promise
Bound by a Wicked Promise
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Translator: Dusky90
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Bound by a Wicked Promise
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Angeles stayed beside Otto, tending to him with great care.
Otto recovered quickly, and his health improved visibly.
In reality, there wasn’t much nursing needed.
After all, Angeles was the one who had placed the curse on him.
While Otto slept, all Angeles needed to do was subtly extend the curse’s duration.
Thanks to that, Otto safely passed his twenty-fifth birthday on January 1 and managed to survive.
‘Even if I’m dying, she refuses to undo the curse… unbelievable. She really is wicked.’
Otto clicked his tongue when he realized she wasn’t lifting the curse at all, merely adjusting its severity.
The reason Angeles never removed Otto’s curse was simple.
Insurance.
For now she behaved as though she would do anything for him, but at her core, Angeles was a demon who could kill Otto the moment she felt displeased.
They were in a flirtatious stage, so she was letting him live for the time being. But if their relationship ever fell apart, she fully intended to trigger the curse again.
‘Love, my ass. She’s a psychopath who just treats men as toys.’
Otto understood Angeles far too well, and the thought made him inwardly click his tongue and pull back in revulsion.
Then again, only someone with her warped nature could fall for the son of the man she once loved, a man she’d even tried to kill with a curse.
That night.
Rather than hosting a birthday celebration, Otto spent the day with Angeles.
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you, truly.”
Otto returned her birthday wishes with a quiet smile.
“Because you stayed by my side like this.”
“Please, it’s nothing.”
“No, it isn’t. You saved my life. And for that… I have something to tell you.”
Otto went down on one knee before Angeles and offered her a ring.
“Will you… marry me?”
“Oh my!”
“This ring… it belonged to my mother. It was her wedding ring.”
“R-Really?!”
“When my father married my mother, he gave her this ring. Before he died, he passed it down to me, telling me to use it when I finally proposed to the woman I wanted to spend my life with.”
“Oh…!”
“So please… will you accept my proposal?”
At that very moment.
‘Those eyes… wow.’
Otto caught the brief, terrifying glint of madness that flickered through Angeles’s gaze before vanishing.
And his instincts were absolutely right.
‘Kekekekeke!’
As Otto knelt before her, offering his mother’s ring, Angeles looked down at him with an inward, self-satisfied grin.
‘Hey you wretched woman~ Are you watching this~? Your precious son is handing your ring to me~ Kekekekeke~!’
The ring Otto presented was something Angeles had long coveted.
In her mind, that ring had never belonged on Otto’s mother’s hand — it should have been on her own left ring finger from the beginning.
But after twenty-five long years, the ring had finally come to her, and Angeles couldn’t help feeling deeply moved.
‘Orix, are you seeing this? The wedding ring you refused to give me… your own son is offering it to me now. Hohoho! If you wanted to avoid ending up so pitiful, you should’ve accepted my love when you had the chance!’
With those dark, malicious thoughts swirling in her mind, Angeles gently offered Otto her left hand.
“O-Okay… I accept.”
“You’re really accepting it?”
“Y-yes…”
“Th-Then…”
Otto placed the ring onto Angeles’s left ring finger.
“We’re officially engaged now.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
At that moment.
‘Ugh… do I really have to go through with this?’
Otto recognized that this was the moment he was supposed to kiss Angeles, and he screamed internally.
Knowing Angeles’s true nature, Otto simply couldn’t bring himself to kiss her.
Yet he had to do it.
If he didn’t want to ruin the moment, he needed to kiss her — a real, heated kiss — to fully put Angeles at ease.
‘A-Alright… just pretend it’s like being bitten by a dog. A dog.’
Not that the poor dogs deserved any blame, but with that desperate thought, Otto shut his eyes tight and kissed her.
*Slurp* *Slurp*
*Smwah!* *Smooaah!*
*Lick* *lick*
Angeles slipped her tongue into the kiss, answering Otto with unexpected enthusiasm.
‘Uuughh! Why is her tongue this long?!’
A shiver ran through Otto as Angeles’s unnervingly long, snake-like tongue moved against him.
* * *
News of Otto’s proposal to Angeles spread almost immediately.
“I will marry her one month from now.”
The following morning, he formally announced their upcoming marriage during the royal court meeting.
Thus, Angeles became the queen—at least in title—and wasted no time throwing her weight around, terrorizing the maids as if she’d been waiting her whole life for it.
“There’s dust here! Can’t you clean properly? You lazy wench!”
“Kyaah!”
“If I spot even a speck of dust, expect to be slapped like this every time!”
Head maid Olive burned with anger at Angeles’s tyrannical behavior.
“P-Please, control yourself! Please!”
“Let go of me! Queen or not, I’ll break that woman in half right this instant!”
“Please, I’m begging you!”
Otto managed, with great effort, to keep the furious Olive from acting and then explained things to her in detail.
“Is that really true?”
“Yes. If I want to make it through this, I need you to endure her for now. Please.”
“Hmph! So that vile creature was an evil witch all along! Very well! I’ll endure… for the time being!”
“Thank you.”
“However, there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“After we get rid of that witch and your curse is lifted, you’re going to start training. How much longer do you plan on living in that weak, scrawny body?”
"....."
“You’re not saying no, are you?”
“N-no, not at all. I’ll do it. Exercise, sure. Absolutely. Ha… hahaha…”
“Good.”
Once he finally managed to calm Olive, Otto headed over to Camille to speak with him.
There was only one way to completely lift the [Utterly pathetic man] curse.
They had to kill Angeles.
Which meant they needed a plan to take her down.
“Why aren’t you attacking? This is the perfect opportunity, isn’t it?”
“Not yet.”
Otto shook his head firmly.
“If we charge in and fight her directly, it’s hopeless. We can’t kill her... we’d be the ones getting wiped out.”
“Then how are we supposed to take her down?”
“There is a way.”
Otto leaned in and whispered to Camille the method for killing Angeles.
“That’s really her weakness?”
Camille asked, eyes widening in surprise.
“I’m telling you, yes. The issue is that the preparations won’t be ready for at least another month. So we just have to endure until then.”
“Understood.”
Everything hinged on how well they could hold out until the preparations to defeat Angeles were ready.
For the next month, they would need to indulge her and keep her calm, making sure she never let her true nature slip.
* * *
Angeles’s behavior became more vicious with each passing day.
Once she claimed the title of future queen, she acted as if she already sat on the throne, relentlessly tormenting those beneath her.
Her extravagance spiraled out of control as well.
Under the pretext of preparing for the wedding, she amassed jewels, ordered dozens of lavish wedding dresses, and even purchased an opulent carriage drawn by twelve horses.
As a result, the Kingdom of Lota’s finances didn’t just falter, they were on the brink of total collapse.
Angeles’s spending habits were far beyond what a small kingdom like theirs could ever support.
And the one most enraged by her outrageous behavior was none other than Archduke Wazir.
“Damn it! What does she expect us to do with finances like this?! We’re in the red! A deficit! The entire treasury has fallen apart in just three weeks!”
Archduke Wazir exploded in anger, like a dragon provoked beyond reason.
As the person overseeing the kingdom’s administration, he couldn’t possibly stay calm while the treasury leaked money nonstop.
“Please… just bear with it for one more week….”
“What?!”
“I have everything planned out. Truly.”
“If you have one more of your so-called plans, this tiny kingdom of yours will be slapped with foreclosure notices!”
"....."
“I’ll give you just one more week. That’s it!”
“Yes…”
Otto took Archduke Wazir’s scolding without protest, knowing there was no room to argue.
'Just one more week. Just one more week.'
He kept reminding himself to endure until all preparations to get rid of Angeles were ready, forcing himself to last one more week.
And just like that, a month went by.
“The Ego caravan has returned.”
“As expected. I thought they’d arrive around today.”
Hearing Camille’s report, Otto went straight to meet Ego.
“I, your humble servant, have decided to accept Your Highness’s proposal. I’ll invest forty million ber.”
“I figured as much. What about the item I asked for?”
Otto asked, reminding Ego of the favor he had entrusted to him.
“Naturally, I obtained it.”
Ego gestured toward the wagons.
“Excellent. Now, about the price…”
Otto was just about to explain that he didn’t have the money yet and would pay later.
“There’s no need for that. Think of it as a gift to commemorate the start of our dealings, Your Highness.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Great.”
Otto smiled.
“I will grant the Ego Trading Company exclusive distribution rights for Lloyd’s Potion.”
“Wonderful.”
“We can draft the contract at leisure. For now, stay here and rest for a few days.”
“As you wish.”
After concluding the deal with Ego, Otto turned to Camille.
“The materials are here?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Begin immediately.”
“Knight Camille, I will obey your command.”
Camille knelt on one knee before Otto.
* * *
Three days later.
At the height of Angeles’s vicious tantrums.
“Who are you expecting to eat this kind of food….”
“His Majesty the King approaches!”
Angeles had been berating a maid again, complaining that the dessert wasn’t tasty. But the moment she heard Otto was coming, her expression flipped in an instant.
“Next time, try to put a bit more care into it, okay? I’m asking you nicely.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
The maid, shaking with fear, tried her best to act as if everything were normal.
‘If you let anything slip, you’ll die. Understand?’
With that silent threat in her eyes, Angeles cowed the maid, who could only nod without uttering a single word.
“Have you been well?”
Otto asked Angeles gently.
“Of course. I’ve been waiting for you. Hohoho.”
Angeles flashed a coy smile, pretending she’d never thrown any tantrums.
“Are you free right now? There’s something I want to show you…”
“What is it you want to show me?”
“I’ve prepared the venue where our wedding will be held.”
“The venue? But I’m already decorating it myself.”
A thin line of irritation crossed Angeles’s face.
The thought that Otto might replace the hall she had personally decorated clearly displeased her.
“All the work I’ve put into decorating the venue…”
“It’s going to be an extravagant venue,” Otto interrupted quickly.
“A hall so magnificent it’ll be remembered for ages…”
“Really?”
“I promise.”
“Okay.”
Hearing the phrase “an extravagant wedding hall,” Angeles was instantly won over and followed Otto, not suspecting a thing.
Otto guided Angeles to the throne hall, which had been completely veiled in red cloth, a stark contrast to its usual state.
“Why is it draped in red?” Angeles asked.
“I wanted to surprise you, so I covered it.”
Otto replied with a gentle smile.
“Let me see how lavishly you’ve decorated it.”
With her hands resting on her hips, Angeles fixed Otto with a pointed stare, a silent threat that she would not tolerate disappointment.
“If it doesn’t satisfy me…”
Right then.
*Wham!*
Otto swung a mace and smashed it into Angeles’s face.
Completely unprepared for the sudden blow, she was hurled backward and crashed hard onto the floor.
“You damned bastard…”
Angeles shot up, snarling in rage.
“You dare strike me with a mace? I’ll rip you apart.”
In the next moment, the beautiful woman was gone, replaced by a grotesque monster.
“Ugh.”
Otto grimaced in open disgust at Angeles’s true form. Then he clapped twice.
*Clap-Clap!*
*Shrrrk!*
The red drapery veiling the hall fell away, revealing the extravagant wedding venue he had spoken of.
“Th–This…!”
Angeles’s already unattractive expression contorted even further.
It was a hall of mirrors.
The ceiling, walls, and floor of the throne hall were all covered entirely with mirrors.