Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Great Crisis (3)
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“Huff... huff...”
The moment the Saintess noticed my regression, I rewound time immediately. My vision suddenly went pure white, and I collapsed right there on the spot.
Overload status entered!
Remaining uses: 0
At the same time, a system window popped up in front of my eyes.
“...Cough.”
“Kyaa!? Young Master!”
“B-blood...”
“...C-call the doctor!”
As I glared at that message and coughed, the maid sisters who had been following me panicked and rushed to support me.
“Return to the mansion.”
“B-but...”
“Now!”
But I couldn't leave this place, so I firmly sent the sisters back to the mansion. Staring at the front gate before me, I fell deep into thought.
'I've confirmed that unlike me, the Saintess doesn't notice regressions... But I can't regress anymore today.'
It was only slightly better than two years ago; there was no way I could spam an EX-rank skill without strain.
'She'll keep repeating today until she achieves her goal...'
The problem was, no matter how I thought about it, she didn't seem to have any such limitations.
“Young Master Kairen.”
“Schwarz...”
“...Lend me your ear for a moment.”
Thanks to that, as I racked my brain endlessly while breaking out in cold sweat, I perked up at Schwarz's words as she passed by my side.
“Make her drop her guard as much as possible.”
“......?”
“Thanks to you, Young Master, we're almost there.”
Chewing over her words for a moment, I turned my head with a blank expression.
'...Huh?'
Schwarz, who glanced at me, placed a finger to her lips and gave a soft smile.
'What in the world is going on?'
For a brief moment, I questioned Schwarz's sudden change, which had never happened in any previous regression, but soon I began to slowly step forward.
'No, let's trust her for now.'
No matter what was happening, I trusted everyone in the Belverk family.
So whatever came next, I would just act with faith in them all.
“Oh my, how nice to see you.”
“......”
“Are you Kairen?”
With those thoughts, I stood before the Saintess—whom I had seen who-knows-how-many times now—and swallowed dryly as I began to act.
“Hey, why aren't you saying anything?”
“......”
“Huh, that's strange...”
My action was simply... doing nothing.
The easiest thing in the world to start, yet the hardest to maintain.
“...There's no way she figured out who I am.”
Sure enough, the Saintess narrowed her eyes and muttered to herself before approaching me with a quiet smile.
“Why has she gone into that comatose state from the experiments...?”
She deliberately uttered words to provoke my trauma, as if gauging my reaction, but even so, I maintained my blank expression.
As long as I trusted everyone in Belverk, there was no reason to be shaken by past traumas.
- Pok pok...
But after observing me motionlessly for a long while, the Saintess suddenly began poking my cheek with her slender finger.
“Hm...”
“......”
“Reminds me of the old days...”
Then, with a nostalgic expression, she whispered into my ear.
“Kairen. Can you hear me?”
“......”
“Are you pretending not to hear, or can you really not?”
Her voice grew increasingly chilling.
“You'll stay still even like this?”
“......”
“Even like this?”
At the same time, her hand slipped into my collar, delving deeper inside, making it harder and harder to keep silent.
“Haa...”
Even so, gritting my teeth inwardly and holding my rigid pose, the Saintess paused her groping for a moment and let out a deep sigh.
“You're truly the best toy...”
It was right then, as she openly grinned with a spine-chilling smile and leaned her face close to mine.
- Whoosh...!
In an instant, my Crimson Eyes activated, and I lunged into her embrace, biting down on her neck with all my strength.
“...Grah!”
“Eek?”
Startled, the Saintess lost her balance for a moment, then hurriedly gathered holy power in her hand.
“...Well done, fledgling.”
But at that exact moment, a familiar voice from behind.
“That'll do.”
Lilien appeared out of nowhere behind me and the Saintess in a flash, thrusting a knife into her while enveloped in terrifying demonic energy.
“Wh-what...”
In the blink of an eye, the Saintess barely dodged the knife flying toward her face with a panicked look, then gritted her teeth and aimed the holy power gathered in her hand at Lilien.
- Pababak...!
But the next instant, as if anticipating the Saintess's movement, Lilien lightly spun her body and unleashed a barrage of knives from her sleeve.
“Guh!”
The Saintess staggered, knives embedding in her body and throwing off her balance. Lilien seized the opening, grabbed her by the nape, and slammed her face-first into the ground.
“You haven't regressed yet, so how did we see through your identity?”
“......!”
“...Sorry, but does Belverk look like a bunch of pushovers to you?”
As Lilien whispered mockingly, the Saintess's eyes wavered for a split second.
“We've been hit by that crap multiple times in the Founding War. You think we wouldn't prepare countermeasures?”
With that, Lilien locked eyes with Kairen briefly.
'...Adaptation!'
As Lilien winked in that situation, Kairen finally realized how she had cracked this and flashed a bright smile.
“I-I... haven't regressed even once yet...”
“No, you've already looped about 317 regressions.”
But the Saintess, face planted in the dirt, couldn't confirm the exchange and was completely fooled by Lilien's bluff, losing her usual composure.
“How do I know that, and how did you forget it?”
“......”
“Haha, finally showing fear on your face.”
But only for a moment. The Saintess ground her teeth, then her eyes turned pure white.
- Pzzt zzt zzt...!
A white aura seemed to form around her, but Lilien's red aura erupted simultaneously, instantly canceling it out.
“Belverk has always been your natural counter.”
“Kuh...”
“If you want to use that power while blocking my demonic energy, you'll have to burn some lifespan, you know?”
Lilien looked down at the momentarily flustered Saintess with even greater scorn.
“Though personally, I recommend burning your lifespan.”
“......?”
“...Our family head is pretty pissed right now.”
It was right as she finished speaking.
“Hic.”
The Saintess's eyes suddenly widened round.
- Kwudududuk...
Then, every joint in her body began twisting grotesquely all at once.
“...Urk.”
Overwhelmed by the horrific pain that hit all at once, she convulsed briefly before gritting her teeth and focusing her mind.
“Kairen, now!”
“Y-yes!?”
“You've absorbed that bitch's power, right?”
While Lilien kept her cool, she suddenly turned urgent and spoke to Kairen beside her.
“Then regress right now.”
“......!?”
“From adapting to this power and understanding it, if you do that, you can completely seize control of regressions from her.”
Stunned for a moment by those words, Kairen soon broke out in cold sweat.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry!”
Of course, Kairen, who trusted everyone in Belverk—especially Lilien—had no reason to doubt her.
Ability overload status!
Outcome of use cannot be guaranteed!
But the problem was that Kairen's regression was already in an overloaded state.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
“Kairen! Please!”
However, this wasn't the time to worry about that.
The Saintess had already turned her eyes white again, unleashing overwhelming holy power that was steadily burning Lilien's body.
“I beg you!!!”
And if they squandered this golden opportunity that Lilien had endured hundreds of regressions to create, what would happen next loop was obvious.
“...Retry!”
In the end, Kairen squeezed his eyes shut and shouted the word, ignoring the system's red warning.
“Eup.”
The spinning world finally slowed to a stop, and as the ground came back into view...
“Uweeeek...”
I was on my knees, vomiting up everything in my stomach.
“Cough, cough...”
How much time passed like that? Once I finally came to my senses and stood up...
“Where... am I...?”
I looked around the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, puzzled.
'It seems like Belverk, at least...'
Judging by the environment and architecture, this was definitely the Belverk Ducal House.
But why couldn't I sense any presence from the maid sisters or Schwarz?
And why did the atmosphere feel strangely off compared to usual...?
“...Hm?”
It was right then, as I felt an inexplicable sense of wrongness and scanned the awkward scenery intently.
“......”
Suddenly, a rather ragged girl sitting in the courtyard entered my view.
'Who is she?'
With black hair, red eyes, and a somehow familiar face, she seemed like part of the Belverk family...
The issue was that this girl, who looked about my age, was someone I had never seen in two years at Belverk.
'Maybe another illegitimate child?'
The thought crossed my mind. Swallowing dryly, I inwardly called up the System.
🔍 Tag Analysis Complete!
A moment later, staring blankly at the system window displaying the analysis results, I couldn't help but doubt my own eyes.
[Astridje Nox Belverk]
#Worn-Out Girl #Abused Girl #Innocent Girl #Big Sister #Unreleased Tags
The girl's identity, revealed by the tag analysis, was beyond imagination.
- Swish...
Stunned with my mouth agape, the ragged girl before me struggled to her feet and drew a familiar knife from her bosom.
“Who are you?”
“...Ah.”
“Those eyes... could it be...”
Aiming the knife at me with a cold expression, she trembled so much she could barely stand.
- Tremble tremble...
But the terrifying killing intent she exuded while glaring at me was unmistakably familiar.
“...A new sibling?”
I realized right after that, due to the side effects of overusing the skill, I had traveled back about 20 years to Belverk's past.