Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Conference (2)
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Princess Ilia showed no reaction at all.
It was clear she hadn’t even properly grasped the meaning of what had just been said. She was just slowly blinking, gazing at the people around her who had been chatting.
She probably only snapped back to reality after the handcuffs and shackles suddenly appeared out of thin air, binding her firmly to the floor.
The mana gathered at the princess’s fingertips made it obvious Bellatrix was responsible.
“Uh...?”
Ilia’s dazed cry echoed through the conference hall just as Carlyle shot up from his chair, splintering it.
“Let her go.”
But the Hero reacted even faster.
Expressionless, she drew her sword and pointed it at the princess’s throat.
“Hero, you can’t do that to the princess—she’s someone trying to protect humanity—”
“I’m someone who kills ‘evil.’ Not a guardian of the imperial family.”
“Hero Gray.”
Bellatrix sighed as she spoke.
“Why do you think I’m evil?”
“What else do you call someone who torments innocent people? Cut the long talk—”
“Why do you think that princess is innocent?”
Gray’s eyebrow twitched.
“What?”
“Do you know why that princess was chased out of the palace?”
“Who cares? I’m not interested in the imperial family’s power struggles—”
“It’s not that. Sorry, but that princess didn’t even have the foundation to fight in a power struggle. She’s just a kid, at best?”
Bellatrix spoke calmly, even with the holy sword at her throat.
“Whenever Ilia was in the palace, she always dragged ‘Hell’ in with her.”
“...What do you mean?”
“She didn’t cause problems when she was outside the palace, but inside, accidents happened everywhere she went.”
Theodore added.
“She seems sensitive to that kind of energy herself.”
Carlyle had confirmed that himself.
Inside the palace, he and the holy sword had detected traces of a demon that even they had missed.
“...I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Why does that mean you have to kill Princess Ilia?”
“Listen, Kali. The problem is ‘why’ she reacts so sensitively to those things.”
Bellatrix continued steadily.
“We’ve been observing that child for a long time.”
They had sent the princess outside the palace and tracked every incident during all the periods she spent inside.
Theodore supplemented Bellatrix’s words.
And their conclusion after such research was.
“That child was corrupted from birth. Unfortunately.”
With those words.
Mana swirled around Bellatrix once more and overlaid Ilia’s body.
It was like scanning her entire form, probing for what lay within.
Carlyle’s pupils shook at what emerged from that process.
An unbelievable sight was unfolding before his eyes.
[⋯⋯Damn it. How is this even possible⋯⋯]
Even the holy sword cursing made perfect sense.
What emerged from Ilia’s body was black Demonic Energy.
Pure, unadulterated energy straight from Hell.
⋯⋯Something that should never exist within a living being.
The tip of the holy sword buzzed. Gray, carrying the same thing, must have felt it too.
“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯He had no idea.
He’d been stuck by Ilia’s side this whole time, living together. He never imagined something like this was inside her.
‘An illusion? They’re doing something?’
[No. If it were, I’d have told you already.]
At the very least.
‘It feels real’ to her. The Hero explained.
⋯⋯Which meant the credibility of the following explanation skyrocketed.
“That child is a ‘Hell-forged’ lifeform from birth. We don’t know the exact process, but demons were deeply involved in her creation. How else could a living being harbor Demonic Energy?”
“M-Me, with demons? What are you talking about? I have no idea—”
“⋯⋯She says that, but that princess is a bomb in herself. My brother and I couldn’t even figure out ‘what intent’ corrupted her.”
Whether Ilia’s current reaction was deliberate acting or not.
Whether she knew this fact or not.
That was unknowable.
But at least, there was no doubt she was a being ‘connected to demons.’
⋯⋯The holy sword confirmed it too.
“So, she has to die. Right here.”
“⋯⋯.”
“That’s all we’re asking. Carlyle Bellfast. To verify you’re not ‘connected to demons’ either.”
If he weren’t connected to demons, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill something like that.
Bellatrix stared at Carlyle earnestly.
⋯⋯Come to think of it, they’d mentioned needing a ‘safeguard’ earlier.
This must be what they meant.
[⋯⋯Can’t deny it.]
Gray inside the holy sword groaned in response.
[It’s disgusting that they’re pushing their own mess onto you⋯⋯ but the words themselves make sense.]
‘What are you saying.’
[There’s a chance she’s being manipulated unknowingly. But the demonic energy planted in her body is real. That princess is a bomb that could go off at any moment.]
‘So.’
Carlyle countered in a low voice.
‘You want me to kill Princess Ilia right now?’
[⋯⋯That’s what I’d do.]
The holy sword didn’t seem to be lying.
Just look at what followed.
Gray, who’d been listening to the explanation, paused mid-motion.
And.
With a hardened expression, she slowly sheathed her sword.
⋯⋯Ilia’s pupils contracted terrifyingly.
“—Hero?”
For a girl as sharp as her age belied, she’d realize it quickly.
That Gray had.
Just now.
Abandoned the fight of her own will.
Proclaimed she wouldn’t protect Ilia.
That left only one person.
“Carlyle, Carlyle—”
Ilia shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know—”
No falsehood was felt in her words or actions.
⋯⋯But.
The demonic energy rising from her body and floating around the conference hall was undeniably real.
The holy sword and the lady—two more sensitive than anyone—were confirming the prince and princess’s words as true.
‘⋯⋯Hero.’
Ice seemed to pour through his veins.
His limbs tingled.
‘Is this the flow where I have to kill her?’
[⋯⋯That would be the right thing. If it were me.]
‘⋯⋯.’
[We can’t deny that princess is corrupted by demons.]
‘It could be fake⋯⋯’
[Doesn’t feel that way to me.]
‘⋯⋯.’
[And demons
The holy sword continued gravely.
[It’s not an unlikely scenario. You’ve experienced firsthand how insidious Hell can be. Corrupting someone in the empire’s heart, or meddling in their birth to make a time bomb⋯⋯ Those things can do it easily.]
⋯⋯Even Carlyle.
Couldn’t refute such words.
But.
The girl he’d been doting on, laughing hoho with until yesterday—no, until moments ago.
His comrade, his friend.
Kill her himself, right here?
-Can I call you Oppa?
⋯⋯Suddenly.
A memory surfaced from the depths.
In the form of the voice he least wanted to recall here.
“—”
Deeply.
He sank deeply. Reality felt distant.
His head spun. Blood seemed to drip from his clenched teeth.
Never again.
The sensation he never wanted to recall again seemed to revive at his fingertips.
The feel of someone’s blood on his hands.
Blood from someone he’d never imagined staining himself with.
[Even so.]
And suddenly.
A voice pierced through all those sensations.
[I trust you, Carlyle Bellfast.]
‘⋯⋯.’
[Do what ‘you’ believe is right. Not me.]
‘—Hero.’
[I trust the convictions you instilled in me, not myself.]
With those words.
⋯⋯His mind cleared in an instant.
“⋯⋯.”
Carlyle closed his eyes.
-Don’t ever make a choice you’ll regret. Got it?
-Never lose yourself. Believe in yourself.
Thinking about it, it was something he’d heard right before entering here.
“⋯⋯.”
Carlyle, dazed for a moment.
Soon stroked his burning face.
‘Wow, Hero.’
[⋯⋯What?]
‘I’m an idiot. Wasted all those years.’
What a disgrace, Carlyle Bellfast.
After all those regressions, failing to handle this situation properly?
[What’s that suddenly?]
‘No.’
Carlyle chuckled inwardly.
The situation had just flipped his trauma switch.
He’d almost lost his cool judgment.
But.
Truthfully, a little thought made it obvious.
“Prince Theodore. Princess Bellatrix.”
“⋯⋯Yeah, Kali. Made your peace? Need more time? It’s okay.”
“No. It’s not about resolve⋯⋯ I just needed to muster some courage.”
“Yeah. I get it. Takes a lot of courage.”
“No, not what you think.”
“⋯⋯?”
Carlyle sighed at the puzzled prince and princess tilting their heads.
And.
He walked over, then crouched before Ilia, who was still huddled in shock.
“Princess.”
“Carlyle, ah, no, I didn’t, I, nothing—”
“Princess. I won’t kill you.”
Ilia’s expression blanked.
⋯⋯At the same time, Theodore and Bellatrix’s faces twisted horrifically.
“What? You’re going to let a demon’s creation live?”
But Carlyle ignored them and gazed calmly at the air.
The Demonic Energy Bellatrix had extracted still floated there sluggishly.
And even now, the holy sword buzzed in response.
No doubt it was ‘real.’
The princess, the prince, Gray, the holy sword.
Even Carlyle had thought so until moments ago.
But.
“This is fake from the start.”
It wouldn’t hurt to consider a slightly different hypothesis.
“And I’ll prove it now.”
Perhaps.
⋯⋯Everyone in this room.
Had been deceived by someone entirely different.
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