Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: And Yet, I Move Forward (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Click, clack.
The sound of heels echoed from the study.
Liz, dressed in a red one-piece, appeared.
The moonlight streaming through the window illuminated both me and Liz.
Liz placed a black-nailed hand on her cheek.
“How did you know?”
“About what?”
“That.”
Liz’s gaze fell upon Duke Paelia, who was slumped on the floor after I had kicked him.
I folded two of my fingers, one by one, as I spoke.
“First, I knew you were in the study.”
“…”
“And second… damn it, when the duke grabbed my hand.”
The duke’s hand was chillingly cold, with no blood flowing through it.
“Did you kill him?”
Duke Paelia was no different from a living doll.
“My father is alive.”
“Who said he was dead? I asked if you *killed* him.”
“How strange. If I killed my father, then he should be dead, shouldn’t he?”
“He could have been resurrected.”
Lowering her hand from her cheek, Liz’s lips curled into a wide grin as she burst into laughter.
“If you had pretended not to know, we could have both moved on quietly.”
“There’s no reason for that anymore.”
I tore off the eyepatch and threw it to the floor.
An order was an order, but I still hated what I hated.
Liz took a step forward.
In her arms, she held a small, brown-furred puppy.
“It started with a puppy. It was very small and cute.”
“A puppy?”
“Yes. It couldn't see out of one eye and limped, but it was cute.”
“…”
“So I killed it.”
When Liz let go, the puppy landed on the floor on its two feet.
“It was going to die soon even if I didn’t kill it. In that case, it’s better that I kill it and keep it with me forever.”
“Is that why you killed the people of your village and your family?”
“Those were the happiest times of my life. So I killed them.”
There was only one reason the Muel were treated as a privileged class.
The Divine Factor.
It wasn't just their mana; they possessed unique abilities.
Just like how Dead could be resurrected even after dying eight times.
The figures of the villagers appeared behind Liz.
They were ordinary villagers you could see anywhere.
With a flick of her hand, the villagers slowly vanished.
This time, an unfamiliar man emerged from inside the study.
“Cale, he’s the one who came looking for you.”
The man called Cale turned his head and looked at me.
Liz took a letter from the table and handed it to Cale.
Cale opened the letter and showed the blank paper to Liz.
“Oh my. How cruel of them to write nothing at all.”
Dropping the paper to the floor, Liz turned away.
Why are you making that wounded face?
“You can summon those you’ve killed. Is that your ability?”
“Cale isn’t dead. Neither is my father.”
“Duke Paelia looks like he’s lost his mind, though.”
No matter how hard I kicked him, Duke Paelia was just staring at the ceiling with vacant eyes, as if his soul had left him.
“It’s because it’s twelve o’clock.”
“Are you Cinderella?”
“It’s true. The only time my father can be himself is for twelve hours.”
Liz placed her hand on Duke Paelia’s cheek and poured her mana into him.
He rose to his feet, becoming just like Cale.
Liz touched her red lips with a finger, licking them.
“At some point, I started feeling a thirst. A deep thirst that wouldn't disappear no matter what I did. I thought I was going crazy.”
“So you broke the Taboo?”
Considering the corpse I saw in the prison, Duke Paelia's condition, and the ‘herbal medicine’ she drank every night, it was highly likely that Liz’s Taboo was ‘vampirism.’
“That’s right. The moment I drink blood, the thirst vanishes.”
Liz, smiling as she answered, looked genuinely happy.
“Your eye, it wasn’t really injured, was it? This is better.”
“Why did you break the Taboo?”
“What is a Taboo?”
“What?”
“Why shouldn't I do it? Why? I don’t think it’s wrong, do you?”
Liz approached, her hand sliding up my chest to grip my neck.
Her nails lightly scratched my skin.
Red blood trickled from the broken skin.
Liz’s tongue licked the blood from my neck.
“I’m happy right now. And I think I’d be even happier if you were with me.”
I pushed Liz away with one hand.
Cale, who was behind her, caught her as she lost her balance and staggered.
Liz licked her lips.
“Delicious.”
“Blood is blood.”
“A Muel of your caliber should be able to move again in no time.”
“You want me to become Cinderella?”
“It’s fine. They don’t even realize they’re dolls. It’s all just a fleeting dream.”
I had thought she was unhinged, but she was a truly, properly crazy woman.
“Why did you break the Taboo?”
“I told you. I was going crazy with thirst. Then, I met *him*.”
“Him?”
“You wouldn't know even if I told you. Now, the night is deep, so our story ends here.”
Liz brought her fingers together and smiled.
I gripped my sword and took a stance.
“You don’t know me.”
“You know what?”
“…”
“You don’t know me either.”
“Those righteous eyes of yours… I don’t dislike them. Still, you can’t kill me.”
Liz flicked her fingers lightly.
The view outside the window turned crimson, and the faint scent of blood grew stronger.
A fierce wind whipped around as if a hurricane was blowing.
Something fell onto my cheek.
I stepped back and swung my sword, severing a thin, thread-like object.
“A thread?”
A piece of the thread touched the back of my hand and seeped into my skin.
— Help me.
A voice flashed through my mind.
I suddenly looked up.
“Hey! Wh-Why are you up there!”
Lee Eun-hee was tangled and held captive by thousands of threads.
Damn it. I thought she’d gotten away safely.
“Did you think you could escape my eyes in this mansion?”
Dozens of large and small flames materialized around Liz.
Having overheard my conversation with Liz, Lee Eun-hee came to her senses.
“Ugh… What’s going on… Huh? What is this?”
“That idiot! How could you let yourself get caught like that!”
As I swung my sword around in frustration, Lee Eun-hee’s eyes darted around, trying to assess the situation.
“You two seem to have a special relationship. Am I wrong?”
“Who knows?”
“I’ll spare her if you want.”
Liz grabbed Lee Eun-hee’s chin, forcing her to turn her head.
“I’m fine, so…”
“Kill her.”
“I’ll figure something out… Huh, wait a minute. What did you say?”
Seeing the bewildered Lee Eun-hee, I scratched my head and sighed.
“When you get down to it, it’s the fault of the one who got caught. Just kill her. Besides, I’m not that close to her.”
“You met every night.”
“A physical connection doesn't mean an emotional one.”
“Hey, hey, you crazy bastard!! Wh-What are you talking about?! We’re not like that!!”
I lowered my sword and mourned for Lee Eun-hee.
“It was short, but it was fun. Farewell.”
Liz looked down at Lee Eun-hee with an expression of profound pity.
Lee Eun-hee’s face turned beet red as her fingertips twitched.
Pulling a dagger from her item window, Lee Eun-hee quickly cut the threads binding her.
She performed a light somersault in the air and flew toward me.
“Dieee!”
“Whoops.”
I twisted my body, dodging the incoming kick.
Lee Eun-hee landed on the floor and grabbed me by the collar, shaking me.
“What? Something about our bodies? I never gave you my body or my heart!”
“Then why’d you get caught?”
“That’s…”
Lee Eun-hee clutched my sleeve and hid slightly behind my back.
“I-I thought it was a ghost.”
“Pfft. A woman who kills people is afraid of ghosts?”
“Sh-Shut up! They’re scary because they’re dead! Because they’re dead but still alive!”
“Dead but still alive is just a zombie.”
“Oh, I’m fine with zombies.”
Lee Eun-hee let go as if nothing had happened and nonchalantly brushed the dust off her clothes.
She was fine with the dead and with zombies, but she hated ghosts. What an interesting woman.
“But what do you mean, dead but still alive?”
“I saw Luria.”
Lee Eun-hee had followed a spirit of Luria that Liz had created and fallen into a trap.
“That makes sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“That woman can hold onto the souls of people she has killed.”
Lee Eun-hee shivered again and hid behind me.
This woman is so annoying.
“Horrifying.”
“I think you’re more horrifying. You’re supposed to be helpful!”
“Sh-Shut up! You-you-you can’t talk to me like that! Got it?”
Anyone would think we were a couple!
Lee Eun-hee stepped back, sighed, and took out her bow.
She stared intently at the threads materializing around Liz.
“Don’t touch those threads.”
At the word ‘threads,’ Lee Eun-hee’s hand, which was drawing the bowstring, trembled.
I had seen a few strands of thread seep into her body as she used her dagger to escape.
“What in the world does that mean?”
“How should I know?”
“What, you don't know either, but you’re telling me not to touch them?”
Lee Eun-hee pouted.
I swung my sword in a wide arc above my head, using Wind Fang.
A rough wind stirred inside the study.
The glass windows shattered, and books from the shelves tumbled to the floor.
— Die, die, die, die.
— No, save me, die, no.
— I don’t want to die like this!!
Countless voices flowed into me through the skin where the threads had touched.
They were the voices of those Liz had killed.
As I backed away, Lee Eun-hee drew her bowstring.
*KABOOOOM!*
Hmm, isn’t that a bit too powerful to use indoors?
A single arrow caused a massive explosion, as if a grenade had been thrown.
I and Lee Eun-hee barely escaped the study and ran down the hallway.
“Cough, cough! You woman! I almost died! You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Of course not!”
“Try to control your power a little!”
She hadn't even aimed to embed an arrow in Liz’s chest; she just caused an explosion. She had to be out of her mind.
Lee Eun-hee chewed on a mint candy and pouted.
“I can’t.”
“What?”
“I can’t control my power even if I want to!”
Lee Eun-hee looked genuinely aggrieved.
“If one arrow causes an explosion, what’s the difference between that and a cannon!”
“Cannons are big and heavy! My bow isn’t that heavy!”
“That’s a fair point… no, it’s not! Just make an effooort!”
“Shut up! Enough with the ‘effort’ talk!”
I turned and swung my sword wide.
A straight slash of light was blocked in the middle of the hallway.
Surrounding Liz was a thick barrier made of souls.
But in the end, souls or not, it was all just her mana.
Liz walked toward us, her long hair fluttering.
“An explosion is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“I wholeheartedly agree that was a mistake.”
“Whose side are you on?!”
From the moment the explosion happened, I gave up on expecting Lee Eun-hee to fight like a normal archer.
‘This is disadvantageous indoors.’
Besides Liz and Duke Paelia, there were other servants in the main castle.
“Wh-What is going on?”
“Fire! There’s a fire!”
“Aaaah! My lady! Are you alright?”
“Get more people! Guards!”
The servants, unable to grasp the situation, moved about frantically.
A maid of slightly higher rank approached Liz in her nightgown.
“My lady, first, let’s get outside…”
*Slice.*
The approaching maid’s head was severed and fell to the floor.
It was Cale, who had already been killed once by Liz.
“Lee Eun-hee, get out of here right now.”
“Why?”
“It looks like I’ll have to deal with that one myself.”