Chapter 127
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 127
"Fine, I accept your proposal."
Allen, who had been glaring at me with eyes that looked ready to kill me on the spot, gave a surprisingly cool response.
"Follow me. Then I'll let those two go."
With that, he turned from his path toward Hector and headed toward the entrance of the Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace.
Hector, who had staggered to his feet moments too late, approached me with wide strides and blocked my path.
"You mustn't listen to him, Lady! He may follow through with his proposal for now, but the moment he sees an opening, he'll betray you!"
Just as Hector said, I had already calculated the possibility that Allen wouldn't keep his promise.
'A creature who thinks in such inhuman ways would never willingly honor a promise.'
But here and now, I had to pretend to accept his proposal.
After all, Allen was stronger than both Hector and me combined, and we couldn't defeat him.
"You're all talk for someone who can't even protect a single woman at your side."
Allen clicked his tongue as he looked at Hector beside me, then turned back to me with a question.
"So, what will you do now? Young Lady."
"Before that, there's one thing I'd like to confirm."
"What is it?"
"How can I trust that you haven't installed an explosive magical device in the Crown Prince's Palace?"
At that question, Allen faltered. His eyes betrayed him—caught red-handed.
But he quickly composed himself and answered nonchalantly.
"That was merely bait to lure you here. I never installed anything like that—"
...Unfortunately, I had already seen the emotion that flickered across his face in that instant.
"Then we should wait here together and confirm it. So I can see with my own eyes that both of them come out safely."
"What if that bastard comes out and the three of you attack me together? You're asking me to just stand here and watch?"
"Then Your Majesty must provide me with other evidence I can trust."
A taut tension stretched between Allen and me—a gap that wouldn't close.
In the end, it was he who raised the white flag.
Allen swallowed an irritated sigh, then pulled something from his inner pocket and threw it toward me.
Kamang, who had been watching alertly around me, leaped up and caught it.
It was a button.
"It's the button for the magical device you mentioned. Is that enough?"
The moment I saw that button, a hollow laugh escaped me.
I had poked at him just to be sure, to confirm—and he really had been planning to detonate a bomb.
As I turned the button over in my hands, I gave Hector an order.
"Hector, go bring Lahedis out."
"But...!"
"Now."
Even if I said we'd abandon Lahedis and flee from here, Allen wouldn't let us escape so easily.
If escape was impossible anyway, I intended to make the most of this situation.
Hector, who had been watching both Allen and me, seemed to accept the situation and finally stepped through the portal.
At last, only Allen and I remained in the Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace.
As tension drained from my body, my vision swam for a moment and my limbs went limp.
I nearly dropped the dagger clutched in my hand, but managed to catch myself.
'I must have lost too much blood.'
But I couldn't afford to collapse now.
I stared at my arm, which felt completely numb from the excruciating pain, and bit down hard on my lip. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
Allen, noticing my condition, spoke to me.
"That wound looks quite serious. Why don't you come with me and get it treated?"
"...."
"If you don't treat that arm immediately, you might lose the use of it. I've seen knights suffer that fate before."
Allen began approaching me, feigning concern.
'I can't let Allen capture me yet.'
If Allen took me into custody now, I could no longer be used as a hostage.
'Then Lahedis and Hector would be in danger.'
Under normal circumstances, Lahedis might manage, but after days locked in prison, his body wouldn't withstand much.
Yet I had no intention of surrendering meekly to Allen either.
'I need to think about what happens after Lahedis and Hector escape.'
I stared at the button in my hand, then fixed my gaze on the approaching Allen and spoke.
"Lead the way. I'll follow behind."
"Even after all this consideration, you still don't trust me. Well, if that's what the hostage wishes."
Allen complied without resistance and left the Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace first.
I maintained a safe distance behind him, ready to respond to any movement, and followed him out of the Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace.
After we cleared the main gate, I looked back at the building and swallowed hard.
Once Lahedis and Hector emerged safely, I planned to press this button then.
'Any human would instinctively have their attention stolen by the explosion for a moment.'
In that instant when Allen's gaze was involuntarily drawn away, I planned to have Kamang swallow him and take him hostage instead.
'I'm not sure if this will work, but since Allen doesn't seem likely to let us go willingly, I have no choice but to try.'
I continued to watch the Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace and Allen, following in his wake.
After walking for some time in silence without any response, Allen turned to look at me.
"It should be about time for a reaction now."
The moment I met Allen's eyes, which gleamed with amusement.
Boom―!
A deafening roar erupted from behind me, and a violent gust of dust-laden wind knocked my heart into my throat. Simultaneously, my lips began to tremble.
...Please.
Praying it was anything but reality, I turned around.
But....
'The Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace....'
The Abandoned Crown Prince's Palace was engulfed in flames and collapsing.
"No, this can't be.... No, Lahedis!"
Without thinking, my hand clenched around the button—the one Allen had given me, calling it the bomb's detonator.
The bomb had detonated without me pressing it.
Only then did I understand.
This button in my hand was a fake.
Foolish and stupid as I was, I had made a choice that would kill them both, all to avoid becoming a burden to these two people....
"Ah, ugh...."
More than my numbed arm that felt as though it might fall away, my heart ached as if it might burst.
A terrible sorrow and rage I had never experienced before seemed to strangle my throat.
In that moment, I suddenly sensed a presence drawing near.
I snapped back to awareness and bit my body before being caught, but in that fleeting instant, a hand struck down hard against my wrist, and the dagger I had been gripping fell from my grasp.
Allen, watching me retreat swiftly, clicked his tongue with disappointment before speaking.
"Were you surprised just now? How did you know I was seriously planning to blow up the Research Facility? You're thorough, I'll give you that."
"...."
"Ah, don't look at me with those betrayed eyes. The button I gave you is real."
"...."
"You just didn't know I planted people there as well as explosives."
To blow up the Research Facility the moment an intruder entered and have them self-destruct.
I stared blankly at Allen, who was proudly boasting of his cruel plan.
His voice didn't reach my ears.
A dark night crushed beneath a massive inferno blazing fiercely, with ash fluttering like snow.
My figure left alone in that landscape felt unreal.
'Should I...take my own life?'
I didn't know if my dead heart was even worth that, but if I died here, the one who would benefit wouldn't be me but Allen.
'But if I submit to Allen right now, then after that....'
Would another chance to kill him ever come?
If I fled like this before Lahedis's death, I could never forgive myself for the rest of my life.
For leaving you like that on the day I infiltrated the Research Facility, for letting your enemy go today...I would never be able to forget.
I would probably spend my entire life hating and despising myself for making the wrong choice.
Just like in this very moment.
But before that....
"You've lost. Vivian Rowswide."
"...."
"Now stop with the pointless tantrums and surrender quietly―"
"...No."
The moment Allen stepped closer and reached for my wrist.
I knocked his hand away.
"I haven't lost yet."
"...What?"
I unleashed a spirit's attack upon Allen, who was staring back at me with a dumbfounded expression, and added:
"Because I'm still alive."
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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