Chapter 73
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"…….”
Her fist clenched tightly.
Beloa felt the limits of her patience every time this happened.
But she suppressed her emotions and took a deep breath in and out.
“I thought it was more dangerous. If she knew everything, she wouldn’t be sitting in the banquet hall without taking any action. Unless she set a trap.”
“Even so, we have to go through with it.”
Gawain smiled.
It was like a final warning to his foolish sister, who was frightened by a single word from a Purifier.
“This is a fight, Beloa. Are you going to run away because you’re afraid of the battlefield?”
“…….”
Beloa bit her lip.
His words were crazy.
But at the same time, they were too familiar.
As always, Gawain always made the decisions, and it was Beloa’s job to carry them out.
And it was the same now.
“It’s for the sake of the family. Go back to the banquet hall right now and activate the Chaos Stone.”
“…….”
“Beloa. You can do it, right?”
She had no choice but to nod in the end.
Even though she was screaming inside that this was something she should never do.
Warning lights were constantly going off in her head, but she couldn’t disobey Gawain’s orders.
* * *
As time went on, the atmosphere of the reception became more and more lively.
In the center of the banquet hall, several noble couples had already begun to dance, and the guests’ eyes were naturally drawn to the bride and groom walking among them.
Odelia was slowly circling the reception hall with Ludville.
They moved forward amidst the greetings and blessings that came naturally.
“Oh my god, this jewel… I thought it was a diamond when I saw it from afar. Is that a Pielite?”
“It’s my first time seeing it in person. I thought it was usually in the Imperial Family’s secret vault… I can’t believe there’s still one left. Where did you get it?”
The guests admired the couple’s wedding rings.
Odelia paused for a moment when she heard that.
‘The Imperial Family’s secret vault…….’
No way, directly from that vault…….
No, that can’t be.
Odelia shook her head and tried to erase the absurd thought.
“Haha, I can see how deep Grand Duchess is for you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grand Duke stay in one place for so long.”
“Well, now that he has such a beautiful woman by his side, I don’t think His Highness can easily leave his seat.”
“It seems that Grand Duke’s eyes never leave Her Highness for a single moment. I can’t believe that your fateful love story was true. Wouldn’t it be the best scandal of the year? No, maybe even historically…….”
The nobles’ jokes and exaggerated conversations continued, but Odelia’s gaze was gradually drifting elsewhere.
‘She’s still there…….’
Castia Excepcion.
She was sitting silently in the northwest corner of the banquet hall.
The dinner was over, so it wouldn’t have been strange if she had left already.
But she was still leaning firmly against the back of her chair, holding an empty glass in her hand, and looking at the people with a sharp, cold gaze.
Odelia glanced at her from time to time while talking to the nobles.
‘She wouldn’t be staying with a heart full of blessings. Is she waiting to find fault again?’
Just because you had a successful wedding doesn’t mean it’s over, I still don’t recognize you as the mistress of Excepcion.
Well, that’s the typical mindset.
But that would be better.
At least it would give her the confidence that she wouldn’t take Cardel’s hand.
A fair person to everyone.
Confidence that she would never participate in any action that she deemed wrong.
At this point, Odelia was starting to look forward to it.
‘……Is she going to throw a wad of money at me and tell me to break up with Ludville?’
She was secretly observing Castia with a slightly expectant look.
Suddenly, the magic stones in the banquet hall flickered all at once.
‘It’s starting.’
The soft music stopped abruptly, and the people’s conversations quickly died down.
An alien wave began to be felt, along with the sound of the chandelier above her head fluttering.
It was a sign that the flow of Magical Power was becoming strange.
“……What’s going on?”
“Is the magic stone broken?”
“Broken all at once? That can’t be…….”
The nobles put down their glasses and looked at each other with uneasy eyes.
At that moment, Odelia’s gaze went straight to Beloa.
She was hiding her hands behind her back, looking around as if she was cooperating with the confusion.
Odelia immediately realized what she was doing.
She was engraving a magic Spellwork on her hand and holding the Chaos Stone with that hand.
She was going to be the medium herself.
‘In the end, she decided not to stop.’
I expected it.
Even if I gave Beloa a hint, I knew it would end up like this.
That’s how much she’s being held captive by Gawain and the family.
But the reason I took the risk and shook her was…….
‘To plant a very small seed.’
A seed of distrust.
The first step to making her realize that Gawain is a man who is not worth protecting.
Seeing Beloa stepping up like this.
Fortunately, it seemed that Odelia would be able to achieve her first goal.
“Ludville.”
“Yes.”
Ludville replied briefly, as if he already knew, and took out a rough stone from his arms.
But of course, this was no ordinary stone.
‘The stone that was in Ludville’s secret vault with the Bloodstone necklace.’
The very one that Zeke left behind because he thought it was just junk.
Why would Ludville put this stone in his secret vault with an important necklace?
Because it was the only substance that could neutralize the Chaos Stone.
It was what he had found after thousands of regressions.
Ludville, who had received the signal, turned to Odelia in an instant, as if he had been waiting for it.
The moment his hand wrapped around Odelia’s wrist, her sky-blue eyes trembled slightly.
Her heart started beating faster as a physiological reaction.
The Chaos Stone can distort the flow of Purification Power.
Depending on how it’s used, it can suppress or accelerate a runaway.
And now, the activation condition was met.
‘Ugh.’
A pain that felt like her heart was being squeezed began.
‘They’re going to make me run wild, but…….’
But this life was different from any other.
Odelia quietly inhaled.
“Now.”
The moment she said that, Ludville immediately infused Magical Power into the stone.
‘A fragment of Ilos.’
The identity of this stone was a piece that had fallen from the walls of the castle where the great magician Ilos had lived in ancient times.
The castle had been destroyed hundreds of years ago, but the fragments had been passed down to this day.
At one time, the castle itself was a giant magical structure, and it was said to have a built-in Barrier function that reflected all external Magical Power intrusions and attacks.
That is, ‘everything’.
Since it was only a fragment of the castle, it would not be able to exert its legendary power as it was…….
‘At least it reacts perfectly to the Chaos Stone.’
That was the moment.
Odelia’s runaway that Beloa was trying to induce.
It flowed in reverse, exactly the opposite.
“……!”
