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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Reason That Villainess Took Up the Sword
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There was one thing no one had anticipated. Especially Corelia and Charlotte, who couldn't have imagined it at all.
In the Werewolf Tribe's territory, there was a Sword Master.
The words Ashili Duke had jokingly offered Ferdin had become reality.
"Who knows? Maybe a passing Sword Master will help out this time too."
Meanwhile, Erin, who had reached the realm of a Sword Master through three lives, gazed with heavy, sunken eyes at the one who appeared before them.
The one who threw the spear at Lilia was the Werewolf Tribe's Chief, who had suddenly appeared.
Both his eyes had lost their reason, and uncontrolled mana surged through his entire body.
He didn't look normal at all. But Erin, too, had lost her composure.
The person she had sought to protect was injured the moment they let their guard down.
Fortunately, Ferdin, who had taken the spear in Lilia's stead, was not as severely injured as expected.
Just before the spear pierced his body, the child they had saved had conjured mana, momentarily slowing the spear's speed.
However, it was a spear thrown by a Sword Master. Even slowed, it was enough to inflict internal injuries on Ferdin.
Amon screamed and rushed to Ferdin, while Lilia continuously cast healing magic beside him.
Erin watched the scene, trying to calm herself.
"It's not a fatal wound. You know that, Erin Resus. So calm down."
But no matter how much she tried to reassure herself, her hands trembled with rage.
Erin had witnessed countless deaths, and she herself had experienced death firsthand.
Although Ferdin had sustained internal injuries, they weren't deep, so a few months of recovery would be enough for him to heal completely.
But the moment he was injured, fragments of past memories surfaced in Erin's mind.
Ferdin, who had left to carry out the Emperor's mission. And she, who had waited in the cold Marquis's estate for his safe return.
Finally, the messenger who arrived with the news, and Amon's face, struck with shock upon hearing it.
Even the helplessness she had felt then, screaming...
Erin felt something within her snap.
She muttered, looking at the Chief before her.
"Who are you, really?"
Erin's eyes sank low.
In truth, she had held onto a glimmer of hope until now.
Could I just live like this? Just... forget the past and live peacefully?
Life at Atenz Academy had changed from the past.
Practicing swordsmanship, laughing, and chatting with the students from the Swordsmanship Department there wasn't bad at all.
No, in fact, it was happy.
So much so that she thought if she could live a normal life like this, she might be able to forget everything Corelia had done to her in the past.
'But you know, Erin.'
Erin felt as if someone was dragging her into a quagmire.
Unless she found out who had tried to destroy the Marquis's family... and unless she eliminated them all, the future would simply repeat itself.
Ferdin had been gravely wounded here in the past. Erin knew this fact, which was why she hadn't wanted to leave his side.
But, he ended up getting hurt again.
Though the injured area was different... the mere fact that he was wounded made Erin feel as if she was falling off a cliff.
"It would be better if you just left me alone. Me..."
Why are you making me angry?
"Graaah!"
The Werewolf Tribe's Chief let out a monstrous roar and charged at Erin.
At his terrifying momentum, Amon, his face pale, cried out to Erin.
"Erin, it's dangerous!"
The Chief's condition was strange. Were knights corrupted by Black Magic, as rumored, truly like this?
The power of the Werewolf Tribe's Chief, already known to be close to a Sword Master, was beyond anything Amon dared to measure.
The Chief's eyes were rolled back, and mana swirled around him like a storm.
Amon instinctively knew that even if a skilled Sword Master had been here, they would have had a hard time fighting him.
No matter how much of a Sword Master Erin was, she wouldn't be able to defeat that.
At that moment, the Werewolf Tribe Chief's claws dug into her side.
That force shook Erin's body entirely.
It happened so fast that Amon couldn't even follow it with his eyes. Lilia, who was beside him, screamed.
"No!"
Erin's clothes were torn, and her entire body became covered in blood.
The Werewolf Tribe's Chief tried to attack her again with his claws.
He intended to instantly sever the human woman's breath before him. But he couldn't move any further.
Because Erin was holding onto the Chief's hand, which was embedded in her body.
Amon realized that she had deliberately allowed herself to be hit by his attack.
Veins bulged on the Werewolf Tribe Chief's arm. But caught in Erin's small hand, he couldn't move a muscle.
Holding him with the maximum mana she possessed, she smiled leisurely.
And with her other hand, she slowly raised her sword. By now, a pale blue mana had gathered at the tip of her blade.
Erin plunged that sword straight into the Chief's heart.
* * *
Lilia's hands trembled faintly.
Erin Resus lay covered in blood.
She was so dizzy from continuously casting healing magic.
"She's insane..."
Erin Resus was insane. Why would she go to such lengths? Was she really in her right mind?!
The words just spilled out.
Moreover, she seemed to be in a more critical condition than Ferdin.
Lilia's mana was already depleted from healing Ferdin, yet she frantically poured healing magic into Erin. In that moment, she questioned her own actions.
'Why am I doing this?'
If she stopped now, she might be able to kill Erin Resus without expending any more effort.
She could exact the revenge Charlotte had repeatedly spoken of.
But the reason she was using all her strength to cast healing magic on Erin was... because Ferdin's words had shaken her.
If Erin Resus truly wasn't... the target of revenge she so firmly believed in...
Lilia felt as if someone was choking her, making it hard to breathe.
Someone grabbed her wrist. Lilia stared blankly at the person holding her wrist.
Erin Resus was looking at her, her eyes half-open.
"You... what in the..."
"Not me... Sir Ferdin..."
"What nonsense are you spouting... Ferdin isn't as hurt as you are! He's already stabilized with healing magic! There's nothing more to be done for him here right now!"
"I'm... fine."
"What do you mean, 'fine'!"
Why on earth was Erin Resus sacrificing herself to such an extent?
Lilia wanted to look away, but she knew why Erin had pushed herself to kill the Werewolf Tribe's Chief in one go.
If she hadn't sacrificed her body to restrain the Chief, everyone around them would surely have been gravely injured in the fight between a Sword Master and a combatant of comparable skill.
Lilia also knew. The fact that Erin was in this state was purely to protect them.
'But it makes no sense. If she's such a good person, why did she... Calips...'
As Lilia thought this, her eyes caught sight of a dark, shimmering orb hanging around the Chief's neck.
"That... why is that here...?"
It was the peculiar mana stone Charlotte had shown her.
It wasn't that she had never doubted Charlotte, who had sought her out when she had nothing and always whispered that she could exact revenge.
But after Calips died, Charlotte was the only one who had stayed by her side.
Every time Lilia saw Charlotte, who claimed to be Calips's close friend, she was reminded of her brother.
She wanted to feel even a trace of him. That's why she deliberately tried to shake off her doubts about Charlotte.
'Even if she was hiding something from me, now that Calips was gone, she was the only one who cared about me...'
Now that she thought about it, everything, from start to finish, had been suspicious.
Erin Resus killed Calips?
A child her age, back then?
As all the clues came together one by one, she felt a strange sensation, as if the murky fog that had filled her mind was finally lifting.
'Come to think of it, why did I believe it so easily?'
Lilia covered her mouth, feeling nauseous.
Lilia couldn't forget the Chief's state when he had lost his reason. Or even how the deceased Chief's body slowly crumbled away.
Why on earth was the dark mana stone, which Charlotte had said she would give her, hanging around the Chief's neck?
Lilia didn't know how this had happened.
But she could realize what Charlotte had been trying to do. It was clear she had intended to deceive her and turn her into the same state as the Werewolf Tribe's Chief.
