The Monster Lady and the Holy Knight - Chapter 48

From the start, there weren’t many places she could have gone. Leon first went to the Holy See. There were no reports of the condemned woman, under the emperor’s protection, being captured.

“Ah, Oscar Berg, you say? Let’s see, he went out after dinner… Hmm, he hasn’t returned yet.”

“Still? Isn’t it quite late for a knight who should act properly?”

“Well, yes, but as you know, going out after work hours is their freedom. Since there’s a wake-up time, most of them return accordingly. Eh, Oscar Berg is an exception, but I’ve heard his house is on the outskirts of Kart, and he has to take care of his elderly foster parents, so he always comes back late.”

The knight, skimming through the entrance records, explained.

Officially, Leon had left the Order, but his past history meant his rank was a bit ambiguous. He couldn’t come and go as he pleased, but he could still take advantage of the goodwill of the knights.

“The outskirts of Kart, huh? No one knows the location of that house?”

“I wouldn’t know something like that.”

Of course, no noble would visit the home of someone with the Berg name just for camaraderie.

Nodding his head and gesturing for the knight to enter, Leon left the Order’s building at a steady pace.

It was highly likely the woman was with Oscar. Her life wouldn’t be in danger. The feeling gnawing at him wasn’t worry—it was something else.

Leon thought back to the surge of emotions he had felt the moment he saw the pitch-black room. What exactly was that feeling?

Oscar was accustomed to late returns. So was Leon. Every time he came back, she was always in the room. He never knew where she was or who she was meeting before then.

The dark feeling poured over his body, like a swamp pulling down his soul. A strange anxiety gnawed at his mind. He couldn’t understand anything. Warmth had easily escaped from him.

It was like the feeling of a bird trying to slip from his grasp. Even knowing that the small bird might be hurt, he wanted to hold on.

His steps, walking along the night streets, stopped abruptly in front of the inn. Slowly raising his head, he looked at the two people who had also come to a halt before him. Oscar greeted him politely, and the woman approached him awkwardly.

So, it was true.

“You’re back late. I was scared to be alone, so I was with some other people for a bit.”

“Other people?”

Leon quietly questioned. The woman had never once mentioned having acquaintances in Kart.

“The people I was indebted to when I left the Holy See briefly. Actually, I had something to say about it—let’s go inside.”

“Since Sir Berg is here, I’ll take my leave now.”

When the woman showed signs of going inside, Oscar bowed his head. Leon didn’t respond, and she thanked Oscar for escorting her. Leon watched Oscar’s retreating figure and spoke dryly.

“Seems like you have a clear type.”

“…What?”

“If your type is a knight, why not pick someone less stiff than him?”

Slowly lowering his gaze, he looked at the woman, her face filled with confusion. The nonsense about her liking knights was something the princess had whispered to him earlier today.

She had said she wanted his oath of loyalty at the upcoming Founding Festival, to show as many people as possible that the knight devoted to God had a living master.

“The Imperial Knights are full of particularly dissolute people. I’m sure some of them would gladly spend a night with an assimilated one.”

It didn’t take long for her to understand what he meant. The smile faded from Veronica’s lips.

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s not like that.”

“Not like what?”

“You know. He’s different from you. He’s not trying to use me; he just wants to make amends for his mistake.”

Leon focused more on the latter part than the insult directed at himself.

“A mistake? Did Oscar Berg do something to you that requires an apology?”

At his icy tone, she looked flustered and shifted her eyes. “That’s… I can’t say. Anyway, I was just scared to be alone today, so I met him. He did nothing wrong.”

Flustered, she was clearly stumbling over her words. Whatever had happened, she seemed intent on defending Oscar. Naive, even after everything she had gone through. Leon let out a scoff mixed with a sigh.

“You seem sharp, but in times like this, you’re just foolish.”

It bothered him. How quickly she opened her heart, how easily she smiled like a blooming flower, and how it made the wind that blew through it even more painful.

“I told you, the reason men are kind isn’t because they’re good-hearted.”

“…Why are you angry?”

When he took a step closer, she took a step back and asked.

Angry? Leon didn’t understand her words. To be angry, one had to be worried. But he had no reason to be concerned about her getting hurt. It didn’t matter to him who hurt her or how. She was going to die anyway. He would kill her himself anyway.

“Angry? I’m not angry.”

“You’re clearly angry.”

She bit her small lips as if feeling wronged.

“Why are you taking your anger out on me? What did I do wrong?”

The hostility in her voice made his patience, already stretched thin, begin to overflow.

Leon stared at her and spoke, “You’ve done plenty wrong. Whether it’s not staying in the room as I asked and instead seeking out another man, or smashing the head of someone who didn’t need to be killed, making things troublesome.”

“If I hadn’t, I would have died.”

“Did you think I’d let that happen?”

Leon asked quietly, and her pupils wavered slightly. Their eyes locked, her bright red eyes darkened until they were almost painful.

“Until ‘that’ dies, you won’t be allowed such freedom.”

For a moment, the color drained from her face, as if in disappointment. Leon frowned at the tight pain gripping his chest. The boiling black blood spilled over, filling him up to his shoulders, his head.

“You ruined the match. We were planning to stop it before you were put in danger.”

Even if it had been the emperor, not a knight, he wouldn’t have let her die. He would have saved her no matter what it took. Even if he had to sell his soul to the princess instead of just swearing loyalty.

Because he needed her.

“We…?”

She repeated his words. Her expression was one of such loneliness that even an onlooker would feel sorrowful.

After a moment of silence, the name she spoke was unexpected.

“You’re like Mecklenburg in this way.”

Leon stiffened. She began speaking as if she had been holding it in.

“He also kept me alive for my usefulness. What kind of knight protects the people? What kind of conviction and faith is that? You only learned cruelty, not the mercy of God.”

She looked as though she was about to cry. Her voice trembled painfully, and Leon gave her a sharp smile.

“Be careful what you say, or I’ll start regretting keeping you alive.”

It was meant as a warning. But instead, it seemed to touch on her deepest sensitivities.

“When did you ever save me? You threw me into hell to die over and over again. And now you’re angry because I keep coming back alive, because I inconvenience you, bringing the ominous news of your father’s death?”

Ah, she always crossed the line.

“Shut your mouth.”

At last, Leon muttered, unable to hold back. Every time Mecklenburg’s name left her lips, it made him sick. Memories from his childhood, which he thought he had forgotten, resurfaced. Memories of his mother, whose black hair was just like hers. That damn Mecklenburg.

“Why? Does just hearing his name make you lose it? Did you think I was the only one starved for affection? You’re no different. Deep down, you still want to believe he climbed the Blasen Mountains for you, don’t you? You haven’t slept well since that day!”

Her voice echoed ominously through the empty streets. Once the echoes died, a deathly silence filled the space. Leon stared at her, panting, and spoke only after a long pause.

“Are you done?”

“……”

“If you’re done, go inside. I’m tired.”

“And if I’m not done?”

“Finish it.”

“Stop treating me like a child who doesn’t understand anything.”

“Then act like an adult. Stop raising your voice wherever you please.”

Leon, speaking indifferently, stared at her for a moment before turning away as if refusing to engage further. He ran his hand through his hair, brushing back the strands that had fallen onto his forehead, opened the inn door, and climbed the stairs. He heard footsteps following him but didn’t turn around. She caught up to him just as he stepped into the dark room.

“Is avoidance an adult response?”

Eyes blazing, she stared straight at him. Those eyes were brutally honest.

“Don’t cut me off. Show me your true feelings for once. It kills me to be treated like a shell of a person, spoken to like I’m not human. If this keeps up, to hell with it, I might as well go to Oscar…”

Bang.

Leon pulled her arm hard, slamming the door shut. The tension in the now pitch-black room was palpable. With the light behind him, Leon leaned forward.

“My true feelings? Last time you were whining about how twisted I am, but now you want to see it?”

Maybe it was because of what had happened earlier in the day, but she quickly looked frightened. He didn’t let her pull her arm free.

Leon smiled darkly and squeezed her frail arm as if he might break it, whispering, “What, do you think that if I show you, I’ll end up liking you?”

For just a moment, her resistance stopped. He could feel her body tense under his grasp, her eyes shimmering red in the moonlight.

Every time he saw her face flushed red to her ears, Leon wondered. How far down her neck did that redness spread? How much of her skin could turn the same shade as his?

“That will never happen. Just so you know, just touching you makes me sick to my stomach.”

He mocked her, releasing her arm. And in the next moment, a sharp slap echoed through the room.