The Protagonists of Romance Fantasy Novels Have Escaped

128 – 128. Intermission (4)

Elizabeta and Rue entered the bedroom to witness Edanant lying in a pitiful state. The sight of him, returned as a critically ill patient, left the villainess and Ruin stunned, causing them to collapse in shock.

A face swollen and puffy.

Limbs bound in plaster casts.

And his entire body covered in severe bruises, with patches and ointments applied.

It was clear he had barely escaped death.

Edanant greeted them with labored breaths. Rue, tears streaming down her face, threw herself into his arms as he lay in bed.

“Wahhh!! Edan, don’t die!! I’ll save you! Just ask the gods to heal you!”

“I’m not dying.”

He had just barely avoided crossing the River Styx.

Edanant wiped Rue’s tear-streaked and snot-covered face with a handkerchief. She had cried and sniffled so much that the handkerchief quickly became soaked.

“Are you really okay? We should at least ask the royal physician to come!”

“Oh, I’m fine… It’s not to the point of dying.”

When he had been transferred to the House of Hoenberg, he had merely been exhausted. The bruises covering his body were marks left by Ludmila and Jeblin.

He had almost died…

To think he would show such a state to the Red Dragon and the White Dragon.

Bellasiel, bending over to squeeze breast milk into a glass. The storm that erupted, accompanied by flames and lightning, from Ludmila and Jeblin upon witnessing the scene.

Edanant recalled the chilling situation, his expression turning pale. If he had delayed his apology even slightly, his head would surely have been on the line.

‘If I had been killed like that, Bellasiel would have been free. Could it be that she was aiming for a windfall? It was suspicious from the moment she suddenly pulled out her breasts when I asked for milk.’

Truly, as the cunning daughter of the one true god, she was exceedingly devious.

To think they would try to finish me off using Ludmila and Jeblinne.

I cannot just sit back and take it.

I must prepare all sorts of shameless commands to break the steel-like reason of the Seraphim.

Writing names with my hips.

Lewd pole dancing.

Graffiti on my chest, and so on.

Suddenly, Edanant burst into laughter, causing Elizabeta and Rue to wear solemn expressions. It seemed they misunderstood that I had suffered severe injuries, with bruises covering my entire body and a serious head injury.

“How is the atmosphere in the Imperial Capital?”

With the fall of the Sanctuary, the Holy Kingdom must be in chaos, so the Baltaria Empire would surely be on high alert. Even if they didn’t know the details, they would have realized that an unprecedented incident was unfolding in the Sanctuary.

Concerned about the aftershocks, Edanant asked Elizabeta, who had arrived via Ludmila’s express delivery.

“Since Father declared a state of emergency, the guards have become strict. If it weren’t for Sister Lud, I wouldn’t have been able to escape the Imperial Capital.”

“…I see.”

Though I had returned home to rest, I was tormented by anxiety, as if sitting on a bed of thorns. Soon, the name of the arch-traitor who had turned the Sanctuary into a wreck would be known throughout the continent.

The calamity of war.

Edanant von Hohenberg.

Ilkeron Neviakus and Syrel Veilred surely knew my identity. If that were the case, it was only a matter of time before my identity was exposed to all the knights of the Holy Kingdom.

What would happen to my father,

to our family and servants,

to the citizens of the Marquisate?

The Baltaria Empire was a nation that revered the Earth Mother and an ally of the Gael Holy Kingdom. Naturally, they would not tolerate the unjust calamity that devastated the Sanctuary. They might mobilize all their forces to attack the Hohenberg Marquisate.

‘If that happens… our peaceful days will be completely over.’

My father, unable to let go of his attachment to the past.

The servants who had devoted their loyalty to the Hohenberg family.

The Ruinons, recognized as new family members and constituents of the Marquisate.

Edanant gazed at Elizabeta, recalling the faces of those dear to him. At that moment, Elizabeta turned her head away, blushing at Edanant’s meaningful gaze. It reminded her of the precious first kiss they had shared during their farewell.

“Why, why are you like this? Suddenly feeling shy…!”

“Allelerycoleryim.”

I have returned safely.

Well—

Though I was in tatters due to the jealousy of the red dragon and the white dragon.

Eda Nante smiled as she gently stroked Elizabeta’s hair. Despite the suddenness of Eda Nante’s action, Elizabeta trembled her shoulders but did not reject the caress. Instead, she leaned in, accepting the warm touch.

Slick. Slick.

Her beautiful golden hair flowed through Eda Nante’s fingers like a bountiful wheat field.

As the hand that had been softly caressing her hair descended, it brushed against her snow-white cheek. With the rough affection contained in that touch, Elizabeta’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“I’m glad to see you again, Your Highness.”

“Of course! It’s the princess’s solemn command. If you had been even a little later, I would have had to impose severe punishment.”

“Since I have fulfilled the command, I suppose I can request a reward.”

“A reward? Well, if Eda Nante desires it….”

Is it really okay for the notoriously villainous noblewoman to be this cute?

It’s a deadly cuteness.

I thought as I gazed into her moist emerald eyes.

* * *

Driwaine Castle.

The front line facing the gray that symbolizes the end.

A military stronghold that distinguished the realm of humans from that of demons.

Driwaine Castle, where countless troops had gathered to repel the Demon King’s army, had become a ruin as the gray zone spread from the demon realm. This was because the Holy Kingdom had ordered a full retreat before the ominous gray could encroach.

It was a place where only emptiness existed.

Yet, for some reason, numerous personnel dispatched from the Holy Kingdom were stationed on the castle walls.

“You’ve come.”

Young women boasting various beauties arrived at the ominous land. Dressed in pure white robes, they were surprisingly the candidates for the Saintess.

The role of the candidate for the Saintess is to provide a vessel for the One True God. Why, then, were such precious assets guarding the walls like soldiers deployed to the front line?

The answer lay beyond the horizon, filled with dark clouds.

“Gael.”

A man with flowing black hair approached Driwaine Castle with light steps. The young man carelessly uttered the sacred name of the One True God as he gazed at the nearly forty candidates for the Saintess.

Maximilian Argon Hoenberk.

A hero of the ages.

The great warrior chosen by the Earth Mother.

The main figures who had gathered to subdue the Death Demon King leading the Demon King’s army had finally reunited. However, Gael and Maximilian displayed animosity towards each other, showing that they had completely parted ways.

“The gray of the end, which had been ravenously devouring the demon realm, has finally ceased its spread for the first time.”

Maximilian said.

Then, the would-be saintess with flowing red hair took a step forward and spoke.

“The calamity of famine has been released from its seal. So, the End of the World must have decided to postpone. Each time the calamity of innocence is unleashed, I can only grow weaker.”

The sanctuary was destroyed.

Countless believers, including the forces of the Holy Kingdom deployed in battle, lost their lives.

Destruction. Chaos.

Fear and dread.

The End of the World, having accepted it as evil, decided to postpone. It judged that rivals capable of opposing the singular deity, who sought to color the world solely with faith and goodness, had emerged.

“But far too many lives have been sacrificed! What meaning is there in the results born from such a horrific massacre? We should have done everything possible to prevent the resurrection of tyranny and famine! For the sake of humanity’s prosperity and peace, tyranny and famine are evils that must never be tolerated!”

“So you thought to shift all the burden onto the war… onto Ethan.”

“Maximilian. Why do you defend Edanant so fervently? I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time. The Edanant now is not the brother you once knew! It’s merely an outsider’s soul using his body as it pleases!”

“……”

I cannot understand.

Why,

why do you embrace this outsider?

There was no way he didn’t know that the outsider’s soul had seized his brother’s body like a master.

He knows.

Yet, he still tried to protect Edanant alongside Beatrice until the very end.

Gael, unable to comprehend the reason why Maximilian and the saintess party, led by Beatrice, would go to such lengths to protect the outsider, spoke in an agitated voice. It was a reprimand directed at Maximilian, as if he were entranced by something.

“Ethan has done his utmost more than anyone else.”

“What?”

“Despite being an outsider, despite being an entity unrelated to the inner world, he has desperately saved countless lives in the war more than anyone else.”

“……”

From the perspective of the outsider who came from beyond, he would merely be a fabricated creature born of lies.

A world birthed from the author’s pen,

It would merely be a narrative unfolding in such a world.

Yet, even in desperate situations, Edanant always prioritized the rescue of people.

Tens of thousands.

No.

Perhaps it could reach hundreds of thousands.

The sight of Edanant saving even those who were originally fated to die left the saintess party in shock. Thus, as they overcame obstacles together while saving countless lives, the saintess party came to recognize Edanant as a revered hero and comrade.

“I will ask, the One True God.”

He drew his sword.

It was the holy sword bestowed upon him by the being before him.

“While Ethan saved countless people… what have you done?”

No sooner had Maximilian’s words fallen than the sky turned black.

It was a sign that the calamity of death had returned from eternal rest.