NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 217
217. You Shouldn’t Keep Holding Grudges, Isn’t It?
The end of the war with the Empire.
They had captured Lucas, who was a demon, but in his final act, he silenced Bella and then Lucas was finished off. Alphard began to recount the events that followed in a calm manner.
Bella, who had been struck by Lucas’s poison needle, foamed at the mouth and died.
Standing beside her was Kyle Goldendown von Elixir, the Frontier Count.
Kyle was offering a prayer for the repose of Bella’s soul, his stepmother.
Craft Warken, standing right next to him, was also silently praying.
Thus, it was a member of the holy knight squad assigned to guard Kyle who first noticed.
Bella’s eyes, who had been dead, had opened.
At the exact same moment, Kyle also finished his prayer and opened his eyes. Bella and Kyle’s eyes met.
Craft had not yet finished his prayer.
From Bella’s forehead, two antennae rapidly grew. These antennae had an eerie black and white striped color.
Of course, the holy knight squad member tried to move. But it was too late.
Kyle let out a small voice.
“…Huh?”
The antennae, moving at a speed far beyond what the holy knights could react to, pierced Kyle’s chest… his heart in an instant.
Moreover, the antennae also pierced Craft’s chest.
Just like that, Kyle and Craft fell, rapidly staining the ground with blood.
“Kyle-sama!”
The holy knight squad member tried to take out a healing potion, but with a swing of Bella’s antennae, their heads flew high into the air.
An instant kill.
[Gugyaaaaaaa!]
Bella was no longer in human form, having transformed into a grotesque creature resembling a longhorn beetle.
She had become a demon with a black and white mottled exoskeleton and two long antennae.
The demon Bella used her tentacles to whip up the surrounding soil, blocking the view from the surroundings. All of this happened in almost an instant.
“What happened!?”
“Stop this monster!”
“Save Kyle-sama… gugya!?”
Immediately, the surrounding humans used magic to blow away the sandstorm and understand the situation.
“Kyle-sama! Kyle-sama!”
“Craft!”
Raidoc was the first to notice, kicking off the ground to slash at Bella, who had turned into a longhorn beetle, but was deflected by her long tentacles.
The longhorn beetle monster let out a turbid voice.
[Aaaaaah! I… in the form of a demon! I can’t return to human form yet!]
Raidoc, while launching a fierce attack on the demonized Bella, spat out.
“A demon, you say!?”
[Just a little more… I could have become a demon while retaining my youthful body!]
Bella wasn’t answering Raidoc, but rather screaming on her own, which served as an answer.
[I sold everything… everything! Over many years! I was just about to become a demon while retaining my human form!]
Through Bella’s mad ramblings, many understood what she had been doing.
In other words, she had sold her soul to the demon Lucas just to maintain her youth and beauty.
[Once I take this form… it will take a hundred years to return to human form!]
Paradoxically, this meant that if she lived for a hundred years, she could return to human form. Indeed, the demon Lucas had beautifully transformed into a human.
[I endured it! In the middle of nowhere! I even married the Frontier Margrave of Veil Road! All to use as a stepping stone! To take over the kingdom!]
Bella’s form continued to change into that of an insect, until she looked like nothing but a giant longhorn beetle.
She swung her huge antennae wildly, which Raidoc deflected with his sword to prevent collateral damage.
While suppressing Bella’s storm-like attacks, Raidoc shouted.
“Even in death, protect Kyle-sama!”
But what came back was Eva’s anguished scream.
“Nooooooooo!”
“Eva! Calm down!”
Raidoc shouted, but Eva, still distraught, clung to the bloodied Craft.
“Tch! Cover me, Camille!”
Immediately, Camille charged at the longhorn beetle Bella with dual swords.
“Got it! I’ll definitely kill her!”
Eva’s face turned pale as she grabbed Craft’s clothes.
“Craft! Why! Why are you covered in blood!?”
While all the holy knights guarding Kyle were being sliced apart by Bella’s antennae, Marilyn cast healing magic on Kyle and Craft.
Seeing the usually calm and composed Eva distraught over Craft’s condition, Raidoc steeled himself.
“Anyone! Save Kyle-sama and Craft!”
Camille stepped in to cover, temporarily securing the area by suppressing Bella’s attacks.
Marilyn, who had been casting healing magic from a distance, ran over to Kyle and Craft.
By this point, Craft’s wounds had been healed by Marilyn’s magic, and it was confirmed he was only unconscious.
The problem was Kyle.
Marilyn, half-crying, continued to cast advanced healing spells on Kyle, but there was no change in his body.
“Nooo! The healing magic isn’t working!”
Alphard, with a furious expression, rushed over to Raidoc and Camille, who were holding back Bella, and unleashed a technique.
“Uoooooh! Why! Why do you hate Kyle-sama so much!?”
[Of course! He’s Illumina’s child!]
“Illumina, you say!?”
Alphard remembered Illumina, the former wife of the Frontier Margrave of Veil Road.
The mother of Kyle and Myrna, and also the mother of the eldest son, Flatten.
She was already deceased, and Alphard couldn’t understand why Bella would hate her.
“Why do you hate Illumina!”
[Because of her, because of her, the kingdom weakened! Ortoros’s manipulation didn’t go well! It’s only natural to eliminate her!]
“What!?”
[Ortoros! He didn’t understand even a fragment of my charm! He treated me only as a tool for bearing children!]
Alphard didn’t want to believe her words. The Frontier Count was a strict but kind lord and parent.
A noble trusted by the king, there were likely many things he couldn’t say. It was clear that this self-centered Bella couldn’t understand that.
Why couldn’t she realize that not understanding this made her unworthy as the Frontier Count’s wife?
[Illumina, that whore! Because she kept using her charms, I only had two children!]
It was a roar. The blood flowing from Raidoc’s attacks made it look like she was crying tears of blood.
[I cast a curse of hatred on everything! Illumina, that bitch! She even gave birth to twins!]
Raidoc controlled his attacks to not finish her off, as Bella continued to spill information.
[She said… because they were twins, the curse mutated! She didn’t know what kind of curse it became!]
Bella’s antennae attacks became more chaotic and powerful, tearing up the ground around her. Was it anger?
[At least Illumina died as planned! But Kyle was a failure! He didn’t fight with Flatten! So I had to use Zaid!]
This meant that Bella was the one who harmed Illumina.
This alone enraged Alphard, but calling Kyle a failure only fueled his anger further.
“You bastard!”
Alphard’s sword strikes became more intense. His defense was slacking, but Raidoc and Camille covered for him.
Raidoc had already figured out Bella’s movements and could finish her at any time, but since she started spilling information, he moved to prevent collateral damage. He was worried about Craft, but there was nothing he could do for the injured.
[Zaid too! Even though he’s not Illumina’s child! He doted on Kyle! So I had to manipulate his thoughts with a curse! Why won’t anyone listen to me!]
Raidoc gritted his teeth as he listened, barely managing to fend off the fierce attacks.
But inside, he was torn between “I want to kill her right now” and “I want to let my enraged friend deliver the final blow.”
[Kyle! Illumina! Flatten! Zaid! Even Leila betrayed me at the last moment! I’ll never forgive any of them!]
Alphard had reached his limit. Raidoc also judged that there was no more information to be gained and changed the quality of his attacks.
Without any prior discussion, they moved in sync, with Alphard leading the attack and Raidoc providing support.
Alphard roared.
“You… you alone I will never forgive! Die! [Tiger’s Roaring Fang Crush]!”
He unleashed a powerful technique, creating a big opening, but Bella’s antennae shot towards it, only to be knocked away by Raidoc, shattering part of her exoskeleton.
For the first time, Bella showed a pained expression (though it was an insect face, it was definitely pain) and screamed.
[Alphardoooooh! Stop――]
Of course, there was no way he would stop because of her nonsense.
“This is the end! [Wolf’s Charge Collapse]!”
The demon Bella, who had gained an insect body, was shattered into pieces, leaving only her head rolling.
[Why… no one… listens to me…]
Those were Bella’s last words.
Alphard stabbed his sword into her head and spat.
“You will die here, as a demon, in ugliness.”
The sad woman who sold her soul to the demons died in a form far removed from the youth and beauty she had desired.