The Villainess Proposed a Contractual Marriage

Chapter 82: Corruption and Vows

I stepped forward.

The sensation of my footprints pressing into the ground was startlingly vivid. Even after leaving the banquet hall and reaching the beautiful imperial garden, I felt nothing.

Human politics baffled me. I grasped that a power struggle had occurred, but I couldn't understand why Elphisia had suddenly fallen from grace to become a traitor. Yet one undeniable truth remained clear.

Elphisia had been kidnapped. Of all times, while I observed their political games in the banquet hall.

A mistake. I shouldn't have left her alone. Perhaps ignoring Ibria's advice and remaining ignorant of worldly affairs was the error.

If so, I had to make amends. There should still be a chance.

I stopped in the midst of the magnificent imperial scenery.

The opponent was the demon race.

Unlike humans, they were a race with innate magical abilities. Human investigative techniques would be useless against those powers. Therefore, I had only one option.

The power of the Sovereign God that could even twist the truth of the world. This was surely the only choice left to me.

Just as I finished steeling my resolve—

"Wait, Harte!"

"... Ibria."

The one whose side I should have stayed at as a guard knight was instead chasing after me. Despite her uncomfortable attire, she ran resolutely, visibly out of breath. Perhaps feeling guilty, I hesitated for a moment.

In that time, Ibria had already caught up and stood before me, catching her breath.

"Wait... Harte."

"There's no time."

"Why? What's the rush?"

"..."

I pressed my lips tightly shut.

I couldn't bring myself to answer that there wasn't enough time to save Elphisia.

I was humanity's final line of defense - a holder of a baptismal name. My hands were to protect the human realm, and my eyes were to capture only the beautiful things of the world. To embody the virtue of remaining impartial.

But they had spoken. Those who resided in the most beautiful and splendid place in the world had revealed the truth about Elphisia Luminel.

Everyone had declared Elphisia a villain. In such a situation, for me, a baptismal name holder, to rush in to save her out of personal feelings was clearly overstepping my bounds.

Knowing this better than anyone, Ibria had stopped me.

"Let's go back, Harte."

"Where to?"

"To the temple. You've been pestering about it all along, haven't you?"

"... Ibria."

"Hah, I'm sick of it. Really... Why can't these high-ranking humans just live together peacefully? This is why I'm suffering here over a single relief supply."

"Ibria."

"So let's go. I never want to leave the temple again. I just want to live quietly like before with Sungha and Erehite, and you..."

Ibria smiled faintly. Her figure was as pure as a flower in season, and as melancholic as the setting moon.

She was indeed a cherry blossom. The symbol of spring that blooms brilliantly and falls in an instant.

Though I realized this anew, there was no hint of attraction. Ibria was still just Ibria.

A childhood friend who had grown up with me, or perhaps someone I had thought of as a sibling. Or the duty assigned to me.

Just that much.

"You're right, Ibria."

"Harte...!"

"We should live cozily inside the comfortable temple. Like old times."

"Yes... That's right."

Ibria nodded, quietly clasping her hands. But I changed my attitude in the next moment.

"But it's impossible for me. I can't go back to how things were."

"... What are you saying?"

"To spend a lifetime with eyes closed in the temple... my world has grown too wide."

A baptismal name holder shouldn't aspire to the outside world. That was the general principle.

Even without being told the specific reasons for the principle, baptismal name holders usually accepted it. After all, we were beings designed that way from the start.

But exceptions always lurk.

Whether by chance or necessity, baptismal name holders who experience the outside world occasionally change. Because unlike the temple where we repeat a routine daily life, the outside world teems with countless human experiences. And as we mingle with them, a powerful temptation inevitably extends its hand.

Love. Sympathy. Desire for self-expression. Or something else - a certain emotion that shouldn't be harbored takes root.

I loved Elphisia and sympathized with Helio. Because of that, I even revealed divine power that was forbidden to use. It's not difficult to break a rule twice once it's been broken once.

That's why the outside world was a den of temptation for baptismal name holders.

"You mean you're going to rescue that woman?"

"Yes."

"Please... stop this nonsense. Harte, you've lost your mind right now."

"Does it seem that way?"

"If not, you wouldn't even think of rescuing her. Because you're Harte."

"I see."

Hearing Ibria's words, I reflected on myself. Indeed, as she asserted, I seemed to have momentarily lost my reason.

My head cleared. Like the wide open night sky above.

Under the starlight pouring down excessively, I smiled gently as usual.

"Thank you, Ibria."

"... Yeah."

"But I still can't return to the temple."

"Harte!"

Our differences of opinion couldn't be bridged. Ibria cried out my name, filled with indignation.

"I've made this decision after briefly reflecting on myself."

"Why... why on earth...?"

"I made a promise."

"A promise?"

"Yes, a promise. The most important promise in the world."

In an instant, a golden ring manifested on my left ring finger. It was clearly divine power.

Ibria, a baptismal name holder like me, recognized at a glance what the golden ring meant.

"A baptismal name vow...!?"

"That's right."

"What foolish thing have you done... You...!!! You know full well what a baptismal name vow costs!"

"Of course I do."

A baptismal name vow meant engraving an eternal oath before the Sovereign God.

The price for breaking that absolute oath was the loss of one's baptismal name.

No being in the material world could withstand the backlash of a god's name leaving them.

In other words, it was an oath staked on death.

"You're not in your right mind... You're not in your right mind. Are you... an idiot? No matter what choice you make now, your future is... already..."

"Haha... I suppose you could call it a dilemma."

That's right.

The future was already sealed shut.

Divine power was essential to rescue Elphisia. But if I used divine power, I would have to face the 'line' I must not cross.

"How... how could you do this?"

There are two lines that a baptismal name holder must keep.

One is using divine power for personal desires.

The other is using divine power while betraying the justice one upholds.

Avoiding personal desires is an easy condition. Because I will use divine power for Elphisia's sake.

But betraying one's proclaimed justice is a different story.

"You already know... Harte."

Elphisia is a villain. That is an unchanging fact.

"Elphisia Luminel is a traitor to humanity. You, who waged holy war in the Baskhill Kingdom, are going to rescue such a person?"

This isn't justice. It was too simple a truth.

There was an immense gap between this and the righteous justice I upheld.

"Just now, when you told me I was 'right', you admitted it yourself. That what you're trying to do isn't justice..."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you going to cross the line?"

"If necessary."

"Harte..."

Ibria shed tears. Her sorrowful and grief-stricken emotions were clear. When her eyes soon drew sharp diagonal lines, a solemn declaration struck me.

"If you're truly going to do this... I'll stop you."

"Don't do this, Ibria."

"It's not to save you. As the vessel of the next Sovereign God, I must judge the misconduct of God's vanguard."

"Ibria..."

"I hate you, Harte."

Gently, gently.

Unseasonable cherry blossoms scattered. The pale pink petals traced curves as if riding the wind. Each time a petal touched the earth, God's majesty flowed like a blessing.

It was Ibria's divine power.

"... I am your guard knight."

"I know."

"A guard knight weaker than their charge doesn't exist."

"Do you think I don't know that too?"

"...... I see."

Can I endure this?

My opponent is the holy maiden.

A woman on par with the demon maiden I faced in Baskhill during my youth.

Meanwhile, I was weaker than in my youth. It was due to having my baptismal name sealed by the Pope.

"Hah..."

I exhaled a breath tinged with regret.

Fear rushing in from an uncertain future...

... There was none of that.

I'm simply carrying out what must be done.

"Wait for me, Elphisia. I will, without fail, come to keep my promise."

I looked back on that day's promise from memories I always dust off.

Just when I grew weary of holding onto a wandering heart, the distance I had finally closed with you became precious.

That's why I swore.

"I will always stand by your side. Even if the world forces a thorny path upon you, I will surely protect you."

I am on your side.

Not anyone else's, but yours alone.

You were the only one who allowed me this.

"Even if countless people denounce you as a liar, even if they whisper seductively in my ears, I will simply believe."

I believe in you.

Even if the world turns its back, at least one person believes in you.

The man who loves you, who has watched you all along, who simply believes in you who hides your kindness behind a brusque facade.

"Staking the divine name given to me, I engrave an eternal promise before the Sovereign God."