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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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When she heard that the Sage had entered the Elven Forest, a chill ran down Evangeline’s spine. It was only natural.
She, better than anyone, knew what elves were like, how they treated other races.
No.
Hyun-woo was already hurt. To think of how he would be treated among the elves, she couldn’t let him go alone.
Hyun-woo was the type to endure everything on his own. Even if he acted with the best intentions, those who didn’t understand him would hurt him without a second thought.
Someone had to protect him, and in the Elven Forest, that someone had to be her.
As an elf, and as a renowned member of the Hero’s Party, she could protect him.
“Let’s go. Now.”
“We’re almost ready. Just wait a little longer.”
Ever since they had arrived in the capital and heard the news about Hyun-woo, Evangeline had been in a state of extreme anxiety, urging Claire to hurry every day. Of course, Claire was just as anxious.
Because she knew what kind of person Hyun-woo was.
He had gone to the Elven Forest to save the elves from the plague, and she knew he would be treated unfairly.
And just like with them, he would undoubtedly endure that unfair treatment in silence.
But she couldn’t move yet. The reinforcements from the Church hadn’t arrived.
“…Tsk. Why is the Church so late?”
Claire bit her lip. Maybe it would be better to send the kingdom’s alchemists first and then come back? Yes, that was a good idea. It would be difficult to send a large number of people, but it was better than letting Hyun-woo suffer.
As Claire was about to stand up, the door burst open.
“The reinforcements from the Church have arrived!”
“Leventia!”
“What took them so long?!”
“It seems the various lords were blocking their path.”
“Leventia, didn’t you request them to minimize the inspections?!”
“The royal family also made a request…?”
“Hmm, you know how the local nobles are.”
Even the Church couldn’t just march a large, powerful force through a lord’s territory without raising some eyebrows.
Especially those who were more concerned with their own safety. They were afraid that if they let them pass, they would join forces with another territory and attack them.
They had seen countless lords like that during their journey to defeat the Demon King, paranoid and self-serving.
And they knew that if it weren’t for Hyun-woo, their own journey would have been greatly hindered by such people.
The three of them, without realizing it, recalled the past.
How much easier he had made things for them.
How much help they had received from him.
“…Let’s go.”
“Yeah…”
“Hyun-woo is waiting…”
Following Claire, Leventia and Evangeline gathered their equipment and went outside. The kingdom’s support was also on standby.
“…Your Highness, the reinforcements from the Church have arrived in the capital.”
“Yes, I heard. They’re late.”
As Lucille replied curtly to Claire’s report, the city gates opened. Leading the priests and paladins was a woman in black robes.
Cardinal Veronica, leader of the Inquisitors.
Lucille, who had been expecting her, sighed softly.
This woman was even more dangerous than the Hero’s Party, the one who claimed to be the best friend of her one and only tutor, her revered and great master.
But Lucille knew.
Her intuition told her that Veronica wasn’t satisfied with just that.
That behind her stoic expression was not the piety of a priest who had renounced worldly desires, but a dark, murky ambition.
“You’re late, Cardinal Veronica.”
“Yes. The nobles of the kingdom kept blocking our path. Did you not request their cooperation?”
“I made the request myself.”
Veronica smiled faintly as Lucille stepped forward.
“I see… The Princess herself…”
“Perhaps they sensed the danger of the one leading the support…?”
“Perhaps they knew that the Princess’s urgency was not simply to stop the plague.”
The atmosphere grew tense. The two beautiful women stared at each other for a moment, then shook their heads.
This was not the time for a power struggle.
The elves… they might be persecuting Hyun-woo just because he was human.
So, they had to move as quickly as possible.
“Hero.”
“Hero, open the portal.”
“Yes, right away.”
Claire gripped the Hero’s sword, and a massive portal materialized in the air. As the blue dimensional gate, large enough to accommodate the numerous reinforcements, opened, Claire took a deep breath.
“Let’s go.”
As soon as she entered the Elven Forest, Evangeline heard the news about Hyun-woo from the other elves and gritted her teeth.
As expected, Hyun-woo was being persecuted by the elves.
Of course, thanks to his easygoing personality and his exceptional abilities, he had earned the respect of some of the elves, like the alchemists.
But the overall atmosphere in the Elven Forest was hostile towards him.
It was unbearably frustrating, unbearably painful.
And when she heard that he was still cooperating with the elves and researching a cure for the plague, she wasn’t surprised.
Hyun-woo was a good person.
A ridiculously good person, who lived for others rather than himself.
He was a man who believed that an altruistic life was his mission, a true saint, a man of honor, like a character from a fairy tale.
As she was reminded of this, Evangeline was overcome with a crippling self-loathing, a contempt for the person she had been, the person who had insulted, mocked, and berated him.
“Let’s go.”
“…Yeah.”
Evangeline nodded, watching as Claire, Lucille, and Veronica went ahead to meet Hyun-woo.
She couldn’t face him yet. If she could just see his face from a distance, that would be enough.
So, instead of entering the building and greeting him, she just watched him from afar.
“…Will there ever be a day… when I can face him?”
She wanted to go to him right now, to apologize.
To tell him everything.
But she couldn’t. Pained by her inability to do so, she muttered to herself. Leventia sighed heavily.
She didn’t know.
But she knew they couldn’t stop.
“But… is it really alright?”
She had heard that the Healing Tree tribe was preparing to perform the Great Divine Art while Hyun-woo was researching a cure.
If the Great Divine Art cured the plague, all of Hyun-woo’s efforts would be in vain.
It would be so painful for him to receive no reward for his hard work.
Just like when he had received no credit for his role in defeating the Demon King.
“…But… everything Hyun-woo does is right…”
If the Great Divine Art could have solved the problem, he would have suggested it himself.
The fact that he had come all this way to create a cure meant that it couldn’t, right?
Evangeline muttered to herself and clenched her fists.
Please, just this once, let Hyun-woo be rewarded for his efforts.
Just then,
She saw someone running towards them in a hurry.
A beautiful elven woman with dark blonde hair, dressed in luxurious priestess’s robes.
But her expression was a stark contrast to her elegant appearance.
Tears, worry, regret, pain.
She was overwhelmed by a torrent of negative emotions.
Leventia, seeing her approach, gripped her weapon.
What if she was here to harm Hyun-woo?
“…Chieftain Su-hwi?”
Chieftain of the Healing Tree tribe.
Mother of the Saintess Seong-ya and a powerful priestess. Why was she in such a state?
Evangeline, feeling a sense of unease as the woman who had clashed with Hyun-woo over the plague treatment approached, gripped her bow. If… if she tried to attack him, chieftain or not…
“Something’s… wrong.”
But Su-hwi didn’t even seem to notice them. She just ran towards the lab, her face a mask of desperation.
Puzzled, the two of them peeked through the window and heard a pained cry from within.
“Please… p- please… my daughter… save her…”
“……”
“…”
It seemed the Saintess Seong-ya had also contracted the plague.
She had been so confident, so sure that the Great Divine Art could cure the plague, even pressuring Hyun-woo.
And in the end, it had turned out just as he had said.
“…Hyun-woo…”
Through the window, Evangeline looked at Hyun-woo. Just seeing him made her heart ache, filled her with a sense of longing.
A man with a stern expression, but a heart warmer than anyone else’s, filled with an altruistic spirit.
He looked at the woman who had insulted and pressured him, and then…
“…Ah.”
He slowly helped her to her feet.
As if the pressure and insults he had received were nothing.
So naturally, as if it were his duty, he helped Su-hwi up.
Just as he had saved them when they were suffering during their battle with the Demon King.
“Let’s go.”
He reached out his hand to save even her.
Seeing that, Evangeline was overcome with a wave of shame and couldn’t even look at him.
You’re still trying to save even those who have hurt you.
And to you,
I…
What did I do?
Unable to bear it, Evangeline glanced at Leventia, who was in the same predicament. Her beautiful face was also twisted in anguish.
Regret, pain, and self-blame.
Contempt for herself and respect for him.
Her face, contorted with a mixture of emotions, must have mirrored Evangeline’s own.
It was so ugly. Evangeline reached for the dagger at her waist.
To erase this feeling, to hide this pain, she had to inflict pain on herself.
Just then, the door burst open. Su-hwi came out. And then…
“…Aah…”
A sweet fragrance.
-Don’t look at me, so ugly and pathetic.
A nostalgic scent.
-But if you can, please… let me see your face, just for a moment.
As the man approached, his scent wafting towards her, Evangeline let out a soft gasp.
Did he hear her? Or did he already know?
As she met the man’s dark eyes,
Empty, yet so deep, as if they could embrace all things,
–Thump.
Evangeline felt an urge to lose herself in them.
But…
To her disappointment, Hyun-woo simply turned his head and ran off with Su-hwi.
As if to say there was no longer a place for her there.
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So dramatic