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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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He didn’t know the reason.
But he knew one thing.
A Harmless Calamity had descended.
A monster disguised as a beautiful woman stood before him.
“Lu-Ludmilla! Let’s resolve this peacefully…!”
Edanant waved his hands, pleading for reason.
But his desperate pleas were in vain. Ludmilla’s fist, engulfed in black flames, slammed into his face.
A deafening clang resonated, as if a steel plate had been violently dented.
Clang!!!
His helmet caved in.
Blood trickled down from the gaps in his helmet.
The philanderer who had juggled three women had finally faced retribution.
Edanant, caught off guard by the sudden attack, stumbled, bending one knee.
“Are you going to make excuses again? Will you deceive me once more with your silver tongue?”
“….”
Was it because of the blow to his head?
His vision blurred, and his mind felt hazy.
Edanant spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and faced Ludmilla.
‘Is she losing control and going berserk? No, she seems too coherent for it to be a simple rampage… Perhaps it’s the anger she’s been suppressing.’
He could easily deduce the cause from Ludmilla’s words.
It was him.
She must have believed that he had eloped with Zebeline.
How furious she must be, thinking that her fiance had run away.
Moreover, Ludmilla was a spinster who had missed her chance at marriage, making the situation even worse.
She must have felt as if her last opportunity for happiness had been stolen by the saintess.
“It’s a misunderstanding! I’m not Maximilian, why would I elope?! If I back out of the marriage now, my family will be ruined!”
“To lie, swearing on your family’s name…! As expected of the womanizer who deceived the Imperial Princesses.”
Reason wouldn’t reach her.
Had she always harbored this much distrust towards him?
Despair washed over him.
The consequences of his past transgressions, his disrespectful behavior towards Ludmilla, had finally caught up to him.
He tried to reason with her, but Ludmilla remained resolute, refusing to listen.
As if to prove this, black flames continued to materialize around her.
“I’ll need your help with a barrier to contain the damage!”
“I’ll try my best, so just stop her spinster hysteria!”
Zebeline shouted urgently, retreating from the scene.
Edanant steeled his resolve and took a step forward.
“I don’t care what happens to me. I’ve hurt Ludmilla countless times. But if this continues… The citizens of the Hohenberc marquisate will be caught in the crossfire. Is that what you truly desire?”
“Shut up, Edanant! You’ve always deceived me with talk of sacrifice!”
Something’s not right.
Edanant, engaging in conversation with Ludmilla, felt a growing sense of unease.
Logic wouldn’t work.
His words wouldn’t reach her.
She must be consumed by madness, her reason clouded.
The Harmless Calamity must be intentionally fueling Ludmilla’s rage.
“Die!”
Ludmilla extended both hands.
Countless fireballs materialized in the air, raining down upon him.
Faced with the onslaught of blazing flames, Edanant was forced to retaliate. Murky particles coalesced, and numerous flintlock pistols appeared.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flames and bullets collided with a deafening roar.
Tyranny and War.
An unprecedented clash between two Harmless Calamities unfolded.
Ludmilla drew the ceremonial sword she wore at her waist.
Edanant, in response, unsheathed Aldebaran, engaging in a fierce battle.
‘The calamity of Tyranny should be susceptible to Aldebaran’s erosion, just like other divinities. However…’
If she were to be eroded by Aldebaran’s divinity, she would surely perish.
Even if she miraculously survived, she would be left crippled.
I can’t activate the holy sword.
Edanant, gazing at Ludmilla consumed by madness, suppressed Aldebaran’s divinity.
“Kheuk!”
He hesitated.
Hesitation always led to fatal wounds.
Ludmilla’s sharp blade pierced his arm.
If he hadn’t instinctively raised his hand, his head would have been severed.
“Edanant!!”
He had naively believed that Ludmilla’s anger would subside if he simply endured her attacks.
He was wrong.
It had the opposite effect.
Witnessing the blood dripping from his wound, Ludmilla became even more enraged.
Her crimson eyes, blazing like blood, were a testament to her fury.
“Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot? I was in much more pain! Every time you flirted with the saintess… My heart ached as if it were burning!!”
“….”
“And even now, I smell another woman on you. And you dare ask for forgiveness? You have no shame, Edanant!!”
“It’s a misunderstanding! It’s truly a misunderstanding!”
It must be Ariel’s scent.
To be accused of infidelity because of that damn vampire…
This is truly unfair.
Edanant protested vehemently, but Ludmilla wouldn’t listen.
She had been betrayed countless times, and she had closed her ears to his words.
“Edanant!!”
Flames erupted.
Using the force of the explosion as momentum, Ludmilla closed the distance between them, pouncing on Edanant.
Her fists shattered his armor.
A fiery kick slammed into his side.
Edanant, unable to fight back against Ludmilla due to his guilt over the pain he had caused her, could only endure her attacks.
“You always made me feel miserable! As if I was the only one who was sincere!”
The sky, filled with swirling embers, turned crimson in an instant.
A torrential downpour of flames.
The calamity of Tyranny, rejecting the world, revealed its true form.
He witnessed a deluge of flames, vast enough to engulf the heavens.
If the calamity of Tyranny were to descend upon the earth, the Hohenberc marquisate would be wiped off the map.
I have to stop this.
I have to stop this, no matter what.
Edanant’s eyes widened in horror.
“Please come to your senses, Ludmilla! If this continues… I might have to use my full power!”
“Full power? You’re one to talk.”
The apostle of Tyranny sneered.
An overwhelming sense of arrogance emanated from her.
The absolute power bestowed upon one of the continent’s Seven Strongest surged like a natural disaster.
I might die.
He stared at the pillars of fire erupting from the cracked earth.
She had single-handedly obliterated thousands of monsters during the salvation of the Pugh Kingdom.
As if to prove that it was no exaggeration, the power emanating from Ludmilla was so overwhelming that it filled him with despair.
“I’m sorry, Ludmilla. What can I do to earn your forgiveness?”
“….”
Is there something she desperately desires?
Ludmilla’s eyes wavered at Edanant’s words.
Atone with your life.
The harsh words he had pessimistically anticipated didn’t come.
Ludmilla remained silent, as if waiting for Edanant to utter the words she longed to hear.
Edanant, feeling a sense of urgency, cautiously observed her reaction.
‘What is it? What is Ludmilla’s intention? She clearly doesn’t just want my life…’
Should I run to the registry office and demand a marriage certificate right now?
That’s the only way.
He had to somehow appease the enraged Red Dragon.
Edanant cautiously stepped back, like a traveler encountering a wild beast.
But the moment he created distance between them, Ludmilla’s condition worsened.
Witnessing the flames surging like an active volcano on the verge of eruption, Edanant returned to his original position.
And he resumed his contemplation.
“…Ring.”
“Huh?”
As the bizarre standoff continued,
Ludmilla, unable to bear the silence any longer, finally spoke.
“Give me the wedding ring. And swear your unwavering love to me. Refuse, and I’ll kill you.”
“….”
Ludmilla’s demand, delivered with an air of tyrannical authority, was chilling.
Refuse, and I’ll kill you.
She extended her hand, engulfed in flames, demanding the wedding ring.
Could there be a more terrifying and chilling proposal in this world?
Perhaps his decision to postpone the proposal had led to this disaster.
Edanant, realizing the consequences of his actions, discreetly slipped his hand into his pocket.
Clatter.
His fingers brushed against the ring box.
Edanant swallowed nervously, gazing at Ludmilla, whose eyes were fixated on his pocket, filled with anticipation for the wedding ring.
“It’s true that I received the family’s wedding ring from my father… but I was planning to return it to Beatrice and Maximilian.”
“So, you’re saying you won’t give it to me?”
“N-No! I’ll just give that damn brother of mine a candy ring from the Luinongs.”
“…A wise choice.”
He retrieved the ring box.
He opened the lid, revealing the wedding ring.
Was it because of the surrounding flames?
The diamond cube embedded in the wedding ring sparkled with an even more dazzling brilliance.
The wedding ring passed down through generations of Hohenberc successors, the one they used to confess their love to their beloved.
Ludmilla’s eyes, gazing at the ring she had yearned for, were filled with greed.
Give it to me.
Give it to me now.
If you change your mind now, I’ll kill you.
She muttered, her breath hot with flames.
Ludmilla’s expression hardened, as if threatening to eliminate anyone who dared to interfere with her proposal.
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