Chapter 47: The villainess flaunts (part 2)

‘Why are we doing this?’

I walked with that thought in silence for a moment while holding onto the rope tied to Shael.

‘Is this the right thing to do?’

I didn’t know. 

A child whispered to her mother.

ㅡ Mom, look over there! That pretty sister is on a leash!

— Shh, shh! Don’t look at them!

Shael’s face went red with shame. It was the same for me too.

I couldn’t believe that we were doing this on the street where everyone was passing by.

Khawk!

Even the leashed puppy, who was in a similar situation to Shael, barked at her as if it was mocking her.

She seemed be feeling extremely ashamed and it also seemed like her provocation plan went out of her mind for a moment. Now she should agree to give up due to the shame.

“It would be better to untie the rope.”

“…”

The villainess looked troubled. Should she give up the ropes due to the shame, or endure the shame to defeat Clie?

“I had previously insulted you as a bi*tch, but now it turned out to be true.”

At my provocation, Shael, who was pondering between the two options, gave an answer.

“Untie it.”

Shael finally gave up. However, after staring at the ropes for a moment, she appealed to me as if it was unfair.

“Tie yourself up too.”

“Yes?”

[An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. I was tied up, so you should be tied too.]

That’s what Shael insisting on.

“Are you crazy?”

“…?”

[Why did I get scolded?] Shael looked at me in bewilderment. 

Of course, I had no answer.

I just continued walking without speaking.

Clie was still following Shael and me. Since she had been following us so persistently, I became curious.

‘Do she have something important to say?’ 

Then she should’ve just used the bracelet.

I couldn’t even guess the reason. But soon, an opportunity came. It was a chance to talk to Clie.

Shael was pointing to the restrooms nearby.

“Yes, I will wait.”

Shael went into the bathroom. 

At the same time, I glanced in the direction of Clie, and before I knew it, Clie was right in front of me.

I was the one who was supposed to approach Clie, but she came to me instead. So, we must end the conversation. Because Shael could come out of the bathroom any moment now.

“Why are you following me?”

That wasn’t the only thing I was curious about. If she was following us, another question would be, why she was making it so obvious?

“Well, aren’t you going to answer?”

Clie smiled like a snake. 

Feeling uneasy, I cast a sound blocking spell around us.

It would be a disaster if Shael overheard the conversation.

Clie remained silent. She seemed to be waiting for the right time. I guess there won’t be any more conversations.

Shael would be out soon. Before she did, I had to make Clie leave.

“We’ll talk later, so leave for today.”

However, Clie still waited for something in silence. 

The situation was turning dangerous by the second!

Feeling that something was terribly wrong, I opened my mouth again. However, I couldn’t utter any words!

The faint holy power that Clie was emitting was now weighing down my body.

Even though it was a faint holy power, it was enough to make me feel pain.

At some point, the sound blocking magic I had cast disappeared due to Clie’s holy power.

‘Was the holy power such a strong force in the original novel?’

No.

It was just a power that helped Clie survive the incurable disease and helped heal someone.

It was never a power with such brute force.

It’s not that Clie couldn’t use magic in the novel, but she couldn’t use magic through holy power like she was doing now.

So it was clear that something was wrong. The holy power was still suppressed my voice.

It was then, Clie suddenly opened her mouth to speak,

“I love you too, Young Lord!”

She was suddenly saying nonsensical words. And she also added the word ‘too’, to make it sound as if I had said that to Clie first.

I couldn’t help but notice the sinister ulterior motive behind those words.

Because Clie’s eyes locked behind me.

‘Shael!’

Shael must be watching us.

‘What the hell is she doing!  I have to tell her right now…’

I was still being suppressed by Clie’s holy power and couldn’t speak. Holy power shouldn’t be able to suppress or cancel mana like this!

I could just imagine what would happen in the future. 

Even if Clie left and I gave Shael an explanation.

Even if I told the truth, it would only seem like a lie.

Shael, who knew that I had been communicating with Clie through the bracelet, would never believe me.

Even when Clie was following us, I had been pretending not to know.

Shael could be unusually smart only in situations like this, she might have noticed that I was pretending not to know.

Most importantly, what was suppressing my voice was not mana, but faint holy power. If she was using mana, my excuse would’ve been more believable.

[Clie used magic on me so I couldn’t speak.] 

Even if it was a meaningless excuse, it would’ve worked. Because it would mean that my magic skills were worse than Clie.

But what was suppressing my voice was a faint holy power. Not only would it be hard for Shael to sense it, but holy power didn’t have that kind of power in the first place.

After coming to this world, I had studied the holy power to a great extent, so it was a fact I was sure of.

Therefore, this was an extremely dangerous situation! 

A situation that the main characters in a cringy novel would normally go through. 

After that, all sorts of misunderstandings would arise.

But I wasn’t the main character in a cringy novel.

While looking at Clie, who was showing a sly smile, I raised my middle finger.

And, I moved my mouth at the same time. 

Even though she couldn’t hear the words because I was suppressed by the holy power, that was enough.

[Bit*ch]

I didn’t know if I was being too rude, but… that didn’t really matter. 

My personality was like that. I prefer being rude rather than being suppressed.

I mean, I even cursed at my one and only fiancé.

But this time, it wasn’t enough!

After thinking for a moment, I reached out my hand toward the scabbard.