Holy Power for a Villainess? - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Never before had I been this happy to see him.

The moment I realized he could pull me out of this situation, I ran straight toward Heinox.

“Duke-nim!”

When I teared up with relief and called out to him in a trembling voice, Heinox flinched for a brief moment before lifting me into his arms.

“So. What exactly is going on here?”

But no one around us answered. They probably didn’t want to recklessly involve themselves and suffer the consequences.

“Tch.”

Heinox looked at the nobles avoiding his gaze as though they were pathetic, then turned his head toward Renzard.

“You explain, Renzard Tanzeric.”

Without taking his eyes off the trembling Pleury, Renzard spoke.

“…That thing dared to insult Mother.”

“…Priscilla, you mean?”

At the unexpected name, Heinox seemed shaken for a split second before quickly hiding his emotions with practiced ease.

“What exactly did she say?”

Still unable to calm his anger, Renzard bit down hard on his lip before speaking in a trembling voice.

“She said… Roxina killed Mother.”

“D-Duke-nim!”

Pleury cried out, her face deathly pale.

“I absolutely did not mean to insult the Duchess! I merely wished for the Young Master to realize the truth—!”

“Lady Akarins.”

A coldness unlike anything before seeped from Heinox’s voice as he addressed Pleury.

At that instant, the murderous aura brushing past my cheek made my body tremble uncontrollably. Feeling me shake, Heinox slowly stroked my back with one hand as he continued speaking.

“You are not in any position to lecture House Tanzeric.”

Pleury looked moments away from fainting, but Heinox paid her no mind as he drove the final nail in.

“I suggest you learn your place.”

“Ah…”

With those final words, Heinox turned around.

The last thing I saw before leaving the banquet hall was Pleury collapsed on the floor, staring blankly into space as though her soul had left her body.

Even while walking from the banquet hall toward the carriage, Heinox never stopped stroking my back.

The warmth from his hand gradually eased my trembling until it finally disappeared.

The coachman waiting nearby looked startled when he saw us returning much earlier than expected and hurriedly opened the carriage door.

After seating me inside, Heinox spoke.

“Wait here.”

The moment his hand left me, a strange emptiness washed over me, and I quickly grabbed onto his sleeve.

“W-When are you coming back?”

Heinox stared briefly at my tiny hand clutching his sleeve before placing his own hand over it.

“…I’ll return soon.”

When I nodded and released him, Heinox closed the carriage door, murmured something quietly to the coachman, and headed back toward the banquet hall.

“Why’s he going back…?”

As I watched his retreating figure disappear, exhaustion suddenly crashed over me, and I let out a huge yawn.

“Haaam…”

‘I’m sleepy…’

Now that I thought about it, a lot had happened today.

My first outing. Visiting the imperial palace. The openly hostile stares. Pleury’s disastrously sharp intuition.

‘It really was exhausting.’

I’d moved around far more than usual today, so it made sense that I was this tired.

My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. After blinking slowly a few times, I eventually drifted off to sleep.

While Roxina slept, Heinox returned to the banquet hall.

The moment he stepped inside, the young ladies supporting Pleury froze in place.

“D-Duke-nim…”

Pleury, who had only just managed to steady her breathing after Heinox left, immediately began trembling again at his sudden return.

“Pleury Akarins.”

“Y-Yes…”

“What do you think House Tanzeric is?”

“T-The guardians of the Empire, and—”

“No.”

As Pleury answered with her eyes fixed on the floor and her voice shaking, Heinox cut her off with a frown.

“War demons. Ruthless murderers.”

The instant those words left his mouth, the banquet hall froze over like midwinter.

“Why is everyone so stiff?”

He slowly swept his gaze across the nobles avoiding eye contact.

“Those are the nicknames all of you used for me, are they not?”

Heinox turned back toward Pleury, whose pale body now shook like a trembling leaf.

“So this is how the nobles of the capital treat knights who risk their lives for the Empire.”

“D-Duke-nim!”

At that moment, Countess Akarins stepped in front of Pleury as though shielding her from imminent collapse and cried out desperately.

“Please forgive her just this once! I beg you, just once…!”

Despite her pitiful pleas, Heinox didn’t so much as blink.

“You dared to touch House Tanzeric without even understanding your own standing.”

Standing beside the Countess, Pleury collapsed completely to the floor and sobbed.

“Duke-nim…!”

Heinox delivered his final words like a sentence being passed.

“If you chose to provoke me, then you should have been prepared for the consequences.”

Leaving behind the trembling Countess and Pleury, who could barely even breathe anymore, Heinox coldly turned away.

Chedman, who had been speaking with Renzard in the reception room, hurried out into the hallway.

Spotting Heinox in the distance just as he was about to board the carriage, Chedman rushed over and stopped him.

“Father.”

Heinox looked at him with eyes still burning with anger, causing Chedman to flinch momentarily before continuing.

“Didn’t I tell you Roxina would not be welcomed?”

“……”

Heinox silently stared at Chedman, whose lips were pressed tightly together.

“Everyone believes Roxina was abandoned. And the reason is none other than you, Father.”

“……”

“You have no right to be angry.”

“…Why didn’t you send me a letter?”

Heinox asked with a deep frown.

“Why didn’t you show even the slightest sign that something like this was happening?”

“……”

“Why did you allow bastards like them to look down on House Tanzeric?”

“Father.”

“Why should Roxina be the one lowering her head?!”

Roxina was only four years old. A child who still couldn’t even speak properly.

The moment Heinox saw Roxina standing there with her head lowered, he remembered the unmistakable hostility that had been directed toward her from the instant she entered the hall.

Just imagining the things the nobles must have been saying about Roxina while he was absent filled him with uncontrollable rage.

“Why… why…”

The malicious whispers thrown at her as though she should never have existed.

“This isn’t what I wanted. This isn’t what I intended. I only… only…”

“……”

After losing his wife, Heinox had felt as though someone had carved a hole straight through his chest.

At the same time, he cursed the temple. Why hadn’t they come to the estate? Why had they lied?

Unable to endure his rage, Heinox eventually turned his resentment toward Roxina.

If only you hadn’t existed, Priscilla would still be beside me.

Thousands of times each day, he regretted failing to persuade Priscilla not to give birth.

And the moment he realized he could never bring himself to love Roxina, Heinox understood that the direction of his anger was wrong.

So he fled straight to the battlefield.

Because at the very least, he did not want to hate the child.

“This isn’t what I wanted…”

“…But it already happened.”

After hesitating briefly, Chedman continued speaking.

“I know I was not blameless either.”

“……”

“But we cannot continue living like this forever.”

Chedman looked toward Roxina sleeping peacefully inside the carriage.

“I will apologize. Until Roxina forgives me. I will tell her I’m sorry over and over again.”

“……”

Chedman’s calm eyes met Heinox’s in the empty air between them.

“What about you, Father?”

“Duke-nim, welcome ba— guh!”

The butler who had come out to greet them gasped loudly at the sight of Roxina asleep in Heinox’s arms.

‘Since the Duchess passed away, the Duke hadn’t even looked at the Young Lady!’

Seeing him hold her so gently was emotional enough to bring tears to his eyes.

Roxina’s room, located at the far western end of the mansion, was quite far from Heinox’s office.

‘Did she really climb all those stairs every day?’

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Heinox looked down at the deeply sleeping Roxina.

“…She’s small. So very small.”

Her nose, her tiny wriggling lips, even her little twitching feet.

“Are girls normally this small?”

‘Renzard and Chedman definitely weren’t this tiny.’

Roxina was unusually small, even considering she was only four years old.

‘I heard she eats her meals properly.’

Heinox recalled holding Roxina in his arms earlier. She had been so small and light that it felt like she might break if he held her too tightly.

‘It’s because of me.’

Instead of caring for young Roxina, he had fled to the battlefield.

Using the excuse that he didn’t want to hate the child.

Using the grief of losing his wife as a shield.

And in doing so, Heinox pushed Roxina away.

“Roxina.”

Roxina Tanzeric. The final child left behind by me and Priscilla.

Carefully brushing Roxina’s hair behind her ear so he wouldn’t wake her, Heinox whispered softly.

“I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry for making you live burdened by the guilt of killing your mother.

I’m sorry for not staying by your side.

I’m sorry for making you hate yourself.

My beloved daughter,

“I’m sorry for being a cowardly father.”