Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 19: Confession

Chapter 19: Confession

Fol was running.

Unconsciously infusing her legs with magic, she moved at a speed that ordinary people couldn’t easily achieve.

The words spoken by Carlos echoed in her mind.

“Rofus-sama won’t come back to Rougvelt anymore.”

Upon hearing that, the first emotion Fol felt was not loneliness or sadness, but anger.

Rofus had saved Fol’s life, saved Rougvelt, and even saved Norn, Fol’s childhood friend who she thought she would never see again.

It was an immense debt of gratitude that Fol couldn’t even express in words.

Yet Rofus, without accepting a single word of thanks, was trying to leave without even saying anything to her.

How selfish and self-centered.

Fol understood that this was an irrational line of thinking.

She couldn’t bear the thought of parting with Rofus without being able to talk about it, without even seeing each other’s faces.

And as if to encourage her, Norn smiled and said, “Go, Fol.”

Upon hearing those words, Fol dashed forward.

Ignoring the voices of Log and Greg calling out to her from behind, she ran straight out of the village.

She ran and ran and ran, relentlessly.

She didn’t even know where Rofus resided.

Still, Fol didn’t doubt for a moment that Rofus was where she was going.

It was as if she was being guided by something.

Fol crossed the rocky mountain, passed through the forest, and reached the sprawling hill ahead.

A carriage on the hill.

On the carriage was the emblem of the Lightless family that Rofus had taught her, engraved.

And the coachman was Yurika, the black-haired female healer who had treated Rofus yesterday.

Without a doubt, it was Rofus’ carriage.

Overjoyed to have caught up, Fol ran breathlessly towards the carriage.

However, Yurika, who noticed it, stood in her way.

“Wait. Who are you? What business do you have with us…?”

“Fol, I want to talk to Rofas a little. Let me through.”

With that, Yurika narrowed her eyes slightly and quietly shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but I have been ordered not to let anyone in by the young master. I can’t let you through.”

“Please… I haven’t even… I haven’t even said thank you to him yet…”

With Fol bowing her head, Yurika averted her eyes with a look of pity.

“…I’m sorry, I can’t let you through. But I will definitely convey your words to the young master.”

Rejected.

Fol sighed deeply and, with determination in her eyes, faced Yurika, drawing her cutlass from her waist sheath and taking a stance.

“Well, sorry, but I’ll have to force my way through.”

Yurika, even though she hadn’t drawn her sword from its sheath, sighed lightly at Fol’s serious demeanor.

And she silently questioned Carlos in her mind.

—Is this… the “future mistress candidate” of the young master? Isn’t she a bit too hot-tempered?

Yurika, her sword drawn, confronts Fol with a look of pity.

And she takes out her wand, responding to Fol’s serious stance.

“Are you serious about what you are about to do?”

“If you won’t step aside…”

“It won’t lead to a conversation, will it? If you promise not to do anything and just leave now, I’ll overlook it.”

Fol replied to the offer by swinging her cutlass.

Yurika, taking it in her wand, responds by blocking her sword.

Fol, whose sword was easily deflected, continued to swing her cutlass—but each time, she was easily parried.

The overwhelming difference in strength and skill felt with each clash of weapons.

After all, while Fol had combat experience, it was only against monsters.

She had almost no experience in combat against humans.

On the other hand, Yurika was a specialist in combat against humans as a member of the dark knights.

It was a fight that was never going to be fair.

“You’re too strong… Aren’t you supposed to be a healer…?”

“I’m still a dark knight. If I wanted to, I could take down an orc horde with just this wand.”

While making a joke, Yurika deflects Fol’s cutlass with her wand.

When the cutlass, thrown off by Yurika, rolled to the ground, Fol opened her eyes wide.

“…This won’t work either, huh…”

Fol then encaged Yurika inside a water cage.

Yurika tried to destroy the water cage  by casting magic on it, but it didnt budge.

Disappointed by her all-out attack not even leaving a crack in the water cage, Yurika looked up at the sky with a frustrated expression.

And then, she took out another wand from her waist and, with each hand, began to infuse them with magic.

“I don’t want to unnecessarily spend a lot of magic, but I have no choice. If it feels like that just now, a thousand shots should break it.”

Looking bored, Lunamare, the floating sea otter familiar, looked at Yurika for the first time.

Immediately after, a tremendous impact reverberated incessantly inside the water cage, but seeing it still wasn’t broken, Fol decided to check up on Rofus instead.

Opening the carriage door and stepping inside, Fol saw Rofas sitting on the chair inside the carriage, sleeping peacefully.

From there on, words failed to come out of her mouth.

There were too many things she wanted to say to Rofus, too many things she wanted to ask, that couldn’t be expressed in just a few words.

Why did he go this far for Rougvelt?

Why did he help her even to the point of losing his left arm?

Why did he help Norn too?

And why did he try to leave without saying anything?

Why, why…

“…”

I want to talk to Rofus.

When such feelings filled Fol’s heart, a jolt echoed through the carriage.

“Huh?”

Fol leaned out of the carriage window as if to check the outside.

Fortunately, the water cage covering Yurika seemed intact, but the impact was tremendous.

Fol guessed that it must have been something Yurika released to escape from the water basket.

—That knight is really something…

As Fol trembled in fear, she suddenly realized that she couldn’t hear Rofus’s sleeping breath anymore.

“Ah…”

Whether awakened by the recent shock, Rofus looked at Fol with an indescribable gaze.

“…G-Good morning.”

Inadvertently blurting out a morning greeting, Fol made Rofus sigh.

“Why are you here? What happened to Yurika?”

“If it’s that female knight, she’s outside for various reasons.”

Fol looked outside the window, and Rofus also glanced out, pretending to follow Fol’s gaze.

In Rofus’s eyes, he saw Yurika trapped in the water basket, waving her wand towards it, and a bluish-white glow of a flying tadpole.

Rofus somehow understood the situation and sighed again.

“Lunamare… I see.”

Seeing Rofus looking at Yurika with pity, Fol tilted his head.

“Do you know about her?”

“On the contrary, why don’t you know about it?”

“No, I didn’t know a thing about her.”

Seeing Rofus’s exasperated expression, Fol frowned.

Despite frowning, Fol found the trivial exchange with Rofus enjoyable, and his face naturally relaxed.

However, Rofus quickly put an end to the atmosphere.

“So, what did you come here for?”

“What do you mean… Why did you try to leave without saying anything?”

“Did you come all the way here just to ask that?”

“Shut up. Just answer.”

“…”

Rofus fell silent for a moment and then spoke.

As if carefully choosing his words.

“I didn’t feel the necessity to meet you anymore.”

Fol clenched her teeth at those dismissive words.

Suppressing the tears that welled up involuntarily, Fol glared at Rofus.

“Do you… dislike me?”

“I hate you. I hate you so much.”

The reply came from Rofus, devoid of any emotion.

Fol impulsively grabbed Rofus’s collar and shed a single tear while glaring.

“I… like Rofus — I love you.”

“—”

Caught off guard by the sudden confession, Rofus averted his gaze in confusion.

“B-But…”

“Why are you still saying such things? It’s only been two days since we met.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m still twelve years old.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m a noble, and you’re a commoner…”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“We come from different worlds.”

“It doesn’t matter!”

Fol raised her head defiantly, staring at Rofus with tear-filled eyes.

And then, gently touching Rofus’s cheek with both hands, she said softly.

“I can reach out and touch you. See, you and I are in the same world right now.”

Rofus spoke with a suppressed emotion in his flat voice.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“—I understand…”

Fol raised her head again, burying it weakly in Rofus’s chest and extending her arms around him.

“—But I still love you. Even if you hate me, I love you, and that won’t change even if we come from different worlds.”

Fol’s emotions touched Rofus deeply.

Rofus gently placed his hand on Fol’s shoulder, accepting the embrace.

“Fol, I—”

As Rofus was about to continue speaking, the carriage door was forcefully flung open.

And there stood Yurika, looking terribly exhausted, stepping into the carriage.

It seemed that the water basket had been broken by Yurika’s powerful attacks.

As soon as she entered the carriage, Yurika bowed her head.

“I’m sorry for being late! Young mas…”

Yurika raised her head stiffly, freezing in place.

Inside the carriage, Fol embraced Rofus tightly.

And Rofus seemed to accept it.

Fol’s face blushed rapidly, and Rofus looked disappointedly at Yurika.

Yurika became flustered and averted her gaze.

“…Did I interrupt you..?”

Rofus let out a deep sigh at Yurika’s belated words.

“Yes, you did. Wait outside.”

“…Understood.”

After a long silence, Yurika visibly dejectedly left and closed the door.

The door closed.

And thus, the carriage became once again a place for only Rofus and Fol.

Fol, realizing belatedly what she was doing, looked embarrassed, her face still flushed.

Rofus, with a pinch, teasingly pinched Fol’s left cheek.

“Hehehe! Rofus!”

“You’re quite flexible.”

Stopping the cheek-pinching, Rofus laughed.

Fol, while rubbing her reddened left cheek, glared at him with tearful eyes.

“What are you doing! I’m serious…”

Rofus shrugged incredulously.

“You’re clinging to me and saying you love me, and you expect me to take that seriously?”

“I-I’m serious! Besides, weren’t you about to say something earlier… What were you going to say?”

Looking away awkwardly, Fol challenged Rofus.

“I wonder… I forgot.”

“You forgot… No, no, remember!”

“First of all, what are you trying to do with a noble? That’s just plain criminal.”

“Shut up! It’s the second time I’ve done it, so it should be fine!”

“The second time!? What does that mean!?”

“You saw me naked already, so take responsibility!”

“That was just a first aid measure on your side!”

The voices of the two angrily echoed from inside the carriage.

Due to the content, Yurika, with dead eyes, quietly covered her ears.

The two voices continued to echo from inside the carriage for a while.

Then Carlos, who had explained to the residents of Rougvelt and protected the rescued residents at the port town’s church, came to mediate.

After parting ways with Fol and heading back to the capital, Rofus seemed a little lonely somehow.