The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 128

Chapter 128: You Are My Spring (3)

“Edmund.”

Hybolt, who had been observing the situation, finally opened his mouth, heavy with unspoken words, at Edmund’s appearance.

However, Edmund didn’t even look at him and simply extended his hand to Cain once more.

“Edmund!”

Bang—!

Hybolt stood up.

The king, who had only been watching over the future of the throne, slammed his hand on the table and called out to Edmund, his voice filled with genuine concern.

“Later.”

But Edmund didn’t seem interested in the slightest.

The nobles who knew him well shook their heads, but Hybolt was different.

“I heard you were a great help in this northern war. But you never showed up.”

“…….”

“Why?”

It wasn’t anger.

It was a question filled with frustration and bewilderment from one friend to another.

Perhaps unable to ignore him any longer, Edmund slowly turned his head to face Hybolt.

“I’ll explain the details later.”

“Count Edmund Ethelred!”

“It’s really urgent. I’ll be back with him as soon as this is over, and then I’ll answer.”

And with that, he immediately grabbed Cain’s hand. He tried to fly off with him right away, but…

Squeeze—

Cain didn’t budge.

“At least tell me why.”

“There’s no time……”

“I understand you’re in a hurry. But I’m in a hurry too. This isn’t a place for my father to barge in by breaking the ceiling.”

“…….”

Cain looked at Oleciren.

Slowly, he glanced at the counts of the territories he had run through since his rebirth, his gaze stopping at Hybolt.

“This gathering of today was made possible by the changes I made yesterday. I can’t just leave without knowing why.”

Cain spoke coldly.

Catching Glumiêm would have been practically impossible without Edmund’s help.

But that was then and this is now.

If Edmund had stayed.

Or if he had at least shown him a little affection and then left, the Cain of the previous timeline wouldn’t have met such a fate.

Besides, the order to not do anything in the territory was something he couldn’t accept no matter how much he thought about it.

[‘Winter’ comforts you.]

Deep inside Cain’s heart.

The name of the desolate land, where wounds had festered and burst until they could no longer be called wounds, was Ethelred of the past.

It was hard to look favorably upon Edmund, the root cause of it all.

“…Chloe is disappearing.”

Edmund had no choice but to speak out. Saintess Caterina’s eyes grew wider.

“We have only a few hours left. I want to show you to Chloe before then.”

The witch, Chloe, who was already dead but remained in this world through her witch’s power.

As if the end of the World Tree was also the destined end for Chloe, she was slowly scattering away.

The reason Edmund didn’t show up earlier, the reason he was in such a hurry now, was all because of Chloe.

His lover who he had loved with everything he had throughout his life.

The woman he prioritized even over their child, the fruit of their love, Chloe.

“Chloe…… is alive……?”

Her older brother, Count Lamaring, asked back with a dumbfounded expression. Glancing at Edmund, he spoke again.

“I’ll explain the details later, there’s no time.”

Rumble—

Edmund pulled, but Cain remained rooted to the spot.

As if the killing intent earlier was just a prank, a tremendous energy slowly flowed through Cain’s skin.

“Everyone, this way!”

The Saintess shouted to the people on her side, and the high nobles huddled behind her.

2nd Rank Divine Shield.

The Saintess immediately deployed her divine power, forming a barrier to protect the high nobles.

“What are you doing?”

Wooong—

Edmund also raised his energy.

The energy of the two who had killed the giant World Tree clashed.

Like the blue sea and the muddy river that met but did not mix, their energy clashed fiercely, each maintaining their own color.

Cain slowly opened his mouth.

“Why should I see Chloe?”

“She’s your mother.”

“I don’t have a mother.”

Ironically, this was the very place where, in the past, the first Ethelred couple, who had come from across the continent, had adopted Glumiêm as their daughter.

“I am your father.”

“I don’t have a father either. I only have parents who abandoned me for their own sake.”

And now.

Cain, who was the last Ethelred in Glumiêm’s line, was furious to the point where his eyes flashed with Pure White Thunderbolt.

“Your words are harsh.”

Edmund’s demeanor turned cold.

The Saintess silently strengthened the divine barrier, and the others present watched the confrontation between the two.

Cain and Edmund.

The father and son ignored their surroundings and stared only at each other.

“I am your father, and Chloe is your mother.”

“Just because you gave birth to me, does that make you my mother and father?”

“…….”

“It was winter that raised me. I had to survive alone, endure the harsh cold, and rise on my own.”

Screech—

Cain pushed his chair back.

He stood up and looked down at Edmund, who was standing on the table.

“I had to live. I had to stop that damn Ross’s schemes, and I fought for the land where my brother would live.”

“…….”

Even Edmund couldn’t misunderstand what Cain was saying.

Cain, who grew up without the love of his parents.

It was difficult for him to suddenly appear and play the role of a parent to such a Cain.

“It’s sad that Lady Chloe is disappearing. But my future is here, why do I have to go now?”

“She wants to see you.”

Edmund repeated like an automaton from the magic city.

“I don’t want to see her.”

Cain flatly refused.

He knew Chloe was his mother.

The woman with the pale face and white dress who was always sick in his memories.

But that was all.

Flick—

Cain shook off Edmund’s hand that was holding him.

“My mother is dead. My father disappeared along with her.”

“I’m here.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Cain!”

Frustrated, Edmund raised his voice.

Crackle—!

Pure White Thunderbolt surged from Cain’s entire body.

Even though Oleciren had seen it countless times, the lightning now seemed to show the anger that had been building up for a long time.

[‘Winter’ curses that man, saying he’s beyond saving.]

[‘Winter’ is losing its temper.]

[‘Winter’ is outraged, asking if they only consider him their son when it’s convenient for them.]

At this moment, Cain was grateful that ‘Winter’ had become a chatterbox.

Because it was his only companion who knew the unspoken anger in his heart.

[‘Winter’ says it’s on Cain’s side no matter what.]

“You abandoned me as you pleased.”

“…….”

“And now you want to take me back as you please.”

“……We didn’t abandon you.”

“Then what is this?”

Cain’s voice rose at the end.

It was only in this timeline that he had awakened ‘Winter’ with the help of the 『Four Seasons『 and had his memories as Lord East, leading to his current success.

What if they weren’t there?

“I would have died because of Marquis Ross’s tricks.”

“It wouldn’t have……”

“No one here would have helped me, and I would have been driven out of the family and thrown myself off a cliff.”

“…….”

“Ah, if I was lucky, I would have survived and gone to the continent. But what would I have done there? I would have become a mercenary doing dirty work.”

“That’s just a hypothetical situation.”

Crackle—!

“No! Let me finish!”

Brilliant lightning bolts erupted from Cain’s entire body.

Even Edmund, who was denying it, stepped back from Cain’s spirit, a spirit filled with such resentment.

“I would end up doing something wrong and run away. Where to? To the Great Wall. I’d fight and fight and fight there…… and then I’d die.”

“That’s just your assumption.”

“Do you truly think so?”

Cain’s eyes narrowed.

[‘Winter’ suggests stabbing that stubborn fool once and for all.]

What he experienced in the previous timeline.

It wasn’t a ridiculous fabrication, but fate, something that had already happened in this world.

Edmund, slightly taken aback by Cain’s momentum, said,

“Hybolt wouldn’t have let you end up like that—”

“Hybolt was dying because of Marquis Ross’s schemes. He couldn’t even save his own daughters, how could he save me?”

“Garick—”

“Count Garick would have died if I hadn’t been there.”

“Wareham……”

Edmund’s words faltered.

He mentioned his old friends one by one, but.

“He’s the one who didn’t even know that Lord Count Garick Crowl was dying. He probably would have burst into anger only after finding out later.”

Edmund turned his head.

He looked at his old friends within the Saintess’s Divine Shield, and they all readily nodded.

“Cain saved me.”

Hybolt.

“That kid saved my wife and son.”

Garick.

“It’s shameful, but it’s true.”

Wareham.

“…….”

Edmund was speechless. Perhaps he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about leaving Cain behind.

But he believed that somehow everything would turn out fine.

He trusted Chloe’s prophecy, which foretold a bright future for Cain.

“I knew you would grow up well.”

“Through future prediction?”

“……Yes.”

“Do you know what I was like until then?”

“Of course I do.”

Edmund nodded.

He, too, had seen it through a certain seer.

But seeing and knowing was different from facing the blade directly.

“You abandoned me.”

Shing.

Cain gripped Agweska.

It wasn’t killing intent but resentment.

It wasn’t fighting spirit but a deep-seated grudge.

Cain, the warrior filled with resentment from the previous timeline, looked up at the target of his anger and spoke,

“It’s because I was raised in winter. Don’t say such things now. I was grateful for your help with Glumiêm, but that’s all, as a noble of Airian.”

“I can explain everything.”

“My time can’t be returned with explanations.”

“There’s really no time. Chloe is desperately waiting for you.”

“That’s not my problem.”

Cain’s firm refusal.

Edmund’s eyes flashed.

His sword was drawn in an instant.

Ardvark.

Lu Rabada.

It wasn’t meant to take his life.

It was an honest thrust, aiming to knock Cain unconscious and take him away.

Clang—!

Cain drew a black trajectory in the air, deflecting Edmund’s thrust. It was the jet-black sword forged from the night, Agweska.

Ardvark.

Lu Delbach Lugh Delbaeth.

The second thrust followed.

It was on a different level from Abel’s.

Like a fish swimming upstream against a raging current, his sword bounced off. The way it utilized the rough flow showed how high Edmund’s swordsmanship stood.

Dark Sky.

Original Style.

Kyrie.

A horizontal slash was unleashed.

The blade, imbued with moonlight, once again deflected Edmund’s Ardvark.

“It’s cold.”

One swing of the sword spoke louder than a hundred words.

Edmund, now serious, raised his sword vertically.

Ardvark.

Potla.

Shwaaaaaaaa—!

Countless thrusts rained down like a downpour, the third move of the holy sword Ardvark, unknown to both Abel and Cain.

Cain closed his eyes.

It was a speed impossible to follow with his eyes anyway.

Crackle—

But no matter how fast it was, it was slower than light, and Cain read the world with Pure White Thunderbolt.

Dark Sky.

Cross Strike.

Kyrie Eleison.

The cross-shaped slash deflected the approaching wall of swords.

Whooong—

Just three clashes.

The people were safe thanks to the Saintess’s divine protection, but the massive tent couldn’t withstand it and was torn to shreds.

The people who rushed in, startled by the overwhelming energy, couldn’t even get close to the pressure Cain and Edmund were emitting.

“Brother!”

Abel quickly stood by Cain’s side, sword in hand.

He was ready to fight alongside him, no matter who the enemy was.

“I’m with you too.”

Thump.

Oleciren stepped out of the Divine Shield.

She stood behind Edmund, on the opposite side of Cain, and raised both hands.

At that moment.

“Lord Edmund.”

His second wife and Abel’s biological mother.

Thud.

It was Arna.

She knelt on one knee towards Edmund.

“Let me speak to him.”

“…….”

A relationship that didn’t look like a couple in anyone’s eyes.

At Arna’s words, Edmund slowly sheathed his sword.

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