Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 293

A terrible silence fell.His head turned completely blank.

Even though he unconsciously caught the falling Arendt and sank to the ground with him, Laius was unable to do anything.

Arthur and Richt, who had just come to their senses and rushed over, froze at the entrance to the storage room.

“What… is this…”

Arthur moved his lips, but he couldn’t even fully comprehend what he was muttering.

There was not a trace of life in the apprentice knight who collapsed in the captain’s arms.

But it seemed that the captain had also lost his breath.

With eyes like those of a man witnessing his own death, Laius looked down at Arendt blankly.

The blood on his face and hands was extremely hot.

It was Arendt’s.

Even at this moment, the blood gushing from Arendt’s body was soaking Laius’ clothes without any sign of stopping.

“…”

Laius absentmindedly stroked the apprentice knight’s cheek.

Apart from the hot blood, his body temperature was cooling down quickly.

Roger looked down at the two and spoke calmly.

“…What a noble sacrifice. I pay my respects.”

At that voice, Laius raised his head.

Before he knew it, Roger was slowly lifting his sword to cut him down.

Laius gripped his broken sword tightly.

But he couldn’t move anymore.

He didn’t even want to move.

‘Does this make sense?’

He prayed earnestly to God Luce, saying that he would shoulder everything himself if necessary.

It was what Laius had believed without a doubt to be his own until just moments ago.

On the other hand, Arendt was always grumbling that it was just a dog’s death.

But in the end, it was Arendt who fell, and Laius’s life was saved by his sacrifice.

“…”

In the midst of despair, he felt a strong sense of doubt.

Up until now, it was Arendt who had been doing all kinds of tough tasks while spewing harsh words.

He always recklessly charged ahead and caused trouble, but was that truly his own will?

If he had been more capable and stronger in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

‘Is this the right thing?’

At this moment, all that filled his mind were questions that would never be answered.

Had the prayers he had offered to God Luce up until now been truly meaningful?

Or was even this part of His arrangement?

But for what?

Laius, unable to come to a conclusion, stared blankly at the sword falling toward him.

“Captain!”

Richt’s screams could be heard, but even those did not reach Laius properly.

He didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

At that moment, a gentle touch lightly embraced his shoulder from behind.

– Don’t be afraid.

An unknown voice burrowed into his ear.

A warmth like sunlight enveloped Laius’ entire body.

With a voice as though soothing a child, the god whispered to his hero.

– I’m with you.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing alone on the stage.

He blinked his eyes curiously.

“…”

The empty auditorium was shrouded in an eerie darkness.

In contrast, the stage was too bright.

The lights were all on, shining straight at him.

He absentmindedly turned his head and discovered that just a few steps away, a light had been shattered into pieces.

It seemed like something that had been hanging above had fallen onto the stage.

“…What?”

He was muttering absentmindedly, when he suddenly realized that there was a huge mirror installed inside the stage.

A man’s figure was reflected there.

A calm, but gloomy looking man appeared.

The members were delighted that the clothes suited him well, as he was quite tall and had a slim body.

The clothes he wore were the loose-fitting t-shirt and pants he often wore during practice, and the tired look on his face that he could not quite hide was also familiar.

It was the face of Lee Soo-hyun, whom he was encountering after a very long time.

“…!”

Startled, he turned to look at his own reflection.

He saw the apprentice knight’s uniform and the leather gloves that he always wore like a second skin.

The hair that flowed forward cumbersomely was also a shiny silver colour.

He was still Arendt von Eckhart.

“Ah…”

Only then did he remember what had happened earlier.

“This damned…”

The curses just came out on their own.

He exited the stage in the worst possible way for a comedy.

He was well aware that it was not like his, or rather, Arendt’s, behavior.

Because it was the result of acting impulsively without any time to think things through.

But anyway, Laius would have survived, so it wasn’t such a bad outcome.

‘That’s what supporting roles are like anyway.’

He had long been aware that, despite not being a hero or a protagonist, he had played a rather significant role.

Laius’ words were not wrong.

It was not Arendt’s role to completely eliminate evil.

He had done more than enough of what was required, so perhaps now was the best time for ‘Arendt von Eckhardt’ to exit the stage.

‘The captain will take care of the rest.’

He looked at the lights shining towards him.

They were blinding.

‘…Am I dead?’

Perhaps that was the case.

Because the moment the world went dark as Roger’s blade struck was still vivid.

But he didn’t feel even a little bit of pain now.

Even the uniform that had been torn to rags by the rough fight was still intact.

When he looked back, he saw ‘Lee Soo-hyun’ in the mirror looking at him with a hesitant expression.

“…So what do you want me to do from now on?”

His last memory of the place was the moment he was struck squarely by the light, so it seemed unlikely that Lee Soo-hyun would have escaped unscathed either.

‘I wonder what will happen.’

Rather, his mind became calm.

It looked similar to the theater he was in right before he was pulled into the world of “The Blue Knight of the Holy Sword”, but somehow it was different.

It didn’t smell like musty dust, and most importantly, it wasn’t worn out.

There was not a shred of human warmth to be found.

He was beginning to understand where this space, filled with eerie darkness and unpleasant light, was.

“…”

Suddenly, Arendt felt gazes from behind him and looked back at the audience.

A faint smile spread across his lips as he blinked his eyes a few times.

“You son of a bitch, we finally meet.”

“Hmm…”

‘Light’, seated in the middle of the empty audience, tilted his head.

“Is it your habit to always speak so harshly? Or are you still acting?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Arendt just stared at him silently.

There was no way to describe his existence except with the word ‘light.’

A familiar face that he had seen many times while visiting the Great Temple was smiling brightly.

Even in the eerie darkness that enveloped the auditorium, a warm light seeped out around him.

The pristine golden hair flowing down to the tips of his toes seemed as if it were crafted from fragments of sunlight.

His androgynous face was as beautiful as if an anxious sculptor had spent years perfecting it.

“Rejoice. The master of your stage is here to welcome you in person.”

Luce gracefully narrowed his eyes and smiled benevolently.

He literally looked like the ruler of the world.

It was a human form, but he had an intuition that what was visible was not all there was.

“…”

He felt as if he was being sucked into those sparkling eyes.

The moment he was captivated by it, it would be the end.

Beyond his beautiful smile, the being was light itself and was everywhere.

At the same time, he was a more terrifying and gigantic being than any monster he had ever encountered.

Enough to crush a single lost soul without a second thought.

The back of his neck stiffened with instinctive rejection.

He felt suffocated by the overwhelming presence.

“…”

But Arendt suppressed the disgust stirring inside him.

His pride wouldn’t allow him to bow his head to just this extent.

After a while, Arendt, who had managed to calm himself down, raised his head high and glared at Luce.

“…The master of the stage, huh?”

Lee Soo-hyun in the mirror also moved with him.

“A nuisance audience member, perhaps? Or should I call you a statue prop on the stage?”

“Oh my, this is ridiculous. I didn’t expect you to kneel down and worship me… but you start cursing at me as soon as you see me.”

The god of light burst into laughter.

“I guess you have a knack for posturing. It won’t be easy to handle my presence.”

“Presence or whatever nonsense— has there ever been an actor who gets nervous over a mere statue?”

Arendt’s voice was extremely dry, with only a hint of mockery.

Luce gave him a displeased expression.

“What a boring kid.”

“You say it’s not fun? You’re saying that now. I bet you’ve been enjoying yourself watching it so far.”

“Well…”

Luce tilted his head indifferently.

“It was fun, but things got really messed up because of you. It’s become a real headache.”

“You’re the one who brought me here. What on earth are you complaining about?”

Arendt’s brow furrowed.

“Things are messed up? My life is messed up. It wasn’t me who ruined the story, it was you. What on earth are you up to? Why am I…”

The questions he had been harboring for so long naturally slipped out.

“Why am I here?”

“If you ask me why, I don’t really have anything to say.”

Luce answered absentmindedly, stroking his long, flowing hair.

“Because you were the best person for the job.”

“I’m the best person?”

As he unconsciously asked back, Luce answered him lightly.

“You’re asking a stupid question. Isn’t it natural to choose an actor who fits the role well?”

“…”

Arendt was speechless for a moment.

Luce continued speaking slowly, resting his chin on his hand.

“If I put it in your terms, that would be it. You’ve been peeking into this world… yes, let’s call it a script. It’s just like you always thought.”

It was a story about the novel that Lee Soo-hyun had reread over and over again.

“And you were the one who best fit that script. I was satisfied with my choice until recently.”

Luce’s beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“You dug too much and that’s what caused the problem. Now that child’s blaming me.”

“That child?”

In response to Arendt’s question, Luce let out a short sigh and snapped his fingers.

Then, the other side of the stage, which had been covered in darkness until then, suddenly became bright as if a light had been turned on.

Before his eyes could even adjust to the sudden light, he heard a voice that had become so familiar from afar.

– Why is that?

Suddenly, he felt like he had been hit in the head.

Arendt froze in place.

On the other side of the stage was Laius.

– I prayed that I would rather shoulder it myself. Was I not enough on my own? Could I not protect my family or even one of my subordinates?

The Knight Captain, kneeling in the middle of a stage decorated like an ancient temple, looked like a madman.

– I’m willing to be a sacrifice. But Arendt never wanted that. So why…

Laius, who had been wailing before the statue of God Luce gazing down at him benevolently, suddenly struck his head against the floor with a loud thud.

Luce waved his hand once more, and the other side of the stage was quickly plunged into darkness again.

But Arendt still could not take his eyes off the abyss.

“…”

Watching him frozen in place, Luce spoke slowly.

“The Holy Sword responds at the moment when the hero’s heart becomes most earnest. But when the earnestness reached its peak, resentment also crept in. This is something I never expected…”

Luce’s voice penetrated into his dazed mind.

“Laius can no longer take sacrifice for granted. It’s all because of you.”