I Will Break Off the Engagement Because I'm Jealous - The Untalented Villainess Who Rejected the Prince Searches for a Safe Haven with the Cheat Heroine - Chapter 3.7

Zlight was bound by Donixbarret’s skill “Promise Chain.”

(I’ve been had… If it was just about being taken away, I could have found a way to turn things around somewhere! But this—!)

Emilia gritted her teeth. Meanwhile, Iris was trying to grab the chain stretching toward Zlight with her hands.

“Dad! Damn it, I can’t grab it…! What is this chain?!”

“It’s a skill, so it must be a chain of magic, of course. Now, let’s go, Baron Fran.”

“No, wait, Dad! You bastard, Donix!”

Iris hurled her words at Donixbarret’s back as he pulled the chain. He twisted his body around and turned to face her, once again showing off his dislocated jawline.

“Donixbarret Dodgeball! You dimwit who can’t even remember a name! Is that ‘Talent’ skill of yours just for show!? You insolent girl—whoops.”

He started to move toward Iris… but stopped.

“I am calm. A promise is an agreement, a gentleman’s agreement. It must be fulfilled calmly. ‘I won’t lay a hand on your daughter.’ I’ll keep it, Baron Fran.”

It seemed he had made eye contact with Zlight. Donixbarret regained his composure and smiled. Iris, standing in front of Zlight, furrowed her brows, her eyes darting around.

(What should I do…?!)

Emilia gritted her teeth.

“Hmph, you cunning monkey. You were probably trying to make me break my promise, weren’t you…? It’s transparent.”

“Then…!”

“Stop it, Iris!”

“But!”

“If this chain is a skill! Even if the user is defeated, I’ll still be taken to the royal capital by the spirit.”

“That can’t be…!”

Iris took a step forward, perhaps intending to take down Donixbarret but was stopped by Zlight’s words. Her expression as she looked back was utterly anguished, and Emilia felt her chest tighten painfully.

(This is… Can’t I do anything!? For Iris, something…!)

Glaring at Donixbarret’s smirking face, Emilia writhed in the “frustration” welling up from the depths of her chest. It felt as if it were seeping into the pain in her heart, and she almost impulsively summoned the Holy Sword. She grabbed her own hand, desperately suppressing the urge with reason.

“This is the result of your shortsightedness. Baron, if you have anything to say, now is the time.”

“I appreciate your consideration.”

Zlight bowed politely and took half a step closer to Iris. He wore a tearful smile and spoke gently.

“Trying to solve things with violence won’t get you anywhere. The knights have come this far, and that’s because of you. If the royal army shows up in a place like this, it’ll cause trouble even for His Grace the Duke, who’s been looking after us. We absolutely can’t let that happen.”

“No, Dad…!”

“I know it’s not your fault. But this is what it means to be a noble. This is what power is. Endure it. And…”

Zlight was clearly holding back tears and his face took on the look of a father.

Noble, strong.

And gentle.

“Tell your mom I’m sorry. I’m going on ahead.”

“Dad! No, don’t go!”

Unable to even reach out to his tear-soaked daughter, he looked frustrated.

Yet somehow proud.

Zlight was smiling.

(Why… why must a parent and child bound by such a bond be torn apart?! What did Iris do? What was so wrong?! Me, I’m the one!)

Witnessing the bond between the two.

Emilia’s “frustration.”

Was screaming.

(If only I hadn’t broken off my engagement with His Highness, this wouldn’t have—!)

Twisted by intense regret.

Her heart, her body… everything hurt.

“Guh!”

With a clattering sound, Zlight’s heavy body was pulled toward Donixbarret and the others.

“Dad…!”

“You unruly monkey! A promise must be kept! Strive for that! The Baron made that promise for your sake!”

“No, if only you weren’t here! If only you—!”

Hearing Iris’s lament… no, hearing Donixbarret’s shouting.

(That’s—not effort)

The light vanished from Emilia’s eyes.

(What did this guy do? He just used a skill. He’s being manipulated by a spirit, just making people suffer, isn’t he?)

Emilia clenched her fist. A faint light leaked from within her grasp.

(That’s right, I made an effort. I tried to unite with His Highness. But it didn’t bear fruit! Just because it wasn’t rewarded, just because the promise was broken, does that mean my effort meant nothing!? That can’t be!)

“Hey, load the Baron up. His Highness Sieg is waiting.”

At Donixbarret’s back as he gave orders to his subordinates.

“To keep your promise—what exactly are you doing, Donixbarret?”

Emilia thrust her words like a blade.

“Huh?”

His jaw, as he turned, dropped with a thud.

“Listen up, since you don’t seem to get it! I want to kill you and people like you! Promise-breakers and rude monkeys who can’t even get names right! Right now! But I’m ‘enduring’! To keep my promise! For His Highness Sieg! That is effort! ‘Endurance’ is ‘effort’—!”

“In front of me,”

Emilia coldly spat at the shouting Donixbarret.

“And in front of the ‘Maiden of All Talents,’ who can do nothing without effort.”

Or perhaps she poured it out like boiling rage.

“Don’t pretend it’s effort, Donixbarret! Your ‘promise’ is wrong! It’s a fake!”

From within her hand, tearing through the silver.

——The Sword of Light appeared.

An image came to her.

It was originally just a wooden sword.

Swinging, being swung, continuing to swing.

And then, in the end it cut.

It cut everything.

That sword was merely a vessel. A vessel for the spirit.

The spirit dwelling within was one who once cut everything.

The name of that skill.

(Holy Sword——”Cut”!)

“Sword.”

A form for cutting alone. Or perhaps, a soul.

Emilia swung the Holy Sword upward, as if scooping from below.

It didn’t reach anything.

But toward something, the chain.

It poured out a paint-like, rainbow radiance——.

The chain wrapped around Zlight’s body.

Shattered.

Vanished.

“Whaaaaaaaaat!?”

Donixbarret swung the silently shattered remnants of the chain and screamed. He thrashed his head, his long hair flying wildly, tears spraying from his eyes and drool from his dislocated jaw.