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 5.5

Having shaken off the pursuit of the mysterious group, Emilia slipped into the underground waterways. The sound of dripping water, the squeaking of rats, the damp air… a clinging darkness enveloped the surroundings.

In the midst of it all, Emilia…

(Stay calm. What’s important is staying calm. Focus, Emilia…)

Retrieved a towel and a change of clothes from her “Storage” skill, quickly wiping away the moisture and changing her outfit.

(That’s right, that messenger. Like Donixbarret. No matter how distraught he became, until he reached complete self-contradiction he stood back up. Calmness is a great power that coexists with anger. You must burn the flames of anger coldly.)

She thoroughly dried her hair and changed her shoes and hat as well. As she did so, Emilia felt her own spirit settling. The “moya-moya” fiercely burned through every nerve in her body, sharpening them like blades.

“The defeated always teach me something. Lord Sieg, Bubaldia, Kismort, Donixbarret. And… the twelve sworn enemies.”

She returned the soiled items back “inside” and picked up her lantern. In the darkness illuminated by its faint light, she even felt as if they were there.

The queen selection that Emilia survived. The twelve young ladies who were there. They, who had been granted skills, fought amongst themselves and ultimately self-destructed, leaving the selection grounds but until then, they engaged in fierce battles. It wasn’t just about comparing their abilities. They released bandits, laid poisons, or confronted each other directly, eliminating one another. Emilia, the “talentless” one, simply trained herself relentlessly, used her wits, overcame crises, and emerged victorious. For her, who had survived life-and-death struggles against serious, powerful skill holders, the earlier chase was nothing but child’s play.

(Everyone… I’m sorry.)

But even that, for the current Emilia was a discarded, past glory. Emilia threw the pride of those she competed with into the gutter. She trapped Sieg, broke off their engagement, parted ways with him and left the country.

“Please don’t forgive me for choosing Iris.”

The moment she murmured Iris’s name, her heart thumped. She took a long, thin breath, pouring that breath into every nerve as if to transform her heartbeat and heat into a cold blade.

(Ahead. If I continue like this, I’ll reach the surface either there’s a hideout along the way, or it’s where we emerge from underground. In one of those places, Iris is there.)

She advanced slowly and cautiously. Emilia was calm. She constantly paid attention to whether there were other echoes in the sound of water, or anything lurking in the darkness beyond.

Suddenly, her free left hand began to tremble, clatter-clatter. In the lantern light, Emilia stared at her hand, which felt numb and wouldn’t grip properly. The hand that had earlier summoned the spirit carriage and hurt those boys.

(…Before that, I need to become even calmer. I used violence without resolve.)

It was a meaningful attack, but unnecessary… that regret, that unpleasant aftertaste, slowly spread from her fingertips to her shoulder, and then to her chest. Mingling with the “moya-moya,” an intense feeling of disgust welled up.

(Calmly they’re acquaintances of Iris, right? So, I won’t hurt them anymore. I won’t hurt them.)

Emilia was calm. Precisely because of that, she was aware. That she was being consumed by that anger.

(I will take Iris back. To my side.)

Iris’s smiling face and the hand she held with the boy. Still stuck in her mind, refusing to leave.

The “moya-moya” swelled.

The trembling in her left hand.

Stopped.

『―What the heck is this!?』

(Iris!)

From deeper inside, an unexpectedly clear voice reached her. Emilia quickly and carefully extinguished the light, making sure the lamp didn’t creak. She stored the lamp “inside” her skill and placed her hand against the wall. Staring into the darkness to let her eyes adjust, she slowly advanced along the wall.

(Is she saying ‘I fell’? It’s hard to make out with the echoes but why hide from Iris that you fought with me?)

The intuition struck her that the boy she had injured earlier might have joined up with Iris. As she approached the voice, she could see the clamor of multiple people talking and making noises, and a faintly leaking light. It seemed there was a room along the passage leading to the surface, fitted with what appeared to be a wooden door.

(No lookouts. They lost me and regrouped. Probably returned to the hideout once. They’re careless. Then I’ll secure Iris and escape immediately.)

They likely never imagined she would counterattack. It was an opportunity… and a difficult one. Judging from the echoing voices, the number of enemies was considerable. Emilia let out a thin breath from the depths of her abdomen… and finally reached right beside the door. Keeping her back pressed against the wall, she reached out and touched the knob. Gauging the volume of the voices from inside, she carefully turned it, hiding any sound. Safely, the door opened slightly toward her, allowing light and voices to leak out. Emilia removed her hand from the knob, preparing to swing the door open in one go while she took a slow breath.

『Stay still!』

『Ow! Iris, be more gentle…』

『You had another duel, didn’t you! What do you mean, “I fell”!?』

(Medical treatment… I’ve never had Iris nurse me or treat my injuries, have I?)

The “moya-moya” swayed violently, greatly disturbed… and scorched her insides even more spectacularly. Entrusting herself to the flickering flames in her heart, Emilia slipped her hand into the gap of the open door. Palm facing the room, she breathed slowly.

“Item――Flashbang.”

From Emilia’s palm.

A round sphere spilled out.

Leaving behind a small whisper, Emilia closed her eyes, shut the door, covered her ears with both hands, and opened her mouth. The bomb, crafted by Iris and left in the room, detonated precisely three seconds later. Scattering intense sound and light, screams and shouts erupted from inside. Emilia herself also felt the painful vibration, a keeeen ringing.

(3, 2, 1―Now!)

Three seconds after the detonation. Emilia opened her eyes and swung the wooden door wide open. Amid the lingering afterglow and echoes, she charged into the room. Cutting through those groaning and holding their ears or heads, she headed straight for the golden-haired, blue-eyed girl. Paying no attention to anyone else, she ran, her gaze fixed solely on Iris. At the end of Emilia’s line of sight―Iris, who had been covering her ears with her hands, eyes closed, and mouth slightly agape, opened her eyes.

(Ah, Iris…!)

Emilia’s cheeks relaxed into a smile before she could stop herself. She felt her dry eyes moisten. A slight blush on her cheeks, an abnormally racing heartbeat, unnecessarily ragged breathing. Relief seeped out, and she reached out her hand.

But in front of it, a shadow staggered in between.

A golden-haired, blue-eyed boy.

Holding hands with Iris.

Laughing together――――.

“Move!”

Propelled by the “moya-moya,” using her running momentum, Emilia shoved the boy aside. Ignoring him as he tumbled into a wooden crate, she clenched her fist and dove into Iris’s embrace.

(Iris, I’m sorry!)

Emilia’s fist, arcing from below, was unleashed. The target: the diaphragm. She didn’t know if she could successfully stagger her. Create an opening, and carry her away.

But.

“Huh!?”

―It was dodged.

From the side, Iris’s hand struck Emilia’s wrist, deflecting the punch. Emilia, unable to stop her momentum, stretched upward, and her eyes met with Iris, who had avoided it.

Those blue eyes.

We’re shaking with astonishment.

“Lady Emilia, why!?”

While the ringing in her ears still persisted, Iris’s voice sounded somewhat distant. Her words soaked in and inside Emilia, the “moya-moya” shrank just a little. But reflected in her eyes was the golden-haired, blue-eyed boy and no matter what, the image of Iris and him being so intimate earlier wouldn’t leave her head.

“What do you mean by ‘playing around with boys’!”

“Hah!?”

She shouted and launched a second attack, but Iris dodged this one too and stepped back. The distance was created, and Emilia lowered her stance again, taking a running posture.

“―Run, Sis!”

Before she could leap out. Those words stabbed into her.

Emilia unconsciously jumped back, retreating to near the room’s entrance.

(Sis…? Sister? That blond boy, to Iris? Sister…)

There were three golden-haired, blue-eyed boys. Their faces were identical, and even their pained expressions were very similar. They somewhat resembled Iris.

“Iris’s brothers? No way, the Blaze Brigade? These suspicious people?”

Emilia unintentionally murmured that. Indeed, last night, she had received a letter recommending she join up with members of the great adventurer group, the Blaze Brigade. Iris said she knew them.

(Huh? Then, conceding a hundred steps, the one holding hands with Iris was a thousand steps ten thousand steps! Even if I swallow that. Why was I being chased? And they even tried to cut me down, right?)

Emilia remained wary, her gaze darting around. The faces and figures in the room were familiar. They were indeed the ones who had pursued Emilia through the city. Besides the boys, there was the giant who blocked the road, the men she first passed by, those who chased her along the riverbank. There were some unfamiliar ones, but most were undoubtedly her pursuers.

“Wh-what do you mean by ‘suspicious people’?”

Iris’s voice held a bit of transparency. The effects of the earlier blast seemed to have mostly worn off. Emilia being stared at intently by Iris’s blue eyes.

Felt embarrassed.

“Huh? Huh? The dangerous people who chased me around the city with weapons.”

Blushing, she answered in a slightly smaller, faster voice, fidgeting.

In that instant.

It felt like the temperature in the basement dropped by about 5 degrees.

Iris, who had quickly approached, was grabbing the collar of the boy who had gotten up from the wooden crate. Her eyes, slightly cast downward, were hard to see clearly… but her lips were trembling.

“What are you doing, you guys?”

“W-well. Sis, this is―”

On her beautiful face, at the temples.

A blue vein was bulging.

“To my Lady Emilia! What the hell have you done, you idiots!”

(Iris is scary. Better not get close.)

Emilia quietly slipped out of the room and closed the wooden door with a patan.