The Obsession of a Fallen Paladin

1. The Fallen Paladin and Gullible Villainess (1)

If there were a place where even the faithful and human were forsaken, wouldn’t that be it?

The temple where she encountered Leon.

Kasha walked alone on the marble stained with people’s blood.

“…This place is closed. Leave immediately.”

The paladin warning her had a pathetic appearance.

Platinum hair turned grey with dust. Eyes devoid of firearms. A rusted and dented pauldron with the visor of the helmet fallen off. Most notably, the right arm severed just below the shoulder.

But what was broken wasn’t just the outward appearance.

“Ugh! Ugh! Cough.”

During the days she spent in the temple, he would glare at her with feverish eyes.

“I told you to leave… Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“……”

“Do you want to be torn apart by a beastly frenzy, to be defiled recklessly? Is that your preference? Heh heh… Ugh… Cough.”

His eyes, inflamed with lust, dripping with saliva, and muttering obscene words, he never laid a hand on Kasha.

Crawling on the marble floor like a dog, releasing his desires beneath the statue of the god, cursing loudly at the deity alone, yet he never violated Kasha.

Observing him from the shadows, Kasha watched him until his frenzy subsided.

It seemed he knew as well, the fact that she was watching him.

Displaying his own vile nature, he seemed to be in agony at times, embarrassed at others. And sometimes, when lust completely dominated his mind, he seemed to enjoy her gaze.

On a night when the ruined temple was illuminated by the full moon.

The fallen paladin and the crouching villainess observed each other and spent the long night.

On the evening when his frenzy finally ended, he lit a fire with a dazed face. Kasha hesitated but eventually sat beside him. Exhausted, he didn’t bother to chase her away.

They remained locked in silence, gazing at the fire for a long time. It was Kasha who broke the silence again.

“Um. I, I’m the villainess… Kasha.”

Even after hearing her confession, he remained silent. In his once sparkling amethyst eyes, only the flickering light of the fire danced.

“I, I made you like that… it’s me.”

As she spoke in a voice that seemed to crawl, he finally turned to look at her. Despite her sunken cheeks, she was still beautiful.

“You’re, the villainess Kasha?”

A nod.

Studying Kasha as she nodded, he remained silent for a while. Then, he smiled a dry, leaf-like smile.

“It’s amusing.”

And once again, he said nothing.

‘…He doesn’t believe me.’

Kasha realized. He didn’t believe her. He couldn’t believe that this seemingly insignificant woman was the villainess Kasha.

Perhaps if he truly believed it was her, he would have drawn his rusty sword and pierced her throat immediately.

He didn’t recognize her.

Not now, nor did he remember their first encounter long ago.

It was natural. Their meeting was fleeting, and her presence then and now was insignificant.

But she remembered everything. She hadn’t forgotten a thing.

Therefore, she couldn’t leave this man wandering around this abandoned temple like a stray beast.

For three days and nights, she stumbled on, continuously trying to talk to him, searching for any way she could help him.

He, who had been tightly sealing his lips, finally began to speak a few words, and at some point, he poured out everything.

Why?

It occurred to her later, but perhaps he had been preparing for his death since then. Remorse for a life soon to perish might have prompted him to open up.

Or perhaps, for whatever reason, he found the serious gaze of the woman who spoke fearlessly to the cursed fallen paladin intriguing.

The three days passed quickly, and finally, after hearing his story, Kasha said this.

“I’ll save you.”

He silently stared at her, a woman who suddenly spoke without hesitation, perfectly articulating her sentences.

“Really. I, I know a way. I might be able to… lift your curse. So, please, just a little…”

Still expressionless, he interrupted her.

“No one can save someone else’s life.”

“…But.”

“So, go save your own life. I’ve already been wronged.”

At that moment, violent footsteps echoed in the silent temple.

“Lady Katiana Ruschino, under the order of His Highness the Prince, surrender yourself!”

By the imperial soldiers who stormed into the temple, she was futilely arrested.

“Is this woman really the villainess Kasha?”

Leon muttered as if he couldn’t believe it. But the eyes looking at her soon regained their deadened light. The fact that the insignificant woman was his enemy seemed to have no meaning anymore.

Looking at him like that, she pleaded.

“I, I’ll find a way somehow. So please, please stay alive. Then…”

“Wait. Isn’t she familiar? Isn’t that Leon Aranias? The fallen paladin wanted by the Knights!”

One of the imperial soldiers who surrounded them recognized Leon, and the commander, upon hearing this, hesitated.

“His Highness will reward handsomely for his capture, even if he’s dangerous, with everyone attacking at once, there’s a chance of victory!”

“No…!”

Kasha screamed in dismay. But Leon stared blankly into the void.

“One squad escorts the villainess immediately. The other squad deals with Leon Aranias.”

As she was being dragged away by the soldiers, Kasha saw Leon, with his lone arm, lethargically parrying the knights’ swords.

She knew.

He would die there.

He had already decided as such.

At that moment, a heart-wrenching cry burst from Kasha.

“Don’t die, please don’t die, Leon…!”

Don’t die so miserably. If you die like that, I won’t even be able to think of myself as not a villain anymore.

It feels like I’ve truly become the dreadful villain that people talk about.

Chink. Clang.

After the wild noise of a hunt, the excited cheers of the knights echoed.

They had succeeded in hunting down their prey.

Kasha left Leon’s fate behind and departed.

And she was escorted to Arkin’s Grade 1 prison, a capital for heinous criminals.

* * *

Three months later.

It was Kasha’s twenty-first birthday.

The winter wind fiercely blew through the window. People shouting her name accompanied it.

“Execute the villainess Kasha!”

“Katiana Ruschino! Die! You villain!”

“Even if you tear her to pieces, it won’t be enough, demon!”

The curses poured out by the people were now familiar, but the voices of young sorrow and pain still deeply pierced her heart. Kasha crouched, shaking her head, as if frozen in place, where there once were toes that had fallen off due to frostbite.

The winter in prison was bitterly cold. The dress she wore when she was arrested had already become rags and did little to protect her from the cold. Her whole body was numb from frostbite. Her vision was also impaired, and she could barely see.

Cough. Cough.

As she coughed violently as if her ribs were breaking, footsteps were heard.

Kasha reflexively shrunk even smaller. Fear made her breathless.

Just hearing the footsteps of the guards made her teeth chatter.

Torture never became familiar, no matter how much she endured. They devised new tortures every day, forcing answers from Kasha that she couldn’t give.

“Speak, you wretched woman! What purpose did you commit such atrocities for?”

“Who are your co-conspirators?”

“You disgustingly vile bitch!”

Creak. Thud.

The prison bars opened. Someone came in and licked their lips as if they had found her trembling.

“…Kasha. You look pathetic.”

A familiar voice. She perked up, but her vision was almost non-existent due to blindness.

“S-Simon?”

The voice that came out resembled an elderly man’s, damaged by screams of agony and broken vocal cords.

“Yeah. It’s me, Kasha. Huh, even if you’re a prisoner, this sight… it’s impressive.”

He licked his lips again. Kasha, dragging her numb legs, approached him. Even though she now resented him for finally showing up, she was relieved by the fact that there was hope of leaving this place.

“Simon. Is everything… revealed now?”

“……”

“I-I’ve never… said your name. No matter how much I was tortured… I never… gave in.”

“You’re kind. Still.”

“So…”

Take me out of here. Please tell me all this suffering I endured alone is over now.

“But even if you had said my name, it wouldn’t have changed much, Kasha.”

“What?”

She couldn’t understand his mocking words.

“Kasha. In fact, everything you did was your doing, right? I may have ordered it or whatever, but those are just excuses. Fundamentally, it’s all your doing. You created those deadly weapons, and you also separated the curse of the magical stones, right?”

“N-No! I… I never knew those tools would be used like that, to kill people. If I had known, no matter how much you forced me, I would never… I would never have made them.”

Simon chuckled.

“So that’s why you’re in this state. You really thought those magical weapons would only be used for hunting animals.”

His laughter pierced Kasha’s heart. She continued speaking with a feeling akin to vomiting blood.

“I didn’t separate the curse of the magical stones for that purpose either. You know that. But even after taking that away, how could you use it for such evil purposes! How could you do that to innocent people!”

Kasha screamed.

The anger and despair that had eaten away at her soul throughout her time in prison finally erupted. It was a confession she couldn’t make to anyone else.

She truly didn’t know. If she had known that the magical weapons she created, those magical stones would be used like that, she would never have obeyed his threats.

How much she wanted to confess everything every time the guards pulled out her fingernails one by one, broke her joints, or pressed hot iron pincers against her thighs.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it, only…

“B-But, you’re my husband. Simon.”