I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand Chapter 103

After narrowly surviving the darkness that had once overwhelmed him, the young Reukis began to distance himself from it entirely.  

 

What filled that void was his knowledge of healing and the swordsmanship he honed with his body.  

 

As a result, Reukis naturally grew into a balanced state, harmonizing his offensive magic with other fields.  

 

It was surprising, if not astonishing, that he achieved upward leveling rather than downward leveling.  

 

Though it was unclear whose handiwork this was, it was evident that the perpetrator viewed him in a one-dimensional light.  

 

Reukis slowly caressed the handkerchief resting in his palm.  

 

A powerful sleep spell had been cast on it.  

 

After reading the note, he meticulously examined the handkerchief but found nothing else amiss.  

 

Thus, Reukis decided to willingly fall into the trap. He wanted to catch the one who had dared to defile Merria’s gift with his own hands.  

 

So, he waited.  

 

Without even tightening security, he only ordered Kalix to lie in wait.  

 

Just as Reukis held the handkerchief in both hands, deliberately breathing evenly, the suspicious figure finally approached him.  

 

Even Reukis couldn’t help but be startled at that moment.  

 

“Reukis.”  

 

The voice calling him was all too familiar. He almost opened his eyes, forgetting he was pretending to be asleep

.  

Fortunately, the liquid flowing into his mouth brought him back to his senses.  

 

“Reukis, wake up.”  

 

The fact that they were trying to wake him, despite knowing he was under a sleep spell, meant the liquid contained a stimulant.  

 

Reukis paused for a moment, then slowly opened his eyes. He planned to shatter the mana stone mimicking Merria’s voice and draw his sword immediately upon waking.  

 

But he couldn’t do as he had planned.  

 

At first, he thought he was hallucinating.  

 

The bright, smiling eyes and the crimson irises beneath them—this woman had come to him wearing the face of his lover.  

 

They say humans are weak to visual cues.  

 

True to that, Reukis almost reached out to grab her hand.  

 

Unable to hide his confusion, he stared at her intently.  

 

‘Merria…?’  

 

No words escaped his slightly parted lips. Then, the woman spoke in an enchanting voice.  

 

“I missed you, so I came to see you in secret.”  

 

Her natural imitation made Reukis’s mood sink lower and lower.  

 

What followed was nothing out of the ordinary.  

 

Setting a trap, catching the culprit on the spot, and interrogating them to uncover their intentions and backers—it was something he had done countless times since the battlefield.  

 

The only surprising thing was that the culprit wore the guise of his lover.  

 

For a moment, he wondered what he would do if it were the real Merria, but his instincts quickly dismissed the thought.  

 

The opponent was a fake, merely wearing a shell. Her gaze, tone, and gestures—none of them resembled Merria in the slightest.  

 

Even Reukis, who had experienced all kinds of schemes, couldn’t guess the method, but that was something he could ask after capturing her.  

 

So, when the opponent’s tension was at its peak, he grabbed his sword from the edge of his vision.  

 

Unable to bear the thought of blood splattering on Merria’s face, he tightly closed his eyes.  

 

For Reukis, who had cut down enemies even in the darkest nights, this was no challenge.  

 

Though skilled at sneaking in, the woman seemed untrained, as she stood defenselessly before him, smiling cruelly, until his sword sliced horizontally through her body.  

 

Swoosh—

 

Blood scattered from the gash in her body beneath her clothes.  

 

A wound painful enough to kill but not enough to rob her of speech or thought—he had deliberately aimed for such a spot.  

 

And with her neck in his grip, he thought he had his prey secured.  

 

“It feels like just yesterday that the little brat who survived by devouring his parents was whining about not wanting to live.”  

 

The woman spoke in a metallic, strained voice, nothing like Merria’s clear tone.  

 

‘I can’t kill her easily.’  

 

He realized this instinctively before his mind could fully process her words.  

 

Even if he had to sever her limbs, he needed to keep her alive.  

 

Just as Reukis was about to call for Kalix, the woman’s mouth opened.  

 

And as if by magic, the strength in his grip faded.  

 

A tiny gap. The opponent didn’t miss it. She vanished, her form disappearing into thin air.  

 

By the time Kalix entered, all that remained under Reukis’s hand was an unsettling purple smoke.

 

💫

 

Not long after, Gwen returned to the Frederick barracks with Lexie in tow.  

 

Lexie, who had been dragged along without understanding the situation, was still drowsy and disoriented.  

 

Gwen, focused solely on bringing her back as quickly as possible, hadn’t provided any explanation.  

 

It was only possible because it was Gwen, not Kalix or someone else.  

 

Since Gwen and Lexie were already acquainted, she could bring her without causing a fuss.  

 

However, Lexie, who had been blinking sleepily, couldn’t help but scream when she saw Merria.  

 

Having served Merria for a long time, Lexie had seen her in many states, but even she had never seen Merria covered in blood.  

 

Lexie’s loud reaction made it difficult for Merria to calm her down.  

 

Only after explaining that it wasn’t her blood did Lexie finally seem to notice her surroundings.  

 

The chaotic state of the room, three knights still holding their swords, and something faintly visible under a white sheet—  

 

Lexie stared at Merria with a pale face.  

 

‘Even if she looks at me like that, there’s nothing I can explain.’  

 

Merria shook her head. If she told Lexie that the Grand Duke had been attacked and that she was the first witness, Lexie might have burst into tears.  

 

Instead, Merria diverted the topic by asking Lexie to help her change her clothes.  

 

At Merria’s request, Reukis wiped off the blood and cleared a space for her to change.  

 

In his heart, he didn’t want to let Merria out of his sight until the culprit was caught and their motives uncovered.  

 

Unless she was in the safety of the Rackester barracks, being by his side was the most reassuring place for her.  

 

But Merria seemed deeply uncomfortable with the sight of blood.  

 

So, Reukis tried to ease her anxiety by subtly spreading his protective energy around her.  

 

As he kept an eye out for anything suspicious approaching Merria, he naturally fell into deep thought.  

 

‘It feels like just yesterday that the little brat who survived by devouring his parents was whining about not wanting to live.’  

 

The words the woman had spoken before disappearing kept echoing in his mind.  

 

And he had a gut feeling—she knew something.  

 

Of course, there were occasional rumors whispered behind his back, but no one dared to speak of it in front of the Grand Duke.  

 

What exactly did she know, and how much?  

 

A mix of anger and unease tightened his fists. Reukis tried to count how many people knew the details of that day.

  

Harriet, the head maid, the former captain of the estate guards, a few retired servants, and finally, Merria.  

 

A small, trusted group.  

 

And all of them held his complete confidence.  

 

The thought that they would threaten him didn’t make sense, no matter how twisted the perspective.  

 

Feeling like he was navigating a dead end, his mind grew more tangled.  

 

Reukis leaned back in his chair and tilted his head back.  

 

The shapeshifting woman, the magic on the handkerchief, the suspicious note—  

 

Who was behind this, and what did they gain from it?  

 

He struggled to organize his thoughts.  

 

Closing his eyes and clearing his mind, Reukis spoke in a low voice.  

 

“Kalix.”  

 

“Yes, Your Grace.”  

 

“Have you ever heard of a magic that perfectly mimics someone else’s appearance?”  

 

Reukis lifted an eyelid slightly as he asked.  

 

Kalix’s eyes widened momentarily, then he furrowed his brow in deep thought.  

 

“…No.”  

 

He shook his head after mentally reviewing the many types of magic he had encountered.  

 

Kalix’s magical abilities had manifested after his swordsmanship reached a certain level.  

 

Thus, his knowledge of magic was limited to the basics he had learned out of curiosity as a child.  

 

During the war, he had experienced all sorts of magic firsthand, far beyond what he had read in books.  

 

Having been caught in numerous traps alongside Reukis due to his former lord’s poor decisions, he had even narrowly escaped illusions that could have driven him mad.  

 

Fortunately, Reukis had always pulled him back from the brink.  

 

Yet, even Kalix had never heard of a bizarre magic that could steal someone else’s face.  

 

He had heard of potions that could change hair or eye color, often used by wanted criminals, but to completely alter one’s face to resemble another’s—  

 

Was such a thing even possible?  

 

Kalix had clearly heard Merria’s voice from outside the barracks earlier.  

 

If Merria hadn’t appeared at the same time, he might have truly believed she was inside.  

 

That’s why he had assumed a mana stone mimicking her voice had been used.  

 

But Reukis insisted that the intruder had perfectly taken on Merria’s appearance.  

 

“How is such a thing possible?”  

 

Kalix’s face showed his disbelief.  

 

Reukis felt the same. He had been researching the nature of Merria’s powers until recently. 

 

He had even obtained rare ancient documents from Altheon and studied them thoroughly.  

 

While they contained all sorts of magic, there was no mention of a spell that could turn someone into another person.  

 

Reukis briefly wondered if he had fallen under an illusion, but that seemed unlikely.  

 

After all, Kalix, who had been outside, claimed to have heard Merria’s voice as well.  

 

“…”  

 

“…”  

 

The two fell into a heavy silence.  

 

In battle, the most important thing was to understand the enemy’s tactics.  

 

It would be ideal to figure it out before being attacked, but doing so immediately after was also crucial.  

 

That way, they could prepare a strategy to counter the same attack in the future.  

 

But if they failed to uncover the tactics before the next attack, they would remain defenseless.  

 

With his mind in turmoil, Reukis’s brow furrowed deeply.