Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

She didn't even stutter this time.

So suspicious.

Charles stared at Lacie without saying anything.

Lacie snorted, her beautiful blue eyes filled with provocation.

"Of course it's true, but... heh..." She paused, reached out, and poked Ciel's abdominal muscles, "But why should I prove it to you?"

As she spoke, Miss Witch raised her head.

Obviously, she was the one who was pressed on the recliner and trapped by Charles, but she insisted on acting as if she had the upper hand, raising her chin, tilting her head, and giving Charles a look of defiance.

"If you want to bully me, just say it directly. Why are you making excuses..." Her slender index finger drew circles on Charles' abdominal muscles ambiguously, and at the same time made a mocking nasal sound, "Hehe, don't just talk about it."

But where Charles couldn't see, her legs were already tightly pressed together, and her small, delicate, round toes like pearls were curled up. She was extremely nervous, fearing that Charles would discover her... discover her guilty conscience.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered that when she was in Diesel, she and Charles had stayed in the same hotel.

At that time, their rooms were next to each other, and she would occasionally want to defeat the pervert, so she would cast a silent barrier into the room and then start fighting as if no one was around.

Logically speaking, with the silencing barrier helping to cover up the sound, Charles wouldn't hear any... strange noises, but what if Charles slightly expanded the range of the forbidden spell?

He will hear it.

He would definitely find out what she was doing.

There is no doubt that she is playing with fire.

Doing it knowingly is like smoking at a gas station, there is a kind of beauty in it that doesn't care about one's own life or death.

"broken!"

Lacie bit her lip, her eyes wandering, and she inexplicably felt ashamed of being stripped naked.

"Am I...really...thinking..."

She didn’t even dare to think about what came after that—she couldn’t even think about it!

She didn't dare to provoke Charles again.

But words once spoken are like water spilled. She couldn't knock Charles out with her wand and make him forget what she had just said, right?

So she could only watch as Charles pressed down on her.

"Then I'm here."

He said.

While shouting "I'm awesome" in her heart, Lacie pushed Charles hard, trying to stop him.

Her small body can't stand the constant torment from the big man Charles. It will break, absolutely break! Last night she almost couldn't help begging for mercy and calling her husband. If it continues today, she will have to be loyal to Charles and completely become a little wife.

Damn it, don’t do that kind of thing!

In order to escape the fate of being pierced through, Lacie quickly thought of a clever idea and turned the topic back to marriage - although she felt that there was not much difference between the two, after all, dying early or late is still death.

"Why are you always thinking about marrying me?" She showed the ring on her right hand to Charles, "I am... I am already... yours, even though I let you sleep with me..."

The witch felt more and more ashamed as she spoke, and she wanted to give Charles an elbow, but she had to bow her head under the eaves. She couldn't beat Charles, so she could only continue to speak:

"Then why are you in such a hurry? I'm not in a hurry either... Oh, forget about getting married or not, let's talk about business..."

She stole a glance at Charles, and her voice became much softer, as if testing something, and she asked:

"The reason you're so anxious to marry me isn't it because you want to go to Victoria? You want to investigate the truth behind the death of the previous hero?"

In fact, she had wanted to ask for a long time.

After leaving Diesel, Charles became...seemed a little bit abnormal.

He was in a hurry.

He seemed to want to finish all his affairs before and after his death in the shortest possible time so that he could do something without any worries.

As for what happened...

All Rachel could think of was the truth behind the death of the previous hero.

The leader of the steam armored troop from Victoria, an old fellow named Donald, told them that the previous generation of heroes died in his hands, but is the truth really that simple?

You know, the heroes of all generations are quite prestigious throughout the entire Pan-Continent, and countless people have been helped by them. If these people knew what Donald said, Victoria would most likely fall into a bad situation in public opinion.

No, it’s not even just public opinion—

Lacie guessed that many wizards who were hostile to Victoria would take this opportunity to put pressure on Victoria, or even start a war.

As Victoria's general, Donald couldn't have been unaware of this. If that was the case, then why did he deliberately release this information?

Lacie had guessed this a long time ago, but she had never been able to confirm it.

So she subconsciously looked at Charles, wanting to get an answer from him.

Charles let go of Lacie in silence, hesitated for a moment, and drew out the holy sword hanging from his waist.

The holy sword that once shone brightly in Diesel and easily cut off the limited wish machine has long since returned to its dull and ordinary appearance.

The sword body was covered with mottled marks, and there were notches and dents of varying sizes on the blade. The bright blue lines on the sword spine had all gone out.

But no one would ignore such an antique that looked like it belonged in a museum display case, especially Rachel, who had seen its true appearance with her own eyes.

A "tree".

The true appearance of the holy sword is an abstract "tree" outlined by bright blue lines.

There are a total of seven "branches" on the "tree", and there are obvious "blank spaces" on each "branch", as if there was something originally in those "blank spaces".

This reminded Lacie of Donald's words:

"I also found the fragment of the holy sword that he had hidden on his body..."

and so……

Rachel stared at the holy sword in Charles's hand and couldn't help asking:

"So, the reason why your forbidden magic can't fight against the mad mother, and can't eliminate the influence of the limited wish machine - is because the holy sword you have is incomplete?"

The answer given by Charles was surprising:

"No, I don't know."

"Ah?" Lacey raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean you don't know?"

Ciel is a contemporary hero, the master of the holy sword, and has lived with the previous hero Elvis for quite a long time. If he doesn't know what is going on, then no one else will know.

However, Charles really didn't know this.

He told Rachel:

"Uncle Elvis once told me that not everyone can become a hero. The Holy Sword will only choose those who have a 'bond'. I don't have the so-called 'bond'. I don't think I am qualified to be a hero..."

When he said this, Lacier immediately raised her hand and covered his mouth, preventing him from continuing:

"I don't allow you to say that! No matter if he has a bond or not, or if he is qualified or not, I recognize you anyway!"

As early as three years ago, when Charles faced the mistress, she had already recognized Charles——

"You are a brave man, and an undoubted hero. I believe this fact more than anyone else. So, I order you to never say such discouraging words as "you are not a true brave man" again. Do you understand?"

Ciel was stunned for a moment, but couldn't help but smile.

"...Yeah." After he murmured his promise, he somehow complimented her, "You...are so cute."

"?"

Laceel slowly typed a question mark, gritted her teeth, and punched Charles twice:

"Cute Bull Demon!"

Although she did think that her beautiful girl's appearance was quite cute, but... she just didn't want Charles to praise her for being cute.

She couldn't explain why.

[To be continued]

-

6. It’s all acting

At Lacille's strong request, Charles truthfully recounted all the details of the death of the previous hero Elvis that he witnessed fifteen years ago.

"That day, Uncle Elvis left our residence as usual. Before leaving, he told me that he seemed to have found something unusual about the disaster that destroyed my hometown that year—"

"Originally, we all thought it was a natural disaster," Charles said slowly, his tone heavy, "but later we realized that it might be a man-made disaster."

"Man-made disaster?" Rachel frowned and asked, "The one who destroyed your hometown... was a human?"

No, she quickly realized that it was impossible for an ordinary person to easily destroy a village. Only a wizard could easily destroy a village, and he was most likely a high-level wizard.

So she asked:

"What was the true nature of the disaster that destroyed your hometown?"

She was a little worried that this question would make Charles fall once again into the pain and despair of witnessing the destruction of his hometown, so she hesitated and moved closer and put her hand into Charles's large palm.

"Maybe this can give him some strength and make him feel better," she thought.

Ciel grasped the hand that Miss Witch extended to him, was stunned for a moment, then smiled and shook his head:

"I am fine."

Then he whispered:

"It's been many years. I was still young at that time, and the scene was so chaotic... I don't remember it clearly. I just remember there were a lot of people, and they were shouting something, but I couldn't hear it clearly..."

"All I could hear was the roar of the house collapsing, the crackling of the fire, and screams and cries. I was led by someone and ran from my home to the road. Then I was pushed by many hands and left my hometown."

"Then," he paused, lowered his eyes, looked at the holy sword in his hand, and stroked the mottled marks on the blade with a hint of nostalgia, "I met Uncle Elvis."

"Uncle Elvis told me that he found me near my hometown... the village that had been destroyed and almost turned into ashes. When he found me, I was dying. He managed to revive me and took me away from there."

"——As for the true nature of that disaster, I'm sorry," Ciel lowered his head, "I... don't remember it."

But Lacie had no intention of blaming him.

On the contrary, she hesitated for a moment, then came over, gently hugged Charles, stroked Charles' head like she was stroking a big dog's fur, and said softly:

"Why do you have to apologize to me? You haven't done anything wrong to me or anyone else."

Her azure eyes sparkled, and in them was love as soft as clouds.

"You have tried very hard. There is no need to put so much pressure on yourself." The witch gently tapped the hero's head. "It's no big deal even if you forget the true cause of the disaster. Since the two of us can investigate the truth of the abnormal events of Lentiheim and Diesel, we can definitely find out the true cause of the disaster, right?"

Charles didn't answer immediately. Instead, he raised his head and stared at Lacie with a slightly strange expression.

Lacie felt uncomfortable when he looked at her, so she subconsciously asked:

"What...what happened?"

"Nothing..." Charles' tone was a little hesitant, "It's just..."

"Huh? What is that?"

"..."

Charles fell silent.

Or rather, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Occasionally, like now, Lacie would act as if it was her right to be the elder.

Her tone becomes kind and gentle, and her whole person exudes a reassuring feeling.

Although she was short and small, she had to look up to look him in the eye when standing in front of him.

There's a kind of... very strange sense of contrast.

In such a petite and lovely girl like Rachel, Charles saw the shining light of motherhood.

"That's right," he couldn't help but sigh, "In the past three years, she has been taking care of me most of the time."

Although he looked much older than Lacie, in fact, as a witch, Lacie was probably much older than him.

Sometimes, Charles would even have illusions - he even felt that Rachel was like his mother.