The Doctor Cured The Villainess And Ran Away-Chapter 57: Assassination (2)

The enemies a Hero’s party had to fight weren’t just monsters or the Demon King’s army.

There was even an event where other nations, wary of the Empire gaining too much prestige after the Demon King’s defeat, sent assassins after us.

They couldn’t assassinate the Hero—if he really died, the fate of the continent might shift—so the target was usually me.

You’d think no one would be dumb enough to send assassins when weakening our party could cause the subjugation of the Demon King’s army to fail.

But no, there really were idiots like that. Countless ones.

They tried to replace me with their own healer to rack up achievements. Political motivations like that.

The assassins who came for me were all from a group with the simple name, “Shadow.”

They were the best assassins in all the continent, operating in every single country.

If you died to them, you’d get the [Shadow’s Assassin] bad ending.

That’s why I always made sure someone was on watch in the party. On nights when everyone was too exhausted to stay up, I stayed awake myself.

It wasn’t even a particularly hard bad ending to avoid. I eventually got so used to them that I could capture and interrogate them.

They were a mercenary group that moved for money. The clients changed each time—kingdoms, theocratic states, magic nations, duchies, underground empires, beastfolk kingdoms.

I’d become a target for every kind of country.

And once, even the Empire sent an assassin.

—“Kuaaagh! I-I’ll tell you everything! It was Asella! Empress Asella sent me!”

—“Don’t bullshit me. What would the Empire possibly gain from sending an assassin to the Hero’s party?”

—“Th-the target was just the healer! She pretended not to know him during the last audience...!”

All that nonsense about former betrothals, and she’d still coldly have me executed?

It made me realize just how deeply Asella hated me.

Still, thanks to that, I learned she had connections with Shadow.

And now I finally understood why.

Asella had once nearly been assassinated by someone hired from Shadow.

She must have learned about the organization then and decided to use them rather than punish them.

Even if I don’t do anything, there’s a chance she’ll survive, right?

[No. 101: Mana Rampage 4% → 52%]

As the status window informed me, the probability of Asella’s death from this event was 52 percent.

Like flipping a coin and getting heads.

Assassinations over succession were a tiresomely common occurrence in the Imperial Family.

How did Asella survive all that and rise to the throne?

Ten years later, I must have stood atop the time that had crushed all those odds.

You can’t just sit around and wait for heads when a coin toss means death.

Might as well throw the damn coin into a lake.

“Lord Gotberg, what’s wrong?”

Asella looked flustered as I grabbed her wrist.

“We ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) need to move to a wider area. Knights, stay close to the Princess and be on alert. There’s an assassin nearby.”

“Yes, sir!”

There were two Moonlight Palace guards currently escorting us. They immediately followed orders, drawing their swords and glaring intensely around us.

“An assassin?”

“I’ll explain later. It gets dangerous when the darkness settles. We need to—”

Fwoosh.

Before I could even finish speaking, all the lights in the banquet hall went out.

My eyes, unaccustomed to the sudden drop in brightness, recognized nothing but pure blackness, like I’d gone blind.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Lights! Turn the lights on!”

“Where are the attendants?!”

The party had already been tense due to the earlier poisoning incident, and now it was fully gripped by panic.

The acoustics in the hall were designed for music, so the echoing screams and stampeding footsteps made it hard to tell what was happening.

“Lord Gotberg!”

“Princess, stay close to your knights.”

I had a grip on Asella’s arm, so I had a general sense of her location. I shoved her between the two knights, who immediately moved to block her from both sides.

“Lord Gotberg, you too...!”

Asella reached out with her other arm and pulled me toward her—probably in haste, given the situation—so it ended up looking like she was grabbing me by the collar.

“They’re coming!”

The guards were competent. Even in the pitch darkness, one of them must have sensed the killing intent or presence and ignited his aura, forming a defensive stance.

“Kh—! Gurgh!”

But it only lasted a moment.

One of the knights collapsed, his strength draining, his weight slumping against us.

Hot liquid splashed against Asella’s dress. It was unmistakably blood.

“Barren!”

Realizing his comrade had been killed, the other knight gripped his sword even tighter.

“Haa... haa...”

I could feel Asella’s hot, shallow breathing close by. The adrenaline from fear had pushed her into a hyperactive state.

Not good in a crisis. I wrapped my arms around her neck and held her tightly.

“Uhk...?!”

“Princess, stay calm.”

She tried to regulate her breathing with deep inhales, but it wasn’t working.

This was Shadow’s standard assassination method.

They actually preferred assassinating in places full of light.

Because when the light around someone vanishes in an instant, the human body becomes its most defenseless.

The poison was likely their work too.

The attendant who brought the champagne had to have been a disguised assassin.

The Imperial Family had probably tried to opt for safer methods, but in the end, they’d gone back to what they were best at.

Unfortunately for them, I’d fought these bastards more times than I could count.

Shadow was essentially an organization of dark mages and rogues.

The dark mage cast enchantments; the rogues executed the kill.

The lethal poison and the spell that drowned the room in darkness were based on black magic.

The darkness they conjured was unusual—it didn’t spread light far and instead hung in the air like mist.

First, I needed to get rid of it.

“Princess, if you want to survive, we need light.”

“Light... light...”

Asella muttered to herself, then immediately began drawing a magic circle.

Her trembling hand couldn’t draw a perfect circle, but it didn’t hinder the casting.

“Enchant: Light.”

—Flash!

A burst of light erupted from the fallen knight’s sword.

And at that moment, we saw the assassin’s face, twisted like a skull, drenched in black magic.

—Clang!

His wicked dagger clashed with the knight’s sword.

“Huh... uhh...”

Asella, having seen the assassin’s face, flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, her hands trembling. freewёbnoνel.com

Her spell flickered, and the light began to dim.

Asella’s afraid of an assassin?

It was unexpected.

A dragon at the tournament? Sure, understandable.

You don’t usually see monsters just walking around the city.

And it wasn’t just any monster—it was a dragon.

But this was a human. An assassin.

Dangerous, sure—but still human.

The Asella I knew as Empress had always been arrogant, prideful, and imperious.

But the girl standing in front of me now—so scared she couldn’t even cast her specialty magic—

—looked more like a normal girl her age.

This isn’t the time to get sentimental.

I grabbed the sword imbued with light magic.

The glow was already fading.

So the spell turned the blade surface into a luminous emitter...

I couldn’t fully understand the magic, but chemically, I got the concept.

Even if I couldn’t decode how mana worked, I could enhance the luminescence through alchemy.

“Gah!”

The last guard was cut down by the assassin. He fell with a short, scraping cry.

Next target would be Asella.

“Las!”

As she called out, I swung the sword and began casting.

A 64-sided geometric array—just as she’d taught me.

“Amplify!”

—BOOM!

A blinding flash burst out and struck the assassin in the stomach.

“Ugh.”

He groaned faintly. It didn’t deal actual damage, but blood began to pour from his eyes as he writhed in pain.

They amplify light sensitivity to see in darkness—so bright light is their weakness.

When exposed to intense light, they bleed from the eyes in agony.

Their bodies were practically gimmick puppets, reconstructed with black magic.

“Princess, run!”

Sword in my right hand blazing, I grabbed Asella’s hand with my left and sprinted.

It was just bright enough for us. I could see the path to the exit.

—Shuffle!

The assassin, momentarily stunned, began chasing us again.

The ballroom was still drowned in chaos and darkness. No one had even realized an assassin was here, let alone come to help.

“Faster!”

I forced my legs to move harder. Even if my thigh muscles tore, I had to go faster.

“Hey!”

I locked onto our escape route and hurled the sword at the assassin.

He staggered again, and in that brief moment of confusion, I turned the corner.

Ten meters to the exit.

“Las...!”

“We’re almost there!”

Our steps quickened, and finally—

Thud!

We burst through the ballroom doors.

It was still night outside, and only a few torches lit the way—it was still dark.

The buzzing of summer cicadas battered my ears.

“Just a bit more!”

We didn’t stop.

But I could sense it—he was right behind us again.

“Tch.”

—Shnk!

I twisted my body and pulled Asella into the bushes. We tumbled down together.

The assassin’s dagger narrowly scraped past my ear.

“Good reaction speed. Didn’t think you’d be this hard to deal with.”

The assassin’s gaunt face twisted into a sneer as he glared at us.

“The assassination’s failed. The guards will be swarming us any second. You won’t make it out alive.”

“You’re right. But I’ll still complete the mission.”

He swung his dagger at us without hesitation.

Even if it meant getting caught and killed, he’d finish the job for Shadow.

“Las!!”

Asella grabbed my collar and shut her eyes tight.

And then—

Clatter!

“Ahh... huff...!”

The assassin dropped his dagger, clutching his chest and staggering.

Asella slowly opened her eyes.

“Las? What happened?”

“We just needed to get this far. That was close.”

I looked up at the statue of the goddess above us.

“Why... guh!”

The assassin stumbled backward. He couldn’t come any closer now.

[Status Ailment: Burn]

[Location: Entire Body]

His entire body was cooking like boiled chicken.

It had to be excruciating.

Shadow’s weakness was simple.

Their black-magic-enhanced bodies were completely neutralized by purification effects.

The area around the goddess statue emitted several beneficial effects—including low-grade anti-dark magic.

Ever since I learned of their existence, I always carried an artifact with purification properties.

“There they are!”

The sound of clanking armor drew near.

The assassin fled in panic. The guards chased after him.

[No. 040: Deadly Poison Trap 86% → 0%]

[No. 086: Shadow’s Assassin 75% → 0%]

[Deleted]

[No. 101: Mana Rampage 52% → 4%]

Crisis averted.

All the strength drained from my body. I collapsed into the grass.

“Las, Las!”

“Just a short nap. I’m tired.”

“What? Hey. Las!”

I closed my eyes to Asella’s frantic voice like it was a lullaby.

Didn’t help much, though. Too loud.

***

“Hm.”

When I opened my eyes, it was a familiar scene.

My room, my bed.

Technically, it was a room in Moonlight Palace, but I’d grown used to it by now. It felt comfortable.

“...No, wait. Not comfortable.”

My whole body felt heavy, like something was pressing me down.

There was an assassination attempt, right?

Maybe I got poisoned?

That thought ran through my head, and I glanced down—

And immediately froze at the bizarre sight.

Asella was curled up in my arms, fast asleep.