Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 262

Seeing her like that, Michael lowered the sword he’d been holding overhead.

And at that sight, Cecilia wept harder.

She was spared. There was still a shred of pity in his heart for the weak—she was sure of it.

Michael shook the sword.

What had once been a keen, polished blade was now chipped and cracked, ragged from all it had cut through.

Its edge was so blunted that it could barely slice through anything soft.

At this point, one or two more collisions with anything solid, and the blade would snap.

Michael pressed the dull tip of the sword against Cecilia’s abdomen.

“S-Sir Michael…”

She had no idea what he intended and stared at him in terror.

“Do you know how Irene died?”

“She… she was… attacked by monsters…”

“Yes, precisely…”

The tip of his sword dragged across her stomach. And the moment it touched a certain spot—

“She was wounded right here.”

Stab!

In time with his words, the sword tip—blunted from so many thrusts—stabbed into Cecilia’s belly.

“Guhk!”

A tortured groan escaped her as her body shook violently.

Moments later, pain flared in her gut, and Cecilia screamed.

“Aaaagh! It hurts! It hurts! Please help me! Aaargh!”

Yet she couldn’t even flail. Any shift of the blade jammed in her belly felt like it was tearing her body apart.

Michael, his gaze empty, watched her as he grasped the hilt with both hands—and drove it down with all his might.

Crunch!

The blade pierced completely through her midsection and pinned her to the floor.

Like an insect specimen on display, Cecilia twitched, impaled on the blade.

Blood gushed from her mouth. Despite the excruciating pain, it was bizarre that she remained conscious.

“You won’t die so easily—I’ll make sure of that.”

“Why… why…”

She wanted to ask why he didn’t just kill her outright, but her throat could only produce a hollow wheeze.

Meanwhile, Michael stepped out to the hallway and grabbed something before returning.

It was someone else’s sword, lying on the ground.

He picked it up without expression. Upon seeing this, Cecilia’s face twisted in horror.

She realized.

She was fated to be the one who died the most gruesome, agonizing death here today.

***

Michael stopped his movement and straightened. Then he glanced around.

Though called an Artifact Vault, it was really more of a storage for all the treasures the princess had gleaned from dungeons.

Hence the chaotic piles of gold coins and jewels from who knew what era.

Michael looked at the spot where he’d driven his sword into the floor. All around it lay a messy spatter of blood and flesh.

Anyone who saw it would never guess what living being had originally been there.

A mutilated corpse, pulped into a mass of red mush, had spilled out across the floor.

Even at that sight, Michael felt nothing.

They had led Irene to her death and mocked her end—so of course they would die a death this horrible.

Moreover, it was his duty.

Irene was his pair.

Irene.

My wife.

The woman he had, in the end, driven to her death…

Michael gripped the ruined sword.

He, too, was not blameless.

If someone, mourning Irene, killed him the way he’d killed Cecilia, he’d kneel without hesitation and offer his neck.

But first, he still had to hunt down the fleeing knights, maids, and servants—and kill them all.

Yet… no matter what he did, Irene was already dead.

She would not return.

She no longer… existed in this world.

He turned away without a glance at the mountains of gems and artifacts.

All at once—

FLASH!

A blinding light burst from somewhere in his coat.

“…!”

Startled, Michael fished out the source of the glow.

It was the metal fragment Irene had clutched when she died.

Instead of a reliquary, he had always kept it on him in memory of her.

Now it shone brightly.

And in the mound of gold nearby, something rose into the air.

Slick with blood, it closely resembled the fragment in his hand.

The new fragment floated before him, trembling gently. At once, the fragment in his hand lifted as well, drifting over to it.

When the two fragments linked, they shone even more brilliantly, as if they’d found their missing half.

And in that instant, Michael knew.

This was certainly the artifact that could grant what he desired.