Taming The Villainesses novel Chapter 346

Aira spoke.

“If you defeat that thing... you can’t turn back. Everything will collapse. Everything will come flooding in. Everything, everything...”

It seemed Aira wanted to stop them from fighting Bael, the number one. But why? Theo couldn’t know the reason—yet her eyes were remarkably clear.

Whether she had come to her senses, or perhaps remembered them—it wasn’t certain. But what was clear in those eyes was a firm will.

“But Lady Aira, if we don’t defeat that thing, you’ll have to live your whole life with it curled up in your heart. One day, it might even strangle you.”

Perhaps this was their one and only chance.

If they failed to take down the monster now, Bael—wounded and enraged—might shred Aira’s heart to pieces.

But Aira shook her head.

“That’s something I have to bear. There’s no reason for me to be relying on you now. If you defeat that thing... everything will collapse. The barrier, the people’s safety...!”

“The barrier will collapse?”

That line seriously caught his attention. Theo immediately drew back the mana he’d been preparing.

The “barrier” Aira referred to must be the Great Wall—Claris—stretching across the northern region.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Theo’s mind.

The tale of how, not long after Aira’s execution, the enormous wall collapsed and the demon horde swept into the world.

If Bael had, in some way, been the force supporting that wall—and if Bael, an Ars Nova embedded inside Aira, disappeared alongside her execution—then that would explain a lot.

“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. The world needs that thing. That’s the weight of the crown I carry. One of the secrets I never revealed...”

“A secret...”

What a headache.

In the end, Theo stood at a crossroads.

If they took down the monster, the wall would collapse in due time.

But if they didn’t take it down, Aira would continue suffering endlessly. Sacrificing the few for the many could be called a rational choice.

But to Theo, Aira’s calculus was wrong.

Sometimes, there’s a one that’s more important than the whole.

To him, Aira was exactly that. The one he had fought so hard to protect up until now—more important than thousands or tens of thousands of faceless people.

Rustle.

Perhaps sensing his resolve, Aira grasped his hand.

“Theo...”

He grasped her hand in return.

“I told you—I’d save you.”

At his words, Aira gently closed her eyes. The chaos of the world around them faded away, and it was as if only the two of them remained.

Zzzzzzzzt.