Date a Witch: Reborn as the Witch of Lust! (GL)
Chapter 108: Exposing Spy and Envy’s Wrath

Chapter 108: Exposing Spy and Envy’s Wrath

"Spies?"

Lila’s startled eyes widened, then immediately turned to Mel to confirm.

Mel merely smirked, placing an index finger over her lips.

"Yes, spies." Ignoring Lila’s plight, the elf continued as her cheek rested on her palm. "A shame the royal family has nurtured such rats beneath their very noses."

"Uh-"

The two knights froze, their helmets twitching as they stared at one another for a brief second.

"Please," the Knight put on a straight tone. "Do not joke further. All of us Royal Knights are here to protect the Third Princess and secure the students’ safety in light of the Saintess’s-"

"Yes, the Saintess’s reckless order!" Mel’s face gleamed, her other palm grasping the summoned staff.

Then, her eyes sharpened with a mischievous bloodlust, like a flower petal laced with a hidden blade.

"But if I may recall boldly, don’t you think it’s too coincidental that the monster attack occurred right as the students gathered for the trip?"

The low voice shuddered Lila a little, her figure meekly clutching onto Mel’s collar.

Never has Mel been this strange before, neither angry nor saddened; filled with only hostility and resentment.

Mel blinked at the subtle pinch on her arm, glancing over to the scared Lila.

"Right! That must be the enemy’s attack!"

A breathless voice called out from one of them. "This is all to time their attacks right as the Saintess’s order, to humiliate her! To humiliate us!"

"Ah... good answer."

Already softening her expression, she petted Lila gently, smoothing over her hair.

She chuckled as the scared Lila nuzzled into her palm, before staring out loud:

"But since when did I ever state their attacks were timed intentionally, Mr Knight?"

Mel’s mockery tore through the tension, as one of the Knights completely froze in fear.

"Wha-what do you..."

"Heh." Rosana scoffed, her hand already summoning her waraxe. "Timing the attacks requires coordination of intelligence in advance. Congrats, you’ve successfully trapped yourself in your haste."

She sighed as she slouched her axe over her shoulder. "Those Knights were never fit to make the frontlines. Mother and I made a good decision to dismiss them early."

"Halt." The other Knight, voice scruffy with a tinge of maturity, grasped his chest. "The recruit made a mistake. We shouldn’t have assumed anything before-"

"Before investigations, you ask?"

The elf tapped her chin with a finger, before tilting her head with a mocking smirk. "But do you really have the time?"

The calmer Knight’s armour clattered, as if his entire body shook.

The elf smiled, tinged with cruelty like an angel of death as she pointed upwards.

"<Dimensional Block>, served not only to cut off communication from the Enemy, but also from the spies themselves."

The supposedly steady Knight clenched his glove, his helmet eying the sword to the emblem on his chest.

"Whatever could you mean?" The Knight clenched his fist.

"The spell was designed to be spotless and soundless." The elf gestured to the sky as if she owned it. "Unfortunately, most would not recognise unless the very moment they tried to contact via their usual communication channels."

Mel hummed in amusement, the Archbishop belated realisation of the Saintess’s spell still fresh on her mind.

"So?" The Knight’s fist loosened, as if pretending relief. "Supposed this spotless <Dimensional Block> was cast, what do you suppose that means?"

"Nothing much. Just meaning the spy’s communication was blocked from the enemy they were connecting with."

"An empty talk then." The senior knight immediately retorted, not giving her a chance. "You couldn’t prove anything with this."

"Oh, she’s not proving anything." Mel’s tease interrupted, her palm still caressing Lila’s head. "Rather, let’s post a hypothetical scenario?"

"Hypothetical?" The senior knight glanced at his other partner-in-crime, posture too straightened to pass the suspicion.

A relaxed demeanour washed over Mel as she spoke.

"Let’s assume a barrier arose, one that blocked communication," she said, as she gently tickled Lila’s reddened ear, more taken with the smoothness of her skin than the content of the interrogation.

"And the spies were cut off from their contact completely." Maria continued where she left off. "Left suddenly in the black, they could only assume two possibilities."

She held up her first finger. "The contact succeeded in their objective, and cut you off once you were no longer needed."

Then the second. "Or they failed, and discarded you as a burden."

Then, as if a string had snapped, the senior Knight lowered his head in solemn silence.

"All decisions that led to dire consequences," Maria shrugged. "But sensible ones considering the culprit.

"Then, imagine." Mel’s smile widened, her gaze locked onto every movement from the Knights.

"A sudden monster outbreak occurred to the spy without any notice, along with the students."

She pointed at herself with a small smile. "Worse, their collaborators’ target, which they’ve been notified of from the start, showed up right before them."

Squinting at the silent Knight, Mel curled her hand around Lila’s waist, sensing the soft rage that held her stiff.

"Mel... was targeted?"

A murmur rippled through Mel’s mind like a rotten leaf disturbing a still pond; a heavy tone thickened with a strange yet calm hatred.

Blinking, Mel frowned a little at Lila’s hum within her chest, before continuing to provoke the Knights.

"Then, they must have realised something." Mel smirked at the Knights. "That their collaborators were panicking, that they failed their objectives, that they abandoned them in a ditch to save themselves."

A breath hitched in the senior Knight, the silence in the air shifting ever so slightly.

"So my question is this," Mel pretended with a ’kind’ expression. "Could the spies risk the Knights possibly already knowing their entire schemes and the spies’ identities, if their collaborators were already panicking for their lives?"

Then, like dropping a mask lightly, the Knight silently buckled in a readied stance.

"They could not." Mel’s clutch over her staff tightened. "The only route they had is to capture the target, and beg for the cult to receive them-"

Clink!

Metal clashed against metal as Rosana’s axe intercepted the Knight’s lunging sword.

"Ever so vigilant, false Dragoness." The Knight grunted, his sword pressing into the axe.

"Fool," the Heiress seethed. "Falling for a provocation before the evidence is even set in stone. Has your ’peaceful retirement’ dulled your senses?"

"Surely you jest," the Knight growled, teeth gritted, his feet sinking into the soil as the Heiress forced him back with sheer strength.

"I wouldn’t be in this position without your guidance."

"Then thank me; face down in the dirt," Rosana grinned. "An unworthy mutt should stay quiet, rather than wander down a dark path they’re nowhere near ready for."

"Arrogant swine!" The senior Knight raged, unaware he raised his voice. "I will restore my honour from my defeat, and make sure your companions suffer-"

Clang!

A blast of icy wind struck like a sledgehammer, hurling him into a tree.

With a gasp, his helmet fell to reveal a middle-aged man with messy black hair, his beards untrimmed like a drunkard in a tavern.

"Mel."

Lila smiled within Mel’s grasp, her hair lock blocking her eyes as she gazed up at her.

Mel raised her brows at such a Lila, before raising her hand to brush aside the hair.

Emerald eyes met hers, colored with a strangeness Mel had never seen in Lila before.

"What should I do?"

Lila’s whisper echoed in the silence, the middle-aged Knight struggling to stand from the ice.

The other spy already drew his sword, readied for an all out war to fight for their lives.

"Give me an order." Lila’s eyes narrowed, the slight blackened hues swirling underneath with malice.

"And I shall do it."

Mel’s eyes widened slightly, her worry swelling as her eyes darted to a system panel.

That’s... uh-that’s really bad.

With a gulp, Mel’s throat clenched for the softest voice she could muster.

"Lila." She whispered. "Let us defeat the spies first."

"The spies..."

Lila shuffled herself off from Mel’s embrace, raising her thumb only to bite on the nail.

"Right, the spies."

She turned around with the slowness of a storm cloud, the kind of stillness found only in the heart of chaos.

"Don’t worry." She faced the spies, icicles cracking through in the air. "I will dispatch them without hesitation."

The grass shimmered with icy crystals, cracking faintly at the weight of her words.

The Witch of Envy smiled, almost in relief.

Not since her sister’s illness had Lila felt such raw frustration, helplessness, and wrath.

Somewhere in her heart, she was glad to have felt it.

Because it proved Mel’s existence didn’t just live beside her, but within her very being, her very soul.

As Mel watched Lila’s shadow coil under a pressure not even born of mana, a chill crawled up her spine.

She had taken a risk exposing the spies, a gamble she couldn’t take back.

For Lila, that is.

Eying the elf who gave a thumb-up, she chuckled in exhaustion.

The panel still flickered at the corner of her vision.

[ Envy Awakening Progression: 57% -> 89% ]