My Ex-Girlfriend Was Appointed as a Knight Commander

Chapter 179

"It’s unstable."

It was the night after the formation of the special assault team that would face Leon Benning directly. Maxime stared at Christine's finger pressing against his left chest. Following the line of her arm, his gaze slowly moved up to Christine’s face. As usual, whenever she was dissatisfied, her green eyes trembled like glass marbles, and her cheeks puffed out slightly.

“What’s unstable?” Maxime asked.

Christine lifted her head to meet his eyes. A sharp, pained glint in her gaze didn’t reproach Maxime but rather herself. Before Maxime’s expression could shift to awkwardness, Christine quickly opened her mouth to speak.

“The seal I placed to contain your curse. You probably didn’t notice, but as the caster and someone sensitive to mana, I can feel it clearly.”

Christine lowered the finger she had been pressing against his chest. A faint sense of emptiness, like a residual current, lingered, and Maxime unconsciously touched the spot over his heart. He felt the steady, almost imperceptible beat of his heart, as if it were always there and not there at the same time. Watching him, Christine let out a short sigh.

“Is the power of the seal weakening?”

Maxime tilted his head and asked, but Christine shook hers.

“It’s not that the seal is weakening. The power of the curse is growing stronger. This happens when the strength of the caster who placed the curse increases dramatically. I can’t even imagine what Leon Benning has done to the point where it’s challenging even a seal imbued with the essence of my mana.”@@@@

Christine bit her lip. Maxime was simply grateful that she still cared enough to worry about him. Even if now wasn’t the time for such sentimentality.

“Is there a solution?”

“There’s only one permanent solution to any curse: killing the caster. But if the curse being restrained by the seal is released, it’ll all be for nothing.”

“...Is there a way to temporarily hold off the curse breaking through the seal?”

“There’s no such... thing.”

Christine trailed off, leaving an awkward silence in her wake. She avoided Maxime’s gaze, clearly aware of his unyielding stare.

“Christine.”

“I can’t. There’s no way I’m telling you.”

“So, you’d rather have me fall victim to Leon Benning’s curse, unable to recognize you and turned into a puppet?”

Christine’s head drooped. If she were a puppy, her ears and tail would have sagged. Maxime found his lips curving upward faintly. Christine’s feeble fist landed weakly against his chest, once, twice, three times. Maxime’s heartbeat thudded against an uneven rhythm compared to the soft impacts.

“You always pick the words that make things hardest for me. That’s why people call you insufferable, you know? Got it?”

“If the curse drives me mad, and I end up hurting or killing you all, that would be far worse than my own death. You know that, Christine.”

“...Who said I’d let you kill me? Worry about keeping yourself intact before making declarations like that.”

Christine seemed to have decided to stop complaining and composed her expression. Yet, it was Maxime who bore the brunt of the burden. It was also Maxime who had to make the decision. If she withheld the path forward, it would be far too selfish a choice.

“I don’t want you to suffer, or to get hurt. But, if this is the only way to end this once and for all...”

Christine’s words trailed off as her gaze fell on White Fang hanging from Maxime’s belt. When Maxime handed her the sword in its sheath, Christine drew it and stared at the pure white blade. Crafted from the purest material, white steel, it was unrivaled in its ability to channel mana. With a light infusion of her golden mana, the blade shimmered, reflecting Christine’s energy.

“This method is going to be a bit extreme. If they’re strengthening the curse on their end, then we’ll need to amplify the power of the seal on ours.”

Christine gripped the sword hilt and pointed the blade at Maxime.

“To directly interfere with the curse, I’d need to apply my own spell to the curse formula. Do you understand what that means, Maxime?”

Maxime silently stared at White Fang. Pain etched itself into his body. He could vividly imagine the sensation of that sharp, white blade piercing through his flesh and into his heart.

“You’re telling me to stab my heart.”

“I’ll cast a spell on the blade, and you’ll need to stab yourself. That way, the seal and the curse will harmonize temporarily. You won’t die immediately, and it’ll buy us some time. Not that it eliminates the risk of death.”

The clouds drift by.

The winter sky felt higher than autumn’s. Normally, clouds seemed within reach if one stretched out a hand. But now, no matter how hard one tried, they seemed impossibly distant. Leon didn’t reach for the clouds; he merely watched them pass beyond the blinding sunlight.

What should I do now?

Had there ever been anything out of his reach before? Was this failure his miscalculation? Leon asked himself, but no clear answer emerged. One final question lingered unusually long in his mind: Have I failed?

“Humans truly are strange creatures.”

His whole life, he’d tried to understand them. He’d killed them, subjugated them, and still found them elusive. A monster trapped in a human prison, Leon could only wonder at the essence of humanity. This curiosity, his search for what humans were, had led him here.

There they are.

His gaze shifted to Theodora, supporting Maxime. To Leon, humans were tools. Their sight gave him no sense of sentimentality, only the faint realization that he could never be like them. A lifetime of avoiding doubt had finally given rise to an unshakable unease.

“What a baffling world, don’t you think, Maxime Apart?”

A faint, practiced smirk played on his lips as he spoke. It was the kind of smile he always wore—crafted and hollow. Yet, his gaze now shifted to Theodora. Curious about her reaction, he made his move.

“I killed your mother, Theodora.”

Theodora froze. All the mana that had been saturating the room dissipated, replaced by a dense aura of platinum killing intent. She didn’t question Leon’s words, as if she’d always known them to be true. Beside her, Maxime looked at her face with concern.

“Why say this now?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“There’s no need for a long explanation. She was someone I found interesting for a time. When that interest faded, I disposed of her as I pleased.”

Leon lifted his sword from where it was planted on the ground. Even with Lilia’s Life Vessel impaled on its tip, the grotesque artifact squirmed faintly. He pulled it free, the black mana within releasing wisps of acrid smoke.

“I.”

Theodora’s voice cut through. Leon turned to her, his gray eyes narrowing slightly.

“I can never understand you. No, I can’t even figure out what you are.”

Her voice was brittle, but thick with killing intent. Leon met her gaze and absorbed the weight of her animosity.

“Just as you cannot understand me, I cannot understand you—or any other human, for that matter. Even Bernardo, who I thought similar to me, was no different from the rest.”

Leon glanced at the Life Vessel in his left hand. A pulse of mana caused the artifact to throb grotesquely.

“In the end, mere humans dare to think of themselves as gods.”

It was Maxime who spoke this time, his voice faint but resolute. Leon scoffed.

“Indeed. Hearing such words from someone barely clinging to life is amusingly pitiful.”

Raising the Life Vessel to his mouth, Leon bit down. Darkness deeper than night engulfed the great hall, and his maniacal laughter echoed throughout.

“If I kill you, it will prove that I am different from the likes of you!”

Leon spread his arms wide. The world around him shattered and began collapsing into a single point. For the first time, he laughed with all his teeth bared. Life’s purpose was trivial, but in this moment, Leon felt as if his existence had culminated in this battle. Even as black magic tore him apart from the inside, pain eluded him. As his vision darkened and only outlines remained, he remained indifferent.

“Come at me with that blade, Theodora, Maxime Apart.”

His voice spiraled on the wind, rising like a storm. Mana surged around him, lifting him higher.

“Defy me! Prove that I am no different from you!”

With that final cry, Leon Benning was consumed by the swirling black wind.