“N-No… Kuh!”
‘Encia’ grabbed the black shape by its neck and threw it to the ground before it could speak.
Slam!
The black shape coughed out blood, and Encia’s room trembled. The monstrous strength couldn’t possibly come from someone who was bedridden for over a year.
“M-My Lady, just how…”
“Shut your mouth.”
While ‘Encia’ was suppressing the black shape with a cold smile, the door opened up and Sheryl entered alongside the swordsmen and turned the light on.
“Huh…”
“I-It was true.”
“It happened exactly the way Sir Raon predicted…”
The swordsmen dropped their jaws upon seeing the young woman in a maid outfit under ‘Encia’.
“That woman is the maid that has been staying right next to Lady Encia all this time!”
“Yes, she’s the person who has been assisting her all along.”
Martha growled, and Burren frowned.
“Ah…”
Encia was the last person to enter, supported by Michelle. Her lips were trembling as she spotted the maid on the ground.
“L-Loren, was it you?”
Encia’s sky blue eyes teared up. It looked like rain was going to fall soon.
“Why did you do this…?”
“Wh-Why are there two Ladies…”
The maid named Loren’s eyes widened, looking back and forth between the blue-eyed Encia in front of her and the red-eyed ‘Encia’ who was suppressing her.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not your Lady.”
The red-eyed ‘Encia’ tapped on his face. The gray mantle fell from his shoulders and Raon’s face was revealed.
“D-Doppelganger’s mantle…”
Loren swallowed nervously when she saw the mantle on the ground. It looked like she finally realized what was going on.
“I was pretending a little, since I figured you would be here.”
Raon grabbed the Doppelganger’s mantle and snickered. That mantle was a legendary artifact, capable of changing someone’s appearance into that of another’s. There were multiple drawbacks, but it was certainly effective.
“Loren.”
“Why did you…?”
Encia and Michelle’s eyes were trembling like boats facing a tidal wave. It looked like they didn’t want to believe the situation.
On the other hand, Raon calmly looked down on Loren as if it were a natural course of action.
‘It was obvious.’
Since the Hell Worm needed to be directly inserted through the mouth or nose, the spy was bound to be someone close to Encia.
He figured it must’ve been one of Encia’s two maids, and House Robert’s spy ended up being Loren, who had been assisting Encia all along.
“How could you do this to me when we’ve been together since I was eight…?”
Encia sank to the ground while covering her mouth.
‘Eight years old.’
House Robert made children start their assassination or spying activities between the age of six and eight. Hearing that age made him even more certain.
‘Though, I’m sure she doesn’t even know who she is working for. Derus’ spies are sporadically networked, and he doesn’t even tell them what their real affiliation is. The spies only obey orders, since they are brainwashed to do so.
“Sir Raon, was it Loren’s doing? D-Did Loren really do that?”
Encia’s lips parted after a long time. The way her dry lips were trembling almost looked pitiful.
“She is the spy.”
“No! I didn’t do anything!”
Loren forcibly shook her head.
“What are you saying after you tried to stab this needle into the middle of my forehead?”
Raon showed Loren the crooked needle on the ground.
“Th-That’s medicine!”
Loren screamed, veins showing in her eyes.
“Medicine?”
Encia bit her lips while looking at the needle. It looked like she was pinning her last hope on the words.
“Do you remember the competent pharmacist who visited us a few months ago? This is a medicine I got from him, it lowers the heat.”
“Then why did you smear that on a needle and try to stab me with it in the middle of the night?”
“I-I was only following the pharmacist’s instructions. He said that an extremely weak stab of this needle smeared with medicine during my Lady’s sleep would reduce the heat.”
Loren continued to lie without even blinking.
“I injected the medicine from time to time whenever my Lady was in too much pain. I only did that for my Lady’s sake… Sniff!”
She lowered her teary face. Her acting was good enough to make unrelated people believe her words.
“I-Is that so…?”
Encia’s eyes were trembling violently. She was shaken by her nonsensical excuses.
‘I guess it can’t be helped.’
That was the scariest part about a long-term spy. They would give some unreasonable excuses, and that was enough to cloud their victim’s judgment because of the long time they’d spent together.
Moreover, since Encia said she grew up together with her ever since she was eight, she must’ve wanted to believe her even more.
‘However.’
While that could work against Encia and Michelle, it didn’t work against him, since he was a stranger.
“But if your stab was extremely weak as you said, then the needle wouldn’t have been crooked like this. You were obviously going for a deep stab and failed.”
Raon pointed at the tip of the bent needle.
“Moreover, we will be able to tell if it’s really a medicine or a poison once we investigate the smeared medicine.”
“N-No, it’s a misunderstanding…”
Loren was rolling her eyes so quickly in order to find a new excuse, to the point where it was scary.
——————
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“L-Loren…”
Encia forced herself to clench her fist. She was biting her lip in pain.
“I-I was really just worried about my Lad… Kuh!”
Raon dislocated Loren’s chin in the middle of her speech.
“Since it looks like you’ve accepted it to a certain extent, I think I can show you the real proof.”
“Proof?”
“Spies hide poison in their mouths, since they never know when their identities might be discovered.”
“That’s not the case for her. We checked it before Loren joined us.”
Michelle shook her head, saying that it couldn’t be true.
“It’s because she didn’t have the poison back then.”
“What?”
“At first, they do their work properly, as if they were really part of the house. At that point, they don’t steal information. They only get their missions as a spy and the poison in their teeth after they gain enough trust from the people inside the house while acting as an ordinary child.”
Robert’s method took advantage of people’s affection and psychology.
“You will know once you see.”
“Mhh!”
Raon put his hand inside Loren’s mouth and took out a white bead that was hidden in her molar. Despite its color, it was a nasty poison that could melt her intestines and kill her the moment she bit it.
“Awh!”
Loren looked up at Raon with scared eyes. She was apparently surprised by his knowledge that had allowed him to predict her visit and find the poison inside her mouth in an instant.
‘Don’t be surprised.’
Raon smiled bitterly.
‘I only know all of this because I’ve experienced it in the past.’
That poison bead was always stuck between his teeth when he used to live as an assassin. He was only aware of that fact because he used to live like a slave who could be forced to die at any time, just like her.
“Loren…”
Strength left Encia’s arms. Apparently, she even lost the strength to be angry at her.
“Why did you do that? Just why?”
“My Lady! Please listen…Kuh!”
Loren tried to give excuses despite having her chin dislocated, but Raon sent a shock to her heart to make her faint. It was a measure taken in order to take care of the Rage Worm that might exist in her heart.
“General Administrator Arun.”
Raon called Arun, who was frowning from behind them, since he was the only person in his right mind.
“Ah, yes.”
“We should imprison her for now.”
“Alright.”
Arun hurriedly nodded, then took Loren outside.
“Hmm…”
Raon looked at the collapsed Encia. The intense trembling of her eyes was slowly stabilizing.
‘She must’ve accepted reality.’
The reason he went through all that work despite the fact that he could’ve just neutralized and removed the poison from Loren from the beginning was to make sure Encia and Michelle wouldn’t have any regrets.
Although she was immensely shocked, she fortunately looked like she had accepted the reality of it all.
‘There’s no point in interrogating Loren.’
The spies worked as discrete groups, unlike the assassins. Since the spies usually had to go through at least four to five contacts to reach Derus or Temas, there was no way she would reveal their names or the treatment method for Encia.
“We are going to leave in the morning in two days instead of tomorrow, so please rest well.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Sir Raon.”
Accepting Michelle and Encia’s weak thanks, Raon went outside.
“Raon.”
Sheryl’s voice called out to him when he was about to return to his lodgings. He turned around to look, and the Heavenly Blade and the Light Wind were staring at him with dumbfounded expressions.
“What the hell are you?”
Sheryl walked up to him with a frown.
‘He didn’t just create a situation for the spy to act, but also completely understood the spy’s identity and psychology.’
She allowed Raon’s plan because it seemed realistic, but she never thought everything would be solved so easily.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
Great might?
She could understand it as a result of his natural talent and endless efforts.
However, the trap and the plan he had devised that day was the sort that came from an extremely experienced person, and she couldn’t believe he was just a novice swordsman on his second mission. It was more and more ridiculous, the more she thought about it.
“I’m also curious about what you have in that small head of yours.”
Ekan also seemed unable to understand it as he laughed bitterly.
“I already knew you were smart, but I didn’t know you could do this.”
“Raon. Amazing. Handsome.”
“Well, he’s pretty smart, I guess.”
Burren gasped, Runaan gave a thumbs up, and Martha slowly nodded.
“I-I’m a bit scared at this point…”
“I know, right? He’s almost like a ghost…”
Dorian and Krein’s chins were trembling violently.
“I was just lucky.”
Raon shrugged, facing the swordsmen’s surprised eyes.
“Because I wasn’t certain either.”
“It looked like you were certain, though?”
Raon just smiled at Sheryl, who was narrowing her eyes.
“It looks like you have no intention of answering me. Anyway, good job. We did manage to find the spy thanks to you. However, since the spies usually go through at least one connection, you can hardly obtain any information from them. You most likely won’t get any information from her by interrogating her, so don’t get your hopes up too much.”
“Alright.”
Raon nodded in agreement.
“Haa, I don’t even know if I’m talking to a seventeen-year-old or a seventy-one-year-old.”
Sheryl shook her hand in disgust and returned to Encia’s room.
However, there was one fact she wasn’t aware of.
‘We did gain something from this.’
And it was a huge gain.
Derus Robert was a perfectionist.
He must’ve spent a lot of time and manpower in order to take over House Yonaan, yet that plan had been foiled in an instant. He was bound to start rampaging like a madman now, blowing his cover as a gentleman.
‘My only regret is that I can’t watch the shape he’s going to take.’
Raon snickered, thinking about Derus Robert, who should have been in the south.
* * *
When Sheryl returned to the room, Encia was already fast asleep, and Michelle was holding her hand.
“I’ll guard her from now on, so the head of house should rest as well.”
Sheryl went next to Encia’s bed and looked at Michelle.
“Thank you.”
Michelle caught her breath and bowed.
“We are simply repaying our debt.”
“Even then, you are being considerate of us in many ways, especially Sir Raon.”
As expected of the master of a house, she was aware of the fact that Raon was being considerate in many ways.
“Who the hell is he?”
“What do you mean?”
“The way he uses his head, his judgment, and decisiveness. He doesn’t look like a young man in any of those aspects.”
Michelle shook her head, while looking at the ground where Raon had subdued Loren.
“Is the Destructive King of the North teaching him personally?”
“That’s not the case. He does have a teacher, but he mostly grew up on his own. And…”
Sheryl shook her head and looked back at the door.
“I’m also curious about his true abilities.”
Just what were the limits of his abilities?
* * *
* * *
Temas was looking at the sun that was defeating the dim night from the forest. His face was fiercely distorted, despite the dazzling sunlight.
“Why is there no contact?”
Temas glared, smacking the big tree next to him.
Slaam!
Along with the sound of an earthquake, the tree fell down in a single hit and turned to ash before disappearing.
“She should’ve contacted us a long time ago! Why is she not contacting us?”
“I-I’m not sure. The networking branch is just saying that there was no contact…”
Yufen lowered his head with trembling shoulders.
“Are you sure you gave her proper instructions?”
“Yes. She should’ve gotten them before evening.”
“That means she was found out!”
Temas stomped on the ground. The grass around the black energy emerging from the ground was crumbling as if a drought had been going on for a long time.
“That stupid bitch! How could she be found out when it was just a simple task of stabbing her with a needle?”
Temas’ eyes were glowing maliciously, his anger returning to him after all his efforts at appeasing it.
“Th-Then, I’m going to contact him right awa… Kuh!”
“Are you crazy?”
As Yufen summoned a crow from his shadow, Temas grabbed his neck.
“We’ve been preparing to take over House Yonaan for over fifteen years now. If he ends up learning about this, we’ll both be beheaded.”
“Ah…”
Yufen’s teeth chattered as he grabbed his own neck.
“Even if you want to make a report, you have to do it after getting results. It’s not going to end well for us if you do it right now.”
Temas calmly took a deep breath to appease his erupting anger.
“But we can’t hide it from him…”
“That’s why we need to conclude this matter as soon as possible! Where are the shadows right now?”
“They are already nearby. They should be able to catch up to us, even if we leave tomorrow.”
Yufen responded quickly and lowered his head.
“Call everyone around us, including the shadows. We don’t need to chase them quickly. It’s okay to be slow, so tell them to take every weapon and poison from the branch.”
“A-All of them?”
“Our opponent is the Heavenly Division leader. We need to use all the poisons and smokescreens in order to have any hope of stopping her for a moment.”
Temas ground his teeth, thinking about the Heavenly Division leader he saw that day.
‘It’s impossible to kill her.’
Although she seemed like a feather when she was hiding her presence, she became bigger than a mountain once she showed it on the outside. Her prowess was even better than the rumors.
“Raon! Just make sure to kill Roan Zieghart. We can recover everything once that happens.”
Black energy was emerging from Temas’ hand.
“I’ll tear his nice face off while he’s alive.”
* * *
Raon went to the head of house’s office the next afternoon. The room was still a mess, but Michelle’s expression was bright, unlike the day before.
“Welcome.”
Michelle’s greeting was a lot more polite than the day before.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Raon asked, bowing in return.
“I still feel suffocated, but I quickly recovered my senses thanks to Sir Raon showing me Loren’s true identity. The shock treatment must’ve been effective.”
She smiled awkwardly, saying that she could accept it now.
“The general administrator interrogated Loren all night long, but nothing was gained. He said she didn’t seem to know anything.”
“I see.”
It was as expected. The only thing Loren knew must’ve been how to contact the discrete group right above her.
“In the end, we need to send her to Retran in order to treat her. You are leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Yes. Since we managed to catch the spy, I think it would be better to bring a maid to help Lady Encia.”
“Yes, I’ll get one prepared.”
“And…”
Raon interrupted himself, as if he were worried about something.
“You can tell me without hesitation.”
Michelle leaned forward, gesturing to him to tell her anything he had to say.
“I think this journey to escort Lady Encia isn’t going to be an easy one.”
“Wh-What do you mean?”
“Considering the way they were openly targeting Lady Encia, there must be something they want from House Yonaan.”
Those bastards were the Roberts. That’s what he wanted to say, but he managed to suppress his urge.
“There’s no way they would let this opportunity slip. I’m sure they are going to thoroughly prepare, and attack us and Lady Encia.”
“What shall we do then?”
“Since they are most likely going to use a strange power or poison just like they did to Lady Encia, can the head of house help us a little?”
“Of course!”
She opened her hands, saying that it was only natural for her to help.
“Our family is famous for artifacts. Tell me anything you want.”
“Great.”
Raon smiled faintly and took out a piece of paper from his inner pocket and gave it to her.
“Evade poison artifact, Ventilator, Radiating stone, Strength enhancement artifact, Night vision artifact, Agility enhancement, Blazing brazier, wind gem…”
Her voice trembled more and more as she read out aloud the endless list one by one.
“A-Are you sure you need all of those…”
“Yes. The Evade poison artifact is especially important.”
Cure poison was capable of healing the poison, but the evade poison could actively negate the poison. That was why the evade poison artifact was far better and more expensive than the cure poison artifact.
“I-I can see some unnecessary items on the list…”
“We need all of them in order to return with everyone alive.”
What nonsense are you spouting?!
Wrath popped up on the bracelet, then started shouting at his nonsense.
That might be the case for the Evade poison artifact, but you don’t need the strength enhancement or agility enhancement artifact!
‘Those are mine.’
That’s why I’m saying you are scamming her right now!
‘Not at all.’
Raon calmly shook his head.
‘Our chance of survival becomes higher if I become stronger to protect everyone. I didn’t lie at all.’
Kuuh!
Wrath glared at Michelle, unable to refute that strange argument, which was unreasonable and reasonable at the same time.
Hey, woman! You should never give them to him! This bastard is an evil demon, even worse than Greed!
However, Michelle seemed to have made up her mind already despite Wrath’s wish.
“Everyone’s safe return…”
She murmured what he said about returning with everyone alive, then nodded.
‘Yes, I can trust him.’
They only managed to find the spy because of Raon’s plan, without being affected by their affection for Loren. She could trust him at that point, regardless of what he said.
“Alright, we will have them prepared by tomorrow.”
Michelle nodded.
Kuah!
Wrath narrowed his eyes while looking at Michelle.
How could you grant all of those wishes? Do you have too much money or something? Why does everyone crave to do everything for him?
Coldness was emanating from him in his displeasure.
“If Encia completely recovers and everyone returns safely just like you said, I’ll grant all of your wishes.”
Michelle spoke, her hands gathered together to show her sincerity.
N-No!
Wrath’s eyes widened.
He is really going to say all of his wishes!
“Are you serious?”
Raon smiled faintly, pushing away Wrath, who was violently shaking his hand.
“Yes, I promise on my name.”
“Make sure to remember that.”
Raon stood up with a smile on his face.
‘There’s no reason for me to refuse if she’s willing to give me what I want.’
He was confident he could extort so much from her that she would feel like the list she saw just then was generous. He could guarantee that Michelle would regret what she just promised.
I’m going nuts!
Wrath violently shook his head.
Why are all the doormats coming to you of their own accord? You must teach the King of Essence how to attract those doormats!
‘I wonder…’
Raon snickered while watching Wrath flounder.
‘It’s probably because the king of doormats is right next to me.’
He was attracting other doormats on top of giving him everything he had. The Giving Wrath was the best in the world.
* * *
Once Raon returned from visiting Michelle, Runaan was preparing herself to go outside.
“Where are you going?”
“There was a bead ice cream shop.”
She murmured that she needed to go there at all costs because there was a new product.
R-Raon.
Wrath slowly climbed up his forearm.
How about going there as well?
‘Why should I?’
Ice cream is delicious. It makes you feel better if you eat it.
‘Not for me.’
Raon shook his head. It was delicious, but training was better at making him feel good.
You crazy training addict…
‘Is that all you had to say?’
W-Wait, then how about this?
‘What?’
The King of Essence will help you as long as I don’t have to use wrath.
‘Help?’
Yes, like checking other people’s cards in the casino or telling you when other people are approaching.
Wrath was desperately rolling his eyes. It looked like he wanted to eat the ice cream at all costs.
‘I can now use him for free.’
Since they were going to leave the next day, he was planning to go out with Runaan anyway. He could only laugh at getting an additional benefit like that.
‘Alright.’
Raon nodded, then went to Runaan.
“Let’s go together.”
“Mhm!”
Runaan nodded, her lips curving up into a small smile.
We came at the wrong time.
‘Indeed.’
As Raon clicked his tongue, the main gate of House Yonaan opened up and they could see a silver-haired man walking through it.
“Ah…”
Runaan stepped back with trembling lips as she saw him.
“I heard you came here, and it was true.”
The silver-haired man, Syria Sullion, waved his hand while smiling.
“Runaan, it’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time.”
Raon stepped up in front of Runaan and smiled coldly.
“Raon Zieghart…”
A small crack appeared in Syria Sullion’s refreshing smile.
