132.
Watching Keith’s internal struggle, Yu Jin felt a pang of conscience. He knew that Greyardin was the leader of Leviathan, but he hadn’t told Keith this fact. Unlike with Jinhyeon, Yu Jin had been close to Keith since birth.
Because of this, Yu Jin rarely had the opportunity to do anything without Keith knowing. But what if Yu Jin told him that he knew about Leviathan’s structure and even its leader? Naturally, Keith would have questions. He might have to explain about seeing it in a novel in his past life. That’s where the hesitation arose.
Would Keith understand everything like Jinhyeon did? Jinhyeon had a modern way of thinking, but Keith didn’t. The concept of past lives existed here too, but it was treated like a mere fantasy. Occasionally, people who remembered their past lives appeared, but they were extremely rare. If Keith didn’t believe him and distanced himself, Yu Jin felt he couldn’t bear it.
It wasn’t that Yu Jin loved Keith in the same way as Jinhyeon. Keith had been family to Yu Jin from the beginning. And Yu Jin didn’t want to receive strange looks from such family. For this reason, he kept his mouth shut, and currently, Keith didn’t know Greyardin’s true identity.
Yu Jin swallowed the sigh that was about to escape and changed his expression. Soon the corridor ended and they entered the hall. Despite what had happened, not many people had left. Their faith in Lucid kept them there.
“What exactly happened?” Tulin stepped forward to ask. It seemed he had deliberately come forward to make it easier for Yu Jin to answer. Previously, he had spoken casually, but now he raised his tone of speech, addressing Yu Jin as the head.
“There was an intruder. But we caught them quickly, and we’re currently investigating the circumstances of the incident,” Yu Jin replied.
“So we’re safe now?”
“Of course. I regret that this happened when you’ve taken the trouble to visit us.”
“No, it’s fine. Nothing serious happened.”
Even as he said this, Yu Jin didn’t bow his head, nor did he offer a direct apology. Although it might seem brazen, no one expressed dissatisfaction. Even Tulin, who was like a king in the upper world, accepted Yu Jin’s words without complaint. The remaining party schedule proceeded without a hitch.
People laughed, chatted, and danced as if they had forgotten what had just happened. And as before, many people flocked around Yu Jin. It was only late at night when the party ended and people left the hall one by one.
As people disappeared, Yu Jin’s shoulders finally relaxed.
“Tired, aren’t you? Go to your room and rest now. I’ll take care of the rest,” Keith said, gently pushing Yu Jin’s back.
“I think it might be better if I stay with you.”
“No. You look like you could collapse at any moment. Better to rest and look into things tomorrow.”
Yu Jin couldn’t overcome Keith’s stubbornness. So he reluctantly made his way to his room.
After taking Yu Jin to his room, Keith immediately went to find Count Lumine. He was imprisoned in the underground jail of a detached building a little distance from the mansion, and he didn’t look well.
“Was he tortured?” Keith asked.
The jailer guarding the prison bowed his head. “No, sir. We only checked for hidden poison or weapons, just in case. Other than that, we didn’t touch him.”
“He looks in bad shape though?”
“It seems someone had already done something to him. From the looks of it, they used drugs that affect the mind.”
Well, even though Count Lumine was greedy, he wasn’t the type to voluntarily jump into danger.
“We’ve administered an antidote to address the problematic areas, but he’s still in this state.”
“Heh, hehehe.” Count Lumine laughed, staring into space with a completely dazed face.
“Count Lumine.” When Keith called him, his eyeballs rolled grotesquely. Upon recognizing Keith, Count Lumine suddenly jerked his body. He couldn’t stand up as he was tied to a chair fixed to the floor, but he clearly showed a reaction.
“Oh? He didn’t do that earlier. It seems he’s responding to a familiar face. When I called him, he just kept staring into space,” the jailer said.
“Is that so?”
Count Lumine struggled to stand up a few times, then screamed, “Yu Jin! Bring Yu Jin! Bring him here!”
The jailer watching his outburst tightened his grip on the whip. And when Keith nodded, he immediately lashed Count Lumine. The whip, made of twisted snake skin, would clearly hurt even with a graze, but Count Lumine didn’t react to the pain. He just kept calling for Yu Jin like a madman.
“Stop.” It seemed futile to continue hitting him. Whether they tortured him or not, they needed to bring him back to his senses first. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
‘Aksen must have had a hand in this,’ Keith thought. Leviathan must have played tricks. It might be better to investigate Greyardin instead. Or maybe he should seek out his master, Rector, again. Keith instructed the jailer to keep a close watch on Count Lumine and left the underground prison.
Greyardin received excellent treatment and had his wounds tended to. Knowing that he was Yu Jin’s benefactor, everyone was kind and eager to do more for him.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“No, I’m fine. But I’d like to rest now.”
“Rest well. If you need any help, please pull the bell rope.”
The maids spoke softly and withdrew from the room. Left alone, Greyardin immediately got up from the bed. He had been wounded quite badly, but this wasn’t the first time. He had avoided dangerous areas, so moving wasn’t a big problem. What concerned him now wasn’t these wounds, but Yu Jin.
“He was even more beautiful in person.”
It was like an angel had descended to earth. With silk-like hair that seemed spun from gold threads, clear eyes like lakes, and a slender white body that was quite appealing. The thought of having both Yu Jin and Lucid in his grasp excited him for the first time in a long while.
Greyardin had wanted to possess Lucid for a long time. Since the days when he lived as an illegitimate child of Lucid. His mother was an elf, but his father was human. Whether there was love at the beginning of that relationship or not, he didn’t know. But from the moment Greyardin could remember, his mother was suffering.
An elf’s love was eternal, but a human’s love wasn’t. The man who had sworn his love took another human as his wife and made that child his official heir.
The man’s family continuously tormented Greyardin and his mother. Finally, they came to plan their murder. In the process, Greyardin’s mother met her death. Greyardin barely survived, but after his mother’s death, he witnessed his father’s indifference.
‘Love is so fleeting.’
Afterwards, Greyardin left without even informing his father of his survival. But even as he struggled to survive after leaving, he never once forgot about the family. He thought his mother’s love was foolish, but he wanted revenge on those who had made her that way. This desire didn’t disappear even after he established Leviathan and set the goal of swallowing up the continent.
Quite a long time had passed, and emotions had diluted, but that didn’t mean he would leave Lucid alone. Memories that he couldn’t forget even if he tried were deeply embedded in his heart, occasionally tormenting Greyardin. But that too would soon come to an end.
Greyardin planned to brainwash Yu Jin, make him his own, and take possession of Lucid. Then he would use Lucid to take over the empire and expand his influence to the continent. After that, when Lucid had served its purpose, he planned to eliminate it.
His long-dead father had been obsessed with the family. He would do anything to love the family and make it prosper. Therefore, destroying Lucid would be the most effective revenge he could take on his father.
Greyardin quietly smiled, recalling his mother whose face he could no longer remember.
“Gasp!”
Yu Jin woke up with a short scream. He seemed to have had a nightmare, but couldn’t remember the content.
‘Is it because I’m tense?’
Yesterday, things had unfolded so quickly that he was overwhelmed. Count Lumine had suddenly attacked him, and while he was desperately rolling on the floor to avoid it, Greyardin appeared. He had saved Yu Jin and gotten injured, but it was probably intentional. After all, it was his specialty to approach people pretending to be good after creating such debts of gratitude.
Yu Jin exhaled deeply. Although he had expected something to happen, he hadn’t anticipated Greyardin’s appearance. He wasn’t sure how things would unfold from now on. Given this situation, he couldn’t let his guard down.
By the way, with the situation like this, was it okay to keep hiding information from Keith? Shouldn’t he at least tell him that Greyardin was the leader of Leviathan? Yu Jin clasped his hands together and rested his forehead on them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
