135.
Keith’s dagger silently pierced towards Jinhyeon. Jinhyeon stepped back to avoid the attack that was openly aiming for his vital points. While the usual Keith might have been difficult to handle, the current one wasn’t hard to deal with. Due to his anger, he was in an excited state, making his attack patterns easy to read.
‘He must really want to kill me.’
Love tends to easily sway people. It wasn’t an incomprehensible action, but Jinhyeon had no intention of letting it happen. Why should he take a hit just to please someone? Jinhyeon struck Keith’s solar plexus as he lunged desperately. Though he hit with force, Keith managed to dodge at the last moment.
“Just take one hit.”
Keith gritted his teeth and frowned at the mocking words. As he exhaled deeply, his body, tense with excitement, relaxed. He seemed to have regained his senses, instead of just standing there to get hit and pass out.
“Now, let’s do this properly.”
It seemed he had no intention of stopping the attack even in this situation. Jinhyeon chuckled and pulled out the dagger he had kept hidden. Both of them were the same in not fully complying with the weapon ban. Keith moved first again.
After twirling the dagger in his hand, Keith immediately approached Jinhyeon. Now that he was calmer, it became harder to read his attacks. The Jinhyeon of the past might not have been able to resist much before getting stabbed. That is, right after he had left the Colosseum.
But now?
Yu Jin had said that Jinhyeon was the protagonist of the novel and would become stronger than anyone else. At first, he didn’t think much of it, but now he understood. In terms of swordsmanship talent in this world, Jinhyeon was a genius. Jinhyeon easily deflected Keith’s dagger and counterattacked. Unlike Keith, he didn’t intend to kill. He just needed to incapacitate him enough to prevent further attacks.
He struck Keith’s wrist hard with the dagger’s handle and snatched the weapon that fell from Keith’s hand. In an instant, Keith was left unarmed.
“You!”
Keith gritted his teeth but didn’t lunge again.
“You.”
His face, now cleared of anger, was filled with confusion and pain.
“Let’s not waste time with nonsense in this situation.”
At Jinhyeon’s words, Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to his usual self.
“Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do.”
“Good that you understand. Shall we discuss what to do next?”
Jinhyeon, now with two daggers, sat down heavily on the ground. After a moment of hesitation, Keith soon followed and sat on the floor.
“What do you plan to do now? The leader of Leviathan has made his move. There’s no point in pretending anymore.”
Greyardin, the leader of Leviathan, seemed to covet Yu Jin.
“He’ll definitely try to brainwash Yu Jin. If he discovers the pretense of brainwashing during that process, it’s a problem. Then he’ll quickly realize my betrayal. Once he becomes wary, he’ll try to escape.”
“Really?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, is he really the type to run away? Wouldn’t he rather try to brainwash in that situation?”
Keith couldn’t answer Jinhyeon’s question. Considering everything that had happened, Greyardin had a capricious personality. He gave a strong impression of an absolute being who moved as he pleased. Yet, he had been able to move without being detected until now thanks to Aksen. Unlike the leader, Aksen was cautious, and the leader didn’t completely ignore Aksen’s opinions. Still, this time, Keith couldn’t be certain of anything.
“Maybe. The leader of Leviathan has a strange obsession with Lucid.”
“With Lucid?”
“He’s been obsessed with Lucid and kept making moves on it, ignoring the imperial family. If he wanted to swallow the empire, it would have been faster to eat the imperial family first and incite chaos.”
The empire had a strong imperial authority. Moreover, Lucid was pro-emperor, so it would have been easier to manipulate in that situation.
“But it’s not easy to figure out the reason for this obsession now. Even if we did, it might not solve our problem. What we need to do now is something else.”
“Buy time.”
“That’s right.”
Now that they knew Greyardin was the leader, they needed to capture him.
“Can we catch him with the manpower we have now?”
“If we mobilize Lucid’s forces, we might be able to.”
“You don’t sound certain.”
“True. Lucid’s power is considerable, but not all of it is internal.”
“Aren’t all the knight commanders staying in the mansion?”
“The strongest person isn’t necessarily the commander. I don’t know about other families, but Lucid doesn’t base the commander’s qualifications on strength alone. Of course, that doesn’t mean the commanders are weak, but they’re not absolute powerhouses. The truly strong ones are currently dispatched externally. They’re probably returning now that news of the new family head has spread, but it will take more time.”
Even the strongest knight can’t instantly travel long distances.
“Greyardin didn’t seem that strong.”
“There are many ways to hide strength. Plus, my master Rector is nearby. He’s one of the top powerhouses on the continent. And Aksen is a magician. Though his physical abilities are low, he uses a lot of magic that confuses people. If we’re not careful, we might end up fighting among ourselves.”
“What if we get cooperation from the imperial family?”
“We’d still need to buy some time. The imperial family isn’t quick enough to send people immediately just because it’s urgent.”
“Alright. So we buy time, gather strength, and strike at once. That’s the plan. Seems simple.”
“Can you buy time?”
Jinhyeon grinned at Keith’s question.
“The abandoned concubine will have to step up.”
“What?”
Keith looked at Jinhyeon with uneasy eyes, feeling an ominous premonition.
“Just trust me once.”
Jinhyeon said this as he stood up. And the next day, Yu Jin was kidnapped.
“Is this what you meant by trusting you?”
Keith gritted his teeth upon receiving the report that Yu Jin had disappeared.
He glared at Jinhyeon, whose blue eyes were narrowed in a smile.
“Are you crazy?”
“No, I’m in my right mind.”
“Right mind? You call this being in your right mind?”
Yu Jin tightened his grip on Jinhyeon’s nape.
“How is this something a sane person would do! Why did you suddenly kidnap me!”
Originally, the plan was to lure Leviathan’s forces into the mansion, capture them, and use that to find Greyardin’s location. But as if heaven helped, Greyardin walked into the Lucid mansion on his own. Of course, his bodyguards who always stick to him like glue would be hiding nearby, but even that meant half the plan was as good as successful.
Now they just needed to add Lucid’s strength to the powerful people called from the imperial family and capture him! But for the bait, Yu Jin, to be taken outside – Yu Jin couldn’t understand what Jinhyeon was thinking.
“Put me back while I’m asking nicely.”
“It’s fine, I tell you. I left a letter when we left.”
“A letter?”
“Yes, I wrote a heartfelt one. I wrote it embodying a concubine devastated by her beloved’s change of heart.”
“…What is that?”
Yu Jin sighed deeply.
“Okay, you wouldn’t do this without a reason. At least tell me the reason.”
“If you want a reason, there is one. Yu Jin, we lack communication.”
“What do you mean?”
“We each have information, but we haven’t properly consolidated it. Keith said that with our current strength, we can’t handle the bodyguards now attached to Greyardin.”
“You mean Rector? That’s why we got cooperation from the imperial family.”
“He wasn’t confident even with that. So we need time until Lucid’s other forces arrive.”
“Lucid’s other forces. You mean Sir Prina.”
Yu Jin had encountered Rector in the novel but didn’t know the specific extent of his power. In this world, being terribly uncoordinated, he couldn’t gauge it. It wasn’t clearly written in the novel either. Usually, novels often categorize strong individuals into ranks, but this novel didn’t do that.
“So you kidnapped me to buy time? What if Greyardin leaves because of this?”
“He won’t. That guy is obsessed with Lucid, they say. Plus, he seems to like you.”
“Ugh.”
Yu Jin pretended to vomit. Knowing Greyardin’s real age made it worse.
“I don’t like it.”
Even if he looks decent, his ideology doesn’t appeal to me.
“That’s good. Anyway, let’s spend a little time here with me for that reason.”
The place Jinhyeon brought Yu Jin was a small cabin in a forest.
“But when you tried to take me while I was asleep, didn’t the shadow stop you?”
“It did.”
“How… Never mind. I won’t ask.”
“What you’re imagining didn’t happen. I simply persuaded it with words.”
Yu Jin looked at Jinhyeon suspiciously as he said this, but it was true.
The shadow only follows the family head’s orders. And that family head had ordered not to touch Jinhyeon no matter what. In that situation, when Jinhyeon suddenly started carrying Yu Jin out, the reason was plausible enough that it couldn’t stop him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
