150.
Greyardin, who had been suppressing his screams in agony all along, urgently opened his mouth.
“Yu Jin!”
Throughout his life, Greyardin had never fully trusted anyone. Yet at this moment, his eyes looking at Yu Jin were filled with pathos. Seeing Greyardin’s gaze pleading for help, Yu Jin hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. The scene created by Freena was excessively cruel, but he couldn’t back down.
“Lady Freena.”
At Yu Jin’s call, Freena looked up at him with an expressionless face. Although it felt eerie, Yu Jin didn’t retreat. It was because Greyardin was still alive.
There’s a rule in horror or thriller movies. If you don’t kill the monster or villain in one go, they will surely reappear later and harm others. So no matter how pitiful it might be, Greyardin shouldn’t be left alive here, and even if he was dead, it was necessary to confirm the kill.
“As the head of Lucid, I order you.”
Freena knelt and put her hand on her chest.
“As a knight of Lucid, I will follow your order.”
“Kill the leader of Leviathan.”
The corner of Freena’s stiff mouth turned up slightly. She picked up the sword she had momentarily set aside and struck down on Greyardin. Once, twice, three times. With each stab, blood splattered.
“Ugh, you, you!”
Greyardin looked at Yu Jin with tears of blood, but Yu Jin didn’t flinch. He seemed like he wanted to say something more, but Freena didn’t allow it. Greyardin, who couldn’t scream for a different reason this time, met his end like that.
“Is he really dead?”
To Yu Jin’s question, Jinhyeon answered.
“Perfectly dead.”
Only then did Yu Jin collapse weakly on the spot. If Jinhyeon hadn’t caught him midway, he would have hit the floor. It was a bit early, but the leader of Leviathan was dead. He knew that not everything would end with his death, but the tension was released.
‘What should I do now?’
First, they need to join hands with the imperial family and catch the remnants of Leviathan. Then, they need to clean up the mess they’ve made and take measures to prevent such things from happening in the future. In the process, it might be good to bring the nobles freed from brainwashing to their side.
Just thinking about it made him dizzy with the amount of work left, but now that they’ve overcome the biggest hurdle, it seemed like they could somehow manage it. After all, he had his cherished family, including Jinhyeon, by his side.
Come to think of it, what happened to Keith? This time, when he meets him, Yu Jin planned to properly face Keith’s feelings that he had been avoiding. And he wanted to somehow reach a conclusion and become a complete family.
“Shall we go?”
Jinhyeon, who had picked up Yu Jin like a princess at some point, asked. The area around the mansion was gradually filling with people as the search party, belatedly understanding the situation, arrived.
“I’ll take care of the corpse,” Freena said calmly, letting the two leave.
“What’s this? What’s going on? Oh, it’s the head of Lucid.”
Allen was among the search party that joined late. He looked at Yu Jin in Jinhyeon’s arms with a subtle expression and cleared his throat. Still, Yu Jin had no intention of getting down from Jinhyeon’s arms. He was too exhausted, and he didn’t want to be separated from his lover whom he met after a long time. So he decided to just brazenly stay put.
“It’s an honor to see you, Lord Allen.”
“Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve seen your face.”
“The last time I saw you was at Lucid’s party, wasn’t it?”
It was from the time when Yu Jin’s mother was still alive.
“Actually, I’ve seen you occasionally besides that time.”
It was just glimpses of Yu Jin as he was breaking down, but he had seen him.
“You’ve changed a lot. But it seems to be a good change.”
At Allen’s words, Yu Jin laughed out loud. Although he had become gaunt, Yu Jin’s clear laughter still beautiful, drew the attention of those around. Jinhyeon tightened his arms holding Yu Jin, but the gazes didn’t easily disperse.
“Well then, go and rest now.”
As Jinhyeon’s aura became increasingly menacing, Allen, concerned for the well-being of those around, gestured to Yu Jin.
“Is that alright?”
“I’m not going to put an injured person to work right away. Rest for a while. You’ll be busy again soon anyway.”
“Thank you for your kindness.”
With that, Yu Jin left the scene with Jinhyeon. It had been a long, long journey. When it started, the only goal was to survive, but even that had changed now. Yu Jin wanted to be happy with the people he was with. He said to Jinhyeon, who was carrying him and walking:
“I love you.”
It seemed like the first time he had said such a thing in broad daylight while sober. At Yu Jin’s words, Jinhyeon lowered his gaze and showed a surprised expression. But that was only for a moment; soon he showed the same smile as Yu Jin and replied:
“I love you too.”
Yu Jin felt happiness even amidst the commotion.
After first being examined by a doctor and confirming that there was nothing wrong, Yu Jin immediately headed to Lucid. The mansion he saw again after a long time was guarding its place as always.
“Lord Yu Jin!”
As soon as Yu Jin entered the mansion, Haruna ran and hugged him.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.”
The body that touched him trembled slightly, and the shoulder where Haruna’s face touched began to get wet. Even in the midst of bewilderment, as he patted her small back with apology, he saw another familiar face behind her.
“Brother.”
Keith was standing there with an indescribable expression, staring at Yu Jin and Jinhyeon. Yu Jin saw Keith and made a playful expression, wiggling his hand. Only then did Keith limp over and hug Yu Jin along with Haruna.
“Ack!”
Haruna, who was suddenly sandwiched between them, let out a short scream, but Keith didn’t mind.
“Thank goodness. Thank goodness.”
Keith shed tears profusely along with Haruna. Jinhyeon watched the scene with a displeased expression but left them be. He knew what they meant to Yu Jin. After spending quite some time at the entrance of the mansion like that, they finally moved inside.
In the room, they talked about what had happened, and Haruna listened to the story, sometimes indignant and sometimes joyful. Keith’s attitude wasn’t much different from Haruna’s, but there was one change.
The emotion he always showed towards Yu Jin seemed to have been cleanly erased. But it was clear that what was visible wasn’t everything. Keith was being overly considerate of Yu Jin. It seemed they would need to set aside time to talk about that separately.
For now, Yu Jin also matched Keith’s efforts. And their long conversation came to an end. Now it was time to return to reality. Yu Jin would continue to act as the head of Lucid as he had done so far, and Haruna and Keith would help him. Jinhyeon would be by his side as always.
Always, for a long time. With that thought, his mind finally became at ease.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Gee was running like mad through the deep forest. A horse with large, pointed horns on its head was chasing him with killing intent.
[Filthy human! Stop right there! How dare you defile my precious forest!]
“I’m not filthy! Why am I filthy!”
[You’re filthy!]
The horse let out a roar and increased its speed. And just as it was about to pierce Gee’s back with its pointed horn, something fell from above onto the horse’s body. The startled horse shook its body frantically, but what was stuck to its back showed no sign of falling off.
“Blando!”
Gee shouted his friend’s name with relief. Blando clung tightly to the horse and cut off its horn. The horn, which had looked solid, split smoothly as soon as the sword touched it and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Gee avoided the frantically moving horse’s legs, grabbed the horn, and ran again.
“Success, success!”
[You bastard!]
The horned horse, more accurately known as the legendary creature called a unicorn, was thrashing about in fury. It even spewed out curses from who knows where it learned them. Not long after, Blando also escaped from the unicorn and joined Gee.
[I’ll trample you to death!]
The unicorn chased after them in anger, but it was already too late. A magician who had been waiting from afar joined them and tore the teleport scroll in his arms, making the targets disappear without a trace.
[Arrrgh!]
It was maddening, but the unicorn had no way to chase after them.
In a small mansion on the outskirts of the capital, there was an empty room inside, which was their teleport destination.
“Ughh.”
Realizing they had arrived at their destination, Gee immediately left the magic circle on the floor and stuck to the wall.
“I really thought I was going to die this time.”
However, Blando, who followed, said in a calm voice:
“But you’re alive.”
Gee looked at Blando with an expression that said he had a lot to say. I may be alive, but I almost died! And such things keep happening. But despite all these experiences, Blando’s attitude never changed once. As they crawled halfway out the door, they saw people sprawled in the hall. They were all members of the information group that started in the back alleys.
“Is this right?”
As someone said that and started complaining, the people lying lifelessly nodded their heads. But no one seemed to actively agree. It was because they would be in trouble if these words somehow reached the top. After all, there was one nagging king here.
“You’re back?”
The nagging king, San, looked down from the second floor.
“We’re back.”
“Did you retrieve the unicorn horn?”
“We did.”
“Then you’ve met today’s quota, so rest.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Gee staggered and collapsed in an empty space in the hall. Blando was the only one standing normally.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
