I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 18

Dan Bi’s face contorted, and Hyun spoke calmly, her sword tip still leveled at him.
“Your expression tells me you remember, it seems.”
“You don’t mean—you actually remember the previous cycle? The Game that’s already been Reset?”
“Reset?”
Hyun’s eyebrows lifted as if she didn’t understand the word. Her gaze remained sharp and gleaming, cold as ever.
‘Wait, if that’s the case…’
Dan Bi slowly raised her Short Dagger to meet hers.
You can’t mean…
“Are you trying to kill me again?”
“You’re deeply mistaken about something.”
With that, Hyun stepped closer. Dan Bi’s retreating back struck the wall.
Hyun’s lips tightened, as though she were swallowing rising fury.
“It was you who first drew a blade against me.”
“What?”
In the same moment, Hyun swung her sword at Dan Bi. With a sharp clash, their blades crossed in an X, and their eyes met through the gap between them.
Suddenly, a scene flashed through her mind.
A moment when she and Hyun had clashed swords inside Uisangggo. But that wasn’t now.
It was a distant memory from the far past, lingering at the edge of recollection. Hyun’s voice echoed as though reverberating from some distant place.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten?”
Then another image wavered before her eyes.
She, dressed in black, and Hyun, wearing the dragon robe, faced each other with swords drawn.
Then her Short Dagger in hand had slashed across the Kiwuje Ceremonial Robe.
“What is this memory?”
Dan Bi looked up, bewildered.
“You’re saying I damaged the Kiwuje Ceremonial Robe? I never did anything like that—!”

“Don’t tell me time in the Game kept flowing even when I wasn’t logged in?”

Now that she thought about it, it had always been that way. Even when she wasn’t connected, time in the Game had marched on of its own accord.
Which meant—had her character been moving around on its own while she was gone?
If so, then damaging the Kiwuje Ceremonial Robe really did—!
Then a blue window materialized in the air.

「A new Main Quest has arrived.
─Assassination.
You are an assassin who has infiltrated Hougung to kill the King.
Kill the King and complete the mission.」

At the same time, countless scenes flooded into her mind like a torrent.
Dan Bi swayed on her feet, struggling to hold onto the fragments of memory.

***

Hyun grabbed the woman’s arm and threw her onto the bed. As he climbed over her roughly, that face she hated to touch came within inches of hers.
Hyun pulled the corner of her mouth into an oblique smile.
“They said you were the daughter of that cunning Wusang, yet you seem far more transparent than I expected. Just how much are you planning to show me, when we’ve only just met?”
“No, what are you—!”
The woman hastily fastened her clothing. Seeing her flushed face, irritation suddenly welled up in him.
Was she acting innocent?
Fine, let me humor her performance then.
Hyun smiled cunningly and moved closer. The woman quickly turned her head away, stammering.
“W-wait!”
Hyun didn’t stop. Just as the woman’s eyes clenched shut and her lips began to meet his—
“…? Hey!”
The woman’s head suddenly jerked to the side. As if she’d lost consciousness.
“What are you doing right now?”
She gave no answer. Hyeon gently shook the woman awake.
“Hey, hey!”
Then, with a snap, the woman’s eyes opened.
“Did you call for me, Your Highness?”
“Just now, what was―!”
“I was so excited at the thought of beholding Your Highness’s face that I stayed awake all night, and it seems I dozed off by accident. I humbly beg your forgiveness for my rudeness.”
Hyeon, taken aback by her sudden transformation, stood with his mouth hanging open.
Then the woman, who had been staring at him intently, suddenly began to loosen her own clothing.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought perhaps you desired something…”
Hyeon shot to his feet.
“Enough. I must have been seeing things.”
As Hyeon turned away, the smile vanished from the woman’s face in an instant. Then she drew something from her robe.
A short dagger, its surface etched entirely with floral patterns.
Still watching his back with unwavering eyes, she slowly drew the blade from its sheath. The sharp steel gleamed with an icy blue light in the silence.
“I’m tired tonight. Leave me be.”
As Hyeon waved his hand dismissively, the blade was raised for only a moment.
When she did not answer, it was just as Hyeon turned sharply on his heel that the woman, sitting demurely on the bed, broke into a smile.
Tsk.
Hyeon sighed and reached for the door. All he wanted was to end this chaotic night.
Then a voice came from behind.
“Your Highness. I beseech you to grant me the rank of Gui In.”
“…What did you just say?”
At her inexplicable words, Hyeon turned back. The woman’s eyes did not smile, but her lips curled slowly upward.
“I am asking that you bestow upon me the rank of Gui In.”
Hyeon stood askew, speaking with clear mockery.
“I have not even held your hand once. What reason would I have to grant you the rank of Gui In?”
“I know where the Royal Seal is.”
“…!”
Hyeon’s eyes widened despite himself, then he laughed as if it meant nothing to him.
“What nonsense is this? The Royal Seal―”
“You already knew. That the Royal Seal is a forgery.”
Hyeon fell silent, his words caught. Then, for a moment, his face twisted with rage.
“How did you come to know that?”
He closed the distance between them in a single breath, thrusting his face close to hers. An unpleasant breath reached his nostrils.
“That the Royal Seal is a forgery.”
The woman paused in silence, then looked directly at him.
“I… I know where the real Royal Seal is.”
Hyeon stared at her for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. Hearty, booming laughter filled the room.
“Very well, Gui In. Then where is this true Royal Seal now?”
“There is one more condition.”
“…A condition?”
Hyeon’s eyebrows shot up sharply.
“Are you haggling with me?”
“Not haggling―an exchange. An exchange requires that the values of the two things be equal, does it not?”
“…An exchange.”
Hyeon considered for a moment, then folded his arms.
“So what is it that Gui In desires?”
“Rain.”
“…?”
“Please grant me rain, Your Highness.”

Several days later, late at night, with the Kiwuje Ceremony only a week away.
The moonlight was dim, hidden behind clouds, and the wind wailed desolately.
Hyeon walked carefully through the Uisangggo. Bolts of cloth and ceremonial robes for the rite lay stacked in layers beneath the pale lamplight.
Soon Hyeon’s footsteps came to a sudden halt.
“Who’s there?”
When no answer came, Hyeon spun around. In the darkness, he could see the silhouette of someone cloaked entirely in black garments.
Hyeon reflexively drew the sword at his hip. In the same instant, the figure rushed toward him.
The cold clash of metal cut through the silence. Blades met in succession, and Hyeon pressed forward with a faster step.
As the sword’s point swung upward, the cloth wrapped around her face scattered on the wind. In that instant, a familiar visage flashed before his eyes.
“You…!”
Hyun turned his body to follow her as she bolted out the door.
Then something caught beneath his feet with a soft scrape. Lowering his gaze, he found a scabbard with floral patterns etched into its surface.

Three days later, before Sajikdan.
“Search her at once! That Gui In—search her body!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The moment Hyun’s order fell, soldiers of the Geum Gun seized the woman’s arms on both sides and began a rough, methodical search of her person.
She thrashed about, her face flushed with panic.
“What is the meaning of this!”
A moment later, one of the soldiers conducting the search shook his head.
Just then, several more soldiers of the Geum Gun came running in from a distance.
“Your Highness.”
“What have you found?”
The approaching soldier extended a Short Dagger toward Hyun.
“As you commanded, we have located the Short Dagger without a scabbard.”
Hyun slowly picked up the Short Dagger resting in the soldier’s palm. Then he withdrew a scabbard from his robes.
The moment the Short Dagger slid perfectly into the scabbard, the woman’s eyes widened in shock.

***

Dan Bi slowly lifted her head, cradling her spinning temples. The point of Hyun’s sword still aimed directly at her.
“Then… could it be that the mysterious assailant who was supposedly trying to kill me…!”
“All your words and actions—they were calculated to harm me all along.”
“No, I was only—”
Bang!
The door burst open, and Rang and the soldiers poured into the Uisangggo like a flood.
Hyun shouted toward them.
“Seize this one at once!”
“Yes!”
With his command, the soldiers of the Geum Gun drew their blades and began closing in steadily. Dan Bi backed away slowly.
Her back hit the wall. There was nowhere left to run.
Dan Bi squeezed her eyes shut.
Suddenly, a vision flashed through her mind—the soldiers’ swords rising toward the sky, the moment her neck was severed in one clean stroke.
“Wait!”
She thrust both hands outward toward them. Startled by the unexpected gesture, the soldiers halted momentarily.
Dan Bi turned her gaze to Hyun. She pointed a finger at empty space.
There, a blue window still hovered.

“The Game cannot be terminated.”

Dan Bi cried out desperately.
“This is all a Game! It’s a Game!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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