I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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1. An engagement is a matter between two people. (1)

“Please break off the engagement.”

Ryuie declared.

The Empress sitting before her silently sipped her tea.

“Very well then.”

The Empress gracefully set down her teacup.

However, Ryuie’s expression did not relax. There was a reason why the Empress could answer so easily even when asked to break off an imperial engagement.

This Empire where Ryuie lived was under the protection of the guardian deity Rkultu.

Oaths sworn in Rkultu’s name had to be kept without fail. Otherwise, a severe price had to be paid.

Curses, accidents, physical deformities, mental disorders, and so on. Most were horrific just to hear about. It made one wonder if this was really protection from a guardian deity. It meant the rules were that strict.

Naturally, sacred unions like marriage or engagement could not escape the consequences either.

Therefore, Ryuie’s demand to break off the engagement was essentially a request to safely perform a ritual to break the oath.

Ryuie never dreamed that such a curse would come attached to an engagement made unknowingly in childhood.

‘I absolutely cannot be forced into marriage like this.’

Naturally, if the Empress, who was the fiancé’s mother, was in her right mind, she should agree to break off the engagement. Unless she wanted to kill someone. The Empress did seem to agree with Ryuie’s words.

“Marriage is originally a matter between two people, isn’t it?”

The Empress smiled with an extremely understanding expression.

“I have no intention of interfering.”

“I am asking you to interfere.”

Ryuie gritted her teeth.

Since it was an engagement agreed upon by the parents, wouldn’t it end if they just said to stop it?

No.

This damned guardian deity was old-fashioned.

If an oath was made, the parties involved were absolutely necessary.

To break off the engagement without receiving a curse, both people had to rush to the temple and make an oath.

Saying they would no longer marry!

The method was simple, but there was one major problem that could not be immediately executed in Ryuie’s current engagement breakup.

The Crown Prince who was engaged to Ryuie was currently missing.

Clink!

Ryuie deliberately set down her teacup noisily on the saucer.

Even though she was openly behaving rudely in front of the Empress, the Empress’s smile did not disappear.

“Surely Your Majesty must know where the Crown Prince is?”

“My goodness. Girls. Has the meaning of the word ‘missing’ changed while I wasn’t aware?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

Ryuie glared at the surrounding maids who were annoyingly singing in chorus.

“How could the Imperial Court truly neglect the Empire’s only heir?”

“I respect that child’s free will, Yeongae. Isn’t that the trendy saying these days?”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

Finally losing her temper at the maids who kept supporting the Empress, Ryuie’s eyes widened.

No matter how much praise she received for having the most brilliant eyes among all the rubies in the world, bloodshot red pupils were indeed frightening.

The maids quickly shut their mouths and suppressed their laughter.

Most of them had attended the same school as Ryuie and knew her temperament well.

Ryuie, who barely suppressed her surging emotions because she was in front of the Empress, pleaded again.

“I don’t even hope for the exact location. I’m just asking you to contact him. He wouldn’t want to marry a woman he’s never met even once since the engagement either.”

“Not ‘he’ but the Crown Prince.”

“Yes, the Crown Prince. Long live His Highness the Crown Prince, long live. Doesn’t he have even one moment to come to the capital during all that long life?”

Even Ryuie’s increasingly insolent remarks only seemed cute to the Empress.

It was because she liked this aspect that she had engaged Yeongae to her son.

“Wouldn’t I want to see my only son too? But what can I do when contact has truly been lost? I’d rather be the one pleading.”

The Empress’s eyes finally sparkled as if she was about to get to the main point.

“If you really want to break off the engagement, Yeongae should go catch him yourself.”

“Catch him?”

Ryuie hesitated.

“Aren’t there widespread rumors about your remarkable abilities? It would be good to see them before bringing you into the Imperial Court.”

“I’m going to break off the engagement.”

“Oh right. That’s true.”

The Empress deliberately pretended not to know and acted sly.

“Even if you really catch the Crown Prince, your abilities would be proven, so I might not want to let Yeongae go. What should we do?”

The Empress let out a delicate sigh and subtly tested the waters.

“How about just waiting until the Crown Prince returns?”

“You want me to cool my boiling blood even more at this prime age?”

A vein bulged on Ryuie’s forehead.

“Your Majesty. Do you know that because of that damn engagement, I haven’t even been able to hold a man’s hand? Because I was afraid of receiving Rkultu’s curse?”

“Oh my.”

The Empress inwardly burst into laughter while making a pitiful expression.

“Still? Good heavens, what a waste. How has such a lovely Yeongae still not experienced romance even once?”

“The feeling of having to just let handsome men pass by was truly fantastic.”

Even when Ryuie rolled her eyes sarcastically, her upturned eyelashes only looked seductive.

Her wavy black hair spread out smoothly and widely like thorns that would never let you escape once you touched them. Her sharply drawn jawline generously revealed her characteristic confidence.

Especially her lips, burning as red as her crimson eyes, caught attention even without any makeup.

The bewitching curve of her lips that elongated gracefully whenever she spoke was the pinnacle of her personality expressed through beauty.

Ryuie spoke with those lips.

“I’ll date women then.”

“Rkultu is fair.”

“Let me have some romance!”

Ryuie, who was also forbidden from same-sex relationships, finally roared.

“Aren’t I at an age to experience love!”

“Hmm. I understand wanting to have fun before marriage, but you seem like you’d burn your partner to ashes rather than just playing with fire.”

“Your Majesty!”

The Empress looked at Ryuie, who was desperately crying out to break off the engagement, with an expression that was knowing yet unknowing.

“There’s a good reason why the Crown Prince hasn’t returned.”

Ryuie calmed down momentarily at the voice that had returned to the Empress’s stern tone.

It was because the Empress had stopped joking and was presenting an official position.

“Even before considering you, from the Imperial Court’s standpoint, we consider the Crown Prince’s return uncertain.”

“…!”

Ryuie exhaled sharply.

“Are you speaking truly?”

“Would you believe it if I said we’re considering candidate lists for a new heir and even system changes in case the Crown Prince doesn’t return?”

Even Ryuie, who had been angry throughout, became quite serious.

To think the Imperial Court was prepared to replace the heir or even change the entire national governance system. She wasn’t sure if Rkultu, the guardian deity, would allow it, but the resulting side effects weren’t Ryuie’s concern. Why? Because once the engagement ended, she and the Crown Prince would be strangers!

Ducal houses that could feed three generations even if the country collapsed originally didn’t worry about the future. She was just a bit surprised that the Empress’s resolve was unexpectedly great.

“This matter hasn’t been officially announced yet.”

The Empress cut off Ryuie’s multiplying thoughts.

“Anyway, the simplest method available right now is for the Crown Prince to return, so if you want to resolve it with the party involved, you have no choice but to catch him yourself.”

“It sounds like you’re passing the buck to me.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

The Empress smiled briefly like a common housewife.

“But I won’t stop you from using any means or methods.”

“Your Majesty!”

This time it was the maids who cried out.

The Empress’s statement just now was far too dangerous for Ryuie.

Ryuie immediately began rubbing her chin with an intrigued expression.

“Your Majesty, it would be best if you retracted those words.”

“Something terrible might really happen to His Highness the Crown Prince!”

“What exactly do you all take me for?”

“Right. To hold a broken engagement ceremony with the Crown Prince, we’d need to bring him back alive first, so what’s there to worry about?”

The maids felt wronged seeing the Empress and Ryuie quickly taking the same side.

Those people definitely know too.

That if Ryuie fails to capture the Crown Prince ‘safely,’ she’ll pursue the ‘convenient’ method.

And Ryuie’s ethical standards were considerably low. It was a chronic problem brought on by her status as a Duke’s daughter.

The difference was that the Empress believed Ryuie would be loyal to the Imperial Court and thus go easy on the Crown Prince, while the maids were terrified of Ryuie’s true nature that she had shown at school.

That freedom of hers that would be more than enough to crush even the Crown Prince.

Ryuie smiled quietly.

“You’ve made a definite promise.”

“I promise.”

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