I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 14

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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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14. The Swamp Ghost (4)

After briefly considering it, Ryuie snorted.

“I figured it would be at least that bad if Joshua and I didn’t break up ‘properly’ anyway.”

“That seems too mild for that.”

The priest answered.

“Even if it’s not the Crown Prince’s death, there might be problems with marital performance causing indirect effects.”

Ryuie quite deliberately pretended to be shocked and opened her mouth.

“…Are you saying he became impotent?”

“Pfft!”

Bendam, who got caught in the crossfire for no reason, flailed his arms frantically. The others had to desperately cover their mouths to keep from bursting into laughter.

“That’s treason against the Imperial Court!”

“If it’s true, it’s invalid.”

“Gah.”

Bendam, who ran out of words to argue back, suffered in agony.

Catsy also covered her mouth with her hand as if feeling sorry, but anyone could see she was dying of amusement.

Bendam, who mentally sent a hundred apologies to the Crown Prince, finally regained his composure.

“Anyway, it’s certain there’s something at the bottom of the swamp, so please focus only on finding clues.”

“Right. I definitely need to confirm whether something truly tragic happened to Joshua.”

“Ugh.”

Ryuie first cast boundary magic around the swamp and withdrew.

If anyone came and went, they would immediately be marked and tracked.

After taking these measures, Ryuie’s party headed to the temple where they had sent Mos ahead.

* * *

It might seem surprising, but Ryuie originally liked romance novels.

Ever since her fiancé disappeared when she was young, she had thoroughly investigated whether there were any similar cases. The reason she did this through novels rather than surveys was that she couldn’t understand a person who would go missing right after getting engaged without using imagination.

“Where did my fiancé go?”

Young Ryuie always grew up tugging at the collars of the adults around her.

Back then, the newly engaged Crown Prince seemed truly handsome and pretty to her.

Of course, he actually was a beautiful boy.

How absurd it was when the other party suddenly disappeared overnight.

Whenever Ryuie looked for her fiancé, the adults would make troubled faces.

“His Highness is busy.”

“He’s the same age as me.”

“Something urgent came up so he can’t meet.”

“When will his work be finished?”

Ryuie’s pestering got worse year by year. If she had at least seen his face once or received a single letter, she wouldn’t have made such a fuss.

Moreover, the timing was unfortunately during puberty.

Greatly twisted in mood, Ryuie skipped school and went around shooting demon heads instead of people.

Imagining each and every one of those heads was that pretty Crown Prince’s face.

“If you hate me, show up and tell me to break the engagement.”

Amid the screams of demons crumbling with crackling sounds, Ryuie gritted her teeth.

“Does it make sense to prevent me from meeting other people when you won’t even show up yourself? You’re just screwing me over!”

“Surely His Highness doesn’t hate you?”

“In romance novels, all this stuff is trials.”

At this time, it wasn’t the Empress’s ladies-in-waiting but her school friends who chattered.

The girls who wouldn’t have escaped school to go demon hunting if not for Ryuie had their taste for romance novels slightly tainted with something different.

Ryuie, who felt like she was going crazy from frustration, always coaxed them into coming hunting with her. The girls liked it too. At first they were naturally terrified, but once they knew Ryuie’s hunting skills, it just felt like a picnic.

“Trials?”

“Right. Originally it’s hard to easily be with someone you love, isn’t it?”

“Maybe his family opposes this engagement so he’s secretly trying to get permission.”

“He’s training to become a man worthy of your recognition!”

Ryuie snorted.

“Did you already forget whose story we’re talking about? This is an Imperial marriage.”

“That’s just what we mean.”

“Anyway, there are infinite reasons.”

“You should read some too. His Highness the Crown Prince is perfect to be a novel protagonist. Maybe the answer is in there.”

“Right. Right.”

At her giggling friends’ words, Ryuie lowered her gun.

“I’ll have to read them to scold you all after I’m done.”

“Oh my.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

It was after that when Ryuie started reading romance novels.

Conveniently, there was also suitable free time after hunting ended.

Her abundantly thick and voluminous long hair took a long time to dry.

So Ryuie would finish bathing, spread her hair out long behind her chair, and read romance novels while her body was pleasantly warm.

At first it was stories of lovers who fell in love at first sight going through light trials before falling in love. Ryuie, who initially snorted, gradually became absorbed as she opened the door to the vast world of romance novels. This side was also full of equally stimulating stories.

Starting with stories of status differences where one was originally a slave or an exiled foreign king.

To precariously dangerous subjects like kidnapping, confinement, and blackmail.

When she finally reached tragedies where one side had to die to achieve true love, Ryuie’s taste was decided.

‘True love really requires death.’

If ordinary people had heard this, they would have been dumbfounded wondering what on earth she was talking about.

But Ryuie’s taste, having sampled all kinds of romance as appetizers, was unfortunately greatly distorted.

‘If not death, what else could prove love?’

The fiancé she believed she liked when young disappeared without a single contact.

Even when she tried to like someone again, she couldn’t even touch them because of Rkultu’s curse, making it feel empty.

Ryuie, who wasn’t the type to get frustrated in the first place, found a detour.

She could just enjoy more stimulating romance.

Ryuie turned her head.

A pretty young man lying in bed was looking at her with tears streaming down.

At a scene that wouldn’t be strange appearing in a romance novel passage right now, one corner of Ryuie’s heart filled with satisfaction as she savored the stimulation.

“How’s your body, Mos?”

“It’s strange, miss.”

Mos, who had arrived at the temple, was calmer than before but still dropping tears. Though the part sticking out below the bed was drooping like a fish tail, he still had good color to be called a patient.

Watching the two people putting on a somewhat romantic performance, Glem snorted.

“Am I going to die like this?”

“What are you talking about. When I find Joshua, I’ll take good care of you until I can break all the vows. Then you might return to normal too.”

“Ahh!”

Just from that, Mos let out an moved exclamation. Glem was dumbfounded.

“Is he originally like that?”

“If you’re asking whether the miss is kind, no.”

Bendam answered while feeling embarrassed on her behalf.

In the temple they had barged into without permission, Ryuie was enjoying putting on a thoroughly affectionate act.

“She’s doing that to show justification to the priests.”

Glem glanced at the priests who were silently watching the two.

Even when the knights carrying Mos entered the temple on their own, the priests didn’t stop them. They didn’t say ‘See, we told you not to go to the swamp.’ They didn’t say they would treat him either.

They just watched intently and only said to tell them if they needed anything done.

‘Unpleasant bastards.’

“And to some extent… she’s also enjoying it herself.”

At Bendam’s muttering, Glem looked toward Ryuie again.

If the two could make contact, they’d already be holding hands and rubbing faces against cheeks. Seeing Mos looking up at Ryuie ecstatically without even thinking about the hardship that had befallen him made his stomach churn. Could there really be such a waste of time.

“If you’re a noble anyway, you can stay at the Temple as you please.”

“That’s right.”

It wasn’t Bendam who answered. Only when the melodrama between Ryuie and Mos showed signs of finally coming to an end did the priest finally approach.

The robe that hung like a shadow was pulled back.

The elderly man with sparse snow-white beard wasn’t just white in his facial hair.

Ryuie’s face reflected without focus in his motionless white pupils that seemed blind.

It was Priest Ohen, whom Glem knew well.

“The Temple accepts patients even if you don’t rudely enter with muddy shoes.”

“The matter is urgent.”

“It’s not particularly urgent to us.”

Ryuie cleanly abandoned her flirtation with Mos. Instead, she accepted the challenge the priest had brought. Her eyes, turning to look in contrast to the priest’s white ones, were bright red.

“You’re not even surprised to see someone who’s become half-fish.”

“It’s something that happens frequently in this village.”

“Fish?”

“Transformation.”

Mos sniffled quietly as if wondering whether he should cry some more. He wanted to return to the moment when the beautiful Duke’s daughter had whispered sweet words to him, but Ryuie seemed to have already forgotten about him. All he could see was her back.

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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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