I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 22

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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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22. Wow, That Was Really Information I Wanted to Know (2)

Ryuie let out an exclamation.

“My goodness!”

“Why do you think I bother maintaining such troublesome and annoying hair?”

“Personal preference?”

“…Ugh.”

When Glem showed disgust, Ryuie finally snapped out of her hypnotic state of wonder.

This is really the first time I’ve seen such a curse!

Ryuie, her cheeks flushed with excitement, shouted.

“What on earth kind of oath did you make?”

Glem silently raised his finger. Then he pointed outside the prison.

The meaning was clear – he had shown enough for today.

Though it was disappointing, her curiosity was satisfied, so Ryuie giggled and gave him a break.

‘He’ll be locked up anyway and only waiting for me tomorrow.’

Coming out of the underground prison, Ryuie shook out her hair.

If you stay in prison too long, even the smell of the air gets absorbed into your hair.

Ryuie liked to spread her hair on her pillow every night and sleep buried in it.

When she first saw Glem, she had felt fondness for the sight of him sleeping in his long hair coiled like a nest.

Because he seemed similar to herself.

‘But to think there was such a secret.’

It was like watching a short performance.

She hadn’t expected anything like that from Glem at all.

‘God sure knows how to play proper pranks.’

Standing above the prison door, Ryuie looked up at the ceiling of the only place in this temple decorated with colorful and beautiful paintings.

The underground prison holding Glem was hidden beneath the floor of the prayer hall.

Every time she wanted to go to the prison, she had to kneel on the prayer hall floor and open the underground door.

It wasn’t just herself.

Everyone who came here would kneel to pray to God, and each time they would be pressing down on the heads of the sinners imprisoned below.

Ryuie smiled slyly.

‘As expected, the priests here know something.’

Deactivating the magic tool, Ryuie left the prayer hall. It wasn’t strange at all for nobles to visit the prayer hall. If anyone asked what she had done there, she was prepared to be suspicious of that person instead.

And there really was someone looking for Ryuie.

“Great One, Duke’s daughter Yeongae.”

At the rarely used formal title, Ryuie stopped moving.

A priest with his head deeply bowed stood waiting for Ryuie’s response. As usual, he was wearing his robe pulled down low. He seemed to have just returned from outside.

“Who are you?”

“I have something to discuss with you.”

It was the speech pattern of someone who was polite but didn’t know proper etiquette.

After staring at the priest for a moment, Ryuie suddenly demanded.

“Take off your robe.”

The priest didn’t seem puzzled and obediently followed the command.

What was revealed beneath the robe was unexpectedly a handsome young man.

He had wheat-colored light brown hair, dark sand-colored skin, and eyes that were bright amber, almost yellow, creating a harmonious appearance.

‘As I thought. It’s that priest from before.’

It was the priest she had remembered because he smiled in the village. She had been secretly searching for him while exploring the temple.

‘No wonder he was hard to find – was he somewhere else?’

At first it was just out of spite, but as she searched, her purpose changed.

One person being missing might mean the priests were taking turns monitoring the Crown Prince who had become a monster.

It would be grateful if he approached first.

While Ryuie was looking at him, he raised his head straight and met her eyes. His long neck was revealed, showing his clear-cut features.

‘Hmm. Not bad.’

Certainly a face that looked like a priest’s – pure and without worldly attachments.

That was until his mouth opened.

“Could you come to my room for a moment?”

“Huh?”

Ryuie, who had been distracted by his face, finally properly heard what the person in front of her was saying.

“Me? To your room?”

“Yes.”

The priest looked around and added.

“Without Ohen Priest knowing.”

Ryuie blinked.

‘Oh my. How long has it been since I received such blatant seduction?’

In the capital, rumors had already spread so no one approached Ryuie anymore.

The countryside is definitely different.

She was delighted that bold young men were coming forward one after another.

Ryuie’s attitude immediately changed as she sent a subtle smile.

“How bold. In broad daylight no less.”

“Huh? What does brightness have to do with anything?”

The priest tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

“I have something to tell you, but it would be troublesome if others heard.”

“Yeah. Got it. Let’s go.”

Ryuie’s mood quickly improved and she started humming.

If she had her way, she’d start by running her fingers through that cute short hair.

With her hands itching, Ryuie flirted.

“What’s your priest rank? Pretty high?”

“Not high. I’m still an apprentice priest.”

“Tch.”

“Huh? Is your nose itchy?”

“No. No. Come to think of it, I still don’t know your name, Priest. What is it?”

“It’s Benito.”

The priest answered gently throughout.

Even while following him, it didn’t feel at all like they were going to have a secret conversation.

Despite being the one who called Ryuie first, Benito smiled and greeted every priest they encountered.

‘He’s ruining the mood. Wasn’t this supposed to be a secret conversation?’

The other priests in the temple were startled every time they saw Ryuie together with Benito.

They looked very worried that he might have fallen for that duke’s daughter’s seduction and commit improper acts.

The kid seemed a bit foolish, which made it even more so.

Because Benito kept grinning and smiling despite all the stares pouring down on them.

There was even a priest who asked if Ryuie had caught Benito, apparently suspecting her.

‘Really now. I haven’t done anything yet.’

Ryuie felt wronged, despite having seduced even the Saintess, the temple’s highest leader.

Anyway, Benito guided Ryuie to the priests’ quarters.

Going up the stairs to see identical doors lined up on both sides of the corridor was somewhat eerie.

Benito’s room was at the end of the corridor.

“Ohen Priest isn’t a bad person.”

Hearing Benito’s light voice, Ryuie grabbed the doorknob.

“Are you being careful because you haven’t locked the door yet?”

Click.

Looking at Benito, Ryuie locked the door with her hands behind her back and smiled slyly.

“Or is what you’re about to say so serious that you’re laying the groundwork first?”

Benito looked a little surprised that Ryuie had locked the door.

“There’s no one in the corridor outside, so there’s no one to overhear.”

Benito answered kindly.

“I just hope you won’t misunderstand what I’m about to tell you.”

“Usually, stories told in secret are meant to be misunderstood.”

“The priest didn’t mean it in a bad way, but Yeongae is also desperately searching for the Crown Prince.”

“So Joshua is here after all? Is this Ohen’s doing?”

“The Crown Prince came to this village a few years ago.”

Benito clasped his hands together as if in prayer and slowly continued his story. Ryuie felt like she might burst, but forced herself to listen to the tale that started from the very beginning.

“We didn’t even know the Crown Prince was missing. News from the capital reaches here late, and the Crown Prince looked healthy and fine.”

“…Fine? No signs of being controlled, threatened, or injured? He even revealed his identity?”

“Yes. He was trying to help us. Oh, he probably only told the temple about being the Crown Prince.”

Ryuie began grinding her teeth audibly.

‘Why?’

She should have been focusing on Benito’s story.

But hearing that the Crown Prince had been wandering around perfectly fine made her blood boil.

‘It should have been something you were forced into.’

If he was going to disappear without writing a single letter to his fiancée, it should have been a matter of life and death for him.

But ridiculously, he had really been going around playing the savior for other people?

“Are you listening?”

“Yeah.”

Benito, observing Ryuie who was pressing her lips with her fist, continued speaking.

“The Crown Prince gathered the villagers, made a vow, and headed to the swamp, but he failed to achieve his purpose.”

Benito said with a benevolent smile.

“The Crown Prince, who should have completed the contract, ended up coveting the sacred relic that had sunk in the swamp.”

“What?”

One of Ryuie’s eyebrows arched sharply.

A story she couldn’t just let slide had come flying and struck her.

“He’s the Crown Prince. He can have anything he wants. There’s no treasure in this humble land worth coveting.”

“The sacred relic we possess is kept secret even from the capital, and even the Archbishop doesn’t know about it.”

Benito said with still crystal-clear eyes.

“I’m not trying to speak ill of the Crown Prince. I’m saying it’s that remarkable an object.”

“What exactly is this sacred relic in the swamp?”

“That’s precisely what Ohen Priest wants to keep hidden.”

At Benito’s words, Ryuie stepped away from the door.

“Yeongae?”

The priest’s room was small.

When Ryuie took one big step forward, it felt like the room was instantly filled to capacity.

Benito carefully checked Ryuie’s hands. Her menacing aura was enough to make him suspect she might be holding a knife.

“Great One Yeongae?”

“If you’ve said that much, you should add the rest?”

Benito, who wasn’t particularly quick-witted, belatedly came up with an appropriate answer.

“Ah. I don’t know what kind of sacred relic it is either.”

“But you know that Ohen is hiding it?”

“Ohen Priest is the oldest priest in this temple. He knows many things we don’t.”

‘Ohen isn’t really my type.’

Unlike the kind Benito, getting Ohen to open his mouth would obviously be very difficult.

A stubborn, rigid man with his mouth firmly shut.

While Ryuie usually had her fighting spirit ignited by most difficulties, she wasn’t the type to keep hammering away to carve stone.

“Is it okay for you to tell me all this?”

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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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