I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 28

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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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28. Ally (4)

 

According to the man’s explanation, it was true that he had been caught by the traveler’s hunter.

 

There was no one passing by and he thought he would die like this.

 

One night. A person descended from the sky.

 

“From the sky?”

 

“It seems there’s still something wrong with his head.”

 

“It’s true!”

 

To him who begged desperately for help, the man from the sky told him a way to survive.

 

“He said you could be saved if you pretended to be the Crown Prince?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The atmosphere became serious, different from before.

 

“The rumor about seeing the Crown Prince’s ghost in the swamp too.”

 

“Someone is definitely trying to lure the young lady.”

 

The knights exchanged speculations.

 

And behind them, Glem’s fist was quietly clenching.

 

‘Did I make a mistake.’

 

He had brought her there thinking Ryuie would return to the capital if she saw the Crown Prince’s phantom. But things were moving in a completely different direction from what he thought.

 

Indeed, nothing had proceeded as expected since meeting Ryuie.

 

Like clock hands that had been forcibly held back suddenly springing forward.

 

“Has there been any place hostile to the ducal house recently?”

 

“Since he descended from the sky, it’s likely a mage or priest.”

 

“Are there any recently hired individuals?”

 

“I’ll communicate with them.”

 

The man who had narrowly escaped death became even more frightened by the rapidly progressing conversation that excluded him.

 

Ryuie spoke while waiting for the mages to contact the main tower.

 

“When we departed, we left immediately without a moment’s delay as soon as we received permission from the Empress.”

 

“Even if they knew the ducal Yeongae was leaving, they couldn’t have reached this place faster than us.”

 

“The timing doesn’t match for them to have dug a trap and waited from the beginning.”

 

Ryuie pressed her lips with her thumb tip.

 

“The Crown Prince’s disappearance was 10 years ago, so there’s no reason to drag me into this now.”

 

In the first place, Ryuie’s idea to search for the Crown Prince was truly an impulsive decision.

 

It wasn’t like she had been investigating from before, but rather Ryuie had overturned everything after getting angry while chasing after this person and that person like a libertine.

 

Who could predict and act on such a wild horse’s impulse.

 

“They might have become impatient.”

 

Glem, who had been standing back like an observer, finally intervened.

 

“Your marriage with the Crown Prince would have been held the year before last if nothing had happened.”

 

He knew her age surprisingly accurately. Usually, nobles who were engaged in childhood married in the year they turned twenty-one and came of age.

 

Since Ryuie was twenty-three, normally the engagement would have been broken long ago.

 

“They dug a trap because I didn’t get married? What kind of nonsense is that? Is there someone who wants to marry me?”

 

“No.”

 

Glem calmly raised his suspicion.

 

“It means they want to marry you off to the Crown Prince’s corpse.”

 

Ryuie’s face twisted grimly.

 

“Who the hell wants to make me a living widow! Where in the world is there a person who would benefit from that?”

 

“I don’t know. Must be a pervert.”

 

Glem shrugged his shoulders.

 

There was no one who would particularly benefit from the Crown Prince and ducal Yeongae getting married.

 

It would only make enemy countries and internal nobles more uncomfortable.

 

If anything, there would be more people opposing the marriage between the ducal Yeongae and the Crown Prince.

 

But Glem said differently.

 

“It’s just speculation. The Crown Prince’s ghost appearing from the swamp, and making that captured guy impersonate the Crown Prince. It consistently seems like they want you to never forget the Crown Prince.”

 

Suddenly Ryuie thought of Benito.

 

After the Crown Prince’s oath was broken, those involved couldn’t stray far from the swamp.

 

And by spreading rumors, they gathered those who came looking for the Crown Prince one by one.

 

As if trying to swallow them up in the swamp.

 

“Sorry, but I don’t love Yosua that passionately.”

 

“The people the young lady met instead of His Highness the Crown Prince could fill rivers and cross mountains.”

 

“People she tried to meet, though. To be precise.”

 

Bendam added facts that didn’t need to be corrected.

 

When Ryuie whipped her head around, Bendam hurriedly slapped his own mouth repeatedly.

 

A slight smile appeared on Glem’s face, which had been serious all along.

 

“Have you never tried to break the engagement?”

 

“I’ve tried every possible method.”

 

Ryuie had truly tried every method she could.

 

Her answer that burst out with irritation was long.

 

“I’ve called priests to perform breaking ceremonies, and I even soaked my body in powerful magic potions for a week trying to reject the oath itself.”

 

“Then she ended up with side effects and went around with blue skin for a while.”

 

“That was hard to fix.”

 

Even Bendam and Catsy, who had helped with all of Ryuie’s breaking ceremonies, became lost in memories.

 

“Even sacrificing ten thousand monsters was useless. No gold or treasures could become suitable offerings for the breaking oath.”

 

“What kind of engagement oath did you make with the Crown Prince when you were young that it’s so strong?”

 

“I don’t remember.”

 

“What?!”

 

“I was ten years old then.”

 

Ryuie said bluntly.

 

“I got engaged in the first year I met Yosua.”

 

“Wait. Didn’t you say you refused because it was an engagement arranged by the imperial court?”

 

“I refused that one.”

 

“I thought you got engaged at thirteen. Right in the year His Highness the Crown Prince disappeared.”

 

“No.”

 

Ryuie frowned slightly.

 

‘Come to think of it, how did I end up engaged to Yosua?’

 

Her memory of when she met Yosua was strangely hazy.

 

It might be because she went to meet Yosua with a lot of prejudice from the start.

 

She remembered grabbing Yosua’s hair as he politely stood up.

 

‘No way. Even if I was young, I wouldn’t have done such a thing, would I?’

 

Ryuie, who denied her past self, unconsciously rubbed her fingers.

 

Her body was honest.

 

‘…It shouldn’t be, but why do I remember the texture?’

 

The soft hair was so fine that it didn’t catch well in her hand and kept slipping through her fingers.

 

It was hair that resembled its owner even in unnecessary ways.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Ryuie looked at Glem’s white hair that stuck out like dog fur. It was stiff and bristling, like a wolf struck by lightning.

 

“Anyway, it has nothing to do with you.”

 

“Not really. While you’ve been here, more strange things have happened than I’ve experienced in my entire life. Oh, except when the Crown Prince came. Wouldn’t it be better to just go back to the capital?”

 

Unexpectedly, Ryuie was a bit shocked by Glem’s words.

 

“You said you’d take me to the swamp.”

 

“I did, but you’re becoming more and more of a hindrance to me.”

 

It was the first time she’d met someone who was more playful when locked in prison.

 

Because Glem, who had regained his freedom, was glaring at Ryuie with an even more hostile and angry expression than when they first met.

 

What did I do wrong?

 

‘This is why. I don’t really like freedom.’

 

When given freedom, people think unnecessary thoughts.

 

Glem too seemed to have forgotten his original purpose and, as a result of thinking unnecessary thoughts, reached the conclusion of driving her away.

 

‘Why?’

 

Was he afraid because they were getting more deeply entangled with the Imperial Court? Because God’s name kept being mentioned?

 

Or.

 

Ryuie, lost in quiet thought, muttered.

 

“Are you scared?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“The sacred relic in the swamp.”

 

Ryuie, having gained understanding, slowly turned to look at Glem.

 

“If you’re also under a curse, and dealing with people who became monsters wasn’t actually something that came from compassion. The target you were looking for when you first entered the swamp as a mercenary. Something that can make a person unable to leave and persistently cling to it, and a sacred relic so great that the priests absolutely don’t want to reveal it.”

 

Glem showed signs of extreme tension. She could see diagonal lines forming on his neck as his muscles tensed. Savoring all those changes with her eyes, Ryuie whispered.

 

“Are you afraid I’ll take it?”

 

“…”

 

“It’s not that you want to prevent people from dying. ‘You’ want that sacred relic.”

 

As if struck at his vital point, Glem couldn’t give any response.

 

The red light floating in his thoughtful eyes briefly held a gleam.

 

Do these two people know that they look exactly alike at this very moment?

 

Humid wind began to swirl around Ryuie’s hair.

 

“The Crown Prince’s ghost appears in the swamp, and his oath has been defiled, becoming a curse that turns people into monsters and torments civilians.”

 

Ryuie’s voice took on a measured cadence, as if she were singing.

 

“Doesn’t it seem like this swamp is cursing the Empire?”

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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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