I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 37

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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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37. Love and Subjugation War (4)

 

“The people around here are suffering greatly due to a curse that originated from the swamp. As you can see from my body, I too have been transformed like this.”

 

The nobles in the room all focused intently on Mos’s voice without exception.

 

“Of course, the beautiful and merciful Miss Ryuie has promised to provide all the help she can, but unfortunately, since she also has the important mission of finding His Highness the Crown Prince, we lack the support needed for treatment.”

 

Ryuie’s expression changed interestingly as she watched Mos heap praise that she hadn’t even asked for.

 

Inwardly pleased, Mos put even more effort into choosing his words carefully.

 

“There are already many victims like myself, and more will surely continue to appear. Please help Miss Ryuie remove this swamp’s curse and aid us. I beg of you.”

 

Right on cue, a maid poured water from a jar onto the silk again, and the sparkling droplets danced dazzlingly over the silk and scales.

 

“My goodness!”

 

“How beautiful!”

 

Someone exclaimed in admiration.

 

It was truly the gaze one would give a work of art.

 

After giving people enough time to surround and admire Mos, Ryuie leisurely parted her lips.

 

“Mos is special, but other cases won’t inspire such words so easily.”

 

Ryuie distributed drawings to the nobles.

 

Ryuie had thriftily reused the artists she had employed when drawing the Crown Prince.

 

Of course, she hadn’t had them draw the patients directly, but the artists’ imagination, based only on Ryuie’s descriptions, had produced pictures far more monstrous and terrifying than reality.

 

“Hmm.”

 

“How horrible.”

 

“To think such symptoms were appearing on a village-wide scale.”

 

“A curse unheard of even in the rumor-filled capital.”

 

“What kind of oath could it have been…”

 

With an actual transformed person right before their eyes, the credibility increased even more.

 

The more the nobles glanced back and forth between Mos and the drawings, the more serious the situation seemed to them.

 

Having sufficiently set the mood, Ryuie spoke to the investigators who had accompanied her.

 

“With this, we have a witness, so we’re adding assault charges to the swamp’s accusations. You’ll need to approach this as seriously and carefully as investigating treason, won’t you?”

 

“Yes. Absolutely.”

 

The investigators seemed to take this matter much more seriously than the hardly believable treason charges.

 

Regional curse outbreaks were closer to their usual work, after all.

 

The investigators exchanged names with Mos and scheduled a time for examination.

 

The nobles also promised to sponsor money or send people, whether pretending to have noble character or for their own schemes and investment purposes.

 

Having obtained everything she could, Ryuie drove out her guests.

 

“Now, today’s visits end here. I’ll be checking who came this evening, so make sure to attend the banquet.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“We’ll see each other then.”

 

“Ahem.”

 

They had agreed to discuss details then, but the Marquis from House Maffel lingered without leaving.

 

Mos, who had wanted to ask Ryuie right away if he had done well as soon as people left, found him irritating.

 

‘Who is he?’

 

Having come with the nobles, Mos roughly guessed he was probably a noble and secretly sent him an unfavorable look.

 

Excluding royalty, dukes were the highest among nobles, but Mos, who couldn’t guess that this man with completely different dignity from Ryuie might be from another ducal house, mentally beat him up.

 

‘How dare he approach Yeongae.’

 

Compared to Ryuie, he differed in refinement as much as a peacock differs from a sparrow.

 

Yet he stood as an equal to Ryuie, conversing with her.

 

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

 

“You. Really haven’t changed one bit.”

 

He suddenly began acting like a former lover on his own.

 

“You’re showing off another man to me again, aren’t you.”

 

Mos, who had been pointed out, was dumbfounded.

 

‘What’s with this pathetic guy?’

 

Mos could have gotten angry right away, but he didn’t.

 

Why would he when Ryuie was there?

 

Ryuie also snorted.

 

“He’s pretty, isn’t he.”

 

“Ha. Him? Where? He looks like a colt covered in slime.”

 

“I mean he’s delicate and elegant. From head to toe, no, to the tip of his tail, more than you. Were all those people who were admiring him blind?”

 

Now Mos just had to play along and make pretty expressions. Having gained much more confidence than at first, he was doing quite well now.

 

His hair was redder and more lustrous than that noble’s.

 

His face was more handsome and his figure better than that noble’s.

 

Well, and if he had to compare, his currently sparkling tail was prettier than ordinary human legs.

 

Faced with an undeniable aura of beauty, Marquis Maffel got unnecessarily worked up.

 

“A man’s appearance isn’t everything!”

 

“I only look at appearance.”

 

“Ugh.”

 

“Besides, I don’t even remember pursuing you, so why are you getting so excited?”

 

Ryuie was genuinely puzzled. Marquis Maffel felt like he was going to die of frustration.

 

“You really! Don’t you remember me confessing to you?”

 

“Did you? I can’t even remember all the people I confessed to.”

 

“If you confessed, at least remember that!”

 

Ryuie said nonchalantly.

 

Honestly, Marquis Maffel didn’t know who all Ryuie had confessed to either.

 

For a confession to become widely known, it had to be to someone famous or cause an incident.

 

By that measure, the Saintess confession incident was the most famous and significant.

 

He should have made a public confession that everyone would know about, Marquis Maffel regretted. It was his eternal regret that he couldn’t do so because it would have been too embarrassing for his noble dignity.

 

One had to be shameless like Ryuie to make rumors and leave a mark. Though they were from the same ducal house, his execution was far too lacking.

 

“Besides, what am I looking at other than appearance right now?”

 

Ryuie sneered.

 

“When someone who belongs to another person is being clingy, they should know their place.”

 

“…You said you came to break the engagement oath.”

 

Marquis Maffel deflated with dissatisfaction. After putting his own feelings first for so long, he finally brought up the main point.

 

“The treason is just an excuse, isn’t it. The swamp being a traitor. Ha. Seeing how you’ve called out everyone else too, you must have finally found a clue to break the oath. It would be a safe method for His Highness too, right?”

 

Ryuie stared intently at Marquis Maffel. The newly tense Marquis Maffel rambled on.

 

“Whatever kind of relationship you two had, if you break it unilaterally, there will definitely be side effects. His Highness needs to be safe for you, for you to be safe too.”

 

“Even if I break it, I won’t marry you.”

 

“Wh-who said I was asking because of marriage! I came down here out of concern for the country too!”

 

Marquis Maffel hastily made excuses.

 

“It’s common knowledge that members of the Imperial family have strong Rkultu blood flowing through them, so no one knows how the side effects of an oath might manifest. I’m just worried!”

 

Marquis Maffel fidgeted with his hands anxiously.

 

As years passed, Ryuie only grew more beautiful, but since the marriage that was the oath’s purpose wasn’t being fulfilled, the engagement oath’s strength had grown like a wall.

 

Originally, when Ryuie touched someone her heart was drawn to, the curse’s power wasn’t strong enough to kill a person.

 

In childhood, even hugging only caused light resistance and stinging pain.

 

But as she passed through puberty and matured, the intensity became strong enough to seriously injure someone.

 

The seriousness was only being diluted because she constantly played around, but in reality, she should have been living in isolation from people.

 

“Who asked you to worry?”

 

“If you kill the Crown Prince, even you will face execution!”

 

Ryuie’s eyes, which had been trying to let it slide gracefully, turned unpleasant.

 

“I told you to investigate treason charges, not to pin them on me.”

 

“Ryuie!”

 

“Get out.”

 

When Marquis Maffel flinched, worried she might be angry, Ryuie chuckled and made a strange expression.

 

“You two have some intimate time together.”

 

“…!”

 

Mafle checked Mos’s lower body, which remained in fish form until the end, and only then left with relief.

 

‘That bastard.’

 

Mos clenched his fist tightly, just as heated as Mafle who had stomped out noisily.

 

Even if he weren’t in this state, he couldn’t do anything to Ryuie, but having someone else act like that wounded his pride.

 

Ryuie also seemed annoyed as she clicked her tongue and sat down next to Mos.

 

Then, as if her mood had lifted, she leisurely picked up the tip of Mos’s tail and kissed it.

 

Mos’s face instantly turned red as all thoughts of Marquis Maffel vanished.

 

‘She’s being affectionate with me.’

 

He felt incredibly elated by Ryuie’s distinctly different attitude.

 

“Miss, you’re even more beautiful today.”

 

“I’ve always been beautiful.”

 

Ryuie answered matter-of-factly.

 

“But you’re especially beautiful today.”

 

“!”

 

Mos’s heart pounded wildly.

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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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