I’m Hunting My Enemy - Chapter 9

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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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9. Hiring Mercenaries (4)

Ryuie winked.

“Don’t worry. I came here to break that engagement.”

“Um, I don’t understand right now.”

Perhaps not entirely disliking Ryuie’s sudden flirtation, Mos blushed.

The shy young man’s appearance instantly changed the atmosphere to that of a village well. The kind of place where young men and women meet and subtly fall in love.

Just imagining it made him queasy, so Glem covered his twisted mouth with the back of his hand.

“This isn’t the time to worry about some foolish noble’s games. Won’t you come to your senses? And you too, noble. You said you’d find the Crown Prince in the swamp.”

“What else can I do when you won’t answer when I just ask? Hearts open mouths when they’re shared.”

“Mos! She’s openly trying to seduce and use you! This isn’t the time to be happy!”

Not just Glem, but even a villager couldn’t stand it and grabbed Mos’s shoulders, shaking him. Despite the scolding gestures, Mos continued to meet Ryuie’s gaze with a shy face, muttering.

“But maybe it could help, you know? The priests can’t solve the curse anyway. If it’s her, perhaps…”

“Yes. Yes. That’s right. Tell me.”

“You fool, how can you be so fearless!”

“Just have Glem explain it instead. That guy isn’t from here. He’s the only one who doesn’t have to worry about being cursed.”

An unexpected spark flew toward Glem.

Glem, who simply didn’t want to hear nonsense, played dumb.

“Don’t pass it off to me. I don’t know anything either.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. When did you try to stop us from entering the swamp!”

“Should I increase the body count while cleaning up corpses?”

“So then.”

Ryuie drew out her words as she interjected.

“Are you two in an antagonistic relationship?”

“No.”

“…”

The uncomfortable air flowed quite well, but sparks didn’t exactly fly. Glem and the villagers didn’t seem to have a bad enough relationship to hate each other while blaming one another. They had just grown moderately estranged over the time they’d spent together.

“Then what about with this one?”

Ryuie took out the original portrait of the Crown Prince she had been keeping in her bosom and showed it.

Instantly, both Glem and the villagers all focused on the portrait. It was incomparable to the copies that artists had casually drawn.

The beautiful painting held in the beautiful woman’s hands interlocked with each other, creating a scene far more enchanting than reality.

“He really looks exactly the same. Who could say no after seeing that?”

“…If the person in the painting is truly the Crown Prince, he should take responsibility for our affairs.”

“That’s right!”

“He was definitely reported missing. We should have reported it. If we had informed the capital, everything might have been different. Now there’s no one who will believe us.”

“No, that woman… I mean, that noble came.”

The villagers chattered incoherently.

Glem also glanced at the portrait and quickly looked away. Glem didn’t seem to particularly resent the Crown Prince. Yet he defended the villagers who hated the Crown Prince.

‘Is he a mercenary hired by Joshua?’

Ryuie tilted her head.

For a mercenary to think of his employer was admirable, if it was admirable.

Ryuie’s instincts subtly traced along Glem’s jawline.

As if that wasn’t everything.

“What did Joshua do wrong?”

“Joshua?”

“That is His Highness the Crown Prince’s name.”

The knight shouted sternly. The villagers glared at him with insolent eyes and replied.

“That person deceived us.”

“He deceived us into going to the swamp.”

“He said he would retrieve the sacred relic in the swamp and make it so we would no longer be affected by the oath.”

“It was a terrible failure!”

“Ask the priests about what happened after.”

Glem blocked them. He spoke while looking in a different direction, like Ryuie.

“They’re coming just in time.”

The great commotion caused by the gathering villagers seemed to have reached the temple. A group wearing the characteristically modest and ascetic clothing of priests was approaching.

Having spotted the final characters, Ryuie straightened her back.

‘Does this make everyone gathered?’

There were three groups involved with the place where the Crown Prince last appeared.

The villagers. Glem. The priests.

‘Perfect.’

No matter what secrets each had, it would be easy to confirm what was true by comparing them with the other two. Her blood was already boiling at the thought of conducting comparative confrontations.

‘Not yet. I must be patient.’

Suppressing her secret smile, Ryuie focused on the arriving priests.

They were all wearing robes, making them difficult to distinguish.

Soon, a priest who appeared to be their representative stepped forward.

“Could you please tell us in detail the purpose of why you, Young Lady, have come all the way here?”

‘Oh. Me?’

Surprisingly, the priests showed interest in Ryuie first.

‘Well, I would be the most unfamiliar person. I’ll hold off for now.’

Ryuie nodded and replied with her arms crossed.

“I am Ryuie, heir to the Greatone Duchy, his fiancée who has come personally to fetch the Crown Prince under orders from the Empress. All who follow Rkultu have a duty to obey my commands.”

“I see.”

‘I see?’

Though priests were said to obey more thoroughly than knights, this was a remarkably calm reaction.

While Ryuie’s eyebrows twitched, the priest continued speaking.

“However, the person you seek has long since become deceased.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

If the Crown Prince had died, there was no way Ryuie wouldn’t know.

The oath that bound them through engagement would return as an even greater curse through death.

There was a story that the bards of this Empire loved most.

When a knight who had made an engagement vow with his beloved and then left for the battlefield died in battle, the beautiful maiden would also be found dead alongside him.

It was romantic and tragic, and the fact that it was actually possible made it all the more popular.

As long as Rkultu protected this country, all oaths and vows could become reality.

Even the resolve to love only you forever.

“Who do you think are the ones who have seen the Crown Prince’s ghost?”

Yet the priest spoke with conviction.

Sometimes Ryuie dreamed of the Crown Prince returning.

It wasn’t a touching scene of a tearful embrace with the fiancé she hadn’t seen for ten years.

Others might be shocked to know, but it was him lying in a coffin.

The Crown Prince, lined with the finest silk and dressed in burial clothes befitting an emperor, lay with his eyes gently closed like a well-crafted wax doll. Countless flowers and jewels adorned him.

In the dream, Ryuie held the lid while looking down at the adult Joshua.

The right to decide Joshua’s death belonged to Ryuie.

Every time Ryuie woke from that dream, she was filled with rage.

Dreaming of someone I can’t even meet? As if only I’m bound to him. Making me seem like someone who can’t even find anyone else to date? Ha! Me? Of all people, me?

Thanks to this, Ryuie’s personality grew increasingly foul. It was also the reason she eventually pressured the Empress into departing on this Crown Prince hunt.

‘But I’m not the type to be shaken by such words.’

Ryuie was curious about why the priest was so certain that Joshua was dead.

“Is it acceptable for a follower of Rkultu to say such things?”

“We are also well aware of magic and monsters that show illusions.”

The priest answered as if he knew full well that Ryuie was being sarcastic.

“But if you see for yourself, your thoughts will surely change.”

“Priests talking about ghosts.”

“Have you actually entered the swamp yourself? Didn’t you say monsters come out?”

Catsy and Bendam asked in turn.

“The swamp is originally a place managed by our temple. Others entered without permission and caused trouble.”

“But according to those people, even the temple couldn’t purify the swamp.”

“There are limits to what we can handle, so it couldn’t be helped.”

A thin smile briefly appeared beneath the cloth covering the face.

‘Laughing?’

Ryuie immediately extracted that person’s physical information. Even without knowing the face, it would be enough to recognize them later. The height was slightly taller than herself, with a thin build, and the briefly visible chin had dark skin. It was clearly a natural complexion, not tanned by the sun.

‘If I could just see the eyes, I could remember perfectly.’

Instead, what entered Ryuie’s view were Glem’s eyes. His crushed cherry-like pupils were speaking to Ryuie while completely turning his back on the priests.

“If you have time to listen to such nonsense, let’s depart.”

“But they say ghosts appear?”

“That kind of thing isn’t a ghost.”

Glem, who emphasized with force, was much more confident than the priests. Ryuie, who had quickly forgotten her displeasure from moments before, smiled broadly. Whether it was really Joshua or not, the current situation was quite interesting.

“There really seems to be something there. The stories are different, but how many people have already seen it?”

“It’s surprising that you’re returning to the swamp again, Glem.”

“Do you two know each other?”

“There’s no one who doesn’t know him.”

At the priest’s words, even the villagers nodded their heads.

“He has lived like a guardian of the swamp for a long time.”

“Though no one asked him to.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Glem replied bluntly. His tone was much sharper than when fighting with the villagers.

‘Strange?’

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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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