Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 139

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Pretending to Be Human: Episode 139
After hearing my resolve, the Countess asked about the spy who had infiltrated Monos.
“Would it be possible to meet him directly? There’s something I’d like to confirm.”
I readily agreed and led her to the Underground Prison. Upon seeing the face of the bound Intruder who lay unconscious, she spoke as though she had expected it.
“He’s an intelligence operative for the Golden Hand. His name should be Zeras.”
She retrieved a sheet of paper and began writing something.
“What is that?”
“I’m going to send a disguised distress signal. Typically, the Emperor’s spies never miss their scheduled reports. But since he’s been captured like this, he’ll have missed one. The Golden Hand should have noticed something amiss by now.”
“Then shouldn’t we send a message saying nothing happened, rather than a distress signal?”
“Once a scheduled report is missed, such excuses won’t work. If they’re going to suspect us anyway, it’s better to control the situation from our end.”
It was a rational approach.
She began writing a letter, mimicking the Golden Hand’s cipher.
“It would be best to write it hastily, as though scrawled in a rush. I can have one of my subordinates deliver it… Originally, I was planning to write vaguely about the defeat, but is there anything you’d like me to add?”
“Please write that we were ambushed by an unidentified force. Make it seem as though we don’t even know what we were up against.”
“If you write that, they’ll suspect the Princess. It would be better to make it look like another nobleman got involved…”
“I’m deliberately trying to make them suspect me. It will help with this operation.”
On the battlefield, suspicion spreads like fear. I intended to use that to ensure the Emperor couldn’t carelessly lay a hand on Monos.
The Countess then gazed at me intently.
“Why do you look at me that way?”
“It’s somewhat unexpected. I didn’t think the Princess would confront the Emperor so directly.”
I laughed bitterly and evaded the answer.
Until I came to Monos, I had thought the same way.
Confronting the Emperor with my current forces would have been reckless, and if I desired a peaceful life, avoidance would have been the better choice over conflict.
In fact, if Jeina had been by my side, she would have advised me that now was not the time to reveal my strength, but to endure.
“If this had been a scheme targeting me, I would have acted as you suggested, Countess. But this situation is different.”
“Is it because of the residents?”
“Yes. It may sound tedious, but the dead do not return to life.”
I am confident I will not die, no matter what attack the Emperor launches. But the residents are different.
They were marked as sacrifices for the sole reason of living in the Imperial Family’s Direct Dominion.
Irrational circumstances, unjust status, and unstoppable death… it was the very image of defeat I had so desperately tried to avoid.
So I resolved to confront the Emperor.
To avoid repeating the mistakes of my past life.
The Countess fell silent in thought for a moment, then murmured softly.
“I see. Once death arrives, nothing can be changed.”
She must be recalling her past.
Just then, the spirit of Biki that wavered around her trembled slightly. Even her spirit, not yet fully recovered, seemed to resonate with those words.
“I will follow the Princess’s choice. Though my power is meager, I will do my best.”
“You’ve already helped so much. Monos could be dangerous, so perhaps it would be best if you left for a while…”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
The Countess smiled softly.
“I have no evidence, but my instincts tell me the Princess will emerge victorious.”
I answered her reassuring words with a brief smile.
As I left the Underground Prison and began gathering people, the Countess asked with curious interest.
“But what sort of strategy are you planning? We don’t even know what moves the Emperor might make….”
“As I mentioned earlier, I’ll use suspicion to sow fear.”
“You mean to frighten the Emperor?”
“The Emperor doesn’t need to be frightened. Shaking his Subordinates is sufficient.”
A commander chooses the battlefield, but it is the Soldiers who ultimately wage the battle.
No matter how brilliant a commander may be, Soldiers whose morale is broken cannot fight properly.
That was precisely what I intended to exploit.
Confusion flickered across the Countess’s face—she was skilled in espionage but ignorant of the rules of war.
“It’s not a particularly grand strategy. I’m simply moving as a true Demon would.”
It was time for them to understand what a ‘real Demon’ truly was.

* * *
The Golden Hand.
The Emperor’s personal military organization and the Empire’s most covert and treacherous blade.
From assassinating political rivals to espionage and incitement, they would do anything for the Emperor—and now they had received a special mission to the Monos Direct Dominion.
The mission’s content was simple: kill half the residents of Monos and transform the region into a nest of resentment.
For such a brutal command, the instructions were oddly clinical.
‘Isolate families, then relay the torture process to other families. Do not kill them outright; repeat the suffering.’
‘Leave embers of vengeance burning by staging their survival.’
‘Select the ten most resentful and bind them in designated zones—north, south, east, and west. Thereafter, follow the High Priest’s instructions.’
‘Regarding information on Monos residents, reference Zeras’s reports, but note that current intelligence is incomplete—judge flexibly according to circumstances….’
For an ordinary person, such orders would have caused a frown; they were hideously ugly. But the Knights paid them no mind.
They had long since lost anything that could be called morality.
Yet not all of them were without doubt.
It stemmed from the final instruction.
‘Does this mean Zeras’s information is incomplete? If so, what happened to Zeras, who was supposed to rendezvous with us in Monos?’
Of course, none of them harbored humanitarian thoughts about rescuing Zeras from danger.
The question was merely curiosity about why the mission had failed.
Zeras was not the strongest among his peers, but he was not so inexperienced as to make mistakes on reconnaissance missions.
Unless it was his younger brother at the Empress’s side, Zeras failing in this rural village was difficult to accept.
‘Zeras wouldn’t have been careless. Then… there must be someone skilled hiding in Monos.’
Superiors never explained such details. They understood that idle speculation could interfere with the mission.
For any mission, the only requirement was to perform it without complacency, with full effort.
‘This mission promises to be difficult.’
Even with the coldest of hearts, one cannot suppress the anxiety born from suspicion.
Thus, some of the Knights arrived at the Monos Direct Dominion carrying a small seed of unease.
The Squad Captain in charge of this mission surveyed his Subordinates and spoke.
“No one should be missing. In about an hour from now, each unit will begin their assigned tasks at their designated positions. Squad Captains, verify your personnel counts.”
“Yes, sir!”
“And the squad heading toward the Outer Village will depart ten minutes early to stay on schedule. First of all….”
The Squad Captain then rapidly briefed the operation. Given how intricate the plan was, he continued issuing detailed instructions when he sensed something amiss within the unit.
‘What is it? No one’s missing. The count was correct… wait.’
His hurried gaze froze at a single point.
All the soldiers wore identical uniforms—black masks and robes, along with gloves threaded with golden silk to distinguish allies from enemies.
Yet the soldier he observed seemed identical in appearance yet fundamentally different. Was it the stance that troubled him, or was the atmosphere simply off?
The Squad Captain fell silent, studying that soldier intently, and belatedly realized what was wrong.
‘…Ah, I can’t hear breathing.’
No life force emanated from that soldier.
His chest did not rise and fall with breath, nor did he turn his head upon sensing the Squad Captain’s gaze fixed upon him.
He merely stood there as though he were a puppet.
When the Squad Captain raised his hand, all but that suspicious soldier drew their blades. Without hesitation, they thrust their weapons into the impostor.
“…Szzzt.”
From the soldier’s mouth came not a scream, but a low, grotesque cry like that of some small beast.
Soon the clothes he wore collapsed to the ground, and whatever lay within scattered in all directions, melting into the darkness of the forest floor.
In the forest where even moonlight was dim, no one could see the creature’s true form clearly.
Only the fact remained—that something pitch-black and liquid-like had masqueraded as human.
“…Squad Captain.”
After a moment of silence, the soldier who had thrust his blade first spoke quietly.
“Are we certain that only we remain in this forest?”
The Squad Captain could not bring himself to answer.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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